The Bazaar and the Bari: Calcutta, Marwaris, and the World of Hindi Letters by Rahul Bjørn Parson A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in South and Southeast Asia Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Vasudha Dalmia, Chair Professor Munis Faruqui Professor Harsha Ram Professor Raka Ray Fall 2012 The Bazaar and the Bari: Calcutta, Marwaris, and the World of Hindi Letters © 2012 by Rahul Bjørn Parson Abstract The Bazaar and the Bari: Calcutta, Marwaris, and the World of Hindi Letters by Rahul Bjørn Parson Doctor of Philosophy in South and Southeast Asian Studies Professor Vasudha Dalmia, Chair The Hindi literati of Calcutta will always boast that Bengal was the starting point of the various paths taken by Hindi prose and publishing. The admixture of colonial, orientalist, missionary, compradore, and nationalist forces gave rise to a lively Calcuttan Hindi press from the mid-nineteenth century well into the twentieth century. It remained in constant dialogue with the Hindi-speaking publics beyond Bengal, while staying grounded in the socio-economic world of Calcutta’s Barabazar. However, toward the end of the twentieth century, Calcutta’s Hindi legacy was by most accounts moribund; scholars lamented that the lack of institutional support and interest had desiccated Hindi literary production in Calcutta. But then, along with other upheavals and ruptures that attended the liberalization of the Indian economy beginning in 1991, a spate of Hindi novels emerged on the scene; they came from an unexpected portion of Calcutta’s demographic – Marwari women. This dissertation discusses the 200 year tradition of Hindi in Calcutta, exploring the continuities from the inaugural phase to contemporary novels, and how Marwaris, who had their own language and script, and as a merchant community from Rajasthan not previously known to produce literature, had come to make the language their own and publish in it. The first part of the dissertation (chapters 1-3) acknowledges the overlooked contribution Calcutta (Kolkata after 2001) and its diverse population made regarding the development of modern Hindi. The majority of scholarship regards Calcutta as squarely Bengali in terms of literary activity. I give special attention to the cultural and material conditions that gave rise to a confident Hindi print community. This process would play a 1 major role in the promotion of Hindi as a national language. Print Hindi required, for its survival, the establishment of bonhomie with Marwaris and other upcountry merchants. Therefore the press called merchants to tie their fortunes to the Hindi movement for numerous reasons. It was the language of the market, the new technology of knowledge, and in time became implicated in nationalist projects to which Marwaris were summoned. The press extolled the religious virtues of switching to Nāgarī since Jain and Hindu scriptures (Prakrit and Sanskrit) were often in that script. Lastly, Marwaris could also identify with the supralocal character of Hindi, as they were themselves a diaspora with all-India ambitions. In the first three chapters of this dissertation I explore the politico-historical and social forces that shape the Marwari community and summon its literature into existence. Part two (chapters 4-6) discusses a new wave of Hindi writing. It engages with the novels of Alka Saraogi (b. 1960), Prabha Khetan (1942-2008), and Madhu Kankaria (b. 1957), three Calcutta-based Marwari women writers. The proliferation of Hindi novels from Marwari women signals a historical and political liminality as they confront issues of identity, belonging, gender, and class in a patriarchal social and literary milieu. This spate of Hindi prose literature coincides with neoliberal economic reforms in the Indian state, compelling writers to reflect on the consequences of globalization and late-capitalism in Calcutta at the close of the twentieth century. The writing is decidedly Calcuttan and urban in themes and influences, acknowledging a shared cultural space with Bengali while presenting a sensibility of Hindi-speaking migrants. This dissertation undertakes to contextualize the significance of this writing in the broader scope of one hundred years of social reform movements, women’s issues in particular, and reconciling tradition with modernity. The novels circumvent the mainstream and majoritarian narrative of Calcutta and its history, yet are nourished in the concrete environment and cultural richness of the city. 2 Contents: Acknowledgments_____________________________________________________ ii Introduction __________________________________________________________ 1 The Consciousness of a Polity: __________________________________________ 