Chap 7 presentation.
Godna: Inscribing Indian Convicts in the Nineteenth Century
The chapter describes the detailed history of Godna (tattoos) in India from roughly the 15th to the 20th century. Anderson highlights the way in which Godna in India evolved from a cultural practice, associated with healing, fertility, masculinity sexuality etc. Unto a colonial punitive form of class control and vigilance.
The essay poses interesting questions about the long-lasting effects of colonialism on a given society’s cultural practices. What is the difference between a pre-colonial and a post-colonial world?
The third section of the essay focused on the attempts of regaining power made by the the convicted men in 19th century colonial India. The resistance made by the Bombay presidency particularly struck me while reading about all of the cruelty coming from the East India Company during the transition period between Colonial and post-colonial India. It is counterintuitive to me that a specific region under colonial control would be able to withstand such scrutiny when it came to such a conventionally applied immoral practice. In that sense, the application of humanistic principles, or moreover the urgency for the consideration of humanistic principles in a time of European enlightenment is curious. It seems to me that the only way for the British to recognize their own savagery has to be through their own means. They refuse to learn about morality at the hands of another culture. The Indians are condemned to the cruelty of the British until the British (through their own devices) learn better.