SOCIAL SCIENTIST VOLUME 24 NUMBERS 11-12 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1996 ADVISORY EDITORS Ashok Mitra Amalendu Guha Irfan Habib Amiya Bagchi Kishore Theckedath Jacob Eapen CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Thomas Isaac Sanjaya Baru Atis Dasgupta Javeed Alam V.K. Ramachandran Venkatesh Athreya CIRCULATION & ADVERTISEMENT 35A/1 (Sec. floor) Shahpur Jat, Near Asiad Wlage, New Delhi 110 049 Phone: 649 7999 EDITORIAL BOARD Madhu Prasad Utsa Patnaik R.R. Krishnan D. Raghunandan C. Rajamohan C.P. Chandrasekhar MANAGING EDITOR Rajendra Prasad EDITOR Prabhat Patnaik EDITORIAL OFFICE 35A/1 (Sec. floor) Shahpur Jat, Near Asiad Village, New Delhi 110 049 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Inland Foreign (In US Dollars) Single issue Rs. 15 Annual: Double issue Rs. 20 Airmail 60 Annual (individuals) Rs. 150 Sea mail 50 Annual (institutions & libraries) Rs. 200 Annual (students) Rs. 100 2 years (individuals) Rs. 225 3 years (individuals) Rs. 300 (Rs. 20 extra, if by outstation cheque) ISSN 0970 - 0293 The grant for publication from Indian Council of Historical Research is gratefully acknowledged. Social Scientist is listed in the International Current Awareness Services and its contents are indexed in the International Bibliography of the Sodal Sciences. Printed and distributed by Tulika Print Communication Services Pvt Ltd. 35A/1 (Second floor) Shahpur Jat, Near Asiad Village, New Delhi 110 049