RALPH DARNELL II

Meadows Taylor, nineteenth-century British administrator worked in India as a political agent from 1824-1860. His works, published between 1839 and 1878, belong to the period of Anglo-Indian literature when popular fiction reflected the beliefs of British rule in India.


A work of historical fiction set amidst the time of the Battle of Plassey in 1757 that follows the fortunes of its protagonist, Ralph Darnell, is reflected in this novel published in 1865. It also examines Meadows Taylor’s connection between British conceptions of India and its people and the historical development of British rule in India.


All his works present Indian customs vividly and strongly, and are characterised on themes such as interracial marriage, race relations and Indian religious practices. Other themes include his use of Victorian concepts of domesticity in Indian settings, his presentation of strongly idealised Indian characters, and his frequent use as the subject matter of “pre-colonial” Indian history.