ix

Contents

Foreword iii

1. How, When and Where 1

2. From Trade to Territory 9

The Company Establishes Power

3. Ruling the Countryside 26

4. Tribals, Dikus and the Vision 39

of a Golden Age

5. When People Rebel 51

1857 and After

6. Colonialism and the City 64

The Story of an Imperial Capital

1

How, When and Where1

How Important are Dates?There was a time when historians werefascinated with dates. There were heateddebates about the dates on which rulerswere crowned or battles were fought.In the common-sense notion, history wassynonymous with dates. You may haveheard people say, “I find history boringbecause it is all about memorisingdates.” Is such a conception true?

History is certainly about changesthat occur over time. It is about findingout how things were in the past andhow things have changed. As soon aswe compare the past with the presentwe refer to time, we talk of “before” and“after”.

Living in the world we do not alwaysask historical questions about what wesee around us. We take things for granted,as if what we see has always been in theworld we inhabit. But most of us have ourmoments of wonder, when we are curious, and we askquestions that actually are historical. Watchingsomeone sip a cup of tea at a roadside tea stall youmay wonder – when did people begin to drink tea orcoffee? Looking out of the window of a train you mayask yourself – when were railways built and how didpeople travel long distances before the age of railways?Reading the newspaper in the morning you may becurious to know how people got to hear about thingsbefore newspapers began to be printed.

Fig. 1 – Brahmans offering theShastras to Britannia, frontispieceto the first map produced byJames Rennel, 1782

Rennel was asked by RobertClive to produce maps ofHindustan. An enthusiasticsupporter of British conquest ofIndia, Rennel saw preparationof maps as essential to theprocess of domination. Thepicture here tries to suggest thatIndians willingly gave over theirancient texts to Britannia – thesymbol of British power – as ifasking her to become theprotector of Indian culture.

� Activity

Look carefully at Fig.1 and write a paragraph explaininghow this image projects an imperial perception.

OUR PASTS – III2

All such historical questions refer us back to notionsof time. But time does not have to be always preciselydated in terms of a particular year or a month.Sometimes it is actually incorrect to fix precise datesto processes that happen over a period of time. Peoplein India did not begin drinking tea one fine day; theydeveloped a taste for it over time. There can be no oneclear date for a process such as this. Similarly, wecannot fix one single date on which British rule wasestablished, or the national movement started, orchanges took place within the economy and society. Allthese things happened over a stretch of time. We canonly refer to a span of time, an approximate period overwhich particular changes became visible.

Why, then, do we continue to associate historywith a string of dates? This association has a reason.There was a time when history was an account ofbattles and big events. It was about rulers and theirpolicies. Historians wrote about the year a king wascrowned, the year he married, the year he had a child,the year he fought a particular war, the year he died,and the year the next ruler succeeded to the throne.For events such as these, specific dates can bedetermined, and in histories such as these, debatesabout dates continue to be important.

As you have seen in the history textbooks of the pasttwo years, historians now write about a host of otherissues, and other questions. They look at how peopleearned their livelihood, what they produced and ate,how cities developed and markets came up, howkingdoms were formed and new ideas spread, and howcultures and society changed.

Which dates?By what criteria do we choose a set of dates asimportant? The dates we select, the dates around whichwe compose our story of the past, are not important ontheir own. They become vital because we focus on aparticular set of events as important. If our focus ofstudy changes, if we begin to look at new issues, a newset of dates will appear significant.

Consider an example. In the histories written byBritish historians in India, the rule of each Governor-General was important. These histories began with therule of the first Governor-General, Warren Hastings,and ended with the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten. Inseparate chapters we read about the deeds of others –

Fig. 2 – Advertisements help createtaste

Old advertisements help usunderstand how markets for newproducts were created and newtastes were popularised. This1922 advertisement for Liptontea suggests that royalty all overthe world is associated with thistea. In the background you seethe outer wall of an Indianpalace, while in the foreground,seated on horseback is the thirdson of Queen Victoria of Britain,Prince Arthur, who was given thetitle Duke of Connaught.

3

Hastings, Wellesley, Bentinck, Dalhousie, Canning,Lawrence, Lytton, Ripon, Curzon, Harding, Irwin. It wasa seemingly never-ending succession of Governor-Generals and Viceroys. All the dates in these historybooks were linked to these personalities – to theiractivities, policies, achievements. It was as if there wasnothing outside their lives that was important for us toknow. The chronology of their lives marked the differentchapters of the history of British India.

Can we not write about the history of this period ina different way? How do we focus on the activities ofdifferent groups and classes in Indian society withinthe format of this history of Governor-Generals?

When we write history, or a story, we divide it intochapters. Why do we do this? It is to give each chaptersome coherence. It is to tell a story in a way that makessome sense and can be followed. In the process we focusonly on those events that help us to give shape to thestory we are telling. In the histories that revolve aroundthe life of British Governor-Generals, the activities ofIndians simply do not fit, they have no space. What,then, do we do? Clearly, we need another format forour history. This would mean that the old dates will nolonger have the significance they earlier had. A newset of dates will become more important for us to know.

How do we periodise?In 1817, James Mill, a Scottish economist and politicalphilosopher, published a massive three-volume work,A History of British India. In this he divided Indianhistory into three periods – Hindu, Muslim and British.This periodisation came to be widely accepted. Canyou think of any problem with this way of looking atIndian history?

Why do we try and divide history into differentperiods? We do so in an attempt to capture thecharacteristics of a time, its central features as theyappear to us. So the terms through which we periodise– that is, demarcate the difference between periods –become important. They reflect our ideas about the past.They show how we see the significance of the changefrom one period to the next.

Mill thought that all Asian societies were at a lowerlevel of civilisation than Europe. According to his tellingof history, before the British came to India, Hindu andMuslim despots ruled the country. Religious intolerance,caste taboos and superstitious practices dominated

HOW, WHEN AND WHERE

Fig. 3 – Warren Hastings becamethe first Governor-General of Indiain 1773

While history books narrated thedeeds of Governor-Generals,biographies glorified them aspersons, and paintings projectedthem as powerful figures.

Interview your motheror another member ofyour family to find outabout their life. Nowdivide their life intodifferent periods andlist out the significantevents in each period.Explain the basis ofyour periodisation.

� Activity

OUR PASTS – III4

social life. British rule, Mill felt, could civilise India. To dothis it was necessary to introduce European manners, arts,institutions and laws in India. Mill, in fact, suggested thatthe British should conquer all the territories in India to ensurethe enlightenment and happiness of the Indian people. ForIndia was not capable of progress without British help.

In this idea of history, British rule represented all the forcesof progress and civilisation. The period before British rulewas one of darkness. Can such a conception be accepted today?

In any case, can we refer to any period of history as “Hindu”or “Muslim”? Did not a variety of faiths exist simultaneouslyin these periods? Why should we characterise an age onlythrough the religion of the rulers of the time? To do so is tosuggest that the lives and practices of the others do notreally matter. We should also remember that even rulers inancient India did not all share the same faith.

Moving away from British classification, historians haveusually divided Indian history into ‘ancient’, ‘medieval’ and‘modern’. This division too has its problems. It is aperiodisation that is borrowed from the West where themodern period was associated with the growth of all theforces of modernity – science, reason, democracy, liberty andequality. Medieval was a term used to describe a societywhere these features of modern society did not exist. Can weuncritically accept this characterisation of the modern periodto describe the period of our study? As you will see in thisbook, under British rule people did not have equality, freedomor liberty. Nor was the period one of economic growthand progress.

Many historians therefore refer to this period as ‘colonial’.

What is colonial?In this book you will read about the way the British came toconquer the country and establish their rule, subjugatinglocal nawabs and rajas. You will see how they establishedcontrol over the economy and society, collected revenue tomeet all their expenses, bought the goods they wanted atlow prices, produced crops they needed for export, andyou will understand the changes that came about as aconsequence. You will also come to know about the changesBritish rule brought about in values and tastes, customsand practices. When the subjugation of one country by anotherleads to these kinds of political, economic, social and culturalchanges, we refer to the process as colonisation.

You will, however, find that all classes and groups did notexperience these changes in the same way. That is why thebook is called Our Pasts in the plural.

5

How do We Know?What sources do historians use in writing about thelast 250 years of Indian history?

Administration produces recordsOne important source is the official records of the Britishadministration. The British believed that the act ofwriting was important. Every instruction, plan, policydecision, agreement, investigation had to be clearlywritten up. Once this was done, things could be properlystudied and debated. This conviction produced anadministrative culture of memos, notings and reports.

The British also felt that all important documentsand letters needed to be carefully preserved. So theyset up record rooms attached to all administrativeinstitutions. The village tahsildar’s office, thecollectorate, the commissioner’s office, the provincialsecretariats, the lawcourts – all had their record rooms.Specialised institutions like archives and museums werealso established to preserve important records.

Letters and memos that moved from one branchof the administration to another in the early yearsof the nineteenth century can still be read in thearchives. You can also study the notes and reports thatdistrict officials prepared, or the instructions anddirectives that were sent by officials at the top toprovincial administrators.

In the early years of the nineteenth century thesedocuments were carefully copied out and beautifullywritten by calligraphists – that is, by those whospecialised in the art of beautiful writing. By the middleof the nineteenth century, with the spread of printing,multiple copies of these records were printed asproceedings of each government department.

HOW, WHEN AND WHERE

Fig. 4 – The National Archives of India came up in the 1920s

When New Delhi was built, the National Museum and the NationalArchives were both located close to the Viceregal Palace. This locationreflects the importance these institutions had in British imagination.

Source 1

Reports to theHome Department

In 1946 the colonialgovernment in Indiawas trying to put down amutiny that broke outon the ships of theRoyal Indian Navy. Hereis a sample of the kindof reports the HomeDepartment got fromthe different dockyards:

Bombay: Arrangementshave been made forthe Army to take overships and establishment.Royal Navy ships areremaining outside theharbour.

Karachi: 301 mutineersare under arrest anda few more stronglysuspected are tobe arrested … Allestablishments … areunder military guard.

Vizagapatnam: Theposition is completelyunder control and noviolence has occurred.Military guards havebeen placed on shipsand establishments.No further trouble isexpected except thata few men may refuseto work.Director of Intelligence, HQ.

India Command, SituationReport No. 7. File No. 5/21/46

Home (Political),Government of India

OUR PASTS – III6

Surveys become importantThe practice of surveying also became common underthe colonial administration. The British believed thata country had to be properly known before it could beeffectively administered.

By the early nineteenth century detailed surveyswere being carried out to map the entire country.In the villages, revenue surveys were conducted.The effort was to know the topography, the soilquality, the flora, the fauna, the local histories,and the cropping pattern – all the facts seen asnecessary to know about to administer the region.

From the end of the nineteenth century, Censusoperations were held every ten years. These prepared

detailed records of the number of people in all theprovinces of India, noting information on castes,religions and occupation. There were many other surveys– botanical surveys, zoological surveys, archaeologicalsurveys, anthropological surveys, forest surveys.

What official records do not tellFrom this vast corpus of records we can get to know alot, but we must remember that these are officialrecords. They tell us what the officials thought, what

Fig. 6 – Mapping and survey operations in progress in Bengal, a drawing by James Prinsep, 1832

Note how all the instruments that were used in surveys are placed in the foreground toemphasise the scientific nature of the project.

Fig. 5 – Acustard-appleplant, 1770s

Botanical gardensand natural historymuseums established by theBritish collected plant specimensand information about theiruses. Local artists were asked todraw pictures of these specimens.Historians are now looking atthe way such informationwas gathered and what thisinformation reveals about thenature of colonialism.

7

they were interested in, and what they wished topreserve for posterity. These records do not always helpus understand what other people in the country felt,and what lay behind their actions.

For that we need to look elsewhere. When we beginto search for these other sources we find them in plenty,though they are more difficult to get than official records.We have diaries of people, accounts of pilgrims andtravellers, autobiographies of important personalities,and popular booklets that were sold in the local bazaars.As printing spread, newspapers were published andissues were debated in public. Leaders and reformerswrote to spread their ideas, poets and novelists wroteto express their feelings.

All these sources, however, were produced by thosewho were literate. From these we will not be able tounderstand how history was experienced and lived bythe tribals and the peasants, the workers in the minesor the poor on the streets. Getting to know their lives isa more difficult task.

Yet this can be done, if we make a little bit of effort.When you read this book you will see how this canbe done.

HOW, WHEN AND WHERE

Fig. 7 – The rebels of 1857

Images need to be carefully studied for they project the viewpointof those who create them. This image can be found in severalillustrated books produced by the British after the 1857 rebellion.The caption at the bottom says: “Mutinous sepoys share the loot”.In British representations the rebels appear as greedy, vicious andbrutal. You will read about the rebellion in Chapter 5.

“Not fit for humanconsumption”

Newspapers provideaccounts of the movementsin different parts of thecountry. Here is a reportof a police strike in 1946.

More than 2000policemen in Delhirefused to take theirfood on Thursdaymorning as a protestagainst their lowsalaries and thebad quality of foodsupplied to themfrom the Police Lineskitchen.

As the news spreadto the other policestations, the men therealso refused to takefood … One of thestrikers said: “Thefood supplied to usfrom the Police Lineskitchen is not fit forhuman consumption.Even cattle wouldnot eat the chappattisand dal which wehave to eat.”

Hindustan Times,22 March, 1946

Source 2

Look at Sources 1 and 2.Do you find anydifferences in the natureof reporting? Explainwhat you observe.

� Activity

OUR PASTS – III8

Let’s recall1. State whether true or false:

(a) James Mill divided Indian history into threeperiods – Hindu, Muslim, Christian.

(b) Official documents help us understand whatthe people of the country think.

(c) The British thought surveys were importantfor effective administration.

Let’s discuss2. What is the problem with the periodisation of Indian

history that James Mill offers?

3. Why did the British preserve official documents?

4. How will the information historians get from oldnewspapers be different from that found in policereports?

Let’s do5. Can you think of examples of surveys in your world

today? Think about how toy companies getinformation about what young people enjoy playingwith or how the government finds out about thenumber of young people in school. What can ahistorian derive from such surveys?

Let’s imagineImagine that you area historian wantingto find out abouthow agriculturechanged in a remotetribal area afterindependence. Listthe different ways inwhich you would findinformation on this.

9

From Trade to TerritoryThe Company Establishes Power

2

Aurangzeb was the last of the powerful Mughal rulers.He established control over a very large part of theterritory that is now known as India. After his death in1707, many Mughal governors (subadars) and bigzamindars began asserting their authority andestablishing regional kingdoms. As powerful regionalkingdoms emerged in various parts of India, Delhi couldno longer function as an effective centre.

By the second half of the eighteenth century, however,a new power was emerging on the political horizon –the British. Did you know that the British originallycame as a small trading company and were reluctant toacquire territories? How then did they come to be mastersof a vast empire? In this chapter you will see how thiscame about.

Fig. 1 – Bahadur Shah Zafarand his sons being arrested byCaptain Hodson

After Aurangzeb there was nopowerful Mughal ruler, butMughal emperors continued tobe symbolically important.In fact, when a massive rebellionagainst British rule broke out in1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar,the Mughal emperor at the time,was seen as the natural leader.Once the revolt was put down bythe company, Bahadur ShahZafar was forced to leave thekingdom, and his sons were shotin cold blood.

