She who “never shocked people with her modernism”: The Making of a “Feminist” in A Woman of India

Saroj Nalini Dutt (1887–1925) was a pioneering figure in colonial India who endorsed women’s education, women’s involvement in electoral politics, and addressed the issue of the double burden of labor. This essay engages with Nalini’s life through a reading of her biography, A Woman of India (1929), written posthumously by her husband, G. S. Dutt, and via the archival materials available at MAPP (MS 2750/74_A WOMAN OF INDIA). This essay poses a two-layered study of the text and archival materials: one into the making of Nalini’s life, and the other concerning the politics of publication. The essay critically delves into the discursive scope of the terminologies, “Indian feminist” and “Indian woman,” which are viewed as synonymous in A Woman of India. By highlighting the life of a feminist along with the politics of publication, the paper uncovers a deeper and more complex image of a feminist.