Modern Indian Kingship: Tradition, Legitimacy & Power in Rajasthan (World Anthropology)

This work is a significant contribution to the study of kingship and the ritual process, two longstanding areas of anthropological debate both within and beyond South Asia. It is part of the growing literature on the general anthropology of colonialism and the contemporary politics and culture of postcolonial nation states. This book asks why the descendants of the royal elite have continued to enact and sustain these royal rites and ceremonies. Why do kingly rituals possess power and meaning for those who participate in them? Why have the maharajas initiated new rites which they have performed on a large scale at critical moments of crisis?