ABSTRACT
The chapter takes on the intriguing notions of revolts and riots during colonial times as forms of urban protests. Taking a cue from Hobsbawm’s brief study of urban revolts and riots, the author argues that the city of colonial Calcutta was equally prone to insurrections, many of which wore the appearance of the first step to rebellions in the eyes of colonial officials. Although these insurrections did not lead to rebellions and revolutions, they brought to light that urban crowds sought to bring about political change by means of spontaneous action, braving the most brutal acts of suppression by colonial rulers. The chapter studies three important phases of upheavals during the first four decades when the colonial authorities feared outbreaks of large-scale rebellions against colonial rule. This chapter explores the centrality of the sporadic insurrections often manned by the faceless crowd of the city as a form of urban outrage that created tremors in the colonial space which often transcend civic parameters and opened the fissures within urban polity and governance.
