Censoring Kuli Pratha in British India

In 1917, the United Provinces government in British India proscribed Lakshman Singh's play titled Kuli Pratha arthat Biswin Shatbdi ki Gulami (The System of Recruiting Coolies, in other words, Slavery in the Twentieth Century), under the Indian Press Act of 1910. This essay analyzes Kuli Pratha's proscription when indenture was an important issue on the nationalist agenda and shows that legal control of literature was shaped not only by issues within the subcontinent but also by British imperial policies and practices in the Empire's colonial outposts beyond India. Analyzing the play in tandem with its proscription, its extra-legal contexts, and its official English translation that served to direct authorities about its political subject matter, thus, provides a layered understanding of the complicated entanglements of colonialism, nationalism, and literature.