Sami Ahmad Khan’s Star Warriors of the Modern Raj: Materiality, Mythology and Technology of Indian Science Fiction

Sami Ahmad Khan’s Star Warriors of the Modern Raj: Materiality, Mythology and Technology of Indian Science Fiction sets the tone of playful yet incisive humour at the outset, as the writer recounts his takeaway from having to deal with his proposed area, which has lately accrued attention for reasons which are not always the ‘right’ ones. The contemporary trend of ‘revisiting’ the inexhaustible storehouse of foundational myths and stories that inform the great Indian epics, as well as a diversity of texts with theological and allegorical messages, can be a welcome addition to scholarship, but complications begin when such fantasies are deliberately invested with a sort of non-existent scientific legitimacy. While aware of this incipient ethno-academic phenomenon, Khan has carefully steered clear of launching a more controversial critique that might have mutated into a political one. Each chapter or ‘part’ of this book is further subdivided into sections, with intelligently chosen titles offering a thematic overview of the contents.