ABSTRACT
When it came to Victorian notions of vulgarity, India was viewed as having it all. For many Victorians, all meanings of vulgar applied to India – commonplace crowd or mob, obscenity in sexually explicit Indian sculpture and among certain indigenous groups,1 and ostentatious display or seeking of wealth. Vulgarity intersected with other European terms applied to India – decay, degeneration, “monstrous” images of Hindu gods (Mitter 1992), racial inferiority, Hinduism, superstition, harems, purdah, suttee, child marriage, luxurious sybaritic maharajas, sexually overheated Indian women, etc.
