(University of North Bengal, 2018-03) Mondal, Amrita
In colonial Bengal, being the victims of economic exploitation, the working class’s idea
of drinking pleasure faced the moral question of the Indian reformists, Europeans and
Christian missionaries. These three groups presented three perceptions on the drinking
pleasure of the working class; however, all these narratives indicated that excessive
drinking led this particular class into the paths of immorality and financial distress. The
paper, while revisiting all these narratives, especially colonial excise policies, finds out
patterns of drinking practice of the working class and the reasons for changing the
perception of the society on working-class drinking and redefining drinking pleasure of
the working class in the nineteenth century Bengal.
