Caste, culture, and hegemony social domination in colonial Bengal - Bandyopādhyāẏa, Śekhara (Sage Publications, 2004)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references and index
Caste and power : competing discourses in colonial Bengal -- Caste and popular religion : revolt against hierarchy and its limits -- Caste and social reform : the case of widow remarriage -- Caste and gender : social mobility and the status of women -- Caste and the territorial nation : Hindu Mahasabha, partition, and the Dalit
It is widely believed that, because of its exceptional social development, the caste system in colonial Bengal differed considerably from the rest of India. Through a study of the complex interplay between caste, culture and power, this book convincingly demonstrates that Bengali Hindu society preserved the essentials of caste discrimination in colonial times, even while giving the outward appearance of having changed. Using empirical data combined with an impressive array of secondary sources, Dr Bandyopadhyay delineates the manner in which Hindu caste society maintained its cultural hegemony