Uprisings of 1857 : Perspectives and Peripheries

Contents: Foreword. Introduction. Perspectives: 1. New perspectives on the uprising of 1857/Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. 2. Views of a contemporary Frenchman on the uprising of 1857/Aniruddha Ray. 3. The revolt of 1857 revisited/Snigdha Sen. 4. Communication, information and identity during the uprisings of 1857/Deep Kanta Lahiri-Choudhury. 5. 1857 in the nationalist imagination/Benjamin Zachariah. Peripheries:  1. Maniram Dewan : construction of a patriot/Sabyasachi Dasgupta. 2. "Through a glass darkly" : fearful English and the ambivalent Bengali : Calcutta 1857-58/Uttara Chakraborty. 3. Popular resistance of nineteenth century and the spark of 1857 uprising in Orissa/Ashok Kumar Patnaik. 4. Andhra in 1857/V. Rajagopal. 5. Rebellious poligars, mutinous army and the impact of 1857 revolt in Tamilnadu/N. Rajendran. 6. 1857 and the anti-colonial tradition in Malwa/Amar Farooqui. 7. The revolt of 1857 and the Sikhs of Punjab/Himadri Banerjee. 8. The logistics of victory : Punjab and supplying the British-India Army during the 1857-59 uprising/Kaushik Roy. Index.

"The problem of how to read the revolt of 1857 has been a long-standing concern in the historiography of India. The essays anthologised in this volume were presented in a seminar in Kolkata in March 2007, organised by the Asiatic Society to celebrate the 150 year of the event. The focus is on the regions beyond the Gangetic heartland. In the first part are presented five essays which look at certain general perspectives and historiographical issues, while the eight other essays examine aspects of 1857 over a wide area stretching from Assam to Punjab via Bengal, Orissa, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Malwa. The book, it is hoped, would be of interest to both historians and general readers." (jacket)