Studies in People’s History

From a critical review of excavation reports and narratives on the Bronze Age sites, it turns out that archaeological cultures in Indian civilisation are mostly archaeologists’ constructions, resulting from the archaeologists’ subjective classification and typology. It notes inconsistencies of typologies, their ineffectiveness in comprehending the past and failure to establish the structure of the total culture as well as the main features of people’s conditions of life. Archaeologists’ constructs of multiple micro-cultures of ceramic identity may thus tend to obfuscate the macro-picture of larger composite cultures in the long process of the formation of Indian civilisation.

Limited attention seems to have been paid in Indian historical work to the Hūṇas (Huns) except for the general assumption that they played a very destructive role in Indian history. There is need for a fresh appraisal of the Hūṇa polity in the light of the Schūyen copper scroll, and further work on the numismatic evidence, while the details of their conflict with the Guptas need to be properly worked out. Finally, the objective behind their deep intrusion into central India (especially Malwa) has to be located in a broader context.

The role of Brāhmaṇa land-grantees in extending cultivation during the early medieval period has been noted by several historians. This study examines the evidence preserved in copper plates from sites in Bengal’s eastern ‘frontier’ formed by the present-day districts of Sylhet, Comilla, Neokhali and Chittagong in Bangladesh, issued between 600 and 1300 AD. The study aims at extracting from the evidence of the copper plates whatever can be gained about the composition of the Brāhmaṇa donees, their personal names, areas of origin and possible connexions with other castes that became subsequently prominent in Bengal, chiefly Kāyasthas. The mechanism of issue of land-grants, possible intermediaries and nature of grantees’ rights, so far as these can be legitimately inferred from evidence, are also discussed.

Akbar’s policy of religious toleration from early in his reign (1556–1605) long remained in need of a theoretical justification, especially one from within the framework of Islamic tradition. At long last, the concept of Ṣulḥ-i Kul, derived from s[ūfic thought, was found to answer the need. Here we bring together evidence from contemporary texts to establish more precisely when the secular conversion of this mystic notion took place and how it came to be used as a justification for human amity and religious tolerance by Akbar’s administration. Its short reign, however, ended within a few years of Akbar’s death.

The article focuses on Dārā Shukoh’s Majma‘-ul-Baḥrain (written, 1654–55), which is basically a comparative and systematic study of modes of Hindu thought and belief from the view point of Islamic Sufism. There is thus the need to establish the degree of authenticity achieved in Dārā Shukoh’s exploration of the different Hindu philosophical and religious beliefs, especially keeping in view his own preference for pantheistic aspects. This naturally involves also a partial re-exploration of the field in which Dārā Shukoh had sought what he deemed to be the ultimate truth.

In the vast literature of Bengal famine of 1943, it is hard to offer new insights about that vicious source of mass misery. Local history may mark a significant departure here, as it provides scope for an in-depth study of both the origin and course of the famine. Bakarganj was called the granary of Bengal, which used to supply rice to other regions even in the driest years due to its large production. But the famine of 1943 gravely affected this district. The present study shows how it was the colonial measures that played a vital role in intensifying the famine in Bakarganj. The government’s led to: hoarding of rice and serious shortage of food supply. The article concentrates on four aspects of the government failure: inappropriate warning system, callous purchase policy, lack of effective government inspection and a policy of disaster denial.

The article begins with an obscure Bengali poem ‘Lenin’ published in 1924. Tracing the publication and its consequences, it explores the transmission of progressive ideas from Europe to Bengal, following the First World War and the Russian Revolution. Subsequently, the rise of fascism in Europe, and the Second World War marked a significant juncture in this trajectory, where the rhetoric of ‘peace’, championed during the years after the First World War, developed into a new relationship with popular struggles in Bengali progressive cultural practice.

Bhairabi Prasad Sahu, The Making of Regions in Indian History: Society, State and Identity in Premodern Odisha (New Delhi: Primus Books), 2020, xxvi + 274 pp., ₹931.00 (hb).

Ranabir Chakravarti, The Pull Towards the Coast, and Other Essays: The Indian Ocean History and the Subcontinent before 1500 ce (Delhi: Primus Books), 2020, 326 pp., ₹1,395 (hb).

Manu V. Devadevan, The ‘Early Medieval’ Origins of India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2020, 516 + xii pp., ₹850 (pb).

Manan Ahmed Asif, The Loss of Hindustan: The Invention of India (Cambridge, U.S.: Harvard University Press), 2020, Indian ed., HarperCollins Publishers, 2020, 321 pp., ₹599 (hb).

Ruby Maloni, The Route to European Hegemony: India’s Intra-Asian Trade in the Early Modern Period (Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries) (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors), 2021, 301 pp., + 23 plates and 2 maps, ₹1,950 (hb).

Sameetah Agha, The Limits of Empire, Sub-Imperialism and Pukhtun Resistance in the North–West Frontier (New Delhi: Orient BlackSwan), 2020, pp. xiv + 231, ₹595.

Rakesh Batabyal, The Modern School (1920–2020): A Century of Schooling in India (Chennai: Westland Publications), 2020, 411 pp., ₹594, (hb).

Syed Ejaz Hussain & Sanjay Garg (eds.), Alternative Arguments: Essays in Honour of Surendra Gopal (Delhi: Primus Books), 2020, with index, 730 pp., ₹1,995, (hb).

Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, ed. & tr. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Indian reprint of original English ed., London, 1971, now reprinted in India by Orient BlackSwan Private Ltd., Hyderabad, 2021, Paperback, 483 pp., ₹695.

Peggy Mohan, Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India Through Its Languages (Gurgaon: Penguin/Viking), 2021, 341 + xvii pp., ₹599 (hb).