The Emergence of Provincial Politics: The Madras Presidency 1870–1920

Cambridge South Asian Studies

by D.A. Washbrook

This book examines an important period of transition in the political structure of South India. The first three-quarters of a century of British rule, down to the 1870s, had effectively torn apart and fragmented the political institutions of the South, and had left a highly parochial political society in which loyalties seldom extended beyond face-to-face relationships and power was extremely localized. This lack of significant supra-local political connections contributed to the Madras Presidency's reputation as the most 'benighted' of all Indian provinces.

372 pages, Paperback

First published July 29, 1976