Yamunaparyatan: Journeying and Religious Conversion

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Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 - Deepra Dandekar, Leibnitz Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin, Germany

Baba Padmanji (1831-1906) was a firebrand Christian reformer of nineteenth century Bombay Presidency, who wrote the first ever Marathi novel in 1857, describing a woman’s, Yamuna’s travels across various towns in Maharashtra, and through her journey, towards marriage and religious conversion. While 1856 witnessed the passing of the Widows Remarriage Act, Padmanji’s Yamunaparyatan in 1857, functioned as a socio-legal treatise in its support, written in a fictional format that he insisted, was grounded in research. Padmanji supported Vidyasagar, and expressed his own emotive ideas about women’s reform through the metaphor of Yamuna’s journey. Yamuna, a young girl, travels all over Maharashtra with her husband Vinayak, and meets many unhappy widows. She understands their plight, and witnesses myriad immoralities surrounding their sexual exploitation, while advocating relentlessly for their remarriage. Yamuna confronts the urgent need for feminist reform in Bombay Presidency that would liberate women from both Hinduism and the hypocrisy of Hindu reformers—something she imbibes after her own widowhood. Her metaphoric travels hardly end with widowhood, as she goes on to remarry and ultimately convert to Christianity. Padmanji relates Yamuna’s journey, both internal and external, as a story of feminine moral agency, endorsing the true reformer’s need to travel, listen, argue, research, present, and debate ideas, with the larger aim of facilitating self-transformation and social change towards the discovery of true religion. This presentation discusses the layered, non-tangible circulation of Christian reform ideas expressed in Yamunaparyatan, that includes Padmanji’s own journey towards conversion and divorce that propelled him to write; Yamuna’s journey and encounter with widows and reformers alike; her marital journey with Vinayak, Hinduism, and Hindu families that ends disastrously; and finally, her remarriage and conversion to Christianity that metaphorically heralds the journey’s destination.

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Department: St Antony's College

Date Added: 21/01/2022

Duration: 00:15:56

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The cycle of devotion: circulation in pilgrimage, procession, and Darshan’s circuit in the Vithoba’s cult

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Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 - Eric Ferrie, Independent Scholar, Paris, France

At the 14th Maharashtra conference on « sthalantar », I showed that, in the varkari pilgrimage, the way of moving was as important as the destination itself. At the upcoming conference, on circulation, I would like to emphasize the fact that this dynamic aspect of the varkari pilgrimage between saints’ and god’s places is thus circular. Indeed, I intend to show that this pilgrimage is a complete circle in which the reciprocal and symetrical relation of devotion between the devotee and the saint and Vithoba closes the loop.
As such, this pilgrimage should be considered from the angle of procession as well. In this respect, a comparison with other processions in the Vithoba’s cult, for instance, the Haridas’s kala ritual - in which the temple’s priests carry Vithoba’s sandals (paduka) back and forth between their temple and the god’s one in Pandharpur- as well as the darshan’s circulation in Vithoba’s and the saint Jnandev’s temples will also show how status and religious authority are at stake while considering the notion of circulation in ritual and sacred places. Finally, going through such circulations will allow us to reconsider the relation between hagiography and devotional practice.

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Department: St Antony's College

Date Added: 21/01/2022

Duration: 00:19:26

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कृषितंत्रज्ञानाचे आदान प्रदान

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Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 - Pankaj Jaiswal, SPPU, Pune

नवस्वातंत्र भारताला व महाराष्टाला आर्थिक स्थैर्य प्राप्त करून द्यायचे असेल तर शेती विकासाला चालना दिल्याशिवाय पर्याय नाही. त्यासाठी आधुनिक शास्त्रीय पद्धतीने शेती करण्याला अधिक महत्व देने व शेतीचे आधुनिक व शास्त्रीय तंत्रज्ञान सर्व शेतकऱ्यांपर्यंत पोहोचवणे क्रमप्राप्त होते. यासाठी तत्कालीन कृषीमंत्री डॉ. पंजाबराव देशमुखांनी १९६० साली दिल्लीला पहिली इतिहासप्रसिद्ध जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शनी भरविली.

जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शनी भरविण्याचा मुख्य उद्देश, भारतातील तसेच महाराष्ट्रातील शेतकऱ्यांना आधुनिक शेतीची माहिती व्हावी, संकरीत बियाणांचा वापर कसा करावा, नवीन तंत्रज्ञान समजून घ्यावे, दुसऱ्या शेतकऱ्यांचे शेतीविषयक आचार विचार समजून घ्यावेत, हा होता.

या प्रदर्शनीमध्ये अमेरिका, रशिया, इंग्लंड, जर्मनी, पोलंड, इराक, अफगाणिस्तान, सिलोन,म्यानमार, व्हिएतनाम, चीन, मंगोलिया व इराण इत्यादि देशांनी आपल्या ऐतिहासिक व सांस्कृतिक परंपरेचे दर्शन घडविणारे मंडप उभारून स्वदेशीय कृषी व अन्य उद्योगविषयक प्रगतीचे टप्पे आकर्षकपणे या मंडपात प्रदर्शित केले होते. तसेच युनोची आंतरराष्ट्रीय कृषी संघटना, आंतरराष्ट्रीय कृषी उत्पादकांची संघटना यांनीही आपापले प्रदर्शन कक्ष उघडून जागतिक स्तरावर अन्न व कृषी यांच्या प्रगतिकरिता काय काय करता येणे शक्य आहे याचे प्रत्ययकारी दर्शन घडविले होते. याचबरोबर केंद्रीय अन्न व कृषी मंत्रालयाचे विविध विभागांनी व विविध राज्यांनी आपापल्या प्रदेशातील कृषी व इतर उद्योगधंद्यांची शोभामंडपे लावली होती. तत्कालीन दोन महासत्ता अमेरिका व रशिया या राष्ट्रांनी कोट्यवधी रुपये खर्च करून आपल्या राष्ट्रातील कृषी व विज्ञान या क्षेत्रातील प्रगती दर्शवण्यासाठी आकर्षक व भव्य मंडप उभारले होते व त्यांना 'अमेरिकी मेला' व 'रशियन पव्हेलियन' ही नावे दिली होती जी कृषी प्रदर्शनातील प्रमुख आकर्षक स्थळे होती.

या जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शनीला भारताचे राष्ट्रपती डॉ. राजेंद्रप्रसाद, भारताचे पंतप्रधान पंडित जवाहरलाल नेहरू, जागतिक कृषिप्रदर्शनीचे अध्यक्ष डॉ. पंजाबराव देशमुख, अमेरिकेचे राष्ट्राध्यक्ष आयसेन हावर आणि रशियाचे अध्यक्ष बोरोशीलाव्ह, रशियन प्रधानमंत्री निकिता क्रुश्चेव, जर्मनी, पोलंड, नेपाळ, कंबोडिया इत्यादी देशांचे प्रधानमंत्री उपस्थित होते. या सगळ्या मान्यवरांनी आपल्या भाषणात वैज्ञानिक शेती व शेतीच्या आधुनिक तंत्रज्ञानाविषयी त्याच्या उपयुक्ततेविषयी आपले मत व्यक्त केले.

