Laughter and Subjectivity: The Self-Ironical Tradition in Bengali Literature

Author(s): Sudipta Kaviraj

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2 (May, 2000), pp. 379-406
Published by: Cambridge University Press
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 AsianStudies34, 2 (2000), pp. 379-406. ? 200ooo
Modern Press
CambridgeUniversity
in theUnitedKingdom
Printed

Laughterand Subjectivity:
The Self-Ironical
Traditionin BengaliLiterature
SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

By the grace of the Almightyan extraordinary species of sentientlife has

been foundon earthin the nineteenthcentury:theyare knownas modern
Bengalis.Aftercarefulanalysiszoologicalexpertshave foundthatthisspe-
cies displaysthe externalbodilyfeaturesof homo sapiens. They have five
fingerson theirhands and feet; theyhave no tails; and theirbones and
cranialstructuresare indeed similarto the humanspecies.Howeveras yet
thereis no comparableunanimityabout theirinnernature.Some believe
thatin theirinnernaturetoo theyare similarto humans;othersthinkthat
theyare onlyexternallyhuman;in theirinnernaturetheyare in factbeasts.
Whichside do we supportin this controversy? We believe in the theory
whichassertsthe bestialityof Bengalis.We learntthistheoryfromEnglish
newspapers.Accordingto some redbeardedsavants,just as the creatorhad
taken atoms of beauty fromall beautifulthingsto make Tilottama, in
exactlythe same way,bytakingatomsofbestialityfromall animalshe has
created the extraordinary characterof the modernBengali. Slynessfrom
thefox,sycophancy and supplicationfromthedog,cowardlinessfromsheep,
imitativenessfromthe ape and volubilityfromthe ass-by a combination
of these qualities He has made the modernBengali rise in the firmament
of history:a presencewhichilluminatesthe horizon,the centreof all of
India's hopes and futureprospects,and the great favouriteof the savant
Max Mueller.'
To be tormented without a clear definitionof the self is a distinctly
modern affliction.Apparently,human beings lived moderately con-
tented lives for long periods in historywith what must appear to us
moderns rather perfunctoryimages of what they were. Presumably,
theydid not feel such urgent need to formthemselves into something
they had imagined throughreflection,and did not feel anchorless in
their existence because they lacked such pretensions. What happens
in modern historythat makes a picture of the 'self' such an essential
part of social and individual being? Do all men living in modernity
feel this need? or only those who are not only accidental inhabitants
of modernitybut also ideologically modern? Do all those who enter
a late modernity already soiled by its historical pioneers, become

' Bankimchandra VividhaPrabandha,

Bankim
'Anukaran',
Chattopadhyay, Rach-
anavali(SahityaSamsad, Calcutta, 1968) (hereafter,
BR), ii, 2oo-1.
10
0026-749X/00oo/$7.50+$.
379
380 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

selves in the same wayand to the same extentas theirenlightened

European predecessors?Or do subtle deflectionsoccur in this
assumptionof selfhood?
It is a commonclaim that modernityimposeson individualsand
communitiesan historicalrequirementof self-reflection.2 A lyrical
formof this idea would look upon the whole of historyas the rise
of man to self-consciousness and making his historicalexistence
transparent to himself. The claim appears exaggeratedif transpar-
ency is meant to imply that in modern timeshumanbeings,bothas
individualsand collectivities, understandwhat theydo, have a clear
sense of the intentionswhichgo into the makingof events,retain
controlover the acts whichconstitutethem,the consequencesobey
the purposes,and if theydo not, actors can analyse the difference
and bringthe courseof eventsundercontrolat a subsequentstage.
Thoughit is quite evidentthathumanbeingslivingin moderntimes
achieve nothingresemblingsuch transparency,the idea of self-
consciousnessis obviouslycentralto the projectof modernity.3 Thus
in a moremodestand historicalform,the idea of self-consciousness,
in bothits senses,(i) as a gradualreflexiveclarificationofthenature
of the self that alreadyexists,or (ii) the crystallizationof an idea
of a selfwhichdid not exist earlier,must be seen as being central
to the historyof modernity.
Modernityimposes the necessityof historicalself-reflection on
people undergoingits unfamiliartransformations; and thisimperat-
ive of self-reflectionis unavoidablebecause what undergoestrans-
formation is theself,thewaypeoplearewhattheyare. The historical
of
processes modernity involvethe introduction of a sense ofchoice,
in twoways.People can chooseto be whattheyare,Hindus,Muslims,
Bengalis in a newway,make what theyare have newconsequences;
or theychoose to be whattheywere neverbefore,forexample,Indi-
ans. I have argued in myworkon BankimchandraChattopadhyay
thatdifferent societiesarrangethisprocessof self-reflection in vary-
ing forms.4 In the West the primary form of this kindof historical

2 For illuminating analysisof the connectionbetween modernityand identity,

Charles Taylor,SourcesoftheSelf (CambridgeUniversity Press,Cambridge,1992),
and in a different,
moresociologicaldirection,AnthonyGiddens,Modernity andSelf-
Identity(Polity,
Cambridge,
' I have dealt withsome 1992).
aspectsof thisproblem,as it affectsmarxistthinkingin
'Marxismand the Darknessof History',inJan NederveenPieterse (ed.), Emancipa-
tions:ModemandPostmodern (Sage, London,1992).
4 In myUnhappy Consciousness
(OxfordUniversityPress,Delhi, 1995).
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 381
reflection was social theory,in whichvariousschoolstooksignificant
phases of historythrougha kindof slow replay,and explainedwhat
they thoughthad happened throughthese happenings.In India,
reflectionon modernitycame primarilythroughliterature.5It was
throughliterarytexts that Bengalis came to formhistoricalideas
about what had happened to them throughcolonial processes,and
imaginedtheircollectiveselves-throughvarioussuggestionsby lit-
erarywritersabout whatwas centralto theirself,whatwas lacking
in it, if of course such an instance of cultural perfectionas the
modern Bengali could be said to lack anythingat all. Literary
humourin particulardiscussed how theycould acquire what they
lacked,and become even moreperfectthan theywere.The Bengali
self is thus a deeplyhistoricalconstruct,alwaysunfinished, always
undernegotiation, formedand unformed at thesame time.The liter-
ary search forthe self turnsout to be a dual process,seekingthe
selfat two levels: the individualself,and a morecollectiveidentity
sharedby all, at least all educated,Bengalis.Curiously,contraryto
plausiblyindividualisttheoriesof society,the individualselves are
notfirstdiscovered,and thenput togetherin a collective,social self.6
Probablythe pressuresof livingundercolonialism,endowedwitha
newsensibility whichtaughtthemto value autonomy, made it inevit-
able that the search for the collectiveself would occur first.It is
somewhatlater,with the comingof Tagore's introspective literary
sensibilitythat theydiscoverthat the inner life of the individual,
despite his apparent inconsequentiality, is also a universe,and its
enormousand unendingmysteriescould be explored throughthe
psychologicalnoveland lyricalpoetry.7 I wishto suggestthatin this
historicalconstructionof the Bengali self, a traditionof literary

5 For excellent discussionon the historicalcourse of such self reflection,see

Partha Chatterjee,NationalistThought and theColonialWorld:A DerivativeDiscourse?
(OxfordUniversity Press,Delhi, 1986).
6 There is clear evidenceof a search fora collectiveself,whichwouldqualifyto
be called by the English word 'nation' in the worksof BankimchandraChatto-
padhyay;but the fashioningof a language forthe interiority of the individualself
had to wait till the maturerworksof RabindranathTagore. I have triedto analyse
the shaping of this language in Tagore in 'The Poetryof Interiority', paper for
conferenceon Identityin SouthAsian History,University of Calcutta,Department
of History,28-30 March 1994.
7 It
is thus not surprisingthat Tagore returnedrepeatedlyto writepoems on
'Ami' (I/Me), and his late poetryis full of reflectionon the ambiguity,uncon-
cludednessand, unboundability of his personalself.Many of his celebratednovels
and storiesdo of courseexplorethe natureof the individualselfand the mysteries
of self-consciousness: eg, Gora,GhareBaire,Jogajog,
StrirPatra.
382 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

self-ironyplayed an irreplaceablepart.8For this ironyprovideda

centreto twotypesof significanthistoricalprocesses-the large,vis-
ible,spectacularactionsthroughwhichpeople soughtto reconstruct
theirpoliticalworld;and equally,the almostinvisiblereadjustments
of behaviourin the everyday-theinescapable worldof etiquette,
conversation,
civility, thoseunspectaculareventswhichnevertheless
fillup mostof individualand social lives.

