Manohar Publishers and Distributors: 10/07/12

07 October, 2012

Mobile and Marginalized Peoples: Perspectives from the Past

By- Rudolf C. Heredia and Shereen F. Ratnagar (eds.)

The specific themes covered in this volume are modernization and the victimization of the disadvantaged; nomadic pastoralism and tribal organization as separate from the state; the rise of chiefships or states in regions where it was pastoralism rather than agriculture that produced wealth; artisanal mobility and the kinds of crafts produced by pastoralists; the desertions of agrarian settled regions in the past; the forms of incorporation of tribal society into feudal states; shifting cultivation and its relationships with peasantry and local markets; and the gradual changes effected in pastoral society in early Tamilakam.

This volume is based on a symposium sponsored by the Social Science Centre, which is engaged in action-oriented participatory research on issues of current concern. Its publications include Tribal Education for Community Development (1989); and Tribal Identity and Minority Status: The Katkari Nomads in Transition (1994).

Rudolf C. Heredia has a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Chicago and is the founder of the Social Science Centre, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

A Professor of Archaeology, Shereen F. Ratnagar specializes in the bronze age and areas such as urbanization and early economics, and has also written on pastoralists in prehistory.

ISBN 81-7304-497-X 2003 236p. Rs.500/Pounds 40

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Military Costume and Accoutrements in Ancient India

By- Uma Prasad Thapliyal

The study of military costume and accoutrements in ancient India have not engaged the desired attention of scholars. Even important treatises on warfare have simply glossed over the subject.

An in-depth study, however, reveals an intimate connection between warfare and the military costume. Armour was devised at an early date to protect the body from arrow-shot, spear thrust or sword-cut. Even war elephants and horses were protected by armour. The shield was meant to ward off an attack at close quarters. The make, shape and size of armour or shield was again determined by the nature of threat to be encountered.

The choice of accoutrements was largely determined by the type of the weapons carried by the warrior. The scabbard was devised to carry a sword and a quiver to keep arrows. A waist-band and cross-belt were worn to tie-up the sword and quiver respectively. The art of war also influenced the choice of military costume. The Scytho-Ku¦ŒÄa mounted archer used coat, trousers and boots as these suited their tactics of war. The Indian soldiers tied up their loose dhoti in a manner so that no loose ends dangled below to impede the military maneuver.

This volume tries to explore the relationship between military costume and warfare through the ages and will be of immense interest to scholars of Indian military history.

ISBN 978-81-7304-955-2 2012 165p. Rs.695/Pounds 35