‘Canon’ Formation (Part II)

Through the medium of print, processes of standardization, indigenization, canonization, and scientification not only of Hindi as the proposed national language, but also of Hindu national culture become visible in the early decades of the twentieth century. This chapter contextualizes such processes through a detailed analysis of Sudhā’s thematic columns. Processes of the nationalization of literature in particular are discussed through a micro-perspective on to Sudhā as it created its very own archives of knowledge of what it considered to be the national arts, medicine and science, music, news, and formerly orally transmitted knowledge on domesticity, homespun remedies, health, cooking, and child-rearing. Visually, women featured centrally in the column section of the periodical. Even though they were for the most part featured as recipients of knowledge, they were also imagined as women taking active roles in the construction of this supposedly canonical knowledge.