Despite their importance in forging notions of civility, civic engagement and political participation, nineteenth century voluntary associations have received little attention in the growing body of literature on the rise and nature of civil society in India. This article explores the mutually constitutive relationship between voluntary association and middle-class formation through the example of the Jalsah-e Tahzib (est. 1868), the first voluntary society in colonial Lucknow. A cross-communal alliance of Hindus and Muslims, representing the city’s traditional service elites and new professional classes, the Jalsah provided a secular forum of discourse and action to an emerging middle class in search of self-determination and empowerment. In investigating the association’s public-sphere activities, its role as a self-styled intermediary between the colonial state and its Indian subjects and its transformation from a literary-cultural society into a politically vocal body, I argue that voluntary association afforded a space for cultural self-assertion and critical participation eminently suited to the aspirations of the new hybrid middle class. In highlighting the vernacular character of Indian associational culture, the article seeks to demonstrate how a more rigorous engagement with the vernacular archive will provide a better understanding of the social and intellectual networks that created the fabric of Indian civic life.
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