Trans-Himalayan Caravans: Merchant Princes and Peasant Traders in Ladakh (Oxford India Paperbacks) - Softcover

Rizvi, Janet

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195658175 ISBN 13: 9780195658170

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

This book documents the extraordinarily complex pattern of trade upon which the pre-Independence economy of Ladakh largely depended. Although the trans-Himalayan traffic in subsistence commodities in other parts of the Himalaya has been researched, that in Ladakh has until now remained almost entirely undocumented. The book is based mainly on oral evidence; this is related to documentary sources ranging from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. This intriguing account of Ladakhi trade is spiced with enough personal details of the traders at all levels, to demonstrate that trade' is something more than a matter of routes and commodities, prices and rates of profit; it is an activity carried out by real human beings, profoundly colouring their entire way of life.

About this title

About the Author

Janet Rizvi has a Ph.D. in History from Cambridge. She is a freelance writer and researcher. She is the author of Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia (OIP).

Review

`admirable introduction ... a magisterial account ... Her in book is a brilliant synthesis of the oral histories, which she painstakingly obtained with the traditional historians concern for objectivity and real analysis. She narrates wonderful life stories about the people themselves. ... Janet Rizvi ... weaves these fascinating stories within the bedrock of historical facts to reveal the ancient trading routes of High Asia.' Hamida Khuhro, Dawn

`Dr Rizvi has written a scholar's book about the legendary silk routes and Ladakh itself that she knows so well. It is also a wonderfully evocative book about the trade routes across impossibly difficult terrains, traditional trading communities of the region; trade in silk, pashm, tea and other exotic goods that summon up visions of the courts of Timur and Haroun al Rashid. This is a satisfying book that is pleasure to read and which fills a real gap in our knowledge and makes us wonder how many gaps there still are which need to be filled.' Hamida Khuhro, Dawn

`skilfully combining scholarship with anecdote to bring alive the past social and economic life of an important crossroads of Asian trade ... Janet Rizvi has done a great service by providing this account of a lost way of life before it was too late to interview some of the participants.' Philip Andrews-Speed, Asian Affairs, Vol. XXXII, Part I, Feb 2001

`Rizvi has directed her attentions to the economic significance of the region, skilfully combining scholarship with anecdote to bring alive the past social and economic life of an important crossroads of Asian trade.' Philip Andrews-Speed, Asian Affairs, Feb 2001

`Janet Rizvi has done a great service by providing this account of a lost way of life before it was too late to interview some of the participants.' Philip Andrews-Speed, Asian Affairs, Feb 2001

`admirable introduction ... a magisterial account ... Her in book is a brilliant synthesis of the oral histories, which she painstakingly obtained with the traditional historians concern for objectivity and real analysis. She narrates wonderful life stories about the people themselves. ... Janet Rizvi ... weaves these fascinating stories within the bedrock of historical facts to reveal the ancient trading routes of High Asia.' Hamida Khuhro, Dawn

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0195658175
• ISBN 13: 9780195658170
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 388