Dirk Herbert Arnold Kolff (born 11 February 1938) is a Dutch historian and Indologist. Born at Rotterdam in the Netherlands Kolff earned a doctorate degree from the Leiden University in 1983 with a doctoral thesis on the research subject of armed peasantry in northern India. He is a professor emeritus of modern South Asian history and the former Chair of Indian History at the Leiden University.
He is the co-founder of the European Association of South Asian Studies and the president of the Netherlands–India Friendship Association.
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This book challenges prevailing scholarship on pre-Bentinck India by highlighting the inherent contradictions of colonial rule at the district level. The 18th-century Westminster parliaments' disdain for both Indians and the East India Company prompted the Bengal civil service under Lord Cornwallis' leadership to craft a distinct corporate identity. However this identity was marked by detachment and self-interest hindering effective governance across various levels of Indian administration.
Through meticulous case studies in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab region this book reveals how villagers revenue farmers Indian police revenue officials bankers and judges navigated or exploited the weaknesses of colonial administration shedding new light on this critical period in Indian history.
