The case of falling walls politics of demolition and preservation in Rampur
The city that merits immediate attention of the Uttar Pradesh Urban Development and Minority Affairs Minister Azam Khan is his own hometown and constituency, Rampur. Alas, this has not been the case; instead we see newspaper headlines about Khan’s plans to demolish walls of the historic Rampur fort (Times News Network: 2013). The erstwhile cultural centre of the city now lies in a deeply neglected condition and deserves conservation, not demolition. Any plans of “beautification” should be centred on preservation of the historic character of the city.
The Indian Princes and Their States
Barbara Ramusack bases her study of indirect rule under British imperialism mainly on research, including her own, which has been done since the 1960s. As she reiterates throughout the book, the topic of the ‘Native States’ is not one which has attracted widespread scholarly attention. The main weight of research on the colonial period lies in British India, the three-fifths of the sub-continent which was under direct imperial administration. With the development of relatively new understandings and theories during the last 25 years concerning the structure and nature of indigenous rule, it seems possible that new generations of students of India will want to know how pre-colonial political institutions fared under European domination. Signs of movement in that direction include Marzia Balzani’s study of ritual of the Jodhpur royal court, Modern Indian Kingship: Tradition, Legitimacy and Power in Rajasthan.(1)
Modern Indian Kingship: Tradition, Legitimacy & Power in Rajasthan
This work is a significant contribution to the study of kingship and the ritual process, two longstanding areas of anthropological debate both within and beyond South Asia. It is part of the growing literature on the general anthropology of colonialism and the contemporary politics and culture of postcolonial nation states. This book asks why the descendants of the royal elite have continued to enact and sustain these royal rites and ceremonies. Why do kingly rituals possess power and meaning for those who participate in them? Why have the maharajas initiated new rites which they have performed on a large scale at critical moments of crisis?