Bogey of the Bawdy: Changing Concept of 'Obscenity' in 19th Century Bengali Culture

Author(s): Sumanta Banerjee

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 22, No. 29 (Jul. 18, 1987), pp. 1197-1206
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4377248 .
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 Bogey of the Bawdy
Changig Concept of 'Obscenity' in 19th Century Bengali Culture
Sumanta Banerjee
Suppressionof the voices of the lowerordershas takenmanyforms, rangingfrom administrativeintervention
to ideologicalmanipulationby the elite. In 19thcenturyBengal,the educatedBengaligentry'scampaign' both
administrativeand ideological-against the culturalexpressionsof the indigenouslower orderswas determined
to a largeextentby the concept of 'obscenity'whichthey imbibedfrom theirEnglishcolonial mentors,who in
theirturnshapedthe conceptin accordancewiththe rigidand unaccommodating moralityof the Victoriansociety
of England.Theconceptstill continuesto rule the attitudeand behaviourof the Bengali'bhadralok'(the 'respect-
able'gentry)towardsthe expressionsof the 'chhotolok'(the unletteredlowerorders).Thelatter'sraw,uninhibited
articulationof perceptionsof the surroundingstarkreality,is quiteoften counteredby self-protectiveeuphemisms
whichare typical expressionsof the perennialsocial and political ambivalenceof the 'bhadralok'This article
seeks to tracethe roots of this attitudeto the culturalvaluesthat werebeingformulatedby the English-educated
Bengali 'bhadralok'in the 19th century,a largepart of whichwas concernedwith the need of obscuringcertain
aspectsof the reality,particularlythose relatingto the commonman'ssensualdelightsrangingfrom food to sex.
Tosuppresswordshelpsto obscurethereality. whicn social groups supporteu or opposed dotes that grew around Krishna in Bengal
-Felix Greenein "TheEnemy" it and why,can shed light upon widerques- wereat variancewith what was found about
THE 'truth' about the past changes with tions likethe impactof colonial ideologyon the god in the ancient Sanskrit religious
indigenous culture and the structure of texts. Krishna in Bengali folklore is a
every present, influenced by the particular
power and authority in a dominance- cowherd prince, who falls in love with
biases of the respectivesucceeding genera-
dependencerelationshipthat characterised Radha. Radha is married-toAyan Ghosh,
tions. But while approachingthe past with
he different layers of a colonial society. who happens to be an uncle of Krishna's.
the preconceptions which originate in our
own presenthistoricity,it is essential to re- Ghoshincidentallyis a Bengalisurname,not
tain a certain'openness'to the past. Thiscan usually found in any other'part of India.
allow us to discover alternative meanings, Strippedof the omnipotentdivine qualities,
The culturalproductsand activitiesof the
which might even contradictour preconcep- lower orders of 19th century Bengal in Krishnaand Radha were brought down to
tions, but nevertheless create a dialectic general,and Calcuttain particular(the city earth in the songs of the 15th century
betweenour historicallydeterminedpresent at that time had become a centreof cultural Bengali poets like Chandidas and his con-
preconceptions,and an 'open' past that can innovations that diffused outwards to the temporaries.The divine loversexpressfears
yield a differentmeaningsystem.In such an rest of the,province), developed in a large and hopes, woundedprideand blissfulcon-
exploration,by controlling our preooncep- measurefrom the traditionalfolk cultureof summation, and suffer the long hours of
tions and anticipations,we can revisethem the countryside.The 15th century saw the waitingto be followed by fleeting moments
in the light of the new discoveriesfrom the efflorescenceof a vigorousplebeianculture of a secret rendezvous-the normal lot of
'open'past. The objectthus arrivedat, is not and a greatburstingout of songs, dramatic mortal beings in love.
the so-called object-in-itself, or even an performances('jatras'),collectiveritualsand Right from the 15thcentury down to the
approximationto it, but to a great extent, various communal artefacts, mainly under beginningof the 18thcentury,there flowed
free from the biases and prejudices, pre- the influence of vaishnavism in Bengal. an undercurrentof secularisation of reli-
judgments and anticipations which flow Much of it was in reactionto the pedantry gious myths in Bengali folk culture. The
from our present historicity. The 'truth' of the official ideology of the brahminical ruralbardsused storiesand charactersfrom
is still historical, relative and socially hierarchywhichwaspatronisedby the feudal mythology to expresscontemporarysocial
determined.' upperclasses.2Describingthe popularityof concernsand depict the gods and goddesses
The presentpaperseeksto investigatecer- the vaishnavite 'kirtans' (songs about the as ordinary villagers, vulnerable like any
tain forms of cultural expressions of 19th loves of Radha and Krishna) among the other human being. The series of 'mangal-
centuryBengal, which had been quite often commonpeopleof Bengalin those days,one kavyas'or narrativepoems in praiseof both
denounced as 'bawdy'or 'obscene'by both moderncritic observes:"Theyweresung in the traditionalaryanpantheonand the local
contemporaryand modern interpreters.By gatherings,in open spacein the midstof the Bengali godlings, composed during the
approachingthe subjectwith a receptiveness public. The scriptures which used to be 16th-l7th century period, were often a
to the possible alternativemeaning system understood only by the Sanskrit-knowing realistic replica of the daily life in a rural
of these culturalexpressions,we want to re- 'pandits',werenow accessibleto all (through Bengali society. In the communal singing
examinethe concept of 'obscenity'that was 'kirtans'). The wall that separated the duringreligious rituals, the goddess Durga'
formulatedin a specific historical situation scripturesfrom the masses thus began to and her consort Shiva could be recognised
by a particularsocial group in power.Since crack. ..3 by the listeners as a hard-workingBengali
the concept still prevailsin modern Bengali One of the reasons for the popularityof brideand her poor, indolent,hemp-smoking
society, such a re-examinationis necessary these songs amqng the masses was the husband-familiar characters in a rural
to allow the modern interpretersto discover domesticationof the divinitiesand the nar- community. Still later, in the devotional
the distorting prejudices that continue to rationof their loves in the familiarlanguage hymnsof RamaprasadSen, a mid-18thcen-
shapetheirattitudestowardscertaincultural of the people. The divine pair, Radha and turymysticpoet, the goddessKalifrequentlyl
expressionsof the lowerorders.An investiga- Krishna, were deglamourised through the resembles typical female ch-aracters of
tion to find out what sort of use the con- folk imagery into a rustic young couple, Bengali households-sometimes as a shre-
cept was put to, how it changed over time, often in a daringly adulterous and inces- wish matron, sometimes as a careless
what kinds of solidarities were expressed, tuous relationship.The legends and anec- mother, or as a hoyden romping around

Economic and Political Weekly July 18, 1987 1197

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shamelessly.4
There was also an old oral tradition of
romantic songs about unhallowed love
among ordinary human beings (as distinct
from those about the divine pair Radha
and Krishna). In Mymensingh (now in
Bangladesh) there were two such popular
ballads-one on 'Andha-Bondhu'(about a
blind flute-playerwith whom the wife of a
prince fell in love) and the other on 'Shyam
Ray' (about the prince Shyam Ray who
wanted to marry a low-caste 'Dome'
woman).5
Romanticlove on a secularplanewas also
treatedin the literarystyle of classicalcourt
cultureby Bharatchandralay (1712-60),who
waspatronisedby MaharajaKrishnachandra
Rayof Nabadwipin Bengal in the mid-18th
century. His long narrativepoem 'Vidya-
Sundar'revolvesround the liaison between
Vidya,a princess,and Sundar,a prince,both
of whom are brought together through the
ingenious go-between Malini, an elderly
woman flower-seller.Bharatchandra'scom-
position earned both fame and notoriety.
Much of his poem was taken up by rather
uninhibiteddescriptionof the variousstages
of love-making,couchedin beautifullyrical
imagery.By the middle of the 19thcentury
such frankeroticism, in spite of the literary
qualities, had become 'obscene' in the eyes
of the 'bhadralok'society. Bharatchandra's
language and style, however,were heavily
dependenton SanskritisedBengali and liis
imagerydrewon the courtculture,unlikethe
simple Bengali and homely images of the
folk literaturewhich ranparallelto the court-
patronised Bengali cultural forms. Along
with the aristocracy, the gentry, and the
Sanskrit-educated'pandits',who had their
own poets and composers (like the 11th
centurypoet Jaydevwhose songs used to be
sung as parlour songs in the courts), the
common people developedtheir own reper-
toire of collective rituals, folk songs, com-
munal performances.
The extraordinarydegree of autonomy
demonstratedby the traditionalfolk culture
of Bengal during the 15th-18th century
period, was carriedinto the 19thcenturyby
the migrantsfrom the villages who arrived
in the new metropolis, Calcutta, in search
of jobs. Artisans and poor people engaged
in small-scaleoccupationswho settleddown
in the city brought with them the old folk
songs and rituals which they not only kept
alive in the squalor of the growing metro-
polis, but enriched them with new motifs
borrowedfrom the surroundingurban en-
vironment.The streetliteratureof 19thcen-
tury Calcutta-songs, dances, doggerels,
theatrical performances, recitations-
becamea great melting pot of traditionand
topicality.New urbanfolk artisteslike 'kobi-
oalas' (poets who versified extempore and
participated in verbal duels with rival
'kobis'), 'jatra-oalas' (composers of, and
performersin indigenous theatrical forms
consisting of songs and dances); 'pan-
chalikars'(who narratedmythological and
1198
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other stories in the form of songs inter-
spersedwith short rhymes);'jhumur-oalis'
(female singers and dancers) and 'sangs'
(pantomime artistes who in street perfor-
manceslampoonedthe anglicisedgentryand
the religiousimposters)-introducedinnova-
tions and changed considerablythe style of
old folk forms to reflectthe urban environ-
ment and accommodatesecularcomments,
even when dealing with religious themes.
