ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the decentred and contested nature of the English East India Company's emerging colonial state in Asia in the seventeenth century. It describes that the processes of state formation evolved around a shifting nexus of interpersonal relationships forged between Europeans and non-Europeans in the service of the company. The chapter presents a case study of Madras in the 1660s, a turbulent phase of the company's development in India when the contest over political authority revealed the formative role played by Anglo-Indian 'connections' in decentring the emerging colonial polity. As the new agent's rigorous audit of Sir Edward Winter's accounts began to uncover the extent of the latter's corruption, he decided to reject Sir George's authority over Madras and usurp East India House's legitimately appointed agent and the delegated power he exercised on behalf of his masters in London.
