khana

This image of the mashin khana is notable for referencing the use of steam power which was incorporated into older production processes involving ropes and pulleys.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

This image of the mashin khana is notable for referencing the use of steam power which was incorporated into older production processes involving ropes and pulleys.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

See Chapter 4 for more attention to the mashin khana, and below for a state document dealing with the movements of one of those European technocratic confidantes of

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

Indian mistaris, the subcontracted assistants to the British mechanics and engineers employed at the mashin khana by Abd al-Rahman, were also interposed over and within the existing chains of authority, expertise, and resource management of local artisanal groups.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

After suppressing the most threatening local revolts against his colonially ascribed position, Abd al-Rahman began to divert the bulk of his subsidy funds to resuscitating and significantly expanding on the state workshop concept. 62 Abd al-Rahman's state workshop complex became known locally as the mashin khana, and Pyne was employed by Abd al-Rahman to oversee the technical aspects of the enterprise. 63

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

The Walsh firm was among the most visible of foreign mercantile organizations commissioned by Abd al-Rahman to supply his court, palaces, and workshops or mashin khana (see later).

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

However, at the end of his reign various European novelties and commodities destined for mass reproduction at the mashin khana, ceremonial display, or consumption at the palaces, courts, and homes of the supraelite of Kabul, were also imported from India with subsidy funds. 67 Like the subsidy itself, the mashin khana was oriented toward satisfying the state's needs.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

Instead of functioning as a socially integrative institution, the mashin khana contributed to the growing gap in state-society relations in nineteenth-century Afghanistan.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

See Chapter 4 for more attention to the mashin khana, and below for a state document dealing with the movements of one of those European technocratic confidantes of Abd al-Rahman.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008

Most of the weapons produced at the mashin khana were imitations of European models and notable for their uneven if not inferior quality.

Connecting Histories in Afghanistan: Market Relations and State Formation on a Colonial Frontier 2008