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Dalits in India : Religion as a Source of Bondage or Liberation with Special Reference to Christians /
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The present work studies the subject of religion as a source of bondage or liberation with special reference to the casteless Christians. It deals with the Dalits in India in general, the history of their problems, and the basic question of their identity. The discussion of their history also includes the role of religion and how far it has acted as an agent of bondage or liberation for the Dalits. The religions which are referred to in this work are Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Lingayatism (Veerasaivism), Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Baha'i religion. This work discusses in detail the role of Hindu religion with special reference to the caste system. Besides Hindu religion, detailed references are made to Christian religion or faith with emphasis on casteless Christians. Christian Dalits are casteless because they belong to a community who in their pre-Dalit state were casteless and classless people. Also Christians are supposed to be casteless, because Christian religion is considered to be above caste or class.
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1 online resource (208 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753518
Dutch Sources on South Asia c. 1600-1825 (Volume 6) : Between Colombo and the Cape. Letters...
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In 1728, the Ceylonese Chettiyar Nicolaas Ondaatje was sent into exile to the Cape of Good Hope where he died in 1737, only a few months before the end of his term. All these years Nicolaas Ondaatje kept in contact with his family and friends in Ceylon through letters in Tamil, Dutch and Sinhala. His own letters are lost but those he received have been preserved. These letters give an intimate picture of an early eighteenth-century elite Chettiyar community in Ceylon employed by the Dutch East India Company. By contrast, at the Cape Nicolaas Ondaatje found himself in the company of the Free Blacks at the very bottom of the social ladder. Though as a convict he was allowed to move about freely, Ondaatje had to provide his own source of income, making a modest living, first as a doctor and trader and later as a home teacher. In the letters, which are kept in the archive in Cape Town, we have chanced upon a classic case of subaltern history. Here we have a protagonist who has been denied a voice by the quirk of the availability of historical documents, but whose situation comes through in the concern his family and friends show for him in exile thousands of miles away, over nine long years. The letters give an excellent picture of the loyalty of the Chettiyars to one of their own, of their unfailing Christian faith, and of their meticulous account keeping. That we will never know what Nicolaas Ondaatje did to deserve his long exile or how he died shortly before his term ended makes his life history all the more poignant.
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1 online resource (336 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752870
Mughal Documents (1526-1627) /
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This book seeks to present an integrated study of 350 Mughal documents covering the period from 1526 to 1627 and spanning the reigns of Babur, Humayun, Akbar and Jahangir. It gives a general idea of the nature, contents and territorial range of the documents and assesses their value for reconstructing the history of Mughal India, which has hitherto been largely based on chronicles, travelogues, manual, etc. It shows that the Mughals modelled their documentary practices after those prevalent in their homeland and those followed by their Turko-Afghan predecessors.
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1 online resource (272 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752856
Dutch Sources on South Asia c. 1600-1825 (Volume 3) : Archival Guide to Repositories Outside The Netherlands /
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This third volume in the series of Dutch Sources on South Asia c. 1600-1825 is a guide to Dutch archival materials and two-dimensional works of art kept in repositories outside the Netherlands. It contains detailed descriptions of the voluminous archives and collections deriving from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) stored in Chennai, Colombo, Jakarta, Cape Town, London and Paris, as well as miscellaneous Dutch sources scattered elsewhere in South Asia, Europe, North America and the Far East. Together with Volumes 1 and 2, which deal with the National Archives of the Netherlands and other repositories in the Netherlands respectively, it covers all known Dutch sources worldwide relating to more than two centuries of intensive Dutch contacts with the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka.
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1 online resource (596 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752009
Education in Ancient India /
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Education in Ancient India provides us with a glimpse of the education system practiced in ancient India upto 1200 AD. The author examines different sources such as canonical texts, archaeological, and literary compositions, foreign travel accounts, etc., to study the ancient Indian educational system. Certain aspects covered in this book are student-teacher relationship, primary education, female education, educational institutes, society, aims and achievements, rituals associated with education such as yajnopavita, curricula methods, examination systems, convocation ceremonies, and pedagogical skills cum techniques, etc. This book will be largely beneficial to researchers and students interested in ancient India and history of education.
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1 online resource (404 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004751514
Warfare in Ancient India : Organisational and Operational Dimensions /
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The military history of ancient India has not attracted the attention of scholars in sufficient measure. Naturally, not many good books are available on the subject. Consequently, Indians know little about the military system followed by their ancestors. A serious effort is, therefore, needed to analyse and interpret the source material which lies scattered in ancient Indian literature, including scriptures and archaeological remains including inscriptions and coins, to produce a tangible thesis on the subject. This book is an humble effort in that direction. The book tries to present a complete picture of Indian military system from the earliest times. The topics covered include military organization, conduct of war, strategical and tactical concepts, weapons and armour, fortification, education and training and ceremonials. Some ancillary aspects related to war such as defence production, logistics, intelligence, medical services, engineering, signals, etc., have also been covered. The study is based on historical data. The myths and legends if not supported by historical evidence has been ignored. Each chapter is a complete study and is intended to generate a new thinking on the subject among lay readers and scholars alike.