Contemporaryproblemsoften masqueraded
in the guise of religious myths in their
songs.6
II
An important aspect of the folk culture
of the lower orders of 19thcentury Bengal
was ribaldry.The satisfaction of the body,
from food to sex, was responsiblefor some
of the wisest and wittiest proverbsand say-
ings, as well as some of the most rollicking
and ribaldsongs and poems in Bengali folk
literatureof this period. An almost impeni-
tent tendencyto show up human follies and
frailtiesby depictinghumorouslythe normal
and gross activities of ordinarymortals, to
laugh at sex and with sex, which we find in
these forms of culturalexpressionsreflected
playfully a primitive sensuality.
The preponderanceof ribaldry in 19th
century folk literaturecould be traced to
certain historical factors. It derived from
rudimentsof gaiety and laughter,often with
sexual overtones, which are to be found in
the old folk customs and rituals, carnivals
and feasts. One such ritual which survived
till the beginning of the 19th century was
known as 'kada-kheur', or singing of
obscenesongs while wallowingin muck and
slimeon 'navami'the thirdday of the Durga
puja festivities. At the court of Maharaja
Krishnachandraof Nabadwip, this ritual
was observedafter the sacrificeof a buffalo,
when everyone from the king and his sons
on the one hand to the commoner on the
other,had to participatein slangingmatches
of bawdy rhymes.7Mahendra Nath Dutta
(a brother of Swami Vivekananda),in his
remiriiscencesof his childhood in 19thcen-
tury Calcutta tells us how during 'navami',
after the sacrifice of a goat or a buffalo,
"peopleusedto smearthemselveswith blood
and muck and move roundthe roads carry-
ing the skull (of the sacrificedanimal). Old
grandfatherswith men of their own age, as
well at sons and grandsons, used to sing
'kada-matirgan' (songs of mud and slime).
They wereextKemelyobscene and indecent
songs... 8 Such saturnalia or scenes of
wild revelrywerenot peculiarto Bengalifolk
culture. Describing carnivals and feasts of
fools in medieval Europe during certain
periods of the year, Michail Bakhtin inter-
pretsthem as a sort of defence mechanism,
where "laughter... liberates from the fear
that developedin man during thousandsof
years;fear of the sacred,of prohibitions,of
the past, of power. .." In these festivals,
Bakhtin says, the theme of mockery and
Economic and Political Weekly
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abusewas almost entirelybodily and grotes-
que. "Thebody that figuresin alUthe expres-
sions of the unofficial speech of the people
is the body that fecundates and is fecun-
dated, that gives birth and is born, devours
and is devoured, drinks, defecates, is sick
and dying. . ."' RobertD Storch drawsour
attention to similar folk festivities in later
17th and early 18th centuries in England,
where"becausemanyexpressionsof popular
culturehad, almost by definition,to be open
and take place in public spaces, they fre-
quentlyproduced,as concomitants,crowds,
noise, excessive drinking..."l'
It is significant that revelrieslike 'kada-
kheur'usedto be organisedin Bengalduring
religiousfestivitiesto honourthe omnipotent
goddess Durga. The bandying of bawdy
rhymes, the gross delight in the sensuality
of rolling in mud and blood were all at-
tempts to transformthe seriousness of the
official ritual and bring it down to the
material bodily level. The ethereal was
broughtdown to the physical.The pedantic
Sanskrit'mantras'werecounteredwith the
raw, witty jokes. It was the victory of
laughterof the plebeiansover the fear and
awe inspired and imposed by the religious
orthodoxy of the upper classes. What
Bakhtinsaid about the origins of saturnalia
in medievalfolk cultureof Europecould well
be applied to the situation in Bengal.
". . intolerant seriousness of the official
ideology made it necessary to legalise the
gaiety, laughter and jests which had been
eliminated from the canonised ritual and
etiquette.Thus, formsof purelaughterwere
created parallel to the official forms. . . The
feast was a temporary suspension of the
entireofficial systemwith all its prohibitions
and hierarchicbarriers.For a shorttime, life
came out of its usual, legalised and con-
secratedfurrowsand entered the sphereof
Utopian freedom"'
Wehave noticed earlierhow the seculari-
sation of the Radha-Krishnalegend develo-
ped in vaishnavitefolk culture, in reaction
to the 'canonisedritual'and 'hierarchicbar-
riers' of the brahminicalorthodoxy. Epics
like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
were freed from the monopofy of the
Sanskrit-knowing 'pandits' by poets like
KrittibasOjha (15thcentury)and Kashiram
Das (16thcentury)respectively,who narrated
the stories of the epics in the simple 'payar'
metre(a Bengalimeasureof verseconsisting
of two lines each containing 14 letters),
which was suitable for reciting to the un-
lettered listeners.
In this broad frameworkof secularisation
and popularisationof'religioussubjects,the
preponderance of humour and ribaldry
reflectedthe same need for overcomingthe
fear generatedby feelings of sin and guilt
which were propagatedby thL brahminical
hierarchythroughtheirorthodoxinterpreta-
tion of religious myths. The awe-inspiring
images of the divinities had to be trans-
formed into butts of ridicule, or familiar
characters,in the Bengalifolklore.Symbols
July 18, 1987
of power and vengeancelike Shiva or Kali following lines: various speech patterns and images of the
wereturnedupside down. All that was terri- Who calls you a merciful,compassionate cultureof folk humourwhich wereexcluded
fying becamegrotesque.People playedwith soul?Forsomepeopleyouprovidesweetfor from official intercourse, could freely
terror and laughed at it. The awesome theirmilk.And heream I who can'tevenget accumulate.Therewas again a largenumber
became a comic monster. rice to go with the pot-herbs... 14 of expressionsthat wererelatedto the body
The best illustration of this transforma- In a similarvein, the image of the power- like 'dabka'(a girl with a youthful body),
tion and degradationwas the changingcon- ful Shiva of the aryanpantheon used to be 'dhoska' (a woman with an aging body),
cept of Kali as found in the songs of Ram-transformedinto a hemp-smokingsluggard, 'dhumshi' (a fat woman), 'aantkuri' (a
prasad Sen and other contemporary folk in Bengali folklore. In the 'mangal-kavyas' barren woman). Some of the gay abuses
poets of the mid-18th century. Kali, couldwe come across an amusing descriptionof currentamong women were dominated by
have been an aboriginal goddess who was Shiva during his marriagefestivities, when the concept of devouring and eating, like
absorbedinto the hindu pantheon, but con- he arrivescompletely doped, with his loin 'bhatar-khaki' (one who devours the
tinued to be worshippedin accordancewith cloth slipping.Whenthe womeninviteesflee husband), 'gatar-khaki' (one who allows
old aboriginal rites like human and other in shame, the divine sage Narada requests one's body to go waste by remainingidle).
themto ignorethe god's stateof semi-nudity,
sacrifices,even till the end of the 19thcen- Manyproverbsweredirectedagainstworth-
tury in certain parts of Bengal. Black andas pot-bellied people like Shiva find it dif- less husbands, like the following:
bloody, decked in a necklace of human ficult to tie theirclothesaroundtheirwaists! Kapalamarbakto,
A 19thcentury 'pat' of Kalighat(paintings
skulls, with set teeth and protrudedtongue, Sakto dekheybhatarnilam,
and triumphantlytramplingupon her hus- done on cheap paperby folk artistsnearthe Hageysudhurakto.17
band, the supine Shiva, the image of the Kalitemple in south Calcutta)shows a pot- (Just my luck! I chose a husband who I
ferocious Kali could have originratedfrom bellied Shiva, forgetfulof his slippingtiger- thought was strong. But now I find that he
some primeval desire to lend a bodily skin loin-cloth, quiteuninhibitedlyshowing can only shit blood.)
substanceto the destructivenessof nature, his genitals.15 Such proverbswerealso illustratedby the
to cosmic terror.The brahmin clergy who Verbalor visual desecrationof the divini- 'sangs' live pantomimeactors-who during
later incorporated Kali into the hindu ties in the above fashion, or the coupling of the Charak, or hook-swinging festival in
pantheon,composed Sanskrithymnsin her serious myths with their earthy, abusive Chaitra (correspondingto April), the last
praise which stressed the intimidating andparodies,of gods with their comic doublets month of the Bengaliyear,or otherreligious
in rhymedripostes, werean importantpart
oppressiveaspects of the divinity. The 18th festivities,went aroundthe streetsof the city.
century poet-laureate of the Nabadwip of Bengali folklore. They offered a sort of We hear of a 'sang' during the Saraswati
court, BharatchandraRay described(in his non-official, extra-ecclesiasticalversion of puja (worshippingof the hindu goddess of
'Vidya-Sundar')the goddesswith a necklace the world, as observed by the lower orders learning)in February1825, who illustrated
of fierce looking skulls and her mass of of societywho had no accessto the brahmin- the Bengaliproverb"Patheyhageyar chokh
matted locks flapping around her head in dominated,Sanskritisedcultureof the upper rangaye" (literally meaning: 'He shits in
class 'respectable'people.
the following alliterative couplet jingling public and yet threatensothers'),which was
with sanskritisedBengali words (known as This boundlessworldof humorousforms meant to ridicule the civic authoritieswho
'tatsama'as distinct from 'tadbhaba'words and manifestations of traditional folklore themselvesviolated all laws and yet hauled
which were simple and used in colloquial was further enriched by the urban folk up the man in the street for the slightest
speech): artistes of 19th centuiryCalcutta in their misdemeanour.The display, quite predict-
Chanda-mundamunda khandi khanda- variousformsof culturalactivities.Laughter ably, annoyed the authorities. The police
mundamalike, springingfrom the grotesqueconceptof the arrested the 'sang' and his patron and
Latto-patto deergha jatto muktokesha human body, often based on the material broughtthem beforethe Englishmagistrate.
