Manohar Publishers and Distributors

25 August, 2012

Social Stratification and Change in India

(2nd rev. edn.)

By- Yogendra Singh

The book offers a profile of Indian sociology in terms of its concepts and theories. It carries the reader through the creative historical period of Indian sociology following independence up to the end of the nineties. It reviews critically the studies conducted during this period on the themes of social change. Its focus is on the adequacy of concepts and theoretical schemes in thee studies, but in course of this examination the dilemmas and structural contradictions
in the process of social stratification and change in India have also been exposed. Prepared originally as trend reports on concepts and theories of social stratification and change in
India the book carries a new and updated introduction on the two substantive themes in a conceptual theoretical perspective.

How could one formulate a sociology of social stratification in India? Theoretically, how is such an endeavour made possible by developments in stratification and social change, theory and its structure and process analysis? How have Indian sociologists blended the uses of ‘category’ and history in their analysis of social stratification and change? These and scores of other issues in sociology of stratification and change have been examined in this volume.

Concepts particularly examined in the analysis of social stratification as those of ‘caste’, ‘class and peasantry’ and ‘elites’ and the processes include ‘social mobility’, ‘structural differentiation’ and its consequent social contradictions. The sociology of change in India has similarly been reviewed in terms of theoretic-adequacy and relative power of the evolutionary, nominalist (Sanskritization-Westernization), structuralist, dialectical, cognitive, historical, and institutional approaches employed in various studies. In addition the book offers analysis of the policies of reservation and its impact on the SCs/STs and the OBCs, and seeks to assess its relationship with the integrative processes within the Indian society.

The book is in many ways a sociology on Indian sociology. It exposes the foundations of concepts and theories on which most Indian studies on social stratification and change are based.

Yogendra Singh is Professor of Sociology in the Centre for the Study of Social Systems at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has taught and lectured at several universities
in India and abroad, and done fieldwork in Asian countries.

ISBN 81-7304-188-1 2009 272p. Rs.160/ pounds 45

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24 August, 2012

Situating Environmental History

By- Ranjan Chakrabarti (ed)

Concern for the environment is not new; it has always existed. One of the flash points in the inner conflicts within human societies of the past was fuelled by the continuous effort to resolve the legitimate use of the natural world. Nature is one of those spaces where we observe the most intense form of class struggle and power politics—the more privileged control the natural resources. The rapid unfolding of power relations, the rise of new technology to exploit the environment, the growing resource crunch, and a perceived ‘environmental crisis’ have resulted in the development of a new field of study—environmental history, an important gateway to knowledge in general and Environmental Studies in particular.

Situating Environmental History, brings together several eminent scholars who share a common interest in the environmental history of South Asia. The work is divided in four sections. In Section I, Understanding Environmental History, Karl Jacoby, Alok Kumar Ghosh, Arun Bandopadhyay and Archana Prasad contribute to our understanding of environmentalism, its historiography and the role of state legislation and the popular response thereto. In Section II, Communities on the Margin, Vinita Damodaran and Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay focus on different communities in the periphery lying outside the supposed ‘mainstream’ and their fight for their own perceptions of ‘justice’ and ‘legitimate claims’. In Section III, Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, the State and the Management of Nature, Kaushik Roy, Arabinda Samanta, Amal Das, Sahara Ahmed, Jagdish N. Sinha and Sumit Guha look at the evolution of state policy on environmental questions through different periods of Indian history.

In Section IV, Beyond India, Rita Pemberton, Lawrence Gundersen and Tridib Chakrabarti study environmental issues in the countries beyond India.

Ranjan Chakrabarti, a Fulbright Scholar at Brown University (1994-5) and a Charles Wallace Fellow at SOAS (1997), is one of the earliest scholars in India to unertake research in the environmental and sports history of South Asia. Dr Chakrabarti is currently Professor and Co-ordinator of the UGC Special Assistance Programme on Environmental History of South Asia in the Department of History, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

ISBN 81-7304-683-2 2007 396p. Rs.995/ Pounds 55

Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Vision and Mission

By- Shahabuddin Iraqi (ed.)

