Negotiating Colonial Modernity

Some books transcend their immediate context to become classics. Harimohan Jha’s Kanyadan, translated as The Bride by Lalit Kumar is one such novel. Having garnered immense popularity from its first few instalments in a serialized form, the work acquired its present shape as a novel with its publication in 1933. Arising out of a period of tremendous flux and transition in pre-Independence India, Kanyadan presents an evocative picture of the arrival of modernity in rural Bihar. Originally written in Maithili, the novel immediately struck a chord with its local readers. Its massive appeal shaped a public sphere comprising literary enthusiasts—young and old, literate and illiterate alike.