a history of india: fourth edition
TRANSCRIPT
A History Of India: Fourth EditionA HISTORY OF INDIA
A History of India presents the grand sweep of Indian history from antiquity to the present in a compact and readable survey. The authors examine the major political, economic, social and cultural forces which have shaped the history of the subcontinent. Providing an authoritative and detailed account, Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund emphasise and analyse the structural pattern of Indian history.
Revised throughout, the fourth edition of this highly accessible book brings the history of India up to date to consider, for example, the recent developments in the Kashmir conflict. Along with a new glossary, this new edition also includes an expanded discussion of the Mughal empire as well as of the economic history of India.
Hermann Kulke is Professor of Asian History at the University of Kiel. He is the author of Kings and Cults: State Formation and Legitimation in India and Southeast Asia (1993).
Dietmar Rothermund is Professor and Head of History at the South Asian Institute, University of Heidelberg. His books include An Economic History of India (1993) and The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929–1939 (1996).
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
A HISTORY OF INDIA
Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
First published 1986 in hardback by Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd
Second edition first published 1990 in paperback Third edition first published 1998
by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016
Fourth edition first published 2004
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 1986, 1990, 1998, 2004 Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kulke, Hermann.
A History of India/Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund. – 4th ed. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. India–History. I. Rothermund, Dietmar. II. Title.
DS436.K85 2004 954–dc22 2004002075
ISBN 0–415–32919–1 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–32920–5 (pbk)
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
ISBN 0-203-39126-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67250-X (Adobe eReader Format)
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
CONTENTS
Introduction: History and the Environment 1
1 Early Civilisations of the Northwest 17 Prehistory and the Indus civilisation 17 Immigration and settlement of the Indo-Aryans 31
2 The Great Ancient Empires 50 The rise of the Gangetic culture and the great empires
of the east 50 The end of the Maurya empire and the northern invaders 72 The classical age of the Guptas 87 The rise of south India 98
3 The Regional Kingdoms of Early Medieval India 109 The rise and conflicts of regional kingdoms 109 Kings, princes and priests: the structure of Hindu realms 127 Gods, temples and poets: the growth of regional cultures 141 India’s impact on southeast Asia: causes and consequences 153
4 Religious Communities and Military Feudalism in the late Middle Ages 162 The Islamic conquest of northern India and the sultanate
of Delhi 162 The states of central and southern India in the period of
the sultanate of Delhi 180
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v
5 The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Empire 196 The Great Mughals and their adversaries 196 Indian land power and European sea power 214 The struggle for supremacy in India 227
6 The Period of Colonial Rule 244 Company Bahadur: trader and ruler 244 The colonial economy 260 The regional impact of British rule 266 The pattern of constitutional reform 278
7 The Freedom Movement and the Partition of India 284 The Indian freedom movement 284 The partition of India 312
8 The Republic 325 Internal affairs and political development 325 External affairs: global and regional dimensions 350
Perspectives 369
Glossary of Indian terms 371 Chronology 376 Bibliography and notes 385 Index 406
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
C O N T E N T S
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Mohenjo Daro, the so-called ‘Priest King’ 18 2.1 Sarnath, capital of an Ashoka-pillar 65 2.2 Buddha, Gandhara style at Takht-i-Bahai 72 2.3 Kushana gold coin 79 3.1 Nymph at Gyaraspur, Madhya Pradesh 110 3.2 Rock relief at Mahabalipuram, showing the descent of the
Ganga and the penance of Arjuna 121 3.3 Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram 122 3.4 Sungod Surya at Orissa 136 4.1 Virupaksha Temple at Vijayanagara 191 5.1 Baber hunting a rhino 198 5.2 Mausoleum of Itimad-ud-Daulah 206 5.3 Fortress Gwalior 212 5.4 Indian soldiers in British service (Gun Lascar Corps) 228 5.5 Warren Hastings 237 6.1 Durbar Procession of Great Mughal Akbar II 252 7.1 Bal Gangadhar Tilak 285 7.2 Swami Vivekananda 288 7.3 Gopal Krishna Gokhale 290 7.4 Mountbatten with Nehru and Jinnah 321 7.5 Jinnah and Gandhi 323 8.1 Rajendra Prasad 326
Maps
I.1 History and the environment 3 I.2 Population density according to the Census of India, 2001 15 1.1 Indus civilisation 20 1.2 Early cultures of the Gangetic Valley (c.1000–500 BC) 46 2.1 Maurya empire under Ashoka (262–233 BC) 69
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vii
2.2 India c. AD 0–300 84 2.3 The Gupta empire (320–500) 90 3.1 Regional kingdoms in the early seventh century 132 3.2 Regional kingdoms of the early Middle Ages (c.900–1200) 133 3.3 Territorial development of Orissa (c.600–1400) 134 4.1 Late Middle Ages (1206–1526): Delhi sultanate and late
regional empires 169 4.2 Temple donations and ritual policy in Vijayanagara
(1505–9) 187 5.1 The Mughal empire 201 5.2 Northwestern campaigns of the Great Mughals, 1645–8 209 6.1 The British penetration of India (1750–1860) 256 8.1 The Republic of India 351 8.2 Jammu and Kashmir and the Line of Control 368
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
I L L U S T R AT I O N S
viii
PREFACE
India’s history is the fascinating epic of a great civilisation. It is a history of amazing cultural continuity. Today, it is the history of one-sixth of mankind. Both Indian and foreign historians have been attracted by this great theme, and each generation has produced its own histories of India. Several histories of India have been written in recent times, thus the present authors may be asked why they have dared to produce yet another account of Indian history.
