ABSTRACT
Cornelia Sorabji's own life gave her ample grounds for conceptualizing empire in terms of transcultural adoption and kinship ties that literally and figuratively place Indian children in British families. Sorabji's dual and double address the practice of simultaneously addressing an audience of adults and children direct these works about and for children to British adult readers as well. Sorabji holds the key to this India, which she has revealed through the young widows, wives, mothers, and children who populate her own Love and Life Behind the Purdah. Sorabji's attachment to Oxford University and subsequent depiction of it as a home-like environment and developmental proving ground were enabled by a number of adult guardian and mentor figures. Her first volume with an exclusive emphasis on Indian children, Sun Babies, was published by John Murray in 1904. The Purdahnashin, a brief guide addressed to British women, suggests what their voluntary service of love in India would look like.
