Dhai, Ayah, and Anglo-Indian Mother: Rivalry in the Nursery in Nineteenth-Century British India.

The article examines the complex relationships between Anglo-Indian mothers (memsahibs) and Indian female servants—specifically the dhai (wet nurse) and ayah (nursemaid)—in nineteenth-century British India, focusing on their roles in nursing and childcare. It highlights a divide in late nineteenth-century discourse: medical handbooks and domestic guides generally favored the Anglo-Indian mother as the preferred source of infant nourishment, while contemporary Anglo-Indian fiction by Rudyard Kipling and Sara Jeannette Duncan elevated the dhai or ayah as crucial maternal surrogates who imparted not only physical health but also cultural knowledge essential for Anglo-Indian sons’ future roles as imperial servants. Both nonfictional and fictional sources, despite differing emphases, shared a commitment to sustaining British imperial authority through the upbringing of Anglo-Indian boys, portraying the interplay of racial and cultural hybridity as key to perpetuating the British Raj amid rising Indian nationalism.