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Century : [31]
Block-1 Rise of Regional Powers [5]
Unit-1 Indian Polity in the mid-18th Century
Unit-2 Bengal and Awadh
Unit-3 The Maratha State System
Unit-4 Mysore and Hyderabad
Unit-5 The Punjab
Successor States
The New Stales
Independent Kingdoms
Weakness of Regional Polities
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
1.0 OBJECTIVES
The aim of this Unit is to introduce you to the main political developments in the mid18th century. Here we will present only an outline of the political map which the
following units will fill in. After reading this Unit you will become familiar with the
following themes:
the d e c l i p of Mughal Empire,
*/the ernergma of Mughal provinces as regional power-Hyderabad. Bengal and
Awadh,
the rise of new staks-Marathas, Jats, Sikhs and Afghans,
the history of Mysore, Rajput states and Kerala a s independent principalities, and
the beginnings of a colonial empire.
Our study begins around 1740 and ends in 1773. The first Carnatic war and Nadir
Shah's inv-n
of India were the early landmarks. The last milestone was the
.. .
reorgam#b,on of the political system during the tenure of the Warren Hastings.
The d o d i w efthe Mughal empire is the first theme, This was a long-drawn out process
to which many factors contributed. Nadir Shah's invasion in 1739and the massacre of
Delhi seriously weakened an already feeble Mughal empire. Other factors including
economic crisis contributed to the empire's decline. The Mughal empire did not
survive but its institutions and traditions continued in the regi-al stat& and British
provinces. Muadministrative practices, especially in respect of land revenue,
were adopted.
The second theme, tbe emergence of regional powers, was perhaps the most
significant. Thra pmps of states can be distinguished. The successor statesl
Hyderabad, Awadh and Bengal were erstwhile
-provinces of the Mughal empire which
broke away to become independent. The 'new states' were the creation of the
Marathas, Sikhs, Jats and Afghans; in this process in some of these states. an
important role was played by popular peasant movements against imperial demands.
A third category was that of the independent kingdoms of Mysore, the Rajputs and
Kerala which have sometimes been wrongly called 'Hindu polities'. Why did all these
regional powers fail to keep the British out? Some crucial areas of weakness are
indicated in this Unit.
The final theme taken up is the transition of the East India Company from a trading
enterprise t o a political power. We shall trace this transition and resultant conflicts in
South India and Bengal.
On 23rd June 1757 the Middle ages of India ended and her modem age
began ... in the twenty years from Plassey Warren Hastings ... all felt the
revivifying touch of the impetus from the west.
There are obvious problems with such a view. The Mughal empire's influence was not
as widespread or deep as was believed. Significant parts of India, especially in the
North East and South, remained outside it, as did many social groups. Hence Mughal
decline cannot serve as an adequate theme for discussing changes taking place all over
India. Schola~rshave recently argued that the establishment of regional polities was
perhaps the dominant feature of the eighteenth century, rather than the fall and rise
of all-India empires. The 18th Century is presented by Satish Chandra, a leading
historian of medieval India, as a distinct chronological whole, rather than split into
two halves, pre-British and British.
1.3.1
Aurangzeb's misguided policies had weakened the stable Mughal polity. But the two
main pillars oln which the empire rested-the army and the administration-were still
upright in 170f7. Wars of succession and weak rulers plagued Delhi from 1707 to 1719.
Muhammad Shah's rule from 1719 to 1748 was long enough for a revival of imperial
fortunes but the complete incompetence of the emperor ruled out this possibility.
It was in his rkign that Nizam-ul-Mulk resigned as wazir and set up the independent
state of Hyderabad in 1724. Bengal, Awadh and Punjab followed the same pattern
and the empite was split up into successor states. Petty chiefs interprctcd this as a
signal for rebellion and the Marathas began to make their bid to inhcrit thc imperial
mantle.
conquered and the Mughal army was defeated at Karnal on 13th February 1739. To
complete the ignominy, the Mughal emperor Mohammed Shah was captured and
Delhi laid waste. The well known poets Mir and Sauda lamented the devastation of
Delhi. However, the impact of Nadir Shah's invasion on Delhi was not as big a setback
as commonly believed. Abdali's invasions left Delhi worse off but by 1772 the city had
revived. 70 crores of rupees were gathered from the official treasury and the safes of
the rich nobles. The Peacock Throne and the Kohinoor diamond were the two most
priced items of his loot. Nadir Shah gained strategically crucial Mughal territory to the
west of the river Indus including Kabul. India was once more vulnerable to attacks
from the North West.
Ahmad Shah Abdali gained prominence as Nadir Shah's commander and established
his rule over Afghanistan after the death of Nadir Shah. He invaded North India many
times between 1748 and 1767. The most well known was his victory over the Marathas
in 1761 which is known as the third Battle of Panipat.
India scale. Some of the old institutions were reintegrated into new political systems
by the regional chiefs and later by the British. The old Mughal institutions served very
different functions under colonialism. Land revenue practices might be the same as
earlier, but the wealth gathered was drained from India under colonialism. This
distinction between form and function is blurred by imperialist historians with the
intention af emphasising continuity of institutions to show that the British were no
different from their predecessors.
Check Your Progess 1
I)
What were the financial and territorial gains made by Wadir Shah? Write in five
lines.
2)
3)
1.4
Along with khe decline of the Mughal empire, the second major theme of the 18th
Century was the emergence of regional polities. Broadly there were three kinds of
states which' came into prominence:
the states which broke away from the Mughal empire,
the new sitates set up by the rebels against the Mughal, and
the independent states.
Let us look at each one of these separately.
strong enough to control the centre. Hence the changes in polity in this period may
more appropriately be characterised as transformation (to use Muzaffar Alam's term)
rather than collapse. A new political order was constructed within the Mughal
institutional framework.
I.db.pawybrtk
MLblSth Centmy
The collapse of the all India polity did not lead to generalised economic decline. The
regional picture was very varied. Punjab's economy was disrupted by foreign invasions
but Awadh experienced economic growth. Safdar Jang, Nawab of Awadh, on his
accession paid Rs. 3 crores to Nadir Shah. A stable polity developed in Awadh on the
basis of economic prosperity while the states set up in Punjab collapsed.
Hyderabad
The death of Nizam-ul-Mulk in 1748 marked the closing of a glorious first chapter in
the history of Hyderabad. It had started with the foundation of the state in 1724 by
Nizam-ul-Mulk, a prominent noble at the time the Saiyids controlled the court at
Delhi. He assisted Mohammed Shah in deposing the Saiyids and in return was given
the office of Subadar of the Deccan.
H e reorganised the administration and streamlined the revenue system. After a brief
tenure as wazir at Delhi from 1722 to 1724, he returned to the Deccan to set up a state
which was independent in practice, though he continued to declare allegiance to the
Mughal emperor. The formation of a regional elite gave stability to this independence,
as Karen Leonard has shown in her study of Hyderabad's political system. Reform of
the revenue system, subduing of Zamindars, and tolerance towards Hindus were
among his wise policies.
But his death in 1748 exposed Hyderabad to the machinations of the Marathas and
later the foreign companies: The Marathas invaded the state at will and imposed
Chauth upon the helpless inhabitants. Nizam-ul-Mulk's son, Nasir Jang and grandson,
Muzaffar Jang, entered into a bloody war of succession. The French under Dupleix
used this opportunity to play off one group against 'the other and supported
Muzzaffar Jang, who gave them handsome monetary and territorial rewards.
Bengal
Independence in practice and allegiance in name t o the power at Delhi marked the
rule of the Nawabs of Bengal. Murshid Kuli Khan became Governor of Bengal in 1717
under Mughal aegis but his link with Delhi was limited to sending tribute.
Shuja-ud-din became Nawab in 1727 and ruled till 1739 when Alivardi Khan assumed
charge. In 1756 Siraj-ud-daula became the Nawab of Bengal on the death of his
grandfather Alivardi Khan.
The Bengal rulers did not discriminate on religious grounds in making public
appointments and Hindus reached high positions in the Civil Service and obtained
lucrative zamindaris. The Nawabs were fiercely independent and maintained strict
control over the foreign companies trading in their realm. Fortifications were rightly
not allowed in the French and English factories at Chandernagar and Calcutta, nor
did the Nawab concede to their special privileges. The sovereignty of the ruler was
upheld even in the face of the threats of the British East India Company to use force
to obtain its end.
However, the Nawabs suffered defeat at the hands of the British because of their weak
and meagre army and their underestimation of the danger posed by the company. The
British victory at Plassey in 1757 inaugurated a new phase in British relations with
India.
Awadh
Saadat Khan Burhan-ul-Mulk gradually secured the independence of Awadh after his
appointment as Governor in 1722. The main problem in Awadh was posed by the
zamindars who not only refused to pay land revenue but behaved like autonomous
chiefs with their forts and armies. Saadat Khan subdued them and introduced a new
land settlement which provided protection to the peasants from the zamindars. The
Jagirdari system was reformed and jagirdaris granted to the local gentry, who were
also given positions in the administration and army. A "regional ruling group"
emerged, consisting of Shaikhzadas, Afghans and sections of the Hindus.
'
If the two d a i n themes of the 18th century were decline of Mughal power and
foundation qf coIonial mIe, then a third theme was the rise and fall of regional states,
the most sianificant among them being the Marathas. One all-India empire declined,
a second onle took its place and a third empire failed to come into being. Mughal
decline spanned the first part of the century, British ascendency grew rapidly in the
second half, and most of the terrain of the middle of the century was occupied by the
swaying political fortunes of the Marathas.
The basic contours of the Maratha State system dominated by the Peshwas or chief
ministers were evolved during the time of Balaji Vishwanath. He was a loyal official
of Shahu, Shivaji's grandson, who was head of the Marathas after his release from
custody in 11707.The powers of the office of the Peshwa rapidly increased during his
tenure 'till it became the fountainhead of authority of the entire Maratha Empire.
Balaji Vishwanath died in 1720 and his son Baji Rao in 1740, the period whence our
study commlences. By then the Marathas were no longer a regional power but had
attained the status of an expansionist empire. They had acquired control over far flung
areas of the Mughal empire. The main weakness, however, was that these conquests
were made pt the initiative of the Maratha Chiefs who were unwilling to accept
regulation by the Peshwa. These chiefs had accepted the Peshwa's authority because
of the militdry and financial benefit that accrued from this association. Collection of
Chauth andsardeshmukhi of a certain area was assigned to the chiefs and conquest
permitted. These chiefs were only too willing to go over to the other side if the Peshwa
exercised control over their activities. This was the situation in Balaji Vishwanath's
time.
Perhaps leaining from this, Baji Rao himself led military campaigns and acquired the
prosperous area of Malwa and Gujarat among others. Unfortunately he got embroiled
in conflict With the other great power in the Deccan, Nizam-ul-Mulk. An alliance
against the Mughals, and later the British, would have benefited both, but they chose
to go in for alliances with even Mughal functioneries against each other.
The Nizam was decisively beaten twice by Baji Rao's forces but the struggle for
mastery between the two continued. When the British entered the fray the contest
became a triangular one, which proved to be of great advantage to the British, who
could play off one against the other.
Balaji Rao, better known as Nana Saheb, was Peshwa from 1740 to 1761. Maratha
power achidved its climax during his rule. Expansion was now no longer limited to
areas over Which the Mughals has an uncertain hold. No part of India was spared the
depredationls of Maratha conquest. The South proved relatively easier to subdue.
Hyderabad $urrendered a large chunk of territory after its defeat in 1760 and Mysore
and other st,ates paid tribute. In the east, repeated conquests of Bengal gained them
Orissa in 1751. In Central India, Malwa, Gujarat and Bundelkhand, which had been
conquered by Baji Rao, were better integrated with the rest of the Maratha empire.
Struggle betiween Mughals, Marathas and Afghans
Mastery ov4r North India proved more difficult to maintain after the initial easy
conquest. m he Mughals at Delhi came under Maratha influence but the Afghans under
Abdali threw back the Marathas.
The Third Battle of Panipat, 1761
The third battle of Panipat commenced on 14th January 1761. But the conflict and its
outcomle ware brewing since 1752 when Maratha forces overran North India and
established their influence at the Delhi court. Imad-ul-MuIk was proclaimed the
Wazir of the Kingdom but for all practical purposes the Marathas were the rulers. The
Marathas were not content with their acquisitions and looked greedily towards the
Punjab, which was ruled by a tributary of Abdali. This was a grave mistake. Abdali
had retreated from India after carrying away what he could. He left behind trusted
followers in charge of certain areas, but decided to return to challenge the ambitious
Maratha power.
The conflict inevitably became a multifaceted one as the major and minor north
Indian powers got drawn in. Here the Afghans were at an advantage as the Marathas
had acquired many encmies in the process of conquering and administering this core
area of the empire. The Mughal nobles, apart from Imad-ul-Mulk, had been defeated
by them in the power game. The Jat and Rajput chiefs were completely alienated by
their conquests which were followed by imposition of heavy fines. The Sikhs, already
frustrated in their attempt to consolidate their power by the foreign invasions, were
obviously in no mood to help the Marathas to include Punjab in their empire.
The Rohilkhand chief and the Awadh Nawabs, whose area had been overrun by the
Marathas, even went to the extent of joining hands with Abdali. The Maratha armies
marched alone to the battlefield of Panipat to confront Abdali.
The Maratha army was no match for the Afghans though it boasted of troops trained
along Western lines. 28,000 Marathas died on the battlefield, along with the
commanders of the army. the Peshwa's minor son Vishwas Rao and the latter's
cousin. Sadashiv Rao Bhau. .The Peshwa, Balaji Baji Rao did not survive for long,
after hearing the tragic news of the defeat.
Aftermath of the Third Battle of Panipat
The third battle of Panipat proved significant in the struggle for mastery over India.
The Marathas' ambition of replacing the Mughals as the imperial power was checked
at a strategic point by this defeat. The beneficiaries were the British rather than the
Afghans. The British got a tremendous opportunity to expand their influence in
Bengal and India. Once they had got these footholds there was no looking back. For
a brief while after the debacle of 1761 it seemed as if the fortunes of the Marathas
were reviving. Madhav Rao, who became Peshwa in 1761, was successful in subduing
once again the old enemies, the Rohilas. the Rajput and Jat Chiefs in the north and
Mysore and Hyderabad in the south. But the early demise of the Peshwa in 1772, at
the age of 28, finaIly ended the dream. Factional struggle for power ensued, exposing
the Maratha power to defeat at the hands of the British in the first'Anglo-Maratha
war. (Anglo-Maratha conflict is one of the themes of Unit 10).
Nature of the Maratha State and Movement
The risc of the Marathas was both a regional reaction against Mughal centralisation
as well as a manifestation of the upward mobility of certain classes and castes. The
petty rural gentry and the hereditary cultivators (mirasdars) formed the social base.
Peasant castes wanted to achieve Kshatriya status while officials sought to concentrate
power in their hands.
Levy was institutionalised as chauth and made a legitimate part of the Maratha state
system. Money was raised through chauth to supplement the income from the poor.
underdeveloped home areas of the Marathas. But reliance on plunder was an
inadequacy of the Maratha system and they did not impose direct rule even when the
rich areas of Carnatic. Coromandel and the Gangetic Valley came under their contr.01.
The Marathas adopted some parts of the Mughal administrative system, but they
concentrated attention on techniques of extracting surplus. The absence of a proper
administrative hierarchy or a well-defined provincial authority prevented them from
consolidating their influence at the rapid pace necessary before the Afghans and
British coutd defeat them.
These administrative and financial weaknesses were compounded by their
technological backwardness. especially in the military sphere. The new development
of the time. artillery. small arms, especially the flint guns and improved firearms were
not adopted.
Rise et R @ o d Powers
Sikhs
The strategically located province of Punjab had witnessed the spread of a democratic,
new religioo, Sikhism, at the end of the 15th century. It was confined to the personal
sphere for two centuries, but by the time of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru,
political ambitions and militancy had transformed the adherents of this faith into a
well-knit community. Guru Gobind Singh'sconflict with Aurangzeb is well known, as
is Banda Bahadur's rebellion against Aurangzeb's successors.
The mughals ruthlessly suppressed the revolt as Punjab was strategically crucial. The
Sikhs, unlike other rebels, were not willing to compromise with the Mughals. They
refused to have any link with the centre and insisted on being fully independent rulers.
There were internal weaknesses too. The position of the leaders of the movement, the
Khatris, declined as trade and urban centres withered under the combined impact of
the foreign invasions and the Marathas. The movement had drawn in the lower castes
with the prospect of upward mobility, but this invited the opposition of the upper
castes and classes.
For a quarter century after the suppression of Banda Bahadur's rebellion in 1715, the
Sikhs were quiescent. But adversity for the Mughal empire proved to be a beneficial
opportunity for the Sikhs. The invasion of Nadir Shah and Abdali exposed north
India and what they could not plunder and take away, was looted by the Sikhs. On
the basis of this booty and taking advantage of the breakdown of imperial control of
Punjab, the Sikhs rapidly established their control once Abdali and his followers
returned home.
There followed a period when 12 Misls or confederacies constituted the province.
Recent schalarship has debunked the view that the Sikh political system was
theocratic and placed it alongside secular polities elsewhere in the country. Punjab's
rise to prominence had to wait till the end of the century for Ranjit Singh.
Jats
The Jats were an agriculturist Caste inhabiting t_he Delhi-Agra belt. In the latter half
of the 17th century their?evolts ag&t Mughal dominatjon shook the stability of the
core area of the Mughal empire. As Mughal power declined, Jat power grew and a
peasant revolt was transformed into an uprising that proved destructive of all other
groups in the region, including the Rajput Zamindars. Despite originating as a peasant
rebellion, the Jat state remained feudal, with Zamindars holding both administrative
and revenue powers and revenue demands under Suraj Mal were higher than under
the Mughals.
Churaman ahd Badan Singh founded the Jat state at Bharatpur but it was Suraj Ma1
who consolidated Jat power during his rule from 1756 to 1763. Expansion of the state
brought its boundaries to the Ganga in the east, the Chambal in the south, Delhi in
the north and Agra in the west. In addition he possessed great administrative ability,
especially in the fields of revenue and civil affairs. However, his rule was short lived
and his death in 1763 also marked the demise of the Jat state.
Famkhabad and Rohilkhand
The states of Rohilkhand and the kingdom of the Bangash Pathans were a fall-out of
the Afghan migration from the 17th century. Large scale immigration of Afghans into
India took place in mid-18th century because of political and economic disruption in
Afghanistan. Ali Muhammad Khan took advantage of the collapse of authority in
north India fbllowing Nadir Shah's invasion, to set up a petty kingdom, Rohilkhand.
This was the area of the Himalayan foothills located between Kumaon in the north
and the Gan$a in the south. The Rohilas, as the inhabitants of Rohilkhand were
known, suffered heavily at the hands of the other powers in the area, the Jats and the
Awadh rulers and later the Marathas and the British, Mohammad Khan Bangash, an
Afghan, had set up an independent kingdom to the east of Delhi in the area around
Farrukhabad.
The Afghani bse of artillery, especially the flint gun, ended the domination of cavalry
since the early medieval ages discovered the stirrup.
Politically the role of the Afghans was negative. Not only did they accentuate the
decline of the Mughals but they helped Abdali to subdue Awadh, which could have
checked British expansion.
1.4.3
Independent Kingdoms
There was a third type of state which was neither the result of a breakaway from or
rebellion against Delhi. Mysore, the Rajput states and Kerala fall in this category.
The Rajput rulers did not lag behind in consolidating their position by taking
advantage of the disintegration of the Mughal empire. None were large enough to
contend with the Marathas or theBritish for the position of paramount power. Their
method was to slowly loosen their ties with Delhi and function as independent states
in practice. They participated in the struggle for power at the court of Delhi and
gained lucrative and influential governorships from the Mughal emperors.
Rajput policy continued to be fractured in the post Mughal period. All the states
followed a policy of constant expansion absorbing weak neighbours whenever
possible. This took place within the State too, with one faction ousting the other in a
continuously played game of one-up-manship at the court of the Mughals. The most
well-known Rajput ruler, Jai Singh of Amber, ruled Jaipur from 1699 to 1743.
Kerala
The three states of Cochin, Travancore and Calicut together comprised the present
state of Kerala. The telritories of a large number of chiefs and rajas had been
incorporated into these states by 1763. But the expansion of Mysore proved
destructive for the stability of Kerala. Haidar Ali invaded Kerala in 1766 and annexed
Malabar and Calicut.
Travancore, the southern most state and by far the most prominent one, was spared.
Travancore had gained in importance after 1729 when its King, Martanda Verma,
expanded his dominions with the help of a strong and modern army trained in Western
lines and well equipped with modern weapons. The Dutch were ousted from Kerala
and the feudal chiefs suppressed. His vision extended beyond expansion to
development of his state and provision was made for irrigation and transport and
communication. His successor Rama Verma, a man of great creativity and learning,
including Western knowledge, was responsible for making Trivandrum, the capital, a
centre of scholarship and art.
Imd&n~iatbe
W-18th Century
Rise d ~ c g k n apowers
~
plagued the Mughal economy. The Jagirdari crisis intensified as income from
agriculture declined and the number of contenders for a share of the surplus
multiplied. Trade, internal and foreign. continued without disruption and even
prospered but the rest of the economy stagnated.
The above analysis of weaknesses has been questioned by historians recently. Some
representative examples will illustrate a different trend. Satish Chandra argues that it
is wrong to talk of generalised economic decline and social stagnation. The resilience
of the economy was in sharp contrast to the ease with which the polity collapsed. For
example, Bangal withstood the ravages of early colonial rule very well. Bengal's
economy stabilised after the 1770s and export of cotton piece goods went up to 2
;
million in the 1790s from 400,000 in the 1750s.
The social structure did not stagnate, it changed and low castes moved upwards and
"new men" gushing forward was a common feature all over India.
Muzaffar Alam presents a regionally varied picture, with some areas (Awadh)
experiencingeconomic prosperity and other areas stagnation (Punjab). Polities
remained redional because there emerged no state system indigenously with enough
surplus for am all-India system comparable to the Mughal empire.
Check Your *ogress
1) What werk the stages in the breakaway of Mughal Provinces from the centre?
Answer it in about 50 words.
..........................................................................................................
2) List the major territories acquired by the Marathas from 1740 to 1761.
..........................................................................................................
3) What were the major states set up by rebels against the Mughals?
1.5
The third and the most.crucia1 feature of the 18th century polity was the rise and
expansion of the British power in India. It opened a new phase in the history of India.
In this section you will become familiar with how the British came to India and
subsequently expanded their influence.
1
I
The company's need for more revenue from taxation' inclined it towards establishing
an empire. The company needed money to maintain its trade and pay its troops and
so acquisition of temtory seemed the best method of meeting this requirement. The
company's interest in conquering Bengal was two-fold-protection of its trade and
control over Bengal's revenue. The intention was to remit the surplus revenue of
Bengal as tribute through the channel of investment in Bengal goods. The value of
Bengal goods exported rose from 4,00,000 in 1765 to one million towards the end of
the 1770's.
~ i s od ~ e g i o r dPowers
The English avenged their defeat in 1750. Robert Clive master minded the occupation
of Arcot with only UIO English .ad300 Indian soldier. Chandra Sahib had no option
I but to rush tb the defence of his capital, lifting the siege of Trichodopoly and releasing
Muhammad Ali in consequence. This was what Clive had hoped would hppm.
The French effort to strike back was frustrated by the lack of support given by the
French govsrnment. They had incurred heavy losses in America and India and
preferred a humiliating peace to an expensive conflict. Thus the very nature of the
company, it" being almost a department of the state, proved disastrous for it. The
French state was not only corrupt and decadent, it failed to keep in line with current
developmen~tsand visions into the future. Dupleix was recalled after negotiations with
the English company in 1754. The French challenge was virtually over.
Third Carnatic War
A third war broke out in 1756 with the commencement of war in Europe. Count dc
Lally sailed to India to aid the French army but his ships were sent back and the
French troops were defeated in Carnatic. The French position at the court and
territory in Hyderabad state were taken over by the English. The battle of Wandiwash
in 1760 marked the elimination of French influence in India.
Peace like war, was once again linked with Europe. The Treaty of Paris in 1763
reduced the French company to a pure trading body without any political privileges.
The conflict between the English and French companies was a crucial stage in the
consolidatiorp of British power in India. At the end of 20 years the superiority of the
British over the French was clearly proved. The lessons learnt in the Carnatic were
well applied lin other parts of the country.
Dual Government
The treaty of Bengal in 1765 inaugurated the Dual Government of Bengal. Clive
became Governor of Bengal and Company the virtual ruler. The Nawab was the ruler
merely in name as his army had been disbanded. The administration was handed over
to a Deputy Subadar, who would function on behalf of the Nawab, but would be
nominated by the company. The company had direct control over collection of
revenues through the Deputy diwan. As the officesof diwan and subadar were held by
the same person, the company's control was total.
Moreover, the great advantage was that responsibility continued to be with the
Nawab. The blame for the extortions and oppression by the company's servants fell
on the Nawab. It is estimated that 5.7 million were taken away from Bengal in the
years 1766 to 1768 alone. Senior British officials including Clive admitted that
Company's rule was unjust and corrupt and meant untold misery for the people of
Bengal.
1.5.4
The administrative abuses were so great that the company ended the dual government
in 1772. The company was essentially a trading corporation, ill equipped to administer
territory. Changes were necessary in the constitution to enable it to wield political
power and for the British Government to regulate the functioning of the company.
This was effected by the Regulating Act of 1773. Unit 23 discusses the Act at length.
Map 1
Change was not immediately visible. Revenue collection procedures were derived
from varied traditional and Mughal practices. But the establishment of control of the
British Government over the Company's administration and policies marked the
replacement of the indigenous political system by an imperial system subservient t o
the interests of Britain.
R L P ~d ~ e g l a o dPowers
1) Why did the East India Company adopt an expansionist policy after the 1720's.
..........................................................................................................
2) Write five lines on the Dual Government and its advantages for the British.
..........................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................
The 18th century is no longer accepted as a classic dark age when anarchy ruled.
Mughal decliee was not the predominant feature of the century. The growth of
regional powers was an equally significant development of the mid-18th century. Thc
rise of British power, which began in the mid-18th century was the third major
development.
Continuiyy of traditions from Mughal to regional and British polities was remarkable.
But the differknces between these three polities were equally striking. The same
institutions parformed very different functions when integrated into a new political
system. The regional powers that emerged were of three types-the successor states,
the new states and the independent kingdoms. The first group proved to be stable
polities. The Marathas, the main contender for the status of an all-India empire came
from the Vecomd group of 'new states'. But a combination of unfortunately timed
external challdnges and internal weaknesses dashed their dreams. The states set up by
the Sikhs, Jats and Afghans were fairly short-lived.
The regional powers were not able t o take the place of the Mughals. Though some
states were very prosperous, and some achieved considerable military powers, none
could achieve resources and power t o maintain an all-India polity. Modernisation
attempts were limited. Backward regional states easily succumbed t o the superior
Brlt~shsystem.
The struggle with the French for supremacy marked the first phase of the rise of the
British power. iI7le conquest of Bengal was the second and decisive step. The British
initially ruled through indigenous institutions but introduced constitutional changes
from 1773 onwmrds. T h e main orientation of British rule was t o the metropolitan
economy, though the colonial institutions were a mixture of Mughal and British
modes. Brjtishpower in India was integrated into Britain's world-wide imperial
system.
MM-18th Century
Chauth: A levy consisting of one fourth of land revenue, collected by Maratha chiefs
from the areas assigned to them by the Peshwa. In return the chiefsawere expected to
protect these areas from external aggression.
Jagirdari System: A system of giving land to Mughal Mansabdar or officer in lieu of
cash payment. The grantees were expected to collect the land revenue of these areas
to pay their armed retainers and themselves. They also commanded administrative
authority over the areas called Jagirs.
iv) x
UNIT 2
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Bengal kind Awadh: under the Mughals
Bengal ! Towards Autonomy
2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3
Awadh : 1764-1775
AWadh : 1775-1797
Awladh: 1797-1856
2.0 OBJECTIVES
The eighteenth century is marked by the rise of regional state systems. After reading
this Unit you will:
have an idea about the system of administration prevailing in Bengal and Awadh
before autonomy,
learn about the process of transformation of Bengal and Awadh into autonomous
states,
understand the context in which they were absorbed into the British imperial
system, and
learn about the nature and functioning of the regional polity in Awadh and Bengal.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Recent historical writings on eighteenth century India have tended to focus o n the
emergence and experience of regional political systems as a central theme, rather than
highlight the decline of the Mughal Empire as a process dominating the century. In
Unit 1 you have read about the nature of polity in general in the mid-18th century. In
this Unit we shall try to identify the elements and processes that enabled erstwhile
imperial provinces to transform themselves into autobomous states. O u r focus here is
on Bengal and Awadh. In spite of differences in some respect, the regimes of Bengal
and Awadh in their early years of inception and organisation shared features in
common, an analysis of which could p g v i d e useful insight into the features and
processes that characterised eighteenth eentury polities at l a ~ e This
.