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1 online resource (432 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752894
Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India /
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Buddhism originated as an antinomial system, facing the opposition of both vaidika and theistic Brahmans, who socially identified themselves with the agrarian world. The two models of society generated in early historical India never merged, and Buddhism was gradually and often violently reduced to impotence. It was Gupta rule that first checkmated the antinomial model of the Buddhists. Whereas in the open society traders, landowners and 'tribals' coexisted, from Gupta times onwards pressure on kings and direct Brahmanical rule led to the requisition of land and the imposition of a varna state society. Doctrinal debates, which soon turned into ordeals, were instrumental in the suppression of the Buddhist elite, mainly formed by intellectuals of Brahmanical descent, this being proof of a dramatic rift in the brahmanavarna. The Vajrayana, which was the Buddhist response to this state of affairs, originated and grew under Pala rule and expansionism, and was characterized by a decisive opening towards the outcast and the theorization of violence. This set off a conflict whose scope and significance are still poorly understood. It was eventually the compromise between the orthodox powers and the Muslims that caused the final downfall of Buddhism. The former were obliged to transfer political power to the latter but had a free hand in social repression. The book draws mainly on Brahmanical sources, both literary and iconographic, which are abundant and insufficiently exploited, as well as or archaeological evidence, hardly every resorted.
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1 online resource (524 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752740
A Comprehensive History of India : (Vol. IV, Part 2) /
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The Fourth Volume of A Comprehensive History of India covers the period from c. 985 CE to 1206 CE. A clear and connected source-based account of the political organization of this period has been provided by competent contributors in the first part of the volume published a few years ago. The second part of the volume being presented here, treats social, economic, religious, literary and cultural developments together with coinage, science and technology and India's contacts with the outside world during the period. All contributions are marked by their varied perspectives taking cognisance of not only regional specificities, but also of the macro-view of such developments. Notwithstanding the multiplication of political power centres during the period under survey, the dynamism of socio-economic and cultural lives of people never faded away. The volume locates this dynamism within the broad pan-India vision. It also includes more than a hundred illustrations, is provided with an exhaustive and up to date bibliographic survey and multi-faceted index to facilitate location of reader's curiosities.
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1 online resource (976 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753044
The Evolution and Growth of Radha Soami Satsang Beas /
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This volume presents a detailed study of the growth of Beas branch of Radha Soami Satsang which started from a wild grass strewn area of a few square yards and which has now been converted into a well planned self governed township under the leadership of its five spiritual masters - Baba Jaimal Singh, Baba Sawan Singh, Baba Jagat Singh, Baba Charan Singh and the present Master Baba Gurinder Singh. It also takes into account through extensive fieldwork the historical background, philosophy, national and international growth, administrative structure, social welfare activities and literary works undertaken by the Beas branch. It adds new dimensions to one's understanding of how a religious philosophy propagated by its masters could attract millions of followers from all over the world. The work is largely based on the information collected through the author's personal visits to Dera Beas and its other satsang centres, interviews of some Dera devotees besides Dera Library Archival records, Dera magazines, Government records and secondary sources. This volume also contains detailed maps, appendices and a glossary which adds immensely to the scholarly nature of the work.
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1 online resource (424 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753389
The Revenue Manual of Rajasthan (Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries) /
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The Revenue Manual of Rajasthan reveals the significance of this archival source material, particularly arhsatta, a distinctive revenue record of Rajasthan in general and Amber, afterward designated as Jaipur, in particular. On the whole, the arhsatta document covers such diverse and vital subjects as agriculture, environment, banking and accounting systems, forms of peasant protests, crime and punishment, estimation of population, pasture lands, animals, rural-urban taxation, aspects of social history and useful evidence on urban history. Jibraeil has edited the Arhsatta Mujmil Qasba Sanganer, keeping in view the growing interest of researchers in the archival as well as literary sources of Rajasthan's history. The documents employ indigenous terms and personalized words which make their meaning difficult to grasp as well as to decipher. They demand close attention and practice. Keeping this in mind, the editing of the document with annotations will certainly help researchers. The work also includes a comprehensive glossary of terms used in arhsatta, a chart on the values in the form of appendices, and meanings of Persian and Rajasthani words as footnotes. Explanatory note on currencies used and their notations in the document further enhance the value of this work. In addition, the transcription of the arhsatta record is an invaluable tool which will help the researcher to read and understand the document more easily.
