A Glossary of North Indian Peasant Life

100 years ago William Crooke, a pioneer colonial ethnographer and historian with the Indian Civil Service, compiled but never published this glossary, a manuscript of which was recently discovered in London by the editor. Exploring all aspects of North Indian peasant life, including agricultural implements and operations, domestic utensils and animals, irrigation, soils, insect pests, labor advances and wages, the native house, weights and measures, food, ceremonies, trade, and land tenures, this comprehensive glossary provides, in over 800 numbered paragraphs, detailed definitions of all known terms associated with rural life in the area. Amin has supplemented Crooke's work with six appendices that describe terms used in the construction of masonry wells and associated agricultural ceremonies, cloth and clothes, and various calendars used by North Indian peasants, as well as a detailed historical introduction. Including an 8000 word index for easier use, this exhaustive reference will be invaluable for anyone working in South Asian anthropology and history, sociology, social and economic organization, peasant and Third World studies, and a host of other fields.