This book is an alternative account of literary beginnings in modern India through women’s writings

“If an unskilled potter makes a lovely pot of his imagination, and if it becomes crooked while drying or heating in the kiln, he still puts it for sale in the market. Similarly, I have written this book to the best of my insufficient ability and placed it before you.”

In this foreword to her first novel, Kashibai Kanitkar (1861–1948) dons the unassuming persona of “an unskilled potter” to highlight two interconnected challenges – the toil of turning the manuscript into a book, and the trial of new authorship. The novel, Rangarao, began to appear in instalments in the Marathi magazine Manoranjanani Nibandha-chandrika in 1886 and stayed incomplete when the magazine closed down. Kanitkar managed to complete the novel over a decade later in 1898, but would not be able to publish it till 1903.

The author explains the delay: “Both the author and the owners of the printing press have suffered severe domestic problems, which is why the book is being placed before readers in this form. I am sorry about this but am unable to make amends.” Kashibai Kanitkar laces her apology about the unexplained domestic troubles with humour, submitting that any reader who takes upon the task of criticising her book or finding...

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