Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion, 1770-1870Widely acclaimed when it first appeared in hard covers, Dr Bayly's authoritative study traces the evolution of North Indian towns and merchant communities from the decline of Mughal dominion to the consolidation of mature Victorian empire following the 'mutiny' of 1857. The first section of the book looks at the response of the inhabitants of the Ganges Valley to the 'Time of Troubles' in the eighteenth century. The second section shows how the incoming British, were themselves constrained to build their new empire on this resilient network of towns, rural bazaars and merchant communities; and how in turn colonial trade and administration were moulded by indigenous forms of commerce and politics. The third section focuses on the social history of the towns under early colonial rule and includes an analysis of the culture and business methods of the Indian merchant family. It is based in part on the private records and histories of the business people themselves. |
Contents
Notes on the use of Indian words and on geography | 1 |
India about 1785 | 3 |
towns and kingdoms | 16 |
War and society in eighteenthcentury India | 35 |
Agriculture ecology and politics | 74 |
Agricultural performance and trade about 1785 | 76 |
Stability and change in the cities 17701810 | 170 |
The growth of political stability in India 17801830 | 197 |
The crisis of the north Indian political economy 182545 | 264 |
Conflict and change in the cities 180057 | 304 |
the qasbah | 346 |
IO The merchant family | 369 |
xii | 381 |
The merchant family as a business enterprise | 394 |
Towns trade and society after the Great Rebellion | 427 |
Conclusions | 458 |
The indigenous origins of the colonial economy | 229 |
The NorthWestern Provinces and Oudh about 1870 | 230 |
Other editions - View all
Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British ... Christopher Alan Bayly No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Agra agrarian agricultural Allahabad areas artisan Awadh bankers Bareilly bazaars became Benares Bengal Bhumihar Brahmins British Bundelkhand Calcutta capital cash caste cent central India centres Collr colonial commercial Commr communities consumption corporations cotton court crop cultivation decline Delhi demand District Doab early east economy eighteenth century elites European export famine Farrukhabad firms Fyzabad Ganges Gosain grain groups growth Hindu Hindustan important indigo instance Islamic Jain Jaunpur Kanpur Khan Khattri labour lakhs land large numbers Lucknow magnates Magt Maratha mercantile merchant families military Mirzapur Mirzapur Judl moneylenders Mughal Mughal empire Muslim Nawab nineteenth century north India officers organisation peasant period political population pre-colonial production Provinces Punjab qasbah rajas Rajasthan Rajput region religious revenue revenue-farmers Rohilkhand Rohilla rulers rural service gentry settlement Sikh small towns social society territories tracts trade routes urban village zamindars