OUR PASTS – III10

East India CompanyComes EastIn 1600, the East IndiaCompany acquired a charterfrom the ruler of England,Queen Elizabeth I, granting itthe sole right to trade with theEast. This meant that no othertrading group in England couldcompete with the East IndiaCompany. With this charterthe Company could ventureacross the oceans, lookingfor new lands from which it

could buy goods at a cheap price, and carry themback to Europe to sell at higher prices. The Companydid not have to fear competition from other Englishtrading companies. Mercantile trading companiesin those days made profit primarily by excludingcompetition, so that they could buy cheap and sell dear.

The royal charter, however, could not prevent otherEuropean powers from entering the Eastern markets.By the time the first English ships sailed down thewest coast of Africa, round the Cape of Good Hope, andcrossed the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese had alreadyestablished their presence in the western coast ofIndia, and had their base in Goa. In fact, it was Vascoda Gama, a Portuguese explorer, who had discoveredthis sea route to India in 1498. By the early seventeenthcentury, the Dutch too were exploring the possibilitiesof trade in the Indian Ocean. Soon the French tradersarrived on the scene.

The problem was that all the companies wereinterested in buying the same things. The fine qualitiesof cotton and silk produced in India had a big marketin Europe. Pepper, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon toowere in great demand. Competition amongst theEuropean companies inevitably pushed up the pricesat which these goods could be purchased, and thisreduced the profits that could be earned. The only waythe trading companies could flourish was by eliminatingrival competitors. The urge to secure markets thereforeled to fierce battles between the trading companies.Through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries theyregularly sank each other’s ships, blockaded routes,and prevented rival ships from moving with supplies of

Fig. 2 – Routes to India in theeighteenth century

Mercantile – A businessenterprise that makesprofit primarily throughtrade, buying goodscheap and selling themat higher prices

11

goods. Trade was carried on with arms and tradingposts were protected through fortification.

This effort to fortify settlements and carry on profitabletrade also led to intense conflict with local rulers. Thecompany therefore found it difficult to separate tradefrom politics. Let us see how this happened.

East India Company begins trade in BengalThe first English factory was set up on the banks ofthe river Hugli in 1651. This was the base from whichthe Company’s traders, known at that time as “factors”,operated. The factory had a warehouse where goodsfor export were stored, and it had offices where Companyofficials sat. As trade expanded, the Company persuadedmerchants and traders to come and settle near thefactory. By 1696 it began building a fort around thesettlement. Two years later it bribed Mughal officialsinto giving the Company zamindari rights over threevillages. One of these was Kalikata, which later grewinto the city of Calcutta or Kolkata as it is known today.It also persuaded the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb toissue a farman granting the Company the right to tradeduty free.

The Company tried continuously to press for moreconcessions and manipulate existing privileges.Aurangzeb’s farman, for instance, had granted onlythe Company the right to trade duty free. But officialsof the Company, who were carrying on private trade onthe side, were expected to pay duty. This they refusedto pay, causing an enormous loss of revenue for Bengal.How could the Nawab of Bengal, Murshid Quli Khan,not protest?

Fig. 3 – Local boats bring goodsfrom ships in Madras, painted byWilliam Simpson, 1867

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

Farman – A royal edict,a royal order

OUR PASTS – III12

How trade led to battlesThrough the early eighteenth century the conflict betweenthe Company and the nawabs of Bengal intensified.After the death of Aurangzeb, the Bengal nawabs assertedtheir power and autonomy, as other regional powers weredoing at that time. Murshid Quli Khan was followed byAlivardi Khan and then Sirajuddaulah as the Nawab ofBengal. Each one of them was a strong ruler. They refusedto grant the Company concessions, demanded largetributes for the Company’s right to trade, denied it anyright to mint coins, and stopped it from extending itsfortifications. Accusing the Company of deceit, theyclaimed that the Company was depriving the Bengalgovernment of huge amounts of revenue andundermining the authority of the nawab. It was refusingto pay taxes, writing disrespectful letters, and trying tohumiliate the nawab and his officials.

The Company on its part declared that the unjustdemands of the local officials were ruining the trade ofthe Company, and trade could flourish only if the dutieswere removed. It was also convinced that to expandtrade it had to enlarge its settlements, buy up villages,and rebuild its forts.

The conflicts led to confrontations and finallyculminated in the famous Battle of Plassey.

The Battle of PlasseyWhen Alivardi Khan died in 1756, Sirajuddaulah becamethe nawab of Bengal. The Company was worried abouthis power and keen on a puppet ruler who wouldwillingly give trade concessions and other privileges.So it tried, though without success, to help one ofSirajuddaulah’s rivals become the nawab. An infuriatedSirajuddaulah asked the Company to stop meddling inthe political affairs of his dominion, stop fortification,and pay the revenues. After negotiations failed, theNawab marched with 30,000 soldiers to the Englishfactory at Kassimbazar, captured the Company officials,locked the warehouse, disarmed all Englishmen, andblockaded English ships. Then he marched to Calcuttato establish control over the Company’s fort there.

On hearing the news of the fall of Calcutta, Companyofficials in Madras sent forces under the command ofRobert Clive, reinforced by naval fleets. Prolongednegotiations with the Nawab followed. Finally, in 1757,Robert Clive led the Company’s army againstSirajuddaulah at Plassey. One of the main reasons for

Fig. 4 – Robert Clive

Did you know?

Did you know how Plasseygot its name? Plassey is ananglicised pronunciationof Palashi and the placederived its name from thepalash tree known for itsbeautiful red flowers thatyield gulal, the powderused in the festival of Holi.

Puppet – Literally, a toythat you can move withstrings. The term is useddisapprovingly to refer toa person who is controlledby someone else.

13

the defeat of the Nawab was that the forces led by Mir Jafar, one ofSirajuddaulah’s commanders, never fought the battle. Clive hadmanaged to secure his support by promising to make him nawabafter crushing Sirajuddaulah.

The Battle of Plassey became famous because it was the firstmajor victory the Company won in India.

Fig. 5 – The GeneralCourt Room, EastIndia House,Leadenhall Street

The Court ofProprietors of theEast India Companyhad their meetingsin the East IndiaHouse on LeadenhallStreet in London.This is a picture ofone of their meetingsin progress.

The promise of riches

The territorial ambitions of the mercantile East IndiaCompany were viewed with distrust and doubt in England.After the Battle of Plassey, Robert Clive wrote to WilliamPitt, one of the Principal Secretaries of State to the Englishmonarch, on 7 January 1759 from Calcutta:

But so large a sovereignty may possibly be an objecttoo extensive for a mercantile Company … I flattermyself … that there will be little or no difficulty inobtaining the absolute possession of these richkingdoms: ... Now I leave you to judge, whether anincome yearly of two million sterling with thepossession of three provinces … be an object deservingthe public attention ...

Source 1

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III14

After the defeat at Plassey, Sirajuddaulah wasassassinated and Mir Jafar made the nawab. TheCompany was still unwilling to take over theresponsibility of administration. Its prime objective wasthe expansion of trade. If this could be done withoutconquest, through the help of local rulers who werewilling to grant privileges, then territories need not betaken over directly.

Soon the Company discovered that this was ratherdifficult. For even the puppet nawabs were not alwaysas helpful as the Company wanted them to be. After all,they had to maintain a basic appearance of dignity andsovereignty if they wanted respect from their subjects.

What could the Company do? When Mir Jafarprotested, the Company deposed him and installed MirQasim in his place. When Mir Qasim complained, he inturn was defeated in a battle fought at Buxar (1764),driven out of Bengal, and Mir Jafar was reinstalled. TheNawab had to pay Rs 500,000 every month but theCompany wanted more money to finance its wars, andmeet the demands of trade and its other expenses. Itwanted more territories and more revenue. By the timeMir Jafar died in 1765 the mood of the Company hadchanged. Having failed to work with puppet nawabs, Clivedeclared: “We must indeed become nawabs ourselves.”

Finally, in 1765 the Mughal emperor appointed theCompany as the Diwan of the provinces of Bengal. TheDiwani allowed the Company to use the vast revenueresources of Bengal. This solved a major problem thatthe Company had earlier faced. From the early eighteenthcentury its trade with India had expanded. But it hadto buy most of the goods in India with gold and silverimported from Britain. This was because at this timeBritain had no goods to sell in India. The outflow ofgold from Britain slowed after the Battle of Plassey,and entirely stopped after the assumption of Diwani.Now revenues from India could finance Companyexpenses. These revenues could be used to purchasecotton and silk textiles in India, maintain Companytroops, and meet the cost of building the Company fortand offices at Calcutta.

Company officials become “nabobs”What did it mean to be nawabs? It meant of course thatthe Company acquired more power and authority. Butit also meant something else. Each company servantbegan to have visions of living like nawabs.

The Nawabcomplains

Source 2

In 1733 the Nawab ofBengal said this about theEnglish traders:

When they first cameinto the country theypetitioned the thengovernment in ahumble manner forliberty to purchase aspot of ground tobuild a factory houseupon, which was nosooner granted butthey built a strongfort, surrounded itwith a ditch which hascommunication withthe river and mounteda great number ofguns upon the walls.They have enticedseveral merchantsand others to go andtake protection underthem and they collecta revenue whichamounts to Rs 100, 000… they rob andplunder and carrygreat number of theking’s subjects of bothsexes into slavery intotheir own country …

15

After the Battle of Plassey the actual nawabs ofBengal were forced to give land and vast sums of moneyas personal gifts to Company officials. Robert Clivehimself amassed a fortune in India. He had come toMadras (now Chennai) from England in 1743 at theage of 18. When in 1767 he left India his Indian fortunewas worth £401,102. Interestingly, when he wasappointed Governor of Bengal in 1764, he was asked toremove corruption in Company administration but hewas himself cross-examined in 1772 by the BritishParliament which was suspicious of his vast wealth.Although he was acquitted, he committed suicidein 1774.

However, not all Company officials succeeded inmaking money like Clive. Many died an early deathin India due to disease and war and it would not beright to regard all of them as corrupt and dishonest.Many of them came from humble backgrounds andtheir uppermost desire was to earn enough in India,return to Britain and lead a comfortable life. Thosewho managed to return with wealth led flashy livesand flaunted their riches. They were called “nabobs”– an anglicised version of the Indian word nawab.They were often seen as upstarts and social climbersin British society and were ridiculed or made fun ofin plays and cartoons.

Company Rule ExpandsIf we analyse the process of annexation of Indian statesby the East India Company from 1757 to 1857, certainkey aspects emerge. The Company rarely launched adirect military attack on an unknown territory. Insteadit used a variety of political, economic and diplomaticmethods to extend its influence before annexing anIndian kingdom.

After the Battle of Buxar (1764), the Companyappointed Residents in Indian states. They were politicalor commercial agents and their job was to serve andfurther the interests of the Company. Through theResidents, the Company officials began interfering inthe internal affairs of Indian states. They tried to decidewho was to be the successor to the throne, and whowas to be appointed in administrative posts. Sometimesthe Company forced the states into a “subsidiaryalliance”. According to the terms of this alliance, Indianrulers were not allowed to have their independent armedforces. They were to be protected by the Company, but

Imagine that you are ayoung Company officialwho has been in Indiafor a few months.Write a letter home toyour mother telling herabout your luxuriouslife and contrasting itwith your earlier life inBritain.

� Activity

How did Clivesee himself?

At his hearing in front ofa Committee in Parliament,Clive declared that he hadshown admirable restraintafter the Battle of Plassey.This is what he said:

Consider the situationin which the victory atPlassey had placedme! A great prince wasdependent on mypleasure; an opulentcity lay at my mercy;its richest bankers bidagainst each otherfor my smiles; Iwalked through vaultswhich were thrownopen to me alone,piled on either handwith gold and jewels!Mr Chairman, atthis moment I standastonished at mymoderation.

Source 3

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III16

Source 4

Fig. 6 – Nawab Shujauddaulahof Awadh, with his sons and theBritish Resident, painted by TillyKettle (oil, 1772)

The treaties that followed theBattle of Buxar forced NawabShujauddaulah to give up muchof his authority. Here, however,he poses in regal splendour,towering over the Resident.

Injunction – Instruction

Subservience –Submissiveness

had to pay for the “subsidiary forces” that the Companywas supposed to maintain for the purpose of thisprotection. If the Indian rulers failed to make the payment,then part of their territory was taken away as penalty.For example, when Richard Wellesley was Governor-General (1798-1805), the Nawab of Awadh was forcedto give over half of his territory to the Company in 1801,as he failed to pay for the “subsidiary forces”. Hyderabadwas also forced to cede territories on similar grounds.

What power did the Resident have?

This is what James Mill, the famous economist andpolitical philosopher from Scotland, wrote about theresidents appointed by the Company.

We place a resident, who really is king of thecountry, whatever injunctions of non-interferencehe may act under. As long as the prince acts inperfect subservience, and does what is agreeableto the residents, that is, to the British Government,things go on quietly; they are managed withoutthe resident appearing much in the administrationof affairs … but when anything of a differentnature happens, the moment the prince takes acourse which the British Government think wrong,then comes clashing and disturbance.

James Mill (1832)

Tipu Sultan – The “Tiger of Mysore”The Company resorted to direct military confrontationwhen it saw a threat to its political or economic interests.This can be illustrated with the case of the southernIndian state of Mysore.

Mysore had grown in strength under the leadershipof powerful rulers like Haidar Ali (ruled from 1761 to1782) and his famous son Tipu Sultan (ruled from 1782to 1799). Mysore controlled the profitable trade of theMalabar coast where the Company purchased pepperand cardamom. In 1785 Tipu Sultan stopped the exportof sandalwood, pepper and cardamom through the portsof his kingdom, and disallowed local merchants fromtrading with the Company. He also established a closeFig. 7 – Tipu Sultan

17

relationship with the French in India, and modernisedhis army with their help.

The British were furious. They saw Haidar and Tipuas ambitious, arrogant and dangerous – rulers who hadto be controlled and crushed. Four wars were foughtwith Mysore (1767-69, 1780-84, 1790-92 and 1799).Only in the last – the Battle of Seringapatam – did theCompany ultimately win a victory. T ipu Sultan waskilled defending his capital Seringapatam, Mysore wasplaced under the former ruling dynasty of the Wodeyarsand a subsidiary alliance was imposed on the state.

Fig. 9 – Tipu’s toy tiger

This is the picture of a big mechanical toy that Tipu possessed.You can see a tiger mauling a European soldier. When its handlewas turned the toy tiger roared and the soldier shrieked. This toy-tiger is now kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.The British took it away when Tipu Sultan died defending hiscapital Seringapatam on 4 May 1799.

Fig. 8 – Cornwallis receiving thesons of Tipu Sultan as hostages,painted by Daniel Orme, 1793

The Company forces weredefeated by Haidar Ali and TipuSultan in several battles. But in1792, attacked by the combinedforces of the Marathas, theNizam of Hyderabad and theCompany, Tipu was forced tosign a treaty with the Britishby which two of his sons weretaken away as hostages. Britishpainters always liked paintingscenes that showed the triumphof British power.

The legend of Tipu

Kings are often surroundedby legend and their powersglorified through folklore.Here is a legend about TipuSultan who became theruler of Mysore in 1782. Itis said that once he wenthunting in the forest with aFrench friend. There hecame face to face with atiger. His gun did not workand his dagger fell to theground. He battled with thetiger unarmed until hemanaged to reach downand pick up the dagger.Finally he was able to killthe tiger in the battle. Afterthis he came to be knownas the “Tiger of Mysore”. Hehad the image of the tigeron his flag.

