From the late nineteenth century onwards the concept of Mother India assumed political significance in colonial Bengal. Reacting against British rule, Bengali writers and artists gendered the nation in literature and visual culture in order to inspire patriotism amongst the indigenous population. This book will examine the process by which the Hindu goddess Sati rose to sudden prominence as a personification of the subcontinent and an icon of heroic self-sacrifice. According to a myth of cosmic dismemberment, Sati’s body parts were scattered across South Asia and enshrined as Shakti Pithas, or Seats of Power. These sacred sites were re-imagined as the fragmented body of the motherland in crisis that could provide the basis for an emergent territorial consciousness. The most potent sites were located in eastern India, Kalighat and Tarapith in Bengal, and Kamakhya in Assam. By examining Bengali and colonial responses to these temples and the ritual traditions associated with them, including Tantra and image worship, this book will provide the first comprehensive study of this ancient network of pilgrimage sites in an art historical and political context.

Krishna Kumari: The Tragedy of India introduces readers to the first English language play in modern India. Written in 1826 by English Subba Rao, one of the first Indians to be schooled in English, Krishna Kumari depicts the true story of a princess of Udaipur who is forced to commit suicide in order to end a war started by her suitors, the rulers of the neighboring kingdoms of Jaipur and Jodhpur. Tragically, her death proves to be in vain because the mercenaries recruited by the contending rulers nevertheless proceed to plunder the region. All three kingdoms are then compelled to seek the protection of the East India Company, bringing their independence to an end. Sharp and witty, Krishna Kumari was intended to warn Indian principalities against the follies that led to the downfall of the Rajputs. Unfortunately, the play scarcely saw the light of day. Angered by Subba Rao's opposition to their power, the British forced him to withdraw from public life. This is why audiences have never heard of Krishna Kumari-until now. Building on extensive archival research, this volume brings Subba Rao's pioneering drama back to life. The introductory essay by Rahul Sagar, a leading scholar of nineteenth century India, familiarizes readers with the remarkable characters in the play and the violent era in which they lived. By shedding light on Subba Rao's extraordinary life and career, it also reveals how important principalities like Tanjore and Travancore were in battling colonialism and shaping modern India.

A compelling history of British imperial culture, showing how it was adopted and subverted by colonial subjects around the world As the British Empire expanded across the globe, it exported more than troops and goods. In every colony, imperial delegates dispersed British cultural forms. Facilitated by the rapid growth of print, photography, film, and radio, imperialists imagined this new global culture would cement the unity of the empire. But this remarkably wide-ranging spread of ideas had unintended and surprising results. In this groundbreaking history, John M. MacKenzie examines the importance of culture in British imperialism. MacKenzie describes how colonized peoples were quick to observe British culture—and adapted elements to their own ends, subverting British expectations and eventually beating them at their own game. As indigenous communities integrated their own cultures with the British imports, the empire itself was increasingly undermined. From the extraordinary spread of cricket and horse racing to statues and ceremonies, MacKenzie presents an engaging imperial history—one with profound implications for global culture in the present day.

This is the first-ever, full-length study of Badal Sircar's Third Theatre. Sircar was a very prominent playwright of modern Bengali Theatre. It challenges some of the well-established notions of the Third Theatre. It brings to the fore the lost voices of some members of the Third Theatre. It has some rare photographs of Shatabdi, Sircar's Theatre group.

This is a study of the social, political, economic and public health aspects of the Second World War in South Asia, with particular attention being accorded to colonial Eastern India, which was treated as a single administrative unit during the course of the conflict for strategic purposes. The conclusion deals with the long term effects of the war: its effects on political formations, bureaucratic re-negotiation and the de-colonisation of the British Indian empire.

Scheherazade’s Children gathers together leading scholars to explore the reverberations of the tales of the Arabian Nights across a startlingly wide and transnational range of cultural endeavors. The contributors, drawn from a wide array of disciplines, extend their inquiries into the book’s metamorphoses on stage and screen as well as in literature—from India to Japan, from Sanskrit mythology to British pantomime, from Baroque opera to puppet shows. Their highly original research illuminates little-known manifestations of the Nights, and provides unexpected contexts for understanding the book’s complex history. Polemical issues are thereby given unprecedented and enlightening interpretations. Organized under the rubrics of Translating, Engaging, and Staging, these essays view the Nights corpus as a uniquely accretive cultural bundle that absorbs the works upon which it has exerted influence. In this view, the Arabian Nights is a dynamic, living and breathing cross-cultural phenomenon that has left its mark on fields as disparate as the European novel and early Indian cinema. While scholarly, the writers’ approach is also lively and entertaining, and the book is richly illustrated with unusual materials to deliver a sparkling and highly original exploration of the Arabian Nights’ radiating influence on world literature, performance, and culture.