15. Trends in Economic History Writing of Early South Asia

Economic history writing in India had its origin in the controversies over the effects of British rule and its consequences for the Indian economy.1 Within the first three decades of the twentieth century, it became an established discipline, with economic processes in the ancient period also receiving some attention. This essay will present the major trends of economic history writing within the wider context of Indian historiographical traditions.2 Indian historiography experienced several phases of dominant schools of history writing: imperialist/colonial, nationalist, Marxist, post-structural, postcolonial, etc. However, a strict evolutionary account of schools of historical scholarship would be inappropriate. First, it would assume that these schools were successive to one another, and may give an impression of hidden commonalities running through all these modes of historiography. Second, it would obscure many overlaps among these schools. Third, some practitioners have continued to work with a method deemed obsolete by fellow historians and, fourth, it would elide the question of why particular positions or methods were more stable than others.3 Considering these problems, the current chapter attempts to chart out the trends in history writing of India without assuming a chronological succession of different schools of thought.