The Object as Gift: Practices of Gift Exchange in Awadh in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This paper examines rituals of gift exchange in the North Indian state of Awadh in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It draws parallels between the gifting practices of the Nawabs and the English East India Company and examines how specific objects were selected to perform the role of gifts. It explores the practice of gift exchange where objects emerged as sites on which power was asserted, subverted and contested. In studying gifts, the aim is to delve into the institutional and ceremonial significance attributed to objects which made them the site of diplomatic encounters. The range of objects that were brought within the lexicon of gifts, and the power struggles that marked this process, inform the discussion. In exploring these themes, the paper addresses the larger question of how objects were imagined by political powers and the multiple ways in which meanings were added onto and erased from objects over the course of their circulation as gifts.