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III18

War with the MarathasFrom the late eighteenth century the Company alsosought to curb and eventually destroy Maratha power.With their defeat in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761,the Marathas’ dream of ruling from Delhi was shattered.They were divided into many states under differentchiefs (sardars) belonging to dynasties such as Sindhia,Holkar, Gaikwad and Bhonsle. These chiefs were heldtogether in a confederacy under a Peshwa (PrincipalMinister) who became its effective military andadministrative head based in Pune. Mahadji Sindhiaand Nana Phadnis were two famous Maratha soldiersand statesmen of the late eighteenth century.

The Marathas were subdued in a series of wars. Inthe first war that ended in 1782 with the Treaty ofSalbai, there was no clear victor. The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-05) was fought on different fronts,resulting in the British gaining Orissa and theterritories north of the Yamuna river including Agraand Delhi. Finally, the Third Anglo-Maratha War of1817-19 crushed Maratha power. The Peshwa wasremoved and sent away to Bithur near Kanpur with apension. The Company now had complete control overthe territories south of the Vindhyas.

The claim to paramountcyIt is clear from the above that from the early nineteenthcentury the Company pursued an aggressive policy ofterritorial expansion. Under Lord Hastings (Governor-General from 1813 to 1823) a new policy of “paramountcy”was initiated. Now the Company claimed that its authoritywas paramount or supreme, hence its power was greaterthan that of Indian states. In order to protect its interestsit was justified in annexing or threatening to annexany Indian kingdom. This view continued to guide laterBritish policies as well.

This process, however, did not go unchallenged. Forexample, when the British tried to annex the small stateof Kitoor (in Karnataka today), Rani Channamma tookto arms and led an anti-British resistance movement.She was arrested in 1824 and died in prison in 1829.But Rayanna, a poor chowkidar of Sangoli in Kitoor,carried on the resistance. With popular support hedestroyed many British camps and records. He wascaught and hanged by the British in 1830. You willread more about several cases of resistance later inthe book.Fig. 10 – Lord Hastings

.

Confederacy – Alliance

Activity

Imagine that you havecome across two oldnewspapers reportingon the Battle ofSeringapatam and thedeath of Tipu Sultan.One is a British paperand the other is fromMysore. Write theheadline for each ofthe two newspapers.

�

19

In the late 1830s the East IndiaCompany became worried about Russia.It imagined that Russia might expandacross Asia and enter India from thenorth-west. Driven by this fear, theBritish now wanted to secure theircontrol over the north-west. They foughta prolonged war with Afghanistanbetween 1838 and 1842 and establishedindirect Company rule there. Sind wastaken over in 1843. Next in line wasPunjab. But the presence of MaharajaRanjit Singh held back the Company.After his death in 1839, two prolongedwars were fought with the Sikhkingdom. Ultimately, in 1849, Punjabwas annexed.

The Doctrine of LapseThe final wave of annexations occurredunder Lord Dalhousie who was theGovernor-General from 1848 to 1856. Hedevised a policy that came to be knownas the Doctrine of Lapse. The doctrinedeclared that if an Indian ruler diedwithout a male heir his kingdom would“lapse”, that is, become part of Companyterritory. One kingdom after anotherwas annexed simply by applying thisdoctrine: Satara (1848), Sambalpur(1850), Udaipur (1852), Nagpur (1853)and Jhansi (1854).

Finally, in 1856, the Company also took over Awadh.This time the British had an added argument – theysaid they were “obliged by duty” to take over Awadh inorder to free the people from the “misgovernment” ofthe Nawab! Enraged by the humiliating way in whichthe Nawab was deposed, the people of Awadh joinedthe great revolt that broke out in 1857.

Fig. 11 – Maharaja Ranjit Singhholding court

ActivityImagine that you are a nawab’s nephew and havebeen brought up thinking that you will one day beking. Now you find that this will not be allowed bythe British because of the new Doctrine of Lapse.What will be your feelings? What will you plan to doso that you can inherit the crown?

�

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III20

Fig. 11 a, b, c – Expansion of Britishterritorial power in India

Look at these maps along with a present-day political map of India. In each of thesemaps, try and identify the different parts ofIndia that were not under British rule.

Fig. 11 a Fig. 11 b

Fig. 11 c

21

Setting up a New AdministrationWarren Hastings (Governor-General from 1773 to 1785)was one of the many important figures who played asignificant role in the expansion of Company power. Byhis time the Company had acquired power not onlyin Bengal, but also in Bombay and Madras. Britishterritories were broadly divided into administrativeunits called Presidencies. There were three Presidencies:Bengal, Madras and Bombay. Each was ruled by aGovernor. The supreme head of the administrationwas the Governor-General. Warren Hastings, the firstGovernor-General, introduced several administrativereforms, notably in the sphere of justice.

From 1772 a new system of justice was established.Each district was to have two courts – a criminal court( faujdari adalat ) and a civil court (diwani adalat ).Maulvis and Hindu pandits interpreted Indian laws forthe European district collectors who presided over civilcourts. The criminal courts were still under a qazi anda mufti but under the supervision of the collectors.

Qazi – A judge

Mufti – A jurist of theMuslim communityresponsible forexpounding the lawthat the qazi wouldadminister

Impeachment – A trialby the House of Lordsin England for chargesof misconduct broughtagainst a person in theHouse of Commons

Fig. 12 – The trial of Warren Hastings, painted by R.G. Pollard, 1789

When Warren Hastings went back to England in 1785, Edmund Burke accused himof being personally responsible for the misgovernment of Bengal. This led to animpeachment proceeding in the British Parliament that lasted seven years.

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III22

A major problem was that the Brahman panditsgave different interpretations of local laws based ondifferent schools of the dharmashastra. To bring aboutuniformity, in 1775 eleven pandits were asked to compilea digest of Hindu laws. N.B. Halhed translated thisdigest into English. By 1778 a code of Muslim laws wasalso compiled for the benefit of European judges. Underthe Regulating Act of 1773, a new Supreme Court wasestablished, while a court of appeal – the Sadar NizamatAdalat – was also set up at Calcutta.

The principal figure in an Indian district was theCollector. As the title suggests, his main job was tocollect revenue and taxes and maintain law and orderin his district with the help of judges, police officersand darogas. His office – the Collectorate – became thenew centre of power and patronage that steadilyreplaced previous holders of authority.

The Company armyColonial rule in India brought in some new ideas ofadministration and reform but its power rested on itsmilitary strength. The Mughal army was mainlycomposed of cavalry (sawars: trained soldiers onhorseback) and infantry, that is, paidal (foot) soldiers.They were given training in archery (teer-andazi) andthe use of the sword. The cavalry dominated the armyand the Mughal state did not feel the need to have a largeprofessionally trained infantry. The rural areas had alarge number of armed peasants and the local zamindarsoften supplied the Mughals with paidal soldiers.

A change occurred in the eighteenth century whenMughal successor states like Awadh and Benaras startedrecruiting peasants into their armies and training themas professional soldiers. The East India Company adoptedthe same method when it began recruitment for its ownarmy, which came to be known as the sepoy army (fromthe Indian word sipahi, meaning soldier).

As warfare technology changed from the 1820s, thecavalry requirements of the Company’s army declined.This is because the British empire was fighting inBurma, Afghanistan and Egypt where soldiers werearmed with muskets and matchlocks. The soldiers ofthe Company’s army had to keep pace with changingmilitary requirements and its infantry regiments nowbecame more important.

In the early nineteenth century the British beganto develop a uniform military culture. Soldiers were

Here is a passage fromEdmund Burke’s eloquentopening speech duringthe impeachment ofWarren Hastings:

I impeach him in thename of the people ofIndia, whose rights hehas trodden underhis foot and whosecountry he has turnedinto a desert. Lastly inthe name of humannature itself, in thename of both thesexes, in the name ofevery age, in thename of every rank, Iimpeach the commonenemy and oppressorof all.

Source 5

“I impeach thecommon enemy and

oppressor of all.”

Dharmashastras –Sanskrit textsprescribing social rulesand codes of behaviour,composed from c. 500 BCE

onwards

Sawar – Men on horses

Musket – A heavy gunused by infantry soldiers

Matchlock – An earlytype of gun in which thepowder was ignited by amatch

23

increasingly subjected to European-style training, drilland discipline that regulated their life far more thanbefore. Often this created problems since caste andcommunity feelings were ignored in building a force ofprofessional soldiers. Could individuals so easilygive up their caste and religious feelings? Could theysee themselves only as soldiers and not as membersof communities?

What did the sepoys feel? How did they react to thechanges in their lives and their identity – that is, theirsense of who they were? The Revolt of 1857 gives us aglimpse into the world of the sepoys. You will read aboutthis revolt in Chapter 5.

ConclusionThus the East India Company was transformed from atrading company to a territorial colonial power. Thearrival of new steam technology in the early nineteenthcentury also aided this process. Till then it would takeanywhere between six and eight months to travel toIndia by sea. Steamships reduced the journey time tothree weeks enabling more Britishers and their familiesto come to a far-off country like India.

By 1857 the Company came to exercise direct ruleover about 63 per cent of the territory and 78 per centof the population of the Indian subcontinent. Combinedwith its indirect influence on the remaining territoryand population of the country, the East India Companyhad virtually the whole of India under its control.

Fig. 13 – A sawar of Bengal inthe service of the Company,painted by an unknown Indianartist, 1780

After the battles with theMarathas and the Mysore rulers,the Company realised theimportance of strengthening itscavalry force.

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III24

Let’s recall1. Match the following:

Diwani Tipu Sultan

“Tiger of Mysore” right to collect land revenue

faujdari adalat Sepoy

Rani Channamma criminal court

sipahi led an anti-Britishmovement in Kitoor

2. Fill in the blanks:

(a) The British conquest of Bengal began with theBattle of ___________.

(b) Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan were the rulers of___________.

Let’s imagineYou are living inEngland in the lateeighteenth or earlynineteenth century.How would you havereacted to the storiesof British conquests?Remember that youwould have readabout the immensefortunes that manyof the officials weremaking.

ELSEWHERE

Slave Trade in South AfricaThe Dutch trading ships reached southernAfrica in the seventeenth century. Soon aslave trade began. People were captured,chained, and sold in slave markets. Whenslavery ended in 1834 there were 36,774privately owned slaves at the Cape –located at the southern most tip of Africa.

A visitor to the Cape in 1824 has lefta moving account of what he saw at aslave auction:

Having learned that there was to besale of cattle, farm-stock, etc by auction, … we halted our wagon for the purpose ofprocuring fresh oxen. Among the stock … was a female slave and her three children.The farmers examined them, as if they had been so many head of cattle. They weresold separately, and to different purchasers. The tears, the anxiety, the anguish of themother, while she … cast heart-rending look upon her children, and the simplicity andtouching sorrow of the poor young ones while they clung to their distracted parent …contrasted with the marked insensitivity and jocular countenances of the spectators

Quoted in Nigel Wordon et. al., The Chains that Bind us: a History of Slavery at the Cape, 1996.

25

(c) Dalhousie implemented the Doctrine of ___________.

(d) Maratha kingdoms were located mainly in the___________ part of India.

3. State whether true or false:

(a) The Mughal empire became stronger in theeighteenth century.

(b) The English East India Company was the onlyEuropean company that traded with India.

(c) Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the ruler of Punjab.

(d) The British did not introduce administrativechanges in the territories they conquered.

Let’s discuss4. What attracted European trading companies to India?

5. What were the areas of conflict between theBengal nawabs and the East India Company?

6. How did the assumption of Diwani benefit the EastIndia Company?

7. Explain the system of “subsidiary alliance”.

8. In what way was the administration of the Companydifferent from that of Indian rulers?

9. Describe the changes that occurred in the compositionof the Company’s army.

Let’s do10. After the British conquest of Bengal, Calcutta grew from

a small village to a big city. Find out about the culture,architecture and the life of Europeans and Indians of thecity during the colonial period.

11. Collect pictures, stories, poems and information aboutany of the following – the Rani of Jhansi, Mahadji Sindhia,Haidar Ali, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Lord Dalhousie orany other contemporary ruler of your region.

FROM TRADE TO TERRITORY

OUR PASTS – III26

Fig. 1 – Robert Cliveaccepting the Diwaniof Bengal, Bihar andOrissa from the Mughalruler in 1765

The Company Becomes the DiwanOn 12 August 1765, the Mughal emperor appointed the East IndiaCompany as the Diwan of Bengal. The actual event most probablytook place in Robert Clive’s tent, with a few Englishmen andIndians as witnesses. But in the painting above, the event isshown as a majestic occasion, taking place in a grand setting.The painter was commissioned by Clive to record the memorableevents in Clive’s life. The grant of Diwani clearly was one suchevent in British imagination.

As Diwan, the Company became the chief financialadministrator of the territory under its control. Now it had tothink of administering the land and organising its revenueresources. This had to be done in a way that could yield enoughrevenue to meet the growing expenses of the company. A tradingcompany had also to ensure that it could buy the products itneeded and sell what it wanted.

Ruling the Countryside3

27

Over the years the Company also learnt that it had tomove with some caution. Being an alien power, it neededto pacify those who in the past had ruled the countryside,and enjoyed authority and prestige. Those who had heldlocal power had to be controlled but they could not beentirely eliminated.

How was this to be done? In this chapter we will seehow the Company came to colonise the countryside, organiserevenue resources, redefine the rights of people, and producethe crops it wanted.

Revenue for the CompanyThe Company had become the Diwan, but it still saw itselfprimarily as a trader. It wanted a large revenue income butwas unwilling to set up any regular system of assessmentand collection. The effort was to increase the revenue as muchas it could and buy fine cotton and silk cloth as cheaply aspossible. Within five years the value of goods bought by theCompany in Bengal doubled. Before 1865, the Company hadpurchased goods in India by importing gold and silver fromBritain. Now the revenue collected in Bengal could financethe purchase of goods for export.

Soon it was clear that the Bengal economy was facinga deep crisis. Artisans were deserting villages since theywere being forced to sell their goods to the Company at lowprices. Peasants were unable to pay the dues that were beingdemanded from them. Artisanal production was in decline,and agricultural cultivation showed signs of collapse. Thenin 1770 a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal.About one-third of the population was wiped out.

RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

Fig. 2 – A weekly marketin Murshidabad in Bengal

Peasants and artisansfrom rural areas regularlycame to these weeklymarkets (haats) to selltheir goods and buy whatthey needed. These marketswere badly affected duringtimes of economic crisis.

OUR PASTS – III28

The need to improve agricultureIf the economy was in ruins, could the Company becertain of its revenue income? Most Company officialsbegan to feel that investment in land had to beencouraged and agriculture had to be improved.

How was this to be done? After two decades of debateon the question, the Company finally introduced thePermanent Settlement in 1793. By the terms of thesettlement, the rajas and taluqdars were recognisedas zamindars. They were asked to collect rent fromthe peasants and pay revenue to the Company. Theamount to be paid was fixed permanently, that is, itwas not to be increased ever in future. It was felt thatthis would ensure a regular flow of revenue into theCompany’s coffers and at the same time encouragethe zamindars to invest in improving the land. Sincethe revenue demand of the state would not beincreased, the zamindar would benefit from increasedproduction from the land.

The problemThe Permanent Settlement, however, created problems.Company officials soon discovered that the zamindarswere in fact not investing in the improvement of land.The revenue that had been fixed was so high that thezamindars found it difficult to pay. Anyone who failed topay the revenue lost his zamindari. Numerous zamindariswere sold off at auctions organised by the Company.

By the first decade of the nineteenth century thesituation changed. The prices in the market rose andcultivation slowly expanded. This meant an increase inthe income of the zamindars but no gain for theCompany since it could not increase a revenue demandthat had been fixed permanently

Even then the zamindars did not have an interest inimproving the land. Some had lost their lands in theearlier years of the settlement; others now saw thepossibility of earning without the trouble and risk ofinvestment. As long as the zamindars could give out theland to tenants and get rent, they were not interested inimproving the land.

