The Hidden String: Agrarian Economy of Colonial Bengal and Its Institutional Fra

The Hidden String is a remarkable study undertaken over a two-and-a-half decades and revisited after a gap of three decades. It examines the intricate relationship between agricultural practices and institutional frameworks in rural Bengal in the colonial period. At its core, the work elaborates two fundamental concepts: the nature of agricultural production and the institutional structures that governed it. The analysis of agrarian systems reveals how cultivation patterns were linked to ecological constraints and climate rhythms. Particular attention is paid to Bengal’s principal crops—aus and aman—whose cultivation cycles shaped not only agricultural practices but also broader socio-economic patterns of rural life. The book also examines traditional water management systems, which not only consolidated power structures within village communities but also triggered peasant resistance. A key theme is the institutional framework of agriculture, which is examined through inter-connected socio-cultural practices and structures: from government legislation and rural credit systems to agencies controlling commercial crop cultivation, demographic growth, and the impact of epidemiological events and irregular precipitation patterns. This comprehensive study is a testament to the complex interplay between agricultural practices and the institutional mechanisms that shaped the economic landscape of rural Bengal from the eighteenth to the first half of the twentieth century.