भाऊसाहेबांनी भरविलेल्या या जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शनीमध्ये तत्कालीन काळात उदयास आलेले शेतीविषयक यंत्र (उदा.ट्रॅक्टर, नांगरणी, इंजन), बी-बियाण्याच्या नवीन जाती, गायी, बैल,बकरी व म्हशींच्या संकरित जाती, तसेच विविध पिकांच्या लागवडी संदर्भाची माहिती, इत्यादी गोष्टी प्रदर्शनीत ठेवण्यात आल्या. यामागील उद्देश एकच होता की येथील शेतकर्यांना आधुनिक यंत्राची व आधुनिक पद्धतीच्या शेतीची माहिती व्हावी व आपल्या विशिष्ट गरजा आणि परिस्थिती लक्षात घेऊन आवश्यक तो बदल करून त्याचा उपयोग शेतीमध्ये करावा. डॉ. पंजाबराव देशमुखांनी जगातील कृषी संशोधन, तंत्रशास्त्र, यांत्रिकीकरण, पशुपालन आणि कृषीमालाची गुणवत्ता या जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शनीद्वारे भारतातील शेतकरी वर्गापर्यंत पोहोचवले. प्रदर्शनीने प्रात्यक्षिके दाखवून विज्ञाननिष्ठा व प्रयत्नवाद शिकविला. भाऊसाहेबांनी कृषीक्रांती करण्यासाठी विश्वातील कृषिज्ञान येथील शेतकऱ्यांपर्यंत आणले.

या जागतिक कृषिप्रदर्शनीला महाराष्ट्रातील शेतकऱ्यांनी भरघोस प्रतिसाद दिला भाऊसाहेबांनी सुद्धा महाराष्ट्रातील शेतकऱ्यांना अधिकाधीक संख्येने प्रदर्शनी बघण्यास व नवीन तंत्रज्ञान व पद्धती समजून घेण्यास प्रवृत्त केले. या प्रदर्शनीचा सकारात्मक परिणाम काही वर्षातच दिसून आला महाराष्ट्राच्या शेतकऱ्यांनी नवीन तंत्रज्ञान व आधुनिक पद्धतीचा उपयोग करून अधिकाधिक उत्पादन घेण्यास सुरुवात केली आणि काही वर्षातच महाराष्ट्रात हरित क्रांती घडून आली. महाराष्ट्र हे अन्नधान्याच्या बाबतीत स्वयंपूर्ण राज्य बनले याचे श्रेय हे डॉ. पंजाबराव देशमुखांनी भरविलेल्या जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शनीला जाते. ही जागतिक कृषी प्रदर्शन म्हणजे भाऊसाहेबांच्या कल्पकतेचे, दूरदृष्टीचे व शेतकऱ्यांच्या हितसंवर्धनाचे प्रतीकच होते.
या संशोधनासाठी दुय्यम पुस्तकासह कृषी मंत्रालयातील रेकॉर्डस्, सरकारी वार्षिक रिपोर्ट, विशेषांक इ. चा वापर करणार आहे.

Exchange of agricultural technologies
If new independent India and Maharashtra want to achieve economic stability, there is no alternative but to promote agricultural development. For this, more importance should be given to modern farming by using modern and scientific technology of agriculture. This modern technology should be passed on to all the farmers. To achieve this goal then Agriculture Minister, In 1960 Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh organized the first World Agricultural Exhibition in Delhi.

The main aim of the World Agricultural Exhibition was to inform the farmers of India and Maharashtra about modern farming, how to use hybrid seeds, to understand new technologies, to understand the agricultural practices of other farmers.
In this exhibition, the countries like United States, Russia, England, Germany, Poland, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ceylon, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, and Iran, etc., set up their historical and cultural heritage stalls. Also, UNO's International Agricultural Organization, the International Agricultural Manufacturers' Association had opened their own stalls and demonstrated what can be done for the progress of food and agriculture globally. 'The American Fair' and the 'Russian Pavilion' were the major attractions in the agricultural exhibition.

President of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, President of the World Agriculture Exhibition Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh, Presidents of countries such as US President Eisenhower and Russia's President Boroshilav, Russian Prime Minister Nikita Kruschev, Germany, Poland, Nepal, Cambodia, and others were present. All these dignitaries expressed their views on scientific farming and its usefulness in the modern technology of agriculture.

