Evolution, Race and Public Spheres in India: Vernacular Concepts and Sciences (1860-1930) (Routledge Studies in South Asian History)

This book provides an in-depth exploration of South Asian readaptations of race in vernacular languages. The focus is on a diverse set of printed texts, periodicals and books in Hindi and Urdu, two of the major print languages of British North India, written between 1860 and 1930. Imperial raciology is a burgeoning field of historical research. So far, most studies on race in the British Empire in South Asia have concentrated on the writings of Western-educated elites in English. The range of Hindi and Urdu sources analyzed by the author provides a more varied and complex picture of the ways in which South Asians reinterpreted racial concepts, thereby highlighting the importance of scrutinizing the vernacular dimensions of global entanglements. Part I of the book centers on the debates on "civilization" and "civility" in Hindi and Urdu periodicals, travelogues and geography books as well as Hindi literature on caste. It asks if and in what respect the discussions changed when authors appropriated racial concepts. Part II revolves around the "science" of eugenics. It scrutinizes more popular genres, namely, early twentieth century advisory literature on "fit reproduction." It highlights how the knowledge promoted there was different from "eugenics" as the (mainly English-writing) founders of the Indian eugenic movements endorsed it. A fascinating analysis of the ways in which colonized elites have adopted and readapted racial concepts and theories, this book will be of interest to academics in the fields of Modern South Asian History, History of Science, Critical Race Studies and Colonial and Imperial History. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Page 3 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Acknowledgments 9 A note on transliteration and translation 11 Introduction 12 Voyage to the present: Noida 2017 12 Vernacular concepts and the sciences of the colonized 16 British articulations of race and their Indian entanglements 23 Secondary scientific elites writing in Hindi and Urdu 28 Chapter preview 34 Notes 36 Part I: From beasts and demons to inferior races? Civilization and the shifting ideas on human difference in the Hindi and Urdu public spheres 46 Notes 48 Chapter 1: The civilized and the uncivilized: Dividing the world in the late nineteenth century 50 Notes 60 Chapter 2: Hindi literati’s savage others? The “showcasing of the wild” and the permanence of the civilizing mission 63 Notes 81 Chapter 3: “Struggle for existence” and eugenics: A comparison between Hindi and Urdu 86 Notes 93 Chapter 4: The nature-nurture debate on caste 97 Notes 105 Part II: Hindi and Urdu advisory literature on reproduction: The cases of santati-śāstra and kokaśāstra 108 Notes 111 Chapter 5: “Mental force” or selective breeding? Comparing two para-eugenic rationalities 114 Notes 123 Chapter 6: “Selecting the best flowers from the world’s gardens of knowledge”: Vernacularization and scientific referencing 125 Notes 132 Chapter 7: Between “artificial contraceptives” and brahmacārya: Ambivalent attitudes to birth control in the Hindi public sphere 135 Notes 146 Conclusion 149 Notes 157 Appendix: Translated excerpts 158 1 Sayyid Ahmad Khan, “Civilization,” that is, śā’istagī and tahẕīb (1868) 158 The ability of different races (nasl) to adopt civilization 158 2 Pyarelal, zamindar of Baroutha, voyage around the world (1897) 159 Africa 159 The inhabitants of dark Africa 160 3 N.a., “The Spread of Islam in Africa” (1907) 161 4 Vrajvihari Shukla, “Cannibal People” (1911) 161 5 Hiralal Jalori, “Human Projeniology” (1913) 163 The “essence” of the child’s body and hereditary traits (Bacce ke śārīrik tattva aur vanś-paramparā se āne vāle guṇ) 163 What is the origin of the forces and “essences” (śaktiāṁ aur tatva) present in the human seed? 164 6 Rishilal Agrawal, The Desired Progeny (1928) 165 The future offspring 165 Notes 166 Bibliography 168 English works 168 Hindi works 182 Urdu works 185 Index 187