This volume contains a selection of papers presented at the International Seminar on Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Vision and Mission held under the auspices of CAS, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.

Since MAO College was the first modern institution of its kind in the Islamic world, its
historic importance was realized more and more with the passage of time. The essays focus not only on the importance of the Aligarh Movement and the evolution of MAO College as its centre but also on the relevance of Sir Syed’s concern for challenges faced by the Muslims in particular and the people of the country in general.

The contributors represent different disciplines who have applied interdisciplinary approach in presenting their viewpoint. Each essay is an accademic tribute to Sir Syed and his mission and sheds fresh light on his vision and missionary zeal.

Shahabuddin Iraqi is Chairman of the Department of History and Coordinator of the
Centre of Advanced Study (History), Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. He has been
engaged for a long time in exploring and procuring source material in Hindi for the history of medieval India, and has published a number of articles on the subject in reputed journals.

ISBN 81-7304-784-7 2008 302p. Rs.750/ Pounds 50

Satyajit Ray: Essays (1970-2005)

By- Gaston Roberge

The essays offered here were written between 1970 and 2005. Teaching assignments, requests for articles, and the author’s own evolving interests prompted them. They were not written with the view to form a book. They are now published together in the conviction that, both singly and as a whole, they can contribute to a better appreciation of Satyajit Ray’s legacy.

The essays deal with Ray as a filmmaker. The date on which each essay was written is indicated as it situates each in the cultural context in which it was conceived.

Out of the twenty-nine feature films of Ray, only eight, plus the Apu Trilogy as a whole, are discussed. Moreover, this small collection is not a selection, indicaing preferences; nor is it a classification, rating the films.

The discussion of Jana Aranya is the only essay that was written for this book to illuminate the evolution that took place from the first to the last film of Satyajit Ray. In order to preserve their historical value, generally, the essays were not updated.

Given Ray’s deep involvement in film education, especially in the film societies movement in India, it was felt mandatory to include two articles on the subject, one discusing the situation of the film societies today, and the other, inspired by Satyajit Ray, and proposing a programme of media education for a new type of film society.

Gaston Roberge, MA, Theatre Art (Film), University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), was born in Montrel, Canada, in 1935. He came to India in 1961, and since then has lived
in Kolkata.

He is a Jesuit, teaching Mass Communication and Film Studies at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. In 1970, with the assistance of the late Satyajit Ray, he founded a media centre in Kolkata, called Chitrabani. In 1985, he started the Education Media Research Center of St. Xavier’s College.

ISBN 81-7304-735-9 2007 280p. Rs.695/ Pounds 45

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23 August, 2012

Sacred Landscapes in Asia: Shared Traditions, Multiple Histories

By- Himanshu Prabha Ray

Throughout history the peoples of Asia have been known for their mobility and interactions. The notion of territorially defined nations is historically recent. There was a continuing
dialogue between Asian cultures which functioned at both the spatial and the temporal
level, propelled by the movement of the great religions of Asia across continents via trading communities, clergies, Buddhist and Sufi scholars and communities of artisans.

The present volume explores the aesthetic theories underlying many genres of the Asian arts. These characterize the dialogue between and amongst different Asian regions. The same Asian notions of space and time are manifested in architectural form as also in a wide variety of visual arts. The contributors in this volume identify the multi-layered discourse comprising the nature of monuments, as also the movement of motifs and symbols though sculptured and picturised representation. Some essays focus on fundamental notions such as Sunyata as common to the Indian, Korean and other Asian countries. Also, the papers bear testimony to the phenomena of dialogue and distinctiveness, continuity and change. This is evident in architectural structures, sculptural forms, particularly in iconography, and of course in the performing arts.

