1st Edition

Indian Travel Writing, 1830-1947

Edited By Pramod K. Nayar
    1800 Pages
    by Routledge

    Indian Travel Writing is a new five-volume collection co-published by Routledge and Edition Synapse. Hitherto, the paucity of readily available travel writing produced by imperial subjects themselves has long been apparent, and this anthology addresses that lack. A veritable treasure-trove, it brings together scarce documents which are currently widely dispersed or very difficult for scholars, researchers, and students across the globe to locate and use.

    The collection confirms the deeply cosmopolitan sensibility possessed by many Indian travellers, and their narratives provide insightful contemporary critiques of the British Empire and of Euro-American culture more generally. The gathered works often exhibit considerable expertise in local cuisine, politics, and poetry, as well as a keen interest in political theory, human rights, and class conflict. Beyond Britain, continental Europe, and the USA, the collection also includes writing by Indians who travelled to Russia, China, the Far East, Australia, and Africa.

    Indian Travel Writing draws on the narratives of a diverse range of writers, including Indian princes, statesmen, lawyers, reformers, sportsmen, artists and curators, politicians, and merchants. Each piece is reproduced in facsimile, giving users a strong sense of immediacy to the texts and permitting citation to the original pagination. The collection will be particularly welcomed by historians and those working in colonial-discourse studies. It will also be of interest to anthropologists and literary scholars. Each volume is supplemented by a substantial introduction, newly written by the editor, Pramod K. Nayar. The collection also includes a detailed appendix providing data on the provenance of the gathered materials.

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    Pramod K. Nayar is also the editor of the five-volume Women in Colonial India (2013) (978-0-415-52555-8), another Routledge and Edition Synapse co-publication.

    Indian Travel Writing

    Edited by Pramod Nayar

    Volume 1: England and Europe

    Contents

    Introduction

    1. Jehangeer Nowrojee and Hirjeebhoy Merwanjee, ‘Tour to the Naval Arsenals and Principle Seaports’, in Journal of a Residence of Two Years and a Half in Great Britain (London: WH Allen, 1841), pp. 385-450.

    2. Diary of the Late Rajah of Kolhapoor during his Visit to Europe in 1870, Edward West (ed.), (London: Smith, Elder and Co, 1872), pp. 1-41.

    3. Lala Baijnath, England and India (Bombay: Jehangir B. Karani, 1893), pp. 21-55, 185-207, 208-219.

    4. N. L. Doss, Reminiscences, English and Australasian (Calcutta: MC Bhowmick, 1893), pp. 34-93.

    5. Jhinda Ram, My Trip to Europe (Lahore: Mufid-I-Am Press, 1893), pp. 11-32, 45-9, 53-7, 75-85, 95-122.

    6. Jagatjit Singh, My Travels in Europe and America, 1893 (London: George Routledge, 1895), pp. 162-200.

    7. Hajee Sulaiman Shah Mahomed, Journal of My Tours Round the World, 1886-1887 and 1893-1895 (Bombay: Duftur Ashkara Oil Engine Press, 1895), pp. 264-281.

    8. Berhamji Malabari, The Indian Eye on English Life (Bombay: Apollo, 1895), pp. 148-171, 246-287.

    9. Romesh Chunder Dutt, Three Years in Europe, 1868-1871 (Calcutta: SK Lahiri, 1896), pp. 204-304.

    Volume 2: England and Europe

    Contents

    10. T. B. Pandian, England to an Indian Eye, Or English Pictures from an Indian Camera (London: Elliot Stock, 1897), pp. 4-18, 20-31, 79-83, 91-94.

    11. Rakhal Das Haldar, The English Diary of an Indian Student, 1861-62 (Dacca: The Asutosh Library, 1903), pp. 26-68, 72-84, 88-93.

