In its early phase, Subaltern Studies dealt extensively with community and violence in the context of peasant uprisings. Once the problem of peasant involvement in the modern politics of the nation had been posed, complexities in that relationship began to emerge. A new dimension was introduced when the relationship between community, gender and national politics came to be taken seriously. The present volume confronts the whole range of new issues raised by the relations between community, gender and the politics of violence.