Banaras

This collection turns to the modern history of Banaras, a city in northern India, and looks beyond the sacred image that usually defines it. Its contributors are specialists in north Indian culture and history, and their essays consider how a range of urban identities took shape during and after the British colonial era.

The chapters draw on archaeology, literature, history and architecture. Together they argue that the stories told about Banaras were largely formed through the experience of British rule. The authors also insist that Indian people shaped these changes, even as colonial rule transformed the city in many ways.

The volume examines how modernization projects in Banaras were full of contradictions, and how the religious narratives attached to the city were themselves open to change. The introduction places Banaras within a broader body of South Asian urban scholarship.

The book is intended for scholars and students of north Indian culture and urban history, as well as general readers who want a fuller understanding of this complicated city.