SAALG Blog

SAALG Summer Meeting 2024

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 11:58:00 +0000

The SAALG Summer meeting will take place on Wednesday, 19th of June at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.

Address: Marston Rd, Headington, Oxford OX3 0EE

Programme

10:30 Refreshments

11:00 Welcome

11:05 Dr Jennifer Howes - Imperator: The British Library's statue of Robert Clive

11:50 Tour of OCIS by Ms Wassilena Sekulova, Librarian

12:30-13:40 Lunch

13:45 Mr Shankara Angadi - Revelations from the Thomas Munro private papers

14:30 Dr Arunima Datta - South Asian travelling ayahs in Britain: A story of waiting and negotiations (virtual presentation)

15:15 Refreshments

15:45 Business meeting

A charge of £25 is levied for attendance, luncheon and beverages

RSVP: Hedley.Sutton@bl.uk

SAALG Autumn Meeting 2023

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 11:50:00 +0000

The SAALG Autumn Meeting will take place on Monday, 30. October 2023, at the SOAS Library.

Address: 10 Thornhaugh St, London WC1H 0XG

Planning your Visit: https://soas.libguides.com/c.php?g=704580

A charge of £20 is levied for attendance, luncheon and beverages.

There is an ATM located in the SOAS main building.

RSVP Hedley Sutton - hedley.sutton@bl.uk

PROGRAMME

10.30—11.00 Welcome & Registration (beverages provided)

Burzine Waghmar, SOAS Library

11.00—11.40 Arthur Arberry (1905-69): An everyman orientalist

Burzine Waghmar, SOAS Library

11.40—12.20 Thinking through music and cinema: SOAS Library’s treasured hidden

collections

Farzana Qureshi, SOAS Library

12.20—13.00 Listening in Libraries: Muted archives and histories of South Asian Music

Richard Williams, School of Arts, SOAS

13.00—14.00 Lunch & networking

14.00—14.40 Parsis and esotericism in modern India: The rise of Freemasonry, Theosophy and Ilm-e Kshnoom

Mariano Errichiello, SOAS Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies,

SOAS

14.45—15.15 Royal Asiatic Society Bicentenary Exhibition, Brunei Gallery (across

forecourt)

15.30—16.30 SAALG Business meeting

Remembering Martin Moir (1937-2023)

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 15:01:00 +0000

Following a degree in History at Oriel College and a short spell teaching Martin took up a temporary post at the India Office Library then part of the Commonwealth Relations Office in Whitehall in 1961. Two years later he was appointed Research Assistant in the India Office Records to assist Joan Lancaster, then Assistant Keeper, in her total reorganisation of the historic records on archival principles. With parts of her arrangement Martin was later to express serious misgivings. In Whitehall the offices were small, ill-lit, badly heated and dark, and there was insufficient space for the records parts of which had to be out housed. The move of the library and records to Orbit House on Blackfriars Road in 1967, made it possible to bring all the records together and to shelve them according to their new arrangement. Perhaps for the first time the size and extent of the records could be fully realized occupying as they did nearly nine miles of shelving and extending in time from the foundation of the East India Company in 1600 to the demise of the India Office in 1947 following the independence that year of India and Pakistan. Equally importantly the records were far more accessible for research than they had been in Whitehall.

In 1972 Joan Lancaster took over the role of Director, her previous deputy role being divided between Martin who became Deputy Archivist and Ray Desmond, Deputy Librarian. By this time there was a full complement of staff working on different sections of the records – Biographical, Legal, Military, Middle East, Maps and Official Publications, so that Martin’s role now included staff management and a considerable degree of administration. Several former staff members have spoken of his exceptional kindness and understanding as well as appreciation of his distinctive sense of humour. They particularly remember tales of his mishaps which he would relate on his return from travel mainly in South Asia. There was the time when he lost his false teeth and had to have another pair run up overnight so that he could deliver his lecture the next day. On another occasion when in Goa he stepped back to admire a particularly fine example of Indo-Portuguese architecture, fell into a large hole in the road and woke up in hospital being interrogated about his father’s occupation. And then there was the time when he was bitten by a rabid dog…!

It would be fair to say that the administrative requirements of his post somewhat overtaxed Martin’s skills. But he was a scholar archivist to his fingertips and his unstinting and meticulous assistance to researchers has been acknowledged in numerous publications. Several scholars have written to express their gratitude; one remarking that he still hears Martin’s words of warning whenever he is tempted “to argue beyond what the textual evidence of a document indicates.” In addition to all these and many other calls on his time Martin continued to work towards the completion of his authoritative and comprehensive General Guide to the India Office Records published in 1988, shortly before his retirement. That it took twenty-five years to complete is testimony both to the vastness of the undertaking and to Martin’s dedication.

Nor did retirement mean a severing of links with the records. Martin had long been interested in the career of John Stuart Mill in the Examiners Office of the East India Company. Together with John Robson and Zawahir Moir née Noorally, whom Martin had married in 1980, he edited Mills’ Writings on India published by the University of Toronto Press in 1990. He then embarked on a happy partnership with Lynn Zastoupil of Rhodes College, Memphis resulting in an important publication The Great Indian Education Debate, Documents Relating to the Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy, 1781-1843. He also with Zawahir undertook a survey of district archives in Pakistan in 1990, the resulting report being published by Sindh University Press in 2002. All this was achieved despite several painful episodes of mental ill-health. Records did not occupy all his time because he wrote a novel – Not Exactly Shangri-La – which was published in 2011 and is still selling well on Amazon. The novel is set in the fictional country of Kalapur in the Himalayas and opens with these words: ‘Though not exactly a part of what geographers call “the Roof of the World”, Kalapur may be fairly described as a kind of earthly attic.

’

Martin had left the IOLR long before the move from Orbit House to the new British Library building at St Pancras in 1998 but he had strong feelings on the matter and wrote the following poem which was later published in the Newsletter of the Friends of the British Library, No 96 (Spring 2017).

The lights are out

The racks are bare.

A pall of dust hangs in the air.

Security has long since fled

No need to guard what’s in the head.

What’s in the head.