Unit first takes
into account the transition of Bengal and Awadh from Mughal Subas into autonomous
states and then their subordination to the British imperial system, in this context we
have also taken into consideration the nature and functioning of the regional polity.
2.2
2.3
The rise of Bengal as an independent autonomous state in the first half of eighteenth
century typified the emerging trend of regional autonomy in various Mughal Subas.
Though the sovereignty of the Mughal emperor was not challenged. the establishment
of practically independent and hereditary authority by the governor and subordination
of all offices within the region to the governor showed the emergence of an
independent focus of authority in Bengal.
r ~ r cd
R
-
2.3.1
The basis for an independent state in Bengal was first laid down by Murshid Kuli
Khan. H e was first appointed as Diwan to reorganise the revenue administration of
Bengal. His success as an efficient administrator and the state of uncertainty in
imperial administration following the death of Aurangzeb helped him to bccomc thc
Subadar of Bengal. Although Murshid Kuli did not defy the imperial authority of thc
Mughals yet it was his administration which showed clear indication of the
establi~hmentof a dynastic rule in Bengal. H e was the last governor of Bengal directly
appointed by the emperor. Murshid Kuli abolished the system of separate offices of
the Nazim and the Diwan and combiped both the offices. Actually the motive behind
the appoinument of a Diwan in the provinces was to keep control over the governor
. Murshid Kuli by combining these two posts wanted to strengthen
of the p r o v i ~ c e But
the power of the governor. This was a clear indication of the creation of an '
independent authority in the province.
Murshid Kbli set the tradition of a dynastic rule in Bengal. It became as established
fact in the province that after his death the Nawabship of Bengal would pass into the
hands of his family. They continued t o seek imperial confirmation but the selection of
Nawab no longer remained in the hands of the emperor.
Initially Mprshid Kuli's main concern was to step u p revenue collection in Bengal. In
order to d o this Murshid Kuli enteied into a series of new relations with local power
groups within the province. This actually laid the basis for a larger framework within
which the autonomous Suba would function in the 1730's and 1740's. The new
arrangements followed as a consequence of Murshid Kuli's revenue measures which
essentially sought to enhance and render more efficient the collection of land revenue.
The measures that he took were:
Elimination of small intermediary Zamindars,
Expelling rebellious Zamindars and Jagirdars into the frontier provinces of Orissa,
Enlarging the scope and extent of the KHALSA lands,
Encourbging big Zamindars who assumed the responsibilities of revenue collection
and payment.
Murshid Yuli encouraged some Zamindars to build up and consolidate their holdings
by buylng up the estates of defaulters. Some of the important Zamindars In Bengill
were those of Rajsahi, Dinajpur, Burdwan. Nadia, Birbhum, Bishnupur and in B ~ h a r
Zamindars of Tirhut. Shahbad and T ~ k a r ~,Murshid
.
Kuli controlled the country\ide
and colledted the revenue through these Zamindars; the Zamindars on their part
expanded their dominations by extending their control over the neighbouring
Zarnindars. The net result was that by 1727, Zamindars as a group definitely emerged
as one of the major political forces within the province.
Parallel t~ this development, was the growing importance of monied and commercial
elements. The relentless pressure on the Zamindars to pay their obligations in full
enhanced opportunities for financiers who now acted as securitiesat every stagc of the
transactian. It is, therefore, not surprising that the house of the Jagat Seths should
have enjoiyed such unstinted patronage and support of the Nawab. The Saths actcd
not merely as guarantor of the larger Zamindars but also assumed full responsibility
for the remittance of the Bengal revenue to Delhi.
The new power structure that had thus emerged in Bengal was very different from the
Mughal plrovincial model and coincided with Delhi's declining hold over the province.
The Nazim, though not unaware of the implications of the changing situation d~d.n:)t
contemplhte a complete rupture with Delhi, and annual revenue continued to bc
remitted. But on the other hand, it became increasingly clear that Mursh~dKuli had
, that he would ensure that the N~zamatof the
identified Bengal as h ~ ds o m a ~ n and
province would pass on to a member of his family and not to an outsider. Thus
Murshid Kuli nominated his daughter's son Sarfaraz as his successor. This manoeuvre
would sc&rcelyhave been tolerated during the days of a strong imperial government.
Shujauddin Muhammad Khan. Ties between Delhi and Murshidabad persisted in the
rule of Shujauddin. H e continued to pay the tribute to the Mughal court. But besides
this aspect, in matters df provincial government Shuja managed the affairs in his own
way. He filled the high officers with his own men and got the imperial endorsement
later on. The way Murshid Kuli tried to develop a system of administration of his own
was also pursued by Shuja. H e also developed ties of loyalty with different local power
groups to retain his control over the province. It has been observed by Phillip B.
Calkins that during the 1730's the government of Bengal began to look more like
government by cooperation of the dominant forces in Bengal rather than the imperial
rule from outside. The changing power equation was most conspicuously
demonstrated in the coup that was effected in 1739-4 by Alivardi Khan who killed
Sarfaraz Khan, the legitimate successor to Shujauddin, and seized power. Alivardi
was backed by the Zamindars and bankers.
RAMGARH
TRIPURA
CHOTA
NAGPUR
Map 2
I j How would you explain the decline of imperial control In the provlnce in thc I1r5t
of 18th cent,ury? Write in about 100 words.
2.4.1
Certain developments combined and converged to form the fateful conspiracy and
encounter at Plassey in 1757 which set the process of subjugation of Bengal to the
English East India Company. The sources of conflict between the Nawab and the
English were related to:
1)
the abuse of the duty free trade privilege (sanctioned by Mughal Emperor
Farukhsiyar to the East India Company in 1717) which the company merchants
insisted on availing of in their private commerical ventures.
2)
the right to fortifications within the town of Calcutta. Both these were objected
to time and again by successive Bengal Nawabs. Disputes became more
acrimonious in Siraj's reign and led to a military encounter. The disaffected
notables of Siraj's court, notably the Jagat Seths, Yar Lutf Khan, Rai Durlubh
and Amir Chand joined hands with the English to oust Siraj and installed their
protege.
In organising the conspiracy, it was not their intention to upset existing political
order-a return to the status quo of Alivardi's administration was the probable
objective. The battle of Plassey (1757) showed the depth of factionalism in the
Nawab's court. The treachery of the close lieutenants of the Nawab rather than the
might of the English decided the fate of the battle. Mir Jafar was proclaimed Nawab.
An agreement was concluded with the English wherein the Nawab guaranteed and in
some cases extended the commerical privileges of the English. The Company on their
part agreed not to interfere in the ~ a w a b ' sgovernment.
A return to the status quo situation, the objective of Plassey conspirators, soon proved
an impossibility to achieve. What happened instead was the stqady erosion and
collapse of the autonomy in Bengal which was so carefully built up by Murshid Kuli
and his successors. The inability of Mir Jafar, the ongoing conspiracy within the court
and the relative weakness of the Nawab's armed forces gave the English the scope to
decisively interfere in the affairs of the province. Mir Jafar's growing dependence on
the company for military support was used by the company to demand more finances
and other privileges from the Nawab. But the Nawab was not in position to meet the
growing financial demands of the company. Thus the company's relentless drive for
more revenues in Bengal led to direct confrontation with Mir Jafar. Mir Jafar was
ultimately forced to abdicate.
Mir Kasim who got the Nawabship through a secret deal with the English again faced
the same fate like Mir Jafar.
2.4.2
The first years of Mir Kasim's reign saw a concerted and conscious attempt to rebuild
the independent state in Bengal. Shifting the capital from Murshidabad to Monghyr
in Bihar-an area away from the English sphere of influence, his objective was to
establish 3 thoroughly centralised power structure. A major rehauling of the financial
and military machine of the state was set in motion. The army was remodelled, a fire
arms manhfactory was established and troops which had served previous Nawabs and
whose loyalty was suspected were disbanded. Embezzlements were checked,
non-essential expenditure was curbed-and the position of Zamindars as well as of all
those who depended on assignments was ruthlessly undermined. Rebel Zamindars
were dispossessed, Amils and revenue farmers appointed in their stead. The measures
left none in doubt as regards the Nawab's determination to exercise his authority to
the full.
I
FOPthe company, the situation was far from apeptable. Mir Kasim vehemently
protested bgainst the extension of private trade which diminished his customs revenue
and whicH threatened to undermine his own area of territorial authority. Indeed
British cotnmerical penetration into Bengal was not merely disrupting the cycle of
economic activity in the interior, but was clearly threatening to jeopardise the
Nawab's authority. Under the circumstances, it was not surprising that the abuse of
dastak (i.@.duty free trade permit) by the company servants for their private trade
was the immediate cause of the war of 1764. A surprise attack on Patna by the English
let to a full scale war between the English and Mir Kasim. Mir Kasim was backed by
the proviflcial nobility of Bihar, Orissa and the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal
emperor Shah Alam. The combined forces however failed to restrain the English
advance and the independent rule of the Nawabs in Bengal came t o an end.
I
The depoqition and execution of Mir Kasim was followed by the restoration of Mir
Jafar, this time on much harsher terms. Not only did he and his successors have to pay
Rs. 5,00,W for month to the company, they had also to submit to company
internention in matters of appointments and dismissal of officers, of reduction in
military establishments. For all practical purposes, power was transferred to the
British and which was formalised by the treaty of Allahabad, 12 August 1765. By the
treaty the Mughal emperor formally appointed the English East India Company his
Diwan for the provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The company was entrusted
with the fihancial administration of the three province's and in return the emperor was
guarantee0 an annual tribute of Rs. 2,00,000. The Nawabs of Bengal retained the
office of Mazim with formal responsibility for defence, law and order and the
administrqtionof justice. In other words, responsibility for administration lay with the
Nazim, revenues and rights with the company. Thus with the formal grant of the
Diwani, gteater Bengal came under full British rules not even vestiges of autonomy
were tillowed to remain, as had remained in the cases of the client states of Hyderabad
and Awadh.
Check Your Progress 2
2)
2.5.1
Autonomy from the Mughal system was, in a sense, thrust ypon Awadh following the
frustrations and disappointments of Saadat Khan in Delhi: Prevented time and again
from playing a larger role in the Mughal imperial politics which he thought he so richly
deserved, he concentrated his energies in consolidating his authority in Awadh. H e
desired to convert Awadh into a power base for launching into imperial politics.
Economically Awadh was prosperous in eighteenth century because of its high level
of trade and agricultural prosperity. Geographically it was situated in a very strategic
position lying between the north bank of the Ganges and the Himalayan mountains.
Awadh's proximity to the centre of imperial power, Delhi, had an added importance.
Saadat Khan was assigned the Subadari of Awadh in 1722 after having held the Agra
Province, without conspicuous success against the Jath rebels. Saadat Khan devoted
his energies to make Awadh an independent centre of authority. Prevailing
weaknesses in the imperial administration following the death of Aurangzeb helped
him in fulfilling his gmbition. Immediately after taking control of Awadh Saadat Khan
faced strong resistance from numerous rebellious chiefs and rajas in Awadh. In order
t o consolidate his position the measures he took were:
Suppression of rebellious Imal Zamindars.and chieftains,
Circumscribing theauthority of the Madad-i-mash grantees,
Systematising revenue collection, and atso
Negotiation with some local Zamindars.
All the important posts in the provincial administration were filled up by his relatives
and followers. In this way he wanted to ensure the loyalty of provincial officials to
him. With these achievements behind him Saadat Khan felt emboldened enough t o
nominate his son-in-law Safdar Jang a s Deputy governor of the prodnce without
waiting for imperial sanction. This was a clear sign of the growinq autonomy of the
Awadh Suba. By 1735, Sadaat Khan's control over Awadh was so complete that Delhi
did not hesitate to bestow o n him the faujdari of the adjacent Sarkar of Kora
Jahanabad and on another occasion the revenue farm of the Sarkars of Benaras,
Jaunpur. Ghatipur and Chunargarh. These successes notwithstanding, Saadat Khan's
c o n c e r n were stiU primarily determined by prospects of i m p r i a l politics and not with
regional autonomy. The fact was that, Saadat had not yet given u p his stakes in
Mughal imperial politics. Admitted1y important changes had been introduced and
these had undermined the vestiges of imperial control but regionaI independence and
control was still envisaged within the Mughal framework. It was only in 1737 when
Saadat's demands for greater territorial resources and miditaey control in lieu of his
services against Maratha inroads were rejected outright by the Mughal Court and
again 1739-40when his request for the office of Mir Bakshi was turned down despite
his display of valour against the invading Persians, that the process of disenchantment
and disillusionment with the Mughals was complete. In 1739 Saadat Khan came with
a huge f ~ r c to
e save f i e Mughal emperor from the Persian attack. But his abrupt
attact on the main Persian force led o his capture in the hands of Nadir Shah, the
Persian aommander. However he was able to influence Nadir Shah and became the
negotiat@rbetween the Persian and the Mughal camp. What followed was treachery
and desertion to the Persian camp with disastrous implications. Saadat had helped in
vain to utilise the Persian connection for a greater role in imperial politics. What
transpirqd was Nadir's utter disregard of his clients pretensions and worse still Nadir's
escalatin~cash demands on him. Despairing under the circumstances, Saadat gave up
his life gnd with it his obsession with the imperial game.
2.5.3
1)
How did Saadat Khan try to establish independent political authority in Awadh?
Write in about 100 words.
Rise of R
......................................................................................................
e Powera
2)
It was in and after 1775 that the vulnerability of the Nawabi came into sharp focus. It
was also in these years, ironically enough, that the emergence of a provincial cultural
identity centred around the new court and capital at Lucknow (the capital had been
shifted from Fyzabad) was more clearly identifiable than before. Asaf-ud-daula's
succession to the throne in 1775 went without a hitch notwithstanding the hostility of ,
some of S h ~ j a ' scourtiers and of the opposition faction of his brother Saadat Ali, the
governor of Rohil Khand. Soon, however, under the stewardship of Murtaza Khan
(Asaf's favowite who received the exalted title of Mukhtar-ud-daula) the stability of
the existing political set up was undermined as older nobles and generals were
displaced. Furthermore, Mukhtar allowed the company to negotiate a treaty with the
Nawab ceding to English control the territories surrounding Benaras, north to
Jaunpur and west to Allahabad, then held by Chait Singh. The treaty aiso fixed a
larger subsidy than before for the company brigade and excluded the Mughal emperor
from all future Anglo-Nawabi transactions. Finally all diplomatic transactions and
foreign intelligence were to be controlled by the English through the Resident at the
Nawab's court.
II
The disintegration of the political system, the blatant intervention of the English in
Awadh's affairs and Asaf-ud-daula's excessively indulgent disposition and disregard
of political affairs alarmed a sizeable section of the Awadh pobility. The situation
worsened as troops were in arrears and at places mutinied. These acts of disturbance
and lawlessness smoothened the way for British penetration. In the 1770's the English
East India Company persistently eroded the basis of Awadh's sovereignty. The rapid
inroads the English made by virtue of their military presence seriously undermined
the Nawabi regime which in 1780 came up with the first declaration of protest. The
supreme government in Calcutta was forced to realise that unremitting pressure on
Awadh's resources could not be sustained indefinitely and that the excessive
intervention of the English Resident would have to be curtailed if Awadh's usefulness
as a subsidiary was to be guaranteed.
Thus in 1784 Warren Hastings entered into a new series of arrangements with
Asaf-ud-daula which reduced the debt by Rs. 50 lakhs and thereby the pressure on
the Awadh regime.
In the following decade and a half, the Awadh regime continued to function as a
semi-autonomous regional power whose relations with the company were cordial.
This state of affairs lasted until 1797, the year of Asaf s demise, when the British once
more intervened in the succession issue. Wazir Ali, Asafs chosen successor was
deposed in favour of Saadat Ali. With Saadat Ali a formal treaty was signed on 21
February 1798 which increased the subsidy to Rs. 76 lakhs yearly.
Rise of R e @ d
Powers
3 Nawab Aslll-ud&
2.6.3
Awadh : 1797-1856
A more forward policy was initiated by Lord Wellesley who arrived in 1798 only to
reject the Awadh system. The Nawab's declaration of inability to pay the increased
financial demand of the company gave Wellesley a suitable pretext to contemplate
annexation. In September 1801, Henry Wellesley arrived in Lucknow to force
Saadat's surrender of his whole territory. After protracted negotiations, the company
accepted the perpetual sovereignty of Rohil Khand, Gorakhpur and the Doab which
yielded a gross amount of 1 crore 35 lakhs. The annexations of 1801 inaugurated a.
new era in Anglo-Awadh relations. The Shrunken Suba could no longer pose a threat
to the stability of the company dominions. Nor did in fact the rulers of Awadh
entertaifi any notion of resistance to the relentless forward march of the English.
Deprived of their army and half of their territory, they concentrated their energies in
cultural pursuits. In this they were following the footsteps of Asaf-ud-daula who had
built up around the Lucknow court a vibrant and living cultural arena.
The patronage extended to luminaries and poets, Mirza Rafi Sauda (1713-86), Mir
Ghulam Hasan (1734-86), etc., made Lucknow a seqond home for these sensitive men
of letters who had left Delhi and lamented for the world they had loved and lost.
The assumption of imperial status by Ghazi-ud-din-Hyder (1819) and the formal
revocatipn of Mughal sovereignty was an integral part of the blooming court culture
of Awadh. But this concided with the decline in the ruler's control over the
administration and province. The heavy price that had to be continually paid to the
Cornpafly for "protection", the devolution of administrative responsibility to
ministers, the dominant position of the British Resident, were facts which no regal
pomp and ceremony could conceal.
2.7
B m g d ~ n d ~ d
In the previous sections on Bengal and Awadh we have discussed the formation and
functioning of the regional political regimes. Here we would try to examine the nature
of the regional polity and the various forces that were within the regional political
system. Though there was a distinct attempt towards the formation of independent
state both in Bengal and Awadh, both of them acknowledged Mughal sovereignty as
a formality. In the case of Awadh, it was only in 1819 with the coronation of
Ghazi-ud-din Hydar that the sovereignty of the Mughals was unilaterally revoked.
Ties with the Mughal imperial authority were not completely broken and the forms
of the Mughal provincial government did not change much. Major noticeable change
was the growing power of the provincial rulers and the central authority had virtually
no control over the provincial rulers. This contrasted with the situation in the 17th
century.
The independent authority that emerged in the provinces in the 18th century worked
with the collaborative support of different groups like the Zamindars, the merchants,
etc. Merchants and money lenders who became politically important in the 18th
century had an important role in the emergence of the regional political system.
During the 17th century this class of people helped the Mughal's taxation system and
the expansion of trade in agricultural products and artisan goods. However their role
in imperial politics was not much visible. But in'the 18th century with the weakening
of central authority and the collapse of the Mughal treasury, this commercial class
provided the economic basis for the emerging regional political system. They beCpme
the guarantor of money for the rulers and the nobles. The extent of mercantile and
commercial penetration into the working of the administration was fairly pronounced.
The government borrowed substantial sums from the commercial houses. The
Agarwal bankers had complete command over the revenue matters in Benares. In
fact, in Awadh the debts incurred by the time of Asaf-ud-daula (1755-97) became so
staggering a burden that successive English Residents were forced to investigate into
the matter. In case of Bengal, the house of Jagat Seths assumed an important role in
the main centre of power in the province. Thus the merchants and the money lenders
had a share in political power En the regional polity in the eighteenth century.
Parallel to the merchants, Zamindars as a group also had a very significant role within
the province. In the wake of the receding tide of the imperial authority the Zamindars
consolidated their authority at the locai level and began to tax markets and trade in
their areas which was beyond their purview during the sunny days of the Mughal rule.
The collection of revenues and the maintenance of law and order in the countryside
became the concern of the Zamindars. The stability in the regional polity became
dependant on the active support of the Zamindars. The Zamindars were usually
supportive vis-a-vis merchants and in many cases Zamindars were also money lenders
35
and had investment in commerce. So their common interest tied them together. Their
support became essential for the ruler to maintain his authority. We have seen how
the rulers in Awadh and Bengal tried to develop good relations with the Zamindars
in order tc, retain their control in the state.
not her significant characteristic that is observed in the polity of Bengal and Awadh
is the appointment of large number of Hindus in the revenue administiation. Hindu
officials like Atma Ram, Raja Ram Narayan in Awadh and Rai Duriabh, Amir Chand
in Bengal were trusted with the charge of revenue administration. The manning of
revenue administration by Hindu officials may have been encouraged because there
was less chance of resistance from the Hindus to the Nawab's authority. Be that as it
may, traditionally many Hindu officials weqe employed in revenue administration and
clerical jobs.
Since the mid-18th century the Engl&h East India Company gradually emerged as a
strong force in the,polity of Bengal and Awadh. The growing economic power of the
company backed by military force made it the arbiter of provincial politics. The
dissension and rivalry within the provincial administration further strengthened their
position in the provincial polity. Taking advantage of the situation they played one
faction against the other to consolidate their base in the province.
Check Your Progress 4
1) What was the effect of Shuja-ud-daula's failure in the battle of Buxar on Awadh'?
Write in about 50 words.
2)
Explain in about 100 words the reasons for the failure of Awadh to maintain its
ilutonomy.
3)
1)iscuss the role of the merchants in the regional polity in about 60 words.
R
i
s
e
of Regional Powers
2.10
UNIT 3
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Historians on the nature of Maratha Polity
The Maratha Confederacy
3.3.1
3.3.2
3.3.3
3.3.4
3.3.5
Institutional Developments
3.4.1 The Administrative Structure
3.4.2 Long Tenn Trends
Maratha Relations
3.6.1
3.6.2
3.6.3
3.6.4
3.6.5
3.6.6
Bengal
Hyderabad
Mysore
Rajasthan
Mughals
East India Company
Let us Sum Up
Key words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
3.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit forms part of a Block that aims at reconstructing an integrated picture of
the Indian polity in the mid-18th century. In this Unit, you will be introduced to:
some views about the nature of the Maratha political system,
the Maratha confederacy and its territorial expansion in the eighteenth century,
the political and administrative structure evolved by the Marathas, details of which
will correct the conventional view of Marathas as marauders,
society and economy in the region under study, and
an outline of Marathas relations with the Mughal empire, other regional powers
and the English East India Company.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The small Maratha Kingdom constituted in the seventeenth century in the Western
Deccan became a nucleus of what has been described as the second much wider
Maratha swarajya (sovereign state) which spread to the north, east and south in the
18th century.
After the Mughal retreat from the Deccan the Marathas expanded and evolved as a
loose association or confederacy of military leaders who were denoted as d a r s .
Formally the sardars held temporary assignments of land revenue. But in practice
they tended to become hereditary once they established themselves. The new and
powerful polity that was established by the Marathas by conquest in the western
Deccan is in a focus in this Unit.
We survey the transformation of society and economy that was taking place in this
region through the process of state building and the force of commerce.
~ i s ed ~ e g ~ o
powera
d
These ciraumstances set the context in which the East India Company found the
Marathaslposing a challenge till the early 19th century.
...........................................................................................................
8
...........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
6 A Maratha P g b r a with
bls miaistns
~ i s eor ~egionnlpowers
The expanbion of the Marathas had from an early date predominantly been the work
of the Peshwas and their sardars. In the 1740s the Marathas conquered Malwa,
Gujarat, Btundelkhand and penetrated, as far as Attock in the north, Rajasthan,
Doab, Awadh, Bihar and Orissa. Andra Wink's study shows that all these conquests
started as fitha (conquests on invitation).
It may be pointed out that in the 1740s Maratha sovereignty was not yet decisively
established in the north and that it was even more fragile and limited in the south.
The Mughal prbvince of Malwa which formed the political and commercial nexus
between Hindustan and the Deccan had been invaded by the Marathas since 1699.
The first Maratha outposts were established on the Narmada in 1716 and claims of
chauth made soon after. After the victory at Daroha Sarai in 1738 the Peshwa was
made fvlalwa's deputy governor in 1741. Meanwhile in the 1730s itself the Peshwa had
distributed the collections of chauth and sardeshmukhi between himself and Sindia,
Holkar and Pawar. While the Peshwa administered the eastern half of Malwa, the
hereditary saraqjams of Holkar, Sindia and Pawar were located in the western half.
Like the Sifidias and Gaikwads, the Holkars were village vatandars of recent origin.
In 1733 they wete assigned the district of Indore which subsequently grew into their
dominion or dadlat. Technically, however, it remained a saranjam.
The Holkars remained loyal to the Peshwa even at the height of their power. Between
1788and 1793 there were constant clashes between Holkar and Sindia with the former
lagging behind in terms of territorial expansion.
3.3.5
Sindia bf Gwalior
Though associated with the nature of the Sindias, actually Gwalior did not belong to
the Sindias till the last quarter of 18th century. This family, which had risen to
prominence ih Malwa, had Ujjain as its headquarters. Sindia, too, was directly under
the Peshwa as a hereditary saranjamdar.
Mahadaji Sindia escaped from Panipat in 1761, after his father's contingent was
annihilated and reestablished his family's hold over Malwa. After Malhar Rao
Holkar's death, he became de facto sovereign of Iimdustan (see 3.6.4 and 3.6.5).
Rise of R e n a l Powers
7 A Slndii chief
2) To what extent did the Peshwa and the Maratha saranjamdars extend the
Maratha dominion?
3.4.1
Maratha dominion can be broadly divided into what have been called non-regulation
and regulation areas.
In the former, zamindars, autonomous and semi-autonomous chiefs were left with
internal administrative autonomy. The king's tribute demand from these areas, in
contrast with the land revenue demand from regulation areas, was not based on an
assessment of the chiefs resources but more in proportion to their power of resistance,
the weaker ones paying more than the stronger.
In regulation areas or the area of direct administration, there was a system of revenue
assessment, management and accountancy.
Such areas were divided among vatandars (see key words). Each unit of about 10 to
200 villages was under a deshmukh-deshpande combination. Under vatandar system
the rights vested not in an individual incumbent but in a brotherhood of patrilineal
relatives. Vatandars were co-sharers of the land produce with rights like dues from
cultivators as salary, customary share in the government's land-revenue exempt land.
The division of shares of a vatan did not imply partition of the land but of the
proceeds. The right to sell any hereditary estate was recognised in principle.
During periods of agrarian or financial or administrative crisis the regulation could be
relaxed and zamindars could acquire a temporary authority under a system of revenue
farming.
Among the tenants, there were two types (a) resident cultivators with hereditary
rights of occupancy (mirasdars) and (b) temporary cultivators (uparis). The tenancy
system of south Maharashtra and Gujarat was more complicated.
In most of the regulation territories the standard assessment rates of the previous
period were maintained in the 18th century. Under the Peshwas the tankha- a
permanent standard assessment for each village -was the baseline of revenue
settlements.
In the late 1750s and 1760s the kamal (or 'completion') settlement was made. This
settlement completed the tankha settlement by taking into consideration newly
cultivated lands. It was based on measurement and classification of the qualities of
land, and the king's share came to one-sixth of the produce.
The internal distribution of the village assessment (tankha or kamal), once arrived at,
was almdst entirely left to the Datil (village headman) or the village itself.
In addition to the regular land revenue, the government also imposed a number of
extra collections (under the head of village expenses), which were intricately recorded
by village and district officials. The revenue collectors were commonly designated as
kamavisdars or mamlatdars.
In the 18th century, everywhere in the Deccan, southern Maratha country, Gujarat,
Central India and Nagpur, the village settlements were made annually.
In the 1790sand 1810swhen the Peshwa needed more revenue to pay for armies and
obligations to the British there was an expansion of revenue farming and an increase
in the state's demands.
In Maharashtra no more than a quarter of revenue was paid in cash. Most often, it
was remitted from villages, through the districts, to Poona through bills of exchange.
