Synopsis The handbook provides students of sociology in India with an understanding of key theoretical, thematic, and historical issues in the discipline. Leading authorities in each area explain: The state of social science knowledge in India, Institutional frameworks in teh development of sociology and social anthropology, selected aspects of society and culture, such as demography, environment, social life, stratification, urban social formations, and migrations, the major religions in India, their inherent diversities and public culture, mainstream debates on family, childhood, and education, economic arrangements including agrarian relations, markets,and labour, politics including democracy, the state, and colelctive violence. Comprehensive and lucid, the handbook will be a useful text for undergraduate, post-graduate, and research level courses in sociology and social anthropology. It will also appeal to scholars of sociology, anthropology, history, politics,and the interested lay reader.