    12. Syed Mahdi Hussain Bilgrami, Oxford and ‘Varsity Life (NP: A. Venoogopaul Pillya and Sons, 1907), pp. 1-55.

    13. D. C. Jessawalla, The Story of My Life (Bombay: The Times, 1911), pp. 274-297, 334-341.

    14. Cornelia Sorabjee, India Calling: The Memoirs of Cornelia Sorabji (London: Nisbet, 1934), pp. 19-53.

    15. S. Natarajan, West of Suez (Bombay: The Indian Social Reformer, 1938), pp. 12-35, 72-93.

    16. Kshitish Chandra Banerjee, My Impressions of the West (Calcutta: Phani Bhusan Roy, 1938), pp. 102-143.

    17. K. J. Kharas, R. D. Gandhi, R. D. Shroff, Across the Highways of the World, 2nd ed. (Bombay: NP, 1941), pp. 28-43.

    Volume 3: North America

    Contents

    18. A. L Roy, Reminiscences English and American: Part I: Three Years among the Americans (Calcutta: Roy, 1888), pp. 35-64, 88-104.

    19. Hajee Sulaiman Shah Mahomed, Journal of My Tours Round the World, 1886-1887 and 1893-1895 (Bombay: Duftur Ashkara Oil Engine Press, 1895), pp. 108-146.

    20. Jagatjit Singh, My Travels in Europe and America, 1893 (London: George Routledge, 1895), pp. 110-154.

    21. Sudhindra Bose, Fifteen Years in America (Calcutta: Kar, Majumder & Co. 1920), pp. 24-38, 79-100, 261-279.

    22. A. J. Appasamy, Student Life in the West (Madras: Christian Literature Society for India, 1929), pp. 9-16, 56-63, 72-83.

    23. Cornelia Sorabjee, India Calling: The Memoirs of Cornelia Sorabji (London: Nisbet, 1934), pp. 290-299.

    24. K. J. Kharas, RD Gandhi, RD Shroff, Across the Highways of the World, 3nd ed. (Bombay: NP, 1941.), pp. 98-120.

    25. D. F. Karaka, New York with its Pants Down (Bombay: Thacker & Co., 1946), pp. 9-24, 33-40, 52-58, 81-87.

    Volume 4: The Far East, Australia and New Zealand

    Contents

    26. N. L. Doss, Reminiscences, English and Australasian (Calcutta: MC Bhowmick, 1893), pp. 163-219.

    27. Hajee Sulaiman Shah Mahomed, Journal of My Tours Round the World, 1886-1887 and 1893-1895 (Bombay: Duftur Ashkara Oil Engine Press, 1895), pp. 60-72.

    28. Jagatjit Singh, My Travels in China, Japan and Java, 1903 (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1905), pp. 5-14, 57-99.

    29. Sarat Chandra Das, A Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet (New York: EP Dutton and London: John Murray, 1902), pp. 1-44, 104-121, 171-194.

    30. Syed Ross Masood, Some Impressions of Japan (Hyderabad: Government Central Press, 1926), pp. 3-22.

    31. Lalubhai Samaldas, My Impressions of Japan (Bombay: DB Taraporewala Sons & Co., 1933), pp. 5-7, 10-21, 106-129.

    Volume 5: Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle-East

    Contents

    32. Mohan Lal, Journal of a Tour through the Panjab, Afghanistan, Turkistan, Khorasan, and part of Persia (Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1834), pp. 71-124, 252-279, 289-305.

    33. Hajee Sulaiman Shah Mahomed, Journal of My Tours Round the World, 1886-1887 and 1893-1895 (Bombay: Duftur Ashkara Oil Engine Press, 1895), pp. 16-23, 40-50, 306-318.

    34. Hamid Yar Jung, A Trip to Baghdad (Bombay: The Bombay Gazette Press, 1908), pp. 4-28.

    35. C. M. Cursetjee, The Land of the Date (Bombay: DB Taraporewala, 1918), pp. 30-39, 42-45, 50-61, 70-73, 87-98, 120-124, 138-141, 150-157, 173-183, 212-222.

    36. Sorab K. H. Katrak, Through Amanullah’s Afghanistan (Karachi: DN Patel for Sind Observer and Mercantile Steam Press, 1929), pp. 25-34, 40-44, 60-65, 79-85.

    37. K. J. Kharas, R. D. Gandhi and R. D. Shroff, Across the Highways of the World (Bombay, 1941), pp. 41-2, 47-70.

    38. Kshitish Chandra Banerjee, Across the Near East (Calcutta, 1943), pp. 7-75.