What’s in the wings.

So many lost forgotten things.

But why conserve what’s gone for good?

The past is best misunderstood.

Misunderstood or built anew?

Constructed for millennial view.

Revived, unpickled, Pancras bound.

The books and records underground.

Yet raised protected against the sun,

The East and West at last are one.

His voice lives on - in the spring of 2013 he was interviewed no fewer than five times for the Library’s oral history archive, detailed descriptions of which can be seen in the main catalogue http://explore.bl.uk.

Richard Bingle and Rosemary Seton

"We Were Everywhere: World war experiences from pre-Partition India" exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 11:37:00 +0000

“We were everywhere: World War experiences from pre-Partition India” is the title of a small exhibition on the second floor of the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery until 5 March.

Combining documentary and visual material from Bristol Museum’s British Empire and Commonwealth collection with oral history interviews with residents of the city impacted by South Asian involvement in the two conflicts, it demonstrates that there are holdings of interest to SAALG members beyond the London – Oxford – Cambridge triangle.

Entry is free.

Hedley Sutton

Asian & African Studies Reference Team Leader

British Library

SAALG Summer gathering, 8 September 2022

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 14:18:00 +0000

The South Asia Archive and Library Group Summer gathering will take place on Thursday, 8 September 2022 at the Ancient India & Iran Trust.

Address: 23 Brooklands Avenue, Cambridge CB2 8BG (view on Google maps)

The charge will be £15 per person (in cash or cheque on the day).

Places limited; please e-mail antonia.moon@bl.uk if you intend to come.

Programme

Arrival and coffee, 11.30 – 11.40

11.40 – 11.45	Welcome	Ursula Sims-Williams, Ancient India & Iran Trust
11.45 – 12.15	Some Collections at the Ancient India & Iran Trust	Joanna Salisbury, Ancient India & Iran Trust
12.15 – 12.45	Alexander the Great in South Asia	Ursula Sims Williams, British Library
12.45 – 1.00	Display of collection items from the Ancient India & Iran Trust
1.00 – 2.00	Lunch (provided) and networking
2.00 – 2.30	Sources for Military Ancestry in the East India and India Office Records	Hedley Sutton, British Library
2.30 – 3.00	Tilya Tepe and Taliban: Bactrian Gold's Afghantsy Past	Burzine Waghmar, SOAS
3.00 – 3.30	Tea
3.30 – 4.30	Updates from all and SAALG Committee meeting
4.30	End

Head of South Asian Collections, British Library

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Rowe) — Tue, 18 May 2021 12:26:00 +0000

Exciting news: The British Library has advertised a new permanent post - Head of South Asian Collections.

The post will also be advertised on external websites (The Guardian, jobs.ac.uk etc.) today but you can find all details on our website

https://britishlibrary.recruitment.zellis.com/birl/pages/vacancy.jsf?latest=01002429

https://www.bl.uk/careers/apply-for-vacancies

The deadline for applications is 14 June 2021.

The successful candidate will join the Asian and African Collections Department and will lead the South Asia team in developing, managing and promoting the collection of manuscripts, printed books, newspapers and digital resources from or relating to South Asia. They will be responsible for all projects and activities relating to these collections, and will lead in developing future major programs and partnerships.

South Asia Archives and Library Group Winter Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Rowe) — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 14:32:00 +0000

SOUTH ASIA ARCHIVES AND LIBRARY GROUP

WINTER MEETING

31 January 2020, at the British Library, London NW1 2DB

Programme

13.25: Welcome & introduction Hedley Sutton & Antonia Moon, British Library

13.30 - 14.10: ‘The Endangered Archives Programme: some examples from South Asia’ Graham Jevon, British Library

14.10 - 14.50: ‘The Two Centuries of Indian Print Project’ Alia Carter & Priyanka Basu, British Library

14.50 - 15.30: ‘The British Library’s 2019-2020 Buddhism Exhibition’ Jana Igunma, British Library

15.30 - 16.00 Refreshment break (at own expense)

16.00 - 16.30 Show’n’tell of selected collection items Hedley Sutton, British Library

16.30 - Business meeting

17.15 Close

Please notify Hedley.sutton@bl.uk, tel. 0207 412 7865 if you plan to attend the meeting.

Antonia Moon and Hedley Sutton will be waiting at the Library’s front hall information desk from 13.00 to meet and greet, and accompany attendees to the venue.

Queen Mary’s South Asian tour scrapbooks, 1905-1906

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Rowe) — Mon, 09 Dec 2019 17:25:00 +0000

This post by Dr John Cardwell first appeared in Cambridge University Library's Special Collections blog, 6th December 2019. It has proved impossible to maintain the original layout and formatting.

Royal Tour of India, 1905-1906, RCMS 89_35_2_35

The Royal Commonwealth Society department has digitised a fascinating series of scrapbooks documenting the Royal Visit to India in 1905-06 by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the future King George V and Queen Mary. Princess Mary possessed considerable intellectual curiosity, and as soon as the visit was announced, she began rigorous, systematic study in preparation. She read at least 36 books, and these were not simple tourist guides, but serious works of history and politics by experts on Indian affairs. This was balanced by research into India’s great ethnic, religious and cultural richness. Caring less about the experience of European residents, she was most intrigued to learn about the real lives of India’s peoples, and was especially fascinated by their religions. The map to the left emphasises the ambitious nature of the tour, which lasted roughly six months and covered vast distances by ship and rail, encompassing places as far apart as Bombay, Peshawar, Karachi and Rangoon. It was particularly demanding for Princess Mary, who had given birth to her sixth child, Prince John, only several months before.

Princess Mary reading on HMS Renown, 1905, QM 20

The success of Princess Mary’s programme of research is emphasised by the impression she made on the chief of staff for the 1905 tour, Sir Walter Lawrence, who had served as private secretary to the Viceroy Lord Curzon. During planning meetings he declared, ‘I consider you have a very good grasp on Indian affairs, quite remarkable in a woman.’ She later wrote to a friend from India, ‘I felt much flattered and repeat this for your ears only, as you know what trouble I took to get the right books’.