I
1
The administrative systems in the northern saranjam states (Holkar, Sindia, Gwalior
and Bhonsle) were in principle copies of Peshwa, except that they had Diwans and
supervisory officials imposed on their administration from Poona. The bureaucracy in
the Deccan and the north was dominated by different grades of Brahmins.
........................................................................................................
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........................................................................................................
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2)
Briefly describe (a) the office of the vatandar, (b) the kamal system of revenue
assessment.
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3) Compare the administrative systems of the Peshwa and the saranjam states.
........................................................................................................
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3.5.1
Agrarian Society
By the 18th century the establishment of villages in the heartlands of the Maratha
polity was complete. This implied the spread of population and agrarian settlement
However, the heartland around Poona was poorly irrigated and relatively sparsely
populated. By mid-18th century, given the state of its technology, this area was at the
limits of its development. This explains the persistent outward pressure of the
Maratha into ateas of stable agriculture like Tanjore in the south, Gujarat and the
Ganges valley in the north.
The elaboration of taxation and other obligation stimulated the need for increased
production.
The Maratha rulers adopted two kinds of measures here. The first measure entailed
concessional assessment (istava), remission of revenues and loans. These measures
helped to bring new land under cultivation. The second measure encouraged initiative
of the people to build agricultural facilities. For example & inam of gift land was given
to the headman of a village during Shivaji's period to repair or build new dams.
Fukuzawa has noted that such measures of the Maratha rulers i.e. state promotion of
agriculture, revcnue system etc. had led to a considerable economic differentiation
among the peasantry. This varied from holders of 18 acres of land to 108 acres of land
in his study. He has also noted that over the years 1790 to 1803 the smaller land
holdings completely disappeared. While on the other hand the large land holders
increased in number.
By the late 18th century the exploitability of peasantry was significantly increased due
to increase in population, taxation, and prices of food grains.
There is abundant evidence of a strengthening hold on peasantry by non-cultivating
privileged class (state ministers, deshmukhs, military officers with saranjam,
financiers and traders), many of whom combined more than one function. This
perhaps explains the subsequent social differentiation that emerged in the countryside.
There were in the main three forms of control over rural resources
and hereditary offices.
3.5.2
Monetization
In the period of our study manufacturing and cash cropping for distant markets
formed part of the economy in Maharashtra, just as it did in the southern Deccan,
Bengal, Bihar and Gujarat.
By the 17th and 18th centuries credit institutions were operating in town and
countryside, financing indebted nobility and peasants, as well as daily economic life.
The import of copper and cowries in the 18th century western Deccan was indicative
of vigorous, highly monetized local market centres.
Villagers in western Deccan were not only engaged in local market transaction in
money, but were also paid daily and monthly wages for agricultural labour, craft
production and household service.
Large and small scale mints producing a variety of coins were found in small market
towns, the residential houses of important lords as well as in major cities.
In fact there is a wide range of records dealing with rural exchanges during the late
18th century. In Maharashtra there is copious evidence of loans in cash and kind,
among persons involved in landholding, peasants, agricultural labourers, craftsman
and soldiers. Written contractsspecifyingexact terms of repayment are also available.
All this indicates a knowledge of quantity and calculation among common people.
Check Your Progress 4
1) How did the peasantry become increasingly exploitable in the late 18th century?
..........................................................................................................
2) What are the indications of monetized local markets?
TaMuatlmSbteSy~tem
Shortly aftar Nadir Shah's invasion in 1740 the Mughal province of Bengal, Bihar and
Orissa not long after Alivardi Khan sought the help of the Peshwa against his rival
who sought the backing of Raghuji Bhonsle. In 1743 the Peshwa was promised chauth
over the provinces in return for his help. Later, however, on Raghuji's appeal Shahu
assigned chautb and sardeshmukhi in Bengal, Bihar and Onisa to Raghuji Bhonsle.
In 1751 the Nawab concluded a treaty to pay 12 lakhs of rupees in lieu of the chautb
of Bengal amd Bihar and a stipulated part of the revenue of Orissa to the Bhonsle of
Nagpur.
3.6.2
Hyderabad
As vicerroy af the Deccan from 1715 to 1717 the Nizam resisted the Maratha claims
for chautb abd sardeshmukhi of the Deccan and was constantly at war with them.
Around 172q he encouraged agrarian and revenue officials to obstruct collection by
the Marathas. However, in 1724 he agreed to such collection in return for the
Peshwa'~help against a rival. The entente fell through in 1725-26 when the Peshwa
invaded Ka*ataka. The Nizam therefore replaced Sambhaji of Kolhapur as the
collector of the Deccan subm. Only after the Peshwa defeated him at Palkhed in 1728
did he agree fiot to back Kolhapur.
I
At the height of the Poona-Hyderabad clashes in 1752, the Marathas extracted the
western half Of Berar between Godavari and Tapti.
3.6.4
Rajasthan
Here the Marathas did not establish any regular direct administration. However,
occasionally in ithe second quarter of the 18th century they interfered in internal
disputes amon4 the Rajputs, in particular in Bundi, Jaipur and Marwar.
Before Baji Rao's visit in 1735 only the smaller states paid chautb but therefore even
Udaipur and Mewar fell in line.
Collections were neglected in the aftermath after Panipat but were taken up again by
Holkar and after his death by Sindia on behalf of the Peshwa and the Mughal
Emperor.
In 1752 when Ahmad Shah Abdali annexed Lahore and Multan, the Mughal Emperor
sought Maratha protections. He entered into' an agreement with Malhar Rao Holkar
and Jayappa Sindia in 1752 granting them chautb of Punjab and Sindh and the Doab
in addition to the subadari of Aimer and Agra. All this was in exchange for protection
against external enemies and disloyal subiects.
The Marathas, however, could not match Ahmad Shah Abdali and were defeated at
Panipat in 1761. Punjab and Rajasthan soon slipped out of their control.
In 1784Shah Alam turned over the management of Delhi and Agra to Sindia in return
for a monthly allowance. The Peshwa was given the title of regent and Sindia that of
deputy regent. These titles were renewed in 1788 when Sindia reinstated Shah Alam
who has temporarily been dislodged by the Rohilla chief, Ghulam Kadir Khan.
I
The Sindia however, derived very little from this power as the area was mostly held
by Mughal chiefs who were only nominally under the Emperor. Therefore, Sindia
concentrated on stepping up his demands on the Rajputs.
When the Marathas took Basein from the Portuguese in 1739, the Bombay Council of
the Company decided to fortify Bombay and sent envoys to Shahu and negotiated a
treaty which conceded to the Company the right to free trade in the Maratha
dominions.
Tensions in the Maratha confederacy (between the Peshwa and the Rajas of Berar and
Satara) and factional disputes between members of the Peshwa's family (in the 1770's)
were used by the Company to intervene in Maratha affairs.
How they did so and ultimately shackled the northern saranjamdars as well as at the
Peshwa forms the subject to Unit 10.
Check Your Progress 5
Comment on Maratha relations with (a) the other regional powers, (b) the East India
Company.
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u
3.7
LET US SUM UP
Administration
Finance
4.5.1 Revenue from Land
4.5.2 Revenue from Trade
Hyderabad
4.6.1 Warfare and the Army
4.0 OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this Unit is to:
enatle you to see the process in which the political formation of Mysore and
Hyderabad evolved in the 18th century,
show how this pbcess was crucially different in the two regions, and
indicate cedtain reasons as to why the two processes were different.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
In. this Unit we will take you to the situation in South India after the decline of the
hegemony of the Mughals. Our focus will be on the emergence of the states of Mysore
and Hyderabad. We will see here that inspite.of the continuity of the earlier political
institutions certain basic changes occur in the nature of the polities formed. This
happened in different ways in Mysore and Hyderabad. While in Hyderabad the
Mughal political institutions were weakened and used for regional consolidation, in
Mysore on the other hand the Wodeyar dynasty was overthrown to form a stronger
overhauled administration. Both the processes led initially to the consolidation of
autonomy in the middle decades of the 18th century. That is the theme of this Unit.
In both cases by the last decade of the 18th century the autonomy was eroded slowly
(in Hyderabad) or violently terminated (in the case of Mysore) by the British.
The kingdom of Mysore lay south of Hyderabad. (see map 5). In the 18th century the
rulers of Mysore, from the Wodeyars to Tipu Sultan, were to face the expansionist
threat of the Marathas on the one hand and that of Hyderabad and Carnatic on the
other, while the English were to exploit the situation to their advantage. One of the
most well-known eighteenth century personalities is Tipu Sultan, almost a folk-hero
Rbe d R e g i d P ~ P J
of the infantry and the artillery. Secondly the European discipline attempted to
conquer attitudes of hostility and ambivalence towards modem firearms and cannons
as noted by Sanjay Subramaniam in the study of warfare in Wodeyar Mysore.
4.4 ADMINISTRATION
Another achievement of Haidar and later Tipu was the consolidation of the apparatus
of administration. In effect the older administration of the Wodeyars was retained
Mymre 4~ y h b p d
RIW d ~ e g Powem
~ ~ d
intact by Haidar and Tipu. The 18 departments of the administration ranging from
military and kevenue, to information were retained. Among the top officials
individuals like Khande Rao, Venkatappa or Mir Sadik who had demonstrated their
competence were retained inspite of political fluctuations. In fact changes were made
only when these top officials were caught in cases of financial frauds. Thomas Munro
was of the opinion that it was the scope offered by native ruler 'Hindu or Mussalman'
for personal wealth and ambition which made the 'higher orders' prefer the native
rulers ratherthan the 'humble mediocrity' of the company's service.
4.5
FINANCE
However, the distinguishing feature of the Mysore administration under Haidar and
Tipu lay in building the base of their military-political authority by augmenting their
financial resources for running the state. For this, both the merchant and the peasant,
the twin rnov$rs of finance and production in 18th century Mysore had to be tackled.
However, thebe measures were offset to a large extent by the practice of farming off
lands and thejagir system whereby jagir was granted in perpetuity to a particular
family. On the other hand the agricultural produce was by force of custom shared by
entire village aommunity. Here, as Nikhilesh Guha shows the majority of the share of
produce was going to the dominant or upper castes who mostly performed ritual
functions. So there was no way the agricultural surplus could be used to initiate
development within the farming community. The cultivator was left without much
resources for agricultural development.
Above all the $tate accorded priority to war. Marathas, Hyderabad, Carnatic and the
English occup~edthe major attention of the Sultans. This meant, inevitably, a
disproportiongte rise in military expense and consequent rise in the revenue demand.
Tipu for ekample, had raised his land revenue by 30% at the height of his defeats. No
sustained agridultural development thus could be possible and forcing the cultivator
to pay more was an inevitable consequence.
4.5.2
Merchants had been playing an important role in the Mysore economy for the last
couple of centuries. Linking the inland, external trade and revenue farming the
significant amongst them held a portfolio of these diverse investments in trade and
land. At the level of political operation they often used existing custom and traditional
iies to get their interests protected amongst the rulers in power. Their intervention in
land was significant enough. As Sanjay Subramaniam points out, that inspite of some
of them being big revenue farmers the area under their cultivation prospered rather
than declined. This indicated the importance they attached to land and the
significance of the trickling in of trade profits towards land. The prosperous merchants
were then important actors in Mysore scene.
Tipu realised the importance of these tradersand their trade. H e appointed asufs to
train officials to run trade centres established by him for keeping trade in control.
Trade capital was to be provided for these trade centres from the revenue collected
by the state officials. Provision was made for accepting deposits of private persons as
investment in the state trade with returns fixed around 35%. Private traders were
allowed to participate here in sale of commodities thought to be beneficial to the state.
Regular inspection of financial records of these centres was undertaken. Further,
currency was strictly regulated.
However the dimension of the private traders' activities, in the context of the British
domination of the sea trade, seems to have been perceived as a potential threat,
perhaps in the form of alliance between the native merchants and the English. In 1785
he declared an embargo at his ports on the export of pepper, sandalwood and
cardamoms. In 1788 he explicitly forbade trade with the English.
T o sum up, Mysore in the 18th century was a polity consolidated under military might
of Haidar and Tipu but under constant pressure from their own inability to evolve
durable solutions to the forces which were held in check due to military strength. A s )
a consequence we saw the potential which individuals within the polity had to make
personal gains at the expense-of the polity itself.
4.6
HYDERABAD
Hyderabad polity seems to have followed a different kind of pattern from Mysore.
Here the Mughal influence in the earlier days was more prominent. Normally during
the days of Mughal empire the Subadar of Deccan was posted at Hyderabad. An
attempt was made to introduce the Mughal administrative system (Read Unit 2 Set.
2.2). Inspite of continual Mughal-Maratha conflict and internal tensions this system
served to highlight the order of Mughal empire in Deccan. However in the wake of
the decline of the Mughal empire this system seems to have come into crisis.
MY--
.nd HydcrnbPd
*P
Nizam Asif Jab was first appointed a subadar (in charge of province) by the Mughal
emperor in 17113. But only after a military victory over his rival Mughal appointee in
1724 that he cohld take effective charge of the Deccan. After this period he stayed on
in Deccan and kent to the Mughal court only after leaving his appointee in charge.
Subsequently, he removed the Mughal officials in Hyderabad and installed his own
men. He also assumed the right of making treaties, wars and granting mansabas and
titles. Now gradually the Mughal authority was reduced to a symbolic reading of
Khutba etc. Bythe time of Nizam Ali Khan (1762-1803) Carnatie, Marathas and
Mysore had all settled their territorial claims and some kind of a stable political
pattern emerged in Hyderabad.
4.6.1
As elsewhere, the army was an important component of the polity that emerged in
Hyderabad. The:Nizam-ul-Mulkessentially followed a policy of allowing the existing
jagirdari holding$. The military commanders and their troops were tied to the political
system through their individual employer, mainly the nobles. Unlike Mysore, the local
chiefs authority in Hyderabad was allowed to remain in tact. Like in the Mughal army,
the Hyderabad army too was maintained from the cash allowances drawn by the
nobles from the Nizam's treasury.
The army was important to contain the Marathas, the Carnatic Nawab, Mysore or the
English. However unlike Mysore, the thrust to gear up state finances directly for war
seem to be definitely weaker than Mysore. Let us turn to the main source of
finance-the land revenue system and see whether indeed there was a difference in
emphasis in mobilising revenue for the state.
'
\
This in turn was to have important consequences in the shaping of Hyderabad polity
under the Nizams. A network of intermediary interests on land seems to have existed
which could be the political base for the competition to power and influence at the top.
Itbe of Regional m e n
The nobility in the Nizam's period did not have a uniform criteria for career
advancement a/; under the Mughals. Personal relations with Nizam or military skills
were becoming important. So to become powerful in Hyderabad, the mansab rank (as
under Mughal system) did not prevent the rise of the noble. Many Zamindars or
Jagirdars who could rally the smaller intermediaries behind them, could with a little
military skill and diplomacy become powerful.
Earlier the ordered administrative hierarchy or formal land revenue regulations of the
Mughals and restricted the scope of accumulating power and wealth. However now
the institutional set up was weak enough to allow a straight away grab at the political
stakes at the top.
4.8.1
Vakils
Aiding this process of grabbing wealth and power was a network of intermediate
clients called the vakils. These vakils acted as agents between Nizam and nobles,
nobles and nobles and Nizam and outside powers. The vakis also provided
opportunities for individuals within the huge and affluent establishments maintained
by the Hyderabadi nobles.
The vakils normally acted on the basis of interests of individuals and were powerful
only in so far as their patron was powerfu'l. However switching of loyalties, for
personal gain was common. In an atmosphere where no uniform criteria for career
advancemebt existed, the vakiis represented forces of individual initiative in the
:ompetitiom for power and wealth.
day-affairs of the kingdom. Here instead of the diwan, the subordinate hereditary
office of daftardars or the record keepers became more important. In the absence of
salaried officials to conduct matters like revenue, these record keepers were able to
exercise real control by deciding the amount of revenue by local deshpande or
taluqdar and putting it on records. This allowed a lot of them also to make a huge
amount of wealth.
1) In
a)
b)
c)
Patron: A person who normally has the capacity to grant favours due to position or
MY=
and Hyderobad
influence. A client is the one who receives these favours and performs some service
for the patron.
Khutba: Prayer for the emperor.
4.14
Objectives
Introduction
The Punjab Polity Before Autonomy
Sikhism: Religious to Political Identity
Rise of the Sikh State
The Sikh State and the English East India Company
Organisation of the State
5.6.1 Territorial Administration
5.6.2 Revenue Administration
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.0 OBJECTIVES
iI
Thisunitis on the development of independent state in the Punjab during the mid-18th
and the mid-19th century. In this Unit you will learn about:
the development in the Punjab polities before the establishment of the Sikh rule,
the transformation of the Sikh religious order into a political force,
the process through which the Sikh state emerged and its final absorption into the
British imperial system,
the organisation of the state, and
the nature of the Sikh rule.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
In Units 2 , 3 and 4 we have discussed how autonomous political authority developed
in Bengal, Awadh, Hyderabad, Mysore and in the Maratha region during the 18th
century. Here our focbs is on the Punjab. The development in the Punjab had a
different trend compared to the other Mughal provinces. In the case of the Punjab it
was not the Mughal provincial governor but a group of the local people, the Sikhs,
who established an independent political authority in the province. Naturally, it would
be interesting to see how the Sikhs uprooted the Mughal authority from the province
and in its place established t h e i ~own rule. This Unit first introduces you to the
political situation in the Punjab before the emergence of the Sikh state. Then it takes
you to the transformation of the Sikh religious order into a territorial power and after
that the establishment of the Sikh state. Finally, this Unit deals with the administrative
system of the Sikh state and nature of the Sikh rule.
5.2
I
I
I
I
The disintegration cf the Mughal Empire in the first half of the 18th century was
followed by the establishment of independent political authority in various provinces.
In Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad the provincial governors were successful in carying
out their independent dominions. But the development in the Punjab did not follow
the same trend. Zakariya Khan who was the governor of Lahore (1726-1745) had tried
to strengthen his control over the province but failed in the process of establishing an
Rise of R e g i d powera
--
--
The Pnqlab
5.3
In the 15th and 16th centuiy a series of reformist movements revitalised the Indian
religious belief systems. In the midst of these movements, a new order of Sikhism was
born in the Punjab. The founder of this newly emerging sect was Guru Nanak who
named his followers as Sikhs, which literally means the learner or disciple. In course
of time as the new cult spread, the name Sikh became the descriptive title of the
people, a designation not ethnic but religious. Guru Nanak's religious movement was
peaceful, non-sectarian and motivated towards reconciliation with secular life.
Guru Nanak was succeeded by a long line of nine Gurus, who in a period of about 200
years, not only organised and strengthened the Sikh brotherhood, but built it up as a
powerful fighting force to face the challenges of the Mughal emperors and their
governors. Thus,
Guru Angud developed the script Gurumukhi,
Guru Ram Das laid the foundations of Amritsar temple.
Guru Arjun Dev compiled the Adi Granth.
Guru Har Govind trained the Sikhs in military art and warfare tactics.
Guru Govind Singh organised the Sikhs into a well organised fighting forcz, with
Khalsa as its organisational focus.
After Guru Govind Singh's death the institution of Guruship d e d and the leadership
of the Sikh brotherhood passed to his trusted disciple Banda Bairagi, popularly known
as Banda Bahadur. He carried a vigorous struggle against the Mughal forces for nearly
8 years. In 1715 he was captured and executed. After Banda's execution for more than
a decade the Mughal authorities tried to bring the rebellious Sikhs under control. But
this attempt was not successful. A number of factors helped the Sikhs to organise and
establish themselves as the most powerful political force in the Punjab. These were,
the weakening of the Mughal imperial authority since the early decades of the 18th
century,
the invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali,
the Maratha incursion,
lack of cohesion and coordination in the provincial administration, and
the defiance of imperial authority by various local chiefs and Zamindars.
All these created a very fluid situation in the Punjab in the 18th century and from this
the Sikhs emerged as the most powerful. The death of Ahmad Shah Abdali sounded
the death knell of thk Afghan hegemony in Northern India. With the collapse of the
Afghan power, the Sikh confederacies assumed a predominant role in the Punjab and
succeeded in carving out independent principalities under their respective chiefs.
In the face of the repression by the Mughal authorities the Sikhs organised themselves
into numerous small and highly mobile bands called jathas, each commanded by a
Jathedar. Realizing the need for a united course of action the jathedars tried to form
a confederation and they met in a group on the occasion of the Baisakhi and Diwali
festivals. Although these could not be organised regularly, these promoted solidarity
among the various groups.
The defeat of the Mughals and the Marathas by the Afghans was an added advantage
for the Sikhs to consolidate their base in the Punjab. So the period from 1765 onwards
showed a steady development of Sikh political power which culminated in the
establishment of an autonomous state in the early 19th century. In the second half of
the 18th century the numerous small Sikh groups had regrouped themselves into 12
larger regional confederacies or Misls under the leadership of various local chiefs.
Thus,
the Bhangis had control over territories between Jhelum and the Indus and on
Lahore and Amritsar
the Ramgarhias had command over the Jalandhar Doab
the Kanhayas had control over the Raikri tract
the Singhpurias had control over the regions east and west of the river Sutlej
These Misls were based originally on the principle of equality, wherein each member
had an equal say in deciding the affairs of the respective Misls and electing the Chief
and other officers of the organisation. The unity and the democratic character that the
Misls had at the initial stage gradually withered away with the removal of the threat
of the Afghan invasion. In coulse of time this democratic character ended with the
emergence of powerful chiefs, their mutual bickerings and internecine warfare. This
internal conflict sapped the vitality of the Misls. Ultimately Ranjit Singh, the leader
of the Sulaerchakia Misl, emerged as the most powerful among other chiefs and by
force of aq'ms he brought unity among the Sikhs.
Check Yobr Progress 1
1) How would you explain the failure of the Mughal provincial governors to retain
their control over the Punjab? Answer in about 100 words.
2)
Write in ten lines about how the Sikh brotherhood was consolidated from Guru
Nanakto Guru Gobind.
3) How did the hlisls come up? What was their role in the'Sikh polity? Answer in
about 100 words.
.........................................................................................................
4)
During the first few years Ranjit Singh's major problem was to check the growing
power of his Diwan Lakhpat Rai and the attempts of his mother, Mai Malwai, to
control the administration. He got rid of his Diwan by despatching him on a dangerous
expedition to Kaithal, where he was assassinated. Mai Malwai was also murdered
' ~ i s eof
under mysterious circumstances. After establishing his complete control over the
affairs at hlome, Ranjit Singh launched his expeditions against the various chiefs of the
Sikh confederacies. With the active support of his mother-in-law Rani Sada Kaur, the
Kanhaya chief, he fell on the Ramgarhias. This expedition was undertaken to punish
the Ramgarhias for their encroachments on the territories of Kanhayas. The
Ramgarhias were defeated and their main city Miani was seized.
~ e g ~ o npowers
a~
After reducing the powerful Ramgarhias to abject submission, Ranjit Singh turned his
attention towards Lahore. Afghan leader, Zaman Shah established his control over
Lahore in 1797. But the news of a conspiracy aganist him by his brother in alliance
with Shah of Persia forced Zaman Shah to retreat, leaving Lahore under the charge
of his governor Shahanchi Khan. The retreat of Zaman Shah gave Ranjit Singh an
ideal opportunity to establish his control over Lahore. He in alliance with Sahib Singh
of Gujarat and Milkha Singh of Pindiwala, attacked Shahanchi Khan and occupied
Lahore in 1799. After Lahore Ranjit Singh annexed Amritsar from the Bhangis along
with all their other territories. Master of Lahore and Amritsar. Ranjit Singh, laid the
foundation of a sovereign Sikh monarchy in the Punjab, with himself as its undisputed
monarch.
With a view to consolidate his position further Ranjit Singh continued his march
towards other principalities. He subdued Jammu, seized Mirowal, Narowal, Sialkot,
Dilawargarh and Wazirabad, humbled the Kangra chief Sansar Chand and the Pathan
chief Nizam-ud-din of Kasur. The Muslim principalities of Kabul monarchy, like
Jhang and Sahiwal, made ready submission and the Multan governor Muzaffar Khan
greeted Ranjit Singh with huge presents. However, it was not until 1818 that Multan
finally surrendered to Misr Dewan Chand, the commander of the Sikh forces.
Kashmir was conquered in 1819 and by 1820-Ranjit Singh was acknowledged as the
ruler of the whole of the Punjab, from the Sutlej to the Indus, with the territories of
Kashmir and the hill tract to the borders of Tibet. The Trans-Indus regions of Dera
Ismail, Dera Ghazi Khan, Khairabad and finally Peshawar (1834) were all subjected to
the Sikh monarchy.
Ranjit Slngh's successors were able to maintain the territorial integrity established by
Ranjit Singh till 1845 and also added some small territories. But after that, in a phased
manner, the Sikh dominion was subjugated to the British imperial system and it was
I fully annexed to the British empire in 1849. Thus the period of sovereign Sikh rule in
, the former Mughal province of Lahore was from 1765 to 1845.
'
The Ptlnjsb
Map 6
5.5
When the Sikhs were trying to consolidate their territorial base in the Punjab exactly
at the same time, the English East India Company had also started the process of
establishing itself as a political power in India. The sphere of activities of the Sikhs
was in the North and that of the English in Eastern India. But having gained control
of the East the English turned their attention towards the North in their bid for an all
India empire. So conflict with the Sikh state was almost inevitable in the process of
British expansion.
Until the middle of 1808, the English East India authorities were desirous of
establishing a closer contact with the ruler of Lahore so that he could serve as a buffer
against any foreign invasion through the North-West frontier. This British attitude
towards the ruler of Lahore was the outcome of the international political pressures
and the mounting threat of Napoleonic march towards the east. But by the close of
1808the international scenario had changed. Spanish risings against France, the treaty
between England and Turkey and the Anglo-Persian treaty in 1809, were events which
ended the possibility of the French invasion. This change in international politics had
bearing on :?:e British relations with the ruler of Lahore. The British now becamc
sympatheti; to the cause of the cis-Sutlej Sikh States who were seeking British
RIW d ~ e g k m dPowers
protection against Ranjit Singh. The British asked Ranjit Singh t o withdraw his army
t o the north of the river Sutlej and a contingent of British army marched towards
Ludhiana. Ranjit Singh, convinced at the superiority of the British military power,
abandoned his claim over the cis-Sutlej Sikh States. A n agreement was signed
between the British and Ranjit Singh which is known as the Treaty of Amritsar.
After the meaty of Amritsar in 1809 till 1839, when Ranjit Singh died, there was no
major tension between the two powers. The British did not allow him to establish his
control in the cis-Sutlej areas, but did not interfere in his domain. The death of Ranjit
Singh, however, weakened the basis of Sikh autonomy and within a decade the mighty
fabric of the Sikh monarchy was absorbed by the expanding arms of British
imperialism. Ranjit Singh's eldest son Kharak Singh succeeded him on the throne of
Lahore. But he was not worthy successor of Ranjit Singh. Soon after his succession
the existing court factions became active. Kharak Singh's sudden death in 1839 and
the accidental death of his son prince Naunihal, when he was returning from his
father's funeral, led to an anarchic situation in the Punjab. Moves and counter moves
by various gtoups t o capture the throne of Lahore paved the way for a more decisive
action by the British.
The first Anglo-Sikh war began in 1845 and there were in all five battles fought
between the two forces. The British captured Lahore and compe!led the Sikhs to sign
the Treaty af Lahore in 1846. The treaty sealed the fate of Sikh monarchy and made
the Punjab a British dependency. But till 1849 Punjab was not absorbed completely
in the Btitish dominions. After the final British victory in the second Anglo-Sikh war
in 1849, Lord Dalhousie annexed the Punjab t o the British empire in India. Thus
ended the autonomy of the Punjab and it became a part of the British colonial empire
in India. Wd would discuss the British conquest of the Punjab in detail in Unit 11,
Block 3.
Check Your Progress 2
1) Describe! the territorial boundary of Ranjit Singh's kingdom.
2) What happened t o the Sikh state after Ranjit Singh's death? Answer in about 60
words.
than religious outlook guided them in the matters of organisation of the state. The
existence of diverse ethnic, religious, linguistic and economic organisation and of a
large number of autonomous principalities led them to adopt and administrative
system that could hold the various forces together under a single authority. Therefore,
inspite of their identity with the Sikh religious establishments, the Sikh rulers took a
secular approach in administration.
