Changing India: Bourgeois Revolution on the SubcontinentThe revised edition of Robert Stern's book brings India's story up to date. Since its original publication in 1993, much has altered and yet central to the author's argument remains his belief in the remarkable continuity and vitality of India's social systems and its resilience in the face of change. This is a colourful, readable and comprehensive introduction to modern India. In a journey through its family households and villages, the author explains its long-lived and little understood caste and class systems, its venerable faiths and extraordinary ethnic diversity, its history as 'the jewel in the crown' of British imperialism and its post-Independence career as a major agricultural and industrial nation. While paradoxes abound in an India which is constantly transforming, Stern demonstrates how and why it remains the largest and most enduring democracy in the developing world. |
Contents
Families and villages | 35 |
Caste | 56 |
Class | 88 |
Homelands and states | 107 |
Change from above | 129 |
British imperialism Indian nationalism and Muslim separatism | 131 |
The Indian Union in a changing India | 171 |
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Common terms and phrases
agricultural alliance Ashraf Ayodhya become Bengal Bihar bourgeois revolution Brahmin British government British imperialism British India bureaucrats Cambridge Centre century certainly coalition conflict Congress constitutional corruption cultivating middle classes Dalit decades Delhi democratic dharma economic elections empire example factions farmers Gandhi Green Revolution groups Gujarat hierarchy Hinduism Hindutva ideology Indian industry Indian nationalism Indian politics Indian society Indian Union interests Islam jatis jatis and castes Kashmir labor land landholding language legislative assemblies less Mahatma Mahatma Gandhi major mandal million minister modern movement nationalist negotiate Nehru nowadays one-party dominance ordinary organization Pakistan panchayati raj institutions pariwar parliamentary democracy patrons percent politicians population princes provincial parties public sector Punjab purity/pollution reforms relationships religious rules rural sacred sanskritization satyagraha secular Sikh social status subcontinent subcontinent's Tamil Nadu touchable tribal untouchability urban Uttar Pradesh V. P. Singh varna varna dharma village households vote West Bengal women