jalike.12 bodily lower stratum, frequentlybecame a The latter reprimandedthem for 'vulgari-
In sharp contrast with this fearful image
weapon in the hands of the lower ordersto ty' and imposed a fine of Rs 50.18
of the goddess invoked in the serious lampoon the hypocrisyof the upperclasses. In the folk songs of Calcutta,ribaldrywas
classicalvein, therestandsthe pictureof Kali
Uninhibitedreferencesto certainpartsof the institutionalisedin a particularform known
portrayedas a nakedhoyden in the songs of humanbody and jokes about certainbodily as 'kheur. 'Kheur'had its origin in a lively
Ramprasadwho was also a contemporary functions were a component of traditional folk style of witty retortsthroughrhymesor
of Bharatchandra's.Ramprasad's moods folk culture. Bawdy proverbs cropped up songs, usually with etotic overtones.Accor-
variedfrom utter submissionto the goddess whichhit toe nail on headwith laconicpreci- ding to one Bengali critic: "Khenru, or
to bitter complaints against her, from a sion. Thus, the new class of sycophants kheur,is probably the earliest specimen in
childish devotion to the archetypalmother whichgrewaroundthe urbannouveauriche Bengaliliteratureof straightforwardexpres-
imageto abusivetauntsat a rompingwench. known as 'Mosahebs', who had no riches sion of the feelings of lovers'"9A typical
Throughall these varyingmoods thereruns and yet pretendedto be wealthy,weremade exampleis the following exchangebetween
a tone of intimacy and playfulness. Thus, fun of in the popular saying:"Pond nangta a man and a woman.The woman(whotakes
one of his songs expresses dismay at the mathaeyghomta" (a naked arse, but a veil the role of Radha) quips:
nudity of the gooddess in the colloquial over the head). When the Scottish High- "Oreyamar kalo bhramar,modhu lutbi
language of the masses: landersoldierarrivedin Calcuttafor the first jodi aye!"(Come hither,my black-bee,if you
Kaligo, keno langtaphiro, time (duringthe 1857rebellion)and marched want to feast on my honey!) The bold
Chhi chhi! Kichhulajja nai tomar? in the streetsin his traditional frock which Radha'sunabashedinvitation to the black-
left his legs bare, the local wages invented bee, who is the poetic symbol of the un-
the scabrousterm "nangtagora"(the naked mistakabledark-skinnedKrishna,is resented
Mago, amrasabey mori lajey, to by the possessive husband, who retorts:
Ebar meye bason paro.13 whiteman). The plebslaughedat themselves
also, as evident from a proverbwhich ridi- 'Ami thaktey chaker modhu panch
(Dear Kali, why do you go around naked? bhramarekheyejaye!"(How is it that while
Fie on you! Aren't you ashamed? ... Dear culed subservienceto the employer:"Kartar I am here, all and sundrycome to taste the
mother,we die of shame,pleaseput on some padey gandho nai" (There'sno stink when
honeycomb!)20
clothes now.) the boss farts).16
The profanities and oaths, the double 'Kheurs'were a sort of comic interludes
Ramprasad'spoor circumstancesoften in- entendresand bawdyquips that markedthe in a serious narrative.While the romantic
trude in his songs and they become accus- speech and proverbsof the women of the storyof Radhaand Krishnaallowedthe folk
ing taunts aimed at the goddess, like the lower orders became a reservoirin which poets like 'kobi-oalas' to borrow images

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 from nature to expressexalted and fervent
moods of the lovers,'kheurs'permittedthem
to let down their hair and express in a
rollickingstyle the naughtythoughtslurking
behind such moods of sublimity-often
openly erotic. The images from naturewere
endowedwith adulterousimpulses,as in the
following'kheur'describingthe mood of the
lotus:
Podi lo, ar sotip#narbarai korishney!
Dekhey dinomoni, takhoni, amoni, hao
dhoni, sukhini-
Basan Khuley, chandabadantuley chao
takhonjani!
Astey geley shey, amoni biroley dhakish
mukh;
Chhi, chhi, dhik asatirjeeban!21
(Don't brag about your chastity, oh lotus!
The moment you see the sun, you im-
mediately become happy-you strip your-
self, lift your face and gaze at him! When
he sets, you hide your face in seclusion. Fie
upon youiradulterous life!)
Such bawdy, satirical wit and frank sen-
sualityexpressedin the languageof the com-
mon people, was immensely popular with
the masses who gathered to listen to the
'kobi-oalas' in 19th century Bengal. The
built-in right of improvisation in 'kheurs'
allowed the 'kobi-oalas' to go beyond
mythological subjects and take up secular
topics like the personal habits and eccen-
tricities of a rival 'kobi-oala',or even of a
landlordpatron. Although often patronised
by the rich, these 'kobi-oalas'retainedtheir
own independence.Thus, duringpoetic duel
in the house of a zamindarin 19thcentury
Bengal,when one sycophant'kobi-oala'flat-
teredthe host and describedhis landedestate
as Vrindavana(the site of Krishna'scarou-
sals),one of the leading'kobi-oalas'of those
days-Bhola Moira (who was a sweet seller
in Baghbazar in north Calcutta) retorted:
Oreybeta, kobi gabi, poisha lobi,
Khoshamodiki karon?
(Stupid fool! Sing a song and take your
money.Why the need for flattery?)He then
turnedto the host and asked him to pardon
him if he did a bit of plain speaking-which
he did by describing the host's avariceand
tight-fistednessin these words:
Pimpretipey gur khaye
Mufatermodhu oli.22
(He squeezesout molassesfrom the ant that
sticksto it, and is greedylikethe bumblebee
hovering over free honey.)
Describing the popularity of 'kheurs'
among the lower orders of 19th century
Bengal, IshwarChandraGupta (1812-59),a
poet- journalistwho collected the old songs
of the 'kobi-oalas' wrote: "The respectable
people likedto listento chaste songs and the
'itarjan'(the vulgarmasses)werehappywith
'kheure"He then went on to recall how at
one gatheringwhen the famous 'kobi-oala'
Netai Bairagi(1751-1818)was singinga song
in a serious vein about Radha and Krishna,
members of the lower orders, tired of the
long-windednarrativeand the alliterations,
.stood up and shouted at him: "Look here
1200
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Netail If you again start singing about the
cuckoo (a favourite bird of the romantic
poets), fie on you! Now, sing a 'kheur"'.Tl
satisfy them, Netai immediately started to
sing a 'kheur'.23
The 'kheurs' apparently provided the
unletteredpoor with the avenuefor desecra-
ting the solemn, demystifyingthe ethereal.
The ethereal,the heavenly,the sublimewere
the stapleof the sanskritisedromanticpoets.
The latter'sheroes and heroines, as well as
imagesand metaphors,werehighly glamou-
rised, dressedin the robesof the gentry,and
identified with the elite. The 'kheurs'
representedthe countercultureof the lower
orders, who delighted in turning upside
down the myths of Radha and Krishna,or
Shiva and Parvati, and in de-romanticising
the nature and landscape from which the
elite poets borrowedtheir metaphors. The
comic in theirsongs innocuouslyannihilated
greatness and dignity. One remembersthe
words of Karl Marx: "The final phase of a
world-historical form is its comedy. The
Greekgods, alreadyonce mortallywounded,
tragically in Aeschylus' "Prometheus
Bound",had to die once more comically in
the dialogues of Lucian. Why does history
proceed in this way? So that mankind will
separateitself happily from its past"24The
travestyof the Radha-Krishnalegendin the
popular 'kheurs'was thus a waggishgood-
bye to the sanctified past of the elite.
There was always an element of parody,
of caricatureof the serious, in the cultural
products of the lower orders. A typical
example was the 'jhumur' (described in
Bengaliliterarycriticismvariouslyas a tribal
song and dance performance,or as a part
of the Radha-Krishna kirtansong). Wecome
across the name of one woman 'jhumur'
singerknownas Bhavani(also as Bhavarani)
who led a troupeand wentaroundthe streets
of Calcutta in the late 1850s. One of her
'jhumur' songs describes the plight of a
woman in words which parody the conven-
tional style used by traditional poets to
decribe a familiar episode in the Radha-
Krishnastory-Radha's frequenttripsto the
river Yamuna, ostensibly to fill her water
vessel but actually to tarry there for a
glimpse of Krishna:
Chal soi, bandhaghateyjai,
A-ghaterjaleyrmukheychhai!
Gholajal porleypetey
Gata omni guliye othhey
Pet phempeyaar dhekuruthey
Heu Heu Heu!
(Come on friends, let's go to a well-laidout
bathing place. Fie upon the watersof out-
of-the-way 'ghats' As soon as I take in the
muddy waters, I feel like throwing up. My
belly aches and I start belching-Heu Heu
Heu!)
Having sufficiently de-romanticisedthe
situation by describing in stark, prosaic
language the physical hazards involved in
such a rendezvous,the singernow introduces
a bitter-sadnote describing her emotional
state:
Economicand PoliticalWeekly July 18, 1987
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
My tearsdry up in my eyes,
I go aroundmakingmerry.
I'm writhingin pain,
Yet,I act coy
Swingingmy hips.
The accursedornamentsof mine
May not remainlong with me.
What with the evil eyes
Cast upon them
By the wretchedwenches.25
One is struckby the frequencywith which
the human body and its behaviour are
mocked at to the point of the grotesquein
these songs. The changeabilityof the body,
its degenerationand decreptitude,its failures
and weaknessesas stressedrepeatedlyin the
humoroussongs of folk culture,werecloser
to realitythan the romanticisedconcept of
the aestheticallybeautifulhumanbody,par-
ticularly the feminine form, found in the
court-patronisedelite literatureof poets like
Jaydevand BharatchandraRay.The grotes-
que in folk cultureemergedfrom a satirical
worldviewwhich took on the characteristics
of a Satanic laughter.
The bawdywas expressedstill moredirect-
ly in the songs and sayingsabout prostitutes
and their life style in 19thcenturyCalcutta.
