Introduction

Daniela Berti (1) , Gilles Tarabout (2, 3)

1 CEH - Centre d'Études Himalayennes
2 LESC - Laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative
3 CEIAS - Centre d'Études de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud

This volume has been prepared with a view to confront a widespread stereotype in academic studies about India. According to this stereotype, pre-colonial India consisted of territorial units with ill-defined, fuzzy boundaries. This is taken to be a specifically Indian characteristic as the very notion of territory in Indian civilization is said to be of secondary importance for cultural reasons (this notion may be part of a more general, and widespread way of opposing a reified West to an equally reified India). The arguments put forward may vary. However, they all converge to create the idea that, generally speaking, territory in India had, and still has, little value as a cognitive category. This book aims at radically reconsidering this perspective.

Mots clés: India; territory; soil; jurisdictions; Hinduism; Hindutva; Veda; Indian ideology

Domaines: Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

Daniela Berti, Gilles Tarabout. Introduction. 2008. ⟨hal-00308283⟩