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Imprint	Orient BlackSwan
Year of Publishing	2023
Number of pages	384
ISBN	9789354425134
Format	Paperback
Language	English
Dimensions	140 x 216 mm

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the Author(s)
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In the Media

Bengal was the primary centre of East-West interaction and the first region in India to be influenced by and resonate with British culture during colonial times.

Explorations in Colonial Bengal sheds light on some important, yet relatively less-explored aspects of sociocultural changes that took place in Bengal in the colonial milieu. The essays engage with two major themes: Vaishnavism, and the society and culture of nineteenth and twentieth-century Bengal.

The contributing authors show how Vaishnavism attracted the attention of multiple ethnic communities and institutions in contemporary society. They also study relatively unknown aspects of this culture, such as the role of women in the evolution of Bengali Vaishnava traditions.

The second section addresses the society, economy, and politics of colonial Bengal and explores subjects as diverse as the close connection between history and literature; Tagore’s concepts of nationalism and his liberal humanism; the central political and ritual place assigned to water in its various forms in social relations; and Bengal’s economy and its nascent banking system during the early days of the East India Company.

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Achintya Kumar Dutta is Professor of History, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal.

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List of Tables and Figure
List of Images
Foreword
Amiya P. Sen
Preface
Ramakanta Chakrabarty: A Tribute
Anuradha Roy
Glossary

Introduction

SECTION I: THE MANY WORLDS OF BENGALI CULTURE

1. Texts and Traditions: Collating the Vaishnava Heritage and Issues of Authenticity in Colonial Bengal
Santanu Dey

2. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and the Making of Vaishnavism in Modern Bengal
Arun Bandopadhyay

3. The Fallen Woman and the Saint: The Baishnabi in Colonial Bengal
Varuni Bhatia

4. Sri Chaitanya, Jagannatha Das, and Puri: Jagannatha Charitamrita Revisited
Kailash Chandra Dash

5. Wax, Shellac, and Rabindranath Tagore: An Engagement on Record
Dipannita Dutta and Subhayu Chattopadhyay

6. Bengali Folk Responses to Hegemonic Orthodoxy and Social Hierarchy: Jari, Baul, and Maijbhandari Songs
Amit Dey

7. Bijoy Krishna Goswami and the Reform Movement in Nineteenth-century Bengal
Sujata Mukherjee

SECTION II: ASPECTS OF BENGALI POLITICS, SOCIETY, AND ECONOMY

8. The Other Gaze: South India in Select Bengali Historical Narrative
Ranjeeta Dutta

9. Rejection of Nationalism and Much More: Reading Tagore’s Nationalism 100 Years On
Anuradha Roy

10. Seas, Rivers, Estuaries: Three Moments in the Social and Cultural History of Water-borne Circulations in Eastern India
Rila Mukherjee

11. Indian Finances and British Rule in Eighteenth-century Bengal
Rajat Datta

12. Nitya Gopal Mukherji: An Agricultural Enthusiast in Colonial Bengal
Bipasha Raha

13. Prosperity, Dominance, and Social Mobility: Emergence of a Mobile Caste in Colonial Southwest Bengal
Achintya Kumar Dutta

Explorations in Colonial Bengal

Essays on Religion, Society, and Culture

Achintya Kumar Dutta

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