Colonial Origins of Ethnic Violence in India

Ajay Verghese is Assistant Professor of Political Science at University of California, Riverside. Verghese was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University from 2012 to 2013.

"This is a truly excellent and original book, deeply researched, carefully argued, and offering a powerful new understanding of caste and religious cleavages and violence in India. Unlike most previous studies, Verghese combines religious and caste violence within a single framework. A model book for comparative historical research in political science."—David D. Laitin, Watkins Professor of Political Science, Stanford University "This outstanding book is a model of both theory generation and theory testing. Verghese offers fresh hypotheses about the sources of different types of ethnic violence across India, which he rigorously evaluates using a sophisticated comparative case study design that is supplemented by a meaningful statistical test. A major contribution to our understanding of colonialism and ethnic violence."—James Mahoney, Northwestern University "In this clearly written and closely argued work, Verghese proposes that religious or communal violence is associated with the former princely states, while tribal and caste violence is associated with British colonial rule. This important book challenges prevailing ideas about ethnic violence, and will further research on India and other formerly British colonial states."—Karen Leonard, UC Irvine "In this bold and innovative analysis, Verghese argues that the seemingly endemic problem of ethno-religious violence in India is fundamentally shaped by the different historical traditions of governance and sovereignty in different parts of the country. The breadth and historical depth of data and context makes this a compelling contribution to the literature."—Thomas Blom Hansen, Center for South Asia, Stanford University

• Introduction1. Colonialism, Institutions, and Ethnic Violence in India2. Violence in North India: Jaipur and Ajmer3. Violence in South India: Malabar and Travancore4. Explaining Violence in East India: Bastar5. Patterns of Ethnic Violence Across Contemporary India6. The Indian Model of ColonialismConclusion