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J. S. Furnivall, in his influential account of the impact of British rule in Burma 1824–1948, argues that British officials laid down a Liberal administration that exposed the colony to market forces, monetized the economy and devastated communities. However, there is little evidence that British administrators actually thought in Liberal terms: they relied heavily on institutions inherited from the Burmese monarchy, and when they introduced new administrative methods these were drawn from other parts of British India and only indirectly influenced by Liberalism. Furnivall's view of the ideological origins of British administration, in turn, distorts his reading of the impact of British rule, as illustrated by recent work on the pre-colonial economy showing that it was in fact more monetized and commercialized than he claims. If his account of the pre-modern economy is not viable, Furnivall's claims about the impact of British colonialism in Burma demand re-evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses changes that have occurred in Mumbai, India, since the turn of the 20th century regarding the worshiping of goddesses. Transformations that have occurred in the city regarding the worship of the goddess Membādevī and other mother goddesses since the beginning of the 20th century are discussed. The article focuses on both the facts that are known about Membādevī and the impact that she has on the beliefs and lives of the residents of Mumbai. Specific topics that are discussed in the article include myths involving Membādevī's origins, a temple that was built in her honor and the place in which she plays as a mother goddess of Mumbai.

This article examines the impact of the opium trade in India during the years of British imperialism in the early nineteenth century on economic development in the country. It focuses particularly on the trading of opium cultivated in Malwa, India to Sindh, Pakistan, and considers how this ultimately integrated Sindh into the broader British imperial trading system. The author critiques arguments on the matter set forth in the book "Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants and the Politics of Opium," by Amar Farooqi.

This article discusses trade relations between India and China during the early Common Era (CE), particularly focusing on the exchange of cotton produced in India and silk produced in China. It states that Indian cotton is likely to have first arrived in China during the Han dynasty in the Xinjiang region, and that Chinese silk was first imported into India during the Mauryan or early Han dynasties. The author notes that even after India began producing its own cotton and China began producing its own silk, cultural and social factors resulted in continued trade of these textiles between the countries.