Wage earners in India, 1500-1900 : regional approaches in an international context

The study of wage levels and the purchasing power of wages is often viewed as a specialized academic topic of little concern to the wider public. This is far from being the case, as this book demonstrates. The study of wages opens up vistas of the daily life of the working people, of their standards of living and, therefore, addresses questions of larger economic developments and unequal power relationships in a region. Wage Earners in India 1500–1900: Regional Approaches in an International Context brings together several scholars—young and veteran—to study new data and reinterpret older data from a fresh methodological perspective to locate India within global economic systems more effectively. This book • identifies previously unused and unpublished material for the study of wages • underlines the importance of wages as a source of income for Indians from early times • demonstrates the trends in wages over the period under review • stresses the need to take women into account for the reconstruction of household income Cover 1 Contents 10 List of Figures 12 List of Tables 14 Preface 20 Introduction 22 1 Wages, Income and Living Standards in Western India, 1510–1570 64 2 Wages and Prices in Madras c. 1650–1720 106 3 Wages, Prices and Money in 18th-century Maharashtra 130 4 Wages in the 18th-century Maratha Region 143 5 Wages in Sinnar Pargana during the 18th Century 167 6 Wage Labour and Other Forms of Remuneration in the Deccan in the 1820s 187 7 Construction Workers, Remuneration and Welfare Levels 262 8 Wage Payments and Labour Productivity 296 About the Editors and the Contributors 319 Index 323