Rooted in an earlier field-study (1999-2002) of the routes which linked the Ganga plain with the Deccan, this volume, based on a subsequent field-study (2004-2006), studies on the ground the network of routes which linked the Konkan coast and its Maharashtra and Karnataka hinterland with a vast region from the mouth of the Godavari to the tip of the southern peninsula. Among other things, it shows the main historical and geographical linkages between the various parts of the southern peninsula and also highlights how the entire chain of historical and generally pre-industrial ports from Umbergaon north of Thana in Maharashtra to Srikakulam in Andhra was linked all along to its hinterland. To break the historical and geographical details and complexities of the vast Peninsular mass south of the Ganga plain down to a few essential geographical lines along which its historical movements may be said to have taken place was a truly formidable academic exercise, but the present volume and the earlier one on the links between the Ganga plain and the Deccan have established their essential orientations through a careful mix of varied scholarship and fieldwork. |
