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Civilisations, markets and services: Village servants in India from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries

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  • Sumit Guha

    (Brown University)

Abstract

This article focuses on the history of the set of practices labelled jajmani. These practices have been cited as evidence that a fundamentally inegalitarian spiritual principle could transcend and limit the economic domain. That idea underpins the belief that human beings must be grouped in mutually exclusive 'civilisations'. Projected geo-politically. the 'civilisation' is then endowed by Samuel Huntington with the Hobbesian, self-aggrandising traits of the nation- state. I suggest that we eschew grand unifying principles and try understand the meanings and motives that generate the repetitive patterns of meaningful interaction which we refer to as a 'society', a 'social practice or an 'institution'.

Suggested Citation

  • Sumit Guha, 2004. "Civilisations, markets and services: Village servants in India from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 41(1), pages 79-101, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:indeco:v:41:y:2004:i:1:p:79-101
    DOI: 10.1177/001946460404100105
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