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Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Bihar Anand A. Yang Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998 ISBN 0-520-21099-9 (hb); ISBN 0-520-21100-6 (pb)
Using the marketplace as his theme, Yang analyzes exchanges among Indians throughout the colonial period in Gangetic Bihar. From a variety of rich source materials, he weaves a series of chronological narratives (1765-1947) about secular changes at three levels: Patna City, regional melas (fairs), and rural marketplaces. Throughout, Yang seeks indigenous perspectives, but perforce he embeds his thick cmic description in extensive British archival evidence which 'informs (and taints)' (p 116) his project. Yang combines masterful control over the details of exchange systems in Bihar with sophisticated understanding of their significance to the larger issues of Indian agency in colonial history and also of post-colonial and postmodem theory.
The core of Yang's fine book consists of three chapters, each centring on a different social level and time period. He begins with the Seir Mutaqherin...