Examines the rise in the inter-war years of a Gandhian influenced non-violent movement in the North West Frontier.

An ethnographic study of Indian democracy that shows how agrarian life creates values of citizenship and active engagement that are essential for the cultivation of democracy. Cultivating Democracy provides a compelling ethnographic analysis of the relationship between formal political institutions and everyday citizenship in rural India. Banerjee draws on deep engagement with the people and social life in two West Bengal villages from 1998-2013, during election campaigns and in the times between, to show how the micro-politics of their day-to-day life builds active engagement with the macro-politics of state and nation. Her sensitive analysis focuses on several "events" in the life of the villages shows how India's agrarian rural society helps create practices and conceptual space for these citizens to be effective participants in India's great democratic exercises. Specifically, she shows how the villagers' creative practices around their kinship, farming and religion, while navigating encounters with local communist cadres, constitute a vital and continuing cultivation of those republican virtues of cooperation, civility, solidarity and vigilance which the visionary Ambedkar considered essential for the success of Indian democracy. At a time when so much of that constitutional vision is under threat, this book provides a crucial scholarly rebuttal to all, on Right or Left, who dismiss rural citizens' political capacities and democratic values. This book will appeal to anyone interested in India's political culture and future, its rural society, or the continuing relevance of political anthropology.

The Pukhtun (Pathan) of the North West Frontier are regarded as a warrior people. Yet in the inter-war years there arose a Muslim movement, the Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God), which adopted military forms of organizations and dress, but which also drew its inspiration from Gandhian principles of non-violent action and was dedicated to an Indian nationalism rather than communal separatism. Virtually erased from the national historiography of post-partition Pakistan, where they now reside, the ageing veterans of the movement are still highly respected by younger Pukhtun. This is an account of rank and file members of the Khudai Khidmatgar, describing why they joined, what they did, and how they perceived the ethics and aims of the movement. It attempts to answer the questions of how notoriously violent Pukhtun were converted to an ethic of non-violence. It finds the answer rooted in the transformation of older social structures, Islamic revisionism and the redefinition of the traditional code of honour. India: OUP; Pakistan: OUP Series Editors: Wendy James & N.J. Allen

Twelve narratives offer portraits of Muslims in India today, recounting their stories, predicaments, aspirations, and the highs and lows of their lives. Intimately told and stripped of jargon, yet nuanced and incisive, these essays portray individuals from many walks of life -- men and women, young and old, from various regions of India. Scholars, students, and general readers will welcome this collection and its emphasis on the everyday and on multifaceted social positions and relationships.

The progeny of a Muslim tribe steeped in a tradition of blood revenge, Badshah Khan raised history's first nonviolent army and joined Mahatma Gandhi in civil disobedience to British rule in India. His story of hard-won victory offers inspiration for nonviolent solutions to today's world struggles.

Affectionately known as 'Bacha' Khan or 'Badshah' Khan amongst his people, Khan Abdul Ghaffar's life was dedicated to the social reform of the Pukhtuns, who traditionally adhere to a strict code of life called 'Pukhtunwali', which is governed by rather rigid tribal norms. Bacha Khan is an acknowledged leader in the hearts of the Pukhtuns across the world, due to his life long struggle to modernize Pukhtun society and his teachings of non-violence, adopted by his Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) party, during the struggle for independence against the British. He stands tall in the pantheon of leaders of the movement for independence. A close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, his success in mobilizing the Pukhtuns of the North-West Frontier Province and the Tribal Areas through a non-violent struggle, had significant bearing on this movement, in which the Khudai Khidmatgar allied with the Indian National Congress. The Pushto edition of Bacha Khan's autobiography was first published in 1983 in Afghanistan, when he was 93 years old. Nearly four decades later the book has been translated and published for the first time in English. This translation was painstakingly done by Sahibzada at the request of Shandana Humayun Khan, to whom he has dedicated the book. Shandana's maternal great-grandfather was Qazi Ataullah, a close lieutenant of Bacha Khan's and a key figure in the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. Before the translation process started, Sahibzada and Shandana visited several members of Bacha Khan's family including his grandsons Nasir Ali Khan, Asfandayar Wali Khan and Saleem Jan. The translator shared a close friendship with Bacha Khan's son, Abdul Ghani Khan, the greatest Pukhtun poet of the century. The book is a result of the participation of several members of his family and those who have spent their lives studying Bacha Khan's philosophy. For the first time Bacha Khan's thoughts on Pukhtun society, his vision for a more equitable world achieved along the lines of non-violence have been researched, translated and made available for the world in his own words.

Based on first-hand research in the world's third most intensive conflict zone after Iraq and Afghanistan, this book examines the debates around reconciliation, citizenship and identity, and the prospects for some form of autonomy for the Thai South.

Bannú, or Our Afghan Frontier is an account of Bannu District in British India (located in present-day northwestern Pakistan). The Bannu Valley was seized by the East India Company in 1848 and the district formed in 1861. The author, Septimus Smet Thorburn, was an official in the Indian Civil Service and the settlement officer in the district. The book is in two parts. Part one, consisting of six chapters, covers the geography, history, and administrative system of Bannu, with emphasis on British rule and its interaction with local traditions, customs, and patterns of authority and land tenure and ownership. Part two, which comprises the bulk of the book, deals with customs and folklore. It includes an introductory chapter entitled "Social Life, Customs, Beliefs and Superstitions of the Peasantry," and separate chapters devoted to "Popular Stories, Ballads and Riddles" and "Pashto Proverbs Translated into English." The final chapter gives the texts of the same proverbs--406 in all--in Pushto. The stories, ballads, and riddles are brief--generally a few paragraphs--and are classed in five categories: humorous and moral, comic and jocular, fables, Marwat ballads (relating to the Pushto Marwat tribe living in Bannu), and riddles. The proverbs are grouped according to the topics to which they relate, for example, begging, boasting, bravery, and so forth, and for many of the proverbs a brief explanation is given of its meaning and application. A short appendix deals with the complicated system of land allotments in the different tappas (traditional subdivisions) of the Bannu region. The book includes a map of the Bannu District with an inset map showing its relationship to the neighboring parts of Afghanistan and the regions of Waziristan, Kashmir, and the Punjab.