“A Grand Asiatic Empire”: Swadeshi Transnationalism and the Expanse of Bharat in the Early Indian Anglophone Novel

Abstract

Abstract:This article examines how migrant Bengali writers Siddha Mohana Mitra and Sarath Kumar Ghosh reified the emerging understanding of India as the fundamentally Hindu nation “Bharat” in their respective English-language novels that were published in London in 1909. In line with recent scholarship highlighting the global dimensions of the swadeshi movement that protested the 1905 partition of Bengal, the article argues that an expansive notion of Bharat—one that readily exceeded the boundaries of the colonial state and boasted a broader Asian configuration—was indispensable to the admonitory politics of both works. At a time in which the colonial relationship was being scrutinized on all sides, Mitra and Ghosh advocated increased amity between India and Britain while warning of violent retaliation through powerful geopolitical alliances, with a Hindu India at its center, should the country continue to suffer under British rule.