The Early Colonial Interaction in a Bengal Zamindari: Burdwan at the Crossroads

The imposition of colonial rule over Bengal set off a process of multi-faceted interaction in the late eighteenth century. Change was the keyword of this process. Though some historical schools belittle the magnitude of change in the early colonial era, this book demonstrates that a wide range of change occurred in the sectors of agrarian and artisan productions (salt, silk and cloth) and in the Pulbandi business, though not overnight after Plassey but gradually yet rapidly during the second half of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth centuries in the Burdwan Zamindari Estate comprising a large chunk of Western Bengal. Herein, a new field, that of Pulbandi, which was of so vital importance to agrarian and non-agrarian productions both in the pre-and the early colonial periods, is being explored. Stressing the importance of Pulbandi and analysing the early colonial policies of Pulbandi management, this book lays bare the inadequacies of those half hearted endeavours by showing the real causes of its failure, which resulted in the recurrence of floods throughout the late eighteenth century and even after. This monograph, therefore, outlines the changes which arose out of the interaction between the traditional Bengali agrarian and artisan society and economy in the Burdwan Zamindari on the one hand and the new politico-administrative and economic framework imposed from above by the early colonial rulers on the other.