First, research in Indian history to which both authors have contributed in their own way is progressing rapidly and an adequate synthesis is needed at more frequent intervals so as to reflect the current state of knowledge and to stimulate further inquiries. This kind of up-to-date synthesis the authors hope to have provided here. Furthermore, Indian history from antiq- uity to the present is such an enormous subject that it requires more than one author to cope with it. Consequently, many surveys of Indian history have been done by teams of authors, but rarely have these authors had the benefit of working together in the same department, comparing notes on Indian history for many years. This has been the good fortune of the present authors who have worked together at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University for nearly twenty years.
In the late 1970s they first embarked on this joint venture at the request of a German publisher. The German edition was published in 1982, a revised edition appeared in 1998. The first English edition was published by David Croom of Croom Helm, London, in 1986. Subsequently, the rights were acquired by Routledge, London and, ever since, the Routledge edito- rial team has been helpful in bringing out new editions of this text which seems to have attracted many readers. Inspired by the interest in their work the authors have submitted this thoroughly revised text for the fourth English edition in December 2003. They updated the text with regard to recent history and also took into account new publications in the field so as to reflect the state of the art in historical research.
The authors have benefited from discussions with Indian, British and American colleagues, many of whom cannot read their German publications.
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
ix
They are glad to communicate with them by means of this book. However, this text is not restricted to a dialogue among historians, it is written for the student and the general reader. To this reader the authors want to introduce themselves here. Hermann Kulke studied Indology (Sanskrit) and history at Freiburg University and did his PhD thesis on the Chidambaram Mahatmya, a text which encompasses the tradition of the south Indian temple city Chidambaram. His second major book was on the Gajapati kings of Orissa. He has actively participated in the first Orissa Research Project of the German Research Council and was the co-editor of The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa. He continued to do research on Orissa and became the coordinator of the second Orissa Research Project which is still in progress. He has also worked on Indian historiography and medieval state formation in India and Indonesia and on the Devaraja cult of Angkor. He published a book on kings and cults in India and southeast Asia, edited a volume on The State in India, 1000–1700 and recently wrote another History of India in German. In 1988 Hermann Kulke was called to the new Chair of Asian History at Kiel University. The distance between Heidelberg and Kiel has not reduced the contacts with his co-author.
Dietmar Rothermund studied history and philosophy at Marburg and Munich universities and at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he did his PhD thesis on the history of eighteenth-century Penn- sylvania. He then went to India and worked on a history of the freedom movement which was published in German in 1965. He subsequently wrote a book on India and the Soviet Union and a major research monograph on agrarian relations in India under British rule. He also wrote a comprehen- sive political biography of Mahatma Gandhi in German and then published a shorter version of it in English.
In the 1970s he participated in the Dhanbad Project of the South Asia Interdisciplinary Regional Research Programme. This project was devoted to the history and economy and the social conditions of an Indian coalfield and its rural hinterland. Subsequently, he mostly worked on Indian eco- nomic history and published a research monograph on India in the Great Depression, 1929–1939 (1992) followed by a general text on The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929–1939 (1996).
In the 1990s he turned his attention to the liberalisation of the Indian economy and edited a volume on Liberalising India. Progress and Problems (1996). He participated in producing a German series entitled ‘Twenty Days of the Twentieth Century’, and ‘his day’ was, of course, 15 August 1947. Taking this date as a point of departure, this book covered the history of decolonisation in Asia and Africa.
