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The Subordination of the Sovereigns: Colonialism and the Gond Rajas in Central India, 1818–1948*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 November 2012

BHANGYA BHUKYA
BHANGYA BHUKYA*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Exclusion Studies, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad 500007, India Email: bbhangya@gmail.com
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Abstract

British colonial intervention in India had sought to establish an exclusive sovereignty as was embodied in the modern state of the West. India had a tradition of existence of multiple sovereignties even during the times of strong imperial powers. Pre-colonial imperial powers had enjoyed symbolic sovereignty particularly over forest and hill areas, while local powers had undisputed sovereignty over resources and people in their territories. The British colonial state disturbed this shared sovereignty by assimilating the local sovereign powers into the state through a programme of colonial modernity, treaties, agreements and by force. This process produced contested histories. However, local powers such as the Gond Rajas were, to some extent, reduced to a subordinate position.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 288 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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Footnotes

*

An earlier version of this paper was presented to the South Asian History Seminar at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. I am grateful to Shabnum Tejani, Peter Robb, and Sunil Kumar for their valuable comments and suggestions. I am thankful to David Hardiman for his searching and suggestive comments, which helped me extensively reframe the paper. I would also like to acknowledge with thanks the British Academy, which funded this study.

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127 Ibid., f. 21.

128 It was reported that collectively zamindars consumed 31 bottles of whisky, 482 quart bottles of beer, 270 pint bottles of beer, and 8 bottles of brandy between January 1941 and February 1942, see Vidarbha, RD, S.no. 5916, F. no. 6/1945, f. 111. For his wives and concubines see Ibid., f. 112.

129 Ibid., f. 37.

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132 Chanda District Gazetteer, p. 462.

133 Chanda District Gazetteer, p. 460.

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139 Pagdi, Among the Gonds, pp. 38–39.

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