Some Conclusions and Beyond

Abstract

I have tried to show how gender was central to the creation of a sexualised and communalised Hindu identity in colonial UP. Hindu publicists sought to establish the honour, prestige and respectability of the Hindu household and family, to work out a definable community identity and a vibrant Hindu nation. The period was marked by conservative sexual politics and a growing fear of romance and bodily pleasure. This was reflected in the devaluation of specific literary styles and women’s entertainment. Literary works were subject to new aesthetic standards and women’s popular and oral cultural practices to a moral ethic. Cultural representation occasionally spilled into social settings, and there was a geographical displacement of prostitutes and dais.