Afterword Sanskrit, Authority, National Culture

Abstract

In 1881 an author who counted himself amongst the ‘intelligent portion’ of Benares’ agricultural community, anonymously published a tract entitled Thoughts on India, by a Brahman.¹ The book was characterised as a true representation of India’s depressed, suffering, and discontented population, and went on to identify the cause of that discontent to be the British government’s ‘more or less disguised policy of selfishness’. The purpose of the book, he noted, was thus to point out to the government the steps it should take to ensure ‘peaceful contentment amongst the inhabitants of Hindustan’.² In this way, Thoughts on India was an early example of a genre of Indian nationalist writing which would soon become commonplace: a critique of British colonial rule presented under the guise of overall loyalty and the proffering of constructive criticism.