Pilgrim map of Benares, RCMS 89_35_3_36

Song lyrics, RCMS 89_35_2_21

This foundation helped Queen Mary to make the most of what she saw, as she confided to the same friend, ‘The religions too, I know something of, Hindu, Mohammedan and Buddhism. All this knowledge, however small, helps one to take a keen interest in all one sees, and I therefore enjoy to the utmost every detail of the wonderful sights.’ George V ascended the throne in 1911, and the new king and queen returned in November for a grand coronation Durbar. Queen Mary prepared just as assiduously for her second visit, which deepened her understanding and admiration of India.

Queen Mary’s official biographer James Pope-Hennesy emphasised what an astounding revelation India was to her, ‘It stirred her emotionally, and it would be no exaggeration to say that Princess May fell in love with India. Ever afterwards a certain dreamy note would enter her voice when she spoke of India. “Lovely India, beautiful India,” she used to murmur like some incantation’. Queen Mary lovingly preserved a remarkable record of her two visits to India: 29 photograph albums containing approximately 3,800 images, numerous printed books, many of which are presentation copies in special bindings from India’s ruling princes, as well as the scrapbooks of ephemera we’ve digitised, containing programmes of rail travel, receptions, military reviews, equestrian events, plans and orders of ceremonials, invitations, menus and guest lists.

Punjab Ball, RCMS 89_35_1_3 (artist: E.A.P. Hobday)

RCMS 89_35_2_28

RCMS 89_35_3_5

RCMS 89_35_1_5 (artist: E.A.P. Hobday)

After the death of her husband, Queen Mary presented her collection to the India Office Library in 1937. The independence and partition of India was very distressing to her, and she reacted with an allusion to Queen Mary Tudor and the loss of Calais, ‘When I die, India will be found written on my heart’. When it was proposed that the India Office Library should be divided between India and Pakistan, Queen Mary transferred her collection to the RCS in 1950. It came to Cambridge by purchase in 1993 along with the rest of the RCS Library, after a public appeal raised sufficient funds to prevent its sale and dispersal. More digital images of this Royal Tour of India may be viewed on the RCS Photograph Gallery.

RCMS 89_35-3-31

Chappar Rift Bridge, Sind-Pishin Railway (photographer: Fred Bremner)

Fruit market Quetta (photographer: Fred Bremner

Group of Brahuis (photographer: Fred Bremner)

Charting change in Asian Landscapes: Festival of Ideas, Cambridge University Library, Saturday 26th October

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Rowe) — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 10:04:00 +0000

Do hope to see you in Cambridge University Library on Saturday morning, 26th October 2019 - a drop-in event (no need to book) which is part of the Festival of Ideas. Between 10 am and 12.30 pm in the Library's Map Room, you will be able to view spectacular photographs and water-colours, and study fascinating maps and panoramas charting enormous changes to Mumbai and Hong Kong landscapes.

SAALG Summer meeting in Cambridge, 25 July 2019

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Rowe) — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 15:28:00 +0000

Cambridge University Library will be the venue for our summer meeting this year, and we will be viewing South Asian material from the Royal Commonwealth Society's Fisher and COVIC archives, as well as rare maps and plans from the University Library's Map Department.

Follow links for information on the Fisher photograph collection, and the Papers of the Colonial Office Visual Instruction Committee.

Sabrina Meneghini will share some of her research. Do read her blog posts of 19 January 2018 and 12 April 2018.

We will be hosting a larger exhibition of work from this archive entitled 'Classroom Photographic Journeys' in the Alison Richard Building, West Road, Cambridge 20 April - 29 May 2020. Please make a note in your 2020 diary!

Our summer meeting on 25th July will commence at 2 pm, and finish around 5pm.

Spaces will be limited, so if you haven't yet confirmed your attendance, please contact Rachel Rowe (rcs @ lib.cam.ac.uk with the subject line: 'SAALG 25 July 2019') if you plan to attend.

Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday 25th July.

Rachel Rowe
Smuts Librarian for South Asian & Commonwealth Studies
University of Cambridge

Job Vacancy: Research Associate (Persian Collections), John Rylands Library

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 12:18:00 +0000

The John Rylands Research Institute wishes to appoint a Research Associate to work on the University of Manchester’s world-class Persian Manuscript Collection. The successful candidate is expected to hold a Ph.D. in Persianate studies or a related area, ideally dealing with Persian book culture, possess an excellent command of Persian and Arabic and have extensive experience of cataloguing manuscripts in Persian scripts.

For more information and to apply see:

https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/displayjob.aspx?jobid=17380

New Open Acccess publication - Early Modern India: Literatures and Images, Texts and Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 May 2019 08:26:00 +0000

Interested in Indian vernaculars, Persian, Sanskrit? In the relations between various yogic traditions? Then please have a look at the newly released Early Modern India: Literatures and Images, Texts and Languages, edited by Maya Burger and Nadia Cattoni.

This book presents recent scholarly research on one of the most important literary and historical periods of the Early Modern era from a wide range of approaches and perspectives. It contains a selection of contributions presented at the 12th International Conference on Early Modern Literatures of North India which provide fresh and new material as well as innovative methods to approach it. The organizing principle of the volume lies in its exploration of the links between a multiplicity of languages (Indian vernaculars, Persian, Sanskrit), of media (texts, paintings, images) and of traditions (Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Muslim). The role of the Persian language and the importance of the translations from Sanskrit into Persian are discussed in light of the translational turn. The relations between various yogic traditions, especially of Nath origin, from Kabir and other sampradayas, are reconsidered.

Burger, Maya and Nadia Cattoni (eds.). Early Modern India: Literatures and Images, Texts and Languages. Heidelberg; Berlin: CrossAsia-eBooks, 2019. - 358 p. with coloured illustrations. ISBN (PDF) 978-3-946742-46-3; ISBN (Hardcover) 978-3-946742-45-6. https://doi.org/10.11588/xabooks.387

Spears collection in the Centre of South Asian Studies

noreply@blogger.com (Suzan) — Tue, 07 May 2019 10:08:00 +0000

Over 80 books and 74 boxes of papers were bequeathed by T.G.P. Spear 1901–1982) to the Archives of the Centre. The papers include reprints of Spear's articles for the fifteenth edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1974 and his research notes. The book collection includes works published in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Dr (Thomas George) Percival Spear was a Lecturer at St Stephen's College, Delhi 1924-40 and held various posts in Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India 1940-45 and was subsequently Bursar of Selwyn College, Cambridge 1945-70 and Lecturer in History, Cambridge University 1963-69.

