This book studies the politics that make the tricolour flag possibly the most revered of the symbols, icons and markers associated with nation and nationalism in twentieth-century India. The emphasis on the flag as a visual symbol aims to question certain dominant assumptions about visuality. Anchored on Mahatma Gandhi's 'believing eye', this study reveals specificities of visual experience in the South Asian milieu. The account begins with a survey of the pre-colonial period, focuses on colonial lives of the flag, and then moves ahead to explain the contemporary dynamics of seeing the flag in India. The Flag Satyagraha of Jubblepore and Nagpur in 1922–23, the adoption of the Congress Flag in 1931, the resolution for the future flag in the Constituent Assembly of India in 1947, the history of the colour saffron, and the codes governing the flag, as well as legal cases, are all explored in depth in this book.

This volume takes a pan-Indian view of different professional groups and service providers mainly based in towns. While Persian texts provide limited information on the subject, European sources in the form of travelogues, letters, memoirs and official reports unfold an interesting panorama on the subject. Here focus has been on the seventeenth century, as some prominent European share holders’ Companies established their warehouses-cum-residential complexes in India in this very century. Officials of these Companies sent to India or elsewhere, maintained proper records of their transactions and interaction with the state officials, common people, servants inside the household and outside, and through their reports attracted many European freebooters also to have a firsthand experience of the East. Here from, we get numerous details on the social life, working conditions, wages and other aspects of life of people who earned their livelihood through manual labour, as conditions in India appeared novel to them and they meticulously recorded everything with much interest. Their information is corroborated with the Indian sources. In both types of sources – Persian and European – artisans, labourers and service providers have generally been projected as ‘poor’, ‘miserable’ and ‘wretched’; who faced exploitation at all levels. Still, their contribution to the economy and society was im­perative. Aspects of life of such people deserve a detailed discussion as this volume amply proves. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.