Northeast India: A Political History

This book explores the history of Northeast India, a region of hills inhabited by myriad tribes, and how it became part of the "imagined nation" of India. It also explores two other ideas of India: Bharat and Hindustan, and how imperialism, Christianity, and the British love of tea brought each of the contemporary regions constituent states into modern India.

Format: Hardback
Length: 432 pages
Publication date: 13 July 2023
Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd

As India and the world grapple with profound questions of nationalism and identity, this captivating book delves into the rich history of one of the world's newest and most intriguing regions: Northeast India. Emerging with the stroke of a pen in 1947, as the British Raj crumbled and partitioned into India and Pakistan, this region is characterized by its hilly terrain and diverse tribal communities. Prior to colonial rule, these tribes had largely lived in their ancient ways, largely untouched by their neighboring communities, who sought to avoid their traditions of head-hunting. In his insightful chronicle, Samrat Choudhury explores the intricate processes by which these remote hill tribes and the diverse other peoples inhabiting the valley of the mighty Brahmaputra River below became integral parts of the "imagined nation" that is India. Through his exploration of the invention of the Northeast, he also delves into two other competing notions of India: Bharat, the Hindu nationalist conception of the country, and Hindustan, the Persian-origin name by which India is still known in far-western regions such as Turkey. Taking a long-view perspective, this absorbing political history charts the distinct pathways by which imperialism, Christianity, and the British love of tea brought each of the contemporary regions' constituent states into modern India, often with resistance and struggle.

Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781787389526