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1 online resource (452 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753778
Treasure Trade and Tradition : Post-Kidarite Coins of the Gangetic Plains and Punjab Foothills, 590-820 CE /
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This book has much to offer the numismatic enthusiast drawn to bold coinages shrouded in mystery. But it will also appeal to the general reader interested in a key formative period for the emergence of pre-modern India. It examines our turbulent social, religious, political and economic transition during the sixth through ninth centuries. The author focuses intensely on a single, tell-tale form of evidence, namely the enigmatic base gold dinara coins of the descendants of the Kidarite Huns. By thoroughly investigating the coins in their temporal, geographic and physical contexts, he teases out a fascinating story with three facets: treasure (gold and silver mineral wealth, as well as the spiritual wealth of pilgrimage centres sacred to Buddhism and Hinduism); trade (bearing horses, precious metals and pilgrims alike over the great caravan roads between Central Asia and north India); and tradition (the minting traditions of banking communities, the rulership traditions of royal lineages, and the spiritual traditions of religious art). Through its detailed analysis, the book clears up a great deal of confusion about the monetary systems of ancient Kashmir, the Punjab foothills and the Gangetic plains, from c. 590 to 820. With a large body of new metallurgical tests, the book defines, classifies and attributes this challenging series of trimetallic coins, revealing for the first time the money of Punjab's hill kingdoms nestled in the Siwalik valleys. Along the way, it prepares the groundwork for a new perspective on the role of hard money in early medieval economies, revealing preliminary evidence that the empire of the great Harshavardhana may have had a broadly-used coinage, contrary to expectations of the feudal model.
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1 online resource (228 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752504
History in the Public Domain /
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History is a hot topic in popular politics of the public domain. Pressures from different kinds of ideological positions and politics of identities of various kinds put serious constraints on the practice and writing of history. Despite the challenges, scholarship has continued to grow. Current historiographical thrusts illustrate how a whole range of themes and issues are dealt with by professional historians from a variety of perspectives with reference to sources and evidence. For instance, issues relating to the complex interactions between religion and political culture are no longer being swept under the carpet. This collection of short essays and extended discussions on current research aims to intervene in public debates on what exactly happened in history. Given the situation, attempts of this kind can possibly help in somewhat bridging the wide gap between serious academic research and misplaced assumptions of popular histories. Much as historians are accused of merely speaking to themselves (and boring others), they need to be taken seriously when intervening in public debates using specialized historical methods and practices. Historical research conducted in universities can inform popular debates in newspapers, television channels, social media, and roadside dhabas for that matter, to lift the discussion to an informed intellectual plank and to bring about historical literacy and civility in the public domain.
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1 online resource (260 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004751538
Bengal Water Craft : Boat-Building and Fishing Communities /
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This is a unique work on the boat building traditions of Bengal. The boats of West Bengal have been influenced on the one hand by the boats of Bihar and on the other by the traditions of Bangladesh. North Bengal follows the ecology of the sub-Himalayan region and the boats of the region illustrate this well. Thirteen chapters describe the typology of different boats found in West Bengal. From raft and dugout, the survey moves to the rich centre of boat building at Balagarh. From here it moves to cargo carriers such as the bhedi. Boats are linked to ecological regions but massive programmes such as the Damodar Valley Corporation changed the pattern of the waters. The remarkable ingenuity of the boat builders is shown in the new boat types such as the Cho_t Šālti, which were developed in conformity with the changes in river flow. Chapter fourteen outlines fishing activities in the Sundarbans area, linking this to boat typology. From the methodological angle the work follows closely the model evolved by George Hornell. All available historical records have been examined. The author has conducted a meticulous survey of existing ethnological sources which are used to fill in the gaps in our knowledge. A map showing the centres where various types of boats are made in West Bengal has also been included. This book therefore ventures into new ground, linking ecology with historical methodology, and is, above all, a singular tribute to the all round artistry of the Bengal boat builder.
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1 online resource (320 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752788
Mughal Occidentalism, Artistic Encounters between Europe and Asia at the Courts of India, 1580-1630.
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In Mughal Occidentalism , Mika Natif elucidates the meaningful and complex ways in which Mughal artists engaged with European art and techniques from the 1580s-1630s. Using visual and textual sources, this book argues that artists repurposed Christian and Renaissance visual idioms to embody themes from classical Persian literature and represent Mughal policy, ideology and dynastic history. A reevaluation of illustrated manuscripts and album paintings incorporating landscape scenery, portraiture, and European objects demonstrates that the appropriation of European elements was highly motivated by Mughal concerns. This book aims to establish a better understanding of cross-cultural exchange from the Mughal perspective by emphasizing the agency of local artists active in the workshops of Emperors Akbar and Jahangir.
