This essay examines the process by which tea, a plant and product introduced into the Indian subcontinent in the early 19th century as a colonial cash crop, became indigenized and popularized as chai, often regarded today as India’s ‘national drink’. This process mainly occurred during the 20th century and involved aggressive and innovative marketing by both British and Indian commercial interests, advances in the technology of processing Assam tea, and changes in social space and practice, especially in urban areas.

This essay examines the process by which tea, a plant and product introduced into the Indian subcontinent in the early 19th century as a colonial cash crop, became indigenized and popularized as chai, often regarded today as India’s ‘national drink’. This process mainly occurred during the 20th century and involved aggressive and innovative marketing by both British and Indian commercial interests, advances in the technology of processing Assam tea, and changes in social space and practice, especially in urban areas.

Surdas: Sur’s Ocean, Poems from the Early Tradition. Edited by Kenneth E. Bryant; translated by John Stratton Hawley. Murty Classical Library of India, vol. 5; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2015. Pp. xlviii + 1010. $35. Into Sūr’s Ocean: Poetry, Context, and Commentary. Translated with commentary by John Stratton Hawley. Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 83; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. xvii + 1029. $95.

The Audacious Raconteur: Sovereignty and Storytelling in Colonial India. By Leela Prasad. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2020. Pp. ix + 206. $19.95.