Laughter before Bankim's Kamalakanta

Ironywas by no means new in Bengali literature.Literaryhumour

came fromseveralsources,classical,folkand the peculiarlyderisive
wit that the fragileprosperity
of colonial Calcutta gave rise to: the
humourofa peoplewhowerethemselvessomewhatbemusedat their
ownhistoricalgood fortune,a subtleanxietyabout the rapiditywith
whichtheywere elevated,by theirassociationwithBritishrule, to
positionsof evidentlyundeservedeminence.'This produceda genre
oflocal townhumourwhichconsistednot onlyin lowerclasses satir-
izingthemorefortunate, butalso thebabu'0banteringhis ownbreed,
a trendluxuriatingin witty,oftensomewhatsmuttysongs.Colonial
opportunity forself-advancement created inexplicablecases of rise
to fortunewhichattractedacerbiccomment.
ModernBengali literaturedid not startlaughingly.The language
awkwardly drawnout of the integumentsofSanskritbyRam Mohan
Roy (1772/4-1833) and Iswarchandra Vidyasagar (1820--91) was
sombrelyserious.In Ram Mohan, it had the functionof disputing
theologicaland philosophicabstractionswithmissionariesand Hindu
conservatives, and had littleoccasion to laugh,least of all at itself.
In Vidyasagar,the new,highlyformalBengali language was slowly
extendedtowardsliterarytexts.Its extensionwas deeplyparadox-
ical: it was difficult
to make out ifit was tryingto differentiate itself
fromSanskritor mergeback intoits enormousgrandeur.Vidyasagar
had littleliteraryimagination,onlyan urge to devise a language of

8 I have stated this argumentmore fullyin 'Signs of madness',JournalofArts

andIdeas,Special Numberon Representations, g99o,and in Unhappy Consciousness,
chapter 2.
9 Apart fromliterarywriting,and probablybefore that, this corrosivebanter
against the pretensionsof the babu, a political and culturalcreatureof colonial
rule,appeared in popularsongs.
10 A term
denotingthe middle-classeducated elite of colonialBengal.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 383
great art forBengali culture.This resultedin an ironicoriginality.
He neverinventeda storyworththe name; indeed,the textbookhe
devisedforBengali children,"whichassumed essentiallythat to be
goodat Bengalione mustbe goodat Sanskrit,was a massiveexample
of a dramaticallylimitedimagination.His attemptwas to showthat
Bengali could be a high literarylanguage, not because wonderful
storiescould be dreamed in its medium,but that well-knownand
well-lovedclassical tales could be retoldin it withoutdilutingthe
highserioustoneof the originals.His Shakuntalaand his Sita there-
forewere somewhatmore sombreand mournfulthan the original
heroinesof the Sanskrittexts.It would be uncharitableto suggest
that Vidyasagardid not appreciate the rasa of humour:he did an
adaptation of the Comedy But as Bankim observedin a
ofErrors.'2
discussionabout PyarichandMitra,his narrativeswere irremediably
derivative.'3Storiesalwayscame fromthe two hightraditionsearly
Bengali literaryintellectualsregardedwithadmiration:eitherfrom
high Sanskritor fromhigh English,preferablyfromKalidas and
Shakespeare.'4Literaryimaginationcame to be unchainedin Mad-
husudan Dutta (1824-73). For althoughhis narrativeswere still
takenfromthe highclassicaltraditionofthe Hindus,his poeticima-
ginationhad the daring to inverttheirmessages,partlyno doubt
throughinspirationfromEnglishhightraditiontexts.'"Madhusudan
also wrotetwoshortfarces,bothconcernedwithBengali babus,Buro
ShalikerGhareRon (186o) and Ekei ki Bale Sabhyata(186o) making
funofthefunloving parasitesofcolonialCalcuttaand asking,despite
theflimsiness ofthe storylinein thesecondplay,a largeand inescap-
able historicalquestion.For the titleof the play raised the central
problemofcolonialculture:is thiswhatshouldbe called civilization?
Bankim created a differentkind of laughter.It had undoubted
connectionswith earlier strandsof humorousliterature,but with

"
Varnaparichay(Vidyasagar'sprimerforchildren)contrastsparticularly withthe
artisticallyimaginativetreatmentin Tagore's Sahaj Path (Tagore's primer,which
was based on an entirelydifferentpedagogictheory,and emphasizedthe factthat
childrenmustlearn to read the worldbothliterallyand artistically), thoughof late
thishas offendedthe anachronisticsensibilityof the leftistculturalcommissars.
12 Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar,Bhrantivilas
(1869).
'~ 'Bangala SahityePyarichandMitra',BR, ii, 862-3.
14 A good exampleof thisidea of exaltedcanonsis the topicofBankimchandra's
famousessayin literarycriticism,'Shakuntala,Miranada evam Desdemona'.BR, ii,
204-9.
'5 MadhusudanDutta's Meghnadbadh Kavya(1861) is an excellentexampleofhow
creativelywriterscould exploit the possibilitiesopened up by the conjunctionof
384 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

each ofthemit instituteda subtlerupture,such thatit is misleading

to see him as a humoristwho continuedany single one of these
traditions.Beforehis Kamalakanta(1875, enlarged 1885), Kalipras-
anna Sinha had produceda forcefulironicalportraitofCalcutta soc-
ietyin his HutomPenchar Naksha(1862) whichdeclared,in a typical
mixtureof acknowledgement of responsibilityand renunciation,
I havenotuseda singleidea thatis fanciful
or untruein mysketches. It is
truethatsomepeoplemightdiscoverthemselves in its pages,butI need
hardlyadd thattheseare notthemselves. All thatI can sayis thatI have
notaimedat anyone, all. (myemphasis)Indeed,I did not forgetto
butobserved
includemyself in thesesketches.16
Apparently, Kamalakanta is similarto thesewritings:the majordiffer-
ence is thatalthoughthe problematizing of the selfis lightheartedly
mentionedin Sinha's agenda, it remainsunrealized.And the tone
of the entirepiece is too frivolousto raise seriousdiscussion,beyond
acerbicsocial banter.In KaliprasannaSinha's case thephrase'I have
not forgottento includemyselfin these sketches'goes beyondthe
reality.He did not realize yet the gravity,and the tragictaste of
turningbantertowardsthe self.Sinha is speakingof an insignificant
individual,personalself,which,whileincludedin the collectivepor-
traitofthe Calcuttababu, mustretaina certaindistinctiveness from
themforhis utteranceto become philosophically and formallypos-
sible.Yet thereis an insubstantiality,an insignificance in thisbanter
when comparedwiththe ironyof Bankim'sKamalakanta.I suggest
thatthisarisesfortwodifferent reasons.Bankim'sironyis informed
by a muchdeeper and intricateunderstanding of the publicfateof
his people, a darkly ironic sense of historyachieved through
reflectionupon the benefitsand impositionsof westernmodernity.
Historicalreflection on modernity was not an easy intellectualpas-
timeforwritersof his time.Bankim'sgenerationwas broughtup on
a narrativeof European modernitywhich,partlymythically, partly
justifiably,describedit as a processof attainingautonomyand self-
determination."The economic,social,and politicalachievementsof
the modernperiod were primarilythe effectsof that miraculous

these two high canons. The narrativeis taken fromthe Ramayana,but is read
throughan invertinginterpretation whichowed muchto ParadiseLost.
16 KaliprasannaSinha,Hutom PencharNaksha,introduction.
" For an
interestingdiscussionon Bankimchandra'sview of the West, Tapan
Raychaudhuri,EuropeReconsidered (OxfordUniversityPress, Delhi, g99o).Partha
ChatterjeeanalysesBankimfroma different angle,NationalistThoughtandtheColo-
nial World.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 385
philosophicprinciple.This made the offerof modernityimplicitin
their historydeeply paradoxical.Reflectionon colonial modernity
revealeda tragicdichotomy:eitherautonomywithoutmodernity or
modernity with the acceptance of It
subjection. was that sectionof
the Bengali intelligentsiawhich could not answer this question
simply,withoutcontradictionand regret,whichhad recourseto a
laughter.Those who could make simplerand less tragic
self-ironical
choicesdid not need thisformof self-understanding.'8The soundof
this laughtercould be heard fromBankim throughTagore's early
worksdown to the most enigmaticproductof the Bengali literary
enlightenment,Sukumar Ray (1887-1923), the creator of its most
admirednonsenseverse,a poetrywhichdid notmake sense in single
sentencesor versesbut capturedsome of the mostfundamentalhis-
toricalmeaningsof middleclass Bengali mentalitywhen seen as a
whole. Afterhis time, this formof self-ironicalwritinggradually
declines,spluttering in theworksofoccasionalimitators
ineffectually
in later generations.'9But afterthe arrivalof a leftistsensibility,
whichwas to dominateBengali intellectualism fornearlyhalfa cen-
tury and encourage it towardsenormous moral it dis-
simplifications,
appearedintothe untroubledcertaintiesofleftistpolitics.Bybecom-
ing entirely serious, one-dimensional,radically self-righteous,
Bengali literaryreflectionslowlylost its taste forthe ineradicable
contradictorinessofbeing.Its greattragedieswereno longerrelated
to subtleironiesof self-constructionor experience,but the winning
and losing of municipaland state elections.I shall discuss simply
three momentsof this tradition,startingbrieflywith Bankim,fol-
lowed by twoversesfromTagore and SukumarRay. In all of them
the centralfigureis of course the babu, the educated middleclass
Bengali,the image of intellectualperfection.

