The History of a Legend

Accounting for Popular Histories of Revolutionary Nationalism in India

Bibliographic Data

ID3632745
AuthorsKama Maclean (0000-0002-8562-5696, UNSW Sydney, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume46
Issue6
Pages1540-1571
Publication date2012-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x12000042
OpenAlexW2014106769
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited5

Narratives about the revolutionary movement have largely been the preserve of the popular domain in India, as Christopher Pinney has recently pointed out. India's best-known revolutionary, Bhagat Singh-who was executed by the British in 1931 for his role in the Lahore Conspiracy Case-has been celebrated more in posters, colourful bazaar histories and comic books than in academic tomes. These popular formats have established a hegemonic narrative of his life that has proved to be resistant to subsequent interventions as new materials, such as freshly-declassified intelligence reports and oral history testimonies, come to light. This paper accounts for why Bhagat Singh's life story has predominantly prevailed in the domain of the popular, with special reference to the secrecy of the revolutionary movement and the censure and censorship to which it was subjected in the 1930s

Art · Bazaar · Censorship · Comics · Legend · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Nationalism · Political science · Revolutionary movement · Secrecy · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · History · Indian History and Philosophy · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies