Land and Sovereignty in India: Agrarian Society and Politics under the Eighteenth-Century Maratha Svarajya

by André Wink

Overview

This original contribution to Indian history, focusing on contemporary and largely indigenous documents, introduces a set of concepts for the analysis of late Mughal rule. More specifically it examines the origins and development of the Maratha svardjya or 'self-rule' within the context of declining Muslim power. It traces the expansion of Maratha dominion to a process of fitna, a policy of 'shifting alliances' which was recurrent in the wake of Muslim expansion throughout its history. The book gives an interesting perspective on Hindu-Muslim relationships in the pre-British period as well as on the nature of the Indo-Muslim state and its most important successor polity, on its capacity for change and development in the intermediate sections of society, the land-tenurial system, the monetization of the economy, and on the fiscal system.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521051804
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/03/2007
Series:	University of Cambridge Oriental Publications , #36
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

Table of Contents

List of maps and diagrams; Preface; List of abbreviations; Glossary; Introduction; Part I. Brahman, King and Emperor: 1. Sovereignty and universal dominion; 2. Mughal expansion in the Deccan; 3. The Maratha svarājya in the eighteenth century; 4. Conclusion and summary; Part II. The Co-Sharers of the Realm: 5. Sovereignty, vested rights and sedition; 6. The king's co-sharers; 7. Patrilineage and coparcenary; 8. Grants of land; 9. The grant of land as act of sovereignty; Part III. The King's Share: 10. Land and taxation; 11. The standard assessment; 12. Adjustments of the standard assessment; 13. Tenancy relations; 14. Conclusion; Part IV. Regulation and Repartition: 15. The brahman bureaucracy; 16. Repartition and assignment of the king's share; 17. Monetization and the cash-nexus; 18. Revenue farming; 19. Conclusion and summary; Epilogue; Key to selections of papers from the records at the East-India House; Bibliography; Index.