(Head of a Suba)
(Head of a Pargana)
(Head of a Tappa)
(Head of a village)
Besides these there were Qanungos, the Patwaris, etc. The functions of all these
officials were mainly:
collection of revenues,
promotio'n of cultivation,
suppression of crimes.
The judicial powers of these officials were limited. Except the petty cases in all
important cases the Maharaja, the Qazis and the itinerant justices in the countryside
took the decision. The higher officials were generally appointed by the ruler and their
offices were not hereditary. Merit was the major consideration at the time of
appointment. There were the men of different groups and religious faiths in the higher
offices. Officials were paid in Jagirs but from the second half of Ranjit Singh's reign
a large number of officials were paid cash salaries.
The control of the central authority over different parts varied mainly according to the
proximity of the place to the centre of authority. Historians have divided the Sikh
domains into 3 territorial zones on the basis of the actual exercise of royal control:
Central zone, from the Sutlej to the Jhelum, the territories which were first
occupied and closest to the capital
Intermediate zone, between the Indus and the Jhelum, mainly the Subas of Multan
and Kashmir.
Peripheral zone, bordering territories like ~ e h a w a rDera
,
Ismail Khan, Dera
Ghazi Khan, etc.
The royal control was maximum in the central zone, where the appointments of the
officials and their functions were very closely controlled by the centre. In the other
two zones the central control was comparatively less and at times the local officials
were appointed by the provincial governor himself.
Besides these directly administered areas, there were certain autonomous
principalities thrucgh out the Sikh rule, especially in the hills. These were the vassal
principalities, divided Into 3 groups.
the eastern group between the rivers Sutlej and Ravi,
the central group between the Ravi and the Chenab, and
the western group between the Chenab and the Indus.
The vassal chiefs accepted the suzerainty of the Sikh rulers and paid annual tributes
to them. But within their own principalities they enjoyed substantial power and were
not within the purview of the revenue policies of the Sikh rulers. However, some of
the vassals helped the Sikh rulers in general administration and military expeditions
and also acted as Nazims and Ijaradars.
Rise
The rate of land revenue varied from place to place. Generally the government share
was between two-thirds to one-third of the produce. The rate was fixed depending on
the condition of the soil, the mode of irrigation and the expense of cultivation. Besides
the land revenue the state also claimed a number of Abwabs from the peasants. The
collection of revenue was made in both cash and kind. Thus we find that in the
revenue administration also there was not much change compared to-the Mughal
system.
5.7
In the previous sections we have discussed the development of the Sikh state and its
organisational framework. What was the nature of the Sikh polity? There is no
denying the fact that the teachings of the Sikh Gurus provided the basic foundation
for the Sikh polity. The movement, that had developed amongst the Sikhs t o fight
against the socio-economic and religibus injustices in the medieval period,ultimately
got transformed into a political movement in the course of the 18th century. So the
basis of the Sikh polity was laid down by the moral ethos and the democratic traditions
of the ~ikh'Gurus. The reflection of this democratic tradition is found in the Sikh
polity of the Misl period with its various features like the Gurmata, the Dal Khalsz,
ruling in the name of the Khalsa, etc.
It is important to point out here that the historians are not unanimous about the nature
of the Sikh polity during the Misl period. According to some historians the
organisation of the Misls was 'theocratic' in character; on the other hand, it has also
been poidted out that the functioning of the Misl Chiefs suggests that they acted
independently in their own respective areas, sometimes guided by their own interests.
Their attdndance in the meetings of the Sarbat Khalsa was not compulsory. They
attended the meetings to discuss an emergency situation or for matters of mutual
inierest; decisions were not universally regarded as binding. Moreover, inspite of the
framework of a democratic tradition, in the internal organisation of the Misls there
was not such democracy. The idea of personal government was much in practice.
There was no doubt a confederacy of the Misls but within the Misl the Sardar or the
chief had complete independence. The confederacy existed mainly because there was
external threat. In the sphere of internal affairs the confederacy had no control over
the Misls.
The emergence of Sikh monarchy in place of various independent chiefs brought
further change in the nature of Sikh polity. During the 19th century the autonomy of
the individual Sardar came to an end and the king became the supreme authority
within the state. Ranjit Singh had full faith in the Sikh scriptures and the Sikh religion.
But his peasonal faith never came in the way of his administration. Punjab being a land
of the people of diverse ethnic, religious and language groups needed a secular
administration and the Sikh rulers acted rightly in order to consolidate their rule in
the region. The interference of religion in matters of administration was not
expedient. T o quote Dr. Indu Banga "The continuance of autonomous principalities
on the periphery and other such pockets in the plains, assignment of Jagirs and service
to a cross-section of the landed aristocracy and the grant of Dharmarth to the religious
personages and institutions belonging to all faiths, must be viewed in terms of the
ideology of consolidation".
1) Do vow think there was continuity hetween the Sikh and thc Mughal
administrative system? Explain your argument in about 60 words.
How did the Sikh rulers orgarlise the land revenue system? Write in ahout 60
words.
3)
The Punjab
2)
3) You have to write about the background in which the various Sikh chiefs brought
broad unity among the Sikhs to consolidate their base in the Punjab. See Section
5.3
4)
d) False e) True
2)
Rise of R e g i d Powers
UNIT 6 MERCANTILE TO
INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM
IN EUROPE
6.0
6.1
6.2
6.3
64
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.10
6.1 1
6.12
6.13
6.14
6.15
Objectives
Introduction
Feudal Errope
New Ideas : Renaissance and Reformation
Geographical Exploration and Overseas Colonisation
Sixteenth Century England : Wheels of Change
Manufacturing in the Age of Merchant Capital
Methods and Organi.wtion of Trade
Mercantilism
I'riw Rise and Crisis
England : On the Path of Industrialisation
The lildustrial Revolution
The Maturation of Industrial Capitalism
,.l.$t U s S u m U p
Key Words
Q
Answcrs to Check Your Progress Exercises
6.0 OBJECTIVES
In this IJnit we discuss the main trends in the economy and society of Europe from the
fifteenth to thc middle of the nineteenth century. After reading this Unit you will be able
to explain :
the lihctors responsible for the weakening of feudalism in Europe.
the gtxrgraphical discoveries. overseas colonisation and their impact on the
economy of Europe.
thc mercantile era : growth in markets, money economy. accumulation of capital
and thc influence of mercantilist ideas.
thc changes in the techniques of agriculture, industry and trade with the
dcvelopmcnt of science and technology,
the comparative development of European countries. the rise of Britain and its
emergence as the dominant colonial power.
the industrial revolution in Britain : factors responsible. its nature and impact.
and
the rise of capitalism and thc role of colonies in it.
--
--
In Block 1 you havc read about the political developments in I.pdia in IIIC rstk
century. One of the significiint litndmarks of this period was the cornpcIII1,ttl ;Imong
various European colon~alpowcrs to establish their hegemony over t l ~ cI I ~ , I I . I I I
subcontinent. Why did the various Luropean countries jump into I'icicc. t.ttt~l,,t.t~tion
to establish a colonial empire'! In t h ~ sUnit we have tried to find arr ; I I I \ \ ~ , . I I I I ~lris
question in the context of the socioeconorrric devel~pmentsof Europc I I I I I , I 111,. 15th
to the middle of the 19th century.
This Unit introduces you to the decline of feudalism in Europc a i d 111ccilrcr~viiceof
new ideas which promoted the geographical discoveries. overseas traclc ;~ntl
colonisation. It gives account of the commercial revolution in f.uropc i~nd1l1c
mercantilist ideas that dominated Europe between 17th and 18th anturies. After that
i t deals with the emergence of Britain as the dominant colonial power, the Industrial
Revolution in 1:ngland and the transformation of Europe from mercantile to
industrial car.~talism.
6.2
FEUDAL EUROPE
As the middle ages were drawing to a close the feudal society of Europe was in
coisis. Feudalism had been in existence for about a thousand years. After the decline
of the powerful Roman empire i n the fifth century A.D.. political, social and
edonomic powers increasingly became dwentralised as the centralised powers of the
state and kings was sei7ed by a range of intermediaries. I n the next few centuries
fcludal society developed into an extremely hierarchical one with layers of
intcrnicdiaries drawing sustenance from their dependents. The cconomy and society
wci~rneprimarily land-based or agrarian with trade playing a relatively less
important role. The majority of the agrarian population at the bottom of social
hierarchy consisted of peasants called serfs who were bound to serve their masters
who were their lords. The lords inturn had over-lords whom they were obliged to
serve.
Hence, the whole of feudal society was based on ties of dependem and
ilnterdependance : the strong needed the weak as dependents to set& them and the
Ilatter got protection from their superiors. Loyalty and pattorup
!elationships between classes.
I
11
1
1
I t was an age when values of chivalry and honour dominated the lives of big land
Idrds : knights, noblemen and kings. The christian church with its clergy was
ertremely powerful and influential in the feudal society.
Hy the 14th C. the limits to the growth and expansion of feudal society had been
rcached. Feudal socicty had experienced growth in technology, agricultural
piroduction, tradc. coinnierce and population. since the 12th century. However.
bkyond a point such dynamism could not hc sustained. Population had grown from
atbout 38.5 million .in C. 1000 A.1). to 73.5 by the middle of the 14th C. '1;cchnology
a:nd resources could not keep pace and a scrics of wars and natural calamilics
checked growth of population. The Hlack I>eath or plague spread from 1348 A.1).
dnwards reducing population in large' numbers. 1)cpopulation led to abandoning of
cultiv;~hlc land and agricultural production declined. Consequcntly.'thc income of the
feud;~llandlords also declined as they could no longer get their dues and levies. They
rc;~ctc(lhy attempting a tightening of their feudal control over their depcndents
nii~inl\.tlic scrfs. The latter resisted this and the 14th and lSt h centuries were markcd
ti\: ;I scrics of peasant rebellions all over Europc. Of these the French Jac-querie of
I ' ~ . ( and
S
the English peasant uprising of 1381 ;ire well known.
..:Illus ;I crisis in li.ud;~l socicty occurred in Western Europc i.e. broadly the area west
of t hc riwrs Elb consisting of countries like Englaend. France. Holland. Spain and
purts of Cicrmany and Scandinavia. The hold of the fcudal lords weakened and
scirfdoni declined as a result of the feudal crisis. I n Eastern Europe i.e. in the region
of ~wewntday Poland. Romania. tiungary. U.S.S.R. etc.. the landlords succeeded i n
their elforts to resubjugate the serfs and therefore serfd!,m was consolidated after the:
crisis 04' the 14th and 15thcenturies. As a result of this. fcudal relations persisted in
Ei;~stcrnEurope for a much l o n g r period t l l a ~Wcstcrn
i
Europe. I n tradc. industry
;~iidurbanisation Eastern Europe lagged behind Wcstcrn Europe and in the next
three to four centuries it providcd the latter with agrarian produce in'rqturn for
manufactured goods. In the following discussion of developments i n Europe, we
concentrate our attention on Wcstern Europe.
:--RENAISSANCE
A N D REFORMATION
6.3 NEW--.IDEAS
- --+
-
A s Iiuropc cntcrcd the 16th century its feudal society was being questioned and
t(an4l'or-~ncilin many ways. I n the realm of culture ,and idci~s.thc importance of the
ihdivid~l;~!
;~ndlluman~tyu.as hcing cr~iphasisedby a numbcr of writers. painters.
......1 - 4 .... ...- ...I.. .
La... . ..C .I...,
.I
.L...::.. .- :-..a:....
Fr.....
oh..
..I ....: . . . . I
4
..,a:.
t.
,.....
culture of ancient Greece and Rome and many Europeans were challenging the
subordination of the individual to the hiera'rchies and the collective authority of the
feudal age. With the weakening of the feudal system since the 14th C. the spread o
these ideas of humanism and individualism gave rise to a whole set of values whic
are commonly designated as the Renaissance. Renaissance means rebirth and this
was used later on to signify the changes which Europeans were experiencing after,hhe
-middle
. ages.
bi
I
Renaissance ideas had their origin in many universities in the late medieval period
especially in ltaly and subsequently it matured on the continent in the 16th C. in the
realm of literature and various arts, From the 1520s. the Christian Church was also
under regular attack from reformers like Martin Luther.and John Calvin. They
criticiscd the distortions. abuses and the corruption in the Church which according
to them had deviated the Church from the teachings of Christ and the path shown
by early saints of Christianity. Both Luther and Calvin established their separate
Churches and attracted supporters.from parts sf Germany. Switzerland. France,
England, Scotland and the nor8hern Scandinavian countries. This whole movement
of attack on Christian Church and the attempt at its reform is known as the
Reformation.
The ideas of Renaissance and Reformation were particularly attractive to the rising
class of traders. merchants and bankers who constituted the new middle class of
Europe. During the period of the feudal crisis in the 14th and 15th centuries
agriculture had become lea profitable and compared to that the gains in trade and
commerce were more.
In Italy. the birth place of Renaissance. the merchants had been prospering since the
I lth-12th C. by supplying various artisanal goodstnd luxury items to Europe. For
this ltaly also enjoyed a geographical advantage in the Mediterranean as it is
surrounded by sea and also connected by land route to the East. Around the year
.I500 A.D.. ltaly was the most prosperous country in Europe with a number of
independent small states and fairly autonomous trading cities like Venice. Genoa.
Milan, Florence etc.
-
Mercantile lo Indu+lrial
C'aphlnm in k.urupu
r l ~ i l a l ~ rand
m Imperialism
I. Dimerent t y p a of Compass.
fhc trade with the colonies of the New World (North and South America) was
dil'lcrcnt from the Furopcan tradc with Asl;~.A~ncr~can
treasures were plundered and
subsdqucnt ly precious metals (gold and \ ~ l \ c r were
)
mined by Spanish and
Portuguese scttiers which was shipped hack home. With the passage of time slrgar,
tinihtr. tobacco. cotton and fish bcci~mcimportant items of import into Europe
~hile
Iron1 Europe textiles. domc\tie furniture and instrunicnts and other consumers
items wcrc being exported. Another significant trade which prospered was that of
hlatqs. I o meel thc labour requirements in the plantations of sugarcane, tobacco.
cotttali ;111d the mines of @Id and silver. African slaves wore imported into the
colotiic.;. I'hc early treatment 01 thc colonised American 'Indians' was very brutal
and harsh. kor instance. the population of Mexico fell from 25 million in 1519 !o
I million 111 1600.
I
Ac~us\to the bullion of the new world hcncfited Spain the most. I n the 16th C.
ncu ly 90'; of the goods reaching Spa~ntrom the Amcricas consisted of precious
nictals. Span. under emperor Charles V and his son Philip 11, became the most
powcrl'ul country in I-uropc. I'hc Portuguesc on the other hand increasingly came to
contkol the spice tradc of' the East.
I'hc growing contact with the East and the Americas led to a tremendous growth in
the volume of tradc in the 16th C. Increasingly more and more trade wa\ being done
on thc, Atlantic Coast. I 111s Icd to the riw ol Antwerp which was in Southern
Nctl~crlandsand 1s currently In Rclg~uni.It was in Antwcrp that the lJortuguesc
merchants who took away the lucratkc spice tradc from Venice. brought in thcir
d~vcrt~
thcir
n ~ metal tradc and the
goods l'he German merchants wcrc inc~ci~s~nplc
~ngl~ish.'their
cloth to Antwerp. Ciradu;~ll\ Italy', monopoly ovcr trade weakened
as the century progressed.
~ c i ~ n k h iNorthcrn
lc
Ncthcrlands was al,o 1:ist cnicrging as a major trading and
nii~~iulacturing
arcil. I'hc Outch wcrc Lnown 1.01thcir
.
sea-faring abilities and
: . shij-iping industry. From I550 onwards they established control ovcr the grain tradc
' of Haltic Sea Arm. The 1)utch'madc sever:ll iti~pro\cnicl~ts
in ;~griculturcand
industry in the 16th C. They employed techniques to recover marshy and sea. 1i11ids
to add to the i~vrrilahlcscilrcc lapd area. Dairy industry prospered and thcrc &;IS
widksprc;ld use ol' the wind mill. l'hcy dcvclopcd 1jphtc.r c.ommsrcia1 ship\. kept
smaller crcwsi)n thcir war ships and conccntrarcd on exporting cheaper variety of
wide and cloth. After the Spanish conquest ol' Antwcrp in 1585 Anistcrdahi in
Northcrn Netherlands crncrgcd rr* a ~ i ~ i i trading
or
point in the north-west Atlantic.
2. Spread of European culture outride Europe (I.ate 16th and 17th ('.).
6.5
Capitaliun and ~ m p w i r l h
The bevmteenth Century saw the emergeoce of four broad classes in English
agric~lttlrab
society.
Nobility comprising of big landlords mostly living off rental income.
Gentry.
Tehant farniers,
Landless agricultural labourers.
Meanwhile English merchants were making progress in the export of wool and
textiles. English cloth was reaching Europe via Ant werp. From 1520 economic
growth rate picked up. Henry V l l l devalued the currency in order to raise money for
defence expenditure. This made English exports cheaper in European markets.
In I 5 q there was a depression in European cloth markets due to excess supplies
dhichl affected England's cloth exports adversely. In order to overcome the crisis
Englidh manufacturers brought about changes jn their products and diversified into
new areas. English cloth manufacturers started exporting more and more cheap
coarsq cloth which came to be known as the new draperies or worsteds.
After 1550. coal and metal industry started developing at a rapid pace. Coal
increasingly replaced wood as fuel in homes. brick kilns and in the menufacfurc QC
beer. sugar. glass and soap. Coal. timber and m a r l production grew in respanre to
the growth requirements of shipping. utensils and production. A combination of
favoumble factors brought about a steady economic growth of England in the
second half of the 16th Century. I'hr stability provided by Elirabeth's reign. grunh
geographical discoveries and the arrival of migrant protestants born
Netherlands who were mostly merchants; provided a
.-A
Check Your Progress I
1) List three factors which you think were responsible for the decline of feudalism.
.......................................................................
2 ) Write in 50 words about the factors that encouraged geographical exploration.
.......................................................................
3)
How do you explain the success of England compared to other countries of Europe in
the 16th century?Answer in .I00 words.
4)
I
I
his was an age of the merchant. The expanding horiions of the market had opened
up vast opportunities for profit. The merchants wanted expansion in production with
preferably lower costs. I n this they were encountering hindrances from guilds. Now,
what were these guilds? Guilds were unions of artisans and workers which protected
the interests of artisans by controlling the volume ahd quality and cost of
production. They tried to secure better wages and selling prices for thc prcduce ol
workers and looked after them'in times of distress. In the medieval period different
occupations had come to acquire numerous specific guilds. For instance weavers.
metal workers, carpenters, leather workers etc. had thcir own guilds. Within a
particular guild. say for example weaving. there were separate guilds of spinners or
dyers. The knowledge o f a particular craft or skill was usually monopolised by a
particular guild. Skills were normally transmitted through a system or apprentices
within a particular guild. An apprentice was a young learner of a particular grade or
skill whd was attached to a senior skillcd craftsman, who was not supposcd to
impart training to just anybody not approved by the guild.
The sixteenth century merchant. eager to expand trade was confronted with higher
wages. To break this barrier. merchants started putting out advanccs to peasant
families willing to do artisanal work to supplement thcir income from agriculture or
to breakaway craftsmen of guilds. 'The putting out system also known as the
domestic system, had the following important katures:
The merchant advanced capital and raw material to a craftsmen with
specifications regarding the type. quality and quantity of products.
The craftsman utilising his skills usually worked at home. using their own tools
The finished product.was delivered to the merchant who then sold it for profit.
The significant aspect of this systcm was thc fact that thc nlcrchilnt still did not have
full control over the labour prcxcss of thr. artisan si~iccthe lattcr worked at home.
Secondly the artisan owned hi&tools and implements and of course his ability to
work.
From the merchant's point of view. the disadvantagein this systcm was a limited
potential for technical growth; hut on the other hand the advantage was to hiive
Bccess to cheap labour uf the artlsank family f r d Iron1 the restrictions of guilds. I'hc
merchant at this stage was rr yet not it direct mcrnufacturcr and his sourcc of prr)tlt
came from trade kfmn the arnitnl urh'ich :~a.t.tmrmll:atcrl in thik
n n r r e c c r l * ~ r ; n uthe
Mercantile to Indu-trial
<'apicalkm in ):un~l~c
16th and 17th Century is called merchant capital. However, it was not only the
merchant who was accumulating capital but there were many craftsmen who broke
away from their guilds, showed enterprise, profited from the expanding market and
improved their social and economic status in society. In recent years the above
mentioned stage of industrial growth has been described as proto-industrialization. It
is argued that the putting out system brought about not only the expansion of
merchant capital but it had a significant social and demographic (i.e. population
relation) impact which created conditions for the emergence of factoj and modern
science and technology -- based industrial production in the late eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Among other things the putting out system aided peasant
differentiation. lowered marriage age to facilitate larger working families, and
concentrated skills and capital in specific areas from where subsequent
industriali7ation took off. Some good illustrative examples which are cited for this
are Flanders near France and East Anglia in England.
6.7
The massive increase in the volume and complexity of trade which occurred from the
sixteenth century demanded progress in the sphere of credit network and monetary
exchange. The use of drafts and letters of credit became widespread to facilitate
lending, transfer and business exchange. The use of paper currency came much later.
Another development was the effort of states to develop a uniform standard
currency. Fully standardised currencies emerged by the end of the eighteenth century
in several European countries.
Till the fifteenth century merchants most!:/ .conducted their operations eitherindividually or as a family venture. The Sforza family of Milan, the Medici of
Florence and the Fuggers of Germany were some of the famous business houses ol'
Europe. In addition, trading operations were also done in partnerships with other
merchants or through leagues like the famous Hanseatic league of Northern
European merchants. mainly German speaking. However. in partnerships a major
disadvantage was the unlimited liability of each of its members. The expansion in
shipping and trade meant a huge investment of capital and heavy risks. Common
ventures brought merchants together and this resulted in the formation of regulated
companies. Often its members combined with the purpose of maintaining their
monopoly of a particular trade or some area. The members did not pool their
resources but agreed to abide by certain regulations which would be of advantage to
all members viz, maintenance of doc'ks. warehouses. protection against interlopers
and profkction of monopoly. The English company of Merchant Adventurers was a
regulated company established for the purpose of trade with Germany and the
Net hcrlands.
---
A much larger amount of capital could be raised and the high risks and costs
could be shared by shareholders. Later even people of moderate means had a
chance to invest their small savirigs by purchasing shares and reaping profits.
The Joint Stock Company was a legally recognised corporate body which could
continue in spite of the death or withdrawal of a shareholder.
Another significant development was the formation of Chartered Companirs. These
companies were authorised by the government i.e. they held charters from the.
government by which they acquired!monopoly of trade with a particular area or
I
country and even authority over the latter's inhabitants. Several such companies were'
established to gain control over the trade and the people of the East, e.g. the English
East lndia Comoanv ( 16001. the Dutch East lndia Comoanv ( 1602h. the French East
i
'
It was believed that the volume ol' world trade is 11io1.cor less fixed. Stiltc policies
should be framed in such ii manner that i t should get ;I\ largc;~sh;rrc ol'this trirdc ihs
possible. '
ii)
I'rcc~ous metals. i.c.. gold and \ ~ l v c rwere the 11io\t dc\~rirhlclorni of nationill
wcalth. II ;Ination did not po\sc\\ naturirl source\ ol prcciour rqctah. the chicf way
to gct then1 wilh trade.
iii)
Ilie state should take \tcps to prnmotc exports especially of mirnufacturcd goods
by underlaking step\ likc cstirhlishing sti~tcrun workshop\ and manufi~ctoricsby
gri~ntingmonopolies and rcgullrting the guilds.
I
. vi)
In France a number of mercantilist pollcies were initiated by the able and ambitious
chief mlnister of the absolutist monarch Louis X I V Jean Baptiste Colbert. between
1661 and 1683. l!nder him high tariffs were levied on foreign imports. export of
bullion and grain was controlled, special manufacturers and many state industries
were set up. French influence was sought to be increased by waging wars against the
mgin rival the Llutch Republic; French colonial domination was expanded in the
West Indies. Canada. Louisiana, India and Africa.
'
...
Some 95.65% of the goods reaching from the Arnericlis in 1594 were precious metals.
The conquest of sour!^ America in 1530 proved to be real gold mine for Spain which
procured over 27 lakhs kilograms of gold in the last decade of the.sixteenth century.
No doubt Spain of the sixteenthcentury was prosperous and powerful but eventually
this gold and silver did not stuy in Spain. The Spanish people irlcreasirigly started
buying agricultr~valand industrial,goods from European markets which stimhlated
production in co!.!:lriiil,, likc England and I-lt?lland. Fvcrit~i:ill>~
S p a i n suffered even
more when its gold and silver led to a massive increase in the alnc.)unt 01' money in
circulation which brought about what is known as the price revolution in Europe. , * *
!
5,
1
I
I)
2)
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.....................................................................
3) Expl,rin the role of S t a t e in M e r c a n t i l i s m i ~ l 100 words.
Mercantile tu Industrial
Cnpitnlbm in Eurupr
'
...................................................................
b) W h y did thc colonial powers want t o restrict foreign imports'!
...................................................................
c)
6.10 E N G L A N D : O N T H E PATH O F
INDUSTRI A l ISATION
Irr the second h;rll 01 the ciglitccnt h ccntury the changes i n agriculture and industry
hro4ght ahout 'h! the ;ipplic;~tion o f technology were such that they rcvolutionised
Ijritish economy and'zc~clcty. I'hc term Industrial Kc\olution came into vogue i n late
r i i ~ i c l c c r i tcentury
l~
i ~ n dnumcrcws explanations h i ~ hccn
~ e providcd for it. However.
~ factor and attrihutc the causation o f Industrial
it i s vcr\ d i n ' i ~ u l tt o i \ o l ; ~ tany
Uctu)ltrtion tcr it. 11 i s pcrh;rps more usefUI t o outline the process o f thc Industrial
. H c t o l ~ r t ~ c2nd
) ~ i l o c ~ 011
~ \ the iritcraction o f factors like politics. cultural values.
pop111;rtloti irnd ;Ihlc utilisatioo ol' resource.\.
111 ttlc prcuipus section we mcntioncd thc impact o f thc civil war i n England. Thc
coriimiict~c~al
group\ girinccl o ~ r of
t it and increasingly came t o dominate the
I'arl~c~rncnti n 1.1igl;lnd. Wlicn the k i n g (monarchy had k e n restored i n 1660) tried t o
re-as;crt his arbitrary powus. the a k o l u t i s t powcrs o f the monarchy were curtailed
id
a constitutional monarchy i n which the parliament became
i n IWU. I j ~ i g l ; ~ ~hccarnc
the c l l c t i v c ruling institution. 'l'hc events o f I6UH constituted the Glorious
Kevolut ion. I t involved n o hloodshcd and csta hlished the supremacy o f the rule of
lirw. [nglish society and p;r rlianicnt saw a steady rise i n the influence o f the gentry
( ~ m p i o v i n glaridlords practising conimcrcial agriculture) and husinessmcn after the
Ci4orijous Hcvolution. llnder thcrn another round o f cnclosu~.cswas initiated i n the
c~ghtycnthccntury with the help o f state Icgislirtion. I 1 ) o u rcc;rll. the first enclosure
niotenicnt had t i ~ h c np l i ~ c sin I'ngland i n I;rtc t'il'tccnlh and sixteenth centuries when
liclds u c r c c~iclc)\cdhy the 1;rndlords l o r shccp ;11rc1 c;~ttlc rc;~ri~ig.tlowever from
the c l ' l ' i c i c ~ oi ~f crop raising. 1'11c
1710 l)nuaril\ criclozurcs wcrc ilcsig~ictlt o j~ier~-;~ze
landlords want:d to improve tlicir 1;111clz l u r t h r r 111r~111~11
scicntil'ic larniing and
and
introduction o l IILW crops and l ' i ~ r ~ i i i~~~i gi ~ t l i t )'Idh\ .i i~icIudcdilgg~-cgation
rcclamirtion 01' coninion lands. i.r. lanclz (111 t i liicl\ pcoplc c~\,ittycdt r i ~ d i t i o n a l
hccamc a business
customary rights o f usi~gc.I h c r c s ~ ~wl ti ~ st l l i ~ tlantl iric~.cilsi~igly
comnlodity i n pribi~tcowricrsh~po f landlords. I Iic I;indlord\ utili\cd them for
p r o d u p i o n for the market to \cap prolits. M111ci1tc.r.a series ol' chi~ngcsi n the
.c
use of new
technology of production. c.g. rotation 01 crol)\ , c r ~ t l ~ t i t c ~ i r i \ farming.
tool\ and fcrtiliscrs. reclamation o f ~ i i a r s h )land u ~ tthc
l ~lrclp o f mcdcrn pumps. etc.
hrougl~t; ~ h o t ~incrcasc
t
ill agrictlltural productit i t ) . Itic cllangcs i n -production
il
t c c h ~ i ~ q u c;lrltl
s iigrarlali rclatic)ti\ is often c;~llcd the I - ~ i g l i s hA g r i c u l t ~ ~ r iRevolution.
