The Strangled Traveler
The Strangled Traveler

Author: Martine van Wœrkens

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2002-11

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0226850862

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British colonists in 1830s India lived in terror of the Thugs. Reputed to be brutal criminals, the Thugs supposedly strangled, beheaded, and robbed thousands of travelers in the goddess Kali's name. The British responded with equally brutal repression of the Thugs and developed a compulsive fascination with tales of their monstrous deeds. Did the Thugs really exist, or did the British invent them as an excuse to seize tighter control of India? Drawing on historical and anthropological accounts, Indian tales and sacred texts, and detailed analyses of the secret Thug language, Martine van Woerkens reveals for the first time the real story of the Thugs. Many different groups of Thugs actually did exist over the centuries, but the monsters the British made of them had much more to do with colonial imaginings of India than with the real Thugs. Tracing these imaginings down to the present, van Woerkens reveals the ongoing roles of the Thugs in fiction and film from Frankenstein to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Concubinage, Race and Law in Early Colonial Bengal
Concubinage, Race and Law in Early Colonial Bengal

Author: Ruchika Sharma

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-29

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1000638685

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This book analyzes the domestic relations which British men came to establish with native Indian women in early colonial Bengal. It provides a fresh look into the history of imperial expansion and colonial encounters by studying the large number of wills left by the British men who came in an official or economic capacity to India. It closely engages with these wills, considering them as unique personal records. These documents, where the men penned down details of their native mistresses, give a glimpse of what their lives, interpersonal relationships, household objects, and everyday affairs were like. The volume highlights how commonplace such non-marital cohabitation was and constructs the social history of these connections. It looks at issues of theft, violence, rape, bequeathment, and property rights which the women had to contend with, and also studies some of the early experiences of the mixed-race children who were a product of these relationships. A unique look into the asymmetrical but fascinating history of interracial households in early colonial Bengal, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of history, women’s studies, gender studies, colonial law, colonial travel writing, minority studies, colonialism, imperialism, and South Asian studies.

The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857
The East India Company at Home, 1757-1857

Author: Margot Finn

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2018-02-15

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 1787350282

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The East India Company at Home, 1757–1857 explores how empire in Asia shaped British country houses, their interiors and the lives of their residents. It includes chapters from researchers based in a wide range of settings such as archives and libraries, museums, heritage organisations, the community of family historians and universities. It moves beyond conventional academic narratives and makes an important contribution to ongoing debates around how empire impacted Britain. The volume focuses on the propertied families of the East India Company at the height of Company rule. From the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the outbreak of the Indian Uprising in 1857, objects, people and wealth flowed to Britain from Asia. As men in Company service increasingly shifted their activities from trade to military expansion and political administration, a new population of civil servants, army officers, surveyors and surgeons journeyed to India to make their fortunes. These Company men and their families acquired wealth, tastes and identities in India, which travelled home with them to Britain. Their stories, the biographies of their Indian possessions and the narratives of the stately homes in Britain that came to house them, frame our explorations of imperial culture and its British legacies.

Raja Rammohun Roy: An Apostle Of Indian Awakening (3 Vols. Set)
Raja Rammohun Roy: An Apostle Of Indian Awakening (3 Vols. Set)

Author: S.K. Sharma

Publisher: Mittal Publications

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 9788183240185

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Raja Rammohun Roy, A Pioneer Social, Religious, And Political Reformer, Is Often Called The Father Of Modern India. He Was A Man Of Capacious Powers Of Intellect, Broad Religious Sympathies And A Very Powerful Though Genial Personality. A Man Of Sterling Qualities, He Was Fully Equipped With Erudite Scholarship. He Presents A Most Instructive Study For The New India Of Which He Is A Pioneer. In A Fulsome Tribute, R. Venkata Raman Has Said, The Raja Was Distincity Different From The Other Great Men Of India Before His Day. In Range Of Vision, In Reach Of Sympathy, In Versatility Of Power, In Variety Of Activities, In Co-Ordination Of Interests And In Coalescence Of Ideas... (He) Is A Unique Figure In The History Of India, If Not In The Annals Of The Race . These Volumes, It Is Hoped, Will Be Well Received By The Academics And The Scholarly Community For Making A Serious Study Of Rammohun Roy.