The Politics of India since Independence provides a concise but comprehensive analytical study of the major political, cultural, and economic changes and crises in India during the past forty-five years. The organizing focus is on the consequences of the centralizing drives and tendencies of the national leadership of the country to create a strong state, a unified nation, and a dynamic economy, all of which have been placed in serious doubt in recent years.

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has increased in recent years and has played an important part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. David Arnold's wide-ranging analysis combines a discussion of all three fields across the entire colonial period--from the 1860s through to Independence--offering both a survey of recent scholarship and an original overview. Arnold assesses the role of science in the making of colonial India and in the fashioning of Indian responses to British rule.

This volume is the first to offer an overall survey of the architectural and artistic heritage of the Deccan Sultanate and to place this legacy within its historical context. The cultural links which existed between the Deccan and the Middle East, for example, are clearly discernible in Deccani architecture and paintings and a remarkable collection of photographs, many of which have never been published before, testify to such influences. The book will be a source of inspiration to all those interested in the rich and diverse culture of India.

The Mughal empire was one of the largest centralized states in the premodern world and this volume traces the history of this magnificent empire from its creation in 1526 to its breakup in 1720. Richards stresses the dynamic quality of Mughal territorial expansion, their institutional innovations in land revenue, coinage and military organization, ideological change and the relationship between the emperors and Islam. He also analyzes institutions particular to the Mughal empire, such as the jagir system, and explores Mughal India's links with the early modern world.

Interest in the science, technology and medicine of India under British rule has increased in recent years and has played an important part in the reinterpretation of modern South Asian history. David Arnold's wide-ranging analysis combines a discussion of all three fields across the entire colonial period--from the 1860s through to Independence--offering both a survey of recent scholarship and an original overview. Arnold assesses the role of science in the making of colonial India and in the fashioning of Indian responses to British rule.

The Vijayanagara rajas ruled a substantial part of the southern peninsula of India for over three hundred years, beginning in the mid-fourteenth century. During this epoch the region was transformed from its medieval past toward a modern colonial future. Concentrating on the later sixteenth- and seventeenth-century history of Vijayanagara, this book details the pattern of rule established in this important and long-lived Hindu kingdom that was followed by other, often smaller kingdoms of peninsular India until the onset of colonialism. Through an analysis of the politics, society, and economy...

This is a study of the Indian National Congress, the first political association to approach the government of India at an all-India level. The Congress became the most important national party in twentieth century India, and the whole history of the freedom movement is closely bound up with its fortunes. National politics, however, were influenced by regional and local affairs. In the early twentieth century the Indian Congress was split between the 'Moderates' and the 'Extremists'. Dr Johnson argues that this division was closely related to existing rivalries between politicians in the...

This important new contribution to the New Cambridge History of India examines chronologically the entire span of Sikh history from prehistoric times to the present day. In an introductory chapter, Professor Grewal surveys the changing pattern of human settlements in the Punjab until the fifteenth century and the emergence of the Punjabi language as the basis of regional articulation. Subsequent chapters explore the life and beliefs of Guru Nanak--the founder of Sikhism; the extension and modification of his ideas by his successors; the increasing number and composition of their followers and...

The author traces the history of Indian women from the nineteenth century under colonial rule, to the twentieth century after Independence. She begins with the reform movement, established by men to educate women, and demonstrates how education changed their lives, enabling them to take part in public life. Through the women's own accounts, the author has compiled an accessible and immediate record of their achievements over the past two centuries, which will be of interest to students of South Asia and to anyone concerned with women and their history.

The phenomenon of caste has probably aroused more controversy than any other aspect of Indian life. This volume explores the emergence of ideas and practices that gave rise to the so-called "caste-society." Using a historical and anthropological approach, the author frames her analysis in the context of India's economic and social order, interpreting caste as a contingent and variable response to changes in India's political landscape through the colonial conquest. The book's wide-ranging analysis offers one of the most powerful statements ever written on caste in South Asia.