Colonial Karma tracks the Indian English novel from its colonial origins to the present, each chapter focusing on a particular historical moment. Linking the novel's development with that of Indian cultural nationalism, it argues that nationalism seeks to solve the problem of action for its middle class subject by redefining the Bhagavad Gita's concept of karma for political purposes. Two figures serve to exemplify this problem: Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita and Saleem in Midnight's Children. After considering influential early novels in Indian languages, Colonial Karma discusses novels in...