State and Society in India

A Historical Retrospect

Brundaban Mishra, Rekha Pande

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040902332
• Subtopic: Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
• Index: History

The modern Indian State, with all its democratic paraphernalia, seemed to have never undergone thorough academic scrutiny, whether in the mainstream or otherwise. Historians, political analysts, economists, and sociologists have all been trying to understand the nature and dynamics of the Indian state and the political system as a whole. Gunnar Myrdal described the Indian State as a 'Soft State' due to its inability to eradicate poverty. Hamza Alavi introduces the concept of an 'Over Developed State' in South Asia with a strong defense component, but whether this applies to India is debated. The Marxist thesis on the nature of the Indian state aims to explain the dominant class character of the coalitions that underlie state policies.
Historically, the Indian state has been a product of continuous contestations between colonial and nationalist traditions, a legacy that places the very concept of the 'Indian state' in flux. Although ideologically the state was based on concepts like the White Man's Burden, it did not significantly interfere with social formations in terms of caste and religious arrangements until it deemed fit to intervene, either to maintain order or gain support from a faction. Interventions in social formations, such as fuelling communalism, occurred only when the colonial state sought to create factions within the ruling elite. The larger fact remains clear: reasonable restrictions and a belief in human reason and individual freedom were largely overshadowed by the coercive apparatus of the military, police, and law. Similarly, Bhikhu Parekh argues for the intersection of the modern state deriving from homogeneity and cultural heterogeneity. However, the ideological deliberations between the three tenets—utilitarianism, evangelicalism, and orientalism—shaped the policies of the state that followed, each offering different approaches toward governing a vast and diverse land. In addition to promoting economic motives such as plantation, commercial gains, and de-industrialization, the new state introduced far-reaching changes in the structure of education and criminal laws. Meanwhile, the civil laws of both Hindus and Muslims were largely dominated by elite traditions. Some argue that the colonial state was not autonomous in the truest sense, as it had to constantly align with the priorities of the traditional elite.
Fragmentation, incoherence, and the dilemmas of the postcolonial condition constitute significant features of the contemporary Indian lifeworld. India maintains the colonial dichotomy of 'inner tradition' and 'outer modernity' as the semantic framework of cognition and practice. Moreover, a persisting colonially wedged schism exists between the inner tradition of the socio-cultural sphere and the outer modernity of the politico-economic sphere. Human agents attempt to assign varying significance to different aspects of the world, maintaining their identity and politico-ethical positioning as responsive beings in inconsistent and problematic situations. They achieve this not by consistently adhering to one side of the dilemma but by switching from one side to the other as the situation requires.
The crucial question arises: whether to treat India as a monolithic political entity. However, the reality is that the Indian State comprises a variety of institutions. Political institutions operate within a complex socio-cultural matrix at three levels – national, state, and local. To locate and understand these institutions in the social matrices in which they are embedded justifies the need for a historical understanding of their inception and historicity as they have evolved over time. In short, it has become necessary not to treat India as a political monolith but as a compendium of myriad institutions operating in an equally diverse socio-economic environment. This requires a multidisciplinary approach so that each institution can be understood in relation to its social context.
Thus the conference aims to have an understanding of the processes of continuity and change in the state and society of India during pre-colonial and post-colonial times is vital for evaluating the contemporary Indian state. In the current era of advanced research, there is an increasing scope to answer the historical question: 'What was the nature of Indian society, and how was it reflected in the state structure?' Recently, historians have argued that the state in India represented itself as the protector of social norms to legitimize its sovereign power over society and acted as a guiding force for the early development of administrative technology, social transformation, and trans-local and trans-continental commercial activities. It is argued that its power arose by offering an integral sphere of coordination, competition, and contestation between different groups, communities, and polities. Therefore, it is important in the present context to historically contextualize the process of regional state formation and the transformation of the relationship between the state and society in a broader perspective in pre-colonial and post-colonial India.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Lists of figures
• Lists of tables
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• 1 Spaces of colonialism: Canal colonies as metaphors of urbanization in colonial India
• 2 Voices from the Margins: Dalit women and gender discourse in postcolonial theory
• 3 Telangana people awakening in the 19th century
• 4 Regulations and the state: Perspectives from plantations in Travancore