H. Bankimchandra's Kamalakanta

Bankimchandrashowedin the formalaspects of his writing,a con-

summatemasteryof traditionalalankaric20
aesthetics,and a decided

'8 For example Gandhi.

'9
A good example of poetrywhich is closely imitativeof Sukumar Ray, and
markedby both technicalsimilarityand utterphilosophicdifference, is the enjoy-
able, but altogetherless beguilingpoetryof SunirmalBasu.
20 Most generally, an alankaracan be termeda literaryor stylisticembellishment.
But the termalso generallymeans a combinationof rhetoricand poetics.
386 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

preferenceforthe alankaraof vyajastuti21 or counterfeitpraise. This,

however,does not make his art traditionalin the ordinarysense.
Bengali humorouswritinghad long used vyajastutiwithgreat skill.
Bharatchandra(c1712-176o), the eighteenth-century poet,chose to
use vyajastutito displaytechnicalvirtuosity in versifying,and more
significantly, to show that the metricand semanticcomplexityof
Sanskritrhymescould be emulated in Bengali verse. But Bharat-
chandra'sobjectsof humourwere solidlytraditional,one ofhis most
famouspoemswas to Shiva,a traditionalobjectofsuchironicaldevo-
tion.22In Bankimchandra'stime, this formwas revivedwith great
success by the poet IshwarchandraGupta, whose work,in formal
terms,sometimesstrongly resembledBharatchandra's.23 But by the
nineteenthcenturythe literaryculturehad changedfundamentally,
and this was reflectedin the controversialreceptionof Gupta's
poetryin babu literarysociety.Ishwar Gupta attempteda daring
combinationofformand content:he used traditionalalankarictech-
niques to describewithderisionthe mannersof the Calcutta babu,
and mixed with these undoubtedlyclassical resourcesa taste for
bodilyhumourcommonlyfoundin vulgarliterature.Literaryrecep-
tion of Gupta's poetryshowed the enormouschange in taste. His
poetrywas increasingly condemnedas trivialand obscene,unfitfor
and
publicconsumption, particularly ineligibleforinclusionintothe
canons ofliterarysensibility of the newBengali intelligentsia.Liter-
ature was meant to induce cultivationand enlightenment, and not
to
merely entertain, and althoughGupta's undoubted masteryof
be its
techniquemight diverting, vulgarity made it for
unfit the new
reading public, which incidentallyincluded the newly-educated
women.To be sure, the babu still retaineda great interestin the
prurientand thevulgar,butwas increasingly unwillingto admitthis
taste; as in VictorianEngland, this tastewas suppliedbya flourishing
underworldof battala24 literature,furtively circulated,widelycon-
demnedbut surprisingly widelyconsumed.
is the technicalformof an alankarawhichconsistsin wordplayprodu-
21 Vyajastuti
cingcounterfeit praise,or praise-abuse.
22 In his Annadamangal, thereare some famousstanzas in whichDaksha, Sati's
father,denouncesShivain thepresenceofhis guests.This partis prefacedexplicitly
by the poet by the lines: BharatShivernindakemanebarnibelnindachchale stutikari
Shankarbujhibe-Howcan Bharatwriteabuse of Shiva?I shall praise in the disguise
of abuse: Shankarawill understand.
23 For an excellentlywelljudged criticismof IshwarchadraGupta's poeticworks,
see Bankim's'IshwarGupterJivancharit o Kavitva',BR, ii, 835-60o.
24 Literally,under the Banyan tree; but standingfor a genre of disreputable,
salacious publications.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 387
The receptionofIshwarGupta was nota matterofliterarysuccess
of an individual;it indicatedan historictransformation of literary
canons and taste. The legitimateobjects of laughterin traditional
aestheticswere folliesof individuals,or idiosyncrasies, anyobject or
act that could be called, in termsof the Natyashastra, viparita,other
than what is commonlydone.25A certainformof hasa, of a much
subtlerkind,was oftenassociatedwiththe erotic,the transienceof
the pleasuresof the fleshand the forgivablefolliessurrounding it.26
The Indian literarytraditionhad alwaysgivena centralplace to the
materialityof the erotic.But the publicappearance and enjoyment
of eroticismimposedrequirementsof obliquenessin the presenta-
tionof sexuality.The arrivalof a Victorianaestheticput an end to
this complex aestheticof presentationof the erotic.It bifurcated
literaryproductioninto twowhollydifferent conventionsof literary
composition.On the one hand,it produceda prudishlysaintlyhigh
literarystylewhichmade itsreaderssuspectifBengali heroineswere
giftedwithpowersofimmaculateconception,and turnedmattersof
courtshipand love intoexchangeof philosophicalor aestheticideas.
On the other side, quite an unrestrainedtrafficof pettyvulgarity
wenton profitably in a subliteratureof obscene tales. Bankimcom-
menteddirectlyon the pretentiousdishonesty ofthisdividebetween
the publicand privateenjoymentin one ofhis humoroussketchesin
whicha babu, returnedfromthe exertionsofhis office,has a conver-
sationwithhiswifeon the pleasuresofferedin theBengalilanguage.
Characteristicially, he expressescontemptforseriousBengalifiction,
but findsvulgarstoriesenormously diverting. In anycase, ironyhad
fallenon bad days. It was a markof frivolity, unworthy of serious
aesthetic, let alone a vehicleof serious social reflection.
With Bankim'sKamalakanta(1885)27 ironymakes a triumphant
return;but it returnstransformed, as ironyabout the self,or double
irony.28It had achieved a new subject,a newreflexivity. It had learnt
the more complex and mature pleasures of self-criticism, asking
what the selfis, what are its historicaland aestheticpossibilities,a
distinctly modernanguish,because it is onlythe modernsensibility
whichknowshow to troubleabout the self,at least in this form.

25 ed. K. S. RamaswamyShastri(OrientalInstitute,Baroda, 1956),

Natyashastra,
cha. VI, pp. 312-17.
26 The best example of thisis of course the poetryof Kalidasa.
27 KamalakanterDaptar(1875) was enlargedin 1885 as Kamalakanta.
28 I have discussedthe functionof thisdouble ironyin The Unhappy
Consciousness,
ch. 2.
388 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

