The Indian Diary of Vera Luboshinsky (1938-1945)

Description

The Indian Diary of Vera Luboshinsky narrates life at the Indian princely court of Bhopal, during the 1940s. Vera was the daughter of Professor M. J. Herzenstein, a member of the State Duma in pre-revolutionary Russia, and married to Count Mark Luboshinsky. After the Bolshevik revolution, they emigrated to Czechoslovakia where they met Hamidullah Khan, Nawab of Bhopal, an important political figure during the last decades of the British Empire and India's fight for independence. Impressed by Mark Luboshinsky's managerial abilities, the Nawab invited him to come to India to manage his estates. The couple spent seven years in India (winter 1938 - winter 1945). They stayed in and around Bhopal taking part in palace business or travelling across India accompanying the Nawab's family on long journeys. The Diary is a unique and completely unknown text to the Anglophone world: a rich primary source for historians of India's princely states, providing an interesting and uncommon depiction of the Nawab, his family, acquaintances, associates, and more generally, the life of Indians and foreigners in India during World War II. With literary flair, Vera describes not only her life in India, but also her intimate relationship with the Begum and British residents of Bhopal as well as meetings with well-known people like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Fatima Jinnah, or Anandamayi Ma, and Paul Brunton. Importantly, the Diary also offers an extremely rare Eastern European female voice in late colonial India: a voice that both submits to and transgresses the Orientalist moods of its time.

About the authors:

Vera Luboshinsky (1897-1978) was a Russian lawyer and writer. Emigrating to Czechoslovakia after the Bolshevik coup and Mark's subsequent friendship with Hamidullah Khan, the Nawab of Bhopal, gave Vera the chance to live in one of India's most prominent princely states from 1938 to 1945. Fascinated by life in Bhopal, Vera was inspired to write her 'Indian Diary'. After returning from India to Czechoslovakia, Vera and Mark lived under another Communist power takeover. Vera's life ended in obscurity with no hope of returning to her earlier fortune.

Dušan Deák is Associate Professor at the Department of Comparative Religion, Comenius University in Bratislava. His research focuses on the social and religious history of Western India, and on the reception of Indian ideas and practices in Central Europe.

Rowenna Baldwin obtained her PhD in Sociology in 2011 from the University of Warwick. Her thesis focused on patriotic education in Russia and she has spent time teaching and researching there. Since 2016, Rowenna has been training in the field of documentary filmmaking and now works as an independent filmmaker.

Reviews

"The Indian Diary of Vera Luboshinsky is a creative, lively, and often irreverent account of wartime India, narrated by a Russian émigrée from Czechoslovakia navigating multiple worlds and possibilities as she and her husband sought their livelihood in princely Bhopal. The elegant translation in this book is framed by a rich introduction and careful editorial work to make a unique voice accessible to history. Replete with social, cultural, and political observations, it is a compelling work inviting exploration by historians of Princely states first and foremost, but also any reader interested in the multitude of themes discussed — from marriage rituals, employment practices, and leisure activities to food, education, and spirituality." - Siobhan Lambert-Hurley, Professor of Global History, Departmental Director of Research and Innovation, University of Sheffield

"The authors skilfully edited and beautifully translated the diaries of Vera Luboshinsky from Russian, allowing access to a rare non-Anglophone, non-male gaze in high colonial India. It is a series of astute sketches of India, details at the court in the Princely state of Bhopal, and vignettes of colonial society. These are seamlessly strung together in this work, which may only be called a memoir in the most liberal sense. Written in crisp language, the text retains the complex tone of awe, irony, privilege, and sympathy for various characters through the book. An absolute must-read for all interested in colonial history, particularly of the Princely state of Bhopal, but also for those interested in the quirky destinies of individuals, and manuscripts!" - Pushkar Sohoni, Associate Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune

Table of contents

Introduction: At the Frontiers of Imagination
1:Winter 1938-1939
2:Spring 1939
3:Summer 1939
4:Autumn 1939
5:Winter 1940
6:Spring 1940
7:Summer 1940
8:Autumn 1940
9:Winter 1940-1941
10:Spring 1941
11:Summer 1941
12:Autumn 1941
13:Winter 1941-1942
14:Spring 1942
15:Summer 1942
16:Autumn 1942
17:Winter 1942-43
18:Spring 1943
19:Summer 1943
20:Autumn 1943
21:Winter 1943-1944
22:Spring 1944
23:Summer 1944
24:Autumn 1944
25:Winter 1944-1945
26:Spring - Winter 1945