Copyright by Jeffrey Michael Grimes 2008 - The University of Texas ...

These are respectively defined as regions which have retained their identity over time
generally because they are river basins which provide the basis for large-scale,
agriculturally-based civilizations; regions that serve as connections between the nuclear
zones; and regions that, due to geographical features, are left isolated from processes that
affect other regions. While the implications of this further categorization are not so
profound in the case of modern day classical music (as compared to an historical study of
political institutions), it is worth noting how Cohn categorizes the two regions that are
most important for the present study, Maharashtra and Bengal. For Cohn, Maharashtra is
a “nuclear region,” but Bengal is given as a noteworthy example of a “cul-de-sac.” This
categorization has important consequences that I will examine in depth in chapter 8. I
will point out at this juncture, however, that, if nothing else, the history of Hindustani
music in West Bengal and Maharashtra is both the history of contact between North
Indians (primarily Muslim) and Bengalis and Maharashtrians (mostly Hindu) and the
history of attitudes and perceptions that each of these groups hold toward each other and
themselves. The value of Cohn’s observation is that it points to the much different
histories of Bengal and Maharashtra relative to the dominant North Indian culture.
The broader point that Cohn seems to be driving at regarding the history of
regions, however, is that, as much as the scholar should be careful to invoke the concept
of region or nation depending on the relevance of the concept to the specific matter at
hand, regions deserve to be designated as such only if they operate as one, currently or
during the historical period in question. This is, again, in opposition to other scholars
who like to ground their analyses of regions in India on the oldest possible evidence
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