ABSTRACT
This chapter throws light on the changes and developments in languages, literatures, and public spheres in South Asia during the height of British colonialism. In the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth newly popularised media such as the printed book and newspapers created new reading publics in newly standardised regional languages, as well as English. The exposure to European literature and culture triggered the adoption of genres such as the novel and stage theatre to accommodate agendas of aesthetic renewal, modernisation, reform, and social emancipation, and also the nationalist critique of colonialism.
