TY  - BOOK
AU  - Bayly,Susan
TI  - Caste, society and politics in India from the eighteenth century to the modern age
T2  - The new Cambridge history of India
SN  - 0521264340
AV  - DS436DS422.C3 .N47 1987 pt. 4, vol. 3
U1  - ARCH FRBC 305.51 B359C 21
PY  - 1999///
CY  - New York
PB  - Cambridge University Press
KW  - Caste
KW  - India
KW  - Social classes
KW  - History
KW  - 18th century
KW  - 19th century
KW  - 20th century
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (pages 388-412) and index; Map 1. The break-up of the Mughal empire, c. 1766 -- Map 2. British India, 1858-1947 -- Map 3. India after Independence, 1956-1987 -- 1. Historical origins of a 'caste society' -- 2. The 'Brahman Raj': kings and service people c. 1700-1830 -- 3. Western 'orientalists' and the colonial perception of caste -- 4. Caste and the modern nation: incubus or essence? -- 5. The everyday experience of caste in colonial India -- 6. Caste debate and the emergence of Gandhian nationalism -- 7. State policy and 'reservations': the politicisation of caste-based social welfare schemes -- 8. Caste in the everyday life of independent India -- 9. 'Caste wars' and the mandate of violence
N2  - "The phenomenon of caste has probably aroused more controversy than any other aspect of Indian life and thought. Some scholars see India's caste system as the defining feature of Indian culture, although it is dismissed by others as a colonial artefact. Susan Bayly's cogent and sophisticated analysis explores the emergence of the ideas, experiences and practices which gave rise to so-called 'caste society' over a period of 350 years, from the pre-colonial period to the end of the twentieth century. Combining historical and anthropological approaches, Bayly frames her analysis within the context of India's dynamic economic and social order. She thereby interprets caste not as the essence of Indian culture and civilisation, but rather as a contingent and variable response to the enormous changes that occurred in the subcontinent's political landscape both before and after colonial conquest."--Jacket
ER  -