In existing historiography, the modernity discourse presents modern knowledge as being more econo... more In existing historiography, the modernity discourse presents modern knowledge as being more economically efficient and technologically advanced compared to traditional skills. This theoretical lens has introduced a hierarchy of production and restructured the meaning of work and division of labour within the profession of weaving. Historically, the contexts of both the modern textile industry and traditional handloom weaving were interrelated in terms of technology and skills, but they have become increasingly segregated over the last two centuries. This article suggests an apparent distinction between “modernization” as a historical process and “modernity” as a condition. Analysis of the policies and prejudices of the colonial state explains the dynamics between producers, products, and techniques in the handloom textile sector of the United Provinces during the early twentieth century, as well as the impact of government policies, nationalist ideas, and global processes on the sec...
Daud Khan's receipt of a magnificent robe from Munim Khan during the banquet of reconciliatio... more Daud Khan's receipt of a magnificent robe from Munim Khan during the banquet of reconciliation on 12 April 1575 (for example, Abul Fazl's Akbarnama, Vol. III, pp. 130-3 I). By donning it, Daud Khan became ritually 'incorporated' into the body of the emperor, which formally ended Daud's independence. In principle, the khil'ats had been worn by the ruler himself and, therefore, their acceptance symbolized the incorporation of the person into the body of the ruler, who incarnated the empire (F.W. Buckler, 'The Oriental Despot', in M.N. Pea.rson, ed, Legitimacy and Symbols, 1985, pp. 177-79). There was a 'political rite, a ritual incorporation, in which symbolism was everything', remarks Richard Eaton concerning the event (The Rise of Islam, 1993, p. 143).
In this book an attempt has been made to determine, tentively, the size and composition of the no... more In this book an attempt has been made to determine, tentively, the size and composition of the nobility during the reign of Shah Jahan. It also analyses amomg other things the nature of the mutual relationship that existed between the crown and the nobility and highlights the limited role of racial or religious sentiments in the political life of the ruling class of the time.
Locating the theorisation and practices of caste hierarchies within South Asian Islam with refere... more Locating the theorisation and practices of caste hierarchies within South Asian Islam with reference to high-caste Muslims (Ashrafs) versus Julaha weavers (Ajlafs), this article argues that class exploitation and class hegemony over the marginalised sections of Muslim society in North India were practised through caste stratifications, social hierarchies and land relations. The horizontal equality of ‘textual Islam’ was transformed into vertical social hierarchies in South Asia. While explaining the conditions of the disadvantageous socio-economic status that ensured their subordination, this article narrates instances of resistance and quests for equality undertaken by the Julaha weavers. The dialectics of these negotiations produced factors such as the stigma of status mandated by their caste, on the one hand, and the weavers’ integration within the capitalist colonial economy and politics, on the other. The article explores this history of hierarchies and the complex resistances offered to it, closely mediated by social and economic structures, prevailing ideologies and notions of colonial legality and mobility. The processes of the weavers challenging their social marginalisation, predicated on their economic status and their quest for new identities may look familiar to other communities which similarly used religion, caste and colonial law to resist and subvert hierarchies. Hence, the politicisation of the colonial public sphere affected the relations among the Indian Muslims in a new milieu. These arguments are significant in terms of rewriting the existing historiography that reinforces the binaries of nationalist–communalist or Hindu–Muslim politics.
