Oudh and Other North-West Provinces: An Ethnographical Account

The author has prepared the text of the book in such a consistent and compact manner that keeps you in the loop till the end which itself depicts its importance. The Tribes and Castes of the North Western Provinces – the area now encompassed by Uttar Pradesh – were produced for the Raj government, as a part of the Ethnographic Survey of India project that had been initiated in 1901. Crooke was among those who believed caste to be defined by occupation, that someone was born into a community that traditionally performed work such as cow-herding or barbering. Another scholar Herbert Hope Risley believed that there was a racial definition and went to considerable lengths to collect anthropometric data to support his position. The book is quite informative and worth reading in the context of Indian history during the Mughal era.