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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: June 12, 2020 at 5:52:05 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Asia]: Orr on Dalmia, 'Hindu Pasts: Women, > Religion, Histories' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Vasudha Dalmia. Hindu Pasts: Women, Religion, Histories. Albany > State University of New York Press (SUNY), 2017. 390 pp. $95.00 > (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4384-6805-1. > > Reviewed by Leslie Orr (Concordia University) > Published on H-Asia (June, 2020) > Commissioned by Sumit Guha > > Orr on Dalmia, _Hindu Pasts_ > > This volume is a collection of fourteen essays that appeared in > journals or edited volumes between 1990 and 2010, prefaced by an > introduction entitled "Where these Essays are Coming From." The > autobiographical introduction does indeed help us understand the > range and depth of Vasudha Dalmia's scholarship represented in this > volume, as she traces an intellectual voyage moving between Delhi, > Tuebingen, Banaras, and Berkeley--among other places. Throughout this > journey, and continuing into the present (with her most recent book, > _Fiction as History: The Novel and the City in Modern North India_, > published in the United States in 2019), Dalmia has been engaged with > literature, especially Hindi literature. Many of the essays in this > volume are centered on the close readings of particular texts. But > her aim has consistently been "to work out the links between > literature, performance, religion, politics, and modernity" (p. 10). > And, further, her work shows how contemporary constructions of and > connections between religion and politics in India may be linked to > complex histories from the seventeenth century onward. Dalmia frames > many of her essays with questions about these linkages: "Can Hindutva > be read backwards?" (p. 170). Might the eighteenth century be seen as > a transitional period that was "not connected or leading up to" > communalism (p. 101)? Does Hindi still play a role "in the kind of > exclusivist identity formation which would leave out, or at best > subsume, Indian Muslims" (p. 337)? What is different and what has > remained the same? The title _Hindu Pasts_ for this volume can be > understood within this context, even as some of the essays challenge > the meaningfulness in the past of the word "Hindu" (as well as > "Hindi") or seem not to deal with Hinduism at all. > > The volume is divided into three sections, each with four or five > essays: "Colonial Knowledge-Formation," "Vaishnava Renewals c. > 1600-1900," and "The Hindi Novel: Nineteenth-Century Beginnings." The > titles of these sections hardly do justice to the content of the > essays collected within each; for example, two of the essays in the > first section concern "knowledge" being produced by Indian > intellectuals and the third section deals with many more literary > genres than the novel. In my review of the essays, I prefer to group > them following the lead of the book's subtitle--_Women, Religion, > Histories_--considering under the rubric of "Histories" Dalmia's > histories of Indology and her histories of Hindi. > > Three essays are directly concerned with women, or women's issues. > The first, chronologically, is "Women, Duty, and Sanctified Space in > a Vaishnava Hagiography of the Seventeenth Century," focusing on the > _v__artas_ (hagiographies) of the Vallabha tradition, composed in > Brajbhasha. Dalmia argues that these stories of devotees make > "theological space" for women as part of the developing community, > where service to fellow Vaishnavas or to the guru or to God might > supersede one's duty as a wife. "Sati as a Religious Rite: > Parliamentary Papers on Widow Immolation [1821-30]," details how > colonial authorities developed a discourse around sati featuring the > sati herself as a victim of Brahmans and priests, of superstition, or > of emotion; Dalmia suggests that responses to late twentieth-century > incidents of sati betray the perdurance of colonial attitudes and > legal frameworks. In "Generic Questions: Bharatendu Harishchandra and > Women's Issues," Dalmia considers several late nineteenth-century > publications of the figure who is the subject of her _The > Nationalization of Hindu Traditions_ (1997). On the one hand, we have > the Hindi women's journal _Balabodhini_ (Young Woman's Instructor, > 1874-77), edited and in large part written by Harishchandra, where > puritanical and restrictive models for modern womanhood were > promoted. Dalmia contrasts these texts with Harishchandra's dramatic > composition _Chandravali_ (1876) centering on a heroine (named > Chandravali) who is the lover of the god Krishna, and with the novel > _Kulin Kanya _(A Girl of Good Family), published under his name in > 1882, which was both a love story and a script for social reform. The > themes of these latter two works--celebrating female subjectivity and > the possibility of women's agency overcoming patriarchal > authority--were to be overwhelmed in the literature of the early > twentieth century by the ethos of the increasingly entrenched "new > patriarchies." In all three of Dalmia's essays dealing with women, > the texts she examines are produced by men, and women's experiences > or voices are for the most part absent (as she readily acknowledges), > reflecting the discursive milieux in which "women's issues" were > situated. But there is a twist, because _Kulin Kanya_ was actually > written (or transcreated from a Bengali text) by Mallika, a young > woman (perhaps a child widow) who lived under Harishchandra's > protection and collaborated with him on many literary projects. > Dalmia's discussion of what little we know about this woman, bringing > her presence