Table Of Contenthistory | asian Studies
Chatterjee
and &
“Indrani Chatterjee and Richard Eaton have produced an impor- eaton Slavery
tant edited volume that will be welcomed by students of com-
parative slavery. It enriches our knowledge of slavery in South
South aSian
Asia by providing a number of illuminating case studies and, in S
the process, makes us reconsider the significance of slavery in l
the subcontinent.” a hiStory
—Edward A. Alpers, University of California, Los Angeles v
e
Despite its pervasive presence in the South Asian past, slavery is
r
largely overlooked in the region’s historiography, in part because
y
the forms of bondage in question did not always fit models based
on plantation slavery in the Atlantic world. This important volume
&
will contribute to a rethinking of slavery in world history, and of
the category of slavery itself. Most slaves in South Asia were not
S
agricultural laborers, but military or domestic workers, and the
o
latter were overwhelmingly women and children. Individuals
might become slaves at birth or through capture, sale by relatives, u
indenture, or as a result of accusations of criminality or inapprop-
t
riate sexual behavior. For centuries, trade in slaves linked South Asia
h
with Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. The contributors
to this collection of original essays describe a wide range of sites a
and contexts covering more than a thousand years, foreground-
S
ing the life stories of individual slaves wherever possible.
i
a
Contributors are Daud Ali, Indrani Chatterjee, Richard M. Eaton,
n
Michael H. Fisher, Sumit Guha, Peter Jackson, Sunil Kumar, Avril
A. Powell, Ramya Sreenivasan, Sylvia Vatuk, and Timothy Walker.
h
Indrani Chatterjee is Associate Professor of History at Rutgers i
University. S
t
Richard M. Eaton is Professor of History at the University of
o
Arizona.
r
Cover illustration: Portrait of Malik Ambar by Hashim, c. 1610.
y
V & A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum. Used by permission. Edited by
indrani Chatterjee and
INDIANA
richard M. eaton
University Press
ISBN-13: 978-0-253-21873-5
http://iupress.indiana.edu
ISBN-10: 0-253-21873-X
Bloomington & Indianapolis 1-800-842-6796
INDIANA
Slavery and South Asian History
Slavery
&
South Asian
History
Edited by
Indrani Chatterjee and
Richard M. Eaton
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington & Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington,Indiana 47404-3797 USA
http://iupress.indiana.edu
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931
Orders by email [email protected]
© 2006 by Indiana University Press
All rights reserved
No part ofthis book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means,electronic or mechanical,including
photocopying and recording,or by any information storage
and retrieval system,without permission in writing from the
publisher.The Association ofAmerican University Presses’
Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception
to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements ofAmerican National Standard for Information
Sciences—Permanence ofPaper for Printed Library
Materials,ANSI Z39.48-1984.
Manufactured in the United States ofAmerica
Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Slavery and South Asian history / edited by Indrani Chatterjee
and Richard M.Eaton.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-34810-2 (cloth :alk.paper) — ISBN 0-253-21873-X
(pbk.)
1. Slaves—India—History.2. Slavery—India—History.3.
Slaves—South Asia—History.4. Slavery—South Asia—History.
I.Chatterjee,Indrani.II.Eaton,Richard Maxwell.
HT1246.S495 2007
306.3’620954—dc22
2006008098
1 2 3 4 5 11 10 09 08 07 06
To all present and future historians ofslavery
CONTENTS
List ofMaps ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Note on Translation and Transliteration xv
Introduction
RICHARDM.EATON 1
1.Renewed and Connected Histories:Slavery and the
Historiography ofSouth Asia
INDRANICHATTERJEE 17
2.War,Servitude,and the Imperial Household:A Study of
Palace Women in the Chola Empire
DAUDALI 44
3.Turkish Slaves on Islam’s Indian Frontier
PETERJACKSON 63
4.Service,Status,and Military Slavery in the Delhi Sultanate:
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries
SUNILKUMAR 83
5.The Rise and Fall ofMilitary Slavery in the Deccan,1450–1650
RICHARDM.EATON 115
6.Drudges,Dancing Girls,Concubines:Female Slaves
in Rajput Polity,1500–1850
RAMYASREENIVASAN 136
7.Slavery,Society,and the State in Western India,1700–1800
SUMITGUHA 162
8.Bound for Britain:Changing Conditions ofServitude,1600–1857
MICHAELH.FISHER 187
9.Bharattee’s Death:Domestic Slave-Women
in Nineteenth-Century Madras
SYLVIAVATUK 210
10.Slaves or Soldiers? African Conscripts in Portuguese India,1857–1860
TIMOTHYWALKER 234
11.Indian Muslim Modernists and the Issue ofSlavery in Islam
AVRILA.POWELL 262
12.Slavery,Semantics,and the Sound ofSilence
INDRANICHATTERJEE 287
List ofContributors 317
Index 319
MAPS
1.Central Asia,Iran,and north India (12th and 13th centuries) xviii
2.The Arabian Sea rim xix
3.Western and southern India xx
4.Eastern India xxi
Description:"[W]ill be welcomed by students of comparative slavery.... [It] makes us reconsider the significance of slavery in the subcontinent." -- Edward A. Alpers, UCLADespite its pervasive presence in the South Asian past, slavery is largely overlooked in the region's historiography, in part because the for
