Colonialism & Cultural Identity: the Making of A
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COLONIALISM & CULTURAL IDENTITY: THE MAKING OF A HINDU DISCOURSE, BENGAL 1867-1905. by Indira Chowdhury Sengupta Thesis submitted to. the Faculty of Arts of the University of London, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Oriental and African Studies, London Department of History 1993 ProQuest Number: 10673058 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673058 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT This thesis studies the construction of a Hindu cultural identity in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries in Bengal. The aim is to examine how this identity was formed by rationalising and valorising an available repertoire of images and myths in the face of official and missionary denigration of Hindu tradition. This phenomenon is investigated in terms of a discourse (or a conglomeration of discursive forms) produced by a middle-class operating within the constraints of colonialism. The thesis begins with the Hindu Mela founded in 1867 and the way in which this organisation illustrated the attempt of the Western educated middle-class at self- assertion. In constructing a homogeneous Hindu identity, this social group hegemonically appropriated the distinct traditions of subordinated groups. Crucial to this project was another related one - that of history-writing. History, it was felt, contained the essence of civilisation and culture. A refutation of colonial notions about Hindus and Bengalis had to be achieved through the fusion of the historical and the mythological which sought to displace colonial history-writing. The anxiety about an ineffectual male identity ascribed to the Bengali male by colonial discourse prompted the imaging of meaningful icons of resistance in the form of heroic womanhood. The links between the figures, i.e., of the motherland, the mother and the ideal wife, are therefore especially significant. No less important is the reformulation of an alternative heroic male identity out of the conventional Hindu institution of Sannyas or asceticism by Vivekananda. He forwarded a notion of spiritual conquest by addressing the universalist dimensions of Hinduism. The political 2 implications of this constructed identity was clearly revealed in the cultural events that preceded the partition of Bengal as well as those that formed and directed the Swadeshi movement. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract 2 Abbreviations Used 5 Glossary 6 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 11 1. Constructing and Reconstructing a Hindu Identity 27 2. In Search of Past Glory: Hindu Identity and the Historical Sense 87 3. Gender and the Oppositional Identity 141 4. Reconstructing Spiritual Heroism: Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) 202 5. Cultural Identity and Political Crisis: Bengal 1900-1905 249 Conclusion 301 Bibliography 310 4 ABBREVIATIONS USED: ABCL: The Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library, CWSV: The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. CSSB: Comparative Studies in Society and History. EPW: Economic and Political Weekly. IB Archives: Intelligence Bureau Archives, Calcutta. IOLR: India Office Library and Records, London. NAI: National Archives of India, New Delhi. UDHPG: The Unpublished Diary of Hemendra Prasad Ghose, Central Library, Jadavpur University, Calcutta. RNP: The Report of the Native Newspapers. WBSA: West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta. 5 GLOSSARY antahpur: inner quarters, artha: wealth aryavarta: the land of the Aryans, in this case India, avatar: incarnation, bibi: aristocratic Muslim woman, in this context a woman who imitates the European woman. biratva: bravery. bhadralok; educated middle-class in Bengal, bhadramahila: middle-class Bengali woman. Bharat Mata: Mother India, bahubal: physical strength, birya: courage, also semen, biryapat: ejaculation. brahmacharya: celibacy, also one of the four stages in the life of a Hindu, brata: ritual for women, dharma: duty, religion. gerua: saffron, traditionally signifying renunciation, kama: love, desire. karma: one of the yogas recommended by the Bhagavad Gita, emphasising action, lathi: bamboo-stave. lathiyal: men trained in fighting with bamboo-staves, usually employed by zamindars. madhyabitta-sreni: middle class. 6 math: abbey. mem: European woman. mleccha: non-Aryan, non-Hindu, in this context Muslim. moksha: salvation. paik: foot-soldier. paloyan: wrestler. purusha: male principle. rishi: holy man. sahadharmini: wife, literally, ‘she who shares the same dharma’. samadhi: yogic state of absolute detachment from the physical world, sannyasi: ascetic. santan: child, in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Ananda Math, a group of ascetics devoted to the Motherland. sati: the act of self-immolation by a woman on the funeral pyre of her husband, a woman who thus immolates herself, also a chaste woman. shakti: power, female principle. Shankara: another name for the god Shiva. shishya: follower. stotra: ceremonial chant. varna: caste. yavan: literally non-Hindu, in this context Muslim. 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The preliminary preparation of this thesis began in Calcutta in 1988. In its original form it was to be a study of the changing nature of a Hindu identity as articulated by several key-figures within Indian nationalism. However, as the research progressed I became increasingly aware of the intricacies within such articulations and the thesis became more sharply focused on defining themes of this identity as it expressed itself in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Bengal. This significant shift in emphasis would not have been possible without the sustained interest and constructive advice of my supervisor, David Arnold. His astute comments and insightful interventions made me aware of the rich dimensions of the sources I was looking at. His patience and consideration also gave me confidence to make a productive transition from literature into history. I take this opportunity to express my deeply-felt gratitude to him. I owe special thanks to Jashodhara Bagchi for her personal interest and enthusiasm about my work. Several stimulating discussions with her, in Calcutta and London have helped me clarify some of my central arguments. The opportunity to discuss my work, at various stages, with Mihir Bhattacharya, Dagmar Engels, M.S.S. Pandian, Lata Mani, Himani Bannerji, William Radice, Partha Chatterjee, Ratnabali Chatterjee and Vibhuti Patel were very rewarding. I am particularly grateful to Samita Sen whose critical reading of the final draft of this thesis has been extremely useful. For their perceptive comments and suggestions on preliminary drafts of several chapters of this thesis, I wish to thank Kathleen Taylor and Yasmin Hossain. I am also 8 indebted to Varsha Joshi whose critical understanding of Rajput customs and practices helped me focus on the roots of what came to be designated as heroic within the evolving Hindu discourse in Bengal. The responsibility for mistakes in this thesis, however, are entirely mine. A Commonwealth scholarship at the Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and, later, grants from the Charles Wallace India Trust, the Leche Foundation and the Mountbatten Memorial Trust provided the main funding for this thesis. The University of London Central Research Fund as well as an Additional Field work Grant from the School of Oriental and African Studies helped bear the additional expenses of field work in Calcutta and Delhi in 1991. I am grateful to the staff of the British Library, the India Office Library and Records and the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. I also thank the staff of the National Library, the West Bengal State Archives, the Intelligence Bureau Archives and the Bangiya Sahitya Parishat Library in Calcutta and the National Archives and Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Delhi for all their help. I am particularly grateful to Sandhya Srinivasan in Calcutta, without whose committed and unfailing assistance I could not have collected so much of material during my field trip. Throughout this difficult period of writing a thesis the support of family and friends have helped preserve sanity and good humour. My parents have been an unfailing source of strength in moments of uncertainty and vacillation. Rita, Amaresh, Sushama and Teji, friends here and in India, helped me cope with the ordeals of thesis writing. I am grateful to Shyamal Sengupta for his support and useful criticism, but 9 above all for his reliable management of the home-front without which this work would never have been completed. Finally, Rohini who cheerfully endured what seemed an unending preocupation with my thesis with consideration. London Indira Chowdhury Sengupta January 1993. 10 INTRODUCTION In his reminiscences about the beginnings of the nationalist movement in India published in 1930, Bipin Chandra Pal wrote: At the back of this reaction and revival there was undoubtedly a new national self-consciousness and a new pride of race which commenced to openly repudiate pretensions of European thought and culture over