Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-267) and index.
Contents:
Maps and illustration -- Preface -- Introduction / Irfan Habib -- Braj Bhūm. Chapter 1. Braj Bhūm in Mughal times / Irfan Habib -- Chapter 2. Notes on the economic and ethnographic geography of Braj Bhūm in Mughal times / Irfan Habib and Faiz Habib -- The State. Chapter 3. Akbar and the temples of the Mathura Region / Tarapada Mukherjee and Irfan Habib -- Chapter 4. The Mughal administration and the temples of Vrindavan during the reigns of Jahāngīr and Shāhjahān / Tarapada Mukherjee and Irfan Habib -- Chapter 5. Dealing with multiplicity : Mughal administration in Braj Bhūm under Aurangzeb (1659-1707) / Irfan Habib -- Peasants. Chapter 6. Land rights in Braj Bhūm during the reign of Akbar / Tarapada Mukherjee and Irfan Habib -- Chapter 7. The peasants of Vrindavan / Irfan Habib -- Chapter 8. From Āriṭh to Rādhākund : The history of a Braj village / Irfan Habib -- Chapter 9. Land holdings and land-control in village Rājpūr / Irfan Habib -- Gosā'ins. Chapter 10. A documentary history of the Gosā'ins of the Chaitanya sect at Vrindavan, to c.1740 / Irfan Habib -- Bibliography -- Index.
Summary:
"'Braj Bhūm in Mughal Times : The State, Peasants and Gosā'ins' represents a unique effort at presenting the conditions of life of the ordinary people in a small region of the Mughal Empire from about the accession of Akbar (1556) to the collapse of Mughal power (1739). The study brings out how the Mughal administration functioned on the ground, how peasant communities were organized and religious men conducted their worldly affairs. We are even able to meet some lowly men and women as distinct individuals. Some interesting facts also emerge : the early dates from which Akbar's grants to temples began ; the extensive survey of temples in Braj heartland that Akbar ordered in 1598 ; and, late in Aurangzeb's reign (1704), the official levy of Re. 1 per annum on each village in the Braj region to be collected by the Chaitanya - gosā'ins. Readers to whom ordinary people matter should find much of interest in the reconstructed history of three villages separately studied (Vrindavan, Radhakund and Rajpur). At the end, there are biographies of Gosains of the Chaitanya sect mainly containing details of their worldly concerns. The book uses a mass of privately preserved documents in Persian and Braj, along with historical texts, travel accounts, etc. A bibliography and comprehensive index will be found at the end of the book."--taken from publisher web site.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.