ANTHMPERIALIST ARMED STRUGGLE 19
extravaganza in the vast Indian countryside. Whether they were at their wit's end in the then circumstances, or they felt overawed by the magnitude of the task itself, the communists did not venture to go further by overriding the setbacks that might have come in their way, or correcting the mistakes they happened to have made. They in effect called for a halt—a cease-fire—and in the respite the feudal-colonial overtones survived in Indian economy. Like the old man on Sindbad's shoulder, the independent Indians had to continue to carry the burden of landlordism to their perpetual disadvantage.
The Political Economy of Dowry: Institutionalization and Expansion in North India
Ranjana Sheel
Dowry Is one of the most serious problems touching women's lives in modern India. Yet,
it remains the least explored subject of historical study. Taking dowry as a crucial index
for women's status, Ranjana Sheel locates it within a broad historical framework and a
feminist perspective viewing it not as a static custom but as a product of changing
political, economic and social processes to comprehend its present shape as well as
various dimension.
The study skilfully links complex historical developments with the entrenchment of
dowry practices in modern India.
DR. RANJANA SHEEL is with the Centre for Women's Studies, Banaras Hindu University
since 1988.
ISBN 81-7304-264-0 Demy 8vo 1999 229p. Rs. 450
The Sword of the Khalsa: The Sikh Peoples War 1699 - 1768
Arjan Dass Malik
The present study seeks to show that ever since its inception in 1699, the Khalsa movement possessed some of the major characteristics of a popular resistance movement, and that it further acquired all the characteristics of guerilla warfare in the post-Banda Bahadur period, 1716-1768. It makes a small effort towards formulation of an Indian theory of peoples war, and provides the Indian students of guerilla warfare with a historical example of their own.
ARJAN DASS MALIK (b. 1938) retired from IAS in 1997. This is his third book. ISBN 81-7304-294-2 Demy 8vo 1999 136p. Rs. 275
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