The Devs of Cincvad
A Lineage and the State in Maharashtra

This study of the power of lineage in India examines some of the traditional social structures which transcended the political upheavals of British rule.

Laurence W. Preston (Author)

9780521047777, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 November 2007

288 pages
21.6 x 14.1 x 1.8 cm, 0.385 kg

This innovative study of the power of lineage in India across two centuries examines some of the traditional social structures which transcended so successfully the political upheavals of British rule. Under the Maratha Kingdom, the Devs occupied a privileged position in the ritual, social and economic hierarchies of the state from the 1620s onwards, their continuing influence stemming principally from obtaining grants of rent-free land around Pune and successfully maintaining this inheritance from generation to generation. With the British conquest of Maharashtra in 1818, the close relations between state and privileged subject were slowly broken and by the 1850s, the British sought to settle the Devs' landed rights. Basing their inquiries on preconquest vernacular documents, they became entwined in disputes over the tenure of the Devs' lands and the mode of inheritance within the lineage that reveal a telling ignorance of the customary relations between the Indian State and its privileged subjects.

List of figures and tables
Preface
List of abbreviations and note on Indian technical usages
Introduction: an inamdar lineage in Indian history
Part I. The Inamdar under the Marathas: 1. The acquisition of inam
2. The preservation of inam, 1720–1818
Part II. The Inamdar Under the British: 3. Introduction to Part Two
4. From ritual grandee to state pensioner: varsasans and the Morgav pilgrimage
5. An inamdar's domain: Cincvad and the commerce of Pune-Haveli
6. The genesis and operation of the Inam Commission
7. Claiming an inheritance: the Inam Commission and the Cincvad Samsthan
8. Conclusion: an inamdar's rights and the authority of the state
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Cultural studies [JFC]