I n cigh~ccnthccritilr! I.ngl;rlitl wheat production inc~cascdby i)nc-th~rdund the
a\cl;rHc wcighl I)! li\cztock doubled . Ry I830 I ~ i g l ; ~ n H
d ; I ~proc111cingninety per cciit
,)I~lz~cllon;c\ric~
g~,1111 ~cqLJItc~iicnts.
lloue\cr. oric tcr) cruci:ll outcomc ol'cnclozurcz uas ~ ' ~ c c t i oanr ~ dc\.iction o f
pca!,adt> Ir.c,nl l ~ ~ e!i,rI I ~ \ . I h c I;~nillc~~.tlb
ror!solitI;~tcd their lalid holdil~gswith state
suppot I
h ;
I i
I
r i ~ ~ i ~ Ii c iI l I
thcy joined the ranks o f
ic;ig:: I;~oI;I~:~ I Ili\ pr:)ccss i s callcd 'dcpcasaritisation' ill which the
the I;~n~tllcss
peastti1 n v Iongc: i!'l:>.:: t i .I P,:;i>iIIi[ I t ' I i i ~ thappened to this Qrgc~clasao f landless
l:~bi)urvrs'! t ; ~ ~ ~ tl bi ~. tri i ~ i , , ! \ : ~ ! C ~ : I ; I ~ ~ : ; I I I ; ~tl~c:;
:~
~ t ~ t i liavc
l i l bccri i n dihtrcss but the
c i r c ~ l r ~ l ~ :tl h~t i !~ l t : ~ ~ ~ i f \ : !:~:!.III<~1':1;>&1*jei!l ~ l ~
141111
! l l; l \ l C l n ; l ~ l ~ c
lretu~eoI ~lc:11.111cl.1n1: markctz
e r n p l o ~ ~ ~ i i t :i ~;I,:,
~ ! .IS c . ~ ; ~ i , t ~l~i ~~
!lli.
c ~ I:,IIII:.
J
;11)11
;,:t,!::t\!!~~
I xport M;rrkct,
M;~rhct p r o v ~ d c dby the Sti~tc.
The significant aspect o f the homc markct i n 1:nglend was its s i c and steadiness. I t
was growing o n account o f several factors. A s we have s c c ~ more
i
and more pei~sants
wcrc forced t o bcco~ncla hourcrs i n the process ol' d c p a s a ~ i t i / a t i o ~ M
i . a n y ol' thcni
wcrc employed by landlords t o work i n thcir fields as agricultural labmrcrs. M a n y
others niigratcd t o cities and found cmploymcnt as workers i n tradc. m a n u l i ~ c t u r i n g
o r donicstic service. Now. thcy were a l l paid H a g s i n money with which thc'y
purchased li)od. clothes and othcr essential items. I n othcr words thcy were
increasingly buying goods' I'rom the market and thereby incrcascd the d c m i ~ n dlilr
goods as customers. S c c o ~ i d l gd c ~ n a ~could
id
grow w i t h population growth. I n
England thcrc was sharp rise i n population since 1750s. Howcvcr population growth
does not a l w i ~ y smean that the cconomy of;^ country. would benefit. t o r cxaniplc
many poor countries o f today h i ~ v c;I l i ~ r rate
t
o f popul;~tiong r o w l h ; ~ n dthcy
continue t o be poor. What is signific;~~it
;rhout tlngland i s that population increase
coincided w i t h long-run growth trends i n inconic. r:vcn when population HSI;
stagnant i n the I'irst four dcci~dcs01 the cightccnth ccntury imports incrcascd hy forty
per ceni. production for exports went u p sixty per ccnt and thcrc wits il h u ~ i d r c dper
ccnt g r o w t h o f goods which wcrc re-exported. ' I l l i s shows that thc purcha\ing powcr
o f the p o p l c had registered a 1ict i ~ l c r c i ~ sThis
c . i s ;hIso dc~iionstr;~tcdh y the IICW
wants o f Ilnglish pcoplc ant1 the nunihcr of consumer gocds which wcrc incrcasingl!
being produced t o lull'il thcni. I.lour-~niling.hccr brewing. cutlery i ~ n dstove
m a n u l i ~ c t u r i n gincrci~scd.M o r e I . ~ i g l i s l homes
i
were using boil1 i n thcir I'irc places.
~~~
p r o t i d c d clicap lahour for. ~ i i a n u l l ~ c t u r i n g
F r o m mid-18th ccntury p o p u l ; ~ t i ck111tr.111
activities which developed will1 tlic o~isct01' Industrial K c t , o l ~ ~ t i o n .
While the home market proviJctl s t i ~ h i l i t gi ~ n dhoniogcnity t ( i t h e denialid i t was the
export niarkct which provided tln' rcal impetus t o thc ccononiy Icading t o
mcchanisation o f industries I'ronl the 1780s onwards. E..I. tlobsbawm. ohscrvcs i n his
book 'ltrclusrr,~urrcl I:i,rl)ircn that home d c m i ~ n dincreased but foreign d c n l i ~ n d
multiplied.
In 1715 nineteen per cent o f Britain's foreign trade was w i t h N o r t h America and the
Wcst lndics which incrc;~scd.tothirty four per ccnt i n 1785. W i t h Asia and Africa i t
rose f r o m seven t o ninetee11 per cent i n the u l m c p c r i t d . I k ~ i i i ~ nhad
d gone u p i n
N o r t h America under Britain wcrc populaiion incrcascd hy tell tinics hctwccn 1700
and 1774. A m o n g the commodities k i n g tri~dcd.tropical products likc sugar. teq,
coffee a n d tobacco along w i t h textiles i n c r a ~ s i n g l yreplaced spiccs and gold by the
end o f the eighteenth century. Sinqc most o f thcsc tropical prcducls were g r o w n i n
plantations, more and more slaves wcrc sold t o N o r t h Amcriar. the Wcst lndics and
South America especially i n the sugar and col'fcc plantations o f Bra/il. According t o
a rough estimate about 7 niillion sluvcs wcrc transkrrcd from. Al'rica t o t he Anicric;~s
i n the eighteenth century compared t o one m i l l i o n i n the sixteenth and thrcc m i l l i o n
i n the seventeenth century. By the 1780s Hritihh alate traders wcrc making
tremendous profit
cs
f r o m A l rica.
supplying more than hall' 01' i l l 1 s l i ~ ~ cnportcd
Britain's supremacy b y the end ol' the cightcc1itl1 ccntury was also possible heci~usco f
the aggressive foreign policy. H r i t i ~ i np i ~ r t i c i p i ~ t ci d
n five ni;~jor wars d u r i n g this
period and w o n recognition as a great powcr. 'l'hc .>tilIc H'ila willing t o coloni/c and
wage wars for econoniic benefit. Unlike her rit,als likc t.ranrc. -Britain was willing t o
dedicate everything i n her foreign policy t o ccononiic ends. I'hc result was that
H r i t i ~ i nwas able t o reduce the influence o f her rivals likc the t.rcncli and the I h t c h
b y the cnd o f the cightccnth century. 'l'his brings us t o thc third c o n i p o ~ i c ~ot~ the
t
markct: the market prrjvided.by the state. C'omnicrcial war\ 111~;1111\ t r c ~ ~ g t I i c n 01'
i~~g
navy a ~ i higher
d
dciiiand for arms and ships li)r the navy ;111ol t l ~ c; ~ r ~ n y'l'hcrclorc.
;
ill
adclition t o t he h o ~ i i Cand the export niarkct. British n ~ ~ ~ ~ u l a c t uwere
r c r salu, i ~ b l ct o
4. Newtoo's Tdcseope
- -
---
Evidence of the application o f ncw technology bcconies visible from the first hall' of
cightcc~ithcentury itself. Many English towns were rebuilt and there were substantial
iniprovcments'in irila~idtransport especially water ways o n rivers and ci~nals.The
improvcnicnt in transportation helped t o create a national market and reduce
transport costs. For cxaniple. the cost per ton between 1-iverpool and Manchestcr o r
Hirniingham was reduced by eighty per cent by canal navigation.
In 1754. the rolling machine for the production oC stcel was developed. However. the
niost important event was the adoption of three innovi~tionsin the manufacture of
tcxtilcs. Thc Spinning Jenny developed by James Hargrcaves in 1765 increastd the
artisans spinning capi~cityby ;I hundred times. Now one person could d o the work of
eight pcrsorls. Richard Arkwright's water frame turned the jenny into a commercial
proposition by spi~iningthrough it combination of rollers and spindles. Crompton's
mule. further inipro\.cd tlic native to which stcani power was applied from the
1'780s. 'l'llis ncccssitatcd eollcct~onol a large numbers ui wbrkcrs under one roof and
brought about hctory production.
I
I
I
I
.
Mechonisation of weaving i.c. the use of powcr looms. developed in the 1780s. really
spreitd after the Napoleonic wars, i.e.. a f t c ~ 1815.
.
From the iast decade of the
eighteenth century thcrc was a rapid increasc in Britain's cotton exports which
pcakcd in the three dcci~dcsnftcr 1815. In the post-Napoleonic decades roughly half
of the value of ill1 British exports consisted or cotton products and in the 1830s. raw
cotton accounts for twenty per cent of total net imports. -lhis had significant impact
on natibe industrie!, and agrarii~nsociety o f a colony like India which you will study
in detuil.
In addition t o cotton tcxtilcs, metallurgy. especially copper and steel manuficture,
glilss and paper industries i ~ l s ocxpcrienced tremendous growth wi~lithc application
of new technology. I'llc invention of the steam engine by .lames Watt in the 1790s
proved it boom l'or many indiistrics and means of communication. Paddle ships and
usc ol'stcam powcr in shipping revolutionised maritinie transport. Firially the
railways network from the 1830s ushered in altogether a new era in land transport.
I)
.......................................................................
2 ) What was the effect o f the Industricll Revo1u:ionon the state regulatron o f trade. GI\(.
answer
~IVI
50 words.
3)
(x).
a)
6.13
LET US SUM
.- -- -
UP
--
Wc niiiy conclude this survey hy sufiiming up the rn;~.ior trends evident in Europe
from tlie onset oI' fcudi~lcrisis o f the fourteenth and l'iliccnth centuries. While
scrldom ;tnd power o f feudal lords was consolidated in tiastern tluropc, in the West
it rcs~rlt~cl
ill cnicrgcncc o f the ~iirtion-statesirndcr strongmonarchs. This wits
l ' o l l o ~ ~ ~ r ~ h - - ~ o ~discovcrics.
r ; ~ ~ h i c ioverseas
~l
expiinsion ;~ndcoIonis;~tion. A virtual
r c v o l u t i ~ 01'
) ~ coninicrcc
~
and cxp;~nsion in markets hroupht ;~houtthe risc o f the
i
culture. w i ~ s
nicrch;~nt illid il vigiirous money ccononly. A hrc;~k I ' r o ~ lriicdicval
sign;^ llcd hy I<c~i;~iss;~ncc.
Kcl'orni;~tion; ~ n dthe ri>c o f new science. This w i ~ s
acco~iip;~nicd
hy t$;~ngcs in thc intcrnirl structures ol' liurope;ln Socicty and state
systcms. 'l'hc incrci~scdpi~rticip;~tion
ill the ni;~rkct economy soon involved riv;~lrics
and conflicts which wcrc not 1inlitcd.to Iluropc hilt illso sprc;ld to other parts ol'thc
world. often cotirc~:tingotlicr cyuntrics .into colonies. I n this ri\alry Hritain' proved
more successful t l i i ~ nits riv;~lshcc;~trsc of grc;ltcr dyn;rniisni ol' its society. i t hccitnic
the l'irst countrv to cxpcricncc the Industl.i;~l Kcvolution which hrc?ught ;~houtthe
c ~ of
~ the
d rncl:c;~ntilc cr;t and in;~ugur;~tcdtlik ;~gcol' industri;~l c;~pit;~lism.
I t should hc rcnicmhcrcd t l i ; ~ t throughout this tri~nsI'orni;~tiolio f liuropc I'roni thc .
nicrci~ntilct o the industri;~lc;~pit;~listera. ;I close link persisted with colonies. 'l'hc
risc ; ~ n dgro\vtli o f c;~pitillisni w;~s nccomp;~nicd hy the Iiuropca~in;~tions' scarch arid
, strugglc I'or potc~iti;llc-olc?liirs.One ol' tt1c.s~ colo~iirswas India wlicrc the i~itcrplayof
I!uropc;~~icolo1ii;ll powers i s cs;~nii~icd
in tlci;lil in tlicfollowing I l ~ i i t .
-.
.
.
.
--- -- --
----
Bullion: I t is gold,or silver i n thc form ol' bars which is,olicn turned into coins.
Humanism: ' l l i c hclicl' in individu;~l's i ~ h i l i t yto do things ;~ccordingt o reason.
Individualism: I t fc~.usscson tlie role o f individui~lrathcr tli;~n coniniunity or state i n
the cconon~icand politici~l3phcl-c.
Industrial <'apitalism: I n ;I c;~pit;llist systc111 whcrc the wc;~ltli or capital is i n the
control o f the industrialists.
Jacquerie:. I'ci~sant rchcllion:
Mercantile Capitalism: I n a ci~pit;llist systcni wlicrc tlic wealth or capital is i n the
control of the mcrc1i;ints.
---
6.15
ANSWERS TO CHECK
YOUR PRQGRESS
t
EXERCISES
7.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit deals with the overseas activities of European powers with special reference
to Asia and lndia, After reading this Unit you will be able to explain :
e the expansion of European nations for trade and markets carried out by the
trade rivalries between European colonial powers and the success of the French
and English East lndia Company in lndia.
'7.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous 'Unit we have examined the transformation which occurred in Europe
from the fifteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century. During this period there
was a tremendous growth in trade and markets based on a growing technology
applied in agriculture and especially manufactures. Capitalism was replacing the
feudal economy and society. However, the changes which occurred in Europe were
not limited to it. World history after 1500 A.D. got closely related to developments
taking place in Europe. This is because capitalism as a system is based on profit
making and competition in the market. It constantly requires expansion of the
market fo; raw material and selling of goods. Capital accumulates and secks outlcts
for reinvestment for further profits. Its expansion therefore was world-widc.
engulfing other types of economics, societies and cultures.
,-
. ,., .
,.
...
..
- .
. . ...
7.3
'
7.4
'
c.p&dhmnd InpaWLn
An idea o f Portuguese decline may be gained from the decline in the number of
ships leaving Lisbon for Goa during three centuries; whereas 45 1 ships left Lisbon
for Coa in 1500-49 in 1700-1720 the number was 1 12 and only 70 in 1750-1800.
In the end, their influence got reduced to some pockets only - in East Africa, Diu,
Daman, Goa (where it ended in 1961). Timor and Macao where it, still survives.
In 1602 the Dutch East lndia company was formed and it received a'charter
empowering4 to make war, treaties, acquire territories and fortify them. The main
interest af thq Dutch was in the Indonesian archipelago and the Spice 1slanr'- and
not lndia in the beginning. However, they soon discoverrd that Indian tradc was
necessary to carry on trade with South-East Asia, as there was a good demand of
Indian cloth there. Indian cloth was an essential exchange conlmodity in that area
and in return Indians demanded pepper and spices. The Gujarat region in Westerr.
lndia and the coast of Coromandel in the East produced a large variety of cotton
cloth. Coromandel was even described as the left arm of the Motuccas by Hendrik
Brouwer who later became the Governor General of the Dutch settlements in the
r,..
I-A:,.
9..
.I.- r > . . * - ~
I A ~ A
4-2
:..
-I..-:..:-,.
,. x: ".--*.. r-,.- + L *
-.,.
-f
With the help of commodities like indigo. saltpetre. opium, raw silk in addition to
cotton, they were able to seize a large part of the inter-Asian trade formerly
controlled by the Portuguese. Many decisive blbws were struck at the Portuguese
control of Goa, their factories in Malabar and their Cinnamon trade of Ceylon. For
this Goa was blocked in the trading seasons. Malacca was conquerred in 1641,
Colombo in 165536 and Cochin in 1659-63. With this the Dutch virtually replaced
the Portuguese but meanwhile they already had an important rival --.the English.
The East lndia Company had been formed in 1600. through a charter granting it the
exclusive privilege of trading with the area East of the Cape of Good Hope for
fifteen years. Compared to the Dutch company financially, it was a much smaller
concern. For,its first voyage it managed to raise less capital compared to the United
Dutch company. k16wever. the chief asset of the English company was its simple
organization. a court of twenty four directors elected annually by the general court
of shareholders.
In its early voyages the East lndia company concentrated on the spice trade. mainly
peper with Indonesia and the Spice islands. Its rate of profit amounted to nearly 20
per cent per year in the first twelve years. The several voyages (161 1-1 5) yielded a
profit of 214 per cent on original investment. However. yerv soon the English
27
apitalkn~and Impaialbm ,
A policy of expansion followed with the decision to send Sir Thomas Roe as an
Ambassador to the Mughal court. Roe used his diplomatic rkills to obta~nroyal
favo~urs.Meanwhile on the sea the English often resorted to piracy and plunder of
Portuguese shipr and to holding up Indian ships and exacting heavy ransoms. *I heir
method therefore war a cornbination of difloniacy; thereats. entreaties. intrigue and
aggression I he clrorts of Roc rccurcd thc English a Royal.firman to trade and set
up factories in all parts of thc Mughal empire. An open confrontation with the
Portpguese in a naval battle ol 1620 ended in Endish victory. Tension between the
English and the Portuguese declined over time. The Portuguese were expelled'from
Hugl(i in Bengal by Mughal forces in 1633.
Withlthe waning of Portuguese influence and power. the English started setting up
factories in d~l'fercntparts of India. Apart from Surat and Masulipatam. by 1623.
factories had k e n set up in Broach. Ahmedabad and Surat. However. the company
felt insecure and vulnerable with unfortified settlements. It resented the dues it often
had to pay to indigenous rulers. Payments also had to be made to local businessmen
who had to he ured as in$rmcd~aries. The English wanted to be a beneficiary of the
red~stributivcenterprise thcmselvcr.
~ngli$hterritorial and imperial an~bition?,can be traced to the attempt made to
fortify Surat as early as 1625. I'hey had recently been driven out from Indonesian.
islandis by the L)utch In 1623. However. Mughal authorities frustrated English
attempts at Surat by imprisoning the English. I he English then focussed on the
smaller states of South Ind~ato void direct conl'rontation. I n the South the strong
Vijaynagar empire had heen overthrown tn 1565 and several relatively weaker states
had emerged. In 1639. thcy man:~gcdto ohta~nMadras on lease from the local Raja.
M a d r ~ rwas a port and the English n~irdcil promise to give half of the customs
revenue to the Raja In return thcy prtxurcd the right to fortify it and also to mint
their own coins. 1hc Engl~shrct up a factory and built a fort called Fort St. George
around it. In 1662. King Charlcr-ll of England received Bombay as dowry on
marrying a Portugucse princes\. The English crown transferred it to the company in
I665 which was soon fortilied. Growing threat of the Marathas and the availability
of ;I good port scion enabled Bombay to replace Surat as the principal depot of the
compahy on thc Wmt Coast.
',
IF\T F G K T ST* G E O R G E
4. The Pdnce William and Xard~uicb sail'd from Fort St. David the 9th
Februar?. Tbe 2d of that month the Deputy Governour and Council inolosed
us a protest of Captain Langworth's, dated tihe 31et January, for detaining bin
ahip in India beyoud the time limited by charterparty. The 16th February we
took notice to the Deputy Governonr and Council, that we did not observe h e y
bad taken any obligation from Ca tain Langworth that the snrplas tonnage on the
Prime William should be at half reight only, to which they replied the 28th that
the confusion and hurry they were in upon that ship's dispatch occasion'd them to
forget i j , for which they were sorry, but hoped your Horiour~would be no
enff er&s thereby.
5. Your Honour's ships arrived here, sail'd from hence, and now bound home,
are as follows :-
~ ~ ; 7 f i ,
Lm.raca,
174l,lo*.la
I~,SI,JS.
L n rent,
1741, no.2
Tho Cceoar
...
...
Nottinghom
...
Prince of Orange ...
London,
...
Halifw
King William
Beaufort
Prince of wales
r
I
...
...
...
...
...
...
... }
...
6. It was in the evening of the 7th F e b r ' ~that the Ctesar arrived here, and
as soon ae the President knew what ship it was, he sent immediate advice thereof
to Mr. Hubbard, but the Harutuzcitka and Prince CVilliam were out' of eight before
it reached him.
7. A Frenoh'ship having some little time before landed her treasure a t
Pondicherry, Mr. Dumas intercepted a letter from pne of hie people advising the
Ln.
'"
from
Morattaa thereof and urging it as an inducement for them to order some of their
troops thither. As we were unwilling a t that juncture to give any wicked persons
an opportunity to write such letters from hence, and beleiving the money very mfe
on board the Cetur at that season of the year we continued i t on board her till the
5th March, wllen we arder'd it on ehoar, it being uear the npproach of the southerly uMa 6.:74fi
monsoon.
8. Your Honours having adiised us in your letter by the C,rmr that, incase,;LL
fmm;;
ehe did not arrive here by the last of August, the Commander was order'd to make *,:
the best of his way to Bengall, we demanded his retwons for coming here, which ~ 2 . 6 6
he deliver'd 'UR the 19th March.
~ b . la1
p, 3 j z s p 7 j ~ dc ~ c - , \ ~ i ! k ( i 7 :wP+R TVKE';
FF?.oly I N i ) j 3 ~o - ~ , % L A , V ~ ?
-8.-,L
CY SiiiP-3
; ~ ~ ~
and the factories of Surat. Masulipatam and Vieagapatam were rid.The English
opened negotiation with the Mughals and wca back to their earlier mode o f
petitiofling after a brief adoption of an aggressive posture. The Mughals pardoned
them kcause they understood the economic importance of English tiade. Not only
was it perceived beneficial for Indian artisans and traders it also brought in revenue
to the state. Therefore. Aurangzeb allowed Ihe English to re$ulm trade on the
conditi~nof payment of Rs. 1.50.000 as compensation.
Soon the English established a factory ut Sutanti and seized an opportunity to fortity
it in 1696 when Sobha Singh. a Zamindar ichc.llcd. I'n 1698. by paying Hs. 1200 to
the prc~iousproprietors the company acquircd the Zrrmindari i.e. the right to collect
revenue from thrcc villager. vit. Sutanati. Ciovindpur and Kalikata. In 1700. the
Beqgal factories were placcd under a spearate control of a President and council in a
new fortified settlement called Fort William. l'he village of Kalikata acquired an
analicilied name Calcutta and flourirhed from thcn onwards with i t s population
touchin$ I.UI).fK)I) in 1735. With the death of Auranweb and the weakening of the
Mughal empirc lrticr him the 'Engliih managcd to get more concessions and
privileyes. In 1717. Ernpror Farrukhriyar issued an Impcriill.firn~ungranting the .
cornpanp scwral privikgea:
i)
i i ). 'The
-+C
--o m p i y w;la allowcd to rent morc territory around Calcutta.
1
.
.......................
.......................................
.................................................................
C) W h o first'established t h e ~ rdomination in the lndian ocean by destroying the
monopoly of q r a b merchants?
..................................................................
..................................................................
..................................................................
d ) What was the Dutch interest ih Indian trade?.
e)
What were the special privileges that the English got from the Mughal
Emperor Farrukhsiyar?
L upilulirn~
r ~ lmpairlbm
~ d
7.81
THE PORTUGUESE
A N D THE DUTCH
While the English company was engaged in establishing itself with respect to Mugh;~l
and other Indian statcs it was simultaneously engaged in rivalry with the Portugucsc
and the Dutch. Wc have secn how they came into conflict with the Portuguese in thi
first threc decades of the seventeenth century. The end of hostilities between thc
Portuguese and the English started with thc conclusion of the Madrid trcaty in 1630
Anather agreement made in 1634 betwcen the President of the English Cactory at
Surdt and the Portuguese Viceroy of Goa guaranteed commercial intcltclations
betwcen the two nations in India. In 1654. Portugal fully accepted the rights of the
English to the Eastern trade and thc treaty of 1661 bound them togeth~r'a~ainst
the
Dutch in India.
Meanwhilc thc 1)utch had not only replaced the Po.rtugucse in the spice trade but
had expelled the English from the South East Asia. Although. the main interests of
the Dutch were in the Spice Islands. they had established important factorics at
Pulicat (1610), Surat (1616). Chinsura (1653). Cassimba7ar. Haranagore. Patna.
Balasore. Nagapatam (1659). and Cochin (1663). Unlike the English. the Dutch
having secured bases in South East Asia wcre not under pressure to secure territorial
bases in India. Hostilities between the Dutch and the English brought them to a
point of conflict several times from 1653-54 onwards. when. a large fleet of Dutch
ships appeared near Swally. forcing the English company to suspend its trade at
Surak. I n 1667. the Dutch agreed to leave alone English settlcmcnts in India. while
the English gave up all claims to Indonesia. I n this manner two rival colonial powers
settled their conflicts. However. English attempts to drive the Dutch out of the
tndiqn soil continued and the Dutch 'retired' more and more to country trading with
their officers trying to make private fortunes in collaboration with English company
officilals.
The eighteenth century saw a steady erosion in the fortunes of the Dutch. The sprcad
of the English as a result of privileges received. enabled them to establish an
increasing hold over the trade of indigo, silk. cotton, piece-got)ds. saltpetre etc. With
the failure of the Hugli expedition in 1759. Dutch naval power reccived a further
setback. Finally. the Dutch lost their last possession in lndia in 1795 when the
English expelled them. English supremacy though evideht from the beginning of the
eighteenth century however had to bitterly contest another Europcan rival - the
Frenah before emerging fully victorious by the early nineteenth century.
rln.r..lr.rm.r..e.
;..
Kr....n,.
,.-A
u:..h.,..l.h
....-
a,.-.,
C-,,,.h
C-...:-..
.I:A
-...
L...
.....I.
same dynaniism Chich for instance the English had. 'l'hc historical evolution of the
two countries has bccn examined in the previous Unit.
This does not necessarily mean that the East lndia Company had a smooth sailing
right from i t s birth. Right from the start i t had to contend with critics and rivals in
rngland. I t had to constantly give bribes and loans to the crown to retain its
cxclusivc monopoly tradc with the East. Even then many 'Free Merchants' or
'intcrlopcrs'(as the company described them) continued to trade with Asia. I n 1690
they petitioned the I'arliamcnt to throw open the Indian tradc and the Company had
to'\pcnd nc;lrly !M).~M)O in bribes to stop this which included 10.000 to the king
himsell'. Eventually in 1702. the two groups decided to join hands which in the words
o f K;rrl Marx signified the "true commencement of the East lndia Company"
representing the broad interests of British merchant capital backed by the
I~arlii~nicnt.
7.10
-----. - ---
When European colonial powers started trading with lndia in the sixteenth century
thcir main problem was that they had few gocds to offer in reiurn for Indian
eonimoditics. For nearly thrcc centuries they had to struggle with the problem of
financing an adverse balance of trade with Asia. Apart from wine and oil their ships
brought little l'roni Europe. How did they then finance thcir trade'? We have alrcady
seen that gold and silver was being brought into Europe from the mines of South
Amer~cain the sixteenth century. It is that which they used. albeit yeluctaKtly. to pay
for thcir iniports Ironi the East. Although cXiICt figures are not available this can be
illustrated with sonic cslin~atcsaviliii~blcregarding cxports of East lndia Company.
