The Rajputs of Saurashtra

The Rajputs of Saurashtra
Author: Virbhadra Singhji
Publisher: Popular Prakashan
Total Pages: 384
Release: 1994
Genre: History
ISBN: 9788171545469

The Author Has Made A Detailed And Meticulous Examination Of All Aspects Of Social Life Of Rajputs, Their Religious Beliefs, Gender Relations, Education And Aesthetic Life. Based On Field Work, Royal Archives Of Many Former Princely States. Useful For Social Scientists.

Nomadic Narratives

Nomadic Narratives
Author: Tanuja Kothiyal
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-03-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 1316673898

The Thar Desert, which is today divided by an international boundary, has historically been a frontier region connecting Punjab, Multan, Sindh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. This book looks at the Desert as an historical region shaped through the mobility of its inhabitants - warriors, pastoralists, traders, ascetics and bards, often in overlapping capacities. It challenges the frames of Mughal-Rajput relationships generally employed to explore the histories of the Thar, arguing that Rajputana remains an inadequate category to explore polities located in this frontier region, where along with Rajputs, a range of groups, such as Charans, Bhils, Meenas, Soomras and Pathans controlled circulation, and with whom the Rajput states had to constantly negotiate. Sifting through a wide range of Rajasthani written and oral narratives, travelogues of British administrators, and vernacular as well as English records, the book explores long-term relationships between mobility, martiality, memory and identity in the desert expanses of the Thar.

Folk Epics of Rajasthan: An Ecological Study of Pabuji and Devnarayan

Folk Epics of Rajasthan: An Ecological Study of Pabuji and Devnarayan
Author: Dr. Meenakshi
Publisher: Shineeks Publishers
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2024-06-30
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The book attempts to trace ecological insights embedded in two major folk epics of Rajasthan – Epic of Pabuji and Epic of Devnarayan. The first chapter explores man’s relation with nature in past and attempts to locate the genesis of our attitudes towards nature in ancient myths as well as its portrayal in literature. It tries to define ecology and summarises the ideas about ecological literary criticism given by various critics. It highlights the tradition and types of oral epics in Rajasthan. The second chapter named “Cultural Ecology” focuses on the mutuality and interdependence of nature and culture. It reflects upon what effects human culture has on nature and vice versa in context of the epics of Pabuji and Devnarayan. The chapter focuses on literary ecology which explores the ecological dimensions of literary texts and also puts forth the artistic capability of the text as an agency of ecological awareness. The third chapter named “History, Aesthetics and Phad” explores how painters make phad and to what purpose these phads are made, what purposes of bhopas and commercial consumers it fulfils and in what ways bhopas inspire the process. It also discusses the history of visual narratives and locates the place of phad in it. It delves deep into the history of phad tradition of painting as well as its aesthetics. The discussion of aesthetics of phad foregrounds how phad helps bhopa in devising as well as improvising the narrative. The fourth chapter named “Performance and Ecology” focuses on how performances of folk epics of Pabuji and Devnarayan further an ecological vision in which natural surroundings play a contributory role in formation of meanings. An interconnection between the ecology of the region and the performance of phad has been evaluated which contributes in comprehending the full ecological implications of phad. An analysis of both the epics from an ecological literary perspective substantiates the excellence and contribution of the epics in enriching the literary genre with different aspects of ecological connections between man and other natural elements on earth. The book establishes that the literary ecology of phad is as diverse as an ecosystem. The ecology of phad thrives on cultural diversity, including people from all fields, such as phad painters, phad performers, and the audience/followers of the deities. This correlation is based not only on their economic relations or transactions, but they also depend upon each other for their exclusive identity.

Industrialization and Urbanization

Industrialization and Urbanization
Author: Theodore K. Rabb
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400856558

Focusing on urban development and the influence of urbanization on industrialization, this volume reflects a radical rethinking of the traditional approaches to the development of cities. Originally published in 1981. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Transaction and Hierarchy

Transaction and Hierarchy
Author: Harald Tambs-Lyche
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2017-08-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351393960

In this volume, the author challenges a number of widely held cultural stereotypes about India. Caste is not as old as Indian civilization itself, and current changes are no more radical than in the past, for caste has evolved throughout its history. It is not a colonial invention, nor does it result from weak state control. There is no single form of Indian kingship, and power relations, fundamental as they are for understanding Indian society. Nor do Indian villages conform to a single type, and caste is as much urban as rural. Only in a regional ‘local’ perspective can we view it as a ‘system’. Caste does offer space for the individual, though in a particular Indian mould, and Hinduism does not provide for an integration of castes through ritual. In short, social organization varies widely in India, and cannot provide the key to the specificity of caste. This must be sought in the way society is imagined, the models of society current in Indian thought. Of course as mentioned above, there is no single model: Brahmins, kings, and merchants among others have all produced alternative models with themselves at the centre, vying for hegemony, while facing contesting models held by subalterns. Still, a hierarchical mode of thought is hegemonic and largely explains why Indians see their social stratification differently from people in the West. The volume will be indispensable for scholars of South Asian Sociology and Culture.

The Geography of India

The Geography of India
Author: Britannica Educational Publishing
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1615302026

With a landscape as diverse as the multitude of people that inhabit it, India hosts a wide range of communities, from remote villages nestled in the Himalayas to thriving urban centers. In many ways, it is a land of contrasts, as reflected in its geography—shaped as much by the annual monsoon season as the arid deserts that punctuate the nation. In this volume, readers will experience a juxtaposed journey, visiting both areas that have remained untouched for centuries and areas of technological advancement that have brought the country to the forefront of innovation.

Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place

Pilgrims, Patrons, and Place
Author: Phyllis Granoff
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0774842199

This book brings together essays by anthropologists, scholars of religion, and art historians to explore some of the most fundamental challenges that religious groups face as they expand from their homeland or confront the demands of modernity. The chapters span a broad geographical area that includes India, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, and China, and address issues from the classical and medieval period to the present. They show how sacred places have a plurality of meanings for all religious communities and how in their construction, secular politics, private religious experience, and sectarian rivalry can all intersect. A Buddha Dharma Kyokai Foundation Book on Buddhism and Comparative Literature.

Serving Empire, Serving Nation

Serving Empire, Serving Nation
Author: Jason Freitag
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2009-07-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 9047429389

James Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan was crucial in forming the modern image of the Rājpūt, a princely “martial” caste resident in India’s northwest desert. This book explores the relationships between the political power of the British imperial state, the construction of historical memories in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the uses of these constructions by European writers and Indian nationalist elites. The case of the Rajputs demonstrates how imperial histories reflected Indian social processes and pre-colonial forms of knowledge, interpreted India for the world outside and for Indians themselves. This book explores the multiple discourses within Tod’s Rajasthan, and European Orientalism, to show how intricately coded the British Empire was and, historically, remains.