Review

Author(s): John Kolars

Review by: John Kolars
Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1969), p. 661
Published by: American Oriental Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/596653
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 Brief Reviews of Books
est articles are those offered by Berthels, Jahn,
Minorsky, Alavi and Shaki. One misses in this volume
contributions from scholars who did much to enliven and
add to the worth of the previous volume, such as Basile
Nikitine and others. On the whole, however, this is a
valuable composite Miscellany in which most Iranolo-
gists will be able to find something of worth.
WILLIAM G. MILLWARD
City and Village in Iran: Settlementand Economy in the
Kirman Basin. By PAULWARDENGLISH. Pp. 180 +
bibliography and index. Madison: UNIVERSITY OF
WISCONSIN PRESS, 1966. $6.75.
Growing interest in Iran, resulting from a combina-
tion of problems of accessibility in Arab states and an
increasing tempo of change in that country, makes City
and Village in Iran a welcome addition to social science
literature on the Middle East. This detailed study of the
human occupancy of the Kirman basin presents an un-
usual collection of data relating to settlement morphol-
ogy, land ownership and economic activities. Paul
English's work assumes further importance in view of
the small number of studies concerned with urban condi-
tions in contemporary Iran.
The development of the book's subject matter reflects
the geographical training of its author. The first chapter
treats the physical environment of the Kirman area and
assesses the quality of the resources available to its
inhabitants. There then follow chapters on the history
of settlement and the contemporary patterns of villages
and towns. Three significant chapters deal with Kirman's
socio-economic structure, the question of urban domi-
nance, and the dynamics of stability and change in the
city and its hinterland. A summary chapter and six ap-
pendices offering data on a variety of topics complete
the book.
The author's main thesis is an important one. He
argues that, contrary to established conceptualizations
of Middle Eastern settlement, the city, village and camp
are not discrete and mutually isolated elements in the
landscape. In the core of his discussion the author shows
that the city of Kirman, today as in the past, dominates
the smaller settlements that surround it. He also shows
that the city owes its relative prosperity to production
which takes place nearby, rather than to its function as
a transshipment point on inter-regional trade routes.
In support of this idea he identifies the population oc-
cupying the area as "the product of a feudal rather than
a folk society." The local organization which binds the
inherent urban and rural elements of Kirman society
together is well documented by the text.
The interdependence of the city and its neighboring
settlements through the special medium of a dispersed
carpet industry and a complex system of land ownership
and water rights raises the question of the general ap-
plicability of the author's model to other Middle Eastern
countries. However, the theme is an evocative one, and
this scholarly, well written book, based on the author's
field observations over a period of two years as well as on
extensive library research, should be read by everyone
interested in contemporary Iran and the Middle East.
JOHN KOLARS
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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661
L'fgypte moderne.By NADA TOMICHE.("Que sais-je?"
No. 459). Pp. 128. Paris: PRESSES UNIVERSITAIREB
DE FRANCE, 1966. No price indicated.
In the tradition of the series, the above is a brief but
useful survey of Egypt from 1798 to 1966 which has a
great deal of information within its limited compass.
Chronologically well-distributed, the book gives the
nineteenth century almost as much attention as the
twentieth, and is particularly good on the Muhammad
'Ali period. Topically, it is strong on economic and social
affairs but weak and somewhat outdated on diplomatic
history. A short bibliography.
J. P. JANKOWSKI
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
Husain Shahi Bengal, a Socio-Political Study. By
MOMTAZUR RAHMANTARAFDAR.Pp. viii, 401. Dacca:
ASIATIC SOCIETYOF PAKISTAN, 1965.
Within Pakistan's general historical discipline a sig-
nificant and to some extent diversified school of his-
toriography is emerging in East Pakistan. In its general
treatment of Islamic history or of the history of Islam in
India it has hardly any distinctive features. But it is in
the detailed and painstakingly scholarly treatment of the
history of Muslim Bengal that the East Pakistani his-
torians have established their separate identity. It is
significant that the Asiatic Society of Pakistan has been
founded at Dacca, not at Karachi or Lahore, and has
already published some remarkable work on the history
of Muslim Bengal, such as, for instance, Abdul Karim's
Social History of the Muslims in Bengal (1959). The work
under review does credit to the Asiatic Society of Paki-
stan, to the author and to the rising school of East Paki-
stani historiography.
It deals with the period covered by four Husayn
Shah! kings who ruled from 1494 to 1538. This short
period was one of great religious ferment, as it was in
this period that the movement of Caytanya, the most
remarkable Hindu religious movement in Bengal, made
its impact. It was also in this period that a Hindu reli-
gious classic was translated into Arabic (cf. Yusuf
Husain, Haud al-haydt, la version arabe de I'AmratKand',
Journal Asiatique, ccxiii, 1928); and popular Hinduism
including the demotic snake-cult Mandsa made inroads
into the popular Islam of north-eastern India.
To this interesting, but hitherto little known period,
the author Dr. Tarafdar turns equipped with a sound
knowledge of Sanskrit, Bengali and Persian, uses famil-
iar as well as so far untapped manuscript sources, draws
on the assistance of a number of specialist scholars in
India and in East Pakistan, and handles his material
with impeccable scholarly objectivity. Although the
book covers, and covers adequately, the political, ad-
ministrative and social history of the period, by far the
most interesting chapters are those dealing with religion.
His brief study of popular Islam and its components in
this period is illuminating. On CaytAnya perhaps he
could have written in greater detail. It would certainly
have been interesting had he tried to examine the in-
fluence of Islam on Caytanya's version of Bhakti, and
conversely CaytAnya's influence on popular Islam. This
shortcoming has, however, been counterbalanced by an