Based on intensive fieldwork, this book is an ethnography of a prominent mercantile caste--the Nagarattar--in Tamil Nadu, South India. It provides a contemporary, gendered perspective to a subject of long-standing scrutiny. The Nagarattars are one of the most fascinating communities in India, notable for both their entrepreneurial success in the modern world and their adherence to traditional family and ritual values. Nishimura describes how the status of married ...
