1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910789705803321

Autore

Mallampalli Chandra <1965->

Titolo

Race, religion, and law in colonial India : trials of an interracial family / / Chandra Mallampalli [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2011

ISBN

1-139-17998-5

1-107-22927-8

1-283-38415-9

9786613384157

1-139-18976-X

1-139-18845-3

1-139-18383-4

1-139-19105-5

1-139-18615-9

0-511-99841-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xviii, 268 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge studies in Indian history and society ; ; 19

Classificazione

HIS017000

Disciplina

346.54/87052

Soggetti

Inheritance and succession - India - Bellary (District) - History - 19th century

Legal polycentricity - India - Bellary (District) - History - 19th century

Bellary (India : District) Social conditions 19th 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 and index.

Nota di contenuto

Remembering family -- Embodying 'Dora-hood' : the brothers and their business -- A crisis of trust : sedition and the sale of arms in Kurnool -- Letters from Cambridge -- The path to litigation -- Litigating gender and race : Charlotte sues at Bellary -- Francis appeals : the case for cultural continuity -- Choice, identity, and law : the decision of London's Privy Council.

Sommario/riassunto

How did British rule in India transform persons from lower social classes? Could Indians from such classes rise in the world by marrying Europeans and embracing their religion and customs? This book explores such questions by examining the intriguing story of an



interracial family who lived in southern India in the mid-nineteenth century. The family, which consisted of two untouchable brothers, both of whom married Eurasian women, became wealthy as distillers in the local community. A family dispute resulted in a landmark court case, Abraham v. Abraham. Chandra Mallampalli uses this case to examine the lives of those involved, and shows that far from being products of a 'civilizing mission' who embraced the ways of Englishmen, the Abrahams were ultimately - when faced with the strictures of the colonial legal system - obliged to contend with hierarchy and racial difference.