‘Rati Viparite’: Gitagovinda and Erotic (Trans)migrations in Nineteenth Century Bengal II

Abstract

The paper deals with some of the translations, editions and adaptations of Gitagovinda in the latter half of the nineteenth century and the initial years of the twentieth century. Focusing on the post-mutiny years, the paper studies these translations in the context of the shifts in colonial interactions during the British Raj and the eventual development of Indian Nationalism. The paper deals with the influential English translation of the text by Edwin Arnold (published in 1875) along with a number of Bengali translations (and reinterpretations) of the text in the Fin de siècle, which were catalyzed by Nationalist ideations of aesthetics and taste.