This article is a study based on the United Provinces (UP) State Archive records on the early his... more This article is a study based on the United Provinces (UP) State Archive records on the early history of modern weaving schools in UP. Handloom weaving has been a major occupation in this region, diversified in skills, and involved some of the most skill-intensive types of textiles woven on the loom. Did the schools—as expected—formalise that knowledge to modernise it, bring it from the private domain to the public and encourage experiments upon it by making training less tradition-bound? These are important questions in the history of traditional industry, for the schools do represent some sort of paradigm shift in the way knowledge of technology forms. The case of experimental weaving schools in the United Provinces proved to be a site of contestation reflecting the overlapping and contradictory notions for the binary superstructures of modern state and community. As far as the dominant colonial power structure was concerned, a need to accommodate traditional ‘community’ and its product was certainly recognised in an attempt to legitimise many actions of the state. But this accommodation of the ‘community’ was possible only in a conditioned form in the new power structure. If ‘community’ was not ready to get accommodated in that particular conditioned form, then it had to suffer marginalisation. In fact, the colonial regime was certainly offering a technical alternative in the form of new content in the syllabi, modes of transmission, and enhancement of knowledge and motivational structures. But the parallel existence of traditional, sophisticated and complex knowledge, conveyed through kinship, dynasticism and close-knit cultural groups was not going to relent so easily. How, as per the new ground realities, both the systems interacted, co-existed, challenged and overlapped with each other and in the process transformed each other as well are some questions to be posed here.
This article discusses the complex nature of handloom weaving in market relations and the househo... more This article discusses the complex nature of handloom weaving in market relations and the household production in the north Indian region of eastern Uttar Pradesh in the first half of the twentieth century through studying a Muslim weavers’ community known as Julahas. The entire community chain active in the process of handloom production in a micro-region was appropriated in a new relation of commodity production. Therefore, the article focuses on the emergence of capitalist conditions that enabled connections, affiliations, and exclusions in the networked relationships of social communities. In basically a labour-intensive, low-cost household production, the structure of the production process was defined by the need to purchase yarn and pay for living expenses of the weaver and his dependents while the cloth was being woven. The historically unequal connections operated through the social power balance of community and those in families (between husbands and wives, parents and children) found new meanings in bargaining situations of labour markets. A direct involvement with the loom and weaving ensured that the master weaver would directly come from the weaving population and should be Muslim as well. The mechanism of advances and karkhanadar’s/grihasta’s position in the community ensured that weaver/labourer would remain under a constant moral and social pressure to follow the ‘capitalist mode of production.’
In existing historiography, the modernity discourse presents modern knowledge as being more econo... more In existing historiography, the modernity discourse presents modern knowledge as being more economically efficient and technologically advanced compared to traditional skills. This theoretical lens has introduced a hierarchy of production and restructured the meaning of work and division of labour within the profession of weaving. Historically, the contexts of both the modern textile industry and traditional handloom weaving were interrelated in terms of technology and skills, but they have become increasingly segregated over the last two centuries. This article suggests an apparent distinction between “modernization” as a historical process and “modernity” as a condition. Analysis of the policies and prejudices of the colonial state explains the dynamics between producers, products, and techniques in the handloom textile sector of the United Provinces during the early twentieth century, as well as the impact of government policies, nationalist ideas, and global processes on the sec...
Daud Khan's receipt of a magnificent robe from Munim Khan during the banquet of reconciliatio... more Daud Khan's receipt of a magnificent robe from Munim Khan during the banquet of reconciliation on 12 April 1575 (for example, Abul Fazl's Akbarnama, Vol. III, pp. 130-3 I). By donning it, Daud Khan became ritually 'incorporated' into the body of the emperor, which formally ended Daud's independence. In principle, the khil'ats had been worn by the ruler himself and, therefore, their acceptance symbolized the incorporation of the person into the body of the ruler, who incarnated the empire (F.W. Buckler, 'The Oriental Despot', in M.N. Pea.rson, ed, Legitimacy and Symbols, 1985, pp. 177-79). There was a 'political rite, a ritual incorporation, in which symbolism was everything', remarks Richard Eaton concerning the event (The Rise of Islam, 1993, p. 143).
In this book an attempt has been made to determine, tentively, the size and composition of the no... more In this book an attempt has been made to determine, tentively, the size and composition of the nobility during the reign of Shah Jahan. It also analyses amomg other things the nature of the mutual relationship that existed between the crown and the nobility and highlights the limited role of racial or religious sentiments in the political life of the ruling class of the time.
