“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel

In the colonial North India of the late 19th century, the cow emerged as a powerful symbol of imagining the nation. The present paper explores how the image of the sacred cow was reinterpreted in the new sociopolitical context and subsequently employed in the Hindi novel, the development of which c...

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Autor principal:	Justyna Wiśniewska-Singh
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Ksiegarnia Akademicka Publishing 2021
Materias:	Hindi novel Rādhākr̥ṣṇadās Bhāratendu Hariścandra colonial North India cow protection movement nationalism Indo-Iranian languages and literature PK1-9601 Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania PL1-8844
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/478d7f7f88304c07bb0d915b424fc71d
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:478d7f7f88304c07bb0d915b424fc71d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:478d7f7f88304c07bb0d915b424fc71d2021-11-27T12:53:02Z“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel10.12797/CIS.23.2021.01.081732-09172449-8696https://doaj.org/article/478d7f7f88304c07bb0d915b424fc71d2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.akademicka.pl/cis/article/view/3850https://doaj.org/toc/1732-0917https://doaj.org/toc/2449-8696 In the colonial North India of the late 19th century, the cow emerged as a powerful symbol of imagining the nation. The present paper explores how the image of the sacred cow was reinterpreted in the new sociopolitical context and subsequently employed in the Hindi novel, the development of which coincided with massive campaigns for cow protection. To this end, I study one of the earliest Hindi novels, Nissahāy hindū, written by Rādhākr̥ṣṇadās in 1881 and published in 1890. The novel can be read as a documentary evidence of polemics surrounding the process of identity formation and circumstances attending it, as articulated in the Hindi vernacular during the last decades of the 19th century. The agitation for cow protection is the novel’s leitmotif revolving around the theme of Hindu-Muslim unity, framed in an original and unconventional way. It introduces the bold idea of a Muslim agitating for cow protection and sacrificing himself for the movement. The analysis of the novel, alongside Bhāratendu Hariścandra’s seminal speech of 1884, reveals growing concerns regarding the Hindu-Muslim-British relations at the time of momentous religious, social and economic changes. Justyna Wiśniewska-SinghKsiegarnia Akademicka PublishingarticleHindi novelRādhākr̥ṣṇadāsBhāratendu Hariścandracolonial North Indiacow protection movementnationalismIndo-Iranian languages and literaturePK1-9601Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, OceaniaPL1-8844ENCracow Indological Studies, Vol 23, Iss 1 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Hindi novel Rādhākr̥ṣṇadās Bhāratendu Hariścandra colonial North India cow protection movement nationalism Indo-Iranian languages and literature PK1-9601 Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania PL1-8844
spellingShingle	Hindi novel Rādhākr̥ṣṇadās Bhāratendu Hariścandra colonial North India cow protection movement nationalism Indo-Iranian languages and literature PK1-9601 Languages and literature of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania PL1-8844 Justyna Wiśniewska-Singh “Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel
description	In the colonial North India of the late 19th century, the cow emerged as a powerful symbol of imagining the nation. The present paper explores how the image of the sacred cow was reinterpreted in the new sociopolitical context and subsequently employed in the Hindi novel, the development of which coincided with massive campaigns for cow protection. To this end, I study one of the earliest Hindi novels, Nissahāy hindū, written by Rādhākr̥ṣṇadās in 1881 and published in 1890. The novel can be read as a documentary evidence of polemics surrounding the process of identity formation and circumstances attending it, as articulated in the Hindi vernacular during the last decades of the 19th century. The agitation for cow protection is the novel’s leitmotif revolving around the theme of Hindu-Muslim unity, framed in an original and unconventional way. It introduces the bold idea of a Muslim agitating for cow protection and sacrificing himself for the movement. The analysis of the novel, alongside Bhāratendu Hariścandra’s seminal speech of 1884, reveals growing concerns regarding the Hindu-Muslim-British relations at the time of momentous religious, social and economic changes.
format	article
author	Justyna Wiśniewska-Singh
author_facet	Justyna Wiśniewska-Singh
author_sort	Justyna Wiśniewska-Singh
title	“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel
title_short	“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel
title_full	“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel
title_fullStr	“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel
title_full_unstemmed	“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel
title_sort	“helpless indian”: the sacred cow as the symbol of hindu-muslim unity in a late nineteenth-century hindi novel
publisher	Ksiegarnia Akademicka Publishing
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/478d7f7f88304c07bb0d915b424fc71d
work_keys_str_mv	AT justynawisniewskasingh helplessindianthesacredcowasthesymbolofhindumuslimunityinalatenineteenthcenturyhindinovel
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“Helpless Indian”: The Sacred Cow as the Symbol of Hindu-Muslim Unity in a Late Nineteenth-Century Hindi Novel

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