Nimnabarger Itihas by Goutam Bhadra & Partha Chattopadhyay [Hardcover]

"In the last fifteen years, there has been a distinct and remarkable trend of studying the history of the lower classes in India. The first publication of ‘Subaltern Studies’ in 1982, the first Subaltern Studies conference in 1983, and the publication of eight volumes of ‘Subaltern Studies’ in the past twelve years mark the continuous flow of this historical study. In the last fifteen years, the unique perspectives and analytical historical sense of researchers like Gyanendra Pandey, David Hardiman, Shahid Amin, David Arnold, and Ranajit Guha have nurtured this trend. Originating from the philosophy of the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, this stream of subaltern history emerges from timely revisions and analyses of its various unexplained hints and sources. Undoubtedly, it has come closer to the truth by explaining the complex and multi-layered reality of evolving social structures and relationships. The term ‘subaltern’ (Bangla equivalent: lower class) is first found in Gramsci’s writings from a Marxist viewpoint. He used the term sometimes to mean the proletariat and sometimes in a broader general sense. Although Gramsci felt the need for a parallel narrative of history from the perspective of the lower classes, some of his thoughts seemed oversimplified or vague. In an agrarian country like India, where the bourgeois revolution and the development of capitalism did not occur evenly, there certainly remain more complex layers of class disparity. Compared to how class relations in capitalist societies might be, the Indian subaltern studies have reflected much deeper analyses regarding the parallel development of the working and peasant classes. The topic is complex and might seem somewhat incomprehensible to those used to reading from a bourgeois viewpoint. However, beyond the apparent incomprehensibility, there are definite revelations of truth, certain inherent realities of history, and new insights into the evolving social relationships in this discussed collection. Through various stages and evolutions, the struggle of the lower classes is accurately portrayed in nine essays with a long introduction: History of the Lower Classes; When Gandhi Became Mahatma; The Story of an Asura; The Emergence of the Goddess; The Legacy of History; Body, Society and State: Epidemics and Popular Culture in Colonial India; Violence, Displacement, and Personal Voices; Various Tales of Storytelling; and In Defense of Fractions: What Can Be Written About Riots?"