His publications (held in the Centre) include:

Delhi : its monuments and history, 1943

Twilight of the Mughuls : studies in late Mughul Delhi, 1951

India : a modern history, 1961

Master of Bengal : Clive and his India, 1975

The Oxford history of modern India, 1965 2nd ed 1978

India remembered 1981

Archive SPE 1-4

Archive SPE 2-7

The oldest books in the donation are Archive SPE 1 An account of the war in India : between the English and French, on the coast of Coromandel, from the year 1750 to the year 1760. Together with a relation of the late remarkable events on the Malabar coast, and the expeditions to Golconda and Surat; ... / by Richard Owen Cambridge. Dublin : printed for George and Alexander Ewing, 1761, which is also held in Cambridge University Library,
Archive SPE 19 The history of Hindostan; : from the earliest account of time, to the death of Akbar; translated from the Persian of Mahummud Casim Ferishta of Delhi: ... With an appendix, containing the history of the Mogul empire, from its decline in the reign of Mahummud Shaw, to the present times. / By Alexander Dow. In two volumes. London : printed for T. Becket and P. A. de Hondt, 1768, which is also held in the Parker Library of Corpus Christi College,

Archive SPE 13-18

Archive SPE 4

and unique to Cambridge but has been digitized from an American edition by the Hathi Trust Archive SPE 4 Grant, Colesworthey, 1813-1880. Lithographic sketches of the public characters of Calcutta, Calcutta : W. Thacker & Co, 1850, containing presscuttings and a useful summary of the characters illustrated.

Archive SPE 4

Challenges in the preservation of Lahore’s archives: a researcher’s perspective

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel Rowe) — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 13:00:00 +0000

I am delighted to publish this post by Mobeen Hussain, PhD candidate in the Faculty of History at the University of Cambridge.

During my summer research trip to Pakistan in 2018, I visited many local archives and libraries which provided a snapshot of the archival and scholarly landscape of Lahore. I visited the Punjab State Archives and Civil Secretariat Library, the Pakistan Research Society at the Punjab University, Punjab Public Library, the Quad-i-Azam Library and the National College of Arts (formerly Mayo School of Industrial Arts).

Getting to grips with content:

Visiting Lahore for the first time meant that I was able to observe numerous researcher and archival challenges; challenges that local users are aware of and have to contend with on a daily basis. Upon arrival at the Punjab State Archives, I met with the archives’ director, Mohammed Abbas Chughtai, who explained that the archive and its libraries have received fewer visitors after the events of 9/11 due to concerns about safety in the country. The archive does, however, receive some non-native and international scholars, and the research officer and director were eager to help as well as point visitors in the direction of other useful resources. The Punjab State Archives and the associated Civil Secretariat Library boast of lengthy Persian and Urdu collections as well as administrative documents from the Punjab during British colonial rule. I learnt much about the archive culture in Lahore by taking time to talk to academics, fellow researchers, archivists and librarians who were pleased to receive scholars in their institutions. Speaking to archivists and librarians is a must— they know their materials best. I would also advise researchers to take some time speak to fellow Lahore-based researchers and academics at local universities including the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and Punjab University. Local scholars often know about the research potential across the city, about new books published in Pakistan (particularly by the Oxford University Press based in Karachi) and other places of interest.

Handlists, Catalogues and Digitisation:

Due to limited funding and resources, many South Asian libraries and archives do not have intuitive online catalogues or websites. If they have a website, such as the Punjab State Archives, it can be unwieldy and only highlight key points of interest in the archive (and not reflective of the content held). However, many institutions have handlists including the Civil Secretariat and Punjab Public Library. These are by no means exhaustive but are useful in order to take stock of what an archive holds and helps to narrow and focus a search. The Punjab State Archive has announced its digitisation project and recruited digitisers, but the project is yet to start and the archive is waiting on lengthy administrative processes to obtain more funding.

Heat and humid conditions:

The climate of Pakistan presents its own preservation pressures. The heat and humidity, despite the use of fans (and, at times, air conditioning) as cooling methods, results in brittle paper that is prone to easy wear and tear and the rapid accumulation of dust.

Space and building issues:

When discussing the preservation of archives in Pakistan, Saamia Ahmed, the associate professor in charge of the archives at the National College of Arts, noted that finding space was one of the biggest challenges facing small and local archives. Indeed, the Civil Secretariat library has a handlist of English-language colonial-era books, but numerous items went missing as a result of numerous relocations of collections. Researchers just have to try their luck but I definitely recommend a visit as the current location is library aficionado’s dream.

Consulting materials:

A few of the libraries and archives I visited did not have many handling restrictions. The use of pens was not prohibited, and fans and drinks were vital for users in the summer heat but could easily contribute to the damaging of records. The limited restrictions were useful when viewing and handling full records and taking photographs. However, in order to help maintain records for future, researchers should not take advantage of this and handle material with care (taking note of best practice at other institutions). Both researchers and archivists have a responsibility to think about long term preservation and how best to attract visitors to use their vast materials.

Of course, it is important to bear in mind that many of these archives are still young compared to institutions like the British Library in London. Most Lahori archives and libraries run on limited funding and resources. Therefore, sharing knowledge practice with other national archives like the National Archives of Pakistan in Islamabad and international organisations would be useful. Some of this collaborative work has been done but needs to continue in order to preserve and make the most of these rich resources.

Other useful resources on South Asian archives:

The Archives of Economic Life in South Asia https://www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/archives-asia/blog.html

A Review of Three Archives in Pakistan http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/12520

Image: Punjab State Archives in the Tomb of Anarkali, Civil Secretariat (author’s own photograph).

