Press Conflicts, Empire, and the “Closed” Periodical: Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950) and the Indian Press

This essay examines anti-colonial writings of radical journalist Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950), who edited and published several periodicals between 1893 and 1921 that shaped the modern Indian press. I discuss his changing political discourses over four periodicals, at first hostile to Britain and in fierce disputes with other periodicals, then ultimately arguing that Indians construct a modern national identity apart from Britain from their pre-European history, spirituality, and culture. Considering Margaret Beetham’s comments on periodicals’ temporality, ties to readership, and generic polymorphous diversity, I suggest that political periodicals under colonialism were necessarily “closed” and resistant to diverse opinions under the stresses of empire, creating a distinct periodical culture.