The reversed gaze: Krishnabhabini Das’s travelogue A Bengali Lady in England (1885) as a transnational narrative

ABSTRACT This paper sets out to examine cultural encounters between India and England in an 1885 Bengali travelogue Englandey Bangamahila [A Bengali Lady in England] by Krishnabhabini Das, who travelled to England with her husband at a time when the idea and practice of travelling women was either inconceivable or deemed a taboo in India. The travelogue under study deals with Das's several journeys in England and provides an intriguing account of her understanding of colonial English culture. My prime objective is to underline how Das presents England from the perspective of a female, marginal subject. To this end, I elaborate on foregrounded tensions between London and Calcutta, and Englishwomen and Hindu women as they are represented through the reversed gaze. By highlighting the cross-border connections in the travelogue as a transnational narrative, I aim to shed light on the connective histories of India and England in the long nineteenth century.