The Imaginary Institution of India: Politics and Ideas

310 Pages·2010·0.9 MB·English

by  Sudipta Kaviraj

The Imaginary
Institution of India

The Imaginary
Institution of India
Politics and Ideas
Sudipta Kaviraj
Columbia University Press New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2010 Sudipta Kaviraj
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Kaviraj, Sudipta.
The imaginary institution of India : politics and ideas /
Sudipta Kaviraj.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978- 0- 231- 15222- 8 (cloth : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978- 0- 231- 15223- 5 (pbk. : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978- 0- 231- 52651- 7 (ebook)
1. Po liti cal science— India—Philosophy.
2. Nationalism— India. 3. Postcolonialism— India.
4. India— Social conditions—1947– 5. India— Politics
and government—1947– I. Title.
JA84.I4K4 2010
306.20954—dc22
2009049464
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid- free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the
time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University
Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
for
Nilanjana

Contents
Introduction 1
1 On State, Society, and Discourse in India 9
2 On the Construction of Colonial Power: Structure,
Discourse, Hegemony 39
3 On the Structure of Nationalist Discourse 85
4 Writing, Speaking, Being: Language and the
Historical Formation of Identities in India 127
5 The Imaginary Institution of India 167
6 A State of Contradictions: The Post- colonial State
in India 210
7 Government and Opposition: Fifty Years of Indian
In de pen dence 234
8 The Reversal of Orientalism: Bhudev Mukhopadhyay
and the Project of Indigenist Social Theory 254
Index 291

The Imaginary
Institution of India