In keeping with their respective fields of specialisation the authors have divided the work on the present text. Hermann Kulke has written Chapters 1 to 4. He benefited a great deal from discussions with Martin Brandtner, Kiel, while revising the first chapter. Dietmar Rothermund has written the
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
P R E FAC E
x
Introduction, Chapters 5 to 8 and has also prepared the entire English version of the text. In addition to his contribution to the present text he has also published An Economic History of India. Its second edition was published by Routledge in 1993. It was supposed to be a companion volume to A History of India, but it seems that students prefer one textbook and do not want to consult two. Due to this, readers missed the economic dimen- sion in A History of India. Therefore, the present edition contains some new paragraphs on essential aspects of Indian economic history. Since the text could not be expanded too much, these references are necessarily very brief.
When writing a history of India one is faced with a dilemma with regard to the term ‘India’. Before 1947 it refers to an area which is now usually called south Asia and includes, among other states, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The history of the latter states is covered by the present book up to 1947, whereas for the subsequent period it is restricted to the history of the Republic of India. Bangladesh and Pakistan are mentioned to the extent that their development affected that of the Republic of India. Some readers may have liked to see a more detailed treatment of Bangladesh and Pakistan, but this would have been beyond the scope of this text.
The book does not have footnotes but in the bibliographies of the different chapters, there are notes concerning specific quotations included in the text. For the transcription of Indian names and terms the authors have adopted the standard English style and omitted diacritical marks. As a new feature, the present edition has a glossary of Indian terms for ready refer- ence to words which have not been explained in detail in the text. In recent years the names of some major Indian cities have been changed, i.e. the pre-colonial names have been restored. In the present text the previous names have been retained as many readers would not yet be familiar with the changed ones. Moreover, historical names such as Bombay Presidency or Madras Presidency cannot be converted into Mumbai Presidency and Chennai Presidency. The glossary lists the new names for all old names found in the text.
The general emphasis in this book is on the structural pattern of Indian history rather than on the chronology of events. A chronological table has been appended to the text. Several maps have been inserted into the text to help the reader to locate names of places and the shifts of territorial con- trol. As a new feature, illustrations have been added to the present edition which should make the book more attractive as visual representation often transcends the power of words.
Hermann Kulke Dietmar Rothermund
Kiel and Heidelberg, December 2003
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P R E FAC E
xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce material:
Georg Helmes, Aachen (Figure 1.1) Museum of Indian Art, Berlin (Figure 2.2) The British Museum (Figure 2.3) Dinodia.com (Figures 4.1, 5.2, 7.5) Rietberg Musem (Figure 4.2, 5.1) The Director, National Army Museum (Figure 5.4) National Portrait Gallery, London (Figures 5.5, 7.1, 7.2) India Office Library and Records (Add.Or.888) (Figure 6.1) Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and National Portrait Gallery, London (Figure 7.3) Associated Press (Figure 7.4) AKG London (Figure 8.1)
While every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyright material used in this volume, the publishers will be glad to make suitable arrangements with any copyright holders whom it has not been possible to contact.
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xii
INTRODUCTION
History and the environment
Environment – that is a world alive and related to a living centre, the habitat of an animal, the hunting grounds and pastures of nomads, the fields of settled peasants. For human beings the environment is both an objective ecological condition and a field of subjective experience. Nature sets limits, man transgresses them with his tools and his vision. Man progressively creates a specific environment and makes history. In this process it is not only the limits set by nature which are transgressed but also the limits of human experience and cognition. From the elementary adaptation to the natural environment to the establishment of great civilisations, the horizon of experience and the regional extension of human relations constantly expand.
The conception of the environment changes in the course of this evolu- tion. Ecological conditions which may appear hostile to man at one stage of this evolution may prove to be attractive and inviting at another stage. The hunter and foodgatherer armed only with stone tools preferred to live on the edge of forests near the plains or in open river valleys, areas which were less attractive to the settled peasant who cut the trees and reclaimed fertile soil. But initially even the peasant looked for lighter soils until a sturdy plough and draught animals enabled him to cope with heavy soils. At this stage the peasant could venture to open up fertile alluvial plains and reap rich harvests of grain. If rainfall or irrigation were sufficient he could grow that most productive but most demanding of all grains: rice. Wherever irrigated rice was produced, plenty of people could live and great empires could rise,…
A History of India presents the grand sweep of Indian history from antiquity to the present in a compact and readable survey. The authors examine the major political, economic, social and cultural forces which have shaped the history of the subcontinent. Providing an authoritative and detailed account, Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund emphasise and analyse the structural pattern of Indian history.
