This volume aims at explaining the ‘high politics’ of the Partition. Seventeen renowned scholars look at the complex interplay of historical events during the last years of the British Raj leading to the parting of ways. They reveal behind-the-scenes activities of the Congress, the Muslim League and the British and how pressures were exerted to arrive at a final settlement. The role of some of the stalwarts who occupied the centre stage is traced. The study moves out of the glare of the centre stage to the wings, so to say, to look at the communal disturbances in a state (CP-Berar) or to understand the role of the Congress/Muslim League in two other provinces (NWFP and UP). It also brings to focus the attitude of different marginal groups, such as subjects of Princely States, the tribals, the Sikhs and others, towards the political solution. The scene shifts further, to examine the reactions of Indian businessmen and how the final division of economic resources kept this part of the world poor. The historiography of Partition is also highlighted and analysed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Indira Baptista Gupta
Indira Baptista Gupta taught history at Miranda House, Delhi, and then at Sophia College, Bombay, after receiving a first Class Master's Degree from the University of Lucknow. She is now Deputy Director at the Indian Council of Historical Research and one of the editors of its journal, the Indian Historical Review. She is the co-author of Conflict and Communication: Mass Upsurge in Assam (Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, 1990), and has published research papers on communication and broadcasting in the historical perspective. She prepared for UNESCO, Bangkok, two annotated regional directories on women and social sciences. She is now working on a history of colonial broadcasting.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR S. Settar
S. Settar was Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (1996-9), served as Professor, Department of History and Archaeology (1971-96) and as the Director, Institute of Indian Art History (1978-95), Karnatak University, Dharwad. Among his well-known publications are The Hosyala Temples (2 vols.), Inviting Death, Pursuing Death, Sravana Belgola, Hampi: a Medieval Metropolis, Hoysala Sculptures in the National Museum, Copenhagen. He has edited several volumes of which those relating to the fields of archaeology are: Archaeological Survey of Mysore:P Annual Reports: A Study (3 vols.) and Memorial Stones: A Study of Their Origin, Significance and Variety (in collaboration with G.-D. Sontheimer). Since 1995 he has been collaborating with a team of scholars on the ABIA South and Southeast Asian Art and Archaeology Index project as the chief of Indian section and as the editor for South Asia.
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