New open access journal - Dastavezi: The Audio-Visual South Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 13:11:00 +0000

The first volume of the new open access journal Dastavezi: The Audio-Visual South Asia is out !

Dastavezi: The Audio-Visual South Asia is a journal for scholars and filmmakers, filmmakers as scholars, and filmmaking scholars working on regional and transregional South Asia. The journal provides a platform for linking audio-visual and scholarly practice from and on South Asia.

Dastavezi is an open-access archive of audio-visual knowledge. By providing films published in the journal with Digital Object Identifier (DOI) numbers, Dastavezi encourages filmmakers and scholars working on South Asia to cite documentary film as a legitimate source of academic production. Furthermore, it aims to make the films accessible to audiences beyond the structures of the market domain. Through linking the production of audio-visual material with the filmmaker’s own conceptual writing we hope to widen the horizons of the existing field of documentary film-studies, visual-anthropology, and film practices on and from South Asia.

The first issue includes an introduction by the main editors, Max Kramer and Jürgen Schaflechner, and films and essays by:

Fathima Nizaruddin. My Mother’s Daughter (19:05). Delhi.
Mahera Omar. Perween Rahman: The Rebel Optimist (1:06:57). Karachi.
Yaminay Chaudhri. Mera Karachi Mobile Cinema (22:22). Karachi.
Aditya Basu. Kaifiyat (8:13). Mumbai.

Further information on the journal can be attained from

Juergen.schaflechner@uni-heidelberg.de

and

max.kramer@ethnologie.lmu.de

Submissions (film-links and essays) should be sent to:

Dastavezi@gmail.com

Dastavezi is an offer of CrossAsia within the DFG funded project FID Asien. The journal is hosted by Heidelberg University Library in cooperation with the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg University.

An Economist's Collection in Cambridge - Austin Robinson

noreply@blogger.com (Suzan) — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 11:51:00 +0000

The work of entering the books held in the Archive Collection of the Centre of South Asian Studies onto the online catalogue continues.
Austin Robinson (Sir Edward Austin Gossage Robinson 1897-1993) was Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge from 1950 to 1965, one of the founders of the Economic Faculty and Fellow of Sidney Sussex between 1931 and 1993. The Economic Faculty building at Cambridge is named after him.

In the 1980s he gave to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies four boxes of economic papers from 1926-1980 concerning India, Pakistan and Bangladesh,

A selection of Robinson Papers

and a collection of books, some of which are still held in the main library of the Centre and fifteen in the Archives sequence. Other more general books were given to Sidney Sussex College and can be found by using the keywords Provenance: bequeathed by Sir Austin Robinson on iDiscover

From 1926-28, when he went to India soon after marrying Joan (nee Maurice), he tutored the young Maharajah of Gwalior. In his mid-seventies he was Senior Adviser to the United Nations Advisory Team to ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations).

Archive ROB 1 is a biography by H.M. Bull of Madhav Rao Scindia of Gwalior 1876 -1924 Gwalior : A.D. Press, 1926), the father of Robinson’s tutee. Archive ROB 13 is The Gwalior Annual Civil List : compiled in the Finance member's office Gwalior and published by authority, corrected up to 30th June 1927. (Lashkar : Alijah Darbar Press, 1927) and, unique to Cambridge, is
Archive ROB 5

Hindu fairy tales by Dewan Sharar, illustrated by Ernest Aris. (London : George G. Harrap, 1936.)
Other books in the collection reflect a general interest in India such as :

Archive Rob 9 fly leaf

Rob 7 Dewar, Douglas Indian birds : being a key to the common birds of the plains of India. (London : John Lane, 1923), Rob 9 Frazer, R.W. Literary history of India. (London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1898) which, along with Rob 10 Wilson, H.H. Select specimens of the theatre of the Hindus. (London : Parbury, Allen & Co., 1835) had previously belonged to Mary C. Wilde his Great Aunt.

New Book: 'Visual Histories of South Asia' by Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes and Marcus Banks (2018, Primus)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:41:00 +0000

New Book: 'Visual Histories of South Asia' by Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes and Marcus Banks (2018, Primus)

We are delighted to announce the publication of 'Visual Histories of South Asia', edited by Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes and Marcus Banks (with a Foreword by Christopher Pinney). This volume is one of the ﬁrst comprehensive contributions to the rapidly developing cross-disciplinary scholarship that connects visual studies with South Asian historiography. The key purpose of the book is to introduce scholars and students of South Asian and Indian history to a detailed evaluation of visual research methods as a valid research framework for new historical studies. The volume identiﬁes and evaluates current developments in visual sociology and digital anthropology relevant to the study of contemporary South Asian constructions of personal and national identities. The thirteen contributions selected for this volume are of immediate relevance to visual theorists and historians, sociologists and cultural anthropologists, as well as to scholars of South Asian history and culture. The volume includes contributions by Denis Vidal, Marcus Banks, Josefine Baark, Thomas Simpson, Teresa Segura-Garcia, Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes, Imma Ramos, Xavier Guegan, Adrian P. Ruprecht, Aaron Bryant, Ronie Parciak, Souvik Naha, and Siddharth Pandey.

Reviews:

'This volume provides a rich feast of materials for anyone interested in the visual cultures and history of visual representation in South Asia and is notable as well for its fascinating exploration of the intersection of Western and local photographic practices’ – David MacDougall, Australian National University.

'This is a remarkable, genuinely interdisciplinary collection, and both a marvellously rich addition to the study of the life of visual images in South Asia, and a highly sophisticated contribution to debates of the interdisciplinary study of visual culture' – James Laidlaw, William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology, Head of Division, Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

'This is an outstanding contribution to a timely and relevant focus on transregional visual history and historiography of South Asia. This rescaling of what is often times an India-centric visual history is accompanied by remarkably heterogeneous approaches from across disciplines and methods, challenging notions of political, cultural, religious or ethnic reifications. The book offers insights into original material and a framework of rich epistemologies, entanglements, relationalities and translations. It will encourage new generations of scholars to further push boundaries of established canons and exploring new frontiers of visual culture and history studies' – Christiane Brosius, Chair of Visual & Media Anthropology, Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies, Heidelberg University.

