Transformations on the Bengal Frontier: Jalpaiguri 1765-1948

by Ray,Subhajyoti

• ISBN13: 9780700714087
• ISBN10: 0700714081
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-06
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

This book analyses the socio-economic changes brought about by colonial rule in a frontier area of Bengal, Jalpaiguri.

Author Biography

Subhajyoti Ray read history at Presidency College (Kolkata) and the Jawaharlal University, New Delhi.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	vii
List of Maps	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
Abbreviations	xi
Glossary	xii
Introduction	1	(18)
Continuity and Change in Frontier North Bengal c.1765--1865	19	(24)
Non-sedentary production and inter-community exchange: the Dooars and Rangpur to 1865	21	(3)
The pre-British system of surplus extraction: the Dooars, 1765--1865	24	(5)
Extending and taming the frontiers, Baikanthapur and beyond, 1765--1820	29	(6)
Consolidation and conflict: North Rangpur, 1765--1850	35	(8)
A Tribal Society in Transition? c. 1700--1890	43	(18)
Dissemination of puranic Hinduism, 1600--1890	44	(6)
The inroads of `Islam', 1700--1890	50	(5)
The nature of pre-colonial society, c. 1900	55	(6)
Foundation of the Colonial Structure, c. 1865--1895	61	(22)
The extension of a tradition: the land revenue settlement in the Dooars, 1865--1895	62	(10)
Introducing new avenues of resource utilisation: formation of state forests and tea gardens	72	(6)
Immigration and emigration: a new demographic structure for the Dooars, 1870--1900	78	(5)
Sustaining the Colonial Structure: Nature of Authority and Control, 1890--1947	83	(35)
The political economy of control in the tea gardens	84	(8)
Planters and the hierarchy of power	92	(8)
The sardars and the management of production	100	(8)
The source of power and the nature of control in the agrarian sector	108	(10)
Formation and Expression of New Identities	118	(24)
Sanskritisation or the emergence of a middle class consciousness? Consolidation of the Rajbanshi-Kshatriya identity, 1891--1935	118	(18)
In search of `pure' Islam, 1890--1937	136	(6)
The Temporal Dynamics of the Colonial Structure, 1905--1947	142	(21)
Land and agriculture: commercialisation and polarisation to 1916	142	(6)
The tea industry: growth, conflict and adjustment, 1910--1929	148	(5)
Confronting the Great Depression, 1929--1939	153	(4)
Creating conditions for change: The Second World War and after, 1939--1947	157	(6)
Opposing Colonial Rule: `Nationalism' and Popular Movements, 1905--1948	163	(35)
Congress and the Jotedars, 1920--1942	164	(9)
The Kisan Sabha, Communists and the Adhiars, 1939--1947	173	(10)
Resistance without patrons: tea garden workers, 1905--1947	183	(11)
Entry of the leaders: a new direction to labour resistance?	194	(4)
Conclusion	198	(9)
Notes	207	(28)
Bibliography	235	(10)
Index	245