The rise in the numberof prostitutesin the
city could be explainedby severalfactors-
the increasing migration into Calcutta of
men who left behind their families in their
villages,the povertyof widowsand deserted
women coming from both the higher and,
lower castes, the need of the poor working
womento supplementtheirmeagreearnings.
In 1853, Calcutta with a population of
4,00,000-oddpeople, supported 12,149pro-
stitutes. In 1867, although the city's total
population had come down to some extent,
the numberof prostitutesrose to morethan
30,000.Weare told that women fromamong
the weavers, washermen castes, barbers,
milkmen castes, and other lower castes
mostly resorted to this profession.26
Witty innuendos and broad hints about
demi-mondaine life style, debauchees and
profligates,pimps and procuressesabound
in 19th century folk songs. The characters
of Bharatchandra Ray's'Vidya-Sundar' who
had all the potentialitieson such behaviour,
wereeminently suitablefor transformation
into contemporaryfigures of the Calcutta
underworld.The most popular dramatisa-
tion of Bharatchandra'sromance was the
'Vidya-Sundar''jatra'produced by Gopal
Urey (1817-57). His rise to eminence was
phenomenal. Gopal was around 18 years
old, when he came to Calcutta possibly in
1835. He used to sell bananas in the streets
of the city. His hawker'scry attractedthe
attention of a rich Bengali babu, a lover of
music and songs, RadhamohanSarkar,who
discoveredin Gopal's voice potentialitiesof
a greatsinger.Sarkarhad his own troupeof
'jatra'performers.Gopal first acted in the
role of the woman flower-seller,Malini in
'Vidya-Sundar'staged by Sarkar,and im-
mediately became a hit with the audience.
Gopal took over Sarkar'stroupe,afterthe
latter'sdeath, and introduceda new style in "What harm has the sex act, so natural,so Uprooted from their rural environment
the 'jatra'form. Dialogues were composed necessary,and so lawful, done to humanity, wheretheir distinctculturalforms occupied
in the shape of short, lilting verses. There that we darenot speak of it without shame, a niche in a well-ordainedsocial structure,
was a waggish tone with the touch of the and excludeit from seriousand orderlycon- they arrivedin a metropolis wherethey did
wanton in the songs of Malini whose role versation?We boldly utter the words, 'kill', not have any recognisable and acceptable
was that of the go-between.Her wordsand 'rob','betray';and the other we only dare position. Moving from one part of the city
the musical measure which accompanied utterunderour breath... It is amusingthat to another (due to the rapid expansion of
them (known as 'arh-khemta'-a lively the wordswhich areleastused, leastwritten, the metropoliswhich involvedthe construc-
tempo)immediatelyevokedthe imageof the and most hushed up should be the best tion of newbuildingsto house the East India
procuress-a very familiar character in knownand the most generallyunderstood'31 Company'sexpandingbusinessand admini-
Calcutta society, where the foppish rich For the man in the streetin 19thcentury strativeoffices and consequentlyleading to
'babus' as well as theirwives-depended on Bengal, it was not, therefore, a prurient the ouster of the migrant settlers), these
these women for the organisation of their desire for pornography(as we understood urban nomads led a precarious existence,
extra-maritalaffairs.27 it today) that led him to listen to Gopal livingin shacks,eliminatedfrom theirtradi-
This is how Malini tries to seduce the Urey's songs which abounded with words tional occupations (in the case of the
young, handsome Sundar: and suggestionsthat were "least used, least artisans),eking out a living as domesticsor
Esho jadu amar bari, written, and most hushed up" in polite casual labourersor streetvendors.35Social-
Tomaedibo bhalobasha. society. It was in a vein of innocent ly and culturally they were looked down
Je ashayeeshechojadu, ribaldry-a continuity of the collective upon by the urban elite, who inventednew
Purno hobey mono asha. gaiety of the past-that he laughed at derogatoryterms for them, like 'chhotolok'
Amar nam Hire Malini Malini'sseductivegestures.He belongedto (the lowerordersas opposed to the 'bhadra-
Koreyranrinaiko shami.. 28 that crowd of Canterburypilgrims whom lok' educated gentry), 'itarjan' (the vulgar
(Come to my home, my darling!I'll give you Mark TWain's Connecticut Yankee en- masses), and 'gmeiya'(the ruralbumpkin).
love.You'llget my darling,what you'vecome countered "pious,happy,merryand full of Being at the bottom of the urban socio-
here for. My name is Hire, the flower seller. unconscious coarseness and innocent economic structureand constantly exposed
I've been a widow since my childhood. I indecencies:'32 to oppression and humiliation, the only
don't have any husband.) For the contem- weaponthat the lowerordershad was verbal
porary audience, Malini's overtureechoed But the bawdy was not always a trigger ridicule. When the world seemed not only
the immediacy of the familiar soliciting for innocent laughter. It could become an too much with them, but againstthern,they
heard in the red-light areas of Calcutta in importantweaponin the hands of the lower occasionallythumbedtheir nosses at it and
those days.Therewas also a double-entrende ordersto transferthe sanctimoniousto the escapedby way of theirirrepressiblelust for
impliedin the use of the word 'ranri'which material sphere, in a gesture of protest life, theirdelightin the five senses. Laughter
meant in contemporary parlance both a against the ethereal world built up by the was an involuntary response to situations
widow and a prostitute. Sanskrit-educatedBengali brahmin priests which could not be handled in any other
Raw wit, expressed in typical feminine and theirfollowers.DasarathiRay,or Dashu way. "'. .working class culture has been built
idioms, comes out in a funny song, sung by Ray (1805-1857),a contemporaryof Gopal around the task of making fundamentally
a gypsy woman in Gopal's 'jatra' These Urey's,composed 'panchalis'which became punishing conditions more inhabitable."36
women used to sell herbsand oils, and were popular with the unletteredpoor, because The objects of their ridicule became the
familiar figures in the Calcutta streets. of his raw,earthystyle of narrationand the symbolsassociatedwith the upperclasses-
Ei oshudhmore chhunteychhuntey, colloquialexpressionsthat werethe charac- the divinitieswho weresought to-beetherea-
Hurkoebou jaye apni shutey. teristicsof the conversationof the Bengali lised by the elite-as well as membersof the
Baro-phatkapurushjara, poorer classes of those days. Although contemporaryelite like the foppish 'babus'
Aanchal-dharahoye uthey.29 Dashu Ray did not come from a poor and their mistresses, and the gluttonous
(As soon as these medicines of mine are backgroundlike G6pal Urey, or the 'kobi- brahmin priests who scrounged on the
touched, the truant wife will come back to oalas' he had an intimateknowledgeof the elite.37This was an indirect way of over-
sleep with her husband, the profligate will lower strataof Bengalisocial life. As a boy, coming their own humiliation by cutting
get tied down to his wife's apron strings.) he left home to join the troupe of a village down to size their superiors.In the process,
The popularity of the sexual and scato- woman'kobi-oala'-AkshayaPatni(fromthe the folk artistes createda second world, an
logical suggestionsin these folk-songsof thecasteof ferrymen),and acquiredexperiences alternativelife outside the official world of
populaceof 19thcenturyCalcuttashouldbe aboutthe thoughtsand feelingsof the social the respectable educated classes. They
understoodin the context of the virile folk outcasts. In one of his 'panchalis',women createdan irreverentand iconoclasticworld
tradition, mentioned earlier, where jokes characterscalled 'kula-kalankinis'(or fallen in opposition to the 'bhadralok' world of
aboutthe humanbody,about eating,defeca- women)come out witha long list of heroines strict rituals and stiff restraints.
tion and fornication were an essential part of the Hindu epics-the progenitorsof the
of a communal culture.In a rareattemptto Pandavas and Kauravas (the contending
cousins in Mahabharata)-who throughall III
understand the perceptions of the lower
orders,a Bengali'bhadralok'of the late 19th the generations gave birth to the future The Bengali 'bhadralok'society's offen-
century admitted: "In the obscene verses heroesout of wedlock,by matingwith a god sive against these forms of folk culture
which we today discover in Vidyapati and or a sage.33They then ruefuly sing: assumedan organisedshape from the mid-
Chandidas (the' 15th century vaishnavite Whenit comes to the gods, dle of the 19th century, and reached a
poets who composed songs about the loves It is drummedas mere sport. virulentstage duringthe last quarterof the
of Radha and Krishna),the common folks But when we do the same thing, century.The concept of 'obscenity' as im-
of the past could not perceiveany obscenity It is called sin.34 bibed by 'bhadraloks'from the Englishrul-
... The accepted themes of poems of those The tradition of primitive sensuality ing class, becamethe criterionby whichthey
dayswereall relatedto the descriptionof the acquireda new dimension in 19th century sought to rouse public opinion through
human body and its functions. The ideal of Calcutta. The repeated emphasis on the articlesin newspapers,meetingsin city halls,
love in those days was based on physical bawdyand the predominanceof ribaldryin and often through books, against 'kheurs',
attraction.. ..'30 the culturalexpressionsof the lower orders 'jatras' 'panchalis', 'jhumurs' and similar
These lines hark back to the comments rose largelyfrom the need to laugh at things forms of cultural expressionsof the lower
made by Montaignein 16thcenturyFrance: which they were unable to face and fight. orders.

