This study examines the eventful period of ‘1857 and after’ in India from various theoretical, historical and sociological perspectives, and follows it up with insightful accounts of literary and cinematic representations of this period by Indian and Western scholars. Its exploration of the cultural projections of this first war of India’s independence interrogates, by strong implications, the neo-colonialism and the seemingly innocuous globalization of our times in so far as they control and subjugate the weaker nations all over the world.

R.N. Rai is a Professor in the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He was awarded D.Litt. in 1990. His book-length publications include W.B.Yeats: Poetic Theory and Practice (1983) and Theory of Drama: A Comparative Study of Aristotle and Bharat (1992). He has published numerous research papers in widely acknowledged journals and anthologies, and has completed two U.G.C. Research Projects. He was nominated National Associate by the U.G.C. during 1983-84, and is an honorary member of IBC Advisory Council, Cambridge. He is at present working on Dimensions of Indian English Drama.

Anita Singh is a Professor in the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. She is Interested in Indian Drama, Women’s Studies and Contemporary Indian English Fiction. She has published a number of articles, translations, book reviews and short stories in journals, anthologies and magazines. Her published works include: Arthur Miller: A Study of the Doomed Heroes in his Plays (1993) and Indian English Novel in the Nineties and After: A Study of the Text and its Context (2004) and And The Story Begins: My Ten Short Stories (2007).

Archana Kumar is a Reader in the Department of English, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Her areas of interest include Indian Poetry, Women’s Writing and New Literatures in English. Her publications include The Poetry of Jayanta Mahapatra: A Study in Style and Sensibility and several research papers on Indian English Poetry and Women’s Writing in well known journals. Her current interest is the study of folklore in postcolonial context.

Contributors : Harish Trivedi, R.N.Rai, Evelyne Hanquart-Turner, Keki Daruwalla, J.P.Mishra, Vijay Mishra, Keya Majumdar, Tabish Khair, A.N.Dwivedi, Satish C.Aikant, Guru Charan Behera, Amith Kumar P.V., Subhendu Mund, Prithvirajsingh Thakur, Soofiya Siddique, Simran Chadha, Dhrubajyoti Banerjee, P.Dalai, Alka Singh, Angelie Multani, Swaralipi Nandi, Richard Allen and Dhriti Ray.