to the fore, is very welcome. > > The theme of religion (colonial and Indological confrontations with > religion, religious narrative and ritual, communalism, religious > nationalism) threads through many of the essays in this volume; I > will consider three. "Mosques, Temples, and Fields of Disputation in > a Late-Eighteenth-Century Chronicle" examines an account of the > Banaras royal house written by Fakir Khair-ud-din Khan at the behest > of the British. Dalmia's aim is to show how this text, its English > translation entitled _The_ _Bulwuntnamah_ (The History of Balwant) > serves as "a relatively dispassionate account of a time when the > religion-based frontiers that were to harden in the colonial period > had not yet formed," even as it narrates various altercations and > debates that took place between Hindus and Muslims--although not as > homogeneous "communities." In "The Sixth _Gaddi_ [seat] of the > Vallabha _Sampradaya_ [religious community]," Dalmia's text is the > Brajbhasha _Mukundrayji ki varta_ (The Story of God Mukundrayji), a > nineteenth-century tract that records the doings of Girdharji > Maharaj, responsible for the rise in fame of the Gopal temple in > Banaras. In her reading of the text, she uncovers the interplay > between different forms of religious authority (the appeal to the > Vedic canon or knowledge of the intricate rituals of service to the > image of Krishna) and Girdharji's negotiations with newly emergent > political forces--merchants, priests, and local rulers. In "The > Modernity of Tradition: Harishchandra of Banaras and the Defence of > Hindu Dharma," we move more completely into the colonial context, > where the worship of "idols" comes under attack not only by > missionaries, but by Hindu reformers. Harishchandra's writings in the > 1870s offer a capacious (and modern) view of Hinduism as iconic, > devotional, and monotheistic, accepting the Puranas as authoritative > scriptural sources. Dalmia concludes this essay by asking "What has > changed in the course of the century that lies between us and > Harishchandra to make heterogeneity seem a threat so overwhelming > that it has become necessary to pit Hindu dharma against those > projected as the wholly Other, the Muslims?" (p. 227). > > Several essays in this volume are efforts to historicize and > contextualize the development of Indology, in Europe and in India. > The first essay in the volume traces ideas about India and Indian > religion through the work of Johann Gottfried Herder, Friedrich > Schlegel, and Max Müller, whose foundational contributions to > Indology, spanning the whole of the second half of the nineteenth > century, rested firmly in his understanding and valorization of the > earliest Vedic literature. Other sources were of importance to Indian > intellectuals (and some Europeans, as well), as we learn in > "Vernacular Histories in Late-Nineteenth-Century Banaras: Folklore, > Puranas, and the New Antiquarianism." Local histories and folklore, > ethnological documentation, and Puranic material were utilized in the > pages of journals like _Indian Antiquary_ (founded in 1872 by James > Burgess) and in the Hindi literary journals of the 1870s under > Harischandra's editorship. Dalmia examines Harischandra's histories > of kingdoms and of castes. Although they were thoroughly Hindu > histories, they were enriched by his "anthropologizing,"while later > mainstream nationalist historiography chose to follow a different > track, "cutting off the many untidy local odds and ends" (p. 136). > > The history of Hindi language and literature is a central concern in > a number of essays collected here. I focus on two substantial (and > somewhat overlapping) essays that conclude the volume: "The Locations > of Hindi" (originally published in the _Economic and Political > Weekly_ in 2003) and "Hindi, Nation, and Community" (the introduction > to _Nationalism in the Vernacular: Hindi, Urdu, and the Literature of > Indian Freedom_, 2010). These essays trace how Hindi became > bifurcated from Urdu in the course of the nineteenth century, while > even in midcentury Hindi was still "in flux"--unstandardized, and yet > to be Sanskritized or Hinduized (p. 311). The early twentieth century > saw the construction of notions of Hindi as the language of North > Indian Hindus, or even as a national language, and as a language used > for religious and social reform and for the anti-British struggle. > Dalmia insists on the need to go back to the history of the > Hinduization of Hindi so as to acknowledge "the anti-Urdu stance > which remains an inherently and durably troubling aspect of academic > and institutional Hindi" (p. 337), at the same time acknowledging how > Hindi allowed for the mobilization of new voices in the nationalist > struggle and how it served as a major modernizing force for India, as > well as continuing as an important vehicle for literary expression. > > These essays, taken together, provide an important resource for our > understanding of how Indian modernity and the nation have been > crafted--but urge us to consider how this shaping has been undertaken > in different ways and at different locations. How and when does the > premodern or early modern shade into the modern? (And what does > "early modern" really mean anyway?) Vasudha Dalmia's micro-studies > are gems of historical enterprise, as she takes off from particular > texts to illuminate entire social/cultural/political contexts, with > precious insights into where we are now and how we got here. > > Citation: Leslie Orr. Review of Dalmia, Vasudha, _Hindu Pasts: Women, > Religion, Histories_. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. June, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=51744 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
