Caste And Identity In Colonial India

About the book

Contents

• The book on Maithil Mahasabha is an interesting commentary on how – at a particular moment in history – thanks to the royal patronage, ‘Orthodoxy’ had taken the front-seat in driving the elitist forces in Mithila to engage themselves with challenges in different walks of life. It also highlights how the fissures and cracks developed in this identity formation. A very well-documented and well-researched analysis, it is a must-read for those interested in reading the history of Mithila as well as Bihar.
• -Prof. Udaya Narayana Singh
• A Sahitya Akademi Awardee Poet and Chair Professor of Linguistics, Amity University, Gurgaon, Formerly Pro-Vice-Chancellor Visva-Bharati,Shantiniketan &Director, CIIL, Mysore
• This is a pioneer work that showcases how the Maithil Mahasabha sowed the seeds of fragmentation in Maithil society by considering only Maithil Brahmans and Karna Kayasthas as Maithils – and keeping other castes of Mithila as well as women out of it. The book reflects on the factors which made Maithil Mahasabha, a stumbling block in the creation of a progressive Maithil identity – and eventually getting failed to generate Maithilness even among the sub-sections of Maithil Brahmans.
• -Prof. I.K. Choudhary
• University Professor of History & Dean, Faculty of Social Science, Ranchi University
• Late nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century witnessed profound changes having a lasting impact on Indian society. New constellations of caste, language and regional identities came into the surface. History of Maithil Mahasabha unravels one such chapter. The author weaves an intricate account by bringing together court politics, the socio-economic life of the region and the politics of the elites of Mithila. Rich in its use of vernacular historical registers and armed with critical eyes of the discipline, the book is a wonderful account of the language politics and its entanglements with caste and regional moorings.
• -Dr. Sadan Jha
• Author & Associate Professor, Centre for Social Studies, Surat
• A formidable scholarly intervention which encapsulates the intricate details of discourses and movement channelized through Maithil Mahasabha that finally shaped the contours of Maithil Identity in modern time.
• -Atul K Thakur
• Journalist & Author

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