ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses the changing urban life associated with the rise of the British colonial state in the northwest - focusing on literary societies and social reform organizations such as Anjuman-e Punjab and Urdu literary developments in early colonial Lahore after the Great Revolt of 1857. According to the author, these developments were pivotal for creating a unique urban milieu of Lahore which became a new ‘Delhi’ for its Urdu literary culture as the patronage shifted from Delhi to Lahore, where, contrary to general perception, the colonial rulers were active agents in preserving this Perso-Islamicate culture.
