Journal Articles by Byapti Sur
Law and History Review, 2023
This article presents an analysis of the paper-and office work at two South Asian corners in the ... more This article presents an analysis of the paper-and office work at two South Asian corners in the early modern Dutch empire. The article engages with current approaches to the histories of bureaucracy and empire that emphasize the lived experience of "paperwork" in order to gain a localized understanding of what constituted empire. The article focuses on the production and use of pattas, olas, and thombos in the offices of the Dutch zamindar-fiscaal in Chinsurah (Bengal) and the Dutch disāva in Jaffna (Sri Lanka). Dutch bureaucracy in these spaces was entrenched in local practices, and created through processes of layering and blending, as evidenced by material and linguistic characteristics. The deeds and registers recorded essential aspects of life such as labor, marriage, and transactions of property, and the article shows how such paperwork mattered to villagers in Chinsurah and Jaffna. The production of the deeds and registers itself could include a public spectacle, and we argue that this performative aspect of the local bureaucracy added to the perceived relevance of the paperwork. Furthermore, through an analysis of legal cases we reconstruct the use and abuse of these bureaucracies by Dutch officials and local inhabitants, which signifies a parasitical relationship that is characteristic of so many imperial and colonial spaces. Through a focus on the local bureaucratic practices, the authors shed new light on questions about the character of the Dutch empire, where things never turned out to be exactly as they appeared at first sight. At the core of this contribution lies the paperwork produced in the eighteenthcentury offices of the zamindar saheb fiscaal in Chinsurah, Bengal and the disāva in Jaffna, Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Although the vernacular titles might suggest that we would be dealing here with Bengali and Tamil or Sinhalese bureaucracies, the officials holding these offices were actually Dutchmen. These Dutchmen held the rank of (junior) merchants within the organization of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Certainly when looked at from the present day,
Indian Historical Review, 2017
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) shared a history of two hundred years of coexistence with the ... more The Dutch East India Company (VOC) shared a history of two hundred years of coexistence with the locals in Bengal. And yet their official reports had little to say about this relation, except frequent complaints against the locals and the accompanying, inherent distrust. There has been, however, a significant amount of historiography that has developed in the recent decades on Indo-Dutch contacts based on the information available in the sources. This article aims to add more nuances to these dynamics, by showing how the Company and its officials were seen by the locals in Bengal. It argues that the local–Dutch relation had not just been about static characterisations of 'partnership', 'cooperation' or 'conflict', but was rather dependant on personal networks and profit motives backed by diverse social positions. The Dutch in the perception of the locals had different meanings, images and implications. Through the study of three objects—local texts, a Dutch painting and a legal case—this article aims to capture precisely these very perceptions in contributing towards the complex of Indo-Dutch interactions in seventeenth century Bengal. I had a book in my hands to while away the time, and it occurred to me that in a way a landscape is not unlike a book—a compilation of pages that overlap without any two ever being the same. People open the book according to their taste and training, their memories and desires: for a geologist the compilation opens at one page, for a boatman at another, and still
Book Chapters by Byapti Sur
Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy, 2025
An Earthly Paradise: Trade, Politics and Culture in Early Modern Bengal , 2020
The Dutch East India Company or the Veerenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) was founded in 1602 ... more The Dutch East India Company or the Veerenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) was founded in 1602 in the Dutch Republic for carrying on trade and territorial expansion in the Indian Ocean region. Among other places in Asia, it operated in Mughal India as well throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries until its dissolution, when the English East India Company (EIC) took over political power. The base of the EIC was Bengal, which also witnessed a considerable Dutch presence in the previous years. The arrival of the VOC in Bengal was first registered around Pipli in 1615. 1 At this time, the Dutch Company had already set up its bases in other places like Surat, the coast of Coromandel and Mal abar. However, in Bengal, the VOC was yet to make its mark. By the end of the seventeenth century, the number of Dutch factories in this region had multiplied with the VOC trying to consolidate its position. A lot has been written about the EIC's activities in Bengal in this century. Rila Mukherjee points out how the English discourse in these years began producing a stereotypical image of Bengal. Prompted by the English ambassador, Thomas Bowrey's narratives, an image of 'Brand Bengal' was born. 2 While this was, indeed, a significant phenomenon, the Dutch presence in Bengal was probably as important in the beginning as its English counter part's. Despite this, very little scholarly attention has been given to studying the VOC in this region and not much research has been done on Dutch visions of seventeenth-century Bengal.
The Indian Ocean in the Making of Early Modern India, 2017
Book Reviews by Byapti Sur
History, Ideas and Society: S.C. Mishra Memorial Lectures in History, 2016
knowledge? What happens when news slips from the closely monitored repositories of the WIC and th... more knowledge? What happens when news slips from the closely monitored repositories of the WIC and the VOC? What happens when maps are made that the two companies' do not approve? Both Blaeu and Visscher depended on their relationships with the companies to create maps with the latest information but they were also businessmen who sold to the general public. What are the implications for the form and function of maps when their makers are so tenuously situated between patron and customer? Addressing such questions could augment the nuance of Sutton's engagement with the development of capitalism as part of Amsterdam's global presence in the seventeenth century. Overall, the book offers readers a kaleidoscopic view of Dutch cartographic representation of the Atlantic world, with a special focus on how maps served as vessels for a prevailing discourse about civic virtue and national pride, as exercised through commercial expansion. However, like a kaleidoscope, such views are often partial and require prior knowledge (especially of Dutch and European history). As such, this book is more suitable for experts looking to augment prior familiarity rather than as a text easily adapted to classroom use.
Interviews, Op-eds and Blogposts by Byapti Sur
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Journal Articles by Byapti Sur
Book Chapters by Byapti Sur
Book Reviews by Byapti Sur
Interviews, Op-eds and Blogposts by Byapti Sur