'This is a unique and excellent contribution to the field of South Asian visual studies, art history and cultural analysis. This text takes an interdisciplinary approach while keeping its focus on the visual, on material cultural and on art and aesthetics. It brings together empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated analysis on representations from colonial and post-colonial eras ranging from colonial era photography to "tribal art," temple and video art. In doing so it bridges a major gap in our understanding of South Asia's modern history by using the idiom of visual culture and the politics of representation' – Kamran Asdar Ali, University of Texas at Austin

Link to online stores: https://amzn.to/2y2d2aE and http://www.primusbooks.com/showbookdetail.asp?bookid=202

An architect's collection H.A.N. Medd

noreply@blogger.com (Suzan) — Sun, 15 Jul 2018 15:15:00 +0000

H.A.N Medd (September 21, 1892 - October 26, 1977) who assisted Sir Edwin Lutyens in in the construction of Delhi gave maps and various papers to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies and a collection of 954 photographs which cover New Delhi and India General from 1920 to 1975.

The 41 books which were given by him to the library have recently been catalogued and can be searched on iDiscover under the classmark Archive MED. Seven titles are unique to the Centre including this portfolio of sketches :

The architect's calendar : twelve architectural phantasies, one for each month / drawn by Gavin Stamp. London : The artist, 1973. Archive MED 41

Beautiful illustrations are also found in Poems of Nizami edited by Lawrence Binyon, London : Studio Ltd., 1928 Archive MED 25

and in Tales of Old Sind by C.A. Kincaid, London : Humphrey Milford, 1922. Archive MED 11, only held in the Centre. The illustrations are still in copyright so cannot be reproduced in this blog.

The Medd collection includes guides to museums, art history, wildlife and the history of mountaineering. The oldest book in the collection is T.H. Hendley, Handbook to the Jeypore museum, Calcutta : Central Press, 1895 (Archive MED 19) which includes 16 plates, including 3 collotypes, 2 floor plans, and 11 photochromolithographs, whilst Roy Craven, Concise history of Indian art, London : Thames and Hudson, 1975 (Archive MED 28) was purchased shortly before he died in 1977. The highlands of Central India : notes on their forests and wild tribes, natural history, and sport by James Forsyth was originally published in 1871, Medd's copy was published in London by Chapman and Hall in 1919 (Archive MED 16). Another copy was presented by Col. H.B. Hudson (Archive HUD 12).

The mountaineering books collected by Medd include Eric Shipton's Nanda Devi, London : Hodder, 1936 (Archive MED 35), H.W. Tilmann's Ascent of Nanda Devi, Cambridge: University Press, 1937 (Archive MED 33) and Kenneth Mason Abode of snow : a history of Himalayan exploration, London : Rupert Hart-Davis, 1955 (Archive MED 29). A previous blog discussed other mountaineering books held in the Archive collection.

Digitising a scroll

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Mathieson) — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 13:29:00 +0000

News from Edinburgh University Library - their 72m long 1795 copy of the Mahabharata has been digitised and is now available to view online. They've written a fascinating blogpost about the project here and you can see the digitised manuscript itself here.

97th SAALG Conference, the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace, Friday 6th July 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Emma Mathieson) — Thu, 17 May 2018 10:04:00 +0000

** NB Booking for this event has now closed **

The 2018 South Asia Archive and Library Group conference, will take place at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, on Friday 6^th July, from 1pm to 7pm.

The Queen’s Gallery upcoming summer exhibitions both relate to South Asia (Splendours of the subcontinent: four centuries of South Asian paintings and manuscripts and Splendours of the subcontinent: a prince's tour of India, 1875-6) and we are very pleased to be able to hold our conference at the gallery to coincide with them. Naturally, there will be a chance to see the exhibitions and the talks will all focus on South Asian material in the Royal Collection.

The detailed programme is as follows:

13.00-14.00 Arrival and lunch

14.00-14.45 Emily Hannam (Royal Collection)

The South Asian collections of the Royal Library, Windsor Castle

14.45-15.30 Rachael Smith (Royal Collection)

Conserving South Asian art on paper at the Royal Collection

15.30-15.50 Tea/coffee

15.50-16.30 Saqib Baburi (British Library)

Distant friends: correspondence of the Nawabs of Arcot with George III

16.30-17.15 Kajal Meghani (Royal Collection)

Revisiting the 1875-76 royal tour of India

17.15-18.00 SAALG business meeting or visit to the exhibition Splendours of the subcontinent: a prince’s tour of India, 1875-76

18.00-19.00 Private view of the exhibition Splendours of the subcontinent: four centuries of South Asian paintings and manuscripts

The conference fee, due on the day, will be £25.

Please confirm your attendance by emailing Emma Mathieson (emma.mathieson AT bodleian.ox.ac.uk). Please advise us of any dietary requirements in your message.

The closing date for booking will be Thursday 14^th June.

Unfortunately, any cancellations after that date will incur a catering charge, for which we will have to invoice you.

We look forward to seeing many of you in July!

Forestry in Sri Lanka

noreply@blogger.com (Suzan) — Mon, 14 May 2018 08:35:00 +0000

The eight books given by William Martin McNeill to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies are one of the smaller donations to the Centre but cover forestry, plant biology and the economic background in Ceylon in the 1920s. Five of the books are only located in the Centre but directories such as The Times of Ceylon Green Book and L.J.B. Turner’s Hand book of commercial and general information for Ceylon are also held in the Cambridge University Library, and an edition of H.W. Codrington’s Short history of Ceylon is held in the History Faculty Library.

William Martin McNeill worked for Colonial Forest Service between 1922 and 1938. He served as Assistant Conservator of Forests at Kurunegala, and was acting Captain and A.D.C. to the Acting Governor Mr (later Sir) Bernard Bourdillon, serving twice: April 1930 - September 1930 and again February - March 1931. Various boxes of his papers and photographs are also held in the Archives.
One of the books unique to the Centre is Ceylon trees by T.B. Worthington, with photographs by the author. Colombo [Ceylon] : Colombo Apothecaries' Co., 1959 given to W.M. McNeill MBE TD with the author’s compliments (Archive McN 2). Each tree image has names in different languages and the use that can be made of the timber.

