Part of the prestigious Themes in History series, this reader brings together seminal writings on caste and its connection with colonialism and politics as well as its practice and presence in everyday life.

• Introduction: Questions of Caste, Ishita Banerjee-Dube Caste and Colonialism


• 1.: Caste and the British Merchant Government, 1639-1749, Patrick A. Roche;


• 2.: The Census, Social Stratification and Objectification in South Asia, Bernard S. Cohn; Excerpt from Caste and British Rule by G. S. Ghurye;


• 3.: Between Number and Knowledge: Career of Caste in Colonial Census, Padmanabh Samarendra; Excerpt from From Village to Community by Richard Saumarez Smith; Excerpt from Caste and Nationality by H. H. Risley;


• Caste in Practice


• 5.: Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Caste Differences in Entrepreneurial Style, Raymond Lee Owens and Ashis Nandy;


• 6.: The Shudra Right to Rule: Caste, Clan, Community and State, Shail Mayaram;


• 7.: The Mukkuvars of Kanyakumari: On the Margins of Caste Society, Kalpana Ram;


• Caste and Politics


• 9.: Phule and the Inversion of Brahman Myths, Rosalind O'Hanlon;


• 10.: . Social Mobility in Colonial Bengal: The Namasudras, Sekhar Bandyopadhyay;


• 11.: Gandhi and Ambedkar: A Study in Leadership, Eleanor Zelliot; Excerpt from Rise of Dalits and the Renewed Debate on Caste by Rajni Kothari;


• 12.: Is India Becoming More Democratic?, Ashutosh Varshney;


• ^bCaste in Everyday Life


• 14.: Religious Hymns, Vasant Moon;


• 15.: Childhood Formations, Kancha Ilaiah; Excerpt from The Ex-Untouchables of Post-Independence Punjaby by Mark Juergensmeyer;


• 16.: Authority and Discrimination in Everyday Life, Saurabh Dube