Hetwccn 1660 ;~nd16W. the value of' gold and silver exported to the East was always
at Icaht 66 per cent of the total exports. I n the decade 1680-89 it was as much as 87
per cent. I n the first half of the eighteenth cen!ury the English sent silver worth 270
THB
FROM
foR-r
GEQRGE
E A S T ~ ~ M P A P ( ! JRECORDS .4T
. .
ST
B ~ X B TorB DIAMORDS,
B
P B ~ O U Bmoms,
&A.
By Ibdall FQwL~,
oonsignBdto Jndah Supino and Son or order :-
$4
m.,
Qae
of diamnndn, raloe nine hundred and fifhy
-three
(hirby thmo [&I fanams, and oeventy
six C d h , or...
1n 1.11 r d o n ~
tor*;box of
bet& import;,>
G ~ I
ordm :-
m
i
oat-
- - - - -
--
8.
a. P-
371 10 6
988 80 76
841'17 7
a,i96 7.4a
1 6
801 2 20
248 18 0
6-40 1 1 80
8(n
-.-
P.S. In rvgard y' : bofore my Invdicos may reach yo': hands if the Sloops
~bould meet w'" : a quick passage, I
thoqght convenient to give yon ye : num*re of the Cloth as *ell cu, tho Sorte
hadtin on Phch of tl~emViz' : on Sloop
~ o y a l James
l
90 Bales.
, L. C. B. No: 6 Bales 40 Long cloth blue.
S. A. 0.No: 3 Bales 10 : Salamporcs ordinaiy.
B. N. T. No: 28 Bales :{
29 Bdee 5 Betkloea.
23 Bales 7
L. C. 0.No : 2 Bales 10 Long cloth ordinary.
P. E. R. 0.No: 1 Bales 8 Percullass ordinary.
2 Balee 7 :
ditto :
On Sloop William 122 Balee.
L. C. B. No 6 Bales 52 Long cloth blue.
L. C. 0.N" 2 Bales 50 Long Cloth ordnj :
N" 1 Bales 10
ditto.
B. E. T. No 26 Bales 10 Betteeloes.
4
,
R: J:
@F
SP9Cll"lEN oHDI5R
c & A T H EXRRTfU
F R O r ) I N D i k ' a ] A N E A S T l f l D / ~ce&phl\ry
NEQC HRJT
I I. From the E.I.<'. rcord*.
hu. o.
lakhs and other goods worth only 90 lakhs to India. However, with the advent of the
industrial revolution in the I a t ~ part
r
of the eighteenth century the trend started
reversing. Between 1760 and 1809silver worth 140 lakhs was exported while the
value of other goods rose to 485 lakhs.
Under the mercantilist belief the export of bullion out of a country was considered
bad for the country's economy hnd prosperity. The European companies were facing
severe criticism for doing this a d were under great pressure to find other ways of
paying for their trade in Eastern gods. A partial solution to the problem was found
by capturing the intra-Asian trade. The Europeans made good profit by bringing
Spice lshnds cloves and Japanese cupper to lndia and China, lndian cotton textiles
to South East Asia and Persian carpets to lndia thereby paying for some of their
imports from India. However. only in the later part of eighteenth century when the
English after receiving Bengal revenwr and by exporting of opium to China that a
final solution to the problem of the dcfiiit trade was found.
I n the sixtetnth and the sevsnteenth centuries the bulk of the profit^ of European
companies came from the eok of c~rn~odities
brought from Asia to the markets of
Europe. Africa. the A ricen continents and to the Middle Past. A triangular trade
had developed betwee Europe, the Americas with their plantations based on slavery
t
against this
and the West Coast o Africa. Trade with the E a ~prscetded
background.
We have seen that nght from thq start spices were very high on the lh of
commodities demanded by the Europeans. Among spi- it w~,pepperaldm which
dominated the trade in the sixteenth dnd seventeenth ccntutks. HoWFdr, towards,
the end of the seventeenth ceiury the commodity structure of trade started
changing. Cotton textiles, silk and saltpetre steadily rose in importanca in place of
spices. lndian textiks were regularly dernahdcd by the English and the Dutch
corhpanks from the second decade of the 17th century.
We have already noted the importance of lndian textiles in the trdde with other parts
of Asia whcrc it was demrnded as a barter commodity. Indian teitilcs are fanlous
for their range. variety and quality. Gujarat. Coromandel and &gal produced a
large variety of plain. dyed. striped, chintz and embtoidered clotti, Indian silks and '
muslin both fine and coarse found markets in Europe as well as in Africa and the
West Indies. The English Company's demand stood at 12,000 pieces of textiks from
Suriit in 1614. In 1664. it imported a total of over 750.000 picas and their value
accounted for 73 pe.r cent of the entire trade of the company. By the last decade of
thc ccntury the share of textiles jumped to 83 per cent of the total value. By that
time fine Rengal muslims nd Coromandel Chintt were in great demand among the
upper cla\\c\ in. I uropc. 'I he increase o f imports alarmed indigenous English
nirlnulacturcrs who put political prcssurc on the government to prohibit import of
lndiad tcxtilcs. IJroicctiooist rcgulationa were therefore. passed in 1700. 1721 and
furthclr in 1735. Apart from this raw silk also established itself in the market in the
second half of the rcvcntcenth century.
Another commodity which was increasingly demandcd hv FhC Frenrh and the
Ehgliqh was d t p e t r e . It was used as a necessary ingrediknt in the manufacture of
gunpowder. tn additioh to being a strategic raw material saltpetre being a bulky and
Navy tcommodity it could be used to stabilise the stiips by acting as ballast material.
Rtnalernerged as a major centre of saltpetre tt'ade. Anbther article of import was
indigotwhich was rcquircd as a dyestuff as it was cheap 'and easier to use compared
to woQd which was traditionally used far blue colouring in E u ~ o p e .
.:
In 1744. Homhay had roughly 70,000 people and 6y the m ddlc of the century
Calcutta hid i~hout?(Ml.OOO and Madras 300.000 people. he Mughal empire after
the dcilth ol Aur:~llg/c.h war t'ollowcul by a decentralisatio of pdwcr with the
cnicrgdnck of' a Ii~rgcnunibcr of smaller states. The English and thc IZrcnch
cooipahich wcrc secing a political and tertitorial future in India. 'l'hc French and the
English had hecomc poliiic;~~
rivals in Europe and in North A'merican colonies. India
was i~ prixcd p o t c ~ l t ~ci ~
o l o ~ ~The
y . sta'ge was therefore cleared for the Anglo-French
rivalry wlrich hcgan in illc 1740s'and ended in a n eventual victory of' the English and
then began tllc conquest ol India beginning with Bengal from the battle of Plassey in
1757.. Ip thc following s c t i o n we will see how the change in England's isternal
economy brought changes in its trade relations with the les developed countries and
in the naturc of Furopttan imperialism.
industrial
36
..
>
..
,,
,.
. .
............
.........................................................................................
I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2) What were the n ~ d j o rgoods that -ere exported f r o m India to other courltries'?
3)
l?iscuss Ihe chnrigca' ill the ~ratlcrriol trade :-ti' the Eusopc;rrr curnpanics witti lrldia
d8uringthe 17 and lSth Centuries. %rite )our ansivcr. ill 100 ~ 1 ~ r . d ~ .
nt
and ind~istrialcapitiiliqt
4) Whnt is the basic difference between ~ ~ l e r c h n capitalist
it1
7.13 LET US S U M UP
In this lJnit we have seen that the growth in trade and commerce in Europe led to
the search for new markets and material resources by the various colonial powers.
Asia. Africa and America with potentiality of good markets and lot of untapped
resources were the ideal grounds for the colonial powers to make their fortune.
Different trading companies were formed in Europe to carry out the external trade.
However very soon because of clash of interests many sided struggles started among
European colonial powers, the Portuguese, !he Dutch, the French and the English.
established its monopoly over Indian trade. The nature and pattern of England's
external trade was linked with the change from mercantile to industrial capitalism in
England.
7.14
KEY WORDS
Balance of Tnde : The difference in export and import in the overseas trade.
Firman
7.15
J.M. Roberts
8.0 OBJECTIVES
The history of British domination in India started with the subjugation of Bengal to
the British imperialist system. After reading this Unit you will be able to :
understand the baclcground of the British conquest of Bengal,
.learn about the transformation of power from the Bengal Nawabs to the British
authority, and
explain the factors that led to this transformation of power and its significance.
8.1 INTRODUCTION
This Unit introduces you to the gradual transfer of power from the Nawabs to the
British in Bengal during the period 1757 to 1765. You have got some idea about the
subjugation of Bengal to the British imperial system in Unit 2 of Block 1. In this
Unit an attempt has been made to show that it was mainly the commercial rivalry
between the British and the Bengal Nawabs which largely decided the course of
events in the 1750s. The personal failure of any Yawab was not an important
decisive factor for this development, as some historians have tried to establish.
However, the degeneration in the administration that started in the 18th century had
PO doubt contributed to the final collapse of the independent Bengal polity. Here we
p;tve first discussed the background of the British conquest of Bengal and the
political developments from 1757 to 1765. Then we focus on the explanation for this
transformation and the significance of the battle of Plassey and Buxar which were
Landmarks in the process of British imperialist expansion in India.
B.2
Vou have read in Block 2 that the changes in European economy i,e. from feudalism
Fo capitalism and then from mercantile capitalism.to industrial capitalism led to
British Conquet
dnd Comolidatkn
"The rich exuberance of the country ...has given rise to a proverb in common use
among the Portuguese, English and Dutch that the kingdom of Bengal has a
hundred gates open for entrance, but not one for departure".
In the 18th century exports from Bengal to Europe consisted of raw products, such
as, saltpetre, rice, indigo, pepper, sugar, etc. and silk, cotton textiles, handicrafts etc.
Bengal goods comprised nearly 60 per cent of British imports from Asia in the early
18th century. Commercial potentiality of Bengal was naturally the chief cause of the
interest of the English in this province.
Regular contact of the English with Bengal started in the 1630s. First English
bompany in the east was set up at Balasore in Orissa in 1633, then at Hugli,
Psimbazar, Patna and Dacca. By 1690s the acqdsition of the Zamindari rights of
the three villages of Sutnati, Calcutta and Govindpur and the foundation of
b l c u t t a by the Company, completed this process of English commercial settlement
in Bengal. The annual investment of the Company in Bengal turned to 150,000 in
1680.
ince the 17th century the English East India Company was allowed to trade freely
n k n g a l , in return the Company had to pay annually Rs.3,000 (350) to the
kughal emperor. When the Company paid the Mughar.%emperorannually (350) fo
free trade in Bengal that time Company's exports from Bengal were worth more
than E 50,000 a year.
The provincial governors were not in favour of such a privilege for the Company
because this meant a heavy loss to their exchequer. So there was always pressure
from the provincial administration to compel the English Company to pay more for
, jts trade in the province. The English on their p;-t tried to establish its complete
costrol over the trade through various means. Murshid Kuli Khan, who established
his independent authority over Bengal, was not in favour of the special privileges
enjoyed by the Company*becaustof the loss that resulted to the treasury. S 6 the
tussle between theEnglish commercial interest and the local government in Bengal
was already marked before the mid 18th century.
I
While the rising commercial interest of the English was becoming a serious threat
for the Bengal polity, the provincial administration in Bengal itself had\certain
weaknesses. You have read in Unit 2 of Block I how an independent political .
authority emerged in Bengal, following the disintegration of the hugha1 empire.
All these different groups had different interests and expectations from the Nawab.
The stability of Nawab's regime depended on maintaining proper balance among
these various interest groups. The common people had n a place in this power
equation between the ruler and the interest groups. They were the victims of the
swing demands of the Zamindars but there was no protection from the
~dministration.There was no initiative on the part of the rulers to involve the
jpeople in the anti-im~erialiststruggle.
.18.3
The history of Bengal from 1757 to 1765 is the history of gradual transfer of power
frbm the Nawabs to the ~ritis'h.Durine this short mriod of eieht vears three
Nawabs, Siraj-ud-daula, Mar Jafar and Mir Kasim ruled over Bengal. But they
failed to uphold the sovereignty of the Nawab and ultimately the rein qf control
passed into the hands of the Britah. We will now discuss the develobents in
pengal from 1757 to 1765 and see how the British ultimately got control over
Bengal.
Siraj-uddaula was rurhappy with the Company for these reasons. The Company on
its part becarrie wor,ried about Siraj because the Company officials suspected that
Siraj would cut down the privilege of the C:ompany in alliance with the French in
Bengal. Siraj-uddaula's attack on the English fort at Calcutta precipitated an open
The arrival of a strong English force under the command of Robert Clive a t
Calcutta from Madras strengthened the British position in Bengal. The secret
alliance of the Company with the conspirators of the Nawab's camp further
strengthened the position of the British. So English victory in the battle field of
Plassey, (June, 1757) was decided before the battlq was fought. It was not the
superiority oi the military power but the conspiracy of the Nawab's officials that
helped the English in winning the battle. It is very difficult to ascertain why Shiraj
failed to take appropriate action. He could not save himself ultimately and was
murdered by the order of hllir Jafar's son Miran.
Brithh Conquat
mnd Consolidatkm
demands of the Company and mismanagement of resources. All these made Mir
Jafar more dependent on the English Company. But the Company was unhappy
with the Nawab for some reasons.
W
The English Company was under the impression that Mir Jafar, in collaboratior
with the Dutch company was trying to curb the growing influence of the Englisk
in Bengal.
4 Mir Jafar also failed to respond to the ever increasing demands of the English.
Meanwhile the death of Miran, son of Mir Jafar, again created a conflict over the
question of succession. The fight was between Miran's son and Mir Kasim, the son
in-law of Mir Jafar. Vansittart who came as Governor of Calcutta took the side of
Mir Kasim. Mir Kasim in a secret agreement with Vansittart agreed to pay the
necessary funds to the Company if they support his claim to the Nawabship of
%ngai. Mir Jafar had already lost the confidence of the English. The rebellion of
Mir Jafar's army for their due salary made it easier for the British to force Mir
Jafar to step down.
The fuat few months of Mir Kasim's reign went very well. But grad,ually the
lrtlationship with the British became embittered. Reasons for this were:
r Ram Narayan, the Deputy governor of Bihar, was not responding to the repeat{
requests by Nawab to submit his accounts. But Ram Narayan was supported by
the English officials of Patna who never concealed their anti-nawab feelings.
The misuse of the Company's Dustak or trade permit by Company bflicials for
their vrtvate trade generated tension between the British and the Nawab.
I
I
The Company re~antawwe not paying any duty on their goods. Whenap local
merchants had to pay duty. While the Nawab lost tax m u e because of the
nonpayment of duty by the Company officials the local merchants faced u m q u q
comktition with the Company merchants. Moreover, the Campany officiiols were
completely ignoring the offidah of the Nawab. They were forciqg the local people to
sell their goods at low prices. Mir Kasim complained against these practices to
Oovernor Vansittart, but this had no effect.
i
As it happened in the c&c of M u Jafar, in the case of Mu Kaeim also when the
British found that M u Kasim fiad failed to fulfii their expectation they started
searching for a suitable replacement of Mir Kasim. But Mu Kasim was not ready to
surrender so easily, unlike bi8 predecessor. He tried to put up a unitad resistance
against the British with the help OFthe Mughal Emperor Shah Alam and Shuja-udd a u b of Awadh.
However, Mir Kasim ultimately failed to protect his throne and the battle of Buxar
(1764) completed the victory and the domination of the British in eastern India.
/ .
1
Mir Jafar was brought back to the throne of Bengal. He agreed to hand over three
districts-Midnapore, Burdwan and Chittagong to the English for the maintenance .
iof their army and to permit duty free trade in Bngal (except a duty of 2% on a t ) .
but Mir Jafar was in bad health and he died shortly afterethis. His minor son
fiajim-ud-daula was appointed Nawab. The real administration was carried on by a
haib-~ubadar,.who would be appointed or dismissed by the English.
In the summer of 1765 Clive came back as the Governor of Bengal. Clive now
engaged himself in completing his unfinished task, i.e. to make the British the
Bupreme political authority in Bengal. He approached the Mughal emperor Shah
Alam who was practically a ptisoner of Shuja-uddaula, the Nawab of Awadh, since
1761 for an agreement. The emperor responded positively to Clive's proposal. An
agreement was signed between Shah Alam and Clive on August 1765. By this
agreement Shah Alam was given Allahabad and the adjoining territories, while the
emperor granted by ajirmmr, the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orisea to the East
India Company. The right of Diwani gave the British complete control over the
Bengal revenues or financial administration.
The responsibility for defence, law and order and the administration of justice
remained in the hands of the Nawiibs. But the Nawabs had virtually lost their
plilitary power after the battle of Buxar. So after the grant of Diwani the Nawabs
were in reality red xed to a cipher.
lie above discussion shows how the political events from 1757 to 65 gradually led
o the transfer of power from the Bengal Nawabs to the British East India
mpany. In the following section we will try to understand the factors that led to
this cha
2) Why did the relationship become strained between the British and the Rengal
Nawabs? Write your answer in 100 words.
-.
..
...;
'i
itself cannot account for the transformation of Bengal's power structure. The issues
involved in the conflict between the British and the Nawabs were some thing more
significant.
'
.h is argued by some historians that private interests of the East lndia Company
officials provokecl the conflicts with the Nawabs. Expectations of more trade
privileges and rewards and attempt to make their own fortunes made the individual
Englishmen defy the authority of the Nawabs. The misuse of trading privilege by the
Company officials for their private trade became the bone of contention between the
JJawabs and the East lndia Company. The firman or the imperial grant given by the
Mughal emperor Farukshiyar in 1717 gave duty free concession only to the
Company's imports and exports and not to the Company servants' private trade. The
misuse of this trade privilege by the Company officials for private trade meant a
heavy loss to the Nawabs treasury. Both Siraj-uddaula and Mir Kasim complained
to tl;e Company against this misuse of trade privilege, but there was no change in the
situation.
.If the private interest of the individual Englishmen was responsible for the conflict
with the Nawabs, the Company was also equally responsible for it. The Company
was pressurising the Nawabs for greater trading privileges. The British wanted to
establish their monopoly control over Bengal trade by driving out the French and
the Dutch companies from Bengal. The English Company began to increase its
military strength and fortified Calcutta against the wish of the Nawab. This was a
direct challenge to the authority of the Nawab. After Plassey, company's pressure
for larger subsidies increased and it demanded some Zamindaris from the Nawab to
meet the expenses of the Company's troops. More alarming was the Company's
involvement in the court polities of Nawab and interference in Nawab's choice of
,high officials. Thus, the growing authority of the Company and its dabbling in local
politids seriously challenged the independent position of the Nawabs.
It is not difficult to see that the Company and its officials played a significant role
in shaping the events in Bengal betwecn 175745. However, no less significant was
the role of some of the local merchants, officials and Zamindars in the establishment
of the British political supremacy in Bengal. The house of the Jagat Seths, the
largest banking house in Bengal, and the wealthy merchants like Umichand were not
happy with the accession of Siraj-ud-daula. The Seths were the custodian of the
Nawab's treasury and they had a significant control over Nawab's administration.
Besides the Seths and other merchants, there was landed and military aristocracy
who were a dominant group in the Nawab's court. This group became apprehensive
of losing their special privileges which they were enjoying from the earlier Nawabs.
Siraj-ud-daula's reorganisation of civilian and military administration by replacing
old office holders gave ground for their apprehension. The Nawab's patronage t o a
new elite group represented by Mohanlal, Mir Madan and Khawaja Abdul Hadi
Khah alienated the old officials from the Nawab. 'This alienation and the
expectation df a better bargain by replacing ~iraj-uddaulawith their own man
brought the ruling clique into a conspiracy against Siraj-ud-daula.
The British who were in search of a n ally for their own ends, found allies in this
group. The British wanted to gain more trade privileges and to extract more '
resources from Bengal, while their Indian collaborators had the desire to establish
their own political power in Bengal. Their common objective was to replace the
present Nawab by a man of their common choice. Hence the consipiracy made
the task easier for the British to establish their control over the Bengal Nawab.
.
T o sum up. the economic interests of the Company and its officials and the growth .
of factions in the court a t M urshidabad and the conflict of intereslts among different
groups in the court were some of the factors which brought about the political
'.'
.
.
transformation of Bengal between 1757 to 1765.
"
'other at Buxar (1764). Apart from the overall significance of the British victory the
two battles liad certain specific significance of their own.
The success of the British in the battle of Plassey had a significant impact in the
history of Bengal.
The victory of the British, whether by treachery or any means, undermined the
position of the Nawab in Bengal.
Apparently there was not much change in the government and the Nawab still
remained the supreme authority. But in practice the Nawab became dependent on
the Company's authority and the Company began to interfere in the appointment
of Nawab's officials.
lnternal rivalry within the Nawab's administration' was exposed and the
conspiracy of the rivals with the British ultimately weakened the strength d the
administration.
@
Besides the financial gain, the English East India Company was also successful in
establishing their monopoly over Bengal trade by marginalising the French'and
the Dutch companies.
The battle of Buxar gave them the complete political control over Bengal. Actually,
the process of transition started with the battle of Plassey and culminated in the
battle of Buxar.
The battle of Buxar sealed the fate of the Bengal Nawabs and the British emerged as
the ruling power in Bengal.
Mir Kasim was successful in forming a confederacy with the Emperor Shah Alam 11
and Nawab Shuja-uddaula of Awadh against the British. This confederacy failed
before the British force. The victory of the British in this battle proved the
superiority of the British force and strengthened their confidence. This was a victory
not against Mir Kasim alone but against the Mughal Emperor and the Nawab of
Awadh also. The silccess of the British in this battle gave a clear indication that the
establishment of the British rule in other parts of India was not very far off.
I
...............................................................................................................................
2) Write in 60 words about the significance of the battle of Buxar,
EXERCISES
Check Your Prbgress 1
1) Your answer should focus on the dependability of Nawabs on various factiqns
and its limitations, lack of cohesion in the administration etc. See Sec. 8.2.
2) ' Your answer should iqclude the clash of interest between the Nawabs and the
' B 'tish, the growing interference of the British in the internal affairs of Bengal
p lity, etc. See Sec. 8.3.
d:
9.2
9.3
~bjebives'
lntroduction
The English and the French in IndiaTheir strengths and Weaknesses
The First Carnatic War (1 740-48)
9.3.1 The role of the Nawab of Carnatic
9.3.2 Defiance of Dupleix by the French Admiral
9.3.3 Superiority of French in First Carnatic War
.9.4
9.5
'
9.6
9.7
. 9.8
9.9
-9.0
9.5.1
9.5.2
9.5.3
9.5.4
OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit, you will learn the following points:
d the two major foreign trading companies that existed in South lndia in the 18th
century i.e. the Engllsh and the .French; their relative strengths, and weaknesses,
.
the extent to whicli Indian powers were able to withstand foreign interference in
their affairs as well as aggression against them,
the nature of the conflict between the English and French companies as it
unfolded from 1740 onward, and
' @ the economic, political and military factors which were to determine tlie outcome
of this conflict.
-.
9.1 INTRODUCTION
n i s Block focuses q the process ol' British consolidation. through conquests and
'dliminalion of rivals In various parts of the sub-continent. In this [!nit you would be
reading about Soutn India. The xpansion of the British in South lndia was
basically the outcome of the hosri ides between the English and thc French F ~ s t
indla Companies. South India was the main arena for French activities. Not only
. was Pondichcrry their capital, but in the ne~gbbzluringprincely states like
Myderabad and Mysore, they wielded great influente. In order to make rnaxiinum
profits it was necessary for a trading company to eliminate all co~npetirionand
.establish its monopoly. Hence it had become very essential for the British to
eliminate the hold of the French from this region. By 1761 @srask had been
achieved and the following narrative will outline the stages of this process.
1
I
9.2
/ Both the French and the English East India Companies were the products of the rise
I
I
,The French EIC was formed in 1664 whereas the EnglishCompany had been formed
in 1600 and had begun trade in cloth and calicoes with lndia in 1613 by an Imperial
firmarl receivd from Emperor Jahangir. However, they had obtained the right to
qrade only on the Western coast---at Surat, Ahmedabad, Cambay and Goa. The
French Company also established their first factory at Surat in 1668. But this did
j not pose a senous threat to the English Company* slnce they failed to "buy cheap &
sell dear" and all they succeeded in doing was tcr reduce the price of European goods
and increase that of indian goods.
The factory at Surat was succeeded by one at Masulipatam in 1669. Then in 1674
Fra'ncois Martin founded Pondicherry, which was to become the future capital of
the French in India. It was a rival to Madras. It grew in size and strength and
\
became as impressive as the English settlement at Madras-but it could not match
the latter in the extent and varlety of its commerce. Between 1690 and 1692 a
factory was set up a1 Cllandernagore in the East. It proved no challenge to the
Bgiish settlement in Calcutta. -
'1
I
4
1
Fortunes of thc French East lndia Company declined in the beginn~ngof the 18Lh
century and the factories at Surat, Bantam and Masulipatam had to be abandoned.
However, that was only a temporary setback and by the 1 7 2 0 ~the
~ French Comp-v
had staged a co~nebackwith the revival of interest on'the part of the French
mercantile bourgeoisie in thecompany: The Company was reconstituteii, it adopted a
new name and was now known as 'Perpetual Company of the Indies'. French naval
power was greatly improved -a base being established at Mauriti . It was also
reported t h a ~10 to 12 ships were being built in England for the rench Company. In
1725 the French est?blished thqmselves at Mahe on the Malabar Coast and in 1739
at Karaikal on'the East Cuast.
9.3-- TffE-T
The scene was thus set for a confrontation between the two forces. The opportunity
was provided by the outbreak of the war of Austrian Succession in Europe in which
the English and the French were in opposite camps. There was the possibility of an
outbreak of hostilities between the British and the French in lndia but it was the
French who hesitated. Perhaps conscious of their relatively weaker position in India,
they tried hard to prevent an extension of hostilities to India. The English did not
share this sentiment. however, and in a deliberately provocative manner, seized some
".
French ships off the so"th-eastern coast of India. The French, having no fleet in
India, had to wait until the arrival of the fleet from Mauritius. Immediately on its
arrival, the French launched an attack on the English by both land and sea, within a
week Madras had surrendered to the French and the first Carnatic war had begun.
...............................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................
Read the following \tatenlent\ and rnark right ( J )or wrong (X).
The English EIC was founded in 1664.
i)
ii) The first French factory was established a t Surat.
iii) Fortunes of the French Company declined in the first decade of the 18th
century.
iv) The English East India Company had a monopoly over the tobacco trade.
The French were more successful than the British in buying cheap and
v)
selling dear.
vi) The British launched the first offensive in the first Carnatic War.
vii) Fort St. David was a minor French possession in the south of
Pondicherry.
3) Desc ibe in five lines {he significance of the Nawah of ~ a r n a t i c ' ;partrcipation in
the first Carnatic War.
In 1740, i.e. before the first Carnatic War, the Marathas had invaded the Carnatic
and killed the Nawab---llost Ali. They also took his son-in-law Chanda Sahib a s
prisoner to Satara. The prevailing conditions of stability prompted tbe Nizam to
come to the Carnatic in 1743 and to appoint Anwar-ud-din Khan as tile Nawab of
Carnatic. But this appointment only worsened the situation especially after 1748
when C'handa Sahib was set free by the rnarathas after seven years of captivity. In
the same year j.e. in 1748 Asaf-Jan-Nizam ul Mulk, the Hyderabad Nawab, passed
~ his grandson, Muzaffar Jang
away. H e was sueeededoby his son, Nasir J A But
Iiid clqim to.rhi throne on the ground that the Mughal Emperot had appointed him
a;-the Gover.'no.r of "fhe Carmitic: Muiaffar Jang. found an allay in Chanda Sahib to
fight tagether tci gaill their respective seats in Hyderabad and the Carnatic.
"
"
9 , t 2 Dupleix's.Inf ervention
'
'l'he" E.nglish fett.ihat tt& itiitiiP'tive,&as Slipping.out of their hands. ' ~ e r i c ethey now
es.tahliskd'.friesrd~hi.~"kitai
Nasir ~ a k g the
, Nizarn of Hyderabad, and persuaded him
. . to8'cornearid ,crush &is enemies in the Carnatic hnd send Some help to . ~ u h a m m a d
s
his enemies only resulted in
Ali in i'richin.op01.~. But Nitsir ~ i ~ g ' s . a t t t ? mto~ tcru!h
l ~ j $ own
.
death i n - 1,750..Muzaffit3- Jang was -reteased from prison and proclaimed
S u h d a r of the Dec~an.
