Richards
By the 60s and 70s history as a discipline was beginning to undergo some interesting developments globally. The influence of other social sciences and humanities had led to an increased interest in the evolution of political and social structures. Lots of studies on caste and kinship groupings undertaken by sociologists and anthropologists of modern South Asiabegan to change the ways in which features such as “caste” were understood to operate in South Asian history. Added to this was an interest in interpreting non-European histories not merely as flawed derivatives or deviations from a particular form of “development” or as exotic “others,” but as societies and cultures that changed in response to specific conditions, both global and local.
Richards was trained as a historian with a strong background in language training (particularly in Persian), and an awareness of scholarly trends in India and elsewhere. He was part of a generation of scholars (including Muzaffar Alam, from Delhi, whose works he references) who were attempting to understand Mughal history in its own terms rather than within a specific ideological frameworks. Richards would begin his career by looking at the Mughal financial administration and the politics of the southern empire, later he would go on to write what remains the definitive history of the Mughal period. We are going to look at an article from a very early stage in his research where he is still thinking through particular arguments, asking new questions, struggling with his sources. He has not yet reached the conclusions we discussed in lecture, but is inching towards them.
Our goal with this reading is to understand how Richards begins to see his sources in a different way. What new kinds of questions does he ask and why he is able to do so.
Some explanatory notes:
Amirs—nobles, those holding an upper rank in the Mansabdari system of the mughals
Mansabdars—officials of the Mughal administration, each had a specific rank or “zat” that ranged from 10-10,000.
Deccan—southern peninsula of S. Asia
Marathas—formerly a peasant group called Kunbis, by the seventeenth century hired as soldier by the Deccan kingdoms and later become a warrior caste. See also the territories they take over after Aurangzeb’s death. They began to expand territories by asking peasants to pay to them one fourth or chauth of the tax they paid the Mughals. This worked as “protection” money, eventually they displaced the Mughals altogether.
Deshmukhi—the marathi (language spoken by Marathas) word for right to collect taxes
Chaudhury—the headman of a particular clan or a village
Other caste names mentioned in the Richards article: Bedars, Gonds, Telugu Nayaks all claim warrior caste status and were formerly either peasants or forest tribes outside the caste system
Bijapur/Golconda—two older states in the South that were conquered by the Mughals in the 17th century
Parganas—the district-level unit of administration
Rustam (p.244 of Richards) a legendary Persian hero of immense strength and bravery
- According to Richards, why was the jagir crisis an “artificial crisis” rather than an absolute one?
- In what ways does his account of Mughal economic conditions differ from either Sarkar or Habib? What similarities do you see?
- Other than economics or the threat of force, what tied the nobility to the Emperor? How does Richards illustrate the importance of cultural and social ties as an important factor in political organization?
- What purpose does the story of Pap Rai serve in Richard’s argument?
- In Richard’s account of the Deccan, what groups have power and why? How do these groups compete or negotiate with each other in order to get what they want? How his is this analysis of political/social power different from the earlier studies we read?
- How does Richards use his primary sources—compare with Sarkar.
- In addition to his conclusions—Richards raises some questions for future research—both implicit and explicit. What are they and why would they be important in restructuring the debate about the 18th century?