Provincial Metropolis: Intellectuals and the Hinterland in Colonial India [Hardcover]

Dismissed as provincial, colonial Patna nurtured an intellectual culture that was vibrant not despite its provinciality but because of it.This book examines the city of Patna, in the?north Indian region of Bihar, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once a thriving urban center, Patna had become provincial. Nonetheless, its intellectual and cultural life remained vigorous, not despite its provinciality but because of it.This book examines the city of Patna, in the?north Indian region of Bihar, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Once a thriving urban center, Patna had become provincial. Nonetheless, its intellectual and cultural life remained vigorous, not despite its provinciality but because of it.This book tells the story of Patna, in the north Indian region of Bihar, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A century and more earlier, Patna had been an important and populous city, but it came to be seen by many-and is still seen today-as merely part of the mofussil, the provincial hinterland. Despite Patna's real decline, it continued to nurture a vibrant intellectual culture that linked it with cities and towns across northern India and beyond. Urdu literary gatherings and other Islamicate traditions inherited from Mughal times helped animate the networks sustaining institutions like scholarly libraries and satirical newspapers. Meanwhile, English-educated lawyers sought to bring new prominence to their city and region by making Patna the capital of a new province. They succeeded, but as Patna's political influence grew, its distinctive character was diminished. Ultimately, Provincial Metropolis shows, Patna's intellectual and cultural life thrived not despite its provinciality but because of it.List of maps; List of figures; List of abbreviations; Note on Translation and Transliteration; Acknowledgements; Introduction: Provinciality in Colonial India; 1. A Length Without Breadth; 2. As Though in a Shrine; 3. Col3G