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 As a parenthesis,it might be added that tinguishedexcept in front of the goddess appear attractive,it has been in this novel.
the prejudiceagainstuninhibiteddescription when the doors of the area were thrown The study of it must destroy all purity of
of sensualdelights, or robusthumourat the open, and a vast crowdof nativesrushedin, mind..." Condemning the "libidinous
expense of sex, was not peculiar to the almost treading one upon another, among doings of Krishnaand his adulterouscon-
Victorian Englishman or the Bengali whom werethe vocal singers,havingon long sort Radha",the writer gave up all hopes
'bhadralok'of the 19thcentury.The spectre caps like sugar loaves. The area might be about the regenerationof the Bengaliswho,
of the bawdyseemedto haunt entireEurope about fifty cubits long and thirty wide. he felt, "will never cease to be addicted to
of that period, not even sparing the new When the crowdhad sat down, they wereso profligacy,until Krishnashall have ceased
industrial working class. Observing the wedged together as to present the appear- to be the object of their worship, their
pruderyof the German working class and ance of a solid pavementof heads, a small thoughtsand theiraffections"'Durgaor Kali
its socialistleaders,FrederickEngelsexpres- spaceonly being left immediatelybeforethe were also regardedby him as "almost as
sed the hope: "... there will come a time image for the motions of the singers, who licentiousas Krishnaand Radha,and withal
when German Socialists too will trium- all stood up. Four sets of singers were pre- so utterlydestituteof all humane feeling as
phantlyget rid of the last traces of German sent on this occasion, the first consistingof to constitutetheirpersonificationsof a truly
philistineprejudicesand hypocriticalmoral brahmins (Horu Thakur), the next of fiendish or infernal character..!"42
prudery-and anyhow,they only serve as a bankers(Bhavanando),the nextof vaishnavas The Ramayana of Kirtibas, which was
coverfor surreptitiousobscenity... It is high (Netai) and the last of weavers(Lakshmi), composed in colloquial Bengali and was
time that at least the German workersget who entertained their guests with filthy popular among the masses, also became a
accustomedto speaking in a free and easy songs and danced in indecent attitudes target of attack. This is how an English
manner about things they themselves do beforethe gooddess, holdingup theirhands, writer described it: "It is written... in a
every day or night. They are natural, in- turninground, putting forwardtheir heads jingling word-catching metre, that is far
evitable, and highly pleasant things-as towards the image, every now and then inferior,even in harmony,to the sonorous
wit'ness the peoples of Rome, Homer bending their bodies.. ' These were the march of the Sanskrit couplets (of the
and Plato, Horace and Juvenal, the Old famous 'kobi-oalas' of those days-Horu original)... Its stories are more offensive,
Testament... .s38 Thakur, Bhabani Bene, Netai Bairagi and its language more indecent, than in the
In 19thcentury Bengal however,the con- Lakshmi, the weaver.ReverendWard was original; and the whole is tainted with an
tempt for popular culturewas a gift handed thoroughlyscandalisedby "the dressof the air of downright vulgarity.. ."43
down to the Bengali educatedclasses by the singers,theirindecentgestures,the abomin- Advisinga young Bengalistudentto reject
Englishchristianmissionaries,educationists able natureof the songs, especially(kheyur), these itemsof folk culture,John Drinkwater
and administrators, who imported into the horrid din of their miserabledrum. . Bethune (who was the chairman of the
India,along with other notions, the concept and remindedhis Bengali hosts of how the EducationCounciland playeda leadingrole
of 'obscenity',as it prevailedat that time in English gentry would have dealt with such in the spread of English education among
Britishsociety. It was necessaryfor the new diaplays:"Apoor ballad singerin England, womenin Bengal)wrotein 1849:"Byall that
rulersto invade the 'native' mind, destroy wouldbe sentto the houseof correction,and I can learn of your vernacularliterature,its
its foundations and reshape it so that it flogged, for performing the... actions of best specimensare defiled by grossnessand
learnt to depreciate its own cultural roots these wretched idolaters!'40 indecency.An ambitious young poet could
and stood ashamed of them. Only such The attitude of the English educationists not desire a finer field for exertion than in
a mood of self-denigration among the came out clearlyin the followingcomments taking the lead in giving his countrymenin
'natives'could have made them look up at by E S Montagu, secretaryof the Calcutta their own language a taste for something
the English as a superior race and ensure School Book Society (which was set up in higher and better"44
the rulers of a steady supply of loyal 1817to publishEnglishtextbooksfor Indian It will be noticed that these English
functionaries. students)in a memorandumhe preparedin observersin theircommentson 19thcentury
The christian missionarieswerethe first, 1820on the cheap Bengalichapbookswhich Bengali popular culture repeatedlyuse the
in the early 19thcentury,to starta systematic had appearedfrom the 'native pressessince expressions:'immoral','indecency'.'gross',
attack on the popular art forms of Bengal 1805: ". . . the greater part (of the publica- 'lascivious',etc. Theirconcept of obscenity,
which were still being patronised by the tions)... are distinguished only by their it should be remembered,was fashionedby
Bengali aristocracy.ReverendJames Ward, flagrantviolation of common decency;and the norms prevailing in contemporary
chaplainof St John'sin Calcutta,expressed aretoo grossto admitof theircontentsbeing English society. This was the periVd in
the typical reactions of the contemporary disclosed before the public eye' The works England when Evangelism as a rising
Englishbourgeoisie,whenin 1806he was in- in questionwerepopularversionsof Bharat- religious thought was providing a ripe
vited to attend the Durga puja festivitiesin chandra Ray's 'Vidya-Sundar'and similar breedingground for bigotry. Shakespeare's
the house of Raja RajkrishnaDev (son of romantictales as well as mythologicaltales complete works were edited for family use
Raja Nabakrishna Dev) at Shobhabazarin "extractedfrom the Pooranas(whichare far ('bowdlerised',afterthe name of Dr Thomas
north Calcutta. During the early hours of below the Veds and Durshuns, or philo- Bowdlerwho in 1818carriedout the task of
the programme,ReverendWardappearedto sophical portion of Hindoo writings).. ."41 purgingShakespeare'splays of obscenities).
be impressed with "groups of hindoo ContemporaryEnglish periodicals con- The industrialrevolutionand the expansion
dancingwomen, finely dressed,singingand stantlydrummedinto the ears of the newly- of opportunities which it created brought
dancing with sleepy steps.. ." They were educated Bengali readersthe need for de- into existence a new and growing commer-
apparently the north Indian 'baijis' who nouncing the cultural forms of expression cial middleclass in England.In theiranxiety
wereemployedby the Bengali aristocracyto that werepopular among the masses. Refer- to become respectable,to be 'ladies' and
entertaintheir Englishguests, among whom ringto 'Vidya-Sundar', a writerin anlnglish 'gentlemen'they tried to imbibe the norms
they were the rage in those days.39But the journalexpressedhis shockat its "essentially of courtesy of the polite world of the 18th
English clergymanwas soon to get what he and grosslyimmoral"tendency,and felt that centuryoligarchy.The keynotewas 'respect-
thought, was the shock of his life! Another "its perusal by native females must be ability' that shibboleth which converted
type of entertainmentin an entirelydifferent injurious in the extreme"'He then added: much of the behaviourof the 19thcentury
atmosphere soon followed the 'nautches'. ". . . the lascivious interviewsbetweenthem Englishmen into a hypocritical charade.
"Before two o'clock" Ward continues his (Vidyaand Sundar)aredescribed,againand LordChesterfield'slettersto his naturalson
narrative, "the place was cleared of the again,with disgustingminuteness,and in the Philip Stanhope, written in the late 18th
dancinggirlsand of all the Europeansexcept most glowinglanguage.If evervice has been centurybecame the mouthpieceof English
ourselves,and almost all the lights wereex- decked out in gaudy colours and made to gentlemanly conduct and exerted an in-

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fluence over English judgments of beha-
viour. Much of the justification for in-
toleranceof Bengali folk culturederivedits
authority from false analogies with the
desirablecode of conduct as laid down by
Chesterfield.Thus, loud laughterwas con-
sideredan impropriety."Frequentand loud
laughteris the characteristicof folly and ill
manners:it is the mannerin which the mob
expresstheirsilly joy at silly things;and they
call it being merry.'45Given the trainingin
such an attitude, it is understandablewhy
ReverendWardwas shocked by the 'merry'
laughter of the 'kobi-oalas' and their
audience at Raja RajkrishnaDeb's house.
The attitudepersistedamong Englishmenin
India even at the end of the 19th century,
as evident from the advice given by an
Englisheducationistto Indiangentlemenon
etiquette:"Whenyou are in society,remem-
ber that its is impolite... to break out in
loud roarsof laughter.Laughif you will, but
do gently and naturally"'46
An assertive prudishness became a part
of the paraphernaliaof respectabilityof the
Victorian English society. Attitude toward
the human body and its functions was the
kingpinof Victorianmorality.Good educa-
tion demanded not to place elbows on the
table, to walk without protruding the
shoulderblades or swinging the hips, to eat
withoutloud chewing,not to snortand pant.
