Paper short abstract:

The paper proposes an examination of forms of domestic service in the fifteenth century Mithila. It does so by historicizing both the ‘domestic’ and the idea of ‘service’ to write a pre-history of the colonial and post-colonial category of ‘naukar’.

Paper long abstract:

My paper proposes to study a series of 'service-relationships' as prescriptively described in the Sanskrit and vernacular literature of the fifteenth century Mithila.

Historians have come to realize that the pre-modern states and societies drew their strength and stability as much from the way a series of fluid and contingent relationships were maintained as from the institutions within which they were nurtured.

My study focuses on the oeuvre of a prolific author of Mithila, namely Vidyapati who wrote in three different languages, several genres and a variety of themes. His varied compositions present a rich variety of occasions to study domestic service in very different contexts. I seek to locate domestic servants within a range of comparable relationships: from those that were affectively and ethically constituted to those that were also legally secured. It is true that between legal slavery and intimate service bonding, a continuum of such relationships might be mapped (Eaton & Chatterjee, 2006). However, my study seeks to suggest that within the limitations of available 'sources' (e.g. all extant accounts are invariably from the perspective of the beneficiary of service), it is possible to clearly distinguish between these relationships as they are represented in contemporary narratives. Secondly, both caste and gender considerations seem to embed such relationships within a dharmaśāstrika context, but caste identity itself could be shaped by the nature of service. It would appear at the same time that the distinction between the house-hold as a private realm and the 'productive' space as a public realm appears to be hardly present.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will look at some of the issues related to employment and work of domestic servants in colonial India between the period of 1750s and 1850s.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will use two types of sources to understand the nature of domestic service in the early years of British colonial rule in India. Largely focussed on eastern and northern India, the first set will look at certain regulations passed by the colonial state that dealt with wages, work etc. The second consists of unpublished letters and diaries that were written by the East India Company officials to their family members back home in England.

The paper will specifically focus on the British male chummeries as the most popular type of household in this period - an aspect that has not been widely discussed in the existing historiography. Within this household, it appears that domestic servants were not only functionally important for providing different kinds of services but at times were also instrumental in informing the ethnographic understanding of British officials towards India and Indians.

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores how affect was central to the construction of relations between elite slaves and masters in the Mughal period. It stresses both the functional nature of such affective ties and the distinct sorts of master-slave relationships forged in the domestic space of the elite household.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the ways in which affect and a sense of familial intimacy were central to the construction of relations between (elite, skilled) slaves and their masters in the Mughal period. In turn, it aims to illustrate the functional significance of the affective ties between master and slave within the domestic space of an elite household. It does so through a close analysis of the Tahmasnama, a mid-to-late eighteenth century autobiographical work by Tahmas Khan 'Miskin', a former slave. In closely examining the domestic world of elite slavery, as discussed in this text, I will seek to accomplish two things. First, I will examine the nature of Miskin's own relationship to his masters, and in particular the ways in which these relationships were constructed as familial and domestic. In the process, I will underline the ways in which the nature of such relationships impacted in turn the kind of labor a slave would be asked to carry out. Second, I will investigate the broader relational dynamics within the household, in particular the contrast between the position of a slave such as Miskin that of the eunuchs who had easier access to and often therefore more intimate relations with elite women, and therefore forged distinct sorts of master-slave relationships. In doing so, I will explore the differing roles taken on by these two kinds of slaves within the domestic context.

Paper short abstract:

The paper explores the lives and status of domestic servants in the Danish trading post Serampore in early nineteenth-century Bengal. Based on cases from the colonial criminal court, it examines relations and conflicts between domestics and employers within a selection of different households.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the status and lives of domestic servants in Serampore in Bengal during the early nineteenth century, when the town was administered by Denmark. During the Danish period wealthy inhabitants from nearby Calcutta and Chandernagore were attracted by Serampore's opportunities and with them followed an increasing demand for domestics. By analysing previously overlooked and unusually rich records generated by the Danish administration, the study explores servant-employer relationships and further considers internal hierarchies and relations between servants. Unlike in mainland Denmark, the Danish colonial laws forbade employers to physically punish their servants, which caused even minor instances to be brought to the court room. In most of the court cases servants were charged with theft and fraud, and the sources tend to paint an overall picture of a highly dishonest class. The paper, however, suggests that while theft was sometimes simply a means of supplementing a low salary, the act was also closely related to servants' resistance against their employers' authority. In situations where servants felt unjustly treated, they would steal or brake things in the house, or even leave their duty without notice, bringing with them something of value. In the subsequent court cases servants repeatedly argued that any offence had been provoked by the employer's cruel behaviour. As it was difficult to prove what happened in the private sphere, these counter-allegations questioned the employer's integrity and contribute to an understanding of domestics as active agents in the creation of early colonial relations.