A Colonial Affair: Commerce, Conversion, and Scandal in French India by Danna Agmon (review)

Agmon's study analyzes a key episode in the history of eighteenth-century French colonization in India: the Nayiniyappa Affair. The affair revolves around the arrest, trial, imprisonment, death, and rehabilitation of Nayiniyappa, intermediary and chief commercial broker of the Compagnie des Indes in Pondichéry from 1708–16. Superficially, the affair might seem simple—indeed, its basic events are summarized in a single page of the book's introduction. However, as Agmon successfully demonstrates, there is much more to Nayiniyappa's story. Far from being a mere account of one man's misfortune, the narrative presents "multivalent and layered meanings" (3) that deepen the reader's understanding of the establishment of French sovereignty in colonial India. Underlying the affair are a collection of religious, social, political, and economic tensions among traders, government officials, missionaries, and native intermediaries and brokers. Agmon's study reveals the interplay of these tensions and exposes the instability of French imperial claims in India. The work places indigenous go-betweens at the center of such tensions and of the colonial experience as a whole. As the various groups, connected through the intermediaries, attempt to assert themselves, Agmon shows that the history of French colonial India is in fact a tale of "fractured authority [...] in a state of flux" (16). In this exploration, Agmon eschews a strictly linear narrative in favor of a "prismatic history" (16) that retraces events multiple times from the perspectives of multiple actors. It is a structural approach that underlines the very fracture and flux Agmon seeks to recount. To cite just one example, the first chapter of the book portrays the origins of the Nayiniyappa Affair from the perspectives of Nayiniyappa himself, the Jesuit missionaries, Governor Hébert, and an invested group of merchants from Saint-Malo. Naturally, Agmon draws on a wide variety of source material, including letters and records kept by the Compagnie des Indes, missionaries, court officials and notaries, as well as the personal journals of individuals involved. The work is well organized, treating the general context of the affair in Part I, Nayiniyappa's trial and appeal in Part II, and the affair's repercussions in Part III. Within each section, Agmon applies the prismatic approach to great effect. Agmon's prose is sophisticated, clear and flowing, and she successfully guides the reader through all of the affair's complexities. While the book is clearly aimed at a specialist readership, Agmon's clarity of expression will make the work accessible to any educated reader, from the professional specialist in colonial or eighteenth-century history to strong undergraduates just beginning in the field. This breadth of suitability is a rare quality and makes Agmon's book an important read for any scholar with an interest in eighteenth-century French colonial India.