In matters of sex too, there was the same
stresson closing up and limiting the body's
confines. From the suspicion that sexual
pleasure was a trap of the devil, there
developeda veritableobsessionwith sin. The
textbook for teaching English etiquette to
Indian gentlemen thus advises: "Thereare
severalwordsand expressionsdenotingparts
of functions of the human body which are
tabooed in polite society, since they suggest
unpleasantideas... There are other words
and subjects, such as adultery,fornication,
childbirth,miscarriage,etc, of which men-
tion should not be made in the general in-
tercourseof polite society.'47
The guilt-saturated obsession with sin
promptedthe Englishadministratorsto nose
out sex with indefatigableindustry in each
and everyitem of Bengali folk culture-the
songs, dances, theatrical performances,
'kathak' recitations, and the chap-books
which came out from the cheap pressesand
werepopular with the semi-literate.Follow-
ing the recommendationmade by Reverend
James Long (who compiled a list of about
500 Bengali printed books, many of which
according to him violated the code of
decency),the Englishadministrationpassed
in January1856an Act to preventthe public
sale or exposure of obscene books and
pictures in Bengal.48
Earlierin England, in 1802 a society for
the suppressionof vice was set up to improve
the morals of the English. A contemporary
observer,SydneySmith at that time dubbed
it as a society for suppressingthe vices of
personswhose incomesdid not exceed? 500
a year! Profligacy in high society in 19th
Economic and Political Weekly July 18, 1987
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century England was indeed accepted as attitude of the educated classes: "Anyone
long as appearances were kept up and from among the illiteratefishermen, boat-
decorum maintained. It was primarilythe men, potters, blacksmiths,who can rhyme
expressionsand activitiesof the lowerorders nowadays thinks that he has composed a
in Englandwhichbecamethe objectsof sup- song; by singing it, the 'jatra' performer
pressionby the state.Explainingthe reasons thinks that he has sung a song; by listening
for the witheringawayof 'specific popular to it, the audiencethinkthat they haveheard
culturalitems' in 19thcenturyEngland,one a song. But there is nothing in these songs,
modern critic refersto "nineteenth-century except rhyming... Thanks to the present
agencies of discipline, regulation and type of 'jatras'Krishnaand Radhalook like
repression.49 'goalas'(milkmen);in the past, the qualities
In 19thcenturyBengalalso, the provisions of a good poet made them appear as
of the anti-obscenitylegislationweredirected divinities."53
primarily against expressions of popular Liketheir VictorianEnglish mentors,the
culture,like the cheap chap-books publish- Bengali 'bhadraloks' also (many among
ed from Battala, in north Calcutta, which whom were employed as government ser-
was at that time the centre of the printing vants, lawyers or teachers in the colonial
industry. We hear of the arrest of several institutions)began to demonstratea prurient
book-sellersfrom Battalain 1873for selling prudery,seekingout sex and obscenityin the
editions of BharatchandraRay's 'Vidya- innocuous diversionsof the plebeians.The
Sundar'"They are out on bail now. A case frank descriptionof the erotic, or the note
will soon startagainstthem.(Tofightit) they of facetiousnessin narratingthe exploits of
are raising subscriptions. ."50 the divinities in the 'kathakata' perfor-
Instructed to look down upon their mances (the recitations by the folk rhap-
existingliteratureas defiledby grossnessand sodists),drewsharpcensurefrom a 'bhadra-
indecency,the new generation of English- lok' observer in a contemporary Bengali
educated Bengalis began to dissociate journal:"Duringthe narrationof Krishna's
themselves from the folk cultural heritage carousels(knownas 'Krishna-leela'), it is not
and its popular expressions, and from. possible for an uneducatedyoung woman
mid-19th century launched a determined to remain unexcited when listening to
campaignagainst them. Public displayslike episodes like 'raash' (Krishna'sdance with
'jatra' performances of Gopal Urey and the milkmaids)or Krishna'sescapewith the
other popular folk artistes became targets clothes of the milkmaids"'54
of attack. Writing in 1853, one Bengali Following the directives of Reverend
'bhadralok' described deridingly how James Long (who describedthe 'panchalis'
"hundredsmay be seen keeping up whole as "filthy and polluting" in his descriptive
nights to see and listen" to 'jatras' which catalogue of Bengali publicationsin 1855),
dealt with the "amours of the lascivious an educated 'bhadralok' writing in 1883
Krishmaand of the beautiful shepherdess complained: "The panchali (with female
Radha, or of the liaison of Bidya (Vidya) actressesonly) whichis given for the amuse-
and Sundar' He then warned:"It is needless ment of the females... is sometimes much
to say that topics liketheseexercisea baneful too obscene and immoralto be toleratedin
influence on the moral character of the a zenana having any pretension to genti-
auditors... The gesticulations with which lity. . '"55Mahendra Nath Dutta informs us
many of the characters in these yatras that by the end of the century, 'meye-
('jatras')recitetheir severalparts, arevulgar panchali'or women panchali-performersas
and laughable''51 Another 'bhadralok' described above, had disappeared since
writing in 1855 complained about such "educated people began to denounce
'jatras'in these words: "who that has any them"56
pretension to a polite taste, will not be The biggest eyesore of the 'bhadralok'
disgustedwith the vulgar mode of dancing society was the annual 'sang' (pantomime)
with which our play commences, and who processionbroughtout by differentsections
that has any moraltendencywill not censure of the lower orders of Calcutta like the
the immorality of the pieces that are braziersof Kansaripara(the colony of these
performed?"52 artisans) and fishermen of Jeleypara(the
Behind the repeated allegations of 'im- fishermen'squarters).'Sangs'werea weapon
morality'against 'jatras'hurledby the 19th in the hands of the underdogfor lampoon-
century educated Bengali society, there ing the upper classes. Startingat the initial
lurked the main objection that the hindu phase, by illustratingcommon Bengalipro-
divinitieswerebeing desecratedby the lower verbs,the pantomimeartistesgraduallywith
orders. The secularisation of the RXdha- the growth of the metropolis and the
Krishna legend and their depiction as changes in the mannersand customs of its
ordinarymortalsin the colloquial language people, began to mimick the various types
of the masses, earned the 'bhadralok'ire. of charactersand theirhabits.Suchmimicry
SanjeebChandraChattopadhyay(the elder was also accompanied by special types of
brother of the novelist Bankim Chandra songs, known as 'sanger gan. The objects
Chattopadhyay), writing in the Bengali of their satire rangedfrom the rich 'babus'
magazine Bangadarshan, which in those to the religious hypocrites. A Bengali
days was the literary mouthpiece of the newspaperdescribinga processionof 'sangs'
'bhadralok' society, expressed the typical in Calcutta during the charak (hook-
1203
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
swinging) festival in April 1833, mentions KeshubChandraSen and ReverendSoorya evenas the Englishauthoritieswerebanning
a 'sang'who caricaturedthe bloated rich by Coomar (Surya Kumar)Ghose became its suchplayson the groundsof obscenity,their
depicting an old man coveredwith flowers secretaries.Welcomingits formationas "an own prince Edward was embroiled in an
with a foot affected by elephantiasis. importantstep in the history of native pro- adulterycase. Known as a notorious liber-
Another 'sang' was seen worshipping his gress"' the Friend of India commented: tine, the prince some years ago had been
foot with all the piety of a devotee.This was "Christiansand brahmos,mahomedansand involved with Lady Aylesford, wife of one
followed by a wooden platform borne by hindoos,unitedon the groundof a common of his closest friends,the Earl of Aylesford.
some 'sangs' On the platformsat a religious moral principle to declarethat the nascent Just when the princewas being entertained
'guru' counting his rosary and muttering literatureof the country should no longer in Calcutta by the Bengali gentry, Lady
prayers.As the bearers moved him round be allowed to run the risk of becoming Aylesford in London threatened to make
and round,he keptturninghis lecherouseyes polluted and polluting..."61 public some letters writtento her earlierby
to the women watchingthe processionfrom Offering support and co-operation to the prince. Thanks to the indefatigable
the surrounding balconies, and the next the society, the novelist Bankim Chandra efforts made by the Royalty and their
moment turning upwards in gestures of Chattopadhyaywrote: "It would not be an friends,the affairwas finallyhushedup after
prayersto his god.57A 'sang' processionin exaggeration to say that obscenity is the PrinceEdwardhad cut short his Indiantrip
Calcutta in 1872 was a Lake-off on the national vice of the Bengalis. Those who and rushed back to England.65This was a
anglicised Bengali's wedding ceremony: may consider this to be an exaggeration, typical instance of the double standardsof
"Thebridegroomwas dressedin pantaloon should merely think of Bengali jokes, moralitymaintainedby the colonial rulers,
and chapkan, and the bride in the costume Bengali abuses, the wranglings among with one standardfor their own privileged
of a hindustaninatch girl and in top-boots Bengali women of the lower orders, and membersand another for the commoners.
holding a book in her hands.. .",58 Bengali 'jatras' 'kobi' contests, 'panchalis! To be fair to the 'bhadralok'class, a few
Listen for a moment to the conversation amongthem had the courageto questionthe
The educatedBengalisocietylookeddown conceptof 'obscenity'as imposedby the col-
upon such depictions as an affront to the among the Bengali peasants.. "62
The 'bhadraloks' soon got down to onial rulers,and the wisdom of suppressing
respectableclasses.The bogey of the obscene popularentertainmentsthroughlegislation.
was raised by the 'bhadraloks' in their business.During the Charakfestivitiesnext
year in 1874, the city's respectable per- The Hindoo Patriot, commenting on the
newspaperswheneverthe 'sangs' came out establishmentof the society for the suppres-
in procession. The following comments on sonalitiespersuadedthe then policecommis-
sionerSir StuartHogg to ban the 'sang'per- sion of vice, wrote: ". . to seek to reform a
the 'sang' procession of 1871are typical of
formances. But in spite of such pressures, nation, to improvethe tastes and longings
'bhadralok'reactions: "Our heads hang in of a peopleby criminalindictments,by scat-
shame at the sight of these 'sangs'... the 'sangs' of Kansariparadid manage to
bring out a procession lampooning the teringthroughthe lengthand breadthof the
Bhadralokshaveto close theireyes,call upon
'bhadralok' prudes, and their newly dis- country self-constituted informers of
god to save them and flee from 'sangs'.. .
