The Formation of the Colonial State in India: Scribes, Paper and Taxes, 1760-1860

In the period between the 1770s and 1840s, through the process of colonial state formation, the early colonial state in India was able to harness and extract vast amounts of agrarian wealth in north India. However, little is known of the histories of the Indian scribes and the role they played in shaping the early patterns of British colonial rule.

This book offers a new way of interpreting the colonial state’s origins in north India. It examines how the formation of early agrarian revenue s...