Banaras in Transition (1738-1795)

This book traces the rise and growth of the Banaras Zamindari into a major regional power within the state of Awadh by the middle of the Eighteenth century, and its coming into the Company’s orbit in the 1770s, finally resulting in the establishment of direct British administration. An attempt has also been made to describe and analyse the process of change in the political and administrative system of the Zamindari with special reference to the effect it produced on the socio-economic structure of the Banaras region during the period 1738 to 1795. This study is based on the records of the East India Company, supplemented by some European accounts and private papers preserved in various libraries and archives of Great Britain and India. The author has also applied the methods and findings of allied disciplines, such as social anthropology, to his work and has asked new questions of old material in a productive and invigorating way. The book contains chapters on important aspects of socio-economic history, such as politics, land management, village economy, trade, banking and currency. The book thus presents a lively approach to the study of a Zamindari in transition.