Manohar Publishers and Distributors: 08/02/12

02 August, 2012

Women in Early Indian Societies: Readings in Early Indian History

By- B.D. Chattopadhyaya (gen. ed.) and Kumkum Roy (ed.)

Women in Early Indian Societies is an anthology of excerpts from the works of authors who have shaped or understanding of gender relations in India. Also included are papers which provide fresh insights or explore alternative paradigms and possibilities.

The first section focuses on the diverse issues and perspectives in women’s history so as to give the reader an overview of the implicit and explicit debates and methodological strategies and problems. Section II highlights some aspects of the material context and content of gender relations, especially in terms of property, labour, and the impact of processes such as urbanization.

Section III provides some samples of the socio-sexual definitions of womanhood through investigations in polyandry and prostitution, and also draws attention to the possibility of regional variations. The last section, on religious traditions, includes analyses of the goddess cult, women’s patronage of religious institutions, and early Bhakti movements.

The volume contains an editorial introduction which contextualizes the anthology, and a detailed bibliography.

B.D. Chattopadhyaya retired as Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Kumkum Roy is Associate Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

ISBN 81-7304-382-5 2011 336p. Rs.250/ pounds 18.99

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Warfare and Politics in South Asia from Ancient to Modern Times

By- Kaushik Roy (ed.)

This volume presents fifteen original essays on warfare based on primary sources by scholars from different parts of the world. Spatially, the pieces cover the period from the Vedic to the Nuclear Age. And temporally, they not only cover the whole of the subcontinent but also link the historical trajectory of South-East Asia with that of South Asia.

Warfare in this volume has been defined broadly. While some essays focus on inter-state war, others turn the focus on intra-state war. Besides war on land, several contributors also look at the naval dimension.

Moreover, all the contributors agree that warfare cannot be separated from the political matrix which surrounds organized violence like the double helix of a DNA molecule.

This volume will be of enduring value to scholars of Military History in general and South Asian Warfare in particular.

Kaushik Roy is Reader, Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India and a Senior Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) at International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) Norway.

ISBN 978-81-7304-913-2 2011 450p. Rs.1095/ pounds 60

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Studies of Indian Jewish Identity

By- Nathan Katz (ed.)

This book about Indian Jewish identity is an attempt at ‘self definition’. It raises basic questions like – who the Jews of India are, are they Jewish or Indian? It then proceeds to answer them by delving deep into cultural mechanisms by which India’s Jews came to define themselves and how they were defined by others. In doing this it explores the conditions by which a group’s identity is established and maintained, how it responds to changing conditions and how it anticipates and structures a future.

This book, therefore, is about at least two subjects. First, it is descriptive and ethnographic. It describes the beliefs and attitudes, the rituals and histories, which conditioned the identities of the three distinct communities of Indian Jews. Secondly, it is analytical and therefore reflexive; it adheres to the standard of scholarship which insists that in studying the ‘other’ we learn about ourselves.

The seven essays in the book analyse Indian Jewish identity as a complex product of four interrelated phenomenon. First, there is the historical trajectory, the construction of a suitable narrative. Second, there are social trajectories of the present, the patterns underlying social interactions with Gentile neighbors, which also defined the group. Third, there are the trajectories of the future, which is to say how modernization, Zionism and Indian nationalism came to reconstellate Jewish identity by directing toward new sometimes competing, goals. Finally there is the role of religion, not merely as a template of ethnic identity but as a system of rituals and norms which defined and celebrated the very identity’s of India’s Jews.

Nathan Katz is Professor of Religious Studies at Florida International University in Miami. He received his Ph.D. at Temple University and served on the faculties of Williams College and Naropa Institute.

ISBN 81-7304-071-0 2011 204p. Rs.450/ pounds 40

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Social Radicalism in Urdu Literature: A Study of Gender Issues and Problems, 1930-1960

By- Rajwanti Mann

History and literature both endeavour to reflect the truth in different ways and assist in a better understanding of society. The spread of new and radical ideas at the beginning of the twentieth century was the outcome of economic depression between First and Second World War, resurgence of widespread nationalism and impact of Marxism, etc. In India, the progressive trend started in 1932, when the young writers like Sajjad Zaheer, Rashid Jahan, Ahmad Ali and Mehmuduzzafar dissatisified with mild reforms and the moribund state of Urdu literature brought out an electrifying anthology of ten stories titled Angare. The publication openly ridiculed outmoded religious and traditional attitudes especially towards women and led to the formation of Progressive Writers Association (PWA) in 1936 in Lucknow. PWA influenced poets and writers alike and acquired support and sympathy from Iqbal, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru.