Purelyformally, ironymakesa transitionfromthe highlymannered

and restrictivemetricformsofverseto the freeseriousnessofprose.
Earlier,verbalplayfulness was associatedmainlywithverse.Bankim
demonstratedthat manyof the delectationsof verse writingcould
be capturedin imaginativeprose.But prose could offerotherpleas-
ures whichverse,at least of the traditionalsort,could not. Most
significantamong these new enjoymentswas the attitude of
reflectionprose expressed.From a vehicleof frivolousenjoymentof
insignificantobjects in the world, exploitation of the infinite
resourcesof punningand shlesha29 on thingslike the tapsefishor
babus whoforaltogethercontingentreasonsincurredthe hostility of
Iswar Gupta, ironycame in Bankimto have a seriousobject,indeed
an objectbeyondwhichnothingcouldbe moreseriousto themodern
consciousness.Instead of trivialthingsin a worldwhichis not fixed
in a historicallyseriousgaze, it now reflectedon threeobjects not
entirely distinctfromeach other,all implicatedwiththe historical
world.These are the self,the collectiveof whichthe selfis a part,
and the civilizationof colonial India whichformedthe theatrein
whichthisdarklycomicspectacleof the search forthe selfunfolds.
Ironyhad achieved a new dignity;fromthe vehicle of unserious
mirth(upahasa, atihasa)it had nowturnedintoa vehicleof something
so seriousas to be nearlyunsayable.It is hardlysurprisingthatthe
elaboratetaxonomiesof traditionalhasa,of even the greatNatyashas-
tra,did not have a name forthisnew laughter.
The obsessiveobject of the Kamalakantatext is the babu:: he is
what is being writtenabout, and he is also the self who does the
writing,and the moreelusiveexperimentin escapingfromthe babu
selfbyand throughtheact ofwritingitself.Bankimis tryingto teach
the Bengali educated personhow to writehimselfout of babuness.
He is thusthe constantobjectof Bankim'ssparklinghumour,in all
its varyingmoods,fromthe vicious to the gentle to the forgiving.
And the babu is nota new themebroughtin fora displayof thisnew
humorousformin theKamalakanta texts;indeed,he is Bankim'sfirst
love. Two of his earliestpieces discoveredthis abidingobject of his
sarcasm, the collectiveself with whichBankim has such a fertile
relationshipof contradiction. He is undeniablya part of thisgroup,
yet he could notaccept he was, leadingto his foundingthe tradition
of Bengali self-irony.
29 Shleshais an alankarathat comes closest to ironyin the classical Sanskrit
repertoire.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 389
The early Ingrajstotra30(Hymn to the Englishman) with the helpful
subtitle, 'translated from the Mahabharata',at once establishes both
the form and the content of this humour. The stotra (a rhymed
incantation) formwould undergo unending experiments at Bankim's
hands, running the whole gamut of sentiments from the ridiculous
to the sentimentally uplifting.He was to reshape this fundamental
form of invocation in the Hindu tradition to startlinglynovel pur-
poses. To be a stotra, however,a composition must conformto some
purely formal properties of style. Incomparability of the deity to
whom the stotra is offered is conveyed by the mannerisms of
descriptive excess. Stotras also exhibit an usually circular, repetitive
movement,coming back, after each cycle of excessive praise, to the
signature phrase describing the essential attributes of the object of
worship. In Bankim's early travesties of the stotra style there is a
certain deliberate debasing of this formwhich can come only froma
shrewdfamiliarityof its formalprecepts,just as a successful cartoon-
ist would generate laughter by exaggerating the credible features of
a face. Early parodies like the Ingrajstotraare therefore pieces of
convex satire which pour sarcasm directlyon the babu, the reciter
whose discourse it encapsulates, indirectlyon the Englishman the
object of worship, but also subtly on the doctrine of excess of the
stotra form. Stylistically,it immediately applies Bankim's favourite
ironic means, the alankara of vyajastuti; and its content is a double
description: of the Englishman, the object, but in terms which throw
more light on the character of the subject, a self-descriptionof an
ascending or intensifyingservility.

O one who can divinewhat is goingon insideour minds!whateverI do is

meant to win yourheart. [Thoughthe Bengali verbbhulaibarjanya is more
double-edgedand can mean equally,to deceiveyou;so thecorrectrendering
of the meaningof the sentencewouldbe 'to winyourheartbydeception'].
I donate to charitiesbecause you may call me an altruist.I studyso that
you maycall me learned....

If you so wish (or because you wish it) I shall establishdispensaries;for

yourapplause I shall set up schools:accordingto yourdemandsI shall give
subscriptions. I shall do whateveryou considerproper.I shall wear boots
and trousers;put spectacleson mynose, eat withknifeand fork,dine at a
table. Please keep me in yourfavour.

30 BR, ii, g-Io.

390 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ
I shall renouncemymothertongueto speakyourlanguage;abjuremy
ancestralreligionand adopttheBrahmofaith;insteadofwriting
babuuse
Mr as a prefixto myname,be pleasedwithme.

I havegivenup mealsofrice,and takenup eatingbread:I do notfeel

properly feduntilI havepartaken
ofsomeforbidden meat[beef];I make
it a pointto takechicken
forsnacks;therefore,
O Englishman,pleasekeep
me at yourfeet.

Pleasegrantmewealth,honour, fame,fulfil
all mydesires.Appointme
to highoffice, or a memberoftheCouncil.
a raja,maharaja,raybahadur,
If youcannotgrantthese,inviteme at least to yourat homesand dinners;
nominate me to a highcommittee or thesenate;makeme a justiceor an
honorary magistrate. Please takenoticeof myspeeches,read myessays,
encourage me;then,I wouldnottakeheedofthedenunciation oftheentire
Hindusociety.
Clearly,thereare two levels of meaningin this false hymn.At the
firstlevel, thereis a caricatureof both the collaboratingbabu and
the Britishwho conferhonourson him. Characteristically, Bankim
goes straightto the heart of the matter,cuttingthroughthe pre-
tences.Only in appearanceis colonial societya realmwherecareer
is open to talent; in fact,colonial administrationdoes nothingto
encouragemerit.The Englishmancan giveanythinghe likesliterally
to anyone:it is the arbitrariness of his conferments thatis emphas-
ized,whichmakesthebabu's supplicatory selfabasementits entirely
propercomplement.High honourin colonialBengal is hardlyrecog-
nitionfordesert,publicserviceor ability,butofcompetitiveservility.
ColonialismendowstheordinaryBritishofficial withmysticalpowers
of nomination:he can name anythinginto existence;and the essen-
tial pointis to be so named by the rightauthority. The Englishcan
rename all social and moral descriptions.3'In all this, the babu's
adoptionof reformand rationalismis shownforwhat it is. He is
a rationalistout of opportunism, and entirelyunclear about how a
rationalistargumentis to be grounded.He would do all the right
things-accept modernity, break tradition,adopt altruism-always
forthewrongreason-not because he can showor believethatthese
are the rightcourseof actionbut because the Britishconsiderthem
praiseworthy. The babu's adoptionof westernrationalismis funda-
mentallymarkedand taintedby thisheteronomy. Two typesof acts

3 Bankimwrotean immortal
satireon thisprocessoftheriseofa Bengalito
eminencein the colonialworldin hisMuchiram (188o), BR, ii, 1 13-
GuderJibancharit.
28.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 391

can be behaviourally indistinguishable: but whether it is an act of

altruism or servilitycan be decided only by looking into its rational
grounding.The upside down, travesticcharacter of colonial modern-
ity is etched in briefly and powerfully through this supplicatory
refrain: 'I shall do everythingyou ask for', turning the right actions
into wrong ones. Acts of apparent subjectivityare really ones of the
deepest heteronomy.That is why colonial society is such an approp-
riate field for sarcastic demystification.Even seemingly highminded
action must be probed by this sarcastic mistrust,until true motives
are revealed. It is the unapparent, indistinctintentionwhich can tell
an act of kindness fromone of imitative servility,verbal posing from
genuine intellectual convictions.
This was an early piece from Bankim's satire, and compared to
his more mature irony this is somewhat unrefined. Its significance
lies more in the fact that it sets a pattern, a structure, and it is
curious how little this structure of babu-ness was to change in Ban-
kim's mind. This is followed by a piece of such sustained satirical
excellence, it is doubtful if even Bankim surpassed it.32 Like the
hymn, this too is purportedly taken from Mahabharata,turning its
claim to all-seeingness, using and travestyingit at the same time.
Vaishampayana, the sage who recited the Mahabharataat Janmejaya's
court, is caught in the early part of his performance,and the king,
with a great curiosity about the historical future, requests him to
recite the guna (qualities) of those who would be known as the babus
and adorn the earth in the nineteenth century.
Not in vain were the author and reciter of the epic called sarvadar-
shi, all-seeing. He compresses the historical features of the babu into
an unsurpassable portrait.An approximate idea of Vaishampayana's
characterization can be found from some of the passages, though
translation would miss the insistence of the series of adjectives in
Bankim's writing:
Babus are invinciblein speech,theyare proficientin foreignlanguage,and
hate theirown; indeed, therewould appear some babus of such amazing
intellectthat theywould be altogetherincapable of conversingin their
mothertongue.... The babus are thosewho would save withoutpurpose,
earn in orderto save, studyin orderto earn,and steal questionpapers to
do well at examinations.Indeed,thewordbabu wouldbe many-splendoured
in its meaning:thosewhowouldrule India in thekali age and be knownas
Englishmenwouldunderstandbythatterma commonclerkor superintend-
ent of provisions;to the poor it would mean those wealthierthan them-