The IIC-Asia Project in its second phase has, with purpose, traced the trajectory of transmission systems in Asian civilization in different domains and at different levels, be it the vertical transmission from generation to generation in education, or the artistic transmission and diffusion through the arts. It is hoped that this volume will add to the meager literature that exists on the subject and will stimulate further research and study.

Himanshu Prabha Ray is at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

ISBN 81-7304-726-X 2007 408p. Rs.995/ Pounds 85

Maratha Historiography: (Based on Heras Memorial Lectures)

By- A.R. Kulkarni

Scott Waring, a British historian of the early nineteenth century wrote, ‘The Mahrattas were once a mighty nation. How they rose, and how they fell, may surely challenge enquiry’. This was, perhaps, the main reason why administrators, researchers and historians—both Indian and foreign have been attracted towards the history of Marathas from seventeenth century till this day. A contention that is amply reiterated by the scope of the present volume.

This work on Maratha historiography is divided into three parts. It starts with an account
of the writings of the foreign historians Cosme da Guarda (Portuguese), M.C. Sprengel
(German) and Robert Orme, Scott Waring, Elphinstone and Grant Duff (British).

The second part of the work is devoted to the Archival movement in Bombay Presidency in the colonial period and the popular movement launched by the Maratha scholars against the rigid policy regarding the access to the State Archives, and the amount of source material collected by them. The contribution of Kashinath Narayan Sane, Vasudeo Vaman Khare, Vishwanath Kashinath Rajwade, Dattatraya Balwant Parasnis is discussed in this part.

The work also analyses the contribution of the medieval chroniclers or the bakharkars, to historical writings on Marathas and an assessement of the major modern Indian historians, namely G.S. Sardesai, Jadunath Sarkar, and Surendra Nath Sen along with many others.

The post-Independence phase is discussed by the author in the last chapter.

A.R. Kulkarni (b. 1925) Professor Emeritus of History, University of Pune, has had a long teaching career (1949-85). His major published works are Maharashtra in the Age of Shivaji (also in Marathi & Hindi) and James Cuninghame Grant Duff (also in English & Hindi) which have won national and state awards.

ISBN 81-7304-687-5 2006 364p. Rs.895/ Pounds 55

Interrogating History: Essays for Hermann Kulke

By- Martin Brandtner and Shishir Kumar Panda (eds)

This felicitation volume is in honour of Professor Hermann Kulke whose contribution to the world of history, especially Indian history, is very well known. It incorporates eassays which are thematically and spatially related to his areas of interest. Thus, the three sections into which the contributions are organized broadly overlap with some of the areas of historical enquiry as well as geographical regions that have attracted Professor Kulke – Historians and Historiography, South and Southeast Asia and last but not the least, Orissa.

The first section includes an article, ‘Ways of Questioning: Historians and Historiography’, that highlights, Professor Kulke’s contribution to the study of Indian history and culture. The other chapters focus on major issues related to archaeology, historiography, and the significance of the horse in India history.

The next section includes chapters that examine issues related to Kharavela, The Date Formula in Ceylonese inscriptions, Tradition and Time, Trade, Vidisa during the Guptas, Early Medieval Orissa and Tagore’s Perceptions of Southeast Asia.

Finally, the third section contains eassays that explore the Oriya identity movement in Singhbhum, the blurred boundaries between religion and politics, the making of cultural identity, the rumours associated with Gandhi in the literary tracts, the problems of decolon-ization, sub-regional centres like Khallikote in south-western Orissa, the colonial classification of the Kondh tribe and the Saivite version of the puja manuals of Jagannatha of Puri.

Besides historians, this book would attract political sociologists, social anthropologists and indologists.

Martin Brandtner: Senior Research Fellow, Chair of Asian History, Kiel University.

Shishir Kumar Panda: Professor, Department of History, Berhampur University.

ISBN 81-7304-679-4 2006 392p. Rs.875/ Pounds 55

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