Articles by Sanjukta Poddar
Modern Asian Studies, 2023
This article draws attention to the provincial city of Allahabad at the turn of the century as th... more This article draws attention to the provincial city of Allahabad at the turn of the century as the site of a prolific and multilingual print culture. While publishing trends in this city were shaped by the intertwined histories of political culture and cultural politics, specific journals responded to these forces in ways that remain unexamined. Taking the Indian Press-established in 1884 and arguably the city's most important multilingual publishing house-and four prominent journals that it produced (Saraswatī, Prabāsī, The Modern Review, and Adīb) as case study, I analyse the entanglements between print culture and debates on the contentious issues of languages and identities in a divided public sphere. Based on an extensive analysis of several decades of publishing trends for Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and English, I argue that the continued thriving of many languages, or multilingualism, cannot be read simply as evidence for the proliferation of syncretism in the early decades of the twentieth century. Through a detailed reading of this complex field of cultural production, I show that while multilingual publishing thrived, cultural discourse led by middle-class and elite intellectuals was increasingly becoming homogeneous and insular, pushing a milieu of multilingual readers and publishers towards a narrow nationalist and majoritarian ideal. Thus, upon close analysis, multilingualism as a cultural value in the era of colonial modernity mirrored the fractures within the public sphere.
Archives of Southeast and South Asia, 2021
In October 2018, midway through the course of my research on colonial-era Allahabad, the city's n... more In October 2018, midway through the course of my research on colonial-era Allahabad, the city's name was suddenly changed to Prayagraj through a fiat of the state government of Uttar Pradesh. While this shift might seem merely a nomenclatural one, those who follow the cultural politics of region will know that there is more to the tale. In fact, the change is rooted in a concerted attempt to erase the Mughal-era history of the city that does not fit homogenizing narratives that the right-wing wishes to peddle. My dissertation explores how textuality became the staging ground for the emergence of urbanity in Allahabad and how the city presents a significant object of enquiry to understand linguistic, caste, religious, and gender contestations in this region. In 2017, I began reconstructing the micro-histories of individuals and cultural institutions of the city in the colonial period through visits to local archives and vernacular libraries. Following the name change in 2018, it felt even more urgent to remember Allahabad, its contested identities, and histories of provincial cities, not just as objects of nostalgia for the Sunday columns of newspapers, or through the glorified but homogenous lens of tourist or pilgrimage towns, but in a clear-eyed manner, as everyday and lived spaces with complex pasts.
Postcolonial Urban Outcasts: City Margins in South Asian Literature. , 2016
Book Reviews by Sanjukta Poddar
South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2024
Economic and Political Weekly, 2022
No one narrator can gauge the true shape of an entity as elephantine as the metropolis of Bomba... more No one narrator can gauge the true shape of an entity as elephantine as the metropolis of Bombay. Sheetal Chhabria and Debashree Mukherjee, however, in their respective accounts of colonial Bombay, masterfully identify the beating heart of this elephant–capital. Their works, though occupied with two distinct narrative arcs of the city’s history, can be discussed alongside each other. They both showcase the power wielded by the capital in urban life and the consequences of such domination on the people who inhabit the city, on their bodies, their livelihoods, their modes of dwelling, and their creative energies. The common grounds for a discussion of these two books also arise from the fact that both are homages to the working-class “humans of Bombay” without whom capital would remain an inert proposition. In so doing, both books engage afresh with the idea of capital and its constitutive role in the economy, society, and culture of the metropolitan life.
Translation by Sanjukta Poddar
Scroll, 2018
Translator’s note
Premchand’s (1880-1936) essay “Sampradayikta aur Sanskriti” remains as timel... more Translator’s note
Premchand’s (1880-1936) essay “Sampradayikta aur Sanskriti” remains as timely in 2018 – 138 years after his birth and 82 years after his death – as it was when written in 1934. Characterised by Premchand’s unique prose and rhetoric, this essay is one among several he wrote on communalism and culture – subjects that are often incorrectly yoked together. In order to provide the readers with a sense of fluidity of the original as well as the biting sarcasm of Premchand’s writing, this translation closely follows the text of the essay with its idiomatic usage of language. To some extent, I retain the syntactic structure of the Hindi text too.
Premchand’s most stringent critique is reserved for the leaders of various communities and members of the colonial government whom he terms sajjan (gentlemen) and afsar (officials), respectively. The various levels of honorific pronouns used in Hindi adequately indicate whom he is referring to without always naming them, but these might be lost in translation. I have added my clarifications in square brackets.
