ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 focuses on the discussions surrounding the reformation of the Gujarati language in late-nineteenth-century Gujarat, and how these debates reflected the contemporary elite's attempts to redefine themselves in a new environment. It illustrates how the regional literati sought to define and reform the Gujarati language and the process in which other forms of language were relegated to the status of ‘dialects’. The presence of competing ideas on language, which continued to exist even after the standardisation of the language had begun, is discussed in detail. The author further examines how the same elite tried to articulate the literary tradition of their region and develop ‘their’ literature by incorporating styles and themes from Western literature.
