Ethnic Identity

The aim of this paper is to examine how the Gujarati intellectuals in the colonial period narrated their regional history and in that process presented a specific notion of Gujarat and the Gujaratis. In the 19th century, Indian elites in general began to reformulate caste and religious identities and articulate regional identity and Indian nationalism by appropriating and modifying certain ideas and idioms introduced under British rule and others existing in the local society. This paper analyses some representative narratives of regional history by the late-19th century Gujarati literati and considers how they were linked with the identity-formation of the people in this region in the long term.