A HISTORY OF INDIA Second Edition BURTON STEIN Edited by David Arnold A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication A HISTORY OF INDIA THE BLACKWELL HISTORY OF THE WORLD General Editor: R. I. Moore * The Origins of Human Society A History of Central and Northern Peter Bogucki Europe Robert Frost * A History of India Second Edition * A History of Russia, Central Asia Burton Stein and Mongolia: Volume I David Christian A History of South - East Asia Anthony Reid A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia: Volume II A History of China David Christian Morris Rossabi A History of the Ancient Americas * A History of Japan Fred Spier Conrad Totman * A History of Latin America * A History of Australia, Available in third edition as ‘ A New Zealand and the Pacifi c History of Latin America to 1825 ’ Donald Denoon, Philippa Mein - Smith Peter Bakewell & Marivic Wyndham Foundations of the Modern World A History of the Eastern R. I. Moore Mediterranean Nicholas Doumanis The Early Modern World Sanjay Subrahmanyam The Western Mediterranean and the World * The Birth of the Modern World Teofi lo F Ruiz C. A. Bayly A History of Western Europe The Crisis of the Modern World Robin Briggs C. A. Bayly * Denotes title published A HISTORY OF INDIA Second Edition BURTON STEIN Edited by David Arnold A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication This second edition fi rst published 2010 © the estate of Burton Stein, 1998, 2010; except for second edition editorial material copyright © David Arnold 2010 Edition history: Blackwell Publishers Ltd (1e, 1998) Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientifi c, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell. 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If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stein, Burton, 1926–1996. A history of India / Burton Stein. – 2nd ed. / edited by David Arnold. p. cm. – (The Blackwell history of the world) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-9509-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. India–History. I. Arnold, David, 1946– II. Title. DS407.S82 2010 954–dc22 2009045122 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10 on 12pt Plantin by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited Printed in Malaysia 1 2010 CONTENTS List of Illustrations viii List of Maps x Series Editor’s Preface xi Introduction to Burton Stein’s A History of India xiv Acknowledgements to First Edition xxii PART I 1 1 Introduction 7 The Physical Setting 8 The Social Setting 14 Resituating Communities and States 21 Historian’s Choice 35 PART II ANCIENT INDIA 37 Chronology 38 2 Ancient Days 39 The Pre-formation of Indian Civilization 39 Vedic Culture 46 Political and Religious Developments 53 Religion in the Later Vedic Period 59 The Nature of the Mauryan Kingdom 68 Towards the Classical Pattern 75 Early Hinduism 79 Developments in the South 84 The Age of the Early Empires 85 The Gupta Classical Pattern 90 The Classical Pattern Elaborated and Extended: the South 96 v Contents PART III MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN INDIA 103 Chronology 104 3 Medieval India 105 Introduction 105 Medieval Kingdoms 110 The Role of the Southern Kingdoms 124 The Advent of Islam 129 The Indian Development of Islam 138 The Deccan and the South 146 Vijayanagara 147 States and Communities 150 4 Early Modern India 155 Introduction 155 The Mughal Empire 159 The Wars of the Mughal Succession 171 The Last Act of the Mughals 179 The Maratha Moment 185 The Shadow of Europe 193 5 The East India Company 196 Introduction 196 The Joint Trajectory of Development 201 The Company Perpetuates the Past 211 The Emergence of a New Order 215 Mutiny and Revolt 222 Late Company Rule 223 PART IV CONTEMPORARY SOUTH ASIA 225 Chronology 226 6 The Crown Replaces the Company 227 The Contemporary State 227 After the Mutiny 229 The Rule of the Raj 239 The Political Economy of the Late Nineteenth Century 247 Cultural Change, Education and New Classes 253 The Politicization of Class, Caste and Gender 262 7 Towards Freedom 274 Two Types of Nationalism 274 Early Congress and Its Adversaries 277 War, Sacrifi ce and Mass Political Mobilization 287 Imperialism’s Paradoxical Enemy 289 The First Campaigns 294 vi Contents Between Campaigns 299 Conditions for a New Politics 306 8 Gandhi’s Triumph 308 Civil Disobedience 308 The Left in Politics 325 The Right Prevails 332 War and the Last Act Begins 338 The Bitter Victory of Partition 348 9 New States, Old Nations 357 Territorial Passage 357 The Promises of Independence 358 Pakistan in Parallel 368 The Green Revolution: Promise of Plenty 376 Environmental Problems, Old and New 377 The Condition of Women: Broken Promises 384 Communal Politics: Shattered Pluralism 388 India and the World 393 Promises Kept, Promises Broken 396 10 Another India 398 The Nehruvian Consensus 399 Eroding Consensus 402 Failure on the Left 406 Hindu Nationalism 409 Rise of the Hindu Right 410 Economic Liberalization 413 The Indian State 417 Notes 421 Glossary of Non-English Terms 425 Further Reading 430 Index 435 vii I LLUSTRATIONS 1 Impression from an Indus valley seal (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 45 2 Ruins of Mohenjo- Daro (Courtesy of George Michell) 46 3 Ashvamedha - yaga (horse sacrifi ce ceremony) (By permission of the British Library) 54 4 Rama, Sita and Lakshmana menaced by a demon host (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 56 5 Ashokan pillar edict (By permission of the British Library) 69 6 Gandhara stone carving showing Greek infl uence (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 72 7 Vishnu and his ten avatars (By permission of the British Library) 81 8 Arjuna, and Krishna as his charioteer (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 82 9 Gold coin of Samudragupta (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 91 10 The Minakshi- Sundareshvara temple at Madurai (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 127 11 The great citadel of Devagiri (By permission of the British Library) 136 12 The Alai Darwaza, Delhi (By permission of the British Library) 141 13 The burning of the Rajput women during the siege of Chitor (Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum) 144 14 Virupaksha temple, Vijayanagara (By permission of the British Library) 145 15 Tomb of Shaikh Salim Chishti, Fatehpur Sikri (By permission of the British Library) 165 16 Dara Shukoh attending a debate (By permission of the British Library) 174 17 The emperor Aurangzeb in old age (By permission of the British Library) 183 18 The haveli of the Divetia family in Ahmedabad (Courtesy of Vivek Nanda) 198 viii Illustrations 19 A European smoking a hookah and watching a nautch in his house (By permission of the British Library) 203 20 Sir Thomas Munro (By permission of the British Library) 210 21 The fi ery trial of Sita (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 218 22 The Viceroy’ s elephants (By permission of the British Library) 240 23 Victims of a nineteenth - century famine (By permission of the British Library) 250 24 Raja Ram Mohun Roy (By permission of the British Library) 255 25 Santhal scroll painting (Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum) 270 26 ‘ Terribly Sympathetic ’ (Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum) 279 27 Embroiderers (By permission of the British Library) 303 28 Gandhi at the second Round Table Conference (By permission of the British Library) 316 29 European ladies at the wedding of a maharaja ’ s daughter, 1932 (Harald Lechenperg) 318 30 Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (By permission of the British Library) 322 31 Nehru and Jinnah in the garden of Jinnah ’ s house (By permission of the British Library) 339 32 Three voters outside a polling booth in Tamil Nadu (Courtesy of K.