32 Babu, BR, ii, 10-12.

392 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ
selves,to servantstheirmaster.I am howevercelebratingthe qualities of
some people whoseonlyaim in lifewouldbe to spenda fittingly babu exist-
ence. If anyonetakes it in any othersense his hearingof the Mahabharata
would be fruitless;in a subsequentbirthhe would be born as a cow and
constitutea part of the babu's dinner.... Anyonedevoidof understanding
about poetry,with an execrable musical taste, whose only knowledgeis
confinedto textbookscrammedin childhood,and who regardshimselfas
omniscientis a babu..... Like Vishnu,the babus would incarnatein ten
forms:clerk,teacher,Brahmo,broker,doctor,lawyer, judge, landlord,news-
paper editorand idler.Like in
Vishnu, every theywoulddestroy
incarnation,
fearsomedemons. In his incarnationas a teacher he would destroythe
student,as stationmaster the ticketlesstraveller,as Brahmo the small
priest,as brokerthe Englishmerchant,as doctorhis patient,as lawyerhis
client,as judge the litigant,as editorthe ordinarygentleman,as idler the
fishin the pond ... Anypersonwho has one word inside his mindwhich
becomestenwhenhe speaks,hundredwhenhe writesand thousandswhen
he quarrels is a babu. One whose strengthis one time in his hands, ten
times in his mouth,hundredtimes in his back and absent at the time of
actionis a babu ... He whosehouseholddeityis the Englishman,preceptor
is the Brahmopreacher,scripturesare newspapers,and place ofpilgrimage
is theNationalTheatreis a babu. One who giveshimselfout as a Christian
to the missionaries,as a Brahmoto Keshabchandra,a Hindu to his father
and an atheistto the Brahminbeggaris a babu. One who drinkswaterat
home,alcoholat his friends',receivesabuse at the prostitute'sand kicksat
his employer'sis a babu.... O king,thepeoplewhosevirtuesI have recited
to youwouldpersuadethemselvesthatbychewingpan, being proneon the
pillow,havingbilingua!conversation and smokingtobaccotheywillregener-
ate theircountry.

Apparentlyan astute observerof men and their manners,Janmejaya,

had formed a clear idea of what sort of beings the babus would be,
and requested the sage to turn to some other theme.

III. The Self-Ironical Tradition in Tagore

Every humoristwrites his individual nonsense; and Bankim, Tagore

and Ray had their own individual styles of being nonsensical. But it
is all the more remarkable that despite such differencethey seem to
be sketching the same collective portrait of the babu. It could be
argued that nothingwould reveal deep secret beliefs more than non-
sense writing. When people are saying something on a subject as
dear to ourselves as ourselves it is easy to slip into pleasantly delusive
things.In nonsense writingdeeper structuresof self-referring beliefs,
the signature of an objective mind as it were, may find expression,
precisely because the invigilationof reason is loose at the time.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 393
Let us compare the hymns of the Lok Rahasya with another set of
portraitsof the babu fromTagore's early satirical poems. In a group
of poems in the Manasi (1890), Tagore sketches a very similar pic-
ture, with the differencethat the condensation of adjectives of the
vyajastuti formhas disappeared. In DurantaAsha33he writes
we are verycivil,intenselypeaceable, our souls thoroughly
tamed;
alwayspronein contentment underour buttonedclothes;
the modelof civilitywhenwe meet others,
our facescomposedin an unperturbablesweetness,
idle bodies heavingwiththe effortof motion,
perpetuallygravitatingtowardsour homes,
shortin height,generousin breadth,the childrenof Bengal.

we smilewiththe pleasureof servility

withhandsfoldedin obeisance;
waggingtheirbodieswiththe prouddelight
of beingat the feetof theirmasters;
you lie undertheirshoes,
pickthe rice mixedwithcontemptin eager fistfuls,
and returnhome to expresspride
in yourAryanancestors
whoseveryname sent shiversdownthe spineof thewholewide world.
Little has changed apparently from Bankim's picture of the babu
except the noticeable addition of an impressive ancestryto his name.
Since Bankim's time, the babu has evidentlycompiled a historyfor
himself of sufficientlyupliftingcharacter.
The education prescribed solicitously by Macaulay's Anglicist
reformgave the babu an opportunityof knowing about the history
of the wide world,as opposed to the narrowparochialism which made
his ancestors worship their own past. It also teaches the babu the
great principle of choice. The educated Bengali now choosesthe his-
toryhe wishes to revere, and through that, more subtly,selects his
own intellectual ancestry. He has an option, in this expansive age
of colonial reason, to choose between Indian or European historyas
his own past. And there is hardly any doubt or indecision about the
babu's decisive choice. In another poem in Manasi, two studious
brothers celebrate the great deeds of mankind: a list in which the
battles of Marathon and Thermopylae, Cromwell's exploits in the
English civil war, the battle of Nasby, lives of Washington, Mazzini,
and Garibaldi hold pride of place. Clearly, this is a narrative of world

" Rabindranath
Thakur, Manasi (Visvabharati, Calcutta, 1967), 126-30.
394 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

historyin which the luminous events, foreverrecurringfor remem-

brance, are successful wars of liberation fromforeignoppression and
tyranny.The conclusions theydraw fromtheir reading of historyare
perfectlyrationalistic:
Who can say we are a lesser people thanthe English?The onlydifferences
lie in physicalproportionand manners.For we learn whatevertheywrite:
indeed,we translatethemintoBengali and writecommentarieswhichsur-
pass our masters[gurumara tike,34a phrasewe must note,because we shall
encounterit again] ... Look at me: I spread mybed in myroom;I roam
the librariesforbookson history;I writevolumesmakingthingsup (giving
a free rein to my imagination),in a carefullysharpenedlanguage. As a
result,myheartcatchesfire;I have to controlit by fanningmyself;I still
feel giddywith enthusiasm.There is still some hope for my country,I
feel.... I listento greatthings;I speakgreatwords,I gatherand read great
books,a surewayof achievinggradualgreatness.Who could ever stop us?
Entirely in accord with this education that extends the mental hori-
zon of Bengali youth, there are some particular passages of history
which move these citizens of the republic of letters to tears of joy.
Predictably, the blood runs faster in their veins when they recount
what occurred at Marathon and Thermopylae. They cannot imagine
what incalculable effectswould have followed 'had their countrymen
really read Garibaldi's biography in full'. They feel ashamed at the
amazing illiteracy of a countrywhose people do not know by heart
Washington's date of birth,and conclude 'Oh Cromwell, you indeed
are immortal'. It is typical that the erudite adolescent is unable to
read the account of Cromwell's exploits to the end; because an
acquaintance comes in proposing a hand at cards, and the youthful
babu abandons his historical quest unfinished.
Tagore's poems are important because they show the logic of the
babu's quest for historical belonging. Each group after all makes its
own constructionof human history,and belongs to a mankind after
its own heart, in which its preferredcharacteristics are accentuated
and what it dislikes suffersnarrative exclusion. The humanity that
the babu would like to belong to, the humanity whose history he
assiduously constructs,because he believes that that formshis proper
theatre of existence, is the humanityshaped by western history.It is
this historywhich he wishes to sneak into, in which he so desperately,
cravenly,wishes to have a place. He is an illegal immigrantof narrat-

34
Gurumaraliterallymeansmurderingthe teacher;tikeis a commentary. Guru-
mara is standardlyused to describea student,gurumarachela. Here this clearly
means commentarieswhichexceed/destroythe texts.'Bangavi',Manasi,
140-5.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 395
ives. We shall see later that there is also a complementary logic of
belonging which is set in motion in these critiques of the babu. This
would be a logic of belonging to the 'others' to those who have been
conquered, disenfranchised,dispossessed.
Let us compare another storyfromTagore's next work,Sonar Tari
(1893).35 This poem, too, is fundamentallysimilar to Bankim's ori-
ginal travestic writingin two respects: it is a nonsense storyand its
subject is the babu. The ruler of a mythical kingdom was once
troubled by incomprehensible dreams. Along with his ministers and
subjects, he lives in a meaningful,not a causal world. Dreams there-
fore must be taken seriously,not laughed offas illusions. They must
also be uncoded correctly.In the king's dreams three monkeys pick
lice lovinglyfrom the royal hair, but they slapped him if he stirred.
At intervals the nit pickers uttered a mysteriousslogan: 'hing ting
chhat'. In his bewilderment, the king, like modern governments,
turned to scholarly consultants. Savants from several countries and
continents are called in, including several from Europe. They tryin
their differentways, but fail, and some of them are given punish-
ments that must appear somewhat disproportionalto what was after
all an intellectual failure. A humorous Frenchman was left to be
devoured alive by dogs for suggesting that the complex of sounds
was devoid of meaning but not of a certain aural melody.
The riddle, as one can expect, remains unsolved until a scholar
arrives fromGaud, trained by Europeans, but already surpassing his
masters,jaban panditdergurumarachela.36The relevant sequence then
follows:
At thishourarrivedthe scholarfromGaud,
trainedbyforeignmasters,onlyto surpassthem.
Bareheaded,shabbilydressedto the pointof beingshameless
his clothesthreatenedto slip offhim at times.
So thinhe was thatpeople could doubthis existence
whichwere of coursedecisivelydispelled
as soon as the wordsbegan to emerge.
Indeed, theworldwonderedat howso muchof sound
could be producedbyso slighta machine.

