Vishnu’s Crowded Temple: India Since the Great Rebellion by Maria Misra
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Vishnu’s Crowded Temple is an intriguing take on the history of modern India. As the title indicates, the book focuses on the politics of late British Raj in India and that of the independent Indian state after 1947. This is very much a political history. Ms. Misra offers much food for thought on the impact of caste, class and religion on political life in modern India.
The book is well written and the style is informal and anecdotal. The author tackles a topic that could be rather dull with panache and colour. The best sections of the book are those around the turn of the 20th century. We find befuddled victorian British administrators attempting to categorise and control the Indian electorate as well as a number of ambitious Indian politicians, including M.K. Gandhi, jostling for power and influence with nationhood and independence now a distinct possibility.
The book traces the dominant forces of modern Indian politics from the Hindu reform sects of the nineteenth century to the caste based “reservation politics” in the late twentieth. The period covered by the book encompasses rapid industrialisation, globalisation, two world wars and a tumultuous partition of the Indian subcontinent. The book focuses on political history at the expense of ignoring or skimming some important chapters in Indian history including the relationship with Pakistan and China, separatist movements in Kashmir and the north-eastern states and the impact of terrorism in more recent times. We also don’t get much insight into the everyday life of Indians with the focus on politics and economics.
This is not a good “first Indian history book”. If you are new to India, I would recommend “India: A History” by John Keay or the excellent “India after Gandhi” by Ramachandara Guha. With the great “Tamasha” that is the Indian elections coming up in 2014, Vishnu’s Crowded Temple is an excellent read for those who want to understand more about Indian politics and political attitudes.