A crucial step towards understanding and explaining better socio-cultural norms and historical practices and thus facilitating intercultural dialogue is the consideration of affects. Focusing on a critical moment of the history of India, which saw the refashioning of social norms of behaviour, this project explores the most social emotion, shame, and its expressions in Hindi and Urdu-language literature for women and children to shed light on how subaltern actors navigated their feelings and their community and religious identities, and participated in the making of modern South Asia. Drawing cross-language and cross-religious comparisons, this project will contribute to the growing and innovative field of the history of emotions.