13 Merchanthood, Modernity, and the Marwaris of Calcutta _____________________ 13 Hindi in Calcutta, the Business Community, and the Technology of Knowledge ___ 36 The context and creation of “The Marwari”: Chānd and the Mārwārī Ank ________ 60 Becoming and Belonging: The Storm of History in Pīlī Āndhī _________________ 85 Kalikathā: Via Bypass: Affective Archive of Marwari History ________________ 116 Khule Gagan Ke Lāl Sitāre: Jain and Naxalite Consciousness and Reconciliations 140 Conclusion _________________________________________________________ 162 Bibliography _______________________________________________________ 166 i Acknowledgements It is a great pleasure to acknowledge the many people who have supported and encouraged me for the last ten years of graduate school, research, and dissertation writing. I wish to firstly express my immense gratitude to my dissertation committee. I cannot begin to adequately thank Vasudha Dalmia, my adviser, committee chair, and friend. Her generosity, guidance, and warmth have made this undertaking possible from the beginning to this day. She initially recommended that I read Alka Saraogi’s Kalikathā: Via Bypass, from which the questions and ideas for this dissertation emerged. The final form of this dissertation materialized from numerous provocative discussions at her home in Berkeley, in Delhi, and finally in New Haven. Her encouragement in the last phases of writing were indespensible. Her friendship is one of the most rewarding aspects of this undertaking. Raka Ray first gave me a sense of who the Marwaris are and what role they have played in the history of Calcutta. I am grateful to her for her warmth and many insights regarding all things Calcutta and Bengal, its people, and for her patient feedback on the chapters of this dissertation. Harsha Ram gave immensely helpful comments particularly on the literary chapters of this dissertation, as well as the project as a whole. I have not been able to do justice to all his suggestions, but I will surely continue to benefit from his insights. He has taught me what it means to be a literary scholar. I have enjoyed discussing aspects of this project, among other things, over many walks, meals, and bike rides. I thank Munis Faruqui for gracious and practical guidance. He has supported me from my PhD qualifying exams, through countless letters of recommendation, and finally with encouragement and thoughtful comments on the final draft of the work. Although not on my committee, I wish to recognize Penny Edwards, as a constant source of encouragement and support. Her commitment to her students, scholarship, and her courageous leadership during difficult times for the University of California have influenced how I think about the academic life. I wish to offer thanks to my many language teachers over the years: Usha Jain and Sally Goldman at Berkeley, Vidhu-ji, Neelam-ji, and Swami-ji of the Jaipur American Institute of Indian Studies program, and Protimadi at the Kolkata AIIS program. This project would be unthinkable without the linguistic tools and passion for language they all lovingly provided me. If only I had more time with them all. In Calcutta, my aunt Pramila Dhupia, was a kind and constant presence and always ready to help me with my work, or gently improve my Hindi and Bengali. Together with my grandmother, Binaywati Parson, they helped me make Kolkata my home again. My aunt Kusum Jain, the poet and activist, was a tremendous help and introduced me to all the writers discussed in this work. I wish to also thank her colleague Gitesh Sharma, whose commitment to Hindi literature and social justice is untiring. This project benefited immensely from both his insights and from his library. The writers discussed in this dissertation, Alka Saraogi, Prabha Khetan, and Madhu Kankaria, are an inspiration to me and to their many fans. I appreciate the time they made for an unknown scholar from abroad with endless, strangely articulated questions. I must especially thank Alka Saraogi, who has welcomed me to her home every time I travel to India, and for introducing me to Ashok Seksaria, a wellspring of wisdom. ii I am grateful to the librarians at the National Library (Kolkata), Hanuman Pustakalay (Howrah), Kumar Sabha Library (Kolkata), Ram Mandir Pustakalay (Kolkata), Barabazar Library (Kolkata), Bhāratīya Bāṣā Pariṣad (Kolkata), Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (Allahabad), UC Berkeley Library. Their enthusiasm for my project and amazing collections truly helped me overcome the creeping self-doubt of a dissertation project. I want to particularly thank the Tiwari brothers of the Barabazar Libraries. They would continue to think hard about my research even after I