Revised throughout, the fourth edition of this highly accessible book brings the history of India up to date to consider, for example, the recent developments in the Kashmir conflict. Along with a new glossary, this new edition also includes an expanded discussion of the Mughal empire as well as of the economic history of India.
Hermann Kulke is Professor of Asian History at the University of Kiel. He is the author of Kings and Cults: State Formation and Legitimation in India and Southeast Asia (1993).
Dietmar Rothermund is Professor and Head of History at the South Asian Institute, University of Heidelberg. His books include An Economic History of India (1993) and The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929–1939 (1996).
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
A HISTORY OF INDIA
Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
First published 1986 in hardback by Croom Helm Australia Pty Ltd
Second edition first published 1990 in paperback Third edition first published 1998
by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
270 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016
Fourth edition first published 2004
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
© 1986, 1990, 1998, 2004 Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kulke, Hermann.
A History of India/Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund. – 4th ed. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. India–History. I. Rothermund, Dietmar. II. Title.
DS436.K85 2004 954–dc22 2004002075
ISBN 0–415–32919–1 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–32920–5 (pbk)
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
ISBN 0-203-39126-8 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67250-X (Adobe eReader Format)
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
CONTENTS
Introduction: History and the Environment 1
1 Early Civilisations of the Northwest 17 Prehistory and the Indus civilisation 17 Immigration and settlement of the Indo-Aryans 31
2 The Great Ancient Empires 50 The rise of the Gangetic culture and the great empires
of the east 50 The end of the Maurya empire and the northern invaders 72 The classical age of the Guptas 87 The rise of south India 98
3 The Regional Kingdoms of Early Medieval India 109 The rise and conflicts of regional kingdoms 109 Kings, princes and priests: the structure of Hindu realms 127 Gods, temples and poets: the growth of regional cultures 141 India’s impact on southeast Asia: causes and consequences 153
4 Religious Communities and Military Feudalism in the late Middle Ages 162 The Islamic conquest of northern India and the sultanate
of Delhi 162 The states of central and southern India in the period of
the sultanate of Delhi 180
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v
5 The Rise and Fall of the Mughal Empire 196 The Great Mughals and their adversaries 196 Indian land power and European sea power 214 The struggle for supremacy in India 227
6 The Period of Colonial Rule 244 Company Bahadur: trader and ruler 244 The colonial economy 260 The regional impact of British rule 266 The pattern of constitutional reform 278
7 The Freedom Movement and the Partition of India 284 The Indian freedom movement 284 The partition of India 312
8 The Republic 325 Internal affairs and political development 325 External affairs: global and regional dimensions 350
Perspectives 369
Glossary of Indian terms 371 Chronology 376 Bibliography and notes 385 Index 406
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C O N T E N T S
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
1.1 Mohenjo Daro, the so-called ‘Priest King’ 18 2.1 Sarnath, capital of an Ashoka-pillar 65 2.2 Buddha, Gandhara style at Takht-i-Bahai 72 2.3 Kushana gold coin 79 3.1 Nymph at Gyaraspur, Madhya Pradesh 110 3.2 Rock relief at Mahabalipuram, showing the descent of the
Ganga and the penance of Arjuna 121 3.3 Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram 122 3.4 Sungod Surya at Orissa 136 4.1 Virupaksha Temple at Vijayanagara 191 5.1 Baber hunting a rhino 198 5.2 Mausoleum of Itimad-ud-Daulah 206 5.3 Fortress Gwalior 212 5.4 Indian soldiers in British service (Gun Lascar Corps) 228 5.5 Warren Hastings 237 6.1 Durbar Procession of Great Mughal Akbar II 252 7.1 Bal Gangadhar Tilak 285 7.2 Swami Vivekananda 288 7.3 Gopal Krishna Gokhale 290 7.4 Mountbatten with Nehru and Jinnah 321 7.5 Jinnah and Gandhi 323 8.1 Rajendra Prasad 326
Maps
I.1 History and the environment 3 I.2 Population density according to the Census of India, 2001 15 1.1 Indus civilisation 20 1.2 Early cultures of the Gangetic Valley (c.1000–500 BC) 46 2.1 Maurya empire under Ashoka (262–233 BC) 69
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vii
2.2 India c. AD 0–300 84 2.3 The Gupta empire (320–500) 90 3.1 Regional kingdoms in the early seventh century 132 3.2 Regional kingdoms of the early Middle Ages (c.900–1200) 133 3.3 Territorial development of Orissa (c.600–1400) 134 4.1 Late Middle Ages (1206–1526): Delhi sultanate and late
regional empires 169 4.2 Temple donations and ritual policy in Vijayanagara
(1505–9) 187 5.1 The Mughal empire 201 5.2 Northwestern campaigns of the Great Mughals, 1645–8 209 6.1 The British penetration of India (1750–1860) 256 8.1 The Republic of India 351 8.2 Jammu and Kashmir and the Line of Control 368
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
I L L U S T R AT I O N S
viii
PREFACE
India’s history is the fascinating epic of a great civilisation. It is a history of amazing cultural continuity. Today, it is the history of one-sixth of mankind. Both Indian and foreign historians have been attracted by this great theme, and each generation has produced its own histories of India. Several histories of India have been written in recent times, thus the present authors may be asked why they have dared to produce yet another account of Indian history.
