Naukar, Rajput, and Sepoy

The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of Hindustan, 1450-1850

• Author(s): Dirk H. A. Kolff,
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 236
• ISBN_10: 0521523052
  ISBN_13: 9780521523059
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Biography & Autobiography / Military , Business & Economics / Labor / General , History / Asia / General , History / Asia / South / General , History / Europe / Renaissance , History / Modern / General , History / Asia / South / India , Technology & Engineering / Military Science ,

Description:... This is a study of an aspect of the ethnohistory of North Indian peasant society: the importance of its military labor market for state and sect formation, for social change and for the energetic survival strategies of the village of Hindustan. It traces the history of the British Indian sepoy back to the fifteenth century, firmly rooting him in India's medieval past. It also shows that, from the anthropological point of view, it was not the hierarchically arranged castes, but rather the multiple alliances and fluid identities of the peasantry that were the central phenomena of North Indian politics and decision making.