Product Description

Whereas previous studies of the end of British rule in India have concentrated on the negotiations of the transfer of power at the all-India level or have considered the emergence of separatist politics amongst India’s Muslim minorities, this study provides a re-evaluation of the history of Bengal focusing on the political and social processes that led to the demand for partition in Bengal and tracing the rise of Hindu communalism. In its most startling revelation, the author shows how the demand for a separate homeland for the Hindus, which was fuelled by a large and powerful section of Hindu society within Bengal, was seen as the only way to regain influence and to wrest power from the Muslim majority. The picture which emerges is one of a stratified and fragmented society moving away from the mainstream of Indian nationalism, and increasingly preoccupied with narrower, more parochial concerns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1120328 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 324 pages

Review
"Chatterji weaves together an array of theoretical insights and scholarly reconstructions to trace the formation of an identity for the middle class in the nineteenth century." Lou Ratte, International Journal of Hindu Studies

Customer Reviews

If you like revisionist history, you'll love this!
The comrades are gonna love this, but I'm not so sure anyone else will. This book is just another attempt by the liberal leftist brigade to create its own brand of revisionist history. I would call this book a definite "must-read" for anyone wishing to the fathom the thought process of Indias homegrown ivory-tower intelligentsia.