This book—an English translation of a key Tamiḻ book of literary and cultural criticism—looks at the construction of Tamiḻ scholarship through the colonial approach to Tamiḻ literature as evidenced in the first translations into English. The Tamiḻ original Atikāramum tamiḻp pulamaiyum: Tamiḻiliruntu mutal āṅkila moḻipeyarppukaḷ by N Govindarajan is a critique of the early attempts at the translations of Tamiḻ literary texts by East India Company officials, specifically by N E Kindersley. Kindersley, who was working as the Collector of South Arcot district in the late eighteenth century, was the first colonial officer to translate the Tamiḻ classic Tirukkuṟaḷ and the story of King Naḷa into English and to bring to the reading public in English the vibrant oral narrative tradition in Tamiḻ. F W Ellis in the nineteenth century brought in another dimension through his translation of the same classic. The book, thus, focuses on the attempts to translate the Tamiḻ literary works by the Company’s officials who emerged as the pioneering English Dravidianists and the impact of translations on the Tamiḻ reading community. Theoretically grounded, the book makes use of contemporary perspectives to examine colonial interventions and the operation of power relations in the literary and socio-cultural spheres. It combines both critical readings of past translations and intensive research work on Tamiḻ scholarship to locate the practice of literary works in South Asia and its colonial history, which then enables a conversation between Indian literary cultures. In this book, the author has not only explored all key scholarly sources as well as the commentaries that were used by the colonial officials, chiefly Kindersley, but also gives us an insightful critique of the Tamiḻ works. The highlight of the discussion of Dravidian Orientalism in this book is the intralinguistic opposition of the “mainstream” Tamiḻ literature in “correct/poetical” Tamiḻ and the folk literature in “vacana” Tamiḻ. This framework allows the translators to critically engage with the work. Annotated and with an Introduction and a Glossary, this translated work is a valuable addition to our reading of colonial South India. The book will be of interest to researchers of Tamiḻ Studies, Orientalism and Indology, translation studies, oral literature, linguistics, South Asian Studies, Dravidian Studies and colonial history.

This book--an English translation of a key Tami book of literary and cultural criticism--looks at the construction of Tami scholarship through the colonial approach to Tami literature as evidenced in the first translations into English. The Tami original Atikramum tamip pulamaiyum: Tamiiliruntu mutal kila moipeyarppuka by N Govindarajan is a critique of the early attempts at the translations of Tami literary texts by East India Company officials, specifically by N E Kindersley. Kindersley, who was working as the Collector of South Arcot district in the late eighteenth century, was the first colonial officer to translate the Tami classic Tirukkua and the story of King Naa into English and to bring to the reading public in English the vibrant oral narrative tradition in Tami. F W Ellis in the nineteenth century brought in another dimension through his translation of the same classic. The book, thus, focuses on the attempts to translate the Tami literary works by the Company's officials who emerged as the pioneering English Dravidianists and the impact of translations on the Tami reading community. Theoretically grounded, the book makes use of contemporary perspectives to examine colonial interventions and the operation of power relations in the literary and socio-cultural spheres. It combines both critical readings of past translations and intensive research work on Tami scholarship to locate the practice of literary works in South Asia and its colonial history, which then enables a conversation between Indian literary cultures. In this book, the author has not only explored all key scholarly sources as well as the commentaries that were used by the colonial officials, chiefly Kindersley, but also gives us an insightful critique of the Tami works. The highlight of the discussion of Dravidian Orientalism in this book is the intralinguistic opposition of the mainstream Tami literature in correct/poetical Tami and the folk literature in vacana Tami. This framework allows the translators to critically engage with the work. Annotated and with an Introduction and a Glossary, this translated work is a valuable addition to our reading of colonial South India. The book will be of interest to researchers of Tami Studies, Orientalism and Indology, translation studies, oral literature, linguistics, South Asian Studies, Dravidian Studies and colonial history.

Rejecting simplified notions of 'civilizational clashes', this book argues for a new perspective on Hindu, Muslim, and colonial power relations in India. Using archival sources from London, Delhi, and Hyderabad, the book makes use of interviews, private family records and princely-colonial records uncovered outside of the archival repositories.

This volume studies the ways in which modernity has been conceived, practiced, and performed in Indian literatures from the 18th to 20th century. It brings together essays on writings in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and languages from Northeast India, which form a dialogical relationship with each other in this volume. The concurrence and contradictions emerging through these studies problematize the idea of modernity afresh. The book challenges the dominance of colonial modernity through socio-historical and cultural analysis of how modernity surfaces as a multifaceted phenomenon when contextualized in the multilingual ethos of India. It further tracks the complex ways in which modernism in India is tied to the harvests of modernity. It argues for the need to shift focus on the specific conditions that gave shape to multiple modernities within literatures produced from India. A versatile collection, the book incorporates engagements with not just long prose fiction but also lesser-known essays, research works, and short stories published in popular magazines. This unique work will be of interest to students and teachers of Indian writing in English, Indian literatures, and comparative literatures. It will be indispensable to scholars of South Asian studies, literary historians, linguists, and scholars of cultural studies across the globe.

How did the British colonial administration view the Tamil natives? How did the natives, in turn, view the colonial power brokers? Underscoring a transactional rather than one-way reality of colonial politics, The View from Below is a balancing act of scholarship. Kanakalatha Mukund considers the 'attitudes' and 'responses' as dialogic, whereby the colonial state and indigenous society are locked in a fierce but subtle combat for attention and dominance in the Madras region. The Tamil institution upon which Mukund focuses her study for the most part is the temple. Moving further on from this politically crucial and socially focal site, the study covers a number of other related phenomena: the staging of sectarian and caste conflicts aimed to seize the control of the temples; the new social leadership and patterns of patronage; the construction of identity by aspiring elite groups of both parties; and the folk representations of Poligar rebellions. This book will be useful to historians, anthropologists and specialists on South India, and those interested in the history of Madras.

This volume examines the relationship between language and power across cultural boundaries. It evaluates the vital role of translation in redefining culture and ethnic identity. During the first phase of colonialism, mid-18th to late-19th century, the English-speaking missionaries and East India Company functionaries in South India were impelled to master Tamil, the local language, in order to transact their business. Tamil also comprised ancient classical literary works, especially ethical and moral literature, which were found especially suited to the preferences of Christian missionaries. This interface between English and Tamil acted as a conduit for cultural transmission among different groups. The essays in this volume are on chosen areas of translation activities and explore cultural, religious, linguistic and literary transactions. This volume and its companion (which looks at the period between 1900 CE to the present) cover the late colonial and postcolonial era and will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers of translation studies, literature, linguistics, sociology and social anthropology, South Asian studies, colonial and postcolonial studies, literary and critical theory as well as culture studies.