Talbot Cynthia. Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra

Oxford University Press. 2001. — 328 p.The society of traditional India is frequently characterized as static and dominated by caste. This study challenges older interpretations, arguing that medieval India was actually a time of dynamic change and fluid social identities. Using records of religious endowments from Andhra Pradesh, author Cynthia Talbot reconstructs a regional society of the precolonial past as it existed in practice.Cynthia Talbot is Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies at University of Texas, Austin.