Notions of Nationhood in Bengal: Perspectives on Samaj, c. 1867-1905 (Philosophy of History and Culture)

421 Pages·2009·2.711 MB·English

by  Swarupa Gupta

Notions of Nationhood in Bengal
Philosophy of
History and Culture
Editor
Michael Krausz
BrynMawrCollege
AdvisoryBoard
AnnetteBaier(UniversityofPittsburgh)
PurushottamaBilimoria(DeakinUniversity,Australia)
CoraDiamond(UniversityofVirginia)
WilliamDray(UniversityofOttawa)
NancyFraser(NewSchoolforSocialResearch)
CliffordGeertz†(InstituteforAdvancedStudy,Princeton)
PeterHacker(St.John'sCollege,Oxford)
RomHarré(LinacreCollege,Oxford)
BernardHarrison(UniversityofSussex)
MarthaNussbaum(UniversityofChicago)
LeonPompa(UniversityofBirmingham)
JosephRaz(BalliolCollege,Oxford)
AmélieRorty(HarvardUniversity)
VOLUME29
Notions of Nationhood in Bengal
Perspectives on Samaj, c. 1867–1905
By
Swarupa Gupta
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2009
Coverillustration:KantaNagarerMandir(templeofKantaNagar)inDinajpur.Courtesy:Dey's
Publishing(Publisher:SudhangshuSekharDey),Calcutta.
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Gupta,Swarupa.
NotionsofnationhoodinBengal:perspectivesonSamaj,c.1867–1905/bySwarupaGupta.
p.cm.–(Philosophyofhistoryandculture,ISSN0922-6001;v.29)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-90-04-17614-0(hardback:acid-freepaper)
1.Bengal(India)–Intellectuallife–19thcentury.2.Bengal(India)–History–Autonomyand
independencemovements.3.Bengal(India)–History–19thcentury.I.Title.II.Series.
DS485.B49G8532009
954'.14035–dc22
2009013694
ISSN 0922-6001
ISBN 9789004176140
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments..................................................... ix
Introduction ........................................................... 1
ChapterOne. NationalistIdeologues,Ideasandtheir
Dissemination....................................................... 45
ChapterTwo. RecreatingaJati ....................................... 93
ChapterThree. SamajandPerspectivesonUnity.................... 139
ChapterFour. Caste,ClassandInternal‘Others’:‘LowerOrders’
inBengal ............................................................ 173
ChapterFive. ContiguousEthnicities ................................ 221
ChapterSix. Sub-Regional‘Essences’andtheRegionalSelf......... 271
ChapterSeven. FromRegiontoNation:TheIdeaofIndia .......... 309
Conclusion............................................................. 351
Bibliography ........................................................... 361
Glossary................................................................ 379
Index ................................................................... 385

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is based on my Ph.D. thesis completed at the School of Ori-
entalandAfricanStudies,UniversityofLondonin.Iamindebted
to many, more than I am able to acknowledge, but most of all to my
supervisorProfessorPeterRobb.Wordsseeminadequateforexpressing
mygratitudeforhisconstantguidance,supportandconcern.Hissuper-
vision opened my mind to new ideas and perspectives in my intellec-
tualjourney,andhisconstructivesuggestionshelpedimprovemywork.
I am also deeply grateful to Dr Subho Basu who was initially my co-
supervisor. I greatly benefited fromhis suggestions that helpedmy for-
mulation of methodological trajectories in analysing the interrelation
betweenthekeyconcepts(samaj,jatianditihasorhistory)interrogated
inthisbook.ThesuggestionsandcommentsofDrGordonJohnson,and
Dr Joya Chatterji enriched mywork, andhelped merethink and recast
somethemesexploredinthisbook.IamalsogratefultoProfessorRajat
KantaRaywhogavemesuggestionsandinsightsbeforeIstartedmyfor-
mal Ph.D. course work in London. Professor Chittabrata Palit, Profes-
sorPapiaChakravartyandProfessorJayantaKumarRayhavehelpedme
throughtheircommentsandsuggestions,aswellastheiradviceandsus-
tenance.ProfessorSugataBose’sandProfessorDavidGilmartin’ssugges-
tionsonearlierdraftsofthisworkalsohelpedmesharpenmyarguments.
Igratefullyacknowledgethecontributionofscholarswhohavewritten
onrelatedaspectsofthethemeofmybook.Theirworkshaveprovided
afoundation,comparativereferencepointandinspirationalbackground
forconceivingthisbook.Theyareacknowledgedinthenotes,butIwould
particularly like to mention the seminal works of Professor C.A. Bayly,
Professor Rajat Kanta Ray, Professor Tapan Raychaudhuri, Professor
Anthony D. Smith, Professor Prasenjit Duara, Professor Peter van der
Veer,ProfessorNiharranjanRayandDineshchandraSen.
I am very grateful for the help given me by the staff of the School
of Oriental and African Studies Library, and of the Oriental and India
Office Collection, British Library, London. The staff of the National
Library(RareBookSectionandtheMainSection),Calcutta,theBangiya
Sahitya Parishat, Calcutta, the Hites Ranjan Sanyal Archival Collection