As a token d hi; kra~itudethe new subadar amply rewarded the French. Dupleix
was appointed Governor of all the Mughal Domidons south of the river Krishna.
lerritcwb near Porutichery were ceded to the Fmnch as also some areas on the
( . Y . I I L ~ coast, including the famous market-town ~f Masulrpatnln. In return, at
Muratfar Jany's request. Dupleix phced at his disposal the wrvices of his best
oflicer Bussy, w ~ t ha French army. He knew that this was the best way of: ensuring
Eivnch interests in the Hyderabad court and thereby its influence in the whole of rhe
Decciln.
I t seemed a s if t h e British position in Madras would be lost irrevocably. However,
the appointment of Saunders, a more dynamic Madras Governor in September
1750, changed the s~tuatioli.He decided to go to the assistance of Muhammad Ali in
1751. In ahe meantline the k I V I I L .having
~.
realised that their seige of Trichy was not
pr;o\lng succeslrtul, cliangcd ~ I I V I I I ' I C ~ I Cand
~
were trying to woo Muhammad AIi.
Tlae tatter wavered, was cvcn nillrng to give up his claims to the Nawabship of the
Cwrnatic, provided the Frcnch pe,ersu.aded the Nizarn of Hyderabad to obtain a new
appointment for him in any other part of the Deccan. But the British proved ts be
bePter masters 1n the art o l the diplomacy and persuaded Muhammad All not to
give up his claim, but Instead to Hide hi4 time. But he was further advised that the
preteklec of negotiet~unswith the French be kept up, so hat ~ilclatter may be footed
effectively. When the English had prepared a full-scalc o f t c n \ ~ \ ~tt~cy
. , sent a
deeachrnerrt to 'rrichy in May 1751. The idea Was to help Mull,~lir~t~;id
Ali against
the French. Cater in the same year, the rulers of Mysore, i anlot alrd the Maratha
chief, Morari Rao, also gave help to Muhammad Ali and the English. In the meantime
Clive prapc+sed an exped~tisna g ~ i n s tkrcot as the best means ot preventing the fall
of rrichinopoly. Chanda Sakib would have to divert an effective part of his army
fot the protact~onof' the capitaL Arcot was successfully occupied by Clive with the
help of a small Britis!~torcr-consisting of 200 European and 300 Indian soldiers.
The h'awab had to send relieving forces from Trichy and i t was only after battling
for 53 days .that he managed to win back Arcot. The seizure of Arcot demorahsed
t h French so greatly that the French general Jacquec-fcaneois Law, in charge of
tklr siege of Trichy, abandoned h ~ spost and fled to Srirangam. The British pursued
1111a
~ d Law finally surrendered on 9 June 1752. Shortly thereafter a dispirited
C'handa.Sahb also surrendered. to the English. He was &headed an the oiders of
t lie rar~joregenerals.
The Engliah prestige was greatly enhanced bythis incident and the French were tn r
sorry plight. But they were not willing to,give up that easily and Dupleix was
devising a fresh strategy. He won over Morari Rao, the-Maratha chief and the ruler
'
of Mysore and secured the neutrality of the Raja s f Tacjore, the seige of
Trichmupoly was renewed in December I752 and continued far more than one year.'
both sides were successful alternatively.
When the English reabwd that Dupleix was to be withdrawn and that they had
scdrcd a point, they decided to press their advantee furtheh While! the npg~tiBtir#~
were proceeding, they fanned the growing senf~rnent6in F'ranceagaiast Rupleix.aad'
.
e
maintained that Dupkix's "ambitioq and artifie" were sure to s h b a a ~ a*y
negot~atious.They insisted t h a t he be replaced by a more pliable ~egotiartw.T b s . ,
the British too had a hand in the dawnfall'of DupIelx and tbis was of decisiveimportance tb them in their engagements with the Frenoh.
1
i
The. work of ~ u p l e i xwas pra@ical.ly undone. The only place w k e his po1iq
continued. fo have some hipact was at Hyderabad, where Ru&y still &aituc+ned his,
influence. de3pitc the opposition of the nubility, w h i ~ hwas more. hvsuiaWy
dispodd-towards t.he English. Bussyeven ir@uced tht ~izmttG,~rdnt;hirfl.fk"e~
. . . :
.
Northern Ssrkars consisting ,of t k districts of his*biusrafhn-t,
Ellore. '
. Rajahmundry and Chicaeob. These districts with a n a h n u a k r e N ~ h u ~more-thqn,
.d
30 lakhs of .rupees, were to help meel the expenses of.~ i n t a i r i i i r gthe 'Fiencharmy.
in.HyQerabaJ: For the .time being, at le*t, Bussy%,pssiijon ih Hyde$&ad lkrsls . .
. secure. He had succeeded in maintaining. ~ k r t c hmilitary.p&senck ig Hydehbad .l"n
spite of the beat efforts of the nobility to cixpel the .Fs.encb troops'from the Niza@s
territory. (They had even succeeded in doing% ,&&fly in 17561.
i' .,
I
1
)
1
I
'
There is no denymg the fact that the prestige 6f.the 6 m h in kndia Had Been
'gre%tlFenhanced by the daagerou, exploits .of Dupkix in the s&qnd. Qhl;;tt$. Wa?.
Ifid indeed ironik that the F ~ n c hGover-nment..j.nthe idteresti of securing "the:
,:
gains of commerce'' which collhl oql$ accrlse in.pracetimeydr& to- reverse all,
..
~ u ~ l e lpositions
x~,
and recall himi in cti;g:.rac~.
' l 3 u p l s i x , ' b t6 reckbn witht$e : ,
in~o-tence
of the .Fn?tctl gc'ncrals.The indwisian, 4 c k ~fmergye&d ' .
* hopitess
.
cowardice d Caw and his c.olk"dg!r~*~
WAS in, s.harg contrast torthb't;r.ilil@~1
s,ni,wi . .
a,qd hold dash of Clive.
.
.
.,
'
. .
a)
b)
C)
d)
Hyderabad
Madras
Carnatic
Trichinopoly
H o w did the British gain an upper hand over the French in the second Carnatic
War? Answer in 100 sords.
British Conquest
and Consolidation
.5
Clive's masterly abilities in building the English fortunes in India had begun
revealing themselves. The heyday was the 1750s and the arena Bengal. It was not a
mere coincidence then that at the outbreak of the Seven Years' War between the
English and the French in Europe in 1756 the English captured Chandernagore in
India. Siraj-uddaula the Nawab of Bengal was enraged at this behaviour of the
Company especially since he had warned the English that he would not tolerate such
behaviour on the part of either of the European powers. When Chandernagore was
beseiged, the Nawab, gallantly enough, gave shelter to the French captives in his
court and refused to drive them away even when the English offered military help in
exchange against an impending attack on Bengal by the Mughal heir-apparent. This
refusal of the Nawab to hand over the French became one of the reasons for war
between him and the British.
In south India, however, neither the French nor the British were in a position to
indulge in war immediately. Both were handicapped by lack of resources. The major
part of the Madras military and naval forces of the British had been sent to recover
Calcutta, which had been seized by the Nawab of Bengal. The French Government
had plans to strike a severe blow against the English this time and had made
preparations. An impressive French army under Count de Lally had set sail for
lndia but it encountered several difficulties on the way. Hence the reinforcements for
the French did not reach India until the second quarter of 1758, just in time to
protect the French interests in south India as the English fleet had returned from
Bengal, victorious and ready to take on the French. They brought enough
reinforcements of men and money.
Lally thought he would solve the financial problems of the French company by
forcing the Raja of Tanjore to pay a n outstanding amount of 70 lakhs of rupees
owing to the Company since the time of Dupleix. Tanjore was beseiged on !8 July
1758 and though the Raja was hardly in a position to offer any resistance, the
Ftench could not press their advantage. Problems within the French army once
again surfaced-there was a shortage of ammunition; both Lally and his soldiers
distrusted each other'; the French troops were badly demoralised.
At this juncture Lally tried to retrieve the situation with a lastditch attempt a t
alliance with Nawab Haidar Ali of Mysore. The latter even sent a contingent to the
aid of the French. But the French and Haidar Ali's contingent were unable to decide
on a concerted plan of action and Haidar's contingent ultimately returned to Mysore
without fighting a single battle.
After more than six months of encrrclement, the French capital of Pondicherry
unconditionally surrendered on 16 January, 1761. The city was completely destroyed
by the victors and its fortifications reduced to mere rubble. A contemporary account
states that "in a few months not a roof was left standing in this once fair and
flourishing city". Sh,ortly thereafter Jinje and Mahe, the two French settlements on
the Malabar coast also surrendered to the English leaving the French without even a
toehold in India. More distressing was the fate of the French general Count de
tally. After being detained as a n English prisoner of war for two years, he was
anowed to return to Fmxe at the end of the Seven Years War, But far from
&ilmh C0-t
and ton@dJIbn
reqivhg ki,ndl> treatment; he was ivprimned in the Bastille for more than tGo
ykaH and ;rfte~wirrdbexecuted.
,
.
'
'
Thl" Price of Paris did restore the Fce'nch hctorks in 1-ndia to the French cowpan)
but; i h c French East lndig Cbmpariy form.aily ended its career in. 1769. Thereafter
tRe! Fwnch Cr~wm.rnaintainddthe French factories. in Ind!a for the benefit of p.rivate
traders. It was a feeble effbrt and the Erencii, iike their Portuguese and Dutch
cmnteqarts in inilia, confined tfiemsekes to "count& trade". The$ dependence on
t h i cngtish-ws ceveiled'by the fact that'both i n Eurcrpr and in India their business
. , ~ I ' ~ R s ~ c I $ ~Were
s
in cbHab&atioii either with thc E,nglish Company directly or with
.it%:afficials.orprivaie E.nglisli iraders.restding 111 lrld~a.'
T@whai do we ascribe tfie final E r e n ~ hfailure in.In&a? Was it a mistake dfi the
part of the French ~ o v e r d m e n to
t recall Dugleix?.Indeed. the Fre?cb reverses began
to occur aftcr'Wupleixas humiliating exit from India. 8 r was the French"~nfefib.rity
aD.sqa .the' main reason? She fac\'.that the F e n c h hgd.no permanent nahal presence
'iri-tndia was a d i ~ M i p gf&or vis-b-vis the British, who had a.f$r&daple naval
pfosence; what we5 more prob1ematjc"~as
that, on the occasions whcn the h n k h
n&y frpm Mauritius did. come to the assistance of their Indian counierparts, it
creetd fresh prolslqs Zor the French Company in India.
However, these were secondary factors. What redly turned the tide jn -Britain's
fbvdur was its recent access to the rich resources of h g a l . From this secure base
tbey could send a constant supply of men a d mmey to Mqdras and distract-the
Rttrfch by 1aunchingdiversPonar.y attacks against the French.a6 they did in the
Northern Sarkars.
1)
2) Trace the reasons for the Flrench failure in the third Carnatic War. Write in five
lines.
---
w) X
v) X
vl)
V'
vii) yi
c ' Lyour
~ Progress 3
I
I)
11) J
iii)
iv). Y
2) You should refer to the lhsonce of a ptvmanent naval base, and morc t ~ n d n c l d i
1U.6
,Objdves
Introduction
Stnrggle for Supremacy : Indian States and the Brit&h
M p r e Wars
Maratha wars
Indian States : Reasons for Failure'
Let Us Sum Up
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
OBJECTIVES
This Unit introduces you to the expalulion of the British rule in Mysore and the
Maratha state. After reading this Unit you will be able,to :
understand the nature of struggle for power in Mysore and Maratha state,
learn about the process of subjugation of Mysore and the Maratha state to the
British imperial system, and
identify the factors responsible for the failure of the Indian states against the
Britah.
16.1 INTRODUCTION
In Block 1 you have dabout the emergence of M p r e and the Maratha state
system following the disintegration of the Mughal empire in the course of the
ei8hteenth century. The same period also witnessed the gradual penetration of the
European colonial powers into the Indian sub-continent. This resulted in growing
struggle between two forces, the Indian regional states and the colonial power, in
'
late eighteenth and early nineteenth century India for possession of political
supremacy. In this Unit we will try to make a critical appraisal of the struggle
ktween the British and Mysore and the Maratha state.
The most common cause for conflict among the Indian powers was the urge for
territorial expansion. The traditional approach to explain this expansionist policy i t
tehns of personal desire of the rulers or their insatiable thirst for temtory or their
religious zeal seems an oversimplif~cationof the whole historical context. Territorial
aquisition was mainly a response to the need for further resources. When internally
a limit had already been reached to extract fresh revenue, the main way of tapping
new resources was the acquisition of f m h temtories. A prominant example : the
M a r a t h relied mostly on the Chaurh and the Sar&shmukhi, collected from their
spheres df influence. This need for territorial expansion for the enlargement of their
resources brought the different neighbouring states into conflict with each othcr.
:\n~lo-5luruIha lrnd
\I>*t~re\$ ar,
Besides this, in the case of Mysore we find that the peculiar situation of Mysore
uosed a great threat to the Marathas, the Nawab of Carnatic qnd the Nizam of
Hyderabad. The rise of Mysore was viewed with great alarm by the neighbouring
states. Each of these states was in the process of consolidation and expansion of its
territorial boundary. In this process the emergence of Mysore naturally caused
uneasiness to its neighbours. The Marathas and the Nizam formed an alliance
against Mysore and also co-operated with the British to curb the power of Mysore.
But the Nizam was equally apprehensive of the Maratha expansion in the South,
and therefore co-operated with the British against the Marathas. Each one ivas
trying to establish its supremacy over the other. Thus a major feature of the
contemporary political developments was that the Indian states were ermgagcd in
fighting with each other to pursue their aggressive expansionist policy. This mutual
dissension and enmity among t k 'country powers' ultimately helped the British to
intervene effectively in their internal polity.
The reasons for British initmention in Mysore and the Maratha states were primarily
commercial. Haidar and Tipu's control over the r i d trade of the Mabbar coast was
seen as a threat to the British trade in pepper and cardamom. Mysore was also a
threat to the British control over Madras, In case of Western India the sudden
glr)wth incompany's cotton trade after 1784 to China from Gujarat through
Bombay motivated the British authorities to plajr a more inrerventionisl role in the
region. The British auttio'rities want& to m o v e the intervention of the ~ a r a h a s
from the way of their lucrative trade. Moreover, the development in inla~tr?and
gunnery in both these states caused great aneasiness for the Campan\'> 'ttinr. So*
other development also accounted for a mqce interventionist role by tht. Hl.itish
'
authorities in these two states. Particularly the French alliance with thc Mysore
rulers was seen as a threat to the.British dominame in this region. The Britlah home
government Was in need of fmance for the growing expenditure for Napoleonic wart;
in Europe and the attitude of theCompany merchants, in favour of direct pohtical
intervention to protect their commercial interest, .'.. voured a moreaggressive
expansionist polity in this region. The argument (>,at forward by the British.
colod~listsin support of their military actions in India, was that "...most
contempowry Indian rulers q e tyrannical usurpers oE previous dynasties and
rights, and could therefoe W@ispensed with at will SO that (th~sancient, and highly
cultivated people) could be 're$lored to the full enjoyment of rh&r religious and civil
rights'." For example, in case of Mysore it was argwd t b ! the $askt objective of
British policy was to restore the Hindu. Wodeyar house which was overt hruwn by
.
Haidar Ali, The developbart df this kind of argument was bay out not'only of
obvious pofitic+ec6ru?mic f&ors But also was rooted in the shared p r e p t i o n of a
group of western t~~ket:p,,~~~~agfninistratorsnias who wanted to legitirnise their political
i ,
action. .
As was s e a above, the expnsiqnist poIicy of differ&: I n e n states and their drive
for poiithi >sup&macyled to conflict and canfusiw in Indian polity. This provided
a gqod graw&fcsr tk.$ridsH intetvention in @e Indian politiorf arena in order to ,
extend their ate;a'&dtr$l and to rnaimise the& p M t . &-the f ~ l l o w i ~ g s e c t i o n ' ~
will brieflp ~ i % u s ~ ~ ~ bety&
~ ' 4 " a the
~ s Btikish, Mysofe and the Maratha state to ,
show how thi: B&&. ek.@wttt@ th&;country powm' b$ &$ng onk a@m the other.
I
".
..
Haidar Afi and Tipu suitap fought f a r wars against the fit;& bafsre the frnhl
remained
of M F M ~ to the British duthrrrity. The %sic eaux of the%
Ihe same, V~Z,
\.he ~bject 'the' Bk'ih to. undermine the independent authority of
the Mysore rulers. The'Marathas, the Namb of Qrnatic and the Nizam of
Hykrabad from time to time aligned with the British to subdue h e Mysore ruler.
into an alliance with the British a@inst
The Niram and M a r a t b
.
. - H
. d a r .Ali. .skitfully
Mysore in 1766. But
wainst ~ l and
i the Marathas
, . 112. :.1.
of
35
khkb Conquest
m a cowomah
Thus tw tafmched an attack against the British and reached upto the gates of
Madras. ye forced t~e'hfadrascouncil to sign @ace on his terms in 1769. This was
a defeinsivk alliantk and both the powers a&d to help the other in case of an
attack by (B thifd dany.
'
Kpu, soh and successor of Baidar, continued ;he war against the British. However,
lack of resources, 'im~etfaintyof the M a ~ t h aattitude, ;he presence of French fleet
on
~or6mandclcoast and some other conside~arionschanged the attitude of the
?'
I
..
,
.TIm was not a permanent sotur~onto tpe qystion of political supremacy in the
D
29
i.
ax
and^-Munbo 4,
~S~WCW~II
1
I?
-=-
<
-+I
-,f <eVw:g%$s2:-
British.
Rriti\lt ( onquest
nntl ( ~~n%rblidntion
ii)
iii)
I
I
:-:TJ-J
--
..
, .
. .~ .
<
,.
. .
'
.,
.w
'
'
'
The peace thus established with. the British continued for she coming 20 years. This
gave the British needed time to conoentratf; .another fronts specially against Mysore.
The Margtha state was in a very bad shape during these yean. The Maratha chiefs
I
The Maratha confederacy was dissolved and the Peshwaship w h abolished. The
British took complete control of the Peshwa Baji Rao's.dominions and k became a
British retainer. Dominions of Bhonsle north of Narmada were ako-annexed by the
British while he was allowed to keep the rest as a subsidiary prim.'Holkar tilrewise
ceded some territory to the British and becamea subordinate chief. Pratap Singh, a
lineal descendant of Shivaji, was made ruler of a small principality, Soltara, which
was formed out of Peshwa's dominions.
Second important factor was the lack of co-ordination and growing f&ti&alism in
the administration. Administration based on personal favour and loyalty and along
the line of caste and other social divisions gave birth to different factions and
interest groups in administration who were oppostd to each other. This proved fatal
in a situation when there was possibility of attack from outside. In the case of the
Marathas, since 1780s there was significant change in the Maratha polity. The
Mrrrrrths rhiefc i n rlifferrnt rrmnnc like CinAim Rhnnslr GaiCwnrl
Unlkrrr vprr
British Conwest
and ons solid hi on
n$!!.pgP.k*gy&+lly
HllOQ w4 f& @S $he Myoore Ners tried to modernise the
aqmy g?,Eqrom.n model. The l~'h&iatks also developed ~ u r o p e a nstyle infantry
and artillery wings.
I
Wr have discussed in this Unit the process of conquest and consolidation of the
Bdtish rule in Myqore and the Maratha state. It was primarily the commercial
ihgerests of the British which brought them in this region. Then the existing rivalry
anforig,tl$ local powers and the volatile political situation in the region provided a
fayburabk ground fqr political intervention by the British. It took man! ~ I . , I I \ to get
caplplep control over the re%on and the British fought a number of W , I I \
\clhdue
.
weaknesses of the Indian states decided the fin1 c;utccrrne
t@ b.wl ~ k r s Internal
as
lalal for
of this,stfugBle.for power. The defeat of Mysore and the ~ a r ~ t h proved
the lnd$n powers and laid the foundation of British rule in India.
. .
..
.
Check Your ~rdg;&s 2 ' . ". ' .
1 ) Read the lollowing statements and mark right (t/) or H long ( X )
The treaty of Salbai confirmed the'~ritishpossession of Salsette.
i)
The
Peshwa did not accept the 'Subsidiary Alliance' system.
ii)
iii] The various Maratha chiefs were trying to establish their independent
authority.
ivj The lndian states failed mainly because of their internal weaknesses.
e
2) How do you explain the success of the British against the Indibn states? Give
-your answer in 100 words.
Objectives
Introduction
Deciine of the Mughal Empire and the Rise of the
Successor States in North India
Awadh : From Subsidiary Alliance to Annexation
The Benefits of Subsidiary Alliance t o the East India Company
Encroachments by the Company and Res.istance by the
Awadh Regime: 1765-1775
1 1.5.1 Weakening of Awadh's D e f e n ~ s :1775-1801
11.5.2 The Treaty of 1801
11.5.3 Decline and Fall of the Awadh Dynasty: 1801-1856
Let Us Sum Up
Answers to Check Your Progress exercises
11.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit you will get to know:
0
about the way North India, especially Awadh and Punjab came under the British
rule,
about the shifting policies of British in their strategy of conquest, and
about the circumstances which aided the British to spread their rule over
Northern India.
11.1
INTRODUCTION
11.2
AS you have already read in the earlier Units, the process of Mughal decline stapsd
in the beginning of the 18th cenrurv and the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739 sealed
the fate of Mughal rule.
i!
The Awadh dynasty and many of its highest officials were Shia Muslims who
were an insignificant part of the population and considered themselves as part
of the Mughal imperial service elite;
ii) . the castes of scribes Kayasthas and ~ha'ttris.who predomhated in the Awadh
administration. .
i
iii)
the Raiput and Brahmin landholders who were dohinants as 4041 zamindars
though. they ha& very limited place in the provincial administration.
It is not only the tengons between the central and local power, but also the
assertion of independence, particularly by the zamindars, which tended to weaken
the regime. About eighty percent of all the zamindars, both Hindus and Muslims,
asserted that they. had been established in their estates prior t o the arrival of Saadat
Khan, the founder of the Awadh dynaaty. Thus, the vast majority of the landholders
saw themselves as prior to, and largely independent'of, the provincial rulers of
Awadh.
In this situation, it was not surprising;hat %adat Khan, upon his appointment as
subedar af Awadh, aMed always in the name of the Mughal Emperor and began his
*
a
.
.
.-.f ..fC....,:*l.
. -...:*:.-..--GI.:"
-..--. :-..- - * .I... L--2 -4- - -:I:* ..--.
'
British Conqunt
and Consolidation
"
1.4
THE ~E~YEFITS
QP S U ~ S I D ~ A RALLIANCE
Y
~ d . T d &AST
& 1~4ibl;ik l j & p ~ ~ j l
Under the subsidiary alliance, the Nakab agreed to the permanent stationing of a
contingent of British force in his territory and paid Rs.210,000 per month per
brigadc. Ilv illso agreed to the posting at his COIJJ? of a Brithh Resident and gave
assuralltc 111.11 he would not employ any European in his service without the consent
of the 111111\11
The S ~ , I ~ I I I Residency proved very crucial in the yea; to &me. By the elitension
of extl-:~ct.~
111orialpro~cc~ion.
by the administration of guaranteed pensions and by
the provlslon of ho11oul.h ;lnd preferpent, the Resideqt attracted a circle of
important dcpendcn1.r ; I I I ~s h made himself a new power centre at the ~ w d h
Capital.
Extraterritoriality, co~~pled
with the resour& of hiinpower and money mobilised in
Awadh proved cr11c.1.1tI I I r-e.clrawingthe p o l i t i d map of l d i . The armies,recnrited
from Awad h ;I 11c1 I i l l ~ . ; r , .1111\\~~pported
by the money exacted f k m the people of
Bengal and rulc-Is 4 $ 1 t+.1tl11 1 1 ~ 1 the
~ ~ Company
1
in winning epeated victories over
the Marathas altd I llc 5 1 h 11.r a ntl led to its emtrgmm as the paramount power in
India. It also liclpcd tllc Company to keep Awadh in check by providing
extraterritorial protecrion to the dissidents from the jurisdiction of the Awadh ntlers
thereby creating a constituency loyal to the Company.
11.5
1
-
BY
Inspite of their subordinate status within the subsidiary A h n c e system, the Awadh
rulers asserted their independenbe in many r p s ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ p d - D despite
aulaII
d L@,ODO, all uB;fB;fornreb_an(t
train&
company's protests, managtd tq,rake an
in Buropean fashion. He also d i 6 i i thc FnnCh'&ffii,nwhbr@ 430 and
, wntrolling a n advanced anikry Mi.W q e d ~ ,
.-aaY.$-kclp.
Rohitkhand and E t s w a in 1774. Hi6 most impOrt+h?asfnsbtwm, howeta.Was
in restri~tingthe trade by t
bCompsdy a d othcr Europtsny~in A w d h tenim.
Evcn when the Treaty of ~llahabad.btwekn the Btithh and thc Nawab was drawn
m-
&.a
rl-rrn
C:rnll.,
*ha Wa...aL
nrr,-.n-+arl
*LI*
all
a---am-m..~n-%
l.n+.,,nn-
*ha
>
. British Conquest
and Consolidation
,"
Nawab Saadat
n and any foreign power of state. shall be carried on with the
knowledge and concurrence of the Cop~pany."Thus, the new Awadh ruler was
reduced financially and isolated diplomatically.
The Awadh army was drastically reduced to less than one-tenth of its previous
size.
ii)
The Company took responsibility for defending the Awadh territories "against
all foreign and domestic enemies."
jii)
The Awadh ruler was required to "establish in his reserved dominions such a
system of administration, to be carried, into effect by his own officers, as shall
be conducive to secure the lives and property of the inhabitants; and His
Excellency will always advise with and act in confromity to the council of the
officers of the said Honourable Company."
This third*provision was subject to various interpretations and formed the primary
bash for annexation of Awadh in 1856.
4
4
ruler was allowed lo use i l only in domestic correspondrnces. This way the
I
Company kept on encroaching on the material and rnoral domains of the Awadh
rulers so much so that tlie annexation of 1856 became a logical conclusion. As we
have seen earlier (See Section 11.5) the Resident took over administration of Awadli
as- tlie Chief Cotnmissioncr.
Check Your Progress 1
1) What were the sourcrs of weakness of the Awadh regime'? (10 lines).
'
..........................................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................................
2) The vast majority of landholders in Awadh:
a) worked towards integration of the kingdonn of Awadh.
b) woiked towards stability of Awadh.
c) wanted to unitedly defeat the Company forces.
d) saw themselves as prior to and ,largely independent of the provincial rulers
of Awadh.
3) Why did the East India Company thrust on the Awadh Nawab subsidiary
Alliance?
-.
11.6. EXPANSION IN OTHER PARTS OF NORTH
,
*INDIA
After the conquest of Etawah and Rohilkhand by Shuja-ud-Dwla in 1774 and the
incorporation of Rohilkhand in the Company's territory in 180 only the Punjab,
a,
besides Awadh, was left as the major power in north India.
After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in June 1839, the Punjab was beset by
political instability and rapid changes in the government, Kharak'Singh, Nav Nihal
Singh, Chand Kaur, Sher Singh and finally Dalip Singh were bropght to the throne
in quick succession. Conspiracy and intrigues were widespread and the ariny played
a major role in all these changes in the government. Prolonged and bldody battles
were generally fought to bring the claimant to the throne or to dislodge the
incumbent.
British Conquest
and Consolidation
I 3
I *
yecause of such failure of leadership, the formidable Punjab army W;I\ tlclcated in a
series'of encounters and was forced to sign the humiliating treaty (11 I .llio~eon 8
harcb,'1846. The British annexed the Jalandhar Doab and handed ( # \ ( . I1.1mmu and
Kashinir to Raja Gulab Singh for a cash payment of five million rupccs. l'he Punjab
drmy was reduced to 20,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry and a strong British force
was stationeq at Lahore. Later, another treaty was signed on 16 December 1846
which gave the British Resident at Lahore extensive authority (thrbugh a council of
~ c g t h c over
~ ) all matters in every department of the state; the British stationed their
[roops in Punjab, and the expenses were to be paid by the Lahore government.
