Only recently have historians begun to draw upon anthropology in a non-discursive way – in terms of utilizing anthropological conclusions for processing and grappling with historical material with the skill and insights recommended for anthropologists. The ostensible purpose of this new mien of historical writing, according to its proponents, is to correct the elitist bias in received historical literature. Undoubtedly, they have a point there, for written history has a natural tendency of placing the literati in the centre, drawing in the multitude, in various stages of recalcitrance, into the historical process. What this new brand of anthropology-inspired history hopes to do is to alter the ego in history by bringing the people back in. We are faced then, perhaps for the first time, with the prospect of a written history, which is the history of class struggles, and not, as hitherto, of struggles within a class.

This new style of writing ‘history from below’ has already produced an impressive volume of academically certifiable literature and has successfully established a new genre (Guha, ed. 1982, 1983, 1984; and Guha, 1983). The History Workshop group in Britain is perhaps the most systematic campaigner of this genre. From 1982 onwards, further impetus to this movement has come from Ranajit Guha who has fathered the campaign for its integration into the writing of Indian history.