Archive McN 2

Other unique books are :

The butterflies of Ceylon by W Ormiston. Columbo : H.W. Cave, 1924. (Archive McN 5) and
Cooly Tamil as understood by labourers on tea & rubber estates : specially arranged for planters and planting students by W.G. B. Wells. Columbo : Ceylon Observer, 1921. (Archive McN 8).

The Royal Commonwealth Society in the Cambridge University Library Digital Library Sri Lanka collection has material which predates the McNeill collection. Notably the Photograph collection of John Abercromby Alexander (Y303E)

https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PH-Y-00303-E/171

John Abercromby Alexander (b. 1854) was appointed Acting Forester in Ceylon's North-Central Province in 1886. He may have been resident in Ceylon earlier, possibly engaged in a planting enterprise. Alexander served as Forester, North-Central Province, 1887-88 and then as Assistant Conservator of Forests, Central and Southern Provinces, from 1889 until 1893, when he left the forestry department. He appears to have remained on the island until around 1896. He joined the Royal Colonial Institute in 1892. Abercromby lived at Venture Estates, Kalthuritty, Travancore, India, 1896-1898.

A Burmese collection

noreply@blogger.com (Suzan) — Fri, 11 May 2018 15:45:00 +0000

Christopher Lorimer was employed with Steel Brothers at their rice-mills in Rangoon from 1926 to 1942. He left Burma during the evacuation in 1942, using the Tamu route into India.

The papers Christopher Lorimer donated to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies consist of eight boxes covering the period 1695-1944. They include letters to his mother (1929-30) and his diaries which cover the whole of his service in Burma (1925-42) and give an insight into the social and business life of contemporary Burma ; historical documents - the nine army commissions of the East India CO., conferred on Colonel John Crow (1779-1813 and a distant relative) which cover his career from Ensign to Colonel ; and, relating to the Mutiny period in India, the papers of Major Laughton, Chief Engineer at the siege of Delhi until 22 June 1857. He also gave 57 photographs relating to Burma.
He gave twenty seven books to the Archives, the earliest is An account of an embassy to the kingdom of Ava : sent by the Governor General of India in the year 1795 by Michael Symes. London : Printed by W. Bulmer and Co.; and sold by Messrs G.&W. Nicol and J. Wright, 1800 (Archive LOR 22)

Plant descriptions in appendix to
Embassy to Ava. Archive LOR 22

and, printed in 1828, Charles D'Oyly, Tom Raw, the griffin : a burlesque poem, in twelve cantos illustrated by twenty-five engravings. London : R. Ackermann. (Archive LOR 24).

In addition to books on the history of Burma and Steel Brothers and the Bombay Burmah trading company he also gave a book by B.E. Smythies, Birds of Burma containing 31 coloured plates from paintings by A.M. Hughes. Rangoon : American Baptist Mission, 1940 (Archive LOR 19) with a note on the fly leaf that it has been kept safe for him during the occupation of Burma and his name erased.

He continued to collect books in his retirement including India and British portraiture, 1770-1825 by Mildred Archer. London ; Karachi : Philip Wilson for Sotheby Parke Bernet : Oxford University Press, 1979, (Archive LOR 1)

Annotations in his books give additional background to his work and family history :

I bought this book when I was on leave from the army ..
a "refugee" from Burma staying in Calcutta.

At the Officers' dance one night at the club
I had the good fortune to catch the Princes
of Berar in a "Paul Jones"

Archive LOR 11

Paul Chater, Assemblage of Indian army soldiers and uniforms. London : Perpetua Press, 1973 with a note "Christopher Lorimer, grand nephew of William Wyld, 4th Bengal Light Cavalry (Lancers). Their uniform was pale blue with yellow facings.

Meston - the formation of a Civil Servant

noreply@blogger.com (Suzan) — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 13:19:00 +0000

In the 1980's James Meston (QC 1996), the 3rd Baron Meston, gave to the Archives of the Centre of South Asian Studies over 40 books belonging to his grandfather, James Scorgie Meston (12 June 1865 – 7 October 1943)
Sir James S. Meston (1st Baron Meston) was a Member of the I.C.S., posted to N.W. Provinces and Oudh, 1885; Financial Secretary, 1899-1903; Financial Secretary to Government of India 1906-12; Lieutenant-Governor, United Provinces 1912-18; Finance Member 1918-19; Chairman, Committee on Financial Adjustments between Provinces and Centre 1920. November 1919 he became the Baron Meston of Agra and of Dunnottar, Kincardineshire and published Nationhood for India, 1931 held at Archive MES 22.

Tucked into the Indian Civil Service List for 1885 (Archive MES 38), with Meston’s pencil annotations,

Archive MES 38

is a pamphlet with the syllabus for the Civil Service of India examination held July 1885 for candidates selected in 1883,

Archive MES 38a

including Languages according to posting, Law, History and Geography of India, Political economy and Natural Science. There is also a note under the heading Riding : “Candidates who have failed at the First and Second Examinations to satisfy the Commissioners of their ability to ride will be allowed a third trial at the time of their Final Examination”.
In this final examination James Scorgie Meston came 8th out of 28 candidates having taken papers in Hindi, Hindustani, Sanskrit and Zoology and some of the set texts he studied form part of the donation, including The Sakuntala in Hindi edited by Frederic Pincott, London : Wm. Allen, 1876 (Archive MES 42), Hindi Reader edited by Fitzedward Hall, Hertford : Stephen Austin, 1870 ; for the Persian paper, John T. Platts' translation of The Gulistan or Rose Garden of Sa'di, London : Wm. H. Allen, 1876 (Archive MES 46); for the Hindustani (as a second vernacular Paper) Bagh o Bahar edited by Duncan Forbes, London : Wm H. Allen, 1873 (Archive MES 47) and for Paper 2 on Indian Law, the penal code printed in H.A.D. Phillips Manual of Indian criminal law. Calcutta : Thacker, Spink, 1883. (Archive MES 39).