First, research in Indian history to which both authors have contributed in their own way is progressing rapidly and an adequate synthesis is needed at more frequent intervals so as to reflect the current state of knowledge and to stimulate further inquiries. This kind of up-to-date synthesis the authors hope to have provided here. Furthermore, Indian history from antiq- uity to the present is such an enormous subject that it requires more than one author to cope with it. Consequently, many surveys of Indian history have been done by teams of authors, but rarely have these authors had the benefit of working together in the same department, comparing notes on Indian history for many years. This has been the good fortune of the present authors who have worked together at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University for nearly twenty years.
In the late 1970s they first embarked on this joint venture at the request of a German publisher. The German edition was published in 1982, a revised edition appeared in 1998. The first English edition was published by David Croom of Croom Helm, London, in 1986. Subsequently, the rights were acquired by Routledge, London and, ever since, the Routledge edito- rial team has been helpful in bringing out new editions of this text which seems to have attracted many readers. Inspired by the interest in their work the authors have submitted this thoroughly revised text for the fourth English edition in December 2003. They updated the text with regard to recent history and also took into account new publications in the field so as to reflect the state of the art in historical research.
The authors have benefited from discussions with Indian, British and American colleagues, many of whom cannot read their German publications.
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
ix
They are glad to communicate with them by means of this book. However, this text is not restricted to a dialogue among historians, it is written for the student and the general reader. To this reader the authors want to introduce themselves here. Hermann Kulke studied Indology (Sanskrit) and history at Freiburg University and did his PhD thesis on the Chidambaram Mahatmya, a text which encompasses the tradition of the south Indian temple city Chidambaram. His second major book was on the Gajapati kings of Orissa. He has actively participated in the first Orissa Research Project of the German Research Council and was the co-editor of The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orissa. He continued to do research on Orissa and became the coordinator of the second Orissa Research Project which is still in progress. He has also worked on Indian historiography and medieval state formation in India and Indonesia and on the Devaraja cult of Angkor. He published a book on kings and cults in India and southeast Asia, edited a volume on The State in India, 1000–1700 and recently wrote another History of India in German. In 1988 Hermann Kulke was called to the new Chair of Asian History at Kiel University. The distance between Heidelberg and Kiel has not reduced the contacts with his co-author.
Dietmar Rothermund studied history and philosophy at Marburg and Munich universities and at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he did his PhD thesis on the history of eighteenth-century Penn- sylvania. He then went to India and worked on a history of the freedom movement which was published in German in 1965. He subsequently wrote a book on India and the Soviet Union and a major research monograph on agrarian relations in India under British rule. He also wrote a comprehen- sive political biography of Mahatma Gandhi in German and then published a shorter version of it in English.
In the 1970s he participated in the Dhanbad Project of the South Asia Interdisciplinary Regional Research Programme. This project was devoted to the history and economy and the social conditions of an Indian coalfield and its rural hinterland. Subsequently, he mostly worked on Indian eco- nomic history and published a research monograph on India in the Great Depression, 1929–1939 (1992) followed by a general text on The Global Impact of the Great Depression, 1929–1939 (1996).
In the 1990s he turned his attention to the liberalisation of the Indian economy and edited a volume on Liberalising India. Progress and Problems (1996). He participated in producing a German series entitled ‘Twenty Days of the Twentieth Century’, and ‘his day’ was, of course, 15 August 1947. Taking this date as a point of departure, this book covered the history of decolonisation in Asia and Africa.