1
All these, however, did not satisfy the Brit~\l~I'licir ultimate aim was direct rule
over unjab. So, when the Diwan of hlu11,111
10\1. In revoIt (1848) against the
Labo e Darbar, which was then uhder tllc ( 1 1 , ~ I ~ o nof the British, the latter gave ~t
etrery'opportunity to spread. And when I ( t l ~ t f\pcc.rd and others joined in, they *
welcomed it. The Governq-General Lord I);~Il~rr\~sic,
wrote to the Home
Govebment, "The rebellion of Raja She1 S I I , ~lollowed
~,
by his army, the rebellit.
df Satdar Chattar Singh with the Darbar ;ltnl\ under his command, the state of the
trooph arid of the Sikh population everyw11clr;have brought matters to that crisis I
fiave ar months been looking for; and we are now not on the eve, but in the midst
.
of war w ~ t hthe Sikh nation and the k i n g d m of the Punjab."
f.
In the campaign of 1849 the Sikh f~rceswere decisively defeated an4 Punjab we
anneked. hs the British swallourk$ up the v&y kingdom t h e y ' d r e sup$ogprr :
pfotett.
. . . ..
. .
Check Your Progess 2 .
1) Write a brief note on rankhrvah or assignments.
~
.,
> .
...............................................................................................................................
. .
...............................................................................................................................
.,
asit
. , p ~ :ica!
.4wadh?
tc. \u!-jt~g,~c
PunJ&'.s
We have studied in this vnit the reasons why the Englisfi @st India ( t~llrpitnywas
able to subjugate tbb m6,trr re&onat principlities i;-iiort$ Ihdia, Aw;~tlh:tnd
Punjab. Wh& tb ruirr~cl.powers in'&adh i.ap'if;ilakd~ftzadi~y
t~'Bnttalrprssures,
and thou6 AM& bas annexed in 1856 by the Bitish, it.was nbt so easy L6 pacify
the people who k&e in revolt in 1897. The dkplacernept which t$e stow penkfraiioh
the
of the Cbmpany bad mused all over the hovince and the shock
an&xafiofi administered made large sections of Awadh pop&tion including the
tatldho~ders,'peslsants
a f "d sepoys
. extremery resentful to the Compahy's rule:
'
%*
.*"'
1 ZJ
i
'
- ~keSu&s&.!~.$;i.
I
Pa,
' *+82
ey
'q '& f~rce.
. diplomacy and anempp
;
'a.
i(.
-: I%..
'..A
"
British Conquest
and Consolidation
12.4 Burma
12.4.1 Anglo-Burmese War-I
12.4.2 Anglo-Burmese War-ll
12.6
12.7
12.8
12.9
12.10
Nepal
Afghanistan
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
12.0 OBJECTIVES
his Unit aims to acquaint you with the story of English colonial expansion outside
India. It involves a brief description of colonising efforts and a n explanation as to
how and why this happened. After you have read this Unit you would:
learn the general causes of the English trade and expansion outside India
discover how and where the East lndia Company expanded thew influence, and
understand how in the areas they did not directly capture, they still wielded
considerable influence.
12.1 INTRODUCTION
In earlier Units you have already read about the nature of imperialism. You have
also read about the manner in which the resources of Bengal were used to conquer
the rest of lndia and enrich the owners of the East lndia Company. This Unit hopes
to make you more familiar with the constant expansion that characterises
colonialism, and the use of the wealth of one colony to'expand and consolidate
control over another.
The East India Company used the resources of India to consolidate its position over
the lands of South and South-East Asia. Using India as a base, English control
during the period 1757-1857, was established from Sri Lanka in the South,
~ a u r i t i u in
s the South-West, Afghanistan in the North-West, Nepal in the North, to
.Andaman and Nicobar, Burma, Malaya, and Phillipines in the South-East. Only
mainland Asia-China, Siam, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam-was left relatively
untouched. But there too, as in the case of China, the English wielded considerable
influence after 1842.
The $tory 01 this expansion is closely linked with the fortuncs ;tnd ;t.\l)~r;~tlons
of the
~ n ~ l i East
s h lndia Company in India and in China. It might tl~rreforebe useful to
recount in brief the relevant portions of the history of thv ('o~lrpany.
123.i 'Trade
. . with China .
~ h i l e . t . h e : ~ o m ~ was
& n ~establishing itself m.India it had a.growingtrade'with
China. 9s. in India, su in China-the Company had tfie monopoly over. tr'ade.
8
t~t?
Chinose
I
II
I
Indian Fruntim
Strat%ic: the need-to safeguard.fhe Indian empire. and the trade .rou@s t o 'China
and India. To, this cquldobt! added two minor'facto~s:one, the compulsions o i
British fdreign pdicy in Europg: and'two, the9irherests and po~ieiksof thc
burtbucracy in India. Of c h r s e , the !elhive importing? of these fa.cttor vallt.al
fro111\~luationto situation as will be evidknt from the discussion in this; 111111
........................................................................
.................i
.............................................................................................................................
2)
Why was Bengal important in the China trade? Answer in fifty words.
The first EngKsh settlements oursldt Iridt;i.nere In t\ic qrra~tsof .valacca. I'hese,
the nineteenth centuty, came to.be krlown as the ,Str;uts Settletnent$.
11;
12.3:l Benang
I p 15!32,t&
.
first ~ ~ l i + - s hthe
i p'Edw&d
~
Bonqemlup-, reached the isin; of .
Penang in the S t p i t s of Matacsa:
1,6bO,'t~leEntst lncl ip c:orii;a nyotla< zstgtdbhgd
.twelve factories in the Mala'y archipelago. .But b; 1625: It. I i l t ;hat-'tht. ~ l r i l n y i sl p 1 6 ~ s
did not.~pr~;idt-<de~~~te~ptofjts
and the"necided to ci;ncenrt.atr it:rr;rd~ac~lvi$es
on f'ndia. &ate ~fiti~l~'~raders,.thbugh,
contlnyed to malntain31-ad~':i,ntact w.ltt~~*
+ht.Straits. iradink r)-~ostly,in tin, ivory, and. pepper from he ~:r;ii*~zalld Couon'
p1cc-t-goods froni India.
,
qy
the need w b s
Tell tcs.fin%a spfe porr nfcall.i5.tKeieqstern seas I+
t4ie,&it~ !l l l ~ l i : i ~ ~ ~ l t l tbqi.r
~';h
rn end Anrn Chink. ?he decision, t< seribuslt. >expandlo;t;ir95 Ilre $ a q c<m$
j.~>umcy~
in -10782.,wh"e6 fke French admiral i3e sgtfi-en, ushg ~ c t g h e ~ e . i o ~I?\ bhtwt&sn
~ u r n a i r awas able !a d=rPvc off a!l ERghsh G o ~ m i r &frod the - ~ a ~ : o f ' ~ r ~ ? The
ga-l.
orlai port wheie.,the Ci.qpanyqs ships coGid*hihsr.tc; repair ' w a ~ . ' ~ n on
~ hf.he
a~
Western coost of rnd~a.
With. the expansion>of the Company's trade with China inc'rcasingly
Thus in 1784, Fracla Pjihl, n g ~ i qon beipli ~d the East'indla C'nlnganl. argnrtt a n
agreement withthcLSultan of Le~l;ihp?!~lulngall 1-n{ltsl4 x v l l a l n m ~or~dlic[\land ol
Penam& ~ h " e G l l \ l , in rstuln yrtrnwed t o ht.lp rb:o'Sul*a"dn :1~111tar14!
in ca\g 01
aftacks from his n e i ~ h h a u ~ ~
m e government of Madrat, h o ~ t ~ t ~i rc l m e d10 rdtlr\ i h t ~dp1c5'n,cnl L171 JL=~I i t 1 2 1 I!
would involve the company in unnccc.gsar\ udrs w ~ l l ) ~ Rlldigjn~
~nl
i n .~&~]u,ilc
:.L!iTl\
At this the Sultan of Kedph trl-cd to retake Pi!~nt~g~h\!
Il!rt.o 14,s ,.I?II~L~~,
HL~HCLOI,
Britbh Conqueel
and Consolidation
Were defeated by Fracia Light. In the subsequent treaty, signed in 1791, Penang was
handed over to the English in return of an annual payment to the Sultan. The.
bnglish were given control over a small strip of land on the Malayan mainland
bpposite Penang. The Englislt were thus able to establish a major naval station on
the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal. The added advantage was that the trade in
Sumatran pepper, about 60% of world produce in pepper, passed through Penang.
In 1805, penang was made into a presidency like Bombay and Madras, administered
by a Governor. Bengal paid for the maintenance of the Settlement at Penang. Its
over 50 British officers drew their salary from the Bengal-treasury and the average
deficit of Penang during these years was paid by Bengal.
12.3.2 Sumatra
In the meanwhile, in 1783, the British had also established contact with the Rugi
rulers at Riau in Sumatra. The Company's governmcnt in Rengal felt that a
settlement at Riau would safeguard the trade routes to China and make Riau an
entrepot of archipelagic trade. But a Dutch attack on the Bugis in 1784, forced the
East India Company to shelve its plans.
At this point events from Europe intervened. In 1787. in Europe, joint intervention
by the English and Prussians ovethrew'the governmeot in blolland. The English
asked the new government for the grant of control over 'l'rinconial~in Sri lanka
and Riau-ail in return for certain commercial concessions In India and an
understanding prohibiting British navigation east of Sumatra. The Dutch, I~owever,
did not agree.
In the meanwhile the F~enchrevolution took place and the armies of the Flrnch
revolution, in 1794. werran Holland. The new Dutch government was hostile to the
English. The English on their part retaliated by conquering the Dutch possessions in
India, Sri Lanka, west coast of Sumatra, Molucca, 'Menado in Sulawesi, Malacca,
and Riau.
No action was taken against the Dutch possession of Java because by the second
half of the 1790s the Governor-General in India, Wellesley, had involved the
Company in costly wars within India and the French seemed to threaten India I'roni
Egypt in the West. However, when the Dutch in Europe allied once again with
Napoleon then the Board of Control, in Auguqt 1810, instructed the GovernorGeneral Minto, to expel the Dutch from Java in order to prevent the F r e n c h p m
having another base in South-East Asia. Over a hundred ships and 12,000 men from
India were used to establish English co~itroiover Java.
~ e 1813,
The restoration of peace and friendly relatidns with the Dutch in ~ h r o after
made for a reordering of the conquests in South-East Asia. The English retairred Sri
Lanka and Penang for strategic reasons. But by now the co~nmercialimportance of
the archipelago had come down because clove and nutmeg, the two important spices
of the archipelagic trade were now cultivated outside the Moluccas too. Moreover,
the opium grown in Malwa was fast replacing all othcr goods in the China trade.
The Dutch then were given back thcir colonies in the Straits.
12.3.3 Singapore
Stamford Raffles, who had been the II,ieutenant Governor of Java during the period
of English occupation, however, voiced tlw fear that if South-East was left to the
Dutch they may wholly exclude English trade from the region. Hastings, the
Governor-General in India agreed, and allowed Raffles to look for a suilable
settlement in the Malayan archipelago. On intervening in the compl~catedinternal
politics of the empire of Johore, Raffles was able to obtain permission from the
Sultan ih February 1819, to.establish a garrison of the British ~ n d ~ a ~ i a r and
my,
open English factories on the ~slandof Singapore.
The Dutch abjeitted severely to the English penetration of Singapore and threatened
war. The DitpctOrs of the Company too thought that Raffles had done wrong in
garrisoning'it, bvt nevertheless they waited for Hastings to explain his support for
Rafflles. The explanation, however, carne from the profits that the settlement made
for almost two-thirds-of the trade passing
and by I825 it ie~ularly~accounted
through the Straits. -By 1824, then the British government persuaded the Dutch to
allow the Sultan of Johore (who currently was under Dutch control) to cede the
entire island to Great Britain.
12.4
B'URMA
Thy case of Burma involved the interplay of a different set of comkrcial and .
strategic reasons. Burma exported some costly items like tin, pepper, and ivory.
More importantly it was a major supplier of timber for the small but important
ship-building and repair industry based in Calcutta. Also, towards the end of the
eighteenth century the deltas of the Irrawady river became important suppliers of
rice to the growing settlements in the South-East a;ld to Bengal.
Early on, in 1753, the East India Company had tried to establish a settlement a t
Negrais on the coast of lower Burma. In 1758-59, the Burmese king Alaungpaya, '
with some justification, accused the English of helping Burmese rebels, and in 1759,
had all the English at Negrais killed. The Company's Directors, on their side did not
react to the situation because they had decided that Negrais was after all not worth
its cost. After that the Company kept clear of Burma for about twenty years. There
was very little contact between the English and the Burmese. Towards its Asiin
neighbours, however, Burma continued to be very aggressive. In 1823-24, the
Burmese military, pursuing rebels, entered and occupied Assam and Manipur and
prepared to attack Chittagong. These territories of Assam. Manipur, and
Chittagong, however, were claimed by the English in India. The resultant attack by
British Indian army on Burma has come to be known as the First Anglo-Burmese
War (1824-26).
9 .
Burma on the pretext that kiqg Thibaw Min was a tyrant and intriguing with the
British. Conquest
and Conscrltdati~n
French inaVietnam'to Weaken English control over Asia. Bbrma was made into a
province of British Jndirp.
1)
-
ck Your Progress 2
Write five lines on the two Anglo-Burmese Wars.
.-. . . -
kPwr.
Afttr tha: the pext h g l ~ s hattempt to-settle in Bo~noo.crimein 1762. dunnk 'the
&!en
Ye;rtsqWar i n Europe Whrn S e m d24a"rei war on. Ehj$a.nd, In 1762 an '
Engli>h.expedittrv was s&t. lrom*Bengttl the Sy+nisli calony of ~ h ~ t l [ ~ i nI tk s
caprured Manild 1" October .l%2., In M>& the fingiish treed the Sultan of Sulu
whq was being kept a'prison'er b> t k ~panb\b,In gritrtude.~heSultar~ceded the
i s l a ~ dof Balanibang~n~
towards the nor.tt1 of Borneo to .t he F~iglish.Man1l.d bas
resto~edto the Sp .n~.i.hin 1964, .by the Tlaat.) oT F ~ L( Sd g d in 1763) which
concluded the ?+\ton Ycals'War, on condftion that Ihf Rnyal Phllliptnes Conapany
would purchase Indian lextdes exclusiwely trota EngJlsh werchants A fort 613i!t k\
Baiambahgan was attacked and dp$troyedbq the locals I D 1775 Subsequently the
Company deeided that Borneo and the Phillipnes bere simply not worth the effort
of keepingathem and ddd not try to rekettle there. It-rncefo~thit cunflned nlost of ~ t s
trade and colonizing eflorms an she Sbrdltd Settlements.
Blair in 1857 as a penal colony. In the meanwhile Denmark had annoxctf Nicobar
Island in 1750, and established a small colony trading in coconul, hr.t~.lnlrl. and
birds' not I I I C English removed the Danes in 1809, while a c q u i r ~ ~
; I I~
I rorllcr Danishfactoric.4 I I I I~ltl~a.
12.5.4 Mauritius
Like Sri Lanka, Mauritius, to the South-West ol I11d1;r in the Indian Ocean, was a
colony with relatively minor economic importance. 111 172 1, the French East lndia
Company occupied Mauritius and renamed it the Ilc dc France. It was developed as
a naval station to attack ships of the English East India Company. During the
second and third AnglobFrench wars Frcncl~Ships from Mauritius came to launch
unsbcce&ifut attacks on the English at Madras and off the Cbromandel coast-.
12.6 NEPAL
< -
of Nepal, especially the supposed in-flow of gold from Tibet, and the rich timber
and pine forests. But due to the hostility of the Nepalese government the Resident
had to withdraw to India in March 1803. In the following decade the English and
the Nepalese had numerous problems over the possession of border villages along
the 1,100 kilometers long border that they shared.
In October 1814, then, Governor-General Hastings started the Nepal War. The
Company's army led by Generals Marley, Ochterlony, and Wood and Colonel
Nicolls, had -organized a concerted attack, hoping to engage the Nepalese all along
the border. But they had underestimated the fighting process of the hill people. It
took over a year for Nepako be defeated and agree, in the Treaty of Sagauli
(December 1815), to leave the entire area of the Sutlej hills, Garhwal, and Kumaon
in the hands of the English, and accept a Resident at Kathmandu once again.
Having obtained the rich forests of the Terai region the bnglish decided that Nepal
did not serve any further economic or strategic purpose. Henceforth they retained
little interest in Nepal affairs.
12.7
AFGHANISTAN
Through the 1830%the officers of the Company insisted that Afghanistan was
important as a buffer against Napoleonic France and Tsarist Russia. In 1836, Dost
Muhammad, the then ruler of Afghanistan offered his friendship to the English in
return for English help in re-possessing the Peshawar valley which Ranjit Singh, the
Sikh ruler of Punjab had taken away from the Afghans. Governor-General
Auckland, however, refused to intercede with Ranjit Singh and instead proposed
that the Afghans promise not to ally with any other country like Russia, France, or
Turkey. Dost Muhammad responded by showing signs of friendship towards Russia.
At this Aucldand planned to depose Dost by force. The Court of Directors
concurred. The plan was put into action by Tripartite Treaty signed on 26 June
1838 between Shah Shuja an ex-ruler of Afghanistan, Ranjit Singh and the English.
Fsllowing this treaty a force comprising the armies of the Company, Ranjit Singh
and Shah Shuja was assembled to attack Kabul, depose, Dost Muhammad, and
establish Shah Shuia on the throne.
The "Army of the lndus" as it was called captured Kandhar in April 1839, and
Ghazni in July. Dost Muhammad was so disheartened by these defeats that he gave
up the fight and fled to Bemian, a town to the North-West of Kabul. Shah Shuja
was made the ruler of Afghanistan. British troops, however, instead of withdrawing
to India began to garrison Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandhar, and Ghazni.
In the meanwhile, in September 1840, Dost Muhammad was able to get military
help from the Wali of Kholoom. He attacked the English in September but failed.
He was forced to surrender in November and was sent'to Calcutta as a prisoner.
In the spring of 1841, however, popular unrest against the Engllsh started. Open
rebellion broke out at many points in September 1841. The English in Kabul town
were killed and their cantonment beseiged. The same happened at Ghazni,
Jalalabad, and Kandhar; and the entire Cdrkha batallion at Kohistan was done to
death. In December finally, the English were forced to accept the humiliating
condition of evacuating Afghanistan within three days. The retreating forces were in
turn attacked on the snow covered passes and substantially annihilated.
By May 1842, however, the Engllsh forces were able to regroup and re-establish .
control over Jalalabad and Kandhar. Then with the help of reinforcements from
India Kabul was re-taken in September. The costs of this victory were, however, too
high. Quite apart from the cost in men and money, the Afghan War proved that the
British lndian armies were not invincible and could be defeated with suitatjle tactics
8s those used by the hill tribes of Afghanistan. Henceforth the English dec~ded.
cmfine themselves within the North-West Frontier and not venture into Afphan:. tan
militarily.
2) How did the officers of the Company justify the Afghan War? Answer in five lines.
lines.
3) Why did the English lose interest in Nepal? Answer in five lines.
dlgrnsf~n Beyond
Indian Frontla-
$2.8
LET US SUM UP
'
In this Unit we saw that the English got interested in territories outside India to
facilitate their trade by establishing control over lands as distant as the Phillipiner.
Control over some places like ' ~ a u r i t i u sand Sri L a n k enabled them to further
safeguard their 1ndian empire and its trade routes. And on occasions, as in the clw
of Afghanistan and Nepal, the +Englishindulged themselves in adventures of
didlomacy and war. The high C Q S ~of all these activities was borne by the Indian
'treasury and the Indian sepoy provided the necessary cannon fodder. It was mainly
at the cost of India that England became the dominant power in the whole of South
Asia and the Asian lands on the Indian ocean.
EXERCISES
cbeck Your Program 1
1) See Sub-sec. 12.2.3.
2) See Sub-sec. 12.2.1.
Cbcek Your Frogram 2
1) See Sub-sec. 12..4.1 and 12.4.2.
2) i)
ii)
iii) X
Objectives
Introduction
The Earlv Images
Warren Hastings and the British Image of Indla
13.3.1 William Jones
13.3.2 Hastings in Practise
13.4 Institutionalization
13.'~ Evangelicalism and Other New Trends
13.5.1 The Battle for Improvement
13.5.2 Preservation and Munro
..
how the British perception about India changed over the years, and
some reasons as to why the British perception about India changed over the
years.
13.1 INTRODUCTION
So far you have had a look at the forniation of new states after the Mughal decline
and then the rise and penetration of British imperialism in India. At this point we
will examine the images and ideas of the British as they confronted the Indian scene.
We will also try to see whether these images and ideas about India went through
any change as the needs of the British in India changed.
British conquest
Consolidation
'
However, :he genera! impression was that in 17th century India tradition of learning
noxlor,ger remained. Terry argued that the Brahmins who were the ancient
repositories o i learning had degenerated.
Other signs of this degeneration were detected by the British in their contact with
the communit~esof the West coast of India. It was argued that they were
'indpstrious. submjss:ve, frugal and cowardly people' who had rigid habits of mind.
The caste systen; was ftecluently cited as an example of their rigid mind.
By and large these images were to persist. However, with the establishment of more
permanent stations. the British had io contend with further Indian realities.
52
Warren Hastings took this mission rather seriously. To fulfil this mission he was
aware that he required a band of dedicated administrators, who would rise above
the opportufiistic fortune hunters who came from Britain to India. For this purpose,
he made strenuous efforts to 'work towards institutions of learning which would first
acquire the knowledge of the golden past of India and then, perhaps, convey it to
those who could be i.nvolved in the project of administering India.
This. vision, which has sometimes been called the Orientalist vision, was not confined
to Warren Hastings alone.
63:4
INSTITUTIONALIZATION
The early quests of rediscovering the rich Indian past then were slowly being
su bsumcd to the practical needs of the British rule. To enable the practical task of
training and the orienting future administrators t o the goals of this task, in the
tradition of Wwren Hastings, Wellesley established the Fort William College at
Calcutta in 1500.
The Fort William College basically impressed upon its students to study the Indian
language so that the future administrator could take on the tiijk of familiarising
themselves with the 'vernacular' of the people and with India's'past in a more
concrete fashion. For example, studying Persian served very practical ends. Most of
the Indian states used Persian as the language for maintaining official record and
running the day to day business. Thus the vision of learning about India's past glory
and the practical needs of the British administration were neatly dovetailed.
One should be careful in not reducing the steps taken to train the future
administrators to the visions of the Indian past held by the administrators of the
time. The Indian Residents who were posted a t the courts of various submissive
Iridian rolers, combined both the knowledge and usage of Persian with the cultural
life style$ of the ,court. To establish an identity with the Indian courtiers, the British
Residentloften donned the Indian dresses and maintained huge establishments like
the court nobility. He would often adopt the manners and etiquettes of the court,
while having a major say in the decisions of the ruler. The Indian rulers then
maintained some kind of cultural independence inspite of being politically
subservie~tto the British.
With the consolidation of the conquests and the need to create a more integrated
administ~tive,structure, the British had to step in to realms of Indian institutions
like law and landed property. In the meanwhile, the industrial revolution in Britain
had forced the need bf ,market and raw materials outside Britain for the industrialist
on the minds of the policy makers in Britain.
The new needs of the British necessarily meant that the idea of retaining lndian
institutions and laws had to be reviewed. If new products were to enter the market
there was a need to create a taste for.them. This meant the infusion of a new way of
life and culture, at least in the top crust of society.
In the early period of establislling institutions which discoveted India's past, a neat
compromise, of Ilearning and the needs of the Company commerce and
administration had been made. That is. 'learn about the lndian society but do not
disturb it*. That this coqpromise was resented, is shown id the struggle ofthe
S eerampore missionaries, who wanted to get on with the task of 'reforming' the
c rrent degeneration of the Indian society. While thd Sreerampore missionaries were
to do this task quietly, respecting the Indian traditions, the later mjs 'onaries like
C arles Grant were to be openly hostile to 'Indian barbarism*. This 4ostility, a hallm rk of evangelicalism, was combined with the desire to 'civilize' India. Bringing a
Ch istian zeal into his mission, Grant was to propagate the policy of assimilation of
Ind ,a into the great civilizing mission of Britain.
This attitude was to go hand in hand with the expression ofl~ritishliberalism, as for
example in Macaulay, the liberal British administrator's task was to 'civilize' rather
than subdue. The merchant community supported this;firstly, because since they
would benefit from the civilizing mission's laws to acquire property etc. in India,
anh then, under "free trade' they could work out the ~roble'mof creating a market
for British goods amongst the Indians. Charles Grant saw a complementarity
between the civilizing\process and material prosperity. It was thus that another
liberal C.E. Trevelyan, in 1838, was to outline his vision of India as 'the proudest
monument of British beneyolence'.
B 'tish Conquest
conoiidation
...............................................................................................................................
2)
3)
...............................................................................................................................
136.1 The Battle for Improvement
The Ydea of improvement*was to take shape in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries as a part of. the vision of Britain as a promoter of prosperity and
civilization. It was thus, that Cornwallis agmd to settling the revenue permanently
on the landed class (Zamindars) in Bengal. Cornwallis's assumption was that since
the main source of wealth was agiculture, the 'magic touch of property*will create
capital and market in land. A more prosperous landed class with fixed obligation to
the state and an English rule of law would create new men of enterprise in land who,
would also take trade forward. John Shore, who had seen the idea of Permanent
Settlement grow and had more experience of the countryside, while agreeing with
Comwallis*~
vision of improvement, suggested that the improvement should be
broyght about by slow degrees by experimentally introducing innovations.
10. Imphatiom of History from the statu of Edmund Burkq the Philomopha
-1.0 ~ u n r o politics
,
was both experimental : , d pragmatic. The brief period the
British had spent in lndia, he thought, was .ar too short for any permanent
solutions. It was thus he argue ! periodic revision of the rate of ryotwari (see
Block IV). He t hrrefore argued that the basis of India's stable heritage, the
village communities sllould be conserved. And any law and order problem
should be lnct with a system where the judiciary and executive were fused
together. '['his he felt would enab'e the preservation of justice to the peasantry as
well as t l ~ caims ~f the British rule. I11 line with this idea bf preserving the
varying heritage of India, Munro and his colleagues opposed a centrally
imposed rute in lndia and 'favoured diversity in the Indian government'.
The taskbf transforming the Indian mind was then to become more complex.
The task of education in the process was mooted by the liberal Macaulay as a
prime responsibility of the British in India. But in the context of both tht;
resistance of Orientalists, and pragmatic Anglo-Indians like Munro whb'.&nted
to preserve the Indian institutions and culture the role of a western or a n
Anglicist education became a subject of immense controversy in the middle of
the 19th century.
%
British Conquest
and Consolidation
122.
14 J u l y 1830
T h e governor-general has read with attention the petition which has
been presented to him: a n d has some satisfaction in observing that the
opinions of the pandits consulted by the petitioners confirm the supposition that widows are not, by the religious writings of the Hindus,
commanded t o destroy themselves; but that, upon the death of their
husbands the choice of a life of strict and severe morality is e v e w h e r e
expressly offered: that in the books usually considered of the highest
authority it is commanded above every other course; and is stated to be
adapted t o a better state of society; such as, by the Hindus, is believed
to have subsisted in former times.
Thus, none of the Hindus are placed in the dirtressing situation
of having to disobey either the ordinances of the government or those
of their religion. By a virtuous life a Hindu wjdow not only compllies at
once with the laws of the government and with the purest precepts of
her own religion, but affords a n example to the existing g e ~ ~ e r a t i oofn
that good conduct which is supposttd to have distinguished the earlier
and better times of the Hindu people.
T h e petitioners cannot require the assurance that the British gokernment will continue t o allow the most complete toleration in matteis of
religious belief; a n d that to the full extent of what it is pscitlle to
reconcile with reason and with natural justice they will be undisturbed
in the observance of their established usages. But, some of thcse, which
the governor-general is unwilling to recall into notice, his prrc?acc-qsors
i n council, for the security of human life, and the prpservation of scxial
order, have, a t different times, found it necessary to prohibit. If there
is any one which the common voice of all mankind would exccpt from
indulgence it is surely that by which the hand of a son is ~n::riethe
instrument of a temble death to the mother who has borne Flirn, and
from whose heart he has drawn the sustenance of his help!c<s i : ; f ~ i ~ ~ y .
T h e governor-general has given an attentive consideratii!n to a11 that
has been urