The Idea of Rajasthan : Explorations in Regional Identity (2 Vols-Set)

Contents: Vol. I : Constructions: Introduction. Identity as Process: 1. Rajasthan as a region: myth or reality?/Deryck O. Lodrick. 2. Becoming Rajasthani: pluralism and the production of Dharti Dhoran Ri/Joan L. Erdman. 3. Jatra, Yatra and pressing down pebbles: pilgrimage within and beyond Rajasthan/Ann Grodzins Gold. 4. Testing the groom: riddling at Rajasthani weddings as cultural performance/Karine Schomer. 5. Art regions and modern Rajasthan/Michael W. Meister. 6. The frontier of Indus civilization in northern Rajasthan/Henri-Paul Francfort. Art as communication: 7. Musicians for the people: the Manganiyars of western Rajasthan/Komal Kothari. 8. Continuity of tradition in the music of Nathdvara: a participant-observer's view/Anne-Marie Gaston. 9. A joker in the deck: the many faces of a Rajasthani Bahurupiya/John Emigh, with Ulrike Emigh. 10. Timeless symbols: royal portraits from Rajasthan 17th-19th centuries/Vishakha N. Desai. 11. Signs of the divine: Sati memorials and Sati worship in Rajasthan/William A. Noble and Ad Ram Sankhyan. Appendix: Contents of Vol. II. Index.

Vol. II : Institutions: Introduction. Locales and social structures: 1. Famines and droughts in western Rajasthan: desert cultivators and periodic resource stress/Carol Henderson. 2. Locality and frontier: securing livelihood in the Aravalli zone of central Rajasthan/R. Thomas Rosin. 3. The joint-family household in rural Rajasthan: ecological, cultural and demographic conditions for its occurrence/Pauline Kolenda. 4. Panchayati raj in Rajasthan: the penalties of success/James Warner Bjorkman and Het Ram Chaturvedi. Power and hegemony: 5. The emergence of the Rajputs as historical process in early medieval Rajasthan/B.D. Chattopadhyaya. 6. Evolution of the Rathor state of Marvar: horses, structural change and warfare/Norman P. Ziegler. 7. Honor and alliance: reconsidering Mughal-Rajput marriages/Frances H. Taft. 8. The Dadu-Panth: a religious order in its Rajasthan context/Daniel Gold. 9. Patronage for the arts and the rise of the Alwar state/Edward S. Haynes. Appendix: Contents of Vol. I. Index.

"To explore a regional identity is to explore an idea. All human collectivities have a sense of place, a subjective connection to their environment. Through custom, culture and myth, the area of northwestern India known as Rajasthan has developed a distinctive identity which can be defined and illuminated. The essays in this pioneering two-volume work explore some of the many facets of this changing yet enduring identity.

Regions are grounded in objective realities, but they are also subjective constructs. To address both perspectives, The Idea of Rajasthan is published in two complementary volumes. The first, constructions, looks at how Rajasthanis and outsiders have created and defined Rajasthan. "Identity as Process" contains essays which consider how a regional identity is created and reinforced. "Art as Communication" discusses how arts such as music, mime, painting and sculpture represent and reflect regional cultural identity. The second volume, Institutions, analyzes structures, adaptations, arrangements, and ways of life and thought that have characterized and shaped the lives of Rajasthanis. "Locales and Social Structures" contributes essays on grass roots economic, social and political adaptations to Rajasthan's limited-resource environment and the legacy of the princely states. In "Power and Hegemony," the focus is on dimensions of the Rajputs' historic dominance of the region.

The authors are from a spectrum of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences concerned with the natural environment. Each presents original research findings within the broader context of the work's central issue: how has the regional identity of Rajasthan been developed, maintained and represented, by and to both insiders and outsiders, through time and across the region's physical expanse?

To understand a regional identity in all its uniqueness requires informed, sensitive insight into complex and subtle characteristics. Environmental influences, remembered histories, literary styles, cultural traditions, common institutions, shared symbols--all need to be considered.

The interrelationships of these factors in Rajasthan, and the plural perspectives adopted by this interdisciplinary work invite comparisons and raise questions about regions elsewhere. In our contemporary world of ethnic complexities, identity seeking, communalism, territorialism and boundary jumping, scholars must take responsibility for helping understand how we can live together while maintaining the regional characteristics and cultural differences that enrich us and keep us grounded in a sense of place and community. The idea of Rajasthan will be of interest not only to South Asia specialists, but to all who explore regional identities." (jacket)