In keeping with their respective fields of specialisation the authors have divided the work on the present text. Hermann Kulke has written Chapters 1 to 4. He benefited a great deal from discussions with Martin Brandtner, Kiel, while revising the first chapter. Dietmar Rothermund has written the
1111 2 3 4 51 6 7 8 9 1011 1 2 31 4 5 6 7 8 9 20111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30111 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40111 1 2 3 44111
P R E FAC E
x
Introduction, Chapters 5 to 8 and has also prepared the entire English version of the text. In addition to his contribution to the present text he has also published An Economic History of India. Its second edition was published by Routledge in 1993. It was supposed to be a companion volume to A History of India, but it seems that students prefer one textbook and do not want to consult two. Due to this, readers missed the economic dimen- sion in A History of India. Therefore, the present edition contains some new paragraphs on essential aspects of Indian economic history. Since the text could not be expanded too much, these references are necessarily very brief.
When writing a history of India one is faced with a dilemma with regard to the term ‘India’. Before 1947 it refers to an area which is now usually called south Asia and includes, among other states, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The history of the latter states is covered by the present book up to 1947, whereas for the subsequent period it is restricted to the history of the Republic of India. Bangladesh and Pakistan are mentioned to the extent that their development affected that of the Republic of India. Some readers may have liked to see a more detailed treatment of Bangladesh and Pakistan, but this would have been beyond the scope of this text.
The book does not have footnotes but in the bibliographies of the different chapters, there are notes concerning specific quotations included in the text. For the transcription of Indian names and terms the authors have adopted the standard English style and omitted diacritical marks. As a new feature, the present edition has a glossary of Indian terms for ready refer- ence to words which have not been explained in detail in the text. In recent years the names of some major Indian cities have been changed, i.e. the pre-colonial names have been restored. In the present text the previous names have been retained as many readers would not yet be familiar with the changed ones. Moreover, historical names such as Bombay Presidency or Madras Presidency cannot be converted into Mumbai Presidency and Chennai Presidency. The glossary lists the new names for all old names found in the text.
The general emphasis in this book is on the structural pattern of Indian history rather than on the chronology of events. A chronological table has been appended to the text. Several maps have been inserted into the text to help the reader to locate names of places and the shifts of territorial con- trol. As a new feature, illustrations have been added to the present edition which should make the book more attractive as visual representation often transcends the power of words.
Hermann Kulke Dietmar Rothermund
Kiel and Heidelberg, December 2003
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P R E FAC E
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors and publishers would like to thank the following for permission to reproduce material:
Georg Helmes, Aachen (Figure 1.1) Museum of Indian Art, Berlin (Figure 2.2) The British Museum (Figure 2.3) Dinodia.com (Figures 4.1, 5.2, 7.5) Rietberg Musem (Figure 4.2, 5.1) The Director, National Army Museum (Figure 5.4) National Portrait Gallery, London (Figures 5.5, 7.1, 7.2) India Office Library and Records (Add.Or.888) (Figure 6.1) Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and National Portrait Gallery, London (Figure 7.3) Associated Press (Figure 7.4) AKG London (Figure 8.1)
While every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyright material used in this volume, the publishers will be glad to make suitable arrangements with any copyright holders whom it has not been possible to contact.
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INTRODUCTION
History and the environment
Environment – that is a world alive and related to a living centre, the habitat of an animal, the hunting grounds and pastures of nomads, the fields of settled peasants. For human beings the environment is both an objective ecological condition and a field of subjective experience. Nature sets limits, man transgresses them with his tools and his vision. Man progressively creates a specific environment and makes history. In this process it is not only the limits set by nature which are transgressed but also the limits of human experience and cognition. From the elementary adaptation to the natural environment to the establishment of great civilisations, the horizon of experience and the regional extension of human relations constantly expand.
The conception of the environment changes in the course of this evolu- tion. Ecological conditions which may appear hostile to man at one stage of this evolution may prove to be attractive and inviting at another stage. The hunter and foodgatherer armed only with stone tools preferred to live on the edge of forests near the plains or in open river valleys, areas which were less attractive to the settled peasant who cut the trees and reclaimed fertile soil. But initially even the peasant looked for lighter soils until a sturdy plough and draught animals enabled him to cope with heavy soils. At this stage the peasant could venture to open up fertile alluvial plains and reap rich harvests of grain. If rainfall or irrigation were sufficient he could grow that most productive but most demanding of all grains: rice. Wherever irrigated rice was produced, plenty of people could live and great empires could rise,…