Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian DesertThe Thar Desert, which is today divided by an international boundary, has historically been a frontier region connecting Punjab, Multan, Sindh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. This book looks at the Desert as an historical region shaped through the mobility of its inhabitants - warriors, pastoralists, traders, ascetics and bards, often in overlapping capacities. It challenges the frames of Mughal-Rajput relationships generally employed to explore the histories of the Thar, arguing that Rajputana remains an inadequate category to explore polities located in this frontier region, where along with Rajputs, a range of groups, such as Charans, Bhils, Meenas, Soomras and Pathans controlled circulation, and with whom the Rajput states had to constantly negotiate. Sifting through a wide range of Rajasthani written and oral narratives, travelogues of British administrators, and vernacular as well as English records, the book explores long-term relationships between mobility, martiality, memory and identity in the desert expanses of the Thar. |
Contents
Geographical Imagination and Narratives of a Region | 27 |
Mobility Polity Territory | 64 |
Mobility and Circulation | 121 |
The Thar in | 160 |
Narratives of Mobility and Mobility of Narratives | 217 |
Conclusions | 264 |
| 271 | |
Jodhpur King List | 289 |
| 295 | |
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Common terms and phrases
administrative Ajmer alliances Banjaras bardic became Bhatis Bhats Bhils Bhopas Bikaner Brahmins British camels caste cattle Charans circulation claim commodities criminal Delhi Devnarayan Dhola emergence epic famine fodder frontier genealogies goddess grazing Gujarat Gujars herds Ibid identities important India itinerant Jaipur Jaisalmer Jalor James Tod Jaswant Singh Jats Jodhpur Jodhpur Records Kharauls Khichi Khyat Kutch land Maharaja Malde Mallani Malwa Marathas marriage Maru Marwar maunds Merta Mewar migration mobile groups Mughal empire Munhata Muslim Nagaur Nainsi networks nineteenth century nomadic opium oral narratives Pabuji Pachpadra Pali paragana pastoral pastoralists phad Phalodi Pokhran political Powlett Pugal Punjab Raikas railway Raja Rajasthan Rajput clans Rajputana Rana Rathor Rawal relationships Report Mardumshumari routes RSAB rulers salt Sambhar Sanchor sayer sedentary settlement seventeenth century Sindh social Sojhat SP Bahi space territories Thar Desert Thar region thikanadars Tod’s trade traditions Tribes Umarkot Vigat villages warrior Western Rajputana Zeigler