Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India [Hardcover]

This 2006 book considers the transformation of southern Indian institutions under British colonial rule, focusing on the two former 'little kingdoms' of Ramnad and Sivaganga.Focusing on the two former little kingdoms of Ramnad and Sivaganga which came under colonial governance as revenue estates, this text demonstrates how rivalries among the royal families, and the disintegration of indigenous institutions, contributed to the development of nationalism.Focusing on the two former little kingdoms of Ramnad and Sivaganga which came under colonial governance as revenue estates, this text demonstrates how rivalries among the royal families, and the disintegration of indigenous institutions, contributed to the development of nationalism.In a cultural history that considers the transformation of southern Indian institutions under British colonial rule, Price focuses on the two former little kingdoms of Ramnad and Sivaganga, which came under colonial governance as revenue estates. She demonstrates how rivalries among the royal families and the disintegration of indigenous institutions contributed to the development of nationalism. The author also shows how religious symbols and practices going back to the seventeenth century were reformulated and acquired a new significance in the colonial context.List of illustrations; Acknowledgements; Glossary; Introduction; 1. Honour, status and state formation in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Maravar country; 2. Cosmological fragmentation in the public sphere; 3. Domain formation in mid-nineteenth-century Ramnad; 4. Human and divine palaces in the fragmentation of monarchical cosmology; 5. Ritual performances, the ruling person and the public; 6. Raja Baskara Setupati and the emergence of a new political style; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.'Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India is a solid piece of scholarship. Professor Price is at her best when she treats the litigation of the nineteenth century and its efflcw