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

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.