The major aim of this study is to identify the social radicalism in Urdu progressive literature from 1930 to 1950 in three areas: themes, characterization and craft. The writings of Sajjad Zaheer, Rashid Jahan, Krishan Chander, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chugtai and Rajinder Singh Bedi brought out the themes of Purdah, childbirth, widowhood, sexuality, victimization of women during Partition, etc., with unprecedented boldness in Urdu literature and mirrored the society more clearly and directly, for which some of them were prosecuted. The characters in their works were drawn from lower strata of society such as the sweepers, the poor, the prostitutes, neglected and dejected women and widows. The PWA faced criticism at the hands of orthodox and conservatives because of this perception but its formation and contribution was a landmark event in the annals of modern Indian literature, a fact which is commemorated in this very timely volume.

Rajwanti Mann is currently Deputy Director of State Archives, Haryana, Chandigarh. Born in a small village of Rohtak Distt. (Haryana), she is the author of political works like Sir Chotu Ram: Shakhsiat and Mission and Role of Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh in the War of 1857.

ISBN 978-81-7304-890-6 2011 254p. Rs.750/ pounds 45

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Settling the Unsettled: A Study of Partition Refugees in West Bengal

By- Monika Mandal

Settling the Unsettled: A Study of Partition Refugees in West Bengal focuses on international refugee law and refugees in South Asia. The book begins with an overview of Bengali society and Hindu-Muslim relations in Bengal from the first Partition of the province in 1905, and trace and events which eventually led to the Partition of this province of British India in 1947.

This work while attempting to document and analyse the relief and rehabilitation measures undertaken by the central and state governments in India in response to the massive influx of refugees from the then East Pakistan into West Bengal also reviews the assimilation and integration of the erstwhile refugees with the host state and community.

The research has involved situating experience of the victims of Partition and also those who were forced to seek refuge in West Bengal due to communal clashes and persecution afterwards. The study focuses on the governmental measures, the attitude of the host community and the struggle of the refugees in a new environment that influenced and impacted upon their social and cultural life.

This volume is an invaluable guide for the scholars of Modern History, Bengal and Partition.

Monika Mandal has a Ph.D. (2007) from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and is a fellow at the MAKAIS, Kolkata. Presently she is working on the ‘Social Inclusion of Ethnic Communities in Contemporary Nepal’.

ISBN 978-81-7304-907-1 2011 286p. Rs.725/ pounds 45

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Dynamics of the Ritual Gift System: Some Unexplored Dimensions

By- Vijay Nath

Dana or ritual gift-making has engaged the attention of Brahmanical lawgivers from the earliest times and, by the end of the first millennium AD, had even become the thematic focus of innumerable nibandhas or digests. It was, however, only in the later half of the twentieth century when, in the context of feudal formations during the early medieval period, the practice of issuing land grants as a form of ritual gift-making came to evoke a lot of historical interest. The present volume is an eclectic collection of articles written over a period of almost twenty years, dealing with a religious institution that is unique to Indian culture.

The period of history surveyed in the volume covers over two millennia of cultural growth and development and broadly spans the Vedic, post-Vedic, and the Gupta/post-Gupta periods. This volume will be of paramount interest to scholars of Ancient and Medieval Indian History, Kingship and Religion in South Asia.

Vijay Nath, retired as an Associate Professor, Department of History, Jankidevi Memorial College, University of Delhi.

ISBN 978-81-7304-926-2 2012 266p. Rs.875/ pounds 45

Resisting Colonialism and Communal Politics: Maulana Azad and the Making of the Indian Nation

By- Rizwan Qaiser

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), has largely remained less explored as a political leader in the history of India’s struggle for independence. Two reasons seem quite plausible for this; one, historians have ignored the claims and contributions of those, generally described as nationalist Muslims in view of India’s Partition as they focused more on the politics and claims of the Muslim League; the second would be lack of knowledge of Urdu, in which, Azad has left behind a considerable corpus of evidence. The combination of the two has resulted in near silence of historians on political life of Azad, honourable exceptions notwithstanding.

Such neglect and ignorance about the man and his times has left a void in our knowledge not only about Maulana Azad but the entire range of Muslim political opinion aligned with the cause of Indian nationalism and freedom movement. This volume provides a much needed and timely corrective. With the help of extensive but hitherto unexplored primary sources the author has been able to argue that Azad’s politics was continuously evolving while he remained steadfast towards composite Indian nationalism and resistant to communal politics.

This volume is invaluable for scholars of Indian nationalism and Modern Indian History.

Rizwan Qaiser is an Associate Professor at the Department of History and Culture, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

ISBN 978-81-7304-903-3 2011 382p. Rs.950/ pounds 55

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