01764nam a22001337a 4500020001800000082002400018100001900042245012000061260006800181300001400249520131700263650003001580650002001610  a9788187492474  a320.5405414 bSAR-N  aSarkar, Kamala  aNationalism in Bengal 1856-1912b: a study of cultural conflict towards British racial impositionsc/ Kamala Sarkar  aWest Bengal, South 24 ParganasbGoutam Mitra for Seribaanc2012  axx, 196p.  aIn the 1857 Rising the war was lost but the seeds of a nation was sown on the battleground. The year long events encompassing the northern and the central part of the Indian subcontinent witnessed the fluctuating fortunes of the conqueror and the vanquished, the sepoys’defiance and the white rulers’ rage and revenge. Bengal was geographically far from the centres of combat and violence but the Bengalis with their deskjob skill were found in abound in the entire northern belt. They dreaded the nightmare of lawlessness of the previous regime and initially applauded the British victory. But the Rising broke the mutual trust, the English turned more racist and the Queen’s announcement rested in the paper. The middle class Bengali got little share in the administration or their land, low paid jobs and faced hundreds of discrimination. The egoistic Bengali fumed but could not revolt owing to his racial disabilities. He could not help saluting the unlettered rustic sepoys’ undaunted front. A new brand of nationalism emerged upon love of motherland. The Bengali literary stalwarts ventured patriotic writings in vernacular, the Bengali stage carried it among the common folk and the folk entertainers spread it to remotest corner. This book tells of those narratives reflecting cultural reversal.  aNationalismzBengal-India  aHistoryzBengal