Fig. 3 – Charles Cornwallis

Cornwallis was the Governor-General of India when thePermanent Settlement wasintroduced.

Colebrook onBengal ryots

In many villages ofBengal, some of thepowerful ryots did notcultivate, but insteadgave out their lands toothers (the under-tenants),taking from them veryhigh rents. In 1806, H. T.Colebrook described theconditions of these under-tenants in Bengal:

The under-tenants,depressed by anexcessive rent in kind,and by usurious returnsfor the cattle, seed, andsubsistence, advancedto them, can neverextricate themselvesfrom debt. In so abjecta state, they cannotlabour in spirit, whilethey earn a scantysubsistence withouthope of bettering theirsituation.

Activity�Why do you think Colebrook is concerned with theconditions of the under-ryots in Bengal? Read thepreceding pages and suggest possible reasons.

Source 1

29

On the other hand, in the villages, the cultivatorfound the system extremely oppressive. The rent he paidto the zamindar was high and his right on the land wasinsecure. To pay the rent he had to often take a loanfrom the moneylender, and when he failed to pay therent he was evicted from the land he had cultivatedfor generations.

A new system is devisedBy the early nineteenth century many of the Companyofficials were convinced that the system of revenuehad to be changed again. How could revenues be fixedpermanently at a time when the Company neededmore money to meet its expenses of administrationand trade?

In the North Western Provinces of the BengalPresidency (most of this area is now in Uttar Pradesh),an Englishman called Holt Mackenzie devised the newsystem which came into effect in 1822. He felt thatthe village was an important social institution in northIndian society and needed to be preserved. Underhis directions, collectors went from village to village,inspecting the land, measuring the fields, and recordingthe customs and rights of different groups. Theestimated revenue of each plot within a villagewas added up to calculate the revenue that eachvillage (mahal) had to pay. This demand was to berevised periodically, not permanently fixed. The chargeof collecting the revenue and paying it to the Companywas given to the village headman, rather than thezamindar. This system came to be known as themahalwari settlement.

The Munro systemIn the British territories in the south there was a similarmove away from the idea of Permanent Settlement. Thenew system that was devised came to be known as theryotwar (or ryotwari ). It was tried on a small scale byCaptain Alexander Read in some of the areas that weretaken over by the Company after the wars with TipuSultan. Subsequently developed by Thomas Munro, thissystem was gradually extended all over south India.

Read and Munro felt that in the south there were notraditional zamindars. The settlement, they argued, hadto be made directly with the cultivators (ryots) who hadtilled the land for generations. Their fields had to becarefully and separately surveyed before the revenueassessment was made. Munro thought that the British

RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

Mahal – In Britishrevenue records mahalis a revenue estatewhich may be a villageor a group of villages.

Fig. 4 – Thomas Munro, Governorof Madras (1819 -26)

OUR PASTS – III30

should act as paternal father figures protecting the ryotsunder their charge.

All was not wellWithin a few years after the new systems were imposedit was clear that all was not well with them. Driven bythe desire to increase the income from land, revenueofficials fixed too high a revenue demand. Peasants wereunable to pay, ryots fled the countryside, and villagesbecame deserted in many regions. Optimistic officialshad imagined that the new systems would transformthe peasants into rich enterprising farmers. But thisdid not happen.

Crops for EuropeThe British also realised that the countryside couldnot only yield revenue, it could also grow the cropsthat Europe required. By the late eighteenth centurythe Company was trying its best to expand thecultivation of opium and indigo. In the century and ahalf that followed, the British persuaded or forcedcultivators in various parts of India to produce othercrops: jute in Bengal, tea in Assam, sugarcane in theUnited Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh), wheat in Punjab,cotton in Maharashtra and Punjab, rice in Madras.

How was this done? The British used a variety ofmethods to expand the cultivation of crops that theyneeded. Let us take a closer look at the story of one suchcrop, one such method of production.

Does colour have ahistory?Figs. 5 and 6 are twoimages of cotton prints.The image on theleft (Fig. 5) shows akalamkari print createdby weavers of AndhraPradesh in India. Onthe right is a floralcotton print designedand produced byWilliam Morris, afamous poet and artistof nineteenth-centuryBritain. There is onething common in the

Fig. 5 – A kalamkari print,twentieth- century India

Fig. 6 – A Morris cotton print, late-nineteenth-century England

Activity�Imagine that you are aCompany representativesending a report backto England about theconditions in rural areasunder Company rule.What would you write?

31RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

two prints: both use a rich blue colour – commonly calledindigo. Do you know how this colour was produced?

The blue that you see in these prints was producedfrom a plant called indigo. It is likely that the blue dyeused in the Morris prints in nineteenth-century Britainwas manufactured from indigo plants cultivated in India.For India was the biggest supplier of indigo in the worldat that time.

Why the demand for Indian indigo?The indigo plant grows primarily in the tropics. By thethirteenth century Indian indigo was being used by clothmanufacturers in Italy, France and Britain to dye cloth.

However, only small amounts of Indian indigo reachedthe European market and its price was very high.European cloth manufacturers therefore had to dependon another plant called woad to make violet and bluedyes. Being a plant of the temperate zones, woad wasmore easily available in Europe. It was grown in northernItaly, southern France and in parts of Germany andBritain. Worried by the competition from indigo, woadproducers in Europe pressurised their governments toban the import of indigo.

Cloth dyers, however, preferred indigo as a dye. Indigoproduced a rich blue colour, whereas the dye from woadwas pale and dull. By the seventeenth century, Europeancloth producers persuaded their governments to relaxthe ban on indigo import. The French began cultivatingindigo in St Domingue in the Caribbean islands, thePortuguese in Brazil, the English in Jamaica, and theSpanish in Venezuela. Indigo plantations also came upin many parts of North America.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the demand forIndian indigo grew further. Britain began to industrialise,and its cotton production expanded dramatically, creatingan enormous new demand for cloth dyes. While thedemand for indigo increased, its existing supplies fromthe West Indies and America collapsed for a variety ofreasons. Between 1783 and 1789 the production ofindigo in the world fell by half. Cloth dyers in Britainnow desperately looked for new sources of indigo supply.

From where could this indigo be procured?

Britain turns to IndiaFaced with the rising demand for indigo in Europe, theCompany in India looked for ways to expand the areaunder indigo cultivation.

Plantation – Alarge farm operatedby a planteremploying variousforms of forcedlabour. Plantationsare associated withthe production ofcoffee, sugarcane,tobacco, tea andcotton.

OUR PASTS – III32

From the last decadesof the eighteenth centuryindigo cultivation inBengal expanded rapidlyand Bengal indigo cameto dominate the worldmarket. In 1788 only about30 per cent of the indigoimported into Britain wasfrom India. By 1810, theproportion had gone up to95 per cent.

As the indigo tradegrew, commercial agentsand officials of theCompany began investingin indigo production. Overthe years many Companyofficials left their jobs tolook after their indigo

business. Attracted by the prospect of high profits,numerous Scotsmen and Englishmen came to India andbecame planters. Those who had no money to produceindigo could get loans from the Company and the banksthat were coming up at the time.

How was indigo cultivated?There were two main systems of indigo cultivation – nijand ryoti. Within the system of nij cultivation, theplanter produced indigo in lands that he directlycontrolled. He either bought the land or rented it fromother zamindars and produced indigo by directlyemploying hired labourers.

The problem with nij cultivationThe planters found it difficult to expand the area undernij cultivation. Indigo could be cultivated only on fertilelands, and these were all already densely populated.Only small plots scattered over the landscape could beacquired. Planters needed large areas in compact blocksto cultivate indigo in plantations. Where could they getsuch land from? They attempted to lease in the landaround the indigo factory, and evict the peasants fromthe area. But this always led to conflicts and tension.

Nor was labour easy to mobilise. A large plantationrequired a vast number of hands to operate. And labourwas needed precisely at a time when peasants wereusually busy with their rice cultivation.

Fig. 7 – The Slave Revolt inSt Domingue, August 1791,painting by January Scuhodolski

In the eighteenth century,French planters produced indigoand sugar in the French colonyof St Domingue in the Caribbeanislands. The African slaves whoworked on the plantations rosein rebellion in 1791, burning theplantations and killing their richplanters. In 1792 France abolishedslavery in the French colonies.These events led to the collapseof the indigo plantations on theCaribbean islands.

Slave – A person who isowned by someone else –the slave owner. A slavehas no freedom and iscompelled to work forthe master.

33

Nij cultivation on a large scale also required manyploughs and bullocks. One bigha of indigo cultivationrequired two ploughs. This meant that a planter with1,000 bighas would need 2,000 ploughs. Investing onpurchase and maintenance of ploughs was a bigproblem. Nor could supplies be easily got from thepeasants since their ploughs and bullocks were busyon their rice fields, again exactly at the time that theindigo planters needed them.

Till the late nineteenth century, planters were thereforereluctant to expand the area under nij cultivation. Lessthan 25 per cent of the land producing indigo was underthis system. The rest was under an alternative mode ofcultivation – the ryoti system.

Indigo on the land of ryotsUnder the ryoti system, the plantersforced the ryots to sign a contract,an agreement (satta). At timesthey pressurised the villageheadmen to sign the contracton behalf of the ryots. Thosewho signed the contract gotcash advances from theplanters at low rates of interestto produce indigo. But the loancommitted the ryot to cultivatingindigo on at least 25 per cent ofthe area under his holding. Theplanter provided the seed and thedrill, while the cultivators preparedthe soil, sowed the seed and looked after the crop. Fig. 8 – Workers harvesting

indigo in early-nineteenth-centuryBengal. From Colesworthy Grant,Rural Life in Bengal, 1860

In India the indigo plant wascut mostly by men.

Bigha – A unit ofmeasurement of land.Before British rule, thesize of this area varied.In Bengal the Britishstandardised it to aboutone-third of an acre.

RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

Fig. 9 – The Indigo plant beingbrought from the fields to thefactory

OUR PASTS – III34

Fig. 13 – The indigois ready for sale

Here you can see the last stage of the production –workers stamping and cutting the indigo pulp thathas been pressed and moulded. In the background youcan see a worker carrying away the blocks for drying.

Fig. 12 – The Vat-Beater

The indigo workerhere is standing withthe paddle that wasused to stir thesolution in the vat.These workers had toremain in waist-deepwater for over eighthours to beat theindigo solution.

Fig. 11 – Women usuallycarried the indigo plant tothe vats.

Vat – A fermentingor storage vessel

Fig. 10 – An indigo factory located near indigo fields, painting byWilliam Simpson, 1863

The indigo villages were usually around indigo factories ownedby planters. After harvest, the indigo plant was taken to thevats in the indigo factory. Three or four vats were needed tomanufacture the dye. Each vat had a separate function. Theleaves stripped off the indigo plant were first soaked in warmwater in a vat (known as the fermenting or steeper vat) for severalhours. When the plants fermented, the liquid began to boil andbubble. Now the rotten leaves were taken out and the liquiddrained into another vat that was placed just below the first vat.

In the second vat (known as the beater vat) the solution wascontinuously stirred and beaten with paddles. When the liquidgradually turned green and then blue, lime water was added tothe vat. Gradually the indigo separated out in flakes, a muddysediment settled at the bottom of the vat and a clear liquid rose

to the surface. The liquid was drained off and the sediment –the indigo pulp – transferred

to another vat (known asthe settling vat), andthen pressed anddried for sale.

FermentingVat

BeaterVat

How was indigo produced?

35

When the crop was delivered to the planter after theharvest, a new loan was given to the ryot, and the cyclestarted all over again. Peasants who were initiallytempted by the loans soon realised how harsh the systemwas. The price they got for the indigo they producedwas very low and the cycle of loans never ended.

There were other problems too. The planters usuallyinsisted that indigo be cultivated on the best soils inwhich peasants preferred to cultivate rice. Indigo,moreover, had deep roots and it exhausted the soilrapidly. After an indigo harvest the land could not besown with rice.

The “Blue Rebellion” and AfterIn March 1859 thousands of ryots in Bengal refused togrow indigo. As the rebellion spread, ryots refused topay rents to the planters, and attacked indigo factoriesarmed with swords and spears, bows and arrows.Women turned up to fight with pots, pans and kitchenimplements. Those who worked for the planters weresocially boycotted, and the gomasthas – agents ofplanters – who came to collect rent were beaten up.Ryots swore they would no longer take advances to sowindigo nor be bullied by the planters’ lathiyals – thelathi-wielding strongmen maintained by the planters.

Why did the indigo peasants decide that they wouldno longer remain silent? What gave them the powerto rebel? Clearly, the indigo system was intenselyoppressive. But those who are oppressed do not alwaysrise up in rebellion. They do so only at times.

In 1859, the indigo ryots felt that they had thesupport of the local zamindars and village headmen intheir rebellion against the planters. In many villages,headmen who had been forced to sign indigo contracts,mobilised the indigo peasants and fought pitchedbattles with the lathiyals. In other places even thezamindars went around villages urging the ryots toresist the planters. These zamindars were unhappy withthe increasing power of the planters and angry at beingforced by the planters to give them land on long leases.

The indigo peasants also imagined that the Britishgovernment would support them in their struggleagainst the planters. After the Revolt of 1857 theBritish government was particularly worried about thepossibility of another popular rebellion. When the newsspread of a simmering revolt in the indigo districts,

A song from anindigo-producing

village

In moments of strugglepeople often sing songsto inspire each otherand to build a sense ofcollective unity. Suchsongs give us a glimpseof their feelings. Duringthe indigo rebellionmany such songs couldbe heard in the villagesof lower Bengal. Here isone such song:

The long lathiswielded by theplanter of Mollahati /now lie in a cluster

The babus of Kolkatahave sailed down /to see the great fight

This time the raiyatsare all ready, / theywill no longer bebeaten in silence

They will no longergive up their life /without fighting thelathiyals.

Source 2

RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

OUR PASTS – III36

the Lieutenant Governor toured the region in the winterof 1859. The ryots saw the tour as a sign of governmentsympathy for their plight. When in Barasat, themagistrate Ashley Eden issued a notice stating thatryots would not be compelled to accept indigo contracts,word went around that Queen Victoria had declaredthat indigo need not be sown. Eden was trying to placatethe peasants and control an explosive situation, buthis action was read as support for the rebellion.

As the rebellion spread, intellectuals from Calcuttarushed to the indigo districts. They wrote of the miseryof the ryots, the tyranny of the planters, and the horrorsof the indigo system.

Worried by the rebellion, the government broughtin the military to protect the planters from assault,and set up the Indigo Commission to enquire into thesystem of indigo production. The Commission held theplanters guilty, and criticised them for the coercivemethods they used with indigo cultivators. It declaredthat indigo production was not profitable for ryots. TheCommission asked the ryots to fulfil their existingcontracts but also told them that they could refuse toproduce indigo in future.

“I would rather beg than sow indigo”

Hadji Mulla, an indigo cultivator of Chandpore, ThanaHardi, was interviewed by the members of the IndigoCommission on Tuesday, 5 June 1860. This is what hesaid in answer to some of the questions:

W. S. Seton Karr, President of the IndigoCommission: Are you now willing to sow indigo;and if not on what fresh terms would you be willingto do it?

Hadji Mulla: I am not willing to sow, and I don’tknow that any fresh terms would satisfy me.

Mr Sale: Would you not be willing to sow at arupee a bundle?