I also retain some terms from the original Hindi text and provide translations in round brackets. As the essay proceeds, Premchand’s main claim and critique of capitalism gains strength. He contends that the primary aim of the ruling class, whether they are British or India, is self-perpetuation and economic benefit. Premchand’s utmost sympathy is reserved for the janta (the people) who are caught between the self-serving leaders and a profit-minded colonial government. He writes: “ ‘Culture’ is the indulgence of the rich, the well-fed, and the carefree. For the poor, survival is the biggest problem.”
This translation is based on the version included in Premchanda Rachnavali: The Collected Works of Munshi Premchand, Volume 9, edited by Ramvilas Sharma and Arun Kumar, Janvani Prakashan. The essay was first published in Jagaran on January 15, 1934.
Talks by Sanjukta Poddar
Perspectives on History, 2023
Fields of interest: caste, identity, a ect, print culture, urbanism, modern India Describe your c... more Fields of interest: caste, identity, a ect, print culture, urbanism, modern India Describe your career path. What led you to where you are today? I started out as a scholar of English literature. Due to the pedagogical structure of Delhi University, my rst experience of conducting research and writing a thesis was not until
Uploads
Articles by Sanjukta Poddar
Book Reviews by Sanjukta Poddar
Translation by Sanjukta Poddar
Premchand’s (1880-1936) essay “Sampradayikta aur Sanskriti” remains as timely in 2018 – 138 years after his birth and 82 years after his death – as it was when written in 1934. Characterised by Premchand’s unique prose and rhetoric, this essay is one among several he wrote on communalism and culture – subjects that are often incorrectly yoked together. In order to provide the readers with a sense of fluidity of the original as well as the biting sarcasm of Premchand’s writing, this translation closely follows the text of the essay with its idiomatic usage of language. To some extent, I retain the syntactic structure of the Hindi text too.
Premchand’s most stringent critique is reserved for the leaders of various communities and members of the colonial government whom he terms sajjan (gentlemen) and afsar (officials), respectively. The various levels of honorific pronouns used in Hindi adequately indicate whom he is referring to without always naming them, but these might be lost in translation. I have added my clarifications in square brackets.
I also retain some terms from the original Hindi text and provide translations in round brackets. As the essay proceeds, Premchand’s main claim and critique of capitalism gains strength. He contends that the primary aim of the ruling class, whether they are British or India, is self-perpetuation and economic benefit. Premchand’s utmost sympathy is reserved for the janta (the people) who are caught between the self-serving leaders and a profit-minded colonial government. He writes: “ ‘Culture’ is the indulgence of the rich, the well-fed, and the carefree. For the poor, survival is the biggest problem.”
This translation is based on the version included in Premchanda Rachnavali: The Collected Works of Munshi Premchand, Volume 9, edited by Ramvilas Sharma and Arun Kumar, Janvani Prakashan. The essay was first published in Jagaran on January 15, 1934.
Talks by Sanjukta Poddar
Premchand’s (1880-1936) essay “Sampradayikta aur Sanskriti” remains as timely in 2018 – 138 years after his birth and 82 years after his death – as it was when written in 1934. Characterised by Premchand’s unique prose and rhetoric, this essay is one among several he wrote on communalism and culture – subjects that are often incorrectly yoked together. In order to provide the readers with a sense of fluidity of the original as well as the biting sarcasm of Premchand’s writing, this translation closely follows the text of the essay with its idiomatic usage of language. To some extent, I retain the syntactic structure of the Hindi text too.
Premchand’s most stringent critique is reserved for the leaders of various communities and members of the colonial government whom he terms sajjan (gentlemen) and afsar (officials), respectively. The various levels of honorific pronouns used in Hindi adequately indicate whom he is referring to without always naming them, but these might be lost in translation. I have added my clarifications in square brackets.
I also retain some terms from the original Hindi text and provide translations in round brackets. As the essay proceeds, Premchand’s main claim and critique of capitalism gains strength. He contends that the primary aim of the ruling class, whether they are British or India, is self-perpetuation and economic benefit. Premchand’s utmost sympathy is reserved for the janta (the people) who are caught between the self-serving leaders and a profit-minded colonial government. He writes: “ ‘Culture’ is the indulgence of the rich, the well-fed, and the carefree. For the poor, survival is the biggest problem.”
This translation is based on the version included in Premchanda Rachnavali: The Collected Works of Munshi Premchand, Volume 9, edited by Ramvilas Sharma and Arun Kumar, Janvani Prakashan. The essay was first published in Jagaran on January 15, 1934.