The Culture and Politics of Local Sporting Heroes in Late Colonial Bengal and Princely Orissa: The Case of Santimoy Pati

Abstract

Instead of studying the histories of national or elite club teams, this article seeks to explore the social and cultural forces that shaped local sporting heroes in mid-twentieth century India. Using a prosopographic approach the article uses a case study of a single talented student-sportsman, Santimoy Pati, growing up in colonial Bengal and Princely Orissa in the closing years of the Raj to explore the reasons why young people took to sport, the nature of their sporting exploits and the ways in which their sporting activities helped to shape their social lives. Though focussed upon a single life-story, through it, this micro-historical study touches upon the broader political, social and cultural currents of the day. It also highlights that the culture of youth sport of the day was not specifically related to any particular sport but inspired the same youth to take up multiple sports. Such varied sporting interests were moreover often highly politicized and sportsmen saw their sporting activities as part of a larger nation-building process. However the precise doctrinaire form of the politics espoused by youth sportsmen could and did vary widely.