In World Agricultural Exhibition, organized by Bhausaheb showcased information about agricultural cultivars (eg, tractors, plowing, engines), new seed varieties, breeds of cows, bulls, goats, and buffaloes, as well as information regarding the cultivation of various crops, etc. The purpose was to make the farmers aware of the modern machinery and methods of agriculture. Another aim was to take into account the specific needs of Indian farmers and make the necessary changes to use them in Indian agriculture. Through the World Agricultural Exhibition worlds agricultural he introduced new research, technology, mechanization, animal husbandry and quality of agriculture to the farmers of India. Bhausaheb brought farmers to the World Agriculture Exhibition for the revolution in the field of agriculture.

Farmers in Maharashtra responded tremendously to this global agrarian exhibition. The positive result of this exhibition was realized in a few years. The farmers of Maharashtra started using more technology and modern methods to produce more and more, and within a few years, a green revolution took place in Maharashtra. Maharashtra as a self-sufficient state for food credit goes to World Agricultural Exhibition organized by Panjabrao Deshmukh.

For this paper, government yearly reports, records from agriculture ministry will be used.

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Department: St Antony's College

Date Added: 21/01/2022

Duration: 00:19:19

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Debating Sexuality: Morality in the Early-Twentieth-Century Marathi Literary Culture

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Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 - Rahul Sarwate, University of Ahmadabad

In this paper, I explore an interplay between sexuality and power by examining the production and circulation of a new moral sensibility in early-twentieth-century Marathi literary culture. In particular, I examine two specific conversations about the relationship between literature, art, and sexuality in the 1930s: A) a debate instigated by a painting titled, Oleti ((A Drenched Woman), which was printed as a cover page for Ratnakar, a literary magazine, in June 1930. Oleti was quite controversial in the Marathi public sphere throughout the 1930s and led to a great number of debates about the relationship between art, sexuality, and obscenity, where the central concern was not the quality of the artistic expression but the moral anxiety about the depiction of female sexuality through the works of art. B) A debate between Bhaskarrao Jadhav, a renowned non-Brahmin intellectual, and Mahadev Shastri Divekar, a Sanskrit pundit of Pradnya Patha Shala, the reformist seminary at Wai, about the supposed celibacy of the Hindu god Hanuman. This debate, though drew upon philology and hermeneutics of reading the Ramayana, ultimately revolved around the relationship between sexuality and morality in the modern Marathi public.

I discuss these debates to explore the circulation of new moral aesthetic, as it emerged through the literary and cultural modernity in Marathi, particularly in the post-Tilak age. I seek to show that the materiality of the body, its romantic and sensual fervor was at the very center of early-twentieth-century Marathi literary culture.

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Department: St Antony's College

Date Added: 21/01/2022

Duration: 00:22:39

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Marx Comes to Maharashtra: Javdekar, Satyagrahi Samajwad and the shaping of Transnational Emancipatory Thought Zones

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Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 - Rajeshwari Deshpande, SPPU, Pune

This paper is about Acharya Javdekar, a Marathi intellectual from the late colonial period (1894-1955). Javdekar tried to appropriate the ideas of Gandhi and Marx in a formulation that he called Satyagrahi Samajwad. It was a significant theoretical attempt on part of Javdekar to reroute Gandhi. I argue in the proposed paper that it was also an unusual and ambitious attempt to reroute Marx as Javdekar translates the Marxian message for the Marathi/ Indian audience.

Javdekar was a nationalist at heart. The anti- colonial nationalism remained the main political project for him. However, I submit that in his ethical project of Satyagrahi Samajwad, Javdekar transcends and subverts the colonial hierarchies of knowledge and power as he enters into a nuanced, transnational conversation with Gandhi and Marx. Marxism had alerted Javdekar of the material basis of social relations and therefore how political struggles in the material realm became a precondition for realization of Swaraj. Most of Javdekar’s writings (in Marathi) thus look for spaces to relate and develop Marxism in the Indian context and to link the anti colonial struggle with anti capitalist politics. At the same time, as a rare non-derivative response to the Marxian politics, Javdekar also argues how the concepts of Truth and Satyagraha in Gandhi would enrich the ethical possibilities within Marxism.

