Reflecting on Our Past - Economic History of a Princely State

Hyderabad: The Social Context of Industrialisation 1875 to 1948
C. V. Subba Rao
Published by Orient Longman

This is a slim and easily readable volume tracing the economic history of the princely State of Hyderabad from 1875 to 1948. This is the period in which the Asaf Jahi dynasty ruled the state. As is well-known, this reign came to an end in September 1948 when the Indian Army entered the state and it became part of the Indian Union. The author uses succinct prose while the supporting abstracts and tables run even longer than the main text. It is a scholarly exercise taken up against the type of odds faced by all economic historians documenting the evolution of industrialization of in the princely States of British India in which the data base was imperfect and the governments, given to oral traditions did not maintain systematic records. In this context the work is still quite authentic with an empirical base, having drawn upon significant primary and secondary sources of data and information.

Whatever be the merits of the conclusions in the book on the interplay of economic and social forces, the book itself is a clear labour of intensity and commitment and would fill voids in the current knowledge of the economic history of princely states like Hyderabad.

R. Rajamani
THE BOOK REVIEW/ April 2008