The Transition to a Colonial Economy: Weavers, Merchants and Kings in South India, 1720–1800
Author(s): Prasannan Parthasarathi (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: April 23, 2001
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 180 pages
ISBN-10: 0521570425
ISBN-13: 9780521570428
Book Description
In a challenge to the widespread belief that poverty and poor living standards have been characteristic of India for centuries, Prasannan Parthasarathi demonstrates that, until the late eighteenth century, laboring groups in South India were in a powerful position, receiving incomes well above subsistence. It was with the rise of colonial rule, the author maintains, that the decline in their economic fortunes was initiated. This is a powerful revisionist statement on the role of Britain in India that will interest students of the region, and economic and colonial historians.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Parthasaranthi’s study of cotton textile weavers of South India during the eighteenth century comprises an important addition to the extensive historical literature on early modern South Asia–particularly the period that witnessed the transition to the early colonial state of the English East India Company. Journal of Interdisciplinary History
“…crisply written, deeply researched, and analytically powerful study of South India….An important contribution of Parthasarathi’s book is that it makes politics and political norms central to our understanding of social and economic change…”
–Robert Travers, Cornell University
Book Description
The decline of the economic fortunes of the Indian labouring classes under the British.
The Transition to a Colonial Economy: Weavers, Merchants and Kings in South India, 1720–1800
Author(s): Prasannan Parthasarathi (Author)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: February 12, 2007
Language: English
Print length: 180 pages
ISBN-10: 0521033101
ISBN-13: 9780521033107
Book Description
In a challenge to the widespread belief that poverty and poor living standards have been characteristic of India for centuries, Prasannan Parthasarathi demonstrates that, until the late eighteenth century, laboring groups in South India were in a powerful position, receiving incomes well above subsistence. It was with the rise of colonial rule, the author maintains, that the decline in their economic fortunes was initiated. This is a powerful revisionist statement on the role of Britain in India that will interest students of the region, and economic and colonial historians.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Parthasaranthi’s study of cotton textile weavers of South India during the eighteenth century comprises an important addition to the extensive historical literature on early modern South Asia–particularly the period that witnessed the transition to the early colonial state of the English East India Company. Journal of Interdisciplinary History
“…crisply written, deeply researched, and analytically powerful study of South India….An important contribution of Parthasarathi’s book is that it makes politics and political norms central to our understanding of social and economic change…”
–Robert Travers, Cornell University
Book Description
The decline of the economic fortunes of the Indian labouring classes under the British.
Wow! eBook
