The Madras School of Orientalism

In his book review Tirthankar Roy writes:

• They touch on some of the issues that engaged the Madras orientalists that have received less attention than they deserve. Trautmann argues that the Mirasi tract was motivated by an implicit aim to show the antiquity of private property right in land in south India, in an attempt to question the administrative orthodoxy that eventually led to the ryotwari settlement.