Arrogantly he asked:
what is the subjectof dispute?
I could say a fewwordson the subject

35Hing Ting Chhat. SonarTari,Sanchayita(Visvabharati,Calcutta, 1972), 118.

36The phrase literallymeans a pupil of foreignscholarswho has destroyed(i.e.
surpassed)his instructors.
396 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ
if I knew what it was.
In fact, I can turn things upside down by elucidation.
Everyone shouted: hing ting chhat.

On being told of the matter

the Gaudiya master made a somewhat solemn face
and took about an hour to explain what it meant.
The meaning is in fact quite simple, he said,
indeed in one sense quite clear;
it is an ancient idea newly discovered:
the three eyed god had three eyes, three times and three qualities;
differentforces lead to individual differentiation
redoubled in contrarycases.
Forces like attraction, repulsion, propulsion
are usually opposed to the forces of good;
in the kaleidoscope of life the three forces
are revealed in three forms.37
To put all this quite succinctly,
one could say hing ting chhat.

The court thundered to applause:

it is clear, absolutely lucid, said everyone ...
whatever was incomprehensible was dissolved
and made absolutely limpid
like the empty sky.38

We discern some changes in the scene now. The babu is no longer

the interested and imitative pupil of European learning, but a guru-
mara chela: he has decisively excelled his preceptors. The poem makes
clear in what ways exactly the babu has taken rationalism beyond
the point where Europeans had left it."3 Tagore emphasizes the intel-
lectual presumption of the babu, a feature not shared by Europeans,
not at least in equal measure. There is another decisive change. His

37 It is impossibleto conveythe combination of lucidityand nonsensicality

of the
combinationof phrases the gaudiya scholar uses in his elucidation.Most of the
individualconceptsare meaningfultermsused in Indian philosophyor theology.It
is also truethatsometimesexplanationsofphenomenain termsof traditionaltheo-
logical or astrologicalscholarshipwould sound very similar to this to lay ears,
althoughtheymightbe perfectly legitimateaccordingto theirinternalsystemsof
referencesand conceptualcoherence.But this particularamalgam is of course
whollynonsensical.What shouldbe notedis the mixingofconceptsfromtraditional
thought,like tyamvaka, trikala,
trinayana, prapanchaetc. withmodernscientificter-
minology, vikarshan
akarshan, etc.
38 Hing Ting Chhat, 118-19.
39 This pointedlysatirises trends in contemporary Bengalis which sought to
defendtraditionalmetaphysicalideas by illegitimateand specious uses of modern
science.For an interesting and detailed analysisof such trendssee, Gyan Prakash,
'Science betweenthe Lines' (unpublishedpaper) 1993.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 397
criticshave disappeared; the literaryworldis now populated only
with his admirers.The babu's others-women, the subaltern,all
thosewhocould makefunofhimin an earlierage, havedisappeared,
historicallytransformed intomouldsof subalternity fashionedbyhis
own hands. He now seems to have gained the unopposedrightthat
belongsto dominantgroupsin rare periodsof uncontestedgloryof
makingfunof others,withoutreply.In the structureof thejoking
relationships commonin Bengali bhadraloksociety,some of the his-
torical transformations of that period were enduringlyinscribed.
Earlierthe babu was oftenthe object of ridicule,as Bankim'sworld
showed; now the worldis the object of his banter. Unfortunately,
littlesystematicworkhas been done on such matters,but common
babu jokes graduallyturnedoutwardsand showedthe confident dis-
dain of the Bengali middleclass forthe whole non-babuworld.It
included not merelynon-Bengalis,but also Bengalis fromother
classes. Unlikejokes about Sikhs whichare oftencharminglyand
generouslyself-referring, babu jokes of middleclass Bengal display
a strongparochialaggressiveness.Althoughhe considershimselfan
inheritorof the classifactory fastidiousnessof Westernrationalism,
he does not have the patience to catalogue the surrounding world
minutely, or with of
any degree precision.Anyonecoming from the
west of the hallowedland is a khotta, fromthe general vicinityof
Rajasthana medo(slang forMarwari)and fromthe generaldirection
of the South a madraji.40 The chauvinisticBengali is quite contentto
live with this indistinctmap of nationalitiesof those he now con-
sidershis naturalinferiors. Nothingis so revealingof the babu mind
as the astoundinggeographyof his contempt.Remarkably, the babu
replicatesin theworldhe dominatesthe inattentiveand perfunctory
classification
ofothersso characteristic ofEuropeancultures.It blurs
the other,the unfamiliar, just as the Europeans treatedpeople as
Slavs,Africans, far easterners and in such otherbroad,misleading,
confidentlyignorantnomenclatures. Commonjokes ofthebabus are
directedagainst the people middle class Bengalis lived with and
dependedon, thosewhoselabourformedthe thingshe used parasit-
ically,a typicallyuncharitablerecompensefortheirworkat his ser-
vice.The cultureof the Calcutta Bengali is repletewithjokes about
the ude,"4medo, khotta,and closer home,the bangal.42

40 Literally,a residentofMadras.
41
42
PejorativeformforOriya.
Bangalwas used to referpejoratively
to residentsofeast Bengal; but thisinsult
was heartilyreturned.West Bengal people were similarlycalled ghati.
398 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

Tagore's poem on the Bengali intellect offers a list of its own

ennobling effectson its audience.43
Whoeverlistensto thishallowedstoryofdream
would be ridof all errorsand delusions.
He wouldneverbe deceivedintobelieving
that thisworldis indeed thisworld.
He wouldneverbe led to take the trueas true.
He wouldrealize in a momentthat the trueis false.
Come, then,yawnand lie on yourback
in thisuncertainworldthe onlycertaintruth
is thateverything in the worldis
made ofdelusions,exceptthe dreamsthemselves
whichare the onlythingsone can call reallytrue.
The structureof this travestyis exactly the same as Kamalakanta.Its
tone is one of the same intense self-irony;it uses the same logic of
inversion. In Tagore's own artistic evolution this tone was rather
shortlived;he would diverge fromthis self-ironicaltraditionin which
the babu constantly searched for the limits of his being.44 Bengali
literature becomes more sombre and sanctimonious, until in modern
times, it loses all taste for this cleansing, purifyinglaughter. But in
Tagore's early writings,the babu displays the same features, men-
tally and physically.His physical scantiness is dramatized: the world
could doubt his existence until he burst into speech. What still con-
stitutes his identityis the irrepressible,vacuous verbalism. This fatal
gift is not an ability to produce arguments, or sense, but sounds
(shabdahai). We are leftin no doubt that we are dealing with a direct
descendant of the animal whose special giftwas the multiplication
of words.
Lapse of time has done nothing to improve his arrogant incivility,
though his skill lies in a derivative, unproductive art. He is adept
not at producing ideas but at the parasitic functionof interpreting;
he is confident before he knows what it is about that he can im-
prove on what is being said. What impresses his audience is stilted

4 Again, in a perfectly traditionalstyle.Religious textswere not contentwith

describingtheextraordinary eventsoftheirdivineand mortalprotagonists. Usually,
theyrecitedthe thisand otherwordly benefitsto be gained by hearingthe narrat-
ives-an entirelyunderstandablemove in a culturewithsuch a teemingand com-
petitivemarketforennoblingstories.Tagore'spoem accordingly spoofsthisdeclara-
tionat the end ofHing Ting Chhat, 120.
4 Though that does not mean that he abandoned the projectof criticizingthe
pretensionsof middleclass Bengali culture.His novel,Gora,forinstance,is a com-
plex extensionof thiscritique;but the literary,formal,
mode had changed:he would
make muchless use of ironicalbanter.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 399
nonsense,but interestingly,the elementsin thatgreatcolligationof
senseless conceptsare all individuallysignificantideas of classical
Indianphilosophy. Put togetherproperly, it couldproducea sensible,
if uncompellingargument,but by the depravingtouchof the babu
it degeneratesinto unmitigateddrivel.The babu does not achieve
the coherenceof eithertraditionalIndian discourseor the scientific
reliabilityof modernrationalistideas. In this traditionof self-irony
thus the babu reflectedon the contingencyof his own historical
emergence,witha mixtureof admirationand secretanxiety.

