Department of History

This chapter examines the intersecting functions of “the unholy trinity” of the capitalists, the colonial state, and the police in suppressing working-class movements in late colonial Calcutta. The study reveals the complex and intertwined interests of the capitalist class and the British imperial state in late colonial India. It emphasises the importance of examining this meticulously orchestrated oppression towards labour radicalisation in relation to these three actors as a coalition, rather than in isolation. The chapter is divided into sub-parts that evaluate the counter-revolutionary stratagems of all three actors while providing a firsthand account of the tribulations faced by the trade union working-class movement under the auspices of this “unholy trinity.” This study looks at the legal measures taken by the British imperial state to closely keep an eye on working-class militarisation, as well as the strategies employed by capitalists to disrupt strikes and deny workers’ claims. By highlighting the repressive measures employed by these three institutions, the chapter describes how these combined forces facilitated the establishment of white or pro-state unions that utilised communalism to disrupt strikes and hinder revolutionary union movements in late colonial Calcutta.

In a certain sense, every time World Hindi Diwas is celebrated, not only does it evoke the idea of the monolingual identity of the Indian nation but also invents certain linguistic claims and imaginaries about the Hindi-Hindu past. One dominant way in which such linguistic assumptions around Hindi are imagined and practised is by insisting on a binary choice between Hindi-Hindu and Urdu-Muslim. This social binary of two languages exists despite their fl uid meanings in medieval India. The article argues that while Hindi and Urdu are assigned distinctive historical genealogies, what is often missed is the context of fl uidities of medieval India where such vocabularies of linguistic and social binaries hardly existed.

Over the past few decades, the rhetoric of smart and futuristic cities has defined the agenda of urbanisation in India. The underpinnings of these projects are heroic assumptions of modernity(ies) to achieve new goals and aspirations often assuming forms of urban utopia and taking a disruptive approach to urban planning. Our research, which focuses on the capital project of Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, shows how the idea of Amaravati in its built and imagined form makes sense to various stakeholders. The research was conducted using qualitative field-based research methods in four villages (Neerukonda, Kuragallu, Ionolu and Nowluru) in the Amaravati capital region. Based on recent interventions in the studies of postcolonial urbanism we propose three key arguments. First, Amaravati in its built and imagined form confirms and negotiates the global discourse on world class city. The second, idea of Amaravati is conceived and progressed by presenting a futuristic vision rooted in the historical patterns of Telugu aspirations for a modern technocratic state. Third, Amaravati embodies the spirit of speculative urbanism, and the project is propelled by the grammar of speed. Lastly, the chapter shows how the idea of world-class in the Global South is imagined and formed by a complex network of inter-referencing and worlding practices.

As India faced multiple waves of the pandemic, religious responses arose to accommodate and make sense of the situation. In the face of uncertainty, disease and death, people turn not just towards the medical sciences but also religion. The emergence of a new Hindu goddess, Corona Mātā/Coronavirus Mardhinī encapsulates people’s fear, faith, and devotion. Although the goddess is new, the tradition of disease goddesses is ancient. The Indian Subcontinent has a long history of mother goddesses who have been protecting their devotees from diseases such as smallpox, fever, plague, etc. This paper attempts to examine the emergence of Corona Mātā in the historical context of these ‘protective mothers’. On one hand, historically, these goddesses have emerged as a result of interaction between Brahmanical religion and regional practices. On the other hand, these disease-centred goddesses can also be seen as the result of fear and faith. This paper will analyse the location of Corona Mātā in the ever-evolving pantheon of Hindu deities in the context of a 21st-century pandemic.

Scholars have long debated the woman question in Buddhism, in terms of the social spaces and gendered attitudes revealed by texts and traditions. In the opinion of some, Buddhism in its essence does not discriminate between male and female forms. It is the cultural baggage of the practitioners that has led to discriminatory behaviour based on the body. But others have questioned this understanding as being too simplistic and essentializing. The discourse around gender has multiple layers and contexts corresponding to developments (both philosophical and sectarian) within Buddhism. This article attempts to look at the evolution of this discourse from Early Buddhism to the early stages of Mahāyāna Buddhism and, subsequently, within Mahāyāna Buddhism. To do so, this article utilizes Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtras, and Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, juxtaposing them to analyse the evolution of the gender discourse in the philosophical world as well as in the narrative world. This study reveals that while Mahāyāna Buddhism philosophically stands upon the concept of Śūnyatā, that is, emptiness, which extends to include the illusory nature of the human body, the narrative literature carries reservations about the female body. Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra employs a narrative device of ‘sex transformation’ as part of the show of the enlightened state of the female practitioner. Despite the claims made by all these practitioners about the emptiness of the body, all these stories end with female practitioners acquiring a male body and immediately receiving their Buddhahood. This study reveals a more complex picture of conversations and interactions between Early Buddhism and Mahāyāna Buddhism.