This volume grew out of a panel on Indian state politics presented at the thirty-sixth Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 1984. Brass, Kohli, Manor and Wood gave papers and Church served as discussant; subsequently, Blair, who chaired the panel, and Lele and Varkey generously offered to participate as well. All of the papers were revised and edited speedily in order to take advantage of Westview Press'' rapid publication and distribution through the Replica Edition process.