Glimpses of European Life in 19th Century Bengal

by Abhijit Dutta

The study seeks to describe the horrible isolation in which most 19th century Europeans in Bengal laboured, seized occasionally by the maddening spasms of home-sickness. The unenviable position of European women and children handicapped by hostile environmental and domestic circumstances has been vividly portrayed along with the fatal implications of the truck of European menfolk with native concubines. The domestic life of Europeans both in Calcutta and the mofussil has been evenly covered together with vivid description of European endeavour to overcome the numerous hazards and discomforts of domestic life. Multiple facets of European life -both social and domestic- in the mofussil have been minutely assessed in the study coupled with a trenchant analysis of European racism towards the natives of Bengal and the negative influence of European lifestyle on native Bengali society.