Indian nationalism, as a modern political phenomenon, is probably the single most comprehensive example of the unfolding of development encompassing the entire gamut of the social and economic life of an immensely complex nation. Throughout the colo¬nial era and since indepen¬dence, different aspects of nationalism have been high¬lighted in the actual working out of its concrete manifesta¬tion: the relationship between the ‘latent’ and the ‘manifest’ features of Indian nationalism at any given point, always being characterized by a dyna¬mic which constitutes a single thread running throughout recent history. During the early phase of the Company rule, the disintegra¬tion of the Mughal Empire aided the colonial power to achieve a high degree of selec¬tive economic penetration throughout the country. At the same time, the task of progressively organizing a system of more or less uniform administration embracing large parts of India was under¬taken to the accompaniment of a more explicit political intervention in India.
July-August 1983, volume 8, No 1