The Indian princes and their states

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Pamela G. Price

In a cultural history which considers the transformation of south Indian institutions under British colonial rule in the nineteenth century, Pamela Price focuses on the two former 'little kingdoms' of Ramnad and Sivagangai which came under colonial governance as revenue estates. She demonstrates how rivalries among the royal families and major zamindari temples, and the disintegration of indigenous institutions of rule, contributed to the development of nationalist ideologies and new political identities among the people of southern Tamil country. The author also shows how religious symbols and practices going back to the seventeenth century were reformulated and acquired a new significance in the colonial context. Arguing for a reappraisal of the relationship of Hinduism to politics, Price finds that these symbols and practices continue to inform popular expectation of political leadership today.

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Charles Powell

King Juan Carlos of Spain is currently one of the world's most popular and respected statesmen. This largely reflects the interest and admiration he has aroused both at home and abroad on account of his decisive contribution to the establishment and consolidation of democracy in Spain following the death of General Franco in November 1975. While seeking to determine the precise nature of his role in this process, widely publicised as a result of his part in aborting the military coup of February 1981, this political life of Juan Carlos also aims to shed new light on lesser-known episodes of his life, including his childhood and adolescence, the process leading to his proclamation as Franco's successor in 1969 and his performance as Prince of Spain (1969-75). Additionally, it deals in detail with the King's current role as constitutional monarch, his efforts to hold the newly created semi-federal Spanish state together, and his hitherto ignored contribution to foreign policy.

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[by] Patrick Vinton Kirch

In How Chiefs Became Kings, PKirch addresses a central problem in anthropological archaeology: the emergence of "archaic states" whose distinctive feature was divine kingship. Kirch takes as his focus the Hawaiian archipelago, commonly regarded as the archetype of a complex chiefdom. Integrating anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, traditional history, and theory, and drawing on significant contributions from his own four decades of research, Kirch argues that Hawaiian polities had become states before the time of Captain Cook's voyage (1778-1779). The status of most archaic states is inferred from the archaeological record. But Kirch shows that because Hawai'i's kingdoms were established relatively recently, they could be observed and recorded by Cook and other European voyagers. Substantive and provocative, this book makes a major contribution to the literature of precontact Hawai'i and illuminates Hawai'i's importance in the global theory and literature about divine, kingship, archaic states, and sociopolitical evolution. --Jacket.

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Y. Vaikuntham

Contributed articles on the political situation and peasant uprisings in princely states of India in 19th and 20th century earlier presented at a seminar.