Author Description

Product Description In most studies of modern India, questions of education, gender, caste, peasantry and communalism have been seen separately from each other. This work shows how closely they were interlinked within the larger context of the Indian national movement, and analyses the decisive influence they had on the anti-colonial nationalism of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The book deconstructs the categories of moderate and extremist, reformer and orthodox, and questions the historicity of labelling reformers like M. G. Ranade, G. K. Gokhale, N. G. Chandavarkar and G. G. Agarkar as moderates, collaborators and compradors of colonial rule. It also examines debates on the introduction of mass education, and the nationalist agenda of preventing women and non-Brahmins from gaining access to schools. The reformers movements against landlords and moneylenders, along with their campaign for the introduction of compulsory education, threatened the hegemony of the elite in nineteenth-century Maharashtra. The work places the origin of the concept of Hindutva in this social context locating it not in the conflict of interest between communities, but in the nationalist attempt to control social upheaval by inventing an enemy. Tilak's construction of Hindutva was aimed against reform within Hindu society. This meticulous scholarship offers a reassessment of peasantry, education, gender and Hindutva in the nationalist discourse of Tilak. By highlighting how the denial of education to women and non-Brahmins was perceived as key to the restoration of elite hegemonic control over society, the author presents a fascinating new dimension to the historical understanding of Tilak. She offers fresh insight into his philosophy, and enriches new research on Indian nationalism. This book will be invaluable to students and scholars of modern Indian history, politics, education and gender studies. About the Author Parimala