Essays on South India

Smattering of essays. Best ones imo: Ancient Tamil Literature: Its Scholarly Past and Future—- Makes a good case that sanskritization has been overstated in the south. Argues that caste, temple institution, much of religion, language, and secular culture are tamil in origin.

The State and the Agrarian Order in Medieval South India— Like a lot of Stein’s work, it portrays south india as a highly decentralized society, with local government and mercantile temple institutions being far more powerful and relevant than the central government.

The second to last essay, about caste, aint bad either. Caste sure behaves differently in South India.