IV. The Meaning of Nonsense: Sukumar Ray's Aboltabol

The last point where I wish to analyse this tradition,where it is

alreadybecomingtoo light,is in SukumarRay's Aboltabol(1923).45
This is a highlyidiosyncratic workand its nonsenseis so pure, its
pleasureat defying expectationsofnormalcyso intensethatit is odd
to expect social commentin its delightfulpages. Yet, miraculously,
the figurewhichrecursin its verses,oftenin an identicalform,is
the babu. Ray has a poem directlytitled,the Babu.46He has now
turnedintoa buttof generalcriticism,and it is worthyof note that
Ray's babu, in his brieflife withinthis shortverse too, meets his
denouementat the handsofan uncomprehending lady.But the most
directdescriptionof the babu comes,I think,in the famouspoem,
Tansgaru, 'the WesternisedCow'. Here the babu makes his appear-
ance even in the animal world,the logic of babu-nesshas spread so
far,naturallywithappropriately startlingconsequences.Hybridiza-
tionwitha low imitativewesternismand the surrenderof cultural
identityproceedsrelentlesslyafterBankim's time. It captures the
Bengali social world,redefining everything fromstylesof speech to
habitsof food.It spread fromidle adults whomBankimderidedto
college-going adolescentsin Tagore. In Ray,particularly throughhis
vivid,invertingimagination, this logic of westernizationhas spread
fromthe social worldto the worldof neighbouringanimals. After
all, theycould not live under colonialismfor so long and remain
entirelyunaffected.Animals too can become decisivelyand dedic-

was
45 Aboltabol translatedtwice,oncebySatyajitRay,and morerecently bySukanta
Choudhury, cf'The BlightyCow',Selected
Nonsense
ofSukumar Ray (OxfordUniversity
Press,Delhi, 1987), 41.
46 Babu, in SukumarRay, Khai Khai. Sukumar Rachanavali(Patra's Publication,
Calcutta, 1985), 33-
400 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

atedly westernized. In this poem, accordingly,Ray speaks of a cul-

tured cow, a pioneer of westernization among its species. And the
poem clearly implies that although there is something seemingly
appropriate in our wonder at his general demeanor, there is also
something deeply inappropriate and unjust. For, after all, the
tansgaru merely re-enacts what every babu does everydaywithout
causing the slightest surprise. From the cow's point of view, we see
his ways as ridiculous only because of our inexcusable anthropocen-
trism, our failure to treat all beings equally, our tendency ground-
lessly to discriminate between human and animal babus. If cows had
a theoretical apparatus comparable to that of modern cultural
critics,theywould undoubtedlyhave produced something compelling
about the invidious ideology of humanism.
All the charcateristics Bankim had detected earlier reappear in
the enlightened cow, who, notably, is a male. Like human babus, he
is a victim of misrecognized identity: in fact, he is not a cow but
belongs to a species of bird. But the world,with characteristic injust-
ice denies him that title,just as the Bengali babu is unjustly classi-
fied by people as a mere Indian on purely racial grounds, though in
terms of his ideas, he has everythingin common with the European
rationalist. The cow's residence, like the babu's is a sign of his iden-
tity: with unmistakable symbolism, he has an office,the space of
colonial reason, not a stable, as his residence. Like babus in Bankim
and Tagore, his obvious preference in positions is for lying down,
symbolicallyrenouncing action, as befitsall animals of unusual intel-
lect. Even his physical characteristics are middle class-he sports a
neat parting in his dark and immaculate hair (phitphatkalo chul,teri-
kata chosta), evidently an attempt to imitate the common Bengali
officegoer'stoilet. Inconstancy is the special mark of his character,
but what decisively marks his identityis his choice of food:

He does not eat fodder,grass,leaves or hay;

norgram,flour,or sweetsmade of these;
he is indifferentto the delicaciesof meat and payes
he lives,as rule,on candles and soapysoup.

Clearly, this list of rejected food contains a subtle hierarchy. The

enlightened cow finds unacceptable the list of food that unwest-
ernised and indigenist cows would presumably enjoy, the standard
menu of grass, hay and corn. He rejects even the usual food of indi-
genous human beings: but here we must not ignore the sharp culin-
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 401

ary slope. Chholaand chhatuare edibles of lower orders of people

fromNorthIndia, especiallymigrantlabourersfromneighbouring
Bihar. The list then rises throughordinaryflourand sweetsto the
great highpointsof Bengali cuisine,preparationsof fishand meat
(amish)and payes,the ultimatein Bengali desserts.But such sub-
rationalfoodfails to tempthim. Only a Westernregimenof soup
made ofsoap and candles--bothofWesternprovenance-appeals to
his cultivatedtaste. Evidently,to the Tansgaru,the pointof eating
is not gastronomic,but ideological.We are led to suspect that he
chose his foodon groundsof rationalism.As in the case ofVaisham-
payana's babus, who could not conversein Bengali,once he trieda
piece ofordinarybovinefood,a piece of rag,and was laid up in bed
withindigestionforthreemonths.
At firstsightthe behaviourof this cow mightseem strange;but
to Bankim'sKamalakanta, it would not. He admittedin his famous
conversation withthe socialistcat thathumanbeingssystematically
discriminate againstanimalsin mattersofpoliticaltheory, and found
objectionable in animals what they took for granted theirown
in
species.47The onlythingwrong with thiscow was thathe had learnt
to imitatehis superiors:he had simply,drivenby the spiritof the
age, become a babu. Meanwhile,the babu had reached a sort of
natural limit in his historicalcareer. The Tansgaru showed the
extent,the limitsand the ironicalconsequencesof the babu's con-
quest of societyand history.

V. Dreams of An Other Self

But this discussionof the ironicaltraditionwill not be completeif

we do not look at anotherset of signs,markersof a verydifferent
movein theconsciousnessof theBengali middleclass. Bankimis the
founderofthisverydifferent line ofthoughtabout thehistoricalself.
The discourseof both the Kamalakantapieces in Bankim and the
earlypoems of Tagore show a dualityof thinkingin this reflection
about the Bengali self.The primarydiscoursein both is powerfully
ironical;but,on occasion,anothertypeof belief-of a verydifferent
tone and temper--crossesit, resoundsthroughit. This is a voice
whichis a natural end of this ironiclament,but is verydifferent
fromit in tone.Even the individualself,despiteour conceits,is not

47 Bidal,BR, ii, 85-8.

402 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

beyond correction.The collective self appears even more eligible for

such correction. The tone of lament, the recitation of qualities that
are absent in the character of the modern Bengali can lead to fantas-
ies about another self,a self that could be, a self that is verydifferent
from what it is. In Kamalakanta often in the midst of ironical dis-
course there is a sudden change into a language of inspiration and
dreaming.48
Tagore's poems reveal with graphic clarity another crucial move
of early patriotism.The ironical babu is out to invent a differentself.
He wishes to be and dreams that he is another. I have shown else-
where that this process of making a new self involves the Bengali
intellectual in appropriating the historyof others, of Rajputs, Mar-
athas, and others not equally renowned for their command of Euro-
pean rationalism.49But in Tagore's youthfulpoems in his search for
ingredients to make his new self he goes even to the Bedouins in the
Arab deserts.
Afterrecountingthe ordinaryBengali's enjoymentof the pleasures
of colonial servility,one poem comes to an immediate counterpoint.
Of course the earlier description is slander on Bengalis in general;
what was described there would constitute a portrait of all Bengalis
only if all Bengalis were babus. But it was typical of the babu to
ignore such small errors of computation. This is counterpointed
immediately by the free life in the desert of the alleged Bedouins
(in point of fact, alas, equally vulnerable to the forces of British
imperialism). But facts can hardly stand in way of such a rush of
feelings.
Would I were an Arab Bedouin
withthe greatdesertundermyfeet
stretching to the horizon,
on a gallopinghorse,in a cloud of dust
pouringmylifeon to the sky,witha firekindledin mysoul,
movingendlesslyday and night,
a spear in hand and hope in myheart,
neverlyingstill,just as a desertstorm
irresistible,movesthroughall thatcomes in its way.
This poem can help us understand the curious connection between
the two apparently irreconcilable moods. The poem is called Duranta
Asha, an irrepressible wish, something that is intensely desired and
yet known to be unattainable. This is precisely what gives rise to