Hadji Mulla: No I would not; rather than sowindigo I will go to another country; I would ratherbeg than sow indigo.

Indigo Commission Report, Vol. II, Minutes of Evidence, p. 67

Source 3

Activity�Imagine you are awitness giving evidencebefore the IndigoCommission. W.S. SetonKarr asks you “On whatcondition will ryots growindigo?” What will youranswer be?

37

ELSEWHERE

Indigo making in the West IndiesIn the early eighteenth century, a French missionary, Jean Baptiste Labat,travelled to the Caribbean islands, and wrote extensively about the region.Published in one of hisbooks, this image showsall the stages of indigoproduction in the Frenchslave plantations ofthe region.

You can see the slaveworkers putting theindigo plant into thesettler vat on the left.Another worker ischurning the liquid witha mechanical churnerin a vat (second fromright). Two workers arecarrying the indigo pulphung up in bags to be dried. In the foreground two others are mixing the indigopulp to be put into moulds. The planter is at the centre of the picture standing onthe high ground supervising the slave workers.

RULING THE COUNTRYSIDE

Let’s recall1. Match the following:

ryot village

mahal peasant

nij cultivation on ryot’s lands

ryoti cultivation on planter’s own land

After the revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal. Butthe planters now shifted their operation to Bihar. With thediscovery of synthetic dyes in the late nineteenth century theirbusiness was severely affected, but yet they managed to expandproduction. When Mahatma Gandhi returned from SouthAfrica, a peasant from Bihar persuaded him visit Champaranand see the plight of the indigo cultivators there. MahatmaGandhi’s visit in 1917 marked the beginning of the Champaranmovement against the indigo planters.

Fig. 14 – Making indigo in a Caribbean slave plantation

OUR PASTS – III38

2. Fill in the blanks:

(a) Growers of woad in Europe saw __________as a crop which would provide competition totheir earnings.

(b) The demand for indigo increased in late-eighteenth-century Britain because of __________.

(c) The international demand for indigo wasaffected by the discovery of __________.

(d) The Champaran movement was against__________.

Let’s discuss3. Describe the main features of the Permanent

Settlement.

4. How was the mahalwari system different from thePermanent Settlement?

5. Give two problems which arose with the new Munrosystem of fixing revenue.

6. Why were ryots reluctant to grow indigo?

7. What were the circumstances which led to theeventual collapse of indigo production in Bengal?

Let’s do8. Find out more about the Champaran movement

and Mahatma Gandhi’s role in it.

9. Look into the history of either tea or coffeeplantations in India. See how the life of workers inthese plantations was similar to or different fromthat of workers in indigo plantations.

Let’s imagineImagine aconversation betweena planter and apeasant who is beingforced to grow indigo.What reasons wouldthe planter give topersuade the peasant?What problems wouldthe peasant pointout? Enact theirconversation.

39

Tribals, Dikus and the Vision ofa Golden Age

4

In 1895, a man named Birsa was seen roaming the forestsand villages of Chottanagpur in Bihar. People said he hadmiraculous powers – he could cure all diseases and multiplygrain. Birsa himself declared that God had appointed himto save his people from trouble, free them from the slaveryof dikus (outsiders). Soon thousands began following Birsa,believing that he was bhagwan (God) and had come to solveall their problems.

Birsa was born in a family of Mundas – a tribal group thatlived in Chottanagpur. But his followers included othertribals of the region – Santhals and Oraons. All of them indifferent ways were unhappy with the changes theywere experiencing and the problems they were facing underBritish rule. Their familiar ways of lifeseemed to be disappearing, their livelihoodswere under threat, and their religion appearedto be in danger.

What problems did Birsa set out toresolve? Who were the outsiders beingreferred to as dikus, and how did they enslavethe people of the region? What was happeningto the tribal people under the British? Howdid their lives change? These are some of thequestions you will read about in this chapter.

You have read about tribal societies lastyear. Most tribes had customs and ritualsthat were very different from those laiddown by Brahmans. These societies alsodid not have the sharp social divisions thatwere characteristic of caste societies. Allthose who belonged to the same tribe thoughtof themselves as sharing common tiesof kinship. However, this did not meanthat there were no social and economicdifferences within tribes.

Fig. 1 – Women of theDongria Kandha tribe inOrissa wade throughthe river on the way tothe market

OUR PASTS – III40

How Did Tribal Groups Live?By the nineteenth century, tribal people in differentparts of India were involved in a variety of activities.

Some were jhum cultivatorsSome of them practised jhum cultivation, that is, shiftingcultivation. This was done on small patches of land,mostly in forests. The cultivators cut the treetops toallow sunlight to reach the ground, and burnt thevegetation on the land to clear it for cultivation. Theyspread the ash from the firing, which contained potash,to fertilise the soil. They used the axe to cut trees andthe hoe to scratch the soil in order to prepare it forcultivation. They broadcast the seeds, that is, scatteredthe seeds on the field instead of ploughing the landand sowing the seeds. Once the crop was ready andharvested, they moved to another field. A field that hadbeen cultivated once was left fallow for several years,

Shifting cultivators were found in the hilly andforested tracts of north-east and central India. The livesof these tribal people depended on free movement withinforests and on being able to use the land and forestsfor growing their crops. That is the only way they couldpractise shifting cultivation.

Some were hunters and gatherersIn many regions tribal groups lived by hunting animalsand gathering forest produce. They saw forests asessential for survival. The Khonds were such acommunity living in the forests of Orissa. They regularlywent out on collective hunts and then divided themeat amongst themselves. They ate fruits and roots

collected from the forestand cooked food with theoil they extracted fromthe seeds of the sal andmahua. They used manyforest shrubs and herbsfor medicinal purposes,and sold forest produce inthe local markets. Thelocal weavers and leatherworkers turned to theKhonds when they neededsupplies of kusum andpalash flowers to colourtheir clothes and leather.

Fallow – A field leftuncultivated for a whileso that the soil recoversfertility

Sal – A tree

Mahua – A flower thatis eaten or used to makealcohol

Fig. 2 – Dongria Kandha womenin Orissa take home pandanusleaves from the forest to makeplates

41

From where did these forestpeople get their supplies of riceand other grains? At times theyexchanged goods – getting whatthey needed in return for theirvaluable forest produce. At othertimes they bought goods with thesmall amount of earnings theyhad. Some of them did odd jobsin the villages, carrying loads orbuilding roads, while otherslaboured in the fields of peasantsand farmers. When supplies offorest produce shrank, tribalpeople had to increasinglywander around in search of workas labourers. But many ofthem – like the Baigas of centralIndia – were reluctant to dowork for others. The Baigas sawthemselves as people of theforest, who could only live on theproduce of the forest. It wasbelow the dignity of a Baiga tobecome a labourer.

Tribal groups often needed tobuy and sell in order to be ableto get the goods that were not produced within thelocality. This led to their dependence on traders andmoneylenders. Traders came around with things forsale, and sold the goods at high prices. Moneylendersgave loans with which the tribals met their cash needs,adding to what they earned. But the interest chargedon the loans was usually very high. So for the tribals,market and commerce often meant debt and poverty.They therefore came to see the moneylender and traderas evil outsiders and the cause of their misery.

Some herded animalsMany tribal groups lived by herding and rearing animals.They were pastoralists who moved with their herds ofcattle or sheep according to the seasons. When the grassin one place was exhausted, they moved to another area.The Van Gujjars of the Punjab hills and the Labadis ofAndhra Pradesh were cattle herders, the Gaddis of Kuluwere shepherds, and the Bakarwals of Kashmir rearedgoats. You will read more about them in your historybook next year.

Fig. 3 – Location of some tribalgroups in India

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE

OUR PASTS – III42

A time to hunt, a time to sow, a time to move to a new field

Have you ever noticed that people living in different types of societies do notshare the same notion of work and time? The lives of the shifting cultivators andhunters in different regions were regulated by a calendar and division of tasksfor men and women.

Verrier Elwin, a British anthropologist who lived among the Baigas andKhonds of central India for many years in the 1930s and 1940s, gives us a pictureof what this calendar and division of tasks was like. He writes:

In Chait women went to clearings to ... cut stalks that were already reaped;men cut large trees and go for their ritual hunt. The hunt began at full moonfrom the east. Traps of bamboo were used for hunting. The women gatheredfruits like sago, tamarind and mushroom. Baiga women can only gather rootsor kanda and mahua seeds. Of all the adivasis in Central India, the Baigaswere known as the best hunters … In Baisakh the firing of the forest tookplace, the women gathered unburnt wood to burn. Men continued to hunt,but nearer their villages. In Jeth sowing took place and hunting still went on.From Asadh to Bhadon the men worked in the fields. In Kuar the first fruits ofbeans were ripened and in Kartik kutki became ripe. In Aghan every crop was

ready and in Pus winnowing took place.Pus was also the time for dances andmarriages. In Magh shifts were made tonew bewars and hunting-gathering wasthe main subsistence activity.

The cycle described above took placein the first year. In the second year therewas more time for hunting as only a fewcrops had to be sown and harvested. Butsince there was enough food the menlived in the bewars. It was only in thethird year that the diet had to besupplemented with the forest products.

Adapted from Verrier Elwin, Baiga (1939) andElwin’s unpublished ‘Notes on the Khonds’ (Verrier

Elwin Papers, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)

Source 1

Fig. 4 – A Santhal girl carrying firewood,Bihar, 1946

Children go with their mothers to theforest to gather forest produce.

� ActivityLook carefully at the tasks thatBaiga men and women did. Do yousee any pattern? What were thedifferences in the types of workthat they were expected to perform?

43

Some took to settled cultivationEven before the nineteenth century, many from withinthe tribal groups had begun settling down, andcultivating their fields in one place year after year,instead of moving from place to place. They began touse the plough, and gradually got rights over the landthey lived on. In many cases, like the Mundas ofChottanagpur, the land belonged to the clan as a whole.All members of the clan were regarded as descendantsof the original settlers, who had first cleared the land.Therefore, all of them had rights on the land. Very oftensome people within the clan acquired more powerthan others, some became chiefs and others followers.Powerful men often rented out their land instead ofcultivating it themselves.

British officials saw settled tribal groups like theGonds and Santhals as more civilised than hunter-gatherers or shifting cultivators. Those who lived inthe forests were considered to be wild and savage: theyneeded to be settled and civilised.

How Did Colonial Rule Affect TribalLives?The lives of tribal groups changed during British rule.Let us see what these changes were.

What happened to tribal chiefs?Before the arrival of the British, in many areas thetribal chiefs were important people. They enjoyed acertain amount of economic power and had the right toadminister and control their territories. In some placesthey had their own police and decided on the local rulesof land and forest management. Under British rule,the functions and powers of the tribal chiefs changedconsiderably. They were allowed to keep their land titlesover a cluster of villages and rent out lands, but theylost much of their administrative power and were forcedto follow laws made by British officials in India. Theyalso had to pay tribute to the British, and disciplinethe tribal groups on behalf of the British. They lost theauthority they had earlier enjoyed amongst their people,and were unable to fulfil their traditional functions.

What happened to the shifting cultivators?The British were uncomfortable with groups who movedabout and did not have a fixed home. They wanted tribal

Bewar – A term usedin Madhya Pradesh forshifting cultivation

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE

Fig. 5 – A log house being built ina village of the Nishi tribals of theNortheast.

The entire village helps when loghuts are built.

OUR PASTS – III44

groups to settle down and become peasant cultivators.Settled peasants were easier to control and administerthan people who were always on the move. The Britishalso wanted a regular revenue source for the state. Sothey introduced land settlements – that is, theymeasured the land, defined the rights of each individualto that land, and fixed the revenue demand for the state.Some peasants were declared landowners, otherstenants. As you have seen (Chapter 2), the tenantswere to pay rent to the landowner who in turn paidrevenue to the state.

The British effort to settle jhum cultivators was notvery successful. Settled plough cultivation is not easyin areas where water is scarce and the soil is dry. Infact, jhum cultivators who took to plough cultivationoften suffered, since their fields did not produce goodyields. So the jhum cultivators in north-east Indiainsisted on continuing with their traditional practice.Facing widespread protests, the British had toultimately allow them the right to carry on shiftingcultivation in some parts of the forest.

Fig. 6 – Bhil women cultivating ina forest in Gujarat

Shifting cultivation continuesin many forest areas of Gujarat.You can see that trees have beencut and land cleared to createpatches for cultivation.

Fig. 7 – Tribal workers in a rice field in Andhra Pradesh

Note the difference between rice cultivation in the flat plains and inthe forests.

45

Forest laws and their impactThe life of tribal groups, as you have seen, was directlyconnected to the forest. So changes in forest laws hada considerable effect on tribal lives. The British extendedtheir control over all forests and declared that forestswere state property. Some forests were classified asReserved Forests for they produced timber which theBritish wanted. In these forests people were not allowedto move freely, practise jhum cultivation, collect fruits,or hunt animals. How were jhum cultivators to survivein such a situation? Many were therefore forced to moveto other areas in search of work and livelihood.

But once the British stopped the tribal people fromliving inside forests, they faced a problem. From wherewould the Forest Department get its labour to cut treesfor railway sleepers and to transport logs?

Colonial officials came up with a solution. Theydecided that they would give jhum cultivators smallpatches of land in the forests and allow them to cultivatethese on the condition that those who lived in thevillages would have to provide labour to the ForestDepartment and look after the forests. So in manyregions the Forest Department established forestvillages to ensure a regular supply of cheap labour.

“In this land of the English how hard it is to live”

In the1930s Verrier Elwin visited the land of the Baigas – a tribal group incentral India. He wanted to know about them – their customs and practices,their art and folklore. He recorded many songs that lamented the hardtime the Baigas were having under British rule.

In this land of the English how hard it is to liveHow hard it is to liveIn the village sits the landlordIn the gate sits the KotwarIn the garden sits the PatwariIn the field sits the government

In this land of the English how hard it is to liveTo pay cattle tax we have to sell cowTo pay forest tax we have to sell buffaloTo pay land tax we have to sell bullockHow are we to get our food?In this land of the English

Quoted in Verrier Elwin and Shamrao Hivale, Songs of the Maikal, p. 316.

Source 2

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE

Sleeper – The horizontalplanks of wood on whichrailway lines are laid

OUR PASTS – III46

Fig. 8 – Godara women weaving

Many tribal groups reacted against thecolonial forest laws. They disobeyed thenew rules, continued with practices thatwere declared illegal, and at times rosein open rebellion. Such was the revolt ofSongram Sangma in 1906 in Assam, andthe forest satyagraha of the 1930s in theCentral Provinces.

The problem with tradeDuring the nineteenth century, tribalgroups found that traders and money-lenders were coming into the forestsmore often, wanting to buy forestproduce, offering cash loans, and askingthem to work for wages. It took tribalgroups some time to understand theconsequences of what was happening.

Let us consider the case of the silkgrowers. In the eighteenth century, Indiansilk was in demand in European markets.The fine quality of Indian silk was highlyvalued and exports from India increased

rapidly. As the market expanded, East India Companyofficials tried to encourage silk production to meet thegrowing demand.

Hazaribagh, in present-day Jharkhand, was an areawhere the Santhals reared cocoons. The

traders dealing in silk sent in theiragents who gave loans to the tribalpeople and collected the cocoons.The growers were paid Rs 3 to Rs 4

for a thousand cocoons. Thesewere then exported toBurdwan or Gaya wherethey were sold at fivetimes the price. Themiddlemen – so calledbecause they arrangeddeals between theexporters and silkgrowers – made hugeprofits. The silk growersearned very little.Understandably, manytribal groups saw themarket and the tradersas their main enemies.

