Traditional Industry in the Economy of Colonial India

by Tirthankar Roy

Overview

Earlier historians of India's economic history have argued that traditional manufacturing in India was destroyed or devitalized during the colonial period, and that "modern industry" is substantially different. Exploring new material from research into five traditional industries, Tirthankar Roy's book contests these notions, demonstrating that while traditional industry did evolve during the industrial revolution, these transformations had a galvanizing rather than negative effect on manufacturing generally. The book offers new and penetrating insights into the study of India's economic and social history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521650120
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/04/1999
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society , #5
Pages:	266
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1410L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; List of maps; List of tables; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. Markets and organization; 3. Handloom weaving; 4. Gold thread (jari); 5. Brassware; 6. Leather; 7. Carpets; 8. Conclusion; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This book is a must for any scholar concerned with transformations of traditional enterprise in the modern world economy. The extensive bibliography, solid revisionist argument, and detailed evidence also make it a new classic in the economic history of modern South Asia." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This impressively researched book by Tirthankar Roy perhaps drives the last nail into the coffin of the old nationalist, and sometimes Marxist, assumption that artisanal industries of precolonial India were dealt a death blow in the colonial period when British rule created a market for industrial goods that were either imported or manufactured locally...His approach is a welcome corrective to some of the received views on the history of Indian economy under British rule..." American Historical Review

"This new book by Tirthankar Roy of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Bombay is well worth reading. It is a careful and extremely well researched discussion of the evolution of five important craft-based industries during the colonial period." EH.NET (Feb 01)

From the Publisher