The Nadars have had a turbulent and colourful history. Their efforts to rise above their depressed condition assumed dramatic form in the series of escalating confrontations between the caste and its antagonists. From the breast-cloth controversy the sack of Sivakasi to the Nadar Mahajana Sangam, the Nadars rise, encapsulating the processes of social mobility in Indian sopciety, has given rich texture to the analysis of a community in change.

Dennis Templeman examines the changes in the Northern Nadars' local caste associations in the twentieth century, in an effort to analyze the upward mobility of the Nadars in terms of status, power, and wealth.

Police Matters moves beyond the city to examine the intertwined nature of police and caste in the Tamil countryside. Radha Kumar argues that the colonial police deployed rigid notions of caste in their everyday tasks, refashioning rural identities in a process that has cast long postcolonial shadows. Kumar draws on previously unexplored police archives to enter the dusty streets and market squares where local constables walked, following their gaze and observing their actions towards potential subversives. Station records present a textured view of ordinary interactions between police and society, showing that state coercion was not only exceptional and spectacular; it was also subtle and continuous, woven into everyday life. The colonial police categorized Indian subjects based on caste to ensure the security of agriculture and trade, and thus the smooth running of the economy. Among policemen and among the objects of their coercive gaze, caste became a particularly salient form of identity in the politics of public spaces. Police Matters demonstrates that, without doubt, modern caste politics have both been shaped by, and shaped, state policing. Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through The Sustainable History Monograph Pilot, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.

Hardgrave discusses the problems of political development as shown through the experience of India. He examines India's struggle for independence and national unity, its experience with democratic political institutions, and its efforts to establish itself as a power in South Asia and the world. Although the book reflects a particular theoretical perspective, it is not essentially theoretical in either content or purpose. It is designed to provide a sense of the cultural and historical milieu in which political developments take place and to give a balanced treatment of structure and process, of institutions and behavior, and of policy and performance in Indian politics. India reflects the growing importance of non-Western nations and provides the framework in which problems of political development common to a major portion of the world are explored. ISBN 0-15-541353-8 (pbk.).

It?s no secret that certain social groups have predominated India?s business and trading history, with business traditionally being the preserve of particular `Bania? communities. However, the past four or so decades have seen a widening of the social base of Indian capital, such that the social profile of Indian business has expanded beyond recognition, and entrepreneurship and commerce in India are no longer the exclusive bastion of the old mercantile castes. In this meticulously researched book ? acclaimed for being the first social history to document and understand India?s new entrepreneurial groups ? Harish Damodaran looks to answer who the new `wealth creators? are, as he traces the transitional entry of India?s middle and lower peasant castes into the business world. Combining analytical rigour with journalistic flair, India?s New Capitalists is an essential read for anyone seeking to understand the culture and evolution of business in contemporary South Asia.