Making sense of the new: Progress of modernity in colonial Odisha (1866–1916) Part I

Abstract

AbstractThe article is in two parts. The first part tries to make an intervention in the ongoing debates on modernity. Based on extensive archival research on the numerous discussions and debates around questions of the ‘new kind of newness’, in the nascent Odia print public‐sphere, it offers a detailed analysis of the advent of modernity in colonial Odisha. It works under the premise that since much of the Anglophone analysis of modernity in specific historical periods is conducted in non‐vernacular idioms, the discourse itself does not remain uncontaminated by the historical baggage of the source cultures. Instead, this article prefers to bring into focus and analyse extant discourses in the vernacular to understand how the new Odia elite responded to Euromoderity when it impacted their culture under colonial hegemony. Beginning with the earliest discussions of newness in education, technology, medicine, notions of enlightenment and reason, and new literary genres, the Odia elite used such terms as bartaman, navya, nutana etc. as adjectives to refer to the newness. Soon, the term adhunik (for modern) came into vogue; but, the earliest deployment of this term was rather tentative, and began to stabilize around the turn of the century. This in itself tells the story of the uncertain steps Euromodernity takes in the colonial context. The analysis focuses on understanding how the cognitive and empirical aspects of modernity are understood in the Odia vernacular, as it tries to trace the progress of modernity in the Odia‐speaking tracts. It looks to identify the moment of rupture in Odisha that changed the way the Odia elite saw themselves. The second part to follow will examine such questions as the possible co‐existence of tradition and modernity; contradictions involved in the reception of modernity and whether Euromodernity itself remains unchanged in its new location.