Early capitalism and local history in South India

This study of the Tirunelveli region of Tamil Nadu challenges the coventional view that subsistence, isolation, and immobility characterized Indian villages before 'modern' times.

Examining the agrarian history of Tirunelveli during the millennium before 1900, David Ludden shows that peasant communities not only transformed rural society but shaped states and empires, including British India.

This edition also has a new preface.