coveredconceptof 'obscenity'Movinground national immoralities, and by waging a
They have to plug their ears to escape their
the streets of Calcutta, they sang: perpetual warfare against the cherished
obscene songs ... How dare these braziers
Shahoreyek nutanhujuk amusementsof the peopleis to rouseopposi-
make merry accompanying the extremely
abominable pantomime actors, making Uthechheyre bhai, tion and court defeat. . ." It then turned to
filthy gestures and singing obscene songs Ashleelatashabdomoraagey suni nai, the English and asked: "We have ourselves
right in front of the police in a respectable Eyr Vidyasagarjanmadata seen pious christians and staid ladies and
localityand in frontof the houses of respect- Bangadarshan eyr neta... 63 gentlemen crowd in the Opera House in
able people!. .. Werequestthe government (A new frenzyhas appearedin the city.We've Calcuttato see the graceful figures, aye the
to take special care to abolish these despic- never heard before of the word 'obscenity' poetry of motion, performed by the ballet
able customs. .."59 It has been spawnedby Vidyasagar(Ishwar girls, but whoever thought of bringingthe
Chandra, the soci4l reformer). Banga- Penal Code to bear upon them?"66
SUPPRESSING OBSCENITY darshan (the journal edited by Bankim But such voices of sanitywerefew and far
ChandraChattopadhyay)is its leader. . .") between, and too feeble to resist the anti-
The English missionaries played an The 'sang' song then continued to des- obscenitydrive against folk culture.By the
importantrole in constantly remindingthe cribe how once everyyear the brazierssang end of the 19th century, most forms of
Bengali educated classes of the 'obscene' and danced in 'sang' processions, and how culturalexpressionof the plebeianshadbeen
nature of folk culture. Their newspaper the rest of the poor people enjoyed them. exiled from Calcutta.An early 20th century
Friend of Indiq urged on the 'bhadraloks': Addressingthe 'bhadraloks',it then said:"If writer found on inquiry that there were
"Theduty is one especiallyto be undertaken you think these are bad for society, and for hardly20 'jhumur'and 'tarja'troupes still
by educated natives of character,that they your culture,why don't you keepyour wives surviving in entire Bengal. "Because of
may wipe out the reproachso often cast with locked up in your houses (so that they may policeregulations,in manyplacestheirclubs
good reason on their community..."60 not watch our performances)?"64 have been closed down'67 The gradual
Soon after, on September 20, 1873, the The colonial administration and its eliminationof women folk performersfrom
'educatednatives' gatheredat a meeting in 'native'protegesraisedthe bogey of obsce- Calcutta from the end of the 19thcentury
the Calcutta Town Hall and established a nity not only against folk cultural expres- is indicatedby the decline in the numberof
society for the suppressionof public obsce- sions, but also certain sections of the actresses,singers,dancersand theiraccom-
nity. The object of the Society was to "aid 'bhadralok' society. In 1876 a group of panists from 17,023 (accordingto the 1891
the government in putting in force the educated Bengali theatre lovers who had census)to 3,527 in 1901.1 About the fate of
sections of the Penal Code and the Printing organisedthemselvesinto the GreatNational 'Kada-matirgan' (songs of mud and slime
Act which were meant to preserve public Theatrestaged a farcecalled 'Gajadananda sung duringthe navamiday of Durgapuja,
purity.' Among those who spoke at the and the Prince' deriding a local lawyerof described earlier), Mahendra Nath Dutta
meeting were Keshub Chandra Sen, the the city, JagadanandaMukherjeefor having wrote: "With the spreadof English educa-
brahmo reformer;Kali Charan Banerjee,a entertained the then Prince of Wales, tion and the rise of Keshab Sen (the
christianprofessor in Dr Duff's College in Edward.The governmentclampeddown an brahmo reformer),it graduallywent out of
Calcutta. Raja Kali Krishna Deb of the ordinance prohibiting dramatic perfor- fashion.69 Writing in 1883, a Bengali
ShobhabazarRaj family, who represented mances which were "scandalous, defama- 'bhadralok'noted approvinglythe decline
the hindu orthodox group of the city, tory, seditious, obscene or otherwise pre- in the performance of 'jatras' and 'kobi'
became presidentof the new society, while judicial to the public interest~'Incidentally, songs, and commented: "Instead of the

1204 Economic and Political Weekly July 18, 1987

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
traditionaljatras (rude dramas) and kobis
(popularballads),he (the Bengalibabu)has
graduallyimbibed a taste for theatricalper-
formances;and native musical instruments
are supersededby Europeanflutes, concer-
tinas and harmoniums,organs and piano-
fortes.This is a decidedimprovementon the
old antiquated system, demonstratingthe
gradual growth of a refined taste:'70
At the end of the century,describingthe
plight of the lower orders who were being
starvedof their culturalentertainments,one
Bengali journal observed: "The enter-
tainments, diversionsand festivities of the
common folks are all disappearingone by
one. There are no 'jatras' now, no 'pan-
chalis' not to speakof the 'kobis'Withwhat
will the common folks live?..."7
The gradualmarginalisationand the final
eliminationof folk culturalforms from the
streets of Calcutta were caused by several
socio-economicfactors,like the snappingof
ties of the past communityliving,the decline
in the number of old patrons, the rise of
book culture,and the changing values and
norms of the dominant classes. The latter
were newly educated in the contemporary
Victorian value-system, and aspired to
acquirethe norms of their colonial rulersto
gain acceptance in their society, as well as
to facilitate their own socio-economic
upwardmobility. In this *task,they had to
dissociate themselves from their culture of
the past, much of which was rooted to the
folk tradition,which was looked down upon
by the colonial rulersas 'obscene'.The.col-
onial interpretationof these songs in accor-
dance with the contemporaryAnglo-Saxon
ethical norms formed the basis of the new
educationsystem.As a result,the cultureof
the educated Bengalis from the early 19th
century carried a child which would grow
up to disavow with scandalised self-
righteousnessits own mother and most of
her works.
The Radha-Krishna'kirtans'celebrating
the frolicsof the romanticpair in unabashed
humanterms, or Gopal Urey's 'jatra'songs
narratingwith franksensuality the loves of
Vidya and Sundar, which had entertained
the Bengalis in the past, suddenly assumed
threateningdimensions for the 'bhadralok'
The more the 'bhadralok'society turnedits
ire against these folk expressions,the more
the latter became directly derisive and
abusiveabout the habitsand customsof the
newlyeducatedgentry,as to be found in the
later-19thcentury 'sang' performances,and
theirprotestdemonstrationsin the streetsof
Calcutta in 1874.
But the struggle of the lower.ordersfor
their right to laugh was taking place in a
society marked by sheer inequalities of
power.The dominantgroupof 'bhadraloks',
backedby the colonial administration,had
morepowerto define the termsin which the
strugglecould occur. The confrontation of
the two cultures-that of the dominant
colonial power and that of the dependent
colony-had created an anarchy of values
and norms in the late 18th-early 19th cen-
t1lryBengal.The Bengalirespectablegentry
Economic and Political Weekly July 18, 1987
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perceivedthe social world as frighteningly
lacking in normativeregulation and moral
authority. From their strong belief in the
necessityof creatingsome commonly affir-
med set of values and morals in society,the
movement of social and religious reforms
took birth.The objectivewas to reconstitute
the lines of deference,patronageand moral
authorityin accordancewiththeirown needs
for survivaland furtherprogressunder an
alien rule. The reconstitutionwas based on
what a modern historian has describedas
a "combinationof (James)Mill and Manu,
the latter largely expurgatedof its priestly
and patriarchalexcesses... While English
utilitarian afforded a tool for intellectual
analysis, the Hindu sage offered a key to
social cohesion:'72
In this new pattern of deference and
patronage,the old popular culture had no
place. As opposed to laughter of folk
culture, the new official culture of the
educated classes came to be infused with
elements of intimidation (like calling upon
the authorities to pass laws to ban folk
expressions),seriousness(as in the historical
novelsof BankimChandraChattopadhyaya,
or the heroicversesof MadhusudanDutta),
and hypocrisy(which reachedits grotesque
apotheosis in brahmo morality). As a
representative of dominance, this new
official culture terrorised, demanded and
forbade.
The attitude towards the human body
underwenta drastic change in this realism
(of Kali in the folk songs) or of bawdy
imagination(with humorousdescriptionof
its limps and functions) did not fit the
frameworkof the aesthetics of the 'beauti-
ful' or 'moral' as conceivedby the 'bhadra-
loks' and their English mentors. The new
bodily canon prohibitedall descriptionsor
expressionsthat werelinkedwith eating, the
sex act, pregnancy,childbirth,etc. The canon
of polite speech which came to be formed
in mid-19thcentury and which still prevails
in middleclass Bengalisociety,drewa sharp
line of division between the colloquial
speechof the lowerordersand 'correct'con-
versation and writings.
The suppressionand supercessionof this
cultureof folk humourwas necessaryfor the
'bhadraloks'for a new interpretationof the
surroundingreality that would ensure self-
confidence.Nineteenthcenturyfolk culture
graspedthe multi-facetednessof the reality
and its flux. It laughed at the apish habits
and hypocrisyof the Bengaliparvenuwhose
fate oscillatedwith the changinginterestsof
the colonial rulers.It made fun of the hindu
divinities who were held sacrosanct by the
'bhadraloks'desperatelytrying to build up
a glorious past based on the myths about
these divinities. It looked mercilesslyat the
follies and frailties of human beings in
general, holding them up to ridicule in the
familiar language of the masses.
The elite suppressedthe folk culture to
form its own distinct culture that could
obfuscatethe multi-dimensionalrealityand
its uncomfortableuncertaintiesby presen-
ting new concepts of moralityand literature
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
as 'eternaltruths' with the prevailingten-
dencytowardsstability,one single meaning,
a uniformtone of seriousness.It reinforced
the pedantry of the brahminicalhierarchy
in its debatesand polemicsoverreligiousand
social reforms, shaping in the process a
highly sanskritisedBengalilanguage which
was adopted by the 'bhadraloks'as a mark
of superiority over the plebeians. The
cultural movement of the 19th century
'bhadraloks', the reality of which was
obscuredby the misnomer'renaissance', was
basedon a compromisewiththe brahminical
elite culture of the past, and the adoption
from the colonial rulers of certain new
mannersand mores, which were felt to be
conducive to the material advancementof
the 'bhadraloks'. Both the traditional
brahminicallyinfluencednorms, and the in-
fluences from abroad, reinforced the new
concept of 'obscenity' the formerdenoun-
cing and rejectingthe raw,earthy language
of the Bengali lower orders, and the latter
operatingagainst the content of their songs
and other forms of oral and visual culture.
Notes
[rhepresentarticleis largelybasedon datacol-
lectedby the authorin the courseof a research
project on popular cultureof 19th century
Calcutta, which was funded by the Indian
Councilof SocialScienceResearch, NewDelhi.
