1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910783174103321

Autore

Parthasarathi Prasannan

Titolo

The transition to a colonial economy : weavers, merchants, and kings in South India, 1720-1800 / / Prasannan Parthasarathi [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2001

ISBN

1-107-11332-6

1-280-15313-X

0-511-11645-4

0-511-01850-9

0-511-15621-9

0-511-32913-X

0-511-49741-5

0-511-05361-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xii, 165 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge studies in Indian history and society ; ; 7

Disciplina

330.954/029

Soggetti

Industries - India, South - History - 18th century

India, South Economic conditions 18th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-160) and index.

Nota di contenuto

; 1. Weavers and merchants 1720-1760 -- ; 2. Agriculture and cotton textiles -- ; 3. Weaver distress 1765-1800 -- ; 4. Weaver protest -- ; 5. Laborers, kings and colonialism.

Sommario/riassunto

According to widespread belief, poverty and low standards of living have been characteristic of India for centuries. Challenging this view, Prasannan Parthasarathi demonstrates that, until the late eighteenth century, labouring groups in South India, those at the bottom of the social order, were in a powerful position, receiving incomes well above subsistence. The decline in their economic fortunes, the author asserts, was a process initiated towards the end of that century, with the rise of colonial rule. Building on revisionist interpretations, he examines the transformation of Indian society and its economy under British rule through the prism of the labouring classes, arguing that their treatment



by the early colonial state had no precedent in the pre-colonial past and that poverty and low wages were a product of colonial rule. The book promises to make an important contribution to the economic history of the region, and to the study of colonialism.