Social formations of early South India Rajan Gurukkal

PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCTION: CONCEPTUAL PRELIMINARIES -- SECTION I: HISTORIOGRAPHY AND METHOD -- 1. EARLY SOCIAL FORMATIONS: A HISTORIOGRAPHIC REVIEW -- 2. THE COURSE OF SOCIAL HISTORIOGRAPHY OF KERALA -- 3. SEMIOTICS OF ANCIENT TAMIL POETICS: A METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATION ; SECTION II: EARLY SOCIAL FORMATIONS -- 4. PREHISTORIC LIFE IN THE SOUTHERN WESTERN GHATS: INTERPRETING ROCK-ART -- 5. TRIBES, FOREST, AND SOCIAL FORMATION IN EARLY SOUTH INDIA -- 6. FORMS OF PRODUCTION AND FORCES OF CHANGE IN ANCIENT TAMIL SOCIETY -- 7. EARLY IRON AGE ECONOMY: PROBLEMS OF AGRARIAN EXPANSION IN TAMILAKAM -- 8. WRITING, LITERACY, AND SOCIAL FORMATIONS IN THE TAMIL SOUTH -- 9. TOWARDS A NEW DISCOURSE: DISCURSIVE PROCESSES IN EARLY SOUTH INDIA -- SECTION III: SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS -- 10. SOCIAL FORMATION FROM THE ANCIENT TO EARLY MEDIEVAL -- 11. HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF THE STATE FORMATION IN THE DEEP SOUTH -- 12. ASPECTS OF GREAT TRANSFORMATION IN ANCIENT KERALA -- 13. FROM CLAN AND LINEAGE TO HEREDITARY OCCUPATIONS AND CASTE -- 14. SPREAD OF WRITING IN THE TAMIL SOUTH AND ITS SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS ; SECTION IV: THE NEW SOCIAL FORMATION -- 15. TEMPLES AS SITES OF THE NEW SOCIAL FORMATION -- 16. THE FORMATION OF CASTE SOCIETY IN KERALA: HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS --17. ASPECTS OF THE RESERVOIR SYSTEM OF IRRIGATION IN THE P?N?YA COUNTRY -- INDEX

This book presents an incisive analysis of social formations in present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala from pre-historic times to early medieval period. It examines the economy, technology, and the process of state formation to understand the transformation from agro-pastoral to agrarian social formati