The opinionsexpressedhere,and the conclu-
sionsarrivedat, arehoweverthe author'sown.]
1 Janet Wolffe, "HermeneuticPhilosophy
and the Sociologyof Art",London.
2 Ramakant A Chakravarty,'Chaitanyer
Dharmandolan'in Baromash,April 1986,
p 18.
3 Hiteshranjan Sanyal,'Chaitanyadev ebong
BengaliSamajof Sanskriti'in Baromash,
April 1986,p 38.
4 The transformationof aryandivinitiesin
Bengali folklore reflected a two-way
process-the tendencyamong the lower
orders to mould the divinities in the
framework of theirownfamiliarimageson
the one hand,and the tendencyamongthe
upper caste hindus to incorporatelocal
tribalmythsand gods into the aryanpan-
theon.D D Kosambisuggeststhatpre-aryan
gods or godlingswho werepopularin cer-
tainareaswereincorporated into andiden-
tifiedwiththe estabilishedaryanhindupan-
theon,likeShivaandVishnu.Whileretain-
ing theirprimitivefeatures,these gods in
the local imaginationwere rechristened
under new names. (D D Kosambi,"The
CultureandCivilisationof AncientIndia",
New Delhi, 1977,pp 48, 170). It is quite
possiblethat a similarlocalgod associated
witha cultivator'slifestyle,markedbywork
in the fields duringthe sowing and har-
vestingseasons,anda sortof languordur-
ing the off-season,was incorporatedinto
the Shivaimage in Bengal.
5 DineshChandraSen, "BanglarPuiranari",
Calcutta,1939.
6 SumantaBandyopadhyay, 'Bainachbonam
Khemta',in Baromash,Autumn,1986.
7 "Vishvakosh", VolIII,pp 325-335,Calcutta,
1892.
8 MahendraNathDutta,"Kolikatar Puratan
Kahini0 Pratha",Calcutta, 1983, p 30
1205
 (written in 1929).
9 Michail Bakhtin, "Rabelaisand His World",
MIT, USA, 1968, p 319.
10 Robert D Storch, ed, "Popular Culture and
Custom in 19th Century England",London,
1982, p 1.
11 Michail Bakhtin, op cit, p 92.
12 "BharatchandrerGranthabali",Calcutta, no
date given, p 66.
13 Durgadas Lahiri, "BangalirGan"'Calcutta,
1905, p 28.
14 Ibid, p 29.
15 Dinesh Chandra Sen, "BrihatBanga', Vol I,
Calcutta, 1935, p 435.
16 Sushil Kumar Dey, "Bangla Prabad",
Calcutta, 1986, p 39.
17 Ibid, p 128.
18 Samachar Darpan, February 5, 1825.
Reprinted in Brojen Bandypadhyay,
"Sangbadpatrey Sekaler Katha" Vol I,
p 139, Calcutta, 1949.
19 Haripada Chakravarty, "Dasharathi 0
Tahar Panchali", Calcutta, 1960, pp 13-14.
20 Prafulla Chandra Pal, "Prachin Kobioalar
Gan", Calcutta, 1958, p 36.
21 Baishnav Charan Basak, Comp and ed
"Bharatiya Sahasra Sangeet", Calcutta, no
date (probably early 20th century) p 373.
22 BlenoyGhose, "KolikataShahorer Itibritta"
Calcutta, 1975, p 417. Pramatha Nath
Mallick, "Sachitra Kalikatar Katha",
Calcutta, 1935, p 83.
23 "Ishwar Gupta Rachanabali", Calcutta,
1974, Vol I, p 167.
24 KaralMarx and FrededickEngels, "Worke",
Berlin, 1956-68, Vol I, p 381-82.
25 Durgadas Lahiri, "Bangalir Gan" op cit,
p 1041.
26 Report of the chief magistrate of Calcutta
and Calcutta Municipal Corporation health
report, quoted in Usha Chakrabarty,"Con-
dition of Bengali Women Around the Se-
cond Half of the 19th Century", Calcutta,
1963, p 16.
27 An excellent description of the functions of
a procuress in 19th century Calcutta can be
found in Bhabanicharan Bandyopadhyay's
"Nababibi Bilas" (1830).
28 Durgadas Lahiri, "Bangalir Gan". op cit,
pp 365-66.
29 "Baishnavcharan Basak", op cit, p 572.
30 "Somaprakash", Jaystha 13, 1279 (Bengali
year; apprx. 1872).
31 "The Complete Works of Montaigne",
Hamish Hamilton, London, 1958, essays
III, chapter V, pi 644.
32 Mark TWain, "A Connecticut Yankee in
King Arthur's Court" (1889), USA, 1979,
p 241.
33 The list includes mythological heroines like
Satyavati, with whom before her marriage,
the sage Parasharafell in love which resulted
in the birth of Vedavyasa, the composer of
the Mahabharata; Ambalika and Amba,
who on the death of their husband Bichitra-
birya, slept with Vedavyasa and gave birth
to Dhritarashtra and Pandu; Kunti, who
before her marriageto Pandu, slept with the
sun-god Surya and gave birth to Karna.
34 Harimohan Mukhopadhyay, "Dashu Rayer
Panchali", Calcutta, no date, p 639.
35 Census of Calcutta, 1876.
36 Richard Johnson, "Three Problematics:
Elements of a Theory of Working Class
Cultulre'',in John Clark, et al, ed "Work-
1206
This content downloaded from 14.139.45.242 on Fri, 8 Nov 2013 00:59:36 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
ing Class Culture'" London, p 237.
37 Dasharathi Ray, "Rukshmini Haran", in
Haripada Chakravarty, "Dasharathi 0
Tahar Panchali", op cit.
38 Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, SINCELONGOUT OF PRINTWORKSARE
"Literature and Art", New York, 1947,
NOW AVAILABLE
p 112.
39 Paintingsof 'nautches'(as their dances were
known among the English visitors to
BOOKS BY M N ROY
Calcuttain 19th centry)by Mrs Belnos (wife
of a European miniaturepainter) and other
contemporary accounts, bear testimony to Rs
their popularity among the European 1. Beyond Communism 40
citizens of Calcutta in those days.
40 Shib Chunder Bose, "The Hindoos As They 2. Fragments of A PrisonersDiary
Are", Calcutta, 1883, pp 118-19.
41 Calcutta School Book Society Reports, India's Message 80
Third Report, 1819-20, Appendix II.
42 Calcutta Review, No XXVI, Vol XIII, 1850, 3. Historical Role of Islam 30
pp 257-83.
43 Ibid, No XXV, Vol XIII, 1850, pp 48-49. 4. Materialism 110
44 Quoted in Jogindranath Basu, "Michael 5. Memoirs 175
Madhusudan Datter Jeeban-charit", Cal-
cutta, 1925, p 160. 6. Men I Met 50
45 Quoted in Joan Wildeblood and Peter
Brinson, "The Polite World",London, 1965, 7. New Humanism:A
p 216. Manifesto 30
46 W T Webb, "English Etiquette for Indian
Gentlemen", Calcutta 1888, p 5. This par- 8. New Orientation 80
ticular book went through several reprints
within a few years, indicating how it was 9. Politics, Power and Parties 60
lapped up by the contemporary 'Indian
Gentlemen". 10. Revolution and Counter-
47 Ibid, p 6. Revolution in China 250
48 Samvad Bhashkar, February 5, 1856.
49 Robert D Storch, ed, "Popular Culture and I 1. Science and Philosophy 95
Custom in 19th CenturyEngland",London,
1982, pp 1-18. PRESSCOMMENTS:
50 Madhyastha, Falgun, 1280 (Bengali year,
approximately 1873). "AjantaBooks Internationaldeserves credit
51 Hur Chunder Dutt, "Bengali Life and
for having collected Roy's writings and
Society: A Discourse", Calcutta, 1853,
pp 10-11. made them available in book form"
52 Letterin Morning Chronicle, January,1855. THETRIBUNE
53 Bangadarshan, Kartik, 1280 (Bengali year,
approximately 1873). "It is good that Ajanta Publications have
54 Somaprakash, 23, Chaitra, 1270 (Bengali
year, approximately 1863). decided to bring out a number of his
55 Shib Chunder Bose, "The Hindoos As They works"
Are", op cit, pp 18-19.
56 Mahendra Nath Dutta, op cit, p 29. THEDAILY
57 Jnyananweshan, April 27, 1833. Reprinted
in Benoy Ghose "Samayik Patre Banglar BOOKSON M N ROY'SPHILOSOPHY
Samajchitra", Vol IV, Calcutta, 1983,
pp 796-97.
58 Hindoo Patriot, April 13, 1868. 1. Sushsnto Das Dedication to
59 Sulabh Samachar, Baisakh 13, 1278 Freedom 75
(Bengali year; approximately 1871). 2. V M TarkundeRadical Humanism:
60 Friend of India, September 11, 1873.
61 Ibid, September 25, 1873. The Philosophy of Freedom and
62 Bangadarshan, Paush, 1280 (Bengali year; Democracy 70
approximately 1873). 3. 0 K Ghosh Science, Society and
63 Basantak, Vol II, No 10, 1874. Philosophy: A New Radical
64 Ibid.
65 Christopher Hibbert, "Edward VII: A HumanistApproach 150
Portrait", UK, 1976, pp 136-39. Send your order to
66 Hindoo Patriot, September 29, 1873.
67 Durgadas Lahiri, op cit, p 1041.
68 Usha Chakrabarty, op cit, p 97. AJANTA BOOKS INTERNATIONAL
69 Mahendra Nath Dutta, op cit, p 30. 1, U B Jawahar Nagar, Bungalow Road
70 Shib Chunder Bose, op cit, p 211.
71 Basantak, Vol, II, No 10, 1874. Delhi - 110 007.
72 Pradip Sinha, "NineteenthCentury Bengal:
Aspects of Social History,' Calcutta 1965,
p 109.
Economic and Political Weekly July 18, 1987