Nationalism and Imperialism in South and Southeast Asia : Essays Presented to Damodar R.SarDesai

This volume is dedicated to and is a festschrift for Damodar RamajiSarDesai (b. 1931) with whom all the contributors of this volume studied,or worked with in one capacity or another, in the Department of Historyat the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), Professor SarDesai'sown alma mater as well. He is one of those professors who was much morethan a teacher as his office door was always open and he was alwayswilling to stop his own work to greet students and colleagues with awelcoming smile, often a quip, and to offer his support and guidance andto share his considerable erudition. His delightful sense of humour, alwaysbubbling to the surface, made any discussion a welcome and pleasant one,but what made any talk with him so rewarding, stimulating, and enjoyableis his exceptionally keen intelligence and his wide knowledge and deepreading. He can carry on a conversation on almost any subject offeringinsights and knowledge, yet, with an inquisitive mind, he is, like a trueintellectual, always listening and willing to learn from others, young orold. With his wide experience of life in India, the United States, andEngland and his travels the world over, he is a cosmopolitan person aswell, with a wide experience and a mind to match.Professor SarDesai was born in Portuguese-controlled Goa. To hisfriends and family, he is known as Bala, short for Balaji, after the fameddeity at the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple; Venkateswara is anincarnation of the god Vishnu and one of Venkataswara’s homonyms isBalaji. Located at the hill town of Tirumala near Tirupati in AndhraPradesh, it is one of the world’s most visited pilgrimage sites. SarDesai’sfamily is a prominent landowning and politically active family andhistorically has been involved in the government in Goa. AKonkanispeaker, he is also highly proficient in Sanskrit, Portuguese,French, Hindi and Marathi, as well as English. He was raised on the islandof Cumbharjua and received his early education from a tutor... This volume is a festschrift for Damodar Ramaji SarDesai (b. 1931), Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where all of the contributors received their Ph.D as did SarDesai himself. His work for over fifty years at UCLA has been an inspiration to generations of students, and he has made major contributions to the world of learning, and in his chosen areas of specialization of India, especially its foreign policy with regard to Southeast Asia, imperialism and the history of the modern European empires; and Southeast Asia. He has served as Chair of the History Department at UCLA as well as Bombay University and President of the Asiatic Society of Bombay. The volume includes a biographical introduction and a bibliographic essay on SarDesai’s major writings and contains new and cutting-edge essays on the design of imperial Vijayanagara; famine policy in colonial India and how European imperialist policies created, or exacerbated the impact of, famines; the relatively unknown chapter of ‘Chinese Gordon’s’ brief Indian career; reflections on the Tamil humanist A. Madhaviah, a man ahead of his time; nationalism and the career of industrialist G.D. Birla, Gandhi’s friend; the ‘Chindia Problematic’―India and China relations; the state of Philippine historiography and its nationalist impulses; the role of Vietnamese highlanders in the Vietnamese nationalist struggle and their recent plight; early Malayan nationalism; and the efforts of American administrators to protect Philippine highland natives from being forced to participate in international exhibitions as curiosities from the American colony. Festschrift In Honour Of D.r. Sardesai, Professor Emeritus Of History At University Of California, Los Angeles. Edited By Arnold P. Kaminsky, Roger D. Long. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.