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Beginning under colonial rule in the 19th century, censorship of art in the Indian subcontinent continues to be a polarising issue in public discourse. Outrage and uproar over artistic licence have occurred throughout history, but the scale of censorship in modern history — either as a juridical and political process in nation-states, or as a social force — is unprecedented. Censorship and calls for censorship in modern South Asia have largely revolved around perceived insults and mockery, blasphemy, obscenity, and politically-motivated subject matter.

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech in Article 19, unless there is a demonstrable threat to disturbing religious and communal harmony. Censorship in the subcontinent has, at various points in time, emerged from a range of initial responses to art, including public outrage, political or cultural boycott, vandalism and other reactive measures, and legal cases lodged against the offending party with charges such as obscenity and hurt religious or cultural sentiments. The offensive work of art is consequently seized, banned from release or exhibition or at times, physically attacked and vandalised.

During the colonial period, censorship was enforced through the Press Act of 1910. In addition to the Rowlatt Act of 1919, which limited the possibility of the free articulation of political organisation by Indians in both visual and verbal form. To circumvent these laws, artists sought alternative forms of visual culture to express their dissent, patriotism or radicalism. One such avenue was bazaar prints, which had a large audience and drew largely from religious and mythological narratives and motifs. Since these were initially seen by the British as belonging to the sphere of religion rather than politics, many prints became vehicles of dissent, with traditional iconography used to express allegories of colonisation. Such prints were circulated as souvenirs from political meetings, and distributed as placards and pamphlets. In December 1911, an image of the Hindu goddess Durga, as Ashtabhuja Devi was banned. In the image, the goddess is depicted with eight arms, carrying weapons, and slaying the half-human half-buffalo demon Mahisha. When it appeared on matchboxes a month later, the matchboxes were also censored.

The Hindu cosmological notion of the kaliyug as a dark age was used as a template to signify colonial rule. Images of the goddess Kali killing a demon came to signify not the abstract concept of the defeat of evil, but a very specific event: the future defeat of the British. The proliferation of these visual messages was a matter of concern........

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