"8 The best exampleof thisis the essayAmarDurgotsav,

BR, ii, 79-81.
9 In Unhappy Consciousness.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 403
humour because all the contradictory aspects of this mentality
cannot be captured in any other mode of discourse. But this humour
is not an end in itself, or the end or destination of this humorous
discourse. A movement towards a cancellation of humour is con-
tained within the humour itself.Tagore's poetic utterer sets out the
theme with admirable clarity at the start of the poem: 'when you
are being ripped apart by desire' (obsessive or drunken desire,
literally), or by an irrepressible wish, 'when you lose yourself in
anger' at the encumbrances that fate has placed around you, then,
even then, you have to acquiesce, because 'Bengalis are professional
mammals' unfit for more strenuous exertion. The depiction of the
Bengali that follows replicates Bankim's list of adjectives meticu-
lously: civil(bhadra), peaceable (shanta), with a domesticated
soul(poshamanae pran), lying prone contented under his buttoned
shirt, decorous in manner, his face always composed, an idle body,
a slow walk, responding to the gravitationof his home, well groomed,
his body filledwith the juices of sleep, short in intelligence, large in
width. Notice that even the style is similar, deploying the same
stream of adjectives of contempt.
To be other than what he is, the Bengali must have the opposite
attributes. The transformedbabu would like to live a life of heroic
action as opposed to the routines of his office-'on the horseback',
'in a cloud of dust', 'with firein his heart'. He is no longer enclosed
in the familiar space: 'like the storm of the desert that does not
brook any bonds', and 'with a spear in his hand and hope in his
heart'. Obviously the entire imagery of the poem develops a coun-
tertypeto what the Bengali is. This search has now transcended the
Bengali heroes of earlier, more martial times, even the Rajputs-
their unattainable heroic selves, the permanent inhabitants of his
dreams, reaching a figure even more exotic. This is not arbitrary,
because it follows the same generative principle. The familiar geo-
graphy of the mango grove and the enclosed space of the middle
class home is now contrasted to the unfamiliar geography of the
endless burning desert. It accentuates the central contrast of the
verbalizing inefficacyof the Bengali and the imagined decisiveness
of the Arab. 'With a spear in hand and hope in my heart' is I think
the crucial trope, part dream, part suggestion, part argument for
the ascending of passive resentment into militancy,and militancy
into arms. These are typicallydreams that suffuseBankim's novels
and his alternative historyof India. Opposite to this dream are the
crucial lines which indicate the failure of defiance, the impossibility
404 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

of the babu's feeling rebellious at the indignityof political servitude.

Can you everfeelbeside yourself withrage?
are you evermaddenedbyinsults?
does the bloodboil in yourveins?
does the perpetualsmileof contempt,the sharppointof insult
pierceyourheartlike lightning?50
It is his ability to rationalize subjection through the delusive idea
that he wins the respect of the British by his collaboration that
makes the babu so contemptible. Unlike others, the Bengali does
not merely submit to foreign rule; he justifies and rationalizes it:
'the prisoner boasts of the length of his chain'.
The poem, Duranta Asha, shares another feature with Bankim's
Kamalakanta.It wavers constantly,and I think significantly,between
two verb forms.Part of it is in the firstperson singular, part in third
person plural, capturingwith great sensitivitythe tensions of an indi-
vidual self implicated in a large collective which it can neither own
nor disown. It wavers between the single, critical rebellious self and
others composing the communityof Bengali middle class, contented
in their enjoyment of colonial rule. Technically, this captures the
tension between the individual and the collective self. This is particu-
larly apt, because the self that speaks here, exactly like Kamalakanta,
includes itself without self-delusionin the larger collectivityit criti-
cizes. Like Kamalakanta,this creates a laughter in which, tragically,
the self is the victim.
Within all this irony,there is of course a great silence. In search
of this other and possible self, the babu, armed with his mastery of
world history, ranges far and wide, from his own early Bengali
annals, to the folkloreof Rajasthan, to the imaginary defiance of the
Bedouins fora model of non-verbaldefiance. Ironically,he could have
found nearer home, had he looked hard, examples of people, not so
long ago, who 'had felt maddened by insults', some who thought as
long as the spear was in hand there was hope. The events of 1857
were not even thirtyyears past, but they never come in for even the
most oblique mention-they are wrapped in a strange forgetfulness,
a vast silence at the heart of all this eloquence about the melancholy
of servitude. Neither Tagore, nor even Bankim, usually refer to that
event even with a metaphorical indirectness. These dreams were
irrevocablyof the nature of dreams; if they threatened to become
50 Duranta Asha.
 LAUGHTER AND SUBJECTIVITY 405
reality,in the historythat immediatelysurroundedhim, the babu
tendedto recoil,and erase it fromhis long and eloquent memory.
Yet in spite of this,Bankim'sfeelingof indignity yieldsa senti-
mentthatis trulyand deeplypolitical.It permeateshis entirecreat-
ive life,whileTagore passes throughthisin a momentofhis artistic
development.In Bankim, this ironysimplyshapes a question to
which his later novels tryto providean answer. Evidently,these
ironicpoems do not have such significancein Tagore's intellectual
biography:theydo notindicatea highpoint,or crisisor a newdepar-
ture.On the contrary, thismannerof ironywouldgraduallydecline
in his poeticwork.In his autobiographicalfragmenthe would treat
these sentimentsas 'warmingourselvesin the comfortablefireof
excitement'5'and dismissthemas less thanserious.His art,accord-
ingly,would enter,and indeed flourishinside, the 'enclosed space'
of uppermiddleclass life.Of coursethisis not trueofTagore alone,
but representsa generalhistoricturnin Bengaliliterature.The iron-
ical alternativethathintsat politicalmilitancy is givenup as fanciful,
unrealistic.Bengali fictionreturnsfromthe desert to the mango
grove,fromthe smoke of the battlefields,in which signs of a lost
and bitterwar can be hazilyseen, to the securityof the domestic
space, fromthe joys and sufferings of collectiveaction to personal
heartbreaks.Its sense ofhistoricaltragedyshrinksand retreats.The
literatureof the babu, in successiveperiodsof its development,has
movedfromtheworld,to the home,to the bed, his ultimatetheatre
and stage.52Ironywas also to change form,and assume a more tor-
tured,melancholydirection.Kamalakanta's irony,despiteits sense of
indignity ineradicably mixed with the historical present,had notlost
its touchentirelywithlaughterin theordinarysense. The predomin-
ant typeofironyin Bengali literatureafterthe fortieswouldappear
in the deliberatecontradiction betweenthe utteranceand the form,
like the famous poem by Sukanta Bhattacharyyaannouncingin
poetrytheend ofpoetry,thebirthofa worldofutterdisillusionment,
whereall enchantmentis tornto shreds.In a worldof hunger,the
onlylanguage,he said withan ironydrippingwitha verydifferent
anger,was prose,and in a wonderfulrhetoricaldesecration,the full
moon, in an invertedmetaphor,becomes a half burnt piece of

5' RabindranathThakur,Jivansmriti(Visva Bharati,Calcutta, 1968) pp. 78-9.

52 The last stagereachedin morerecentnovelsimitativeofEuropeanexistential-
ist literature.
406 SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ

bread.53This is also irony;but emerging from a verydifferentorder

of disenchantment.
In my longer study of Bankimchandra I have attributed this self-
ironical laughter to a peculiar, almost miraculous, configurationof
artistic and political circumstances in Bengali history.54It created a
sense that two differentways of being in the world,coming fromtwo
civilizations,were available to the cultivated Bengali, and a person of
real refinementfound it hard to make a wholly one-sided choice.
The two civilizations had been brought into contact by history,each
providing entirely sensible grounds for criticizing the other. Euro-
pean culture offeredarguments undermining superstitions of tradi-
tional Indian social norms. But Indian culture, equally, offeredreas-
onable grounds for being sceptical about the immodest claims of
western, especially, colonial rationalism. This kept the 'Bengali'
character, his collective personality,in a state of tension, of unfin-
ishedness and search. By the 1940s, the Bengali babu, along with
political groups all over India, had overcome their historical anxiety,
and found an answer to the uncertainty about the collective self.
Consequently, there is a decline in this form of humour and self-
irony; but with that they renounced a great principle of intellectual
creativity.Eventually they would allow their intellectualism to sink
to a level where even the most obvious decline in Bengali society
and culture would not be described, for fear of betraying cultural
uncertainty.By turninga communist,the babu has not overcome his
historical imperfections,but simplygiven them a left-wingform.His
verbalizing excesses, as anyone conversant with Bengali politics
would know, had not diminished. Left politics has provided him with
a more appropriate theatre for kindling more fearsome verbal fires.
But he had lost the rare ability to turn the humour against himself,
and get rid of his pretensions.

5 Sukanta Bhattacharyya, 'He Mahajivan', Chhadpatra

(Saraswat Library,Cal-
cutta, 1382 Bengali) p. 87.
54 SudiptaKaviraj,The Unhappy ch. 2.
Consciousness,