Historian Tilottama Mukherjee of Jadavpur University reexamines early modern Bengal’s economy and society, arguing for resilient, market-driven networks of bazaars, transport, and pilgrimage-based commerce in the sixteenth, eighteenth centuries. Based on extensive archival research, her work highlights indigenous market creation, consumption-driven urban economies, riverine transport, and varied regional dynamics, challenging narratives of unmitigated colonial-era decline while noting regional disparities and methodological limits.
