WORK AND LIFE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE BLACK TOWN AND IN THE SUBURBS OF COLONIAL MADRAS, 1641-1880

This book sheds immense light on work and life of mukkuvars and sembadavars on the seashore, inextricably links the role of sevakars, thuthuvars, umbrella bearers, palanquin bearers and the lamp bearers. The volume sets to discover the migration of washer-men, stone-workers bricklayers, carpenters, ottars, paraiyars and pallars the the various socio-professional categories seeking employment and their living standards. It speaks on the rise of the new social class of dubashis, traces the availability of slaves in Madras and the export by the English Company to St Helena colony and Bengkulu. It examines the rise of disputes in the black town, offers fresh insights onto the storms, cyclones, floods and the damages caused to people and property besides the famines that broke out which affected the socio-economic life of the poor in colonial Madras. It demonstrates the exercise of labour control through fixation and revision of wages and the English law introduced when the English Company was acting as an instrument of power.

Jeyaseela Stephen is former directeur, Institut pour études Indo-Européennes (2013-2023). He was Professor of Maritime History (2001-2013) at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. He has authored numerous books on the maritime history of early modern India. His books have been translated into Chinese, Danish, German and Tamil. He is the recipient of the Best Book Prize of the Year 1999 from the Government of Tamil Nadu. He received the Thiru Vi. Ka Award of 2023 by the Government of Tamil Nadu.Cover Illustration: Map of Fort St. George in Madras and the black town and its environs dated 16 September 1779 (Courtesy: Centre des Archives de Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence, Depot des Fortifications des Colonies, Indes, Portefeuille 31A, 298)