Interrogating (post)colonialism: Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay a representative case
Chandrima Bannerjee

Edward Said's Orientalism, first published in 1978 has established itself as a central text in (post)colonial studies. This paper demonstrates through an analysis of the writings of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay (1838-94), one of Bengal's most reputed intellectuals during the colonial era, how writings of the Bengali colonized elite can effectively subvert the binarisms of Orientalism. It points to the lacuna in the literature curriculum of the Western academia, which privileges migrant/hybrid intellectuals to the negation of "organic intellectuals." The viability of teaching literature of the post-independence period under the rubric of the "post-colonial" without including literary texts prior to formal independence is interrogated.

Bhabha's theory of mimicry is invoked to show how in 19^th century Bengal the English educated Bengali middleclass (bhadralok) did undergo a reification, an essentialization as cultural entity but they contained a "dual persona." The contradictions in the writings of the colonized elite like Bankim, is seen as evidence of the disjunction in the colonized selves and subjects, which thereby contained the potential for struggle and liberation.

Said's elision of the agency of the Oriental is critiqued through the example of Bankim, whose collaboration with Orientalist scholars helped in the consolidation of various existing indigenous and pre-colonial structures of caste, gender and class hierarchies. The newly discovered "glorious" past propagated by the Orientalists also allowed Bankim to mythologize history in his famous novel, Anandamath where he established a parallel between ancient Hindu gods and the new god called nation. A text like Anandamath should figure on the literature syllabuses not only for its unparalleled impact on Indian nationalist movements but for its pertinence today as an important source for understanding the underpinnings of the contemporary rise of militant, hegemonic "Hindu nationalism" in India.