Reading the Legend of Paan Singh Tomar in the Light of Social Banditry

Abstract

Social Banditry is a term coined by the prominent British historian and writer Eric Hobsbawm. The phrase implies that bandits, who are seen by the law and authority as criminals and a threat to the law and order of society, are regarded by their sympathisers as Robin Hoods with a noble cause. Since the publication of his seminal work Bandits (1969), Hobsbawm's social banditry model has furnished the students and scholars of banditry with some viable tools to evaluate the lives and shenanigans of bandits across the world. The present paper has, too, made an effort to see the life and bandit career of the notorious Chambal dacoit Paan Singh Tomar in the light of Hobsbawm's enduring analysis. While presenting the encountered bandit's short biography, it is worth mentioning that this research article has also attempted to understand the ethos and politics of those formidable badlands known as the Chambal Beehad, which once have been a safe haven for numerous ferocious dacoits.