Manu
Bhagavan
Sovereign Spheres
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Now
From the front jacket:
Princely states were semi-autonomous territories that made up roughly
40 per cent of South Asia under British rule. This engaging study looks
at educational reform in the context of debates on modernity and anti-colonial
nationalism in the two leading progressive princely states in twentieth-century
India, Baroda and Mysore.
Sovereign Spheres explores the ways in which colonial authority was
challenged and negotiated through both direct political action and more
subtle, long-term initiatives involving social and cultural reform.
In the process, the book furthers our understanding of domination and
resistance and forces us to rethink our notions of the heretofore largely
ignored princely states. These regions were central not only to the
ideology of empire, but to nationalist visions of postcoloniality as
well. In examining the role of princely state universities in the production
of modern, governable subjects, the author interrogates the nature of
public and private domains in the subcontinent and argues for a fundamental
remodeling of colonial India.
Ground-breaking and authoritative, this book will be of importance not
just to researchers of South Asian history, but to scholars and students
of power dynamics, social reform movements, state formation, and to
all those interested in comparative understandings of imperialism, nationalism,
and modernity.
From the back cover:
[Manu] Bhagavan breaks new ground in the study of princely India by
showing that states such as Baroda and Mysore provided spaces for postcolonial
imaginations of the university long before colonial rule was formally
ended. Sovereign Spheres is a welcome addition to historians’
debates on colonial modernity.— Dipesh Chakrabarty, Professor
of History and South Asian Studies, University of Chicago
[Manu] Bhagavan's Sovereign Spheres has greatly enhanced our understanding
of the interactions between Indian society on one hand and British colonial
ideologies and administrative policies on the other. [H]is thesis [is]...strikingly
creative...[and] combines a mastery of current scholarship in the relevant
areas of modern South Asian history with well-researched evidence.—Michael
H. Fisher, Danforth Professor of History, Oberlin College
Published reviews:
“An important corrective”—The Telegraph (India)
“Full of suggestive insights,
Bhagavan’s Sovereign Spheres should prompt us all to think afresh
about the role of the princely state in late colonial India.”—Thomas
R. Metcalf, Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies and History, University
of California at Berkeley, in The Book Review (India)
"[Bhagavan's] grand theme...represents
a quite radical reinterpretation.... [He] offers, in sum, a refreshing
take on the Indian princely state system - one that, moreover, is quite
entertaining to read.... [D]etermined iconoclasm...." —Ian
Copland, Director, Centre of South Asian Studies, Monash University
(Australia), The Economic and Political Weekly
"[A] thought-provoking comparative
study...[that] concentrates on a well-defined set of questions and hypothesis,
aiming to bring the methodology of post-colonial studies to bear on
a new field.... The topic is well chosen...." —Margrit
Pernau, University of Bielefeld (Germany), in The Indian Economic
and Social History Review
"Bhagwan [sic]...demonstrates
quite convincingly that the 'national' and the 'international' could
function as vital points of reference for the princes and the elites
in their states, providing ammunition for use against the British tendency
to monopolize modernity and freeze the princely states as visions of
the timeless pre-modern..... [H]e makes innovative use of the concept
of mimicry [and produces]...a valuable contribution to the study of
modernity in colonial political discourse. Bhagwan [sic] is careful
to locate this discourse not only in the princes' chafing against British
restrictions and expectations, but also in the competition between Brahmin
and non-Brahmin elites in native states. The book is well-researched
and clearly written." —Satadru Sen, Washington University
at St. Louis, in Studies in History
"[R]ecommended on the colonial period itself...Manu Bhagavan's groundbreaking Sovereign Spheres: Princes, Education, and Empire in Colonial India...provides important insight...." —Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Nottingham Trent University (England), in the Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature
"Bhagavan brings particular attention to the incident of the 1911 Delhi Durbar.... His utilization of...film...research to demonstrate that British reactions to... [Baroda's] actions were largely exaggerated is particularly historiographically refreshing and innovative.... [He also] considers the relationship between the reforms of the princely states, modernity, and Indian nationalism. This is where Bhagavan proves most insightful in his analysis.... Sovereign Spheres is...a welcome addition to our historical literature." —Hayden Bellenoit, St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, in the Journal of the Oxford University History Society
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