The work is on the society, polity and economy of medieval and early colonial Assam. It examines what colonisation meant for the Assamese people in terms of economy and culture: its compromises with feudal elements and its adverse consequences for the region. It provides insights into the history of the region, taking cognisance of the material and mental culture, demography, ideology and other factors. It deals with themes like peculiarities of Assamese feudalism which underwent a political and moral collapse before the entry of the British into the scene. It takes up colonisation in Assam, impact of the Bengal Renaissance on it, agrarian structures like the wet rice culture of medieval times and Assam’s transformation into a tea-producing state under the British; use of Assam as a dumping ground for state-manufactured monopoly opium and the process of differentiation within the Assamese peasant society.
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