Table of Contents

1. Introduction 2. The Making of Meo Marginality 3. Anti-State: The Pal Polity 4. Towards a Critique of Indo-Persion Historiography 5. Imperial State Formation and Resistance 6. The Construction of Meo Criminality: Towards a Critique of Colonial Ethnography 7. Crime, Feud and Resistance in Early Nineteenth Century Mewat 8. The Prose and Verse of Rebellion: the Gadar of 1857 9. Kings, Peasants and Bandits 10. Conclusions

Promotional Information

A reassessment of conventional South Asian historiography from a subaltern perspective and a unique look at how conceptions of history and community clash. This incisive study explores the Meo community through their oral literature, revealing sophisticated modes of collective memory and self-government while telling a story that radically diverges from most accepted Indian histories.

About the Author

Shail Mayaram is a visiting senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi, India, and a fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in Jaipur, India. She is the author of Resisting Regimes: Myth, Memory and the Shaping of a Muslim Identity, the co-author of Creating a Nationality: The Ramjanambhumi Movement and the Fear of Self, and a member of the Subaltern Studies editorial collective.

Reviews

Mayarams's work is a fascinating and important examination. -- Jason Freitag Journal of Asian Studies A welcome addition to the growing literature on the Meos, this book charts new ground. -- Yoginder Sikand JRAS