The Observant Owl: Sensory Worlds of Colonial Calcutta in Hutom’s Vignettes

Priyanka Basu

doi:10.1080/00856401.2021.1966170

The Observant Owl: Sensory Worlds of Colonial Calcutta in Hutom’s Vignettes

Priyanka Basu^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Culture, Media & Creative Industries

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The proliferation of print in mid nineteenth century Bengal witnessed several self-reflexive exercises in writing that tried to capture the incongruence between the colonial administration and indigenous everyday lives. Hutom Pyanchar Naksha (or The Observant Owl) written by Kaliprasanna Sinha (1862) is possibly the closest representation in print of such incongruities. This article focuses on the text of Hutom in relation to visual representations and reports by the colonial administration in contemporary English newspapers like The Hindoo Patriot, The Bengal Harkaru and others. In doing so, it will highlight the sensory world of colonial Calcutta that is so vividly captured in Hutom.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	948-965
Number of pages	18
Journal	South Asia: Journal of South Asia Studies
Volume	44
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2021.1966170
Publication status	Published - 3 Sept 2021

Keywords

Archive
colonial Calcutta
naksha
performance
print cultures
senses

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10.1080/00856401.2021.1966170

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AB - The proliferation of print in mid nineteenth century Bengal witnessed several self-reflexive exercises in writing that tried to capture the incongruence between the colonial administration and indigenous everyday lives. Hutom Pyanchar Naksha (or The Observant Owl) written by Kaliprasanna Sinha (1862) is possibly the closest representation in print of such incongruities. This article focuses on the text of Hutom in relation to visual representations and reports by the colonial administration in contemporary English newspapers like The Hindoo Patriot, The Bengal Harkaru and others. In doing so, it will highlight the sensory world of colonial Calcutta that is so vividly captured in Hutom.

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The Observant Owl: Sensory Worlds of Colonial Calcutta in Hutom’s Vignettes

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