Автор: Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib; Dharma Kumar and Meghnad Desai
Название: The Cambridge Economic History of India: Vols. I-II
Издательство: Cambridge University Press
Год: 1982-1983
ISBN: 9780521226929; 9780521228022
Язык: English
Формат: pdf
Размер: 144,6 mb
Страниц: 535+1047
Vol. I: c. 1200–c. 1750
This volume covers the so-called period of Muslim rule in India, identified by some as India’s Middle Ages. Continuity rather than change characterized most aspects of economic life over very long periods and the view that drastic or far-reaching discontinuities belong only to the colonial era cannot be discounted altogether. Monographs dealing with cross-sections of economic life have generally accepted the chronology of political history or simply referred to the relevant centuries to indicate the temporal limits of their enquiry. Questions as to whether the economic phenomena discussed in such works differ significantly, if at all, from their counterparts in proximate epochs are seldom raised. The validity of the dates appearing in the title of a volume is simply assumed. Often the only justification for them is that the sources consulted belong to the time in question, even though material from a different century would tell an identical story.
Vol. II: c. 1757–c. 1970
The second volume covers the period 1757-1970, from the establishment of British rule to its termination, with epilogues on the post-Independence period. Part I opens with a broad description of the economy in the middle of the eighteenth century, then describes general economic trends in four main regions up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and includes a discussion of changes in the agrarian structure up to the end of 1947. Part II takes up various themes for the economy as a whole, while Part III deals with post-Independence developments in India and Pakistan. The Cambridge Economic History of India will be widely accepted as the standard work of reference on the subject, and the volumes will be of relevance to fields other than economic history, being the first major collaborative work of its kind to explore the shift of an advanced Asian civilization from pre-colonial times to independence.