• 5 Epistemologies of resistance: Women's identity and Nationalists struggles in colonial North India
• 6 Regionalism: Identity, resistance, and the legacy of Madho Sing in colonial Sambalpur, Orissa
• 7 Post-coloniality of “Nation-in-the Making”: The reservation system in India
• 8 From wooden plough to engine tractor: Exploring the political-economy of transition in tilling technology in Orissa history
• 9 Measure of sacrifice: Challenges faced by freedom fighters in securing pension grants in Pondicherry (1972–1986)
• 10 Revisiting colonial narratives: Kuki-Naga historical relations in Manipur
• 11 The state and development works in Colonial India
• 12 Aspects of mobilization of Dalits in colonial Orissa (1932–1947)
• 13 Climate change and its impacts on South Asian states, Bangladesh: A critical study of policies taken from time to time to protect coastal low-lying areas
• 14 Breaking the code in the neo-liberal economy: Gender bias and segregation in the software industry in post-independent state
• 15 Cultural politics of ethnic assertion in post modern India: The Karbi youth festival of Assam
• 16 Development discourse and social famine in colonial India
• 17 Ethics, animal protection, and the role of State and Society in India through the ages
• 18 How can Tribal Women get a higher income? Women's empowerment in agriculture: An economic analysis
• 19 The critical study on evolution of state and society in medieval South India
• 20 Postcolonial state, medical education and economy in India: A study of marginalized caste students in elite institutions
• 21 Seeing the unseen – Cultural imperialism and Odisha
• 22 Exploring the pre-colonial cultural orientation through the conflictual structure of the outer self and the inner self through “Ramachander Avishekh” (Coronation of Ramachandra) by Bhavaninath
• 23 State, society, and conflict: Insurgencies and identity formation in post-colonial northeast India
• 24 Social mobilizations: A retrospective view of suppressed class uprising in Tamil Nadu, south India
• 25 Folk art of the subcontinent Modern State: A historic comprehension of traditional and modern art of Bangladesh
• 26 Reimagining the contours of sovereignty in the era of artificial intelligence
• 27 War and resistance: The Indian National Congress's response to World War II
• 28 Condition of maternal health and childbirth process among tribal women: A study of Kalahandi district in the post-independent state of India
• 29 Revisiting the idea of developmental state through contemporary lens
• 30 Darul Qaza: Adjudicating the family disputes in contemporary India and its impact on access to justice
• 31 Navigating structures: The role of Bodo women in economic and cultural paradigms in Northeast India
• 32 The forgotten legacy of Japanese intelligence agencies in the Indo-Burma Region: A World War II perspective
• 33 The birth of environmental activism: A historical analysis of grassroots movements and conventions
• 34 Vanijjapath: The communications for trade and connectivity with ports in early modern Bengal (1650–1750)
• 35 Impact of colonial and post-colonial eras on the customary law and identity of the Oraon community
• 36 Tribal economy and development planning: Emerging role of Indian State
• 37 Women in medicine during the colonial era – The system of Dai
• 38 Cultural identity and education: A study of dropout rates among the Gond students in post-colonial era
• 39 Social inclusion of marginalized communities in post-formation Telangana state
• 40 State and society in colonial India: A reading of Mulk Raj Anand's Selected novels
• 41 Masculinity, eroticism, and cultural expressions in the Kamasastriya Tradition: A study of Kalyāṇamalla's Anangaranga
• 42 The intersection of choice and societal norms: A historical analysis of Pandita Ramabai's life and work
• 43 The gastronomic glue of Mughal society: Understanding food and socialization
• 44 Lower class women and eighteenth-century Oriya literature: Representation and reflection
• 45 From resistance to recognition: Construction of Telangana's identity in Telugu cinema
• 46 Environment, culture, and religion: The resemblance of divinity in unique forms at the temples of Arasavalli and Srikurmam in Northern Andhra
• 47 From kingdoms to republic: Evolution of state in India
• 48 Development or destruction: The developmental conundrum in post-colonial Odisha
• 49 Working class women and maternal health care: A case study of textile industries in colonial Madras
• 50 Beyond the brushstrokes: State and society of colonial India in the Prism of Ravi Varma's artwork “Galaxy of Musicians”
• 51 Inoculating empire: Resistance, paternalism, and the shaping of colonial vaccination policy in the united provinces
• 52 Sadhana through the ages: Bharatanaṭyam's transformative journey in Indian Society from pre-colonial to post-colonial eras
• 53 Historical study of folk tradition and processional performances in higher Himalayan
• 54 Impacts of the media in South Asia on Indo-Bangladesh bilateral diplomatic relations: Establishing a negative cornerstone and the current scenario
• 55 Memorial stone and social hierarchy: Death rituals and living tradition among the Munda tribes of Odisha
• 56 Colonial encounters and environmental transformations: A study of Jaunsar-Bawar in British Uttarakhand
• 57 Procreation and patriarchy: The marginalization of daughters in ancient Indian society
• 58 State formation in early medieval period: A case study of Dakshina Koshala
• 59 The British colonial legacy in Indian civil society and law
• 60 Coloniality of technical education in Madras Province, 1928–1947
• 61 From guilds to global markets: Jain business communities under British colonial policies
• 62 Medieval South Indian State: Nature and dynamics