Locating the theorisation and practices of caste hierarchies within South Asian Islam with refere... more Locating the theorisation and practices of caste hierarchies within South Asian Islam with reference to high-caste Muslims (Ashrafs) versus Julaha weavers (Ajlafs), this article argues that class exploitation and class hegemony over the marginalised sections of Muslim society in North India were practised through caste stratifications, social hierarchies and land relations. The horizontal equality of ‘textual Islam’ was transformed into vertical social hierarchies in South Asia. While explaining the conditions of the disadvantageous socio-economic status that ensured their subordination, this article narrates instances of resistance and quests for equality undertaken by the Julaha weavers. The dialectics of these negotiations produced factors such as the stigma of status mandated by their caste, on the one hand, and the weavers’ integration within the capitalist colonial economy and politics, on the other. The article explores this history of hierarchies and the complex resistances offered to it, closely mediated by social and economic structures, prevailing ideologies and notions of colonial legality and mobility. The processes of the weavers challenging their social marginalisation, predicated on their economic status and their quest for new identities may look familiar to other communities which similarly used religion, caste and colonial law to resist and subvert hierarchies. Hence, the politicisation of the colonial public sphere affected the relations among the Indian Muslims in a new milieu. These arguments are significant in terms of rewriting the existing historiography that reinforces the binaries of nationalist–communalist or Hindu–Muslim politics.
This article is a study based on the United Provinces (UP) State Archive records on the early his... more This article is a study based on the United Provinces (UP) State Archive records on the early history of modern weaving schools in UP. Handloom weaving has been a major occupation in this region, diversified in skills, and involved some of the most skill-intensive types of textiles woven on the loom. Did the schools—as expected—formalise that knowledge to modernise it, bring it from the private domain to the public and encourage experiments upon it by making training less tradition-bound? These are important questions in the history of traditional industry, for the schools do represent some sort of paradigm shift in the way knowledge of technology forms. The case of experimental weaving schools in the United Provinces proved to be a site of contestation reflecting the overlapping and contradictory notions for the binary superstructures of modern state and community. As far as the dominant colonial power structure was concerned, a need to accommodate traditional ‘community’ and its product was certainly recognised in an attempt to legitimise many actions of the state. But this accommodation of the ‘community’ was possible only in a conditioned form in the new power structure. If ‘community’ was not ready to get accommodated in that particular conditioned form, then it had to suffer marginalisation. In fact, the colonial regime was certainly offering a technical alternative in the form of new content in the syllabi, modes of transmission, and enhancement of knowledge and motivational structures. But the parallel existence of traditional, sophisticated and complex knowledge, conveyed through kinship, dynasticism and close-knit cultural groups was not going to relent so easily. How, as per the new ground realities, both the systems interacted, co-existed, challenged and overlapped with each other and in the process transformed each other as well are some questions to be posed here.
This article discusses the complex nature of handloom weaving in market relations and the househo... more This article discusses the complex nature of handloom weaving in market relations and the household production in the north Indian region of eastern Uttar Pradesh in the first half of the twentieth century through studying a Muslim weavers’ community known as Julahas. The entire community chain active in the process of handloom production in a micro-region was appropriated in a new relation of commodity production. Therefore, the article focuses on the emergence of capitalist conditions that enabled connections, affiliations, and exclusions in the networked relationships of social communities. In basically a labour-intensive, low-cost household production, the structure of the production process was defined by the need to purchase yarn and pay for living expenses of the weaver and his dependents while the cloth was being woven. The historically unequal connections operated through the social power balance of community and those in families (between husbands and wives, parents and children) found new meanings in bargaining situations of labour markets. A direct involvement with the loom and weaving ensured that the master weaver would directly come from the weaving population and should be Muslim as well. The mechanism of advances and karkhanadar’s/grihasta’s position in the community ensured that weaver/labourer would remain under a constant moral and social pressure to follow the ‘capitalist mode of production.’
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