Fig. 9 – A Hajangwoman weaving a mat

For women, domesticwork was not confinedto the home. Theycarried their babieswith them to thefields and thefactories.

47

The search for workThe plight of the tribals who had to go far away from theirhomes in search of work was even worse. From the latenineteenth century, tea plantations started coming up andmining became an important industry. Tribals were recruitedin large numbers to work the tea plantations of Assam andthe coal mines of Jharkhand. They were recruited throughcontractors who paid them miserably low wages, andprevented them from returning home.

A Closer LookThrough the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, tribal groupsin different parts of the country rebelled against the changesin laws, the restrictions on their practices, the new taxesthey had to pay, and the exploitation by traders andmoneylenders. The Kols rebelled in 1831-32, Santhals rosein revolt in 1855, the Bastar Rebellion in central India brokeout in 1910 and the Warli Revolt in Maharashtra in 1940.The movement that Birsa led was one such movement.

Fig. 10 – Coal miners ofBihar, 1948

In the 1920s about 50 percent of the miners in theJharia and Raniganj coalmines of Bihar weretribals. Work deep down inthe dark and suffocatingmines was not only back-breaking and dangerous, itwas often literally killing.In the 1920s over 2,000workers died every year inthe coal mines in India.

ActivityFind out whetherthe conditions ofwork in the mineshave changednow. Check howmany people die inmines every year,and what are thereasons for theirdeath.

�

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE

OUR PASTS – III48

Birsa MundaBirsa was born in the mid-1870s. The son of a poorfather, he grew up around the forests of Bohonda,grazing sheep, playing the flute, and dancing in thelocal akhara. Forced by poverty, his father had to movefrom place to place looking for work. As an adolescent,Birsa heard tales of the Munda uprisings of the pastand saw the sirdars (leaders) of the community urgingthe people to revolt. They talked of a golden age when theMundas had been free of the oppression of dikus, andsaid there would be a time when the ancestral right ofthe community would be restored. They saw themselvesas the descendants of the original settlers of the region,fighting for their land (mulk ki larai), reminding peopleof the need to win back their kingdom.

Birsa went to the local missionary school, andlistened to the sermons of missionaries. There too heheard it said that it was possible for the Mundas toattain the Kingdom of Heaven, and regain their lostrights. This would be possible if they became goodChristians and gave up their “bad practices”. Later Birsaalso spent some time in the company of a prominentVaishnav preacher. He wore the sacred thread, andbegan to value the importance of purity and piety.

Birsa was deeply influenced by many of the ideas hecame in touch with in his growing-up years. Hismovement was aimed at reforming tribal society. Heurged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean theirvillage, and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery. Butwe must remember that Birsa also turned againstmissionaries and Hindu landlords. He saw them asoutside forces that were ruining the Munda way of life.

In 1895 Birsa urged his followers to recover theirglorious past. He talked of a golden age in the past – asatyug (the age of truth) – when Mundas lived a goodlife, constructed embankments, tapped natural springs,planted trees and orchards, practised cultivation toearn their living. They did not kill their brethren andrelatives. They lived honestly. Birsa also wanted peopleto once again work on their land, settle down andcultivate their fields.

What worried British officials most was the politicalaim of the Birsa movement, for it wanted to drive outmissionaries, moneylenders, Hindu landlords, and thegovernment and set up a Munda Raj with Birsa atits head. The movement identified all these forces asthe cause of the misery the Mundas were suffering.

Vaishnav – Worshippersof Vishnu

‘Blood trickles frommy shoulders’

The songs the Mundassang bemoaned theirmisery.

Alas! under [thedrudgery of] forcedlabourBlood trickles frommy shouldersDay and night theemissary from thezamindars,Annoys and irritatesme, day and night IgroanAlas! This is myconditionI do not have a home,where shall I gethappinessAlas!

K.S. Singh, Birsa Munda andHis Movement, p.12.

Source 3

49

ELSEWHERE

The land policies of the British were destroyingtheir traditional land system, Hindu landlords andmoneylenders were taking over their land, andmissionaries were criticising their traditional culture.

As the movement spread the British officials decidedto act. They arrested Birsa in 1895, convicted him oncharges of rioting and jailed him for two years.

When Birsa was released in 1897 he began touringthe villages to gather support. He used traditionalsymbols and language to rouse people, urging them todestroy “Ravana” (dikus and the Europeans) andestablish a kingdom under his leadership. Birsa’sfollowers began targeting the symbols of diku andEuropean power. They attacked police stations andchurches, and raided the property of moneylenders andzamindars. They raised the white flag as a symbol ofBirsa Raj.

In 1900 Birsa died of cholera and the movementfaded out. However, the movement was significantin at least two ways. First – it forced the colonialgovernment to introduce laws so that the land of thetribals could not be easily taken over by dikus.Second – it showed once again that the tribal peoplehad the capacity to protest against injustice andexpress their anger against colonial rule. They did thisin their own specific way, inventing their own ritualsand symbols of struggle.

Let’s recall1. Fill in the blanks:

(a) The British described the tribal people as____________.

(b) The method of sowing seeds in jhum cultivationis known as ____________.

(c) The tribal chiefs got ____________ titles in centralIndia under the British land settlements.

(d) Tribals went to work in the ____________ of Assamand the ____________ in Bihar.

Why do weneed cash!

There are many reasons whytribal and other social groupsoften do not wish to producefor the market. This tribal songfrom Papua New Guinea givesus a glimpse of how the tribalsthere viewed the market.

We say cash,Is unsatisfactory trash;It won’t keep off rainAnd it gives me pain

So why should I work my gutsFrom coconut treesFor these government mutts;

Cash cropping is all very wellIf you’ve got something to sellBut tell me sir why,If there’s nothing to buy;Should I bother?

Adapted from a song quoted inCohn, Clarke and Haswell, eds, TheEconomy of Subsistence Agriculture,(1970).

TRIBALS, DIKUS AND THE VISION OF A GOLDEN AGE

OUR PASTS – III50

2. State whether true or false:

(a) Jhum cultivators plough the land and sowseeds.

(b) Cocoons were bought from the Santhals andsold by the traders at five times the purchaseprice.

(c) Birsa urged his followers to purify themselves,give up drinking liquor and stop believing inwitchcraft and sorcery.

(d) The British wanted to preserve the tribal wayof life.

Let’s discuss3. What problems did shifting cultivators face

under British rule?

4. How did the powers of tribal chiefs change undercolonial rule?

5. What accounts for the anger of the tribals againstthe dikus?

6. What was Birsa’s vision of a golden age? Why doyou think such a vision appealed to the people ofthe region?

Let’s do7. Find out from your parents, friends or teachers,

the names of some heroes of other tribal revolts inthe twentieth century. Write their story in yourown words.

8. Choose any tribal group living in India today. Findout about their customs and way of life, and howtheir lives have changed in the last 50 years.

Let’s imagineImagine you are ajhum cultivator livingin a forest villagein the nineteenthcentury. You havejust been told thatthe land you wereborn on no longerbelongs to you. In ameeting with Britishofficials you try toexplain the kinds ofproblems you face.What would you say?

51

When People Rebel1857 and After

5

Policies and the PeopleIn the previous chapters you looked at the policies ofthe East India Company and the effect they had ondifferent people. Kings, queens, peasants, landlords,tribals, soldiers were all affected in different ways. Youhave also seen how people resist policies and actionsthat harm their interests or go against their sentiments.

Nawabs lose their powerSince the mid-eighteenth century, nawabs and rajashad seen their power erode. They had gradually losttheir authority and honour. Residents had beenstationed in many courts, the freedom of the rulersreduced, their armed forces disbanded, and theirrevenues and territories taken away by stages.

Many ruling families tried to negotiate with theCompany to protect their interests. For example, RaniLakshmibai of Jhansi wanted the Company to recogniseher adopted son as the heir to the kingdom after thedeath of her husband. Nana Saheb, the adopted son of

Fig. 1 – Sepoys and peasantsgather forces for the revolt thatspread across the plains of northIndia in 1857

OUR PASTS – III52

Peshwa Baji Rao II, pleaded that he be given his father’spension when the latter died. However, the Company,confident of its superiority and military powers, turneddown these pleas.

Awadh was one of the last territories to be annexed.In 1801, a subsidiary alliance was imposed on Awadh,and in 1856 it was taken over. Governor-GeneralDalhousie declared that the territory was beingmisgoverned and British rule was needed to ensureproper administration.

The Company even began to plan how to bring theMughal dynasty to an end. The name of the Mughalking was removed from the coins minted by theCompany. In 1849, Governor-General Dalhousieannounced that after the death of Bahadur Shah Zafar,the family of the king would be shifted out of the RedFort and given another place in Delhi to reside in. In1856, Governor-General Canning decided that BahadurShah Zafar would be the last Mughal king and afterhis death none of his descendants would be recognisedas kings – they would just be called princes.

The peasants and the sepoysIn the countryside peasants and zamindars resentedthe high taxes and the rigid methods of revenuecollection. Many failed to pay back their loans to themoneylenders and gradually lost the lands they hadtilled for generations.

The Indian sepoys in the employ of the Companyalso had reasons for discontent. They were unhappyabout their pay, allowances and conditions of service.Some of the new rules, moreover, violated their religioussensibilities and beliefs. Did you know that in thosedays many people in the country believed that if theycrossed the sea they would lose their religion and caste?So when in 1824 the sepoys were told to go to Burma bythe sea route to fight for the Company, they refused tofollow the order, though they agreed to go by the landroute. They were severely punished, and since the issuedid not die down, in 1856 the Company passed a newlaw which stated that every new person who took upemployment in the Company’s army had to agree toserve overseas if required.

Sepoys also reacted to what was happening in thecountryside. Many of them were peasants and hadfamilies living in the villages. So the anger of thepeasants quickly spread among the sepoys.

ActivityImagine you are a sepoyin the Company army,advising your nephewnot to take employmentin the army. What reasonswould you give?

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53

Responses to reformsThe British believed that Indian society had tobe reformed. Laws were passed to stop thepractice of sati and to encourage the remarriageof widows. English-language education wasactively promoted. After 1830, the Companyallowed Christian missionaries to functionfreely in its domain and even own land andproperty. In 1850, a new law was passed tomake conversion to Christianity easier. Thislaw allowed an Indian who had converted toChristianity to inherit the property of hisancestors. Many Indians began to feel that theBritish were destroying their religion, theirsocial customs and their traditional way of life.

There were of course other Indians whowanted to change existing social practices. Youwill read about these reformers and reformmovements in Chapter 7.

Through the Eyes of the PeopleTo get a glimpse of what people were thinkingthose days about British rule, study Sources 1 and 2.

The list of eighty-four rules

Given here are excerpts from the book Majha Pravaas, written by VishnubhattGodse, a Brahman from a village in Maharashtra. He and his uncle had set outto attend a yajna being organised in Mathura. Vishnubhatt writes that they metsome sepoys on the way who told them that they should not proceed on thejourney because a massive upheaval was going to break out in three days.The sepoys said:

the English were determined to wipe out the religions of the Hindus and theMuslims … they had made a list of eighty-four rules and announced thesein a gathering of all big kings and princes in Calcutta. They said that thekings refused to accept these rules and warned the English of direconsequences and massive upheaval if these are implemented … that thekings all returned to their capitals in great anger … all the big peoplebegan making plans. A date was fixed for the war of religion and the secretplan had been circulated from the cantonment in Meerut by letters sent todifferent cantonments.

Vishnubhatt Godse, Majha Pravaas, pp. 23-24.

Source 1

Fig. 2 – Sepoys exchange newsand rumours in the bazaars ofnorth India

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OUR PASTS – III54

“There was soon excitement in every regiment”

Another account we have from those days are the memoirs of Subedar SitaramPande. Sitaram Pande was recruited in 1812 as a sepoy in the Bengal NativeArmy. He served the English for 48 years and retired in 1860. He helped theBritish to suppress the rebellion though his own son was a rebel and waskilled by the British in front of his eyes. On retirement he was persuaded byhis Commanding Officer, Norgate, to write his memoirs. He completed thewriting in 1861 in Awadhi and Norgate translated it into English and had itpublished under the title From Sepoy to Subedar.Here is an excerpt from what Sitaram Pande wrote:

It is my humble opinion that this seizing of Oudh filled the minds of theSepoys with distrust and led them to plot against the Government. Agentsof the Nawab of Oudh and also of the King of Delhi were sent all overIndia to discover the temper of the army. They worked upon the feelingsof sepoys, telling them how treacherously the foreigners had behavedtowards their king. They invented ten thousand lies and promises topersuade the soldiers to mutiny and turn against their masters, the English,with the object of restoring the Emperor of Delhi to the throne. Theymaintained that this was wholly within the army’s powers if the soldierswould only act together and do as they were advised.

Source 2

Fig. 3 – Rebel sepoys at Meerut attack officers, enter their homes and set fire to buildings

Source 2 contd.

55

It chanced that about this time the Sarkar sentparties of men from each regiment to differentgarrisons for instructions in the use of the new rifle.These men performed the new drill for some timeuntil a report got about by some means or the other,that the cartridges used for these new rifles weregreased with the fat of cows and pigs. The men fromour regiment wrote to others in the regiment tellingthem about this, and there was soon excitement inevery regiment. Some men pointed out that in fortyyears’ service nothing had ever been done by theSarkar to insult their religion, but as I have alreadymentioned the sepoys’ minds had been inflamed bythe seizure of Oudh. Interested parties were quickto point out that the great aim of the English was toturn us all into Christians, and they had thereforeintroduced the cartridge in order to bring this about,since both Mahommedans and Hindus would bedefiled by using it.

The Colonel sahib was of the opinion that theexcitement, which even he could not fail to see, wouldpass off, as it had done before, and he recommendedme to go to my home.

Sitaram Pande, From Sepoy to Subedar, pp. 162-63.

A Mutiny Becomes a Popular RebellionThough struggles between rulers and the ruled are notunusual, sometimes such struggles become quitewidespread as a popular resistance so that the power ofthe state breaks down. A very large number of peoplebegin to believe that they have a common enemy andrise up against the enemy at the same time. For sucha situation to develop people have to organise,communicate, take initiative and display the confidenceto turn the situation around.

Such a situation developed in the northern parts ofIndia in 1857. After a hundred years of conquest andadministration, the English East India Company faceda massive rebellion that started in May 1857 andthreatened the Company’s very presence in India.Sepoys mutinied in several places beginning fromMeerut and a large number of people from differentsections of society rose up in rebellion. Some regard itas the biggest armed resistance to colonialism in thenineteenth century anywhere in the world.

1. What were theimportant concernsin the minds of thepeople according toSitaram and accordingto Vishnubhatt?

2. What role did theythink the rulers wereplaying? What role didthe sepoys seem toplay?

Activity�

Mutiny – When soldiersas a group disobey theirofficers in the army

Source 2 contd.

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OUR PASTS – III56

From Meerut to DelhiOn 29 March 1857, a young soldier, Mangal Pandey, washanged to death for attacking his officers in Barrackpore.Some days later, some sepoys of the regiment at Meerutrefused to do the army drill using the new cartridges, whichwere suspected of being coated with the fat of cows andpigs. Eighty-five sepoys were dismissed from service andsentenced to ten years in jail for disobeying their officers.This happened on 9 May 1857.

The response of the other Indian soldiers in Meerut wasquite extraordinary. On 10 May, the soldiers marched to thejail in Meerut and released the imprisoned sepoys. Theyattacked and killed British officers. They captured guns andammunition and set fire to the buildings and properties of theBritish and declared war on the firangis. The soldiers weredetermined to bring an end to their rule in the country. Butwho would rule the land instead? The soldiers had an answerto this question – the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.