In the course of his career, James, 1st Baron Meston received various presentation volumes including The History of the Taj by Md. Moin-Ud-Din, Agra : Moon Press, 1905 (Archive MES 30)

The growth of currency organisations in India by Alakh Dhari, Bombay Chronicle Press, 1915 (Archive MES 13)

Inscription reads
To The Hon'ble Sir James Meston
from the author
Feby 1915

and the autobiographies of Nawab Shah Jahan Begam and Nawab Sultan Janan Begam of Bhopal

Archive MES 11 and 25)

Shah-Jahan Begum, ruler of Bhopal (1838-1901)
Raja Deen Dayal & Sons, photographer

A listing of the Meston donation can be found by going to iDiscover selecting Advanced Search, then South Asian Studies from the drop down Library menu, Classmark from the Field drop down menu, then entering Archive MES next to Contains.

Volunteer with the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA)

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 16:31:00 +0000

The Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA) based in Euston, is looking for a volunteer to work over the summer with the Society’s large collection of lantern slides. The slides have been catalogued, though a number remain unidentified. The volunteer will transfer the slides from drawers into archive boxes, numbering each envelope according to the catalogue.

The Hejaz Railway (broken bridge) north of Madina - from an image by H. St. John Philby, 1933

A bit of background: The RSAA was formed in 1901 and was known then as the Central Asian Society. It attracted diplomats, politicians, explorers, geographers and military men, most of whom had worked or travelled in the Indian subcontinent, the Ottoman Empire, Persia, Tibet, China and Central Asia. It was granted a Royal Charter in 1931 and became the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in 1973. Its journal, Asian Affairs, has been published continuously since 1914. Lectures by the Society’s members and other prominent figures have always played an important part and many, though not all, were printed in the journal. Lantern slides were used to illustrate lectures and some of these were subsequently donated to the Society. Further donations of slides were received from members and among the earliest are images of Bokhara and Samarkand in 1895 from Sir Michael O’Dwyer. Subjects illustrated include the motor road to India, travels in Armenia, Mecca and Madina, and rural Siam in the 1920s.

Please contact Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, the RSAA archivist: archive@rsaa.org.uk

Japanese and INA Propaganda in India: Anti-British Pamphlets and Leaflets of World War II

noreply@blogger.com (Aliki-Anastasia Arkomani) — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 17:55:00 +0000

Our latest blog post is contributed by the British Library’s Chevening Fellow, Partha Bhaumik

An intriguing story of strategy and counter-strategy, innovation and counter-innovation…

During the Second World War, the British and Japanese governments fought a fierce propaganda war in South Asia to influence mass opinion in their favour. They exploited all available media -- wireless, film, print, and live-performances -- to propagate and publicise their own cause. The aim was to discredit the opponent, and to project their own side as the true friend of South Asian people.

Japanese propaganda in Burma and India found a convenient impetus when the Indian National Army (INA) or Azad Hind Fauj was formed in 1942. Made up of Indian prisoners-of-war and led by Indian nationalists like Subhash Chandra Bose, INA allied with Japan and joined the war to free India from colonial rule. Japanese propaganda started to highlight the Indian National Army and its popular leader Bose, probably on the common maxim that any propaganda becomes more effective when it comes from one’s own people. Japan harped on the idea of kinship to incite South Asian people against the British and Americans. The religious ties between Japan and India through Buddhism, for instance, became a way to convince the Indians of Japanese friendship. A British intelligence report, dated 24-31 December 1942, discussed how religion became ‘an adjunct to propaganda’, and the speech of an Indian speaker on Bangkok focussed on the theme ‘Siam, Japan and India have the same religion’.

IOR/M/3/858

Anti-British pamphlets and leaflets were often dropped from aeroplanes, and they were circulated secretly by the nationalists. To help circulation, propaganda materials were of short dimensions allowing them to be hidden conveniently. J. A. Biggs Davison, Assistant Magistrate and Collector at Chittagong, collected a small 14-page pamphlet measuring 10.5 X 8mm, featuring simple illustrations and a caption for each in Hindi and Urdu (written in Roman script).

1. What is Britain? Isn’t it a land of good and respectable people?
Mss Eur D844/4

2. Britain is eating India

3. Britain is wearing clothes taken from India

Mss Eur D844/4

14. Japan has made Asia a land of happiness, much against the wishes of Britain and America

15. Afterwards, Subhash Chandra Bose has come to Rangoon, and made Indian National Army for free India.

Mss Eur D844/4

Some posters were colourful; many of them featured John Bull, the national personification of Britain.

Entire Asia is moving towards victory. Come, let us break our shackles, and fight for freedom.
Mss Eur C808 (180 X 120mm)

The following note was scribbled on the back of the above poster: ‘Japanese propaganda leaflet to the Indians found at Telenipa (near Bhadreswar Ghat Section) after air raid 34^th. [sic] 25^th. December 1942. Probably distributed by the Indian Nationalists.’

The Japanese army also distributed leaflets to assure Indian people that their air raids were aimed against the British and not against them. They declared no-bombing for 26 January, the day commemorated as ‘Independence Day’ by the Indian National Congress.

Mss Eur D844/4

The victory at Singapore was variously publicised, and a number of leaflets issued in the name of the Indian Independence League showed photographs of the British surrender. A few were addressed to the Indian soldiers in the British army, urging them not to take up arms against their own brothers.

Mss Eur D844/4

‘Compatriots in India! Very soon, the British and the Americans will be forced out of India; and the Government of Azad Hind will be established on Indian soil.’ Leaflet signed by Subhas Chandra Bose.

Mss Eur D844/4

This propaganda aimed to rally every Indian to the war cause and to create mass support for the Indian National Army. Despite the fact that the Japanese and INA lost the war, their propaganda left an impression among the common people. The nationwide outrage against the trials of captured INA soldiers (Red Fort Trials), who were then perceived as true patriots, can be cited as a case in point.

Parthasarathi Bhaumik

Assistant Professor, Comparative Literature, Jadavpur University

British Library- Chevening Fellow