Dialogue and History: Constructing South India, 1795-1895Eugene Irschick deftly questions the conventional wisdom that knowledge about a colonial culture is unilaterally defined by its rulers. Focusing on nineteenth-century South India, he demonstrates that a society's view of its history results from a "dialogic process" involving all its constituencies. For centuries, agricultural life in South India was seminomadic. But when the British took dominion, they sought to stabilize the region by inventing a Tamil "golden age" of sedentary, prosperous villages. Irschick shows that this construction resulted not from overt British manipulation but from an intricate cross-pollination of both European and native ideas. He argues that the Tamil played a critical role in constructing their past and thus shaping their future. And British administrators adapted local customs to their own uses. |
Contents
| 14 | |
Using the Past to Create the Future | 67 |
The Rise and Consolidation of the Chingleput Mirasidars | 115 |
From Slaves to the Original Dravidians | 153 |
Conclusion | 191 |
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activities agricultural argued asidars attempt authority Baramahal became behavior Board of Revenue BORP brahmans British administrators called caste Chingleput district collector colonial Company employees Company's construction create Crole cultivation cultural decay desertion dialogic Dighton Dubashes Ellis Ellis's Governor Grant-Duff heteroglot historical Hyder Hyder Ali Ibid ideas important individuals inhabitants interaction Jagir juridical Kanchipuram Karanguli Kondaikatti vellala kurumbar laborers London Madras Presidency Madras town Madurantakam mamul ment mirasi rights mirasi system Mirasidars Mudali Mullaly Naoroji Nattars Nawab of Arcot Neild-Basu nineteenth century occupancy tenants officers pagodas Palayakkars Pannaiyals and Padiyals paraiyar paraiyar Padiyals paraiyar Pannaiyals Pariahs past Payirkkaris Permanent Settlement Place to BOR political Poonamallee population productive quoted Report Richard Dighton rupees ryotwari sedentary sengunthars Smalley social society sought South India strategy subcastes subcontinent swatantrams taluk Tamil tank tax assessment Telugu temple tion Tipu Sultan TNSA Tondai country Tondaimandalam Tremenheere University Press vellalas village wrote
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Page 8 - My contention is that Orientalism is fundamentally a political doctrine willed over the Orient because the Orient was weaker than the West, which elided the Orient's difference with its weakness.