I argue that Acharya Javdekar’s interventions in the form of Satyagrahi Smajwad must be viewed as a rare, courageous (and unfortunately completely neglected) intellectual exercise that began novel conversations in the world of ideas. It must be seen as one of the many attempts of dynamic interactions between situated visions of human emancipation that contributed to the shaping of cosmopolitan thought zones in pursuit of shared and yet historically situated goals of emancipation.

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Department: St Antony's College

Date Added: 21/01/2022

Duration: 00:21:30

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Prabodhankar Thackeray: a paradoxical instigator of plurality in the Non-Brahmin Print sphere

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Part of the International conference on Maharashtra in September 2021 -Suraj Thube, University of Oxford

‘Circulation of ideas’ in Maharashtra has been a critical site of investigation amongst scholars working from ancient to modern times. Maharashtra’s history and culture, like all other regions in India, have undergone massive changes in terms of the way it has been perceived especially in the socio-political realm. As far as modern institutions are concerned, family, kinship and community have been instrumental in molding a peculiar notion of the ‘public’. Along with these, the ‘public-political’ domain, especially of the early 20th century, was largely influenced specifically by the moral and ethical judgements of urban educated, upper caste elites of the 19th century.

At the same time, apart from the Brahmins, how the non-brahmin, ‘dominant’ Marathas used the site of print and its intimate connection with the performative world has largely been an ignored aspect of the circulatory discourse of everyday life in the modern colonial period. The colonial period saw the rise of a variegated set of anti-colonial voices which catered to both nationalist and regional demands. Leading nationalists from Maharashtra like Tilak, who had a significant impact on Pan-Indian anti-colonial struggle, have been well documented. However, the impact of regional leaders on shaping the political consciousness of people both through print and performance amidst the anti-colonial narrative has largely been an underexplored area of research. One such prominent figure was Prabodhankar Thackeray. Known as a prolific writer, journalist, anti-untouchability crusader and someone who believed in the rhetorical power of performative world, Thackeray was a unique cultural polyglot.

I propose to study the public persona of Thackeray and how he significantly impacted the domain of both print and performance. This study will be crucial for three reasons. Firstly, Thackeray’s support for the assertion of Maratha-Kayastha dominance and resistance to Brahmin hegemony in the public domain is crucial to navigate how the circulation of his ideas through his magazine Prabodhan shaped the discourse on ‘religio-nativism’. Secondly, Thackeray played a pivotal role in bridging the two seemingly distinct circulatory domains of print and performance by using the power of print to disseminate his writings on street plays to a wider audience. More than seeing him as a local figure, Thackeray was a regional figure whose vision for using the circulatory-reflexive power of the print domain made him reach out to remote areas of the Bombay presidency. In this way, I argue that Thackeray started mobilizing new reading and listening audience away from the largely urban belt of the Bombay-Poona region. By this, he used his physical as well as ideational mobility to straddle the urban-rural divide by using his power of oratory as well as his colloquial, accessible writing. I argue that this regional narrative of the vernacular medium needs to be undertaken in order to make a deeper sense of the larger issues of nation and nationalism. The crisscrossing and overlapping nature of Thackeray’s political arch will further stimulate debates on unpacking the growing anxiety of power sharing between Marathas and Brahmins. Thackeray’s own ambiguous positions on conservatism and Hindu Nationalism whilst championing the cause of anti-untouchability will explore the complexities of the circulatory discourse in the vernacular medium.