The sepoys of Meerut rode all night of 10 May to reachDelhi in the early hours next morning. As news of theirarrival spread, the regiments stationed in Delhi also roseup in rebellion. Again british officers were killed, armsand ammunition seized, buildings set on fire. Triumphantsoldiers gathered around the walls of the Red Fort wherethe Badshah lived, demanding to meet him. The emperorwas not quite willing to challenge the mighty British powerbut the soldiers persisted. They forced their way into thepalace and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader.

Firangis – ForeignersThe term reflects anattitude of contempt.

Fig. 6 – The battle in thecavalry lines

On the evening of 3 July1857, over 3,000 rebels camefrom Bareilly, crossed theriver Jamuna, entered Delhi,and attacked the Britishcavalry posts. The battlecontinued all throughthe night.

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The ageing emperor had to accept this demand. He wroteletters to all the chiefs and rulers of the country to comeforward and organise a confederacy of Indian states tofight the British. This single step taken by Bahadur Shahhad great implications.

The Mughal dynasty had ruled over a very large part ofthe country. Most smaller rulers and chieftains controlleddifferent territories on behalf of the Mughal ruler.Threatened by the expansion of British rule, many of themfelt that if the Mughal emperor could rule again, they toowould be able to rule their own territories once more, underMughal authority.

The British had not expected this to happen. Theythought the disturbance caused by the issue of thecartridges would die down. But Bahadur Shah Zafar’sdecision to bless the rebellion changed the entire situationdramatically. Often when people see an alternativepossibility they feel inspired and enthused. It gives themthe courage, hope and confidence to act.

The rebellion spreadsAfter the British were routed from Delhi, there was nouprising for almost a week. It took that much time fornews to travel. Then, a spurt of mutinies began.

Regiment after regiment mutinied and took off to joinother troops at nodal points like Delhi, Kanpur andLucknow. After them, the people of the towns and villagesalso rose up in rebellion and rallied around local leaders,zamindars and chiefs who were prepared to establish theirauthority and fight the British. Nana Saheb, the adoptedson of the late Peshwa Baji Rao who lived near Kanpur,gathered armed forces and expelled the British garrisonfrom the city. He proclaimed himself Peshwa. He declaredthat he was a governorunder Emperor BahadurShah Zafar. In Lucknow,Birjis Qadr, the son of thedeposed Nawab Wajid AliShah, was proclaimedthe new Nawab. He tooacknowledged the suzeraintyof Bahadur Shah Zafar. Hismother Begum HazratMahal took an active partin organising the uprisingagainst the British. InJhansi, Rani Lakshmibaijoined the rebel sepoys and

Fig. 5 – As the mutinyspread, British officers werekilled in the cantonments

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OUR PASTS – III58

fought the British along with Tantia Tope, the general ofNana Saheb.

The British were greatly outnumbered by the rebel forces.They were defeated in a number of battles. This convincedthe people that the rule of the British had collapsed forgood and gave them the confidence to take the plunge andjoin the rebellion. A situation of widespread popular rebelliondeveloped in the region of Awadh in particular. On 6 August1857, we find a telegram sent by Lieutenant Colonel Tytlerto his Commander-in-Chief expressing the fear felt by theBritish: “Our men are cowed by the numbers opposed tothem and the endless fighting. Every village is held againstus, the zamindars have risen to oppose us.”

Many new leaders came up. For example, AhmadullahShah, a maulvi from Faizabad, prophesied that the rule ofthe British would come to an end soon. He caught theimagination of the people and raised a huge force ofsupporters. He came to Lucknow to fight the British. In Delhi,a large number of ghazis or religious warriors came togetherto wipe out the white people. Bakht Khan, a soldier fromBareilly, took charge of a large force of fighters who came toDelhi. He became a key military leader of the rebellion. InBihar, an old zamindar, Kunwar Singh, joined the rebel sepoysand battled with the British for many months. Leaders andfighters from across the land joined the fight.

The Company Fights BackUnnerved by the scale of the upheaval, the Companydecided to repress the revolt with all its might. It brought

Fig. 7 – British forcesattack the rebels who hadoccupied the Red Fort (onthe right ) and SalimgarhFort in Delhi (on the left )

Activity1. Why did the Mughal

emperor agree tosupport the rebels?

2. Write a paragraph onthe assessment hemay have made beforeaccepting the offer ofthe sepoys.

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59

reinforcements from England, passed new laws sothat the rebels could be convicted with ease, and thenmoved into the storm centres of the revolt. Delhi wasrecaptured from the rebel forces in September 1857.The last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar was triedin court and sentenced to life imprisonment. His sonswere shot dead before his eyes. He and his wife BegumZinat Mahal were sent to prison in Rangoon in October1858. Bahadur Shah Zafar died in the Rangoon jail inNovember 1862.

The recapture of Delhi, however, did not mean that therebellion died down after that. People continued to resistand battle the British. The British had to fight for twoyears to suppress the massive forces of popular rebellion.

Lucknow was taken in March 1858. Rani Lakshmibaiwas defeated and killed in June 1858. Tantia Topeescaped to the jungles of central India and continuedto fight a guerrilla war with the support of many tribaland peasant leaders. He was captured, tried and killedin April 1859.

Just as victories against the British had earlierencouraged rebellion, the defeat of rebel forcesencouraged desertions. The British also tried their bestto win back the loyalty of the people. They announcedrewards for loyal landholders would be allowed tocontinue to enjoy traditional rights over their lands.Those who had rebelled were told that if they submittedto the British, and if they had not killed any white people,

ActivityMake a list of placeswhere the uprising tookplace in May, June andJuly 1857.

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WHEN PEOPLE REBEL

Fig. 4 – The siege trainreaches Delhi

The British forces initiallyfound it difficult to breakthrough the heavy fortificationin Delhi. On 3 September1857 reinforcements arrived –a 7- mile-long siege traincomprising cartloads ofcanons and ammunition pulledby elephants.

OUR PASTS – III60

they would remain safe and their rights and claims toland would not be denied. Nevertheless, hundreds ofsepoys, rebels, nawabs and rajas were tried and hanged.

AftermathThe British had regained controlof the country by the end of 1859,but they could not carry on rulingthe land with the same policiesany more.

Given below are the importantchanges that were introduced bythe British.

1. The British Parliament passeda new Act in 1858 and transferredthe powers of the East India Companyto the British Crown in order toensure a more responsiblemanagement of Indian affairs. A

member of the British Cabinet was appointed Secretary ofState for India and made responsible for all matters relatedto the governance of India. He was given a council to advisehim, called the India Council. The Governor-General of Indiawas given the title of Viceroy, that is, a personalrepresentative of the Crown. Through these measures theBritish government accepted direct responsibility forruling India.

Fig. 8 – British troops blow upKashmere Gate to enter Delhi

Fig. 9 – British forces capture therebels near Kanpur

Notice the way the artist showsthe British soldiers valiantlyadvancing on the rebel forces.

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2. All ruling chiefs of the country were assured that theirterritory would never be annexed in future. They were allowed topass on their kingdoms to their heirs, including adopted sons.However, they were made to acknowledge the British Queen astheir Sovereign Paramount. Thus the Indian rulers were to holdtheir kingdoms as subordinates of the British Crown.

3. It was decided that the proportion of Indian soldiers in thearmy would be reduced and the number of European soldiers wouldbe increased. It was also decided that instead of recruiting soldiersfrom Awadh, Bihar, central India and south India, more soldierswould be recruited from among the Gurkhas, Sikhs and Pathans.

4. The land and property of Muslims was confiscated on a largescale and they were treated with suspicion and hostility. The Britishbelieved that they were responsible for the rebellion in a big way.

5. The British decided to respect the customary religious andsocial practices of the people in India.

6. Policies were made to protect landlords and zamindarsand give them security of rights over their lands.

Thus a new phase of history began after 1857.

Fig. 10 – Someimportant centres ofthe Revolt in NorthIndia

WHEN PEOPLE REBEL

Main centres of the Revolt

Other centres of the Revolt

•

•

OUR PASTS – III62

ELSEWHERE

Let’s imagineImagine you are aBritish officer inAwadh during therebellion. What wouldyou do to keep yourplans of fighting therebels a top secret. Let’s recall

1. What was the demand of Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansithat was refused by the British?

2. What did the British do to protect the interests ofthose who converted to Christianity?

3. What objections did the sepoys have to the newcartridges that they were asked to use?

4. How did the last Mughal emperor live the last yearsof his life?

For a Heavenly Kingdom of Great PeaceWhile the revolt was spreading in Indiain 1857, a massive popular uprisingwas raging in the southern parts ofChina. It had started in 1850 and couldbe suppressed only by the mid-1860s.Thousands of labouring, poor peoplewere led by Hong Xiuquan to fight forthe establishment of the HeavenlyKingdom of Great Peace. This was knownas the Taiping Rebellion.

Hong Xiuquan was a convert toChristianity and was against the traditionalreligions practised in China such asConfucianism and Buddhism. The rebels of

Taiping wanted to establish a kingdom where a form of Christianity was practised, where noone held any private property, where there was no difference between social classes and betweenmen and women, where consumption of opium, tobacco, alcohol, and activities like gambling,prostitution, slavery, were prohibited.

The British and French armed forces operating in China helped the emperor of the Qingdynasty to put down the Taiping Rebellion.

Fig. 11 – Taiping army meeting their leader

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Let’s discuss5. What could be the reasons for the confidence of

the British rulers about their position in India beforeMay 1857?

6. What impact did Bahadur Shah Zafar’s support tothe rebellion have on the people and the rulingfamilies?

7. How did the British succeed in securing thesubmission of the rebel landowners of Awadh?

8. In what ways did the British change their policiesas a result of the rebellion of 1857?

Let’s do9. Find out stories and songs remembered by people

in your area or your family about San Sattavan kiLadaai. What memories do people cherish aboutthe great uprising?

10. Find out more about Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi.In what ways would she have been an unusualwoman for her times?

Fig. 12 – Ruins of the Residencyin Lucknow

In June 1857, the rebel forcesbegan the siege of the Residency.A large number of British women,men and children had takenshelter in the buildings there.The rebels surrounded thecompound and bombarded thebuilding with shells. Hit by ashell, Henry Lawrence, the ChiefCommissioner of Awadh, died inone of the rooms that you see inthe picture. Notice how buildingscarry the marks of past events.

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Colonialism and the CityThe Story of an Imperial Capital

6

What Happened to Cities Under ColonialRule?You have seen how life in the countryside changed after theestablishment of British power. What happened to the citiesduring the same period? The answer will depend on thekind of town or city we are discussing. The history of a templetown like Madurai will not be the same as that of amanufacturing town like Dacca, or a port like Surat, or townsthat simultaneously served many different functions.

In most parts of the Western world modern cities emergedwith industrialisation. In Britain, industrial cities like Leedsand Manchester grew rapidly in the nineteenth and twentiethcenturies, as more and more people sought jobs, housing andother facilities in these places. However, unlike WesternEurope, Indian cities did not expand as rapidly in thenineteenth century. Why was this so?

Fig. 1 – A view ofMachlipatnam, 1672

Machlipatnamdeveloped as animportant port townin the seventeenthcentury. Its importancedeclined by the lateeighteenth century astrade shifted to thenew British ports ofBombay, Madras andCalcutta.

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In the late eighteenth century, Calcutta, Bombayand Madras rose in importance as Presidency cities.They became the centres of British power in the differentregions of India. At the same time, a host of smallercities declined. Many towns manufacturing specialisedgoods declined due to a drop in the demand for whatthey produced. Old trading centres and ports could notsurvive when the flow of trade moved to new centres.Similarly, earlier centres of regional power collapsedwhen local rulers were defeated by the British andnew centres of administration emerged. This process isoften described as de-urbanisation. Cities such asMachlipatnam, Surat and Seringapatam were de-urbanised during the nineteenth century. By the earlytwentieth century, only 11 per cent of Indians wereliving in cities.

The historic imperial city of Delhi became a dustyprovincial town in the nineteenth century before it wasrebuilt as the capital of British India after 1912. Let uslook at the story of Delhi to see what happened to itunder colonial rule.

How many ‘Delhis’ before New Delhi?You know Delhi as the capital of modern India. Did youalso know that it has been a capital for more than a1,000 years, although with some gaps? As many as 14capital cities were founded in a small area of about 60square miles on the left bank of the river Jamuna. Theremains of all other capitals may be seen on a visit tothe modern city-state of Delhi. Of these, the most

Presidency – Foradministrative purposes,colonial India wasdivided into three“Presidencies” (Bombay,Madras and Bengal),which developed from theEast India Company’s“factories” (trading posts)at Surat, Madras andCalcutta.

Fig. 2 – Bombay port in theeighteenth century

The city of Bombay began togrow when the East IndiaCompany started using Bombayas its main port in westernIndia.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

Urbanisation – Theprocess by which moreand more people beginto reside in towns andcities

OUR PASTS – III66

important are the capital cities built between the twelfthand seventeenth centuries.

The most splendid capital of all was built by ShahJahan. Shahjahanabad was begun in 1639 and consistedof a fort-palace complex and the city adjoining it. LalQila or the Red Fort, made of red sandstone, containedthe palace complex. To its west lay the Walled City with14 gates. The main streets of Chandni Chowk and FaizBazaar were broad enough for royal processions to pass.A canal ran down the centre of Chandni Chowk.

Set amidst densely packed mohallas and severaldozen bazaars, the Jama Masjid was among the largestand grandest mosques in India. There was no place higherthan this mosque within the city then.

Delhi during Shah Jahan’s time was also an importantcentre of Sufi culture. It had several dargahs, khanqahsand idgahs. Open squares, winding lanes, quiet cul-de-sacs and water channels were the pride of Delhi’sresidents. No wonder the poet Mir Taqi Mir said, “The

Fig. 3 – Image of Shahjahanabad in the mid-nineteenth century, The Illustrated London News,16 January 1858

You can see the Red Fort on the left. Notice the walls that surround the city. Through the centre runsthe main road of Chandni Chowk. Note also the river Jamuna is flowing near the Red Fort. Today it hasshifted course. The place where the boat is about to embank is now known as Daryaganj (darya meansriver, ganj means market)

Dargah – The tomb of aSufi saint

Khanqah – A sufi lodge,often used as a resthouse for travellers anda place where peoplecome to discussspiritual matters, getthe blessings of saints,and hear sufi music

Idgah – An open prayerplace of Muslims primarilymeant for id prayers

Cul-de-sac – Street witha dead end

67COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

“Dilli jo ek shahr thaalam mein intikhab...”

By 1739, Delhi had beensacked by Nadir Shah andplundered many times.Expressing the sorrow ofthose who witnessed thedecline of the city, theeighteenth-century Urdupoet Mir Taqi Mir, said:

Dilli jo ek shahr tha alammein intikhab,...Ham rahne wale hain usiujre dayar ke(I belong to the sameruined territory ofDelhi, which was oncea supreme city in theworld)

Fig. 4 – The eastern gate of theJama Masjid in Delhi, by ThomasDaniell, 1795

This is also the first mosque inIndia with minarets and fulldomes.

Source 1

streets of Delhi aren’t merestreets; they are like the albumof a painter.”

Yet, even this was no idealcity, and its delights were enjoyedonly by some. There were sharpdivisions between rich andpoor. Havelis or mansions wereinterspersed with the far morenumerous mud houses of thepoor. The colourful world of poetryand dance was usually enjoyedonly by men. Furthermore,celebrations and processionsoften led to serious conflicts.