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1 online resource. :
9789004374997
The Social Construction of Indian Forests /
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The meanings of Indian forests have been contested for many years. Even before the British colonial period, forests were seen as the haunts of outlaws, the source of beautiful images, the abode of holy men, as reserves for hunting as well as potential resources for exploitation. The Social Construction of Indian Forests explores these meanings, and draws out their relevance in diverse settings, from political party imagery in Tamil Nadu, through the Bengali novel, the management of wildlife reserves, the significance of the devarakadus (sacred groves) of Karnataka and the social meaning of forests in Uttarakhand, to case studies of Jharkhand and Karnataka in the new attempts to promote participation with Non-Governmental Organisations in the management of India's state forests.
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1 online resource (196 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753815
Buddha and Christ, Nativity Stories and Indian Traditions.
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The infancy narratives of the gospels of Matthew and Luke appear as a magnificent mosaic of allusions not only to the Hebrew Bible but also to Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions. Professor Thundy argues that many details of the infancy gospels as well as the rest of the gospels can be clarified by the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures. In this sense, the gospels are Eastern religious texts. Buddha and Christ covers the following topics in order: methodology of study, priority of Indian texts vis-à-vis Christian gospels, parallels of the birth narratives of Buddha and Jesus, uniqueness of Indian parallels, the Gnostic context of the Christian gospels, and contacts between India and the West in antiquity. Multicultural studies such as this encourage ecumenism and mutual understanding in East-West dialogues as well as reinforcing the view that the gospels should be taken seriously as Eastern religious texts.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378827
The Upper Cloth Revolt in South Travancore : Theological Interpretation of a Subaltern Movement /
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In nineteenth century Travancore (Kerala), the lower caste women were not allowed to cover their upper body in public. This book is a study of the Nadars who protested and their movement which came to be known as the Upper Cloth Revolt, lasted from 1822 to 1859. It stands as a model movement for the subaltern communities in India. The exceptional stories of resistance and defiance against the dominant ruling class and castes, assertion of rights and liberative ventures opens up new horizons of hope for the communities who are still in the journey of their struggle and tells the subalterns to speak out against subjugation or they will remain powerless. In this revolt, religious faith worked as a source of liberation rather than a source of bondage. Recollecting and interpreting the subaltern history open new pathways of liberation and provide energy to claim new space in societal life.
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1 online resource (276 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004752702
Shiraz-I Hind : A History of Jaunpur Sultanate /
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South Asian history of early modern period especially the provincial sultanates is a comparatively less explored area. The emergence of Jaunpur Sultanate in the middle Gangetic belt at the close of the fourteenth century enthused a new dynamism in the economy and culture of the region. Its mono-metallic copper based currency enabled this tiny and short-lived kingdom to maintain its economy and richness of culture. The last work on Jaunpur Sultanate had come out about half a century ago (Saeed, 1972) and it covered only political and cultural history. The present work explores how the Sharqi rulers, with constant help and support of their subjects specially the Rajput allies and landlords maintained a regular flow of money that enabled them to give a new shape to the economy of the entire middle Gangetic belt. Not only new crafts were introduced and promoted by them, new market centres also emerged during the period of this vibrant regional kingdom. Along with extensive use of contemporary Persian literature and numismatic sources the author has for the first time meticulously explored contemporary Hindi literature resources like Kirtilata and Ardhakathanaka to delineate his contention. Hindi epic love-lores or Premakhyan like Chandayan, Mrigavati, Madhumalati and others have been for the first time tapped here at length to trace the influence of the Sharqi kingdom in the field of composite culture. It is hoped that the volume will generate enthusiasm for inquisitive scholars, general readers, students and researchers in India and abroad.
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1 online resource (268 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753877
Bose and his Movement : From Nazi Germany to French Indochina /
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The work is based on original sources in the archives and libraries of France, England, India and Vietnam. It recounts the activities of Subhas Chandra Bose and his freedom movement in Germany and brings out certain hidden features of his life as found in the records, with adequate supporting evidence. The study also elaborates on Bose's activities in Southeast Asia, with a special focus on French Indochina. Incidentally it was from Saigon that he disappears from the face of the world. After rejecting the air crash theory in which Bose was supposed to have died as well as the Russian escape theory as untenable for want of factual evidence, the study concludes that Bose never left Saigon or Indochina after 17 August 1945, where he died in mysterious circumstances, before the arrival of the Cabinet Mission to India. The war treasures of Bose were confiscated by the Allied troops in Saigon during a search operation.
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1 online resource (236 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004753457