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Department: St Antony's College

Date Added: 21/01/2022

Duration: 00:19:08

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Martin Vessey

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Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

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Derek Hockaday interviews Martin Vessey, Emeritus Professor of Public Health, 4 June 2014

Topics discussed include: (00:00:15) how MV came to Oxford; (00:01:36) John Honour; (00:03:46) choosing to focus on epidemiology and statistics, learning about statistics and computing post medical qualification and return to clinical house appointments; (00:07:28) meeting Richard Doll; (00:10:14) comparing Oxford and London computing facilities; (00.11:39) MD thesis, United States trip and return to Oxford, (00:14:39) work under direction of Richard Doll at Medical Research Council statistical research unit and effect on direction of career; (00:18:26) MRC and World Health Organisation; (00:19:49) fertilisation and contraceptive work; (00:23:42) studies relating to the etiology of cervical cancer; (00:26:58) research into menopause and investigation of hormone replacement; (00:31:22) differences in different generations of contraceptive pills; (00:36:34) social and community medicine in relation to epidemiology; (00:42:02) interactions with and teaching medical students; (00:48:57) attending medical and surgical grand rounds; (00:50:17) research, papers and breast cancer screening; (00:55:51) Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution; (00:58:50) Rosemary Rue; (01:02:04) travelling for conferences; (01:04:10) supervising DPhil students; (01:09:20) final thoughts on career; (01:11:53) women in epidemiology and medicine.

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Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

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Department: Bodleian Libraries

Date Added: 20/01/2022

Duration: 01:18:53

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Mike Dunnill

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Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

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Derek Hockaday interviews Mike Dunnill, researcher, pathologist and former Director of Clinical Studies,10 February 2012.

Topics discussed include: (00:00:10) first coming to Oxford from Bristol in 1956, Department of Pathology facilities; (00:04:00) becoming interested in medical education, George Pickering's committee for Medical School at Nottingham; (00:05:18) becoming Director of Clinical Studies in 1967; (00:06:15) report outlining changes to Honours schools coinciding with the Royal Commission on Medical Education,1969; (00:11:27) lunchtime post-mortem demonstrations; (00:15:21) the [Richard] Doll committee; (00:19:46) graduate assistants work in 1950s in Oxford; (00:21:10) staff on the Pathology course; (00:25:16) the Nuffield Committee; (00:26:38) increasing student numbers for clinical school; (00:28:10) George Pickering.

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Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

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Department: Bodleian Libraries

Date Added: 20/01/2022

Duration: 00:32:26

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Ann Taylor

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Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

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Derek Hockaday interviews Ann Taylor, researcher and physiologist, 20 January 2016.

Topics discussed include: (00:01:25) family connection to Oxford, teenage years in Oxford High school for girls, entry into Somerville and old quota system; (00:02:57) being under the care of Dorothy Hodgkin in the medical school; (00:04:32) Janet Vaughn; (00:05:20) thoughts on schools year, practical work and courses; (00:11:00) working at the Pickering unit, comparing Witts and Pickering; (00:12:38) role post-research; (00:16:10) appointed first medical tutor and lecturer at St. Anne's college, work with H.B Parry in the Nuffield Institute; (00:21:15) work at Stanford, America, thoughts on American healthcare system, work under Roy Maffly on cell biology (effects of antimitotic drugs); (00:24:10) submitting research paper to the Congress of Nephrology, grant application having to be under Roy Maffly's name; (00:28:26) moving to Cornell University Medical School, department of physiology, and work on microtubules; (00:31:57) returning to Oxford, lectureship in physiology department joint appointment allocation with St Edmund Hall, tutoring and lecturing; (00:35:40) running the renal physiology course; (00:239:12) memories of colleagues in the department of physiology; (00:41:38) thoughts on Oxford Medical system; (00:45:25) family at time of clinical course, support with children; (00:48:03) being the first woman fellow at St Edmund Hall in 1980; (00:52:25) relationship between clinical and pre-clinical departments, surgeons; (00:56:51) ward sisters and nurses.

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Recollecting Oxford Medicine: Oral Histories

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Department: Bodleian Libraries

Date Added: 20/01/2022

Duration: 01:01:02

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