The Making of New DelhiIn 1803, the British gained control of Delhi afterdefeating the Marathas. Since the capital of BritishIndia was Calcutta, the Mughal emperor was allowedto continue living in the palace complex in the RedFort. The modern city as we know it today developedonly after 1911 when Delhi became the capital ofBritish India.

Demolishing a pastBefore 1857, developments in Delhi were somewhatdifferent from those in other colonial cities. In Madras,Bombay or Calcutta, the living spaces of Indians andthe British were sharply separated. Indians lived in

Fig. 5 – The shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi

OUR PASTS – III68

the “black” areas, while the British lived in well-laid-out “white” areas. In Delhi, especially in the first halfof the nineteenth century, the British lived along withthe wealthier Indians in the Walled City. The Britishlearned to enjoy Urdu/Persian culture and poetry andparticipated in local festivals.

The establishment of the Delhi College in 1792 ledto a great intellectual flowering in the sciences as wellas the humanities, largely in the Urdu language. Manyrefer to the period from 1830 to 1857 as a period of theDelhi renaissance.

All this changed after 1857. During the Revolt thatyear, as you have seen, the rebels gathered in the city,and persuaded Bahadur Shah to become the leader ofthe uprising. Delhi remained under rebel control forfour months.

When the British regained the city, they embarkedon a campaign of revenge and plunder. The famous poetGhalib witnessed the events of the time. This is howhe described the ransacking of Delhi in 1857: “Whenthe angry lions (the British) entered the town, theykilled the helpless … and burned houses. Hordes of menand women, commoners and noblemen, poured out ofDelhi from the three gates and took shelter in smallcommunities, and tombs outside the city.” To preventanother rebellion, the British exiled Bahadur Shah toBurma (now Myanmar), dismantled his court, razedseveral of the palaces, closed down gardens and builtbarracks for troops in their place.

Gulfaroshan – A festivalof flowers

Renaissance – Literally,rebirth of art andlearning. It is a termoften used to describe atime when there is greatcreative activity.

Fig. 6 – British forces wreakingvengeance on the streets of Delhi,massacring the rebels.

Source 2

“There was once acity of this name”

Ghalib lamented thechanges that wereoccurring and wrote sadlyabout the past that waslost. He wrote:

What can I write?The life of Delhidepends on the Fort,Chandni Chowk, thedaily gatherings atthe Jamuna Bridgeand the AnnualGulfaroshan. When allthese … things are nolonger there, how canDelhi live? Yes, therewas once a city of thisname in the dominionsof India.

69

The British wanted Delhi to forget its Mughal past.The area around the Fort was completely cleared ofgardens, pavilions and mosques (though temples wereleft intact). The British wanted a clear ground forsecurity reasons. Mosques in particular were eitherdestroyed, or put to other uses. For instance, the Zinat-al-Masjid was converted into a bakery. No worship wasallowed in the Jama Masjid for five years. One-third ofthe city was demolished, and its canals were filled up.

In the 1870s, the western walls of Shahjahanabadwere broken to establish the railway and to allow thecity to expand beyond the walls. The British now beganliving in the sprawling Civil Lines area that came up inthe north, away from the Indians in the Walled City.The Delhi College was turned into a school, and shutdown in 1877.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

Fig. 7 – Looking out from JamaMasjid, photograph by FeliceBeato, 1858-59

Notice the buildings all aroundthe Masjid. They were clearedafter the Revolt of 1857.

Fig. 8 – View from the JamaMasjid after the surroundingbuildings were demolished

ActivityCompare the view inFig. 8 with that in Fig. 7.Write a paragraph onwhat the changesdepicted in the picturesmight have meant topeople living in the area.

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OUR PASTS – III70

Planning a new capitalThe British were fully aware of the symbolic importanceof Delhi. After the Revolt of 1857, many spectacularevents were held there. In 1877, Viceroy Lytton organised

a Durbar to acknowledge QueenVictoria as the Empress of India.Remember that Calcutta was stillthe capital of British India, butthe grand Durbar was being heldin Delhi. Why was this so?During the Revolt, the Britishhad realised that the Mughalemperor was still important tothe people and they saw himas their leader. It was thereforeimportant to celebrate Britishpower with pomp and show inthe city the Mughal emperors

had earlier ruled, and the place which had turned into arebel stronghold in 1857.

In 1911, when King George V was crowned in England,a Durbar was held in Delhi to celebrate the occasion.The decision to shift the capital of India from Calcuttato Delhi was announced at this Durbar.

New Delhi was constructed as a 10-square-mile cityon Raisina Hill, south of the existing city. Two architects,Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker, were called on todesign New Delhi and its buildings. The governmentcomplex in New Delhi consisted of a two-mile avenue,

.

Fig. 9 – The Coronation Durbar ofKing George V, 12 December, 1911

Over 100,000 Indian princes andBritish officers and soldiersgathered at the Durbar.

Fig. 10 – The Viceregal Palace(Rashtrapati Bhavan) atopRaisina Hill

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Kingsway (now Rajpath), that led to the Viceroy’s Palace(now Rashtrapati Bhavan), with the Secretariat buildingson either sides of the avenue. The features of thesegovernment buildings were borrowed from different periodsof India’s imperial history, but the overall look was ClassicalGreece (fifth century BCE). For instance, the central dome ofthe Viceroy’s Palace was copied from the Buddhist stupa atSanchi, and the red sandstone and carved screens or jaliswere borrowed from Mughal architecture. But the newbuildings had to assert British importance: that is why thearchitect made sure that the Viceroy’s Palace was higherthan Shah Jahan’s Jama Masjid!

How was this to be done?

New Delhi took nearly 20 years to build. The idea wasto build a city that was a stark contrast to Shahjahanabad.There were to be no crowded mohallas, no mazes of narrowbylanes. In New Delhi, there were to be broad, straightstreets lined with sprawling mansions set in the middleof large compounds. The architects wanted New Delhi torepresent a sense of law and order, in contrast to thechaos of Old Delhi. The new city also had to be a cleanand healthy space. The British saw overcrowded spacesas unhygienic and unhealthy, the source of disease. Thismeant that New Delhi had to have better water supply,sewage disposal and drainage facilities than the Old City.It had to be green, with trees and parks ensuring fresh airand adequate supply of oxygen.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

Source 3

The vision of New Delhi

This is how Viceroy Hardinge explained the choice of Delhias capital:

The change would strike the imagination of the people ofIndia … and would be accepted by all as the assertion of anunfaltering determination to maintain British rule in India.

The architect Herbert Baker believed:

The New Capital must be the sculptural monument of thegood government and unity which India, for the first timein its history, has enjoyed under British rule. British rule inIndia is not a mere veneer of government and culture. It isa new civilisation in growth, a blend of the best elements ofEast and West … It is to this great fact that the architectureof Delhi should bear testimony. (2 October 1912)

ActivityImagine yourselfwalking up RaisinaHill, looking towardsRashtrapati Bhavan.Do you think Bakerwas right in thinkingthat looking up tothe building wouldcreate a sense ofawe and emphasisethe power of theBritish?

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ActivityCan you find atleast twoinstances fromthis chapter thatsuggest that therewere other waysof thinking aboutthe image of thecapital city?

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OUR PASTS – III72

Life in the time of PartitionThe Partition of India in 1947 led to a massive transferof populations on both sides of the new border. As aresult, the population of Delhi swelled, the kinds ofjobs people did changed, and the culture of the citybecame different.

Days after Indian Independence and Partition, fiercerioting began. Thousands of people in Delhi were killedand their homes looted and burned. As streams ofMuslims left Delhi for Pakistan, their place was takenby equally large numbers of Sikh and Hindu refugeesfrom Pakistan. Refugees roamed the streets ofShahjahanabad, searching for empty homes to occupy.At times they forced Muslims to leave or sell theirproperties. Over two-thirds of the Delhi Muslimsmigrated, almost 44,000 homes were abandoned.Terrorised Muslims lived in makeshift camps till theycould leave for Pakistan.

At the same time, Delhi became a city of refugees.Nearly 500,000 people were added to Delhi’s population(which had a little over 800,000 people in 1951). Mostof these migrants were from Punjab. They stayed incamps, schools, military barracks and gardens, hopingto build new homes. Some got the opportunity to occupyresidences that had been vacated; others were housedin refugee colonies. New colonies such as Lajpat Nagarand Tilak Nagar came up at this time. Shops and stallswere set up to cater to the demands of the migrants;schools and colleges were also opened.

The skills and occupations of the refugees werequite different from those of the people they replaced.Many of the Muslims who went to Pakistan were

artisans, petty traders and labourers.The new migrants coming to Delhiwere rural landlords, lawyers, teachers,traders and small shopkeepers.Partition changed their lives, and theiroccupations. They had to take up newjobs as hawkers, vendors, carpentersand ironsmiths. Many, however,prospered in their new businesses.

The large migration from Punjabchanged the social milieu of Delhi.An urban culture largely based on Urduwas overshadowed by new tastes andsensibilities, in food, dress and the arts.

Fig. 11 – Thousands stayed inthe refugee camps set up in Delhiafter Partition.

73

Inside the Old CityMeanwhile, what happened to the old city, that hadbeen Shahjahanabad? In the past, Mughal Delhi’s famedcanals had brought not only fresh drinking water tohomes, but also water for other domestic uses. Thisexcellent system of water supply and drainage wasneglected in the nineteenth century. The system of wells(or baolis) also broke down,and channels to removehousehold waste (calledeffluents) were damaged.This was at a time when thepopulation of the city wascontinuously growing.

The broken-down canalscould not serve the needsof this rapidly increasingpopulation. At the end ofthe nineteenth century, theShahjahani drains wereclosed and a new system ofopen surface drains wasintroduced. This system too was soon overburdened,and many of the wealthier inhabitants complainedabout the stench from roadside privies and overflowingopen drains. The Delhi Municipal Committee wasunwilling to spend money on a good drainage system.

At the same time, though, millions of rupees werebeing spent on drainage systems in the New Delhi area.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

Fig. 12 – A famous baoli near theshrine of Nizamuddin Auliya inDelhi

Fig. 13 – Chandni Chowk inDelhi in the late nineteenth century

OUR PASTS – III74

The decline of havelisThe Mughal aristocracy in the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries lived in grand mansions calledhavelis. A map of the mid-nineteenth century showedat least a hundred such havelis, which were large walledcompounds with mansions, courtyards and fountains.

A haveli housed many families. On entering thehaveli through a beautiful gateway, you reached anopen courtyard, surrounded by public rooms meant forvisitors and business, used exclusively by males. Theinner courtyard with its pavilions and rooms was meantfor the women of the household. Rooms in the havelishad multiple uses, and very little by way of furniture.

Even in the mid-nineteenth century Qamr-al-dinKhan’s haveli had several structures within it, andincluded housing for the cart drivers, tent pitchers,torchbearers, as well as for accountants, clerks andhousehold servants.

Many of the Mughal amirs were unable to maintainthese large establishments under conditions of Britishrule. Havelis therefore began to be subdivided andsold. Often the street front of the havelis became shopsor warehouses. Some havelis were taken over by theupcoming mercantile class, but many fell into decayand disuse.

The colonial bungalow was quite different from thehaveli. Meant for one nuclear family, it was a large single-storeyed structure with a pitched roof, and usually setin one or two acres of open ground. It had separate livingand dining rooms and bedrooms, and a wide veranda

Amir – A nobleman

ActivityThink of the life of twoyoung people – onegrowing up in a haveliand the other in acolonial bungalow.What would be thedifference in theirrelationship with thefamily? Which wouldyou prefer to live in?Discuss your views withyour classmates, andgive reasons for yourchoice.

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Fig. 14 – A colonial bungalow inNew Delhi

75

running in the front, and sometimeson three sides. Kitchens, stables andservants’ quarters were in a separatespace from the main house. The housewas run by dozens of servants. Thewomen of the household often sat onthe verandas to supervise tailors orother tradesmen.

The Municipality begins to planThe census of 1931 revealed that thewalled city area was horribly crowdedwith as many as 90 persons peracre, while New Delhi had only about3 persons per acre.

The poor conditions in the WalledCity, however, did not stop it fromexpanding. In 1888 an extensionscheme called the Lahore GateImprovement Scheme was plannedby Robert Clarke for the Walled Cityresidents. The idea was to drawresidents away from the Old City to anew type of market square, aroundwhich shops would be built. Streetsin this redevelopment strictly followedthe grid pattern, and were of identicalwidth, size and character. Land was divided intoregular areas for the construction of neighbourhoods.Clarkegunj, as the development was called, remainedincomplete and did not help to decongest the Old City.Even in 1912, water supply and drainage in these newlocalities was very poor.

The Delhi Improvement Trust was set up 1936, andit built areas like Daryaganj South for wealthy Indians.Houses were grouped around parks. Within the houses,space was divided according to new rules of privacy.Instead of spaces being shared by many families orgroups, now different members of the same family hadtheir own private spaces within the home.

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

Fig. 15 – A street in Old Delhi

OUR PASTS – III76

Let’s recall1. State whether true or false:

(a) In the Western world, modern cities grew withindustrialisation.

(b) Surat and Machlipatnam developed in thenineteenth century.

(c) In the twentieth century, the majority of Indianslived in cities.

(d) After 1857 no worship was allowed in the JamaMasjid for five years.

(e) More money was spent on cleaning Old Delhithan New Delhi.

Let’s imagineImagine that you area young man livingin Shahjahanabadin 1700. Based onthe description of thearea in this chapter,write an account ofyour activities duringone day of your life.

Herbert Baker in South AfricaIf you look atFig.16 and Fig.17you will find astartling similaritybetween thebuildings. But thesebuildings arecontinents apart.What does thisshow?

In the early 1890s, a young English architect named HerbertBaker went to South Africa in search of work. It was inSouth Africa that Baker came in touch with Cecil Rhodes,the Governor of Cape Town, who inspired in Baker a love for the British empire and anadmiration for the architectural heritage of ancient Rome and Greece.

Fig. 17 shows the Union Building that Baker designed in the city of Pretoria in South Africa.It used some of the elements of ancient classical architecture that Baker later included in hisplans of the Secretariat building in New Delhi. The Union Building was also located on a steephill as is the Secretariat Building in New Delhi (Fig. 16). Have you not noticed that people inpositions of power want to look down on others from above rather than up towards themfrom below? The Union Building and the Secretariat were both built to house imperial offices.

Fig. 16

Fig. 17

ELSEWHERE

77

2. Fill in the blanks:

(a) The first structure to successfully use thedome was called the _____________.

(b) The two architects who designed New Delhiand Shahjahanabad were _____________ and_____________.

(c) The British saw overcrowded spaces as_____________.

(d) In 1888 an extension scheme called the_____________ was devised.

3. Identify three differences in the city design ofNew Delhi and Shahjahanabad.

4. Who lived in the “white” areas in cities such asMadras?

Let’s discuss5. What is meant by de-urbanisation?

6. Why did the British choose to hold a grand Durbarin Delhi although it was not the capital?

7. How did the Old City of Delhi change under Britishrule?

8. How did the Partition affect life in Delhi?

Let’s do9. Find out the history of the town you live in or of

any town nearby. Check when and how it grew,and how it has changed over the years. You couldlook at the history of the bazaars, the buildings,cultural institutions, and settlements.

10. Make a list of at least ten occupations in the city,town or village to which you belong, and find outhow long they have existed. What does this tell youabout the changes within this area?

COLONIALISM AND THE CITY

Notes