The Social Dynamics of a Growing Town and Its Surrounding Area

On the 15th of October 1964 the Deccan College celebrates the centenary of its main Building, and curiously enough this period coincides with the Silver Jubilee of the Postgraduate and Research Institute which, as successor to the Deccan College, started functioning from 17th August 1939 when members of the teaching faculty reported on duty. When I suggested to members of our faculty the novel idea that centenary should be celebrated by the publication of a hundred monographs representing the research carried on under the auspices of the Deccan College in its several departments they readily accepted the suggestion. Thse contributions are from present and past faculty members and research scholars of the Deccan College, giving a cross-section of the manifold research that it has sponsored during the past twenty-five years. From small beginnings in 1939 the Deccan College has now grown into a well developed and developing Research Institute and become a national centre in so far as Linguistics, Archaeology and Ancient Indian History, and Anthropology and Sociology are concerned. Its international status is attested by the location of the Indian Institute of Germen Studies (jointly sponsored by Deccan College and the Goethe Institute of Munich), the American Institute of Indian Studies and a branch of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in the campus of the Deccan College. The century of monographs not only symbolises the centenary of the original building and the silver jubilee of the Research Institute, but also the new spirit of critical enquiry and the promise of more to come.

The present study was undertaken on behalf of the Research Programme Committee of the Panning Commission, Government of India, who bore its costs. The data was collected during the year 1961-62 and processed by the end of 1962. We are very grateful for the permission of the Research Programme Committee to allow us to publish this report as part of the centenary publication series of the Deccan College.

We are also grateful to Mrs. Kamala Patkar, Mrs. Sumati Kirtane and Mrs. Leela Nawathe for their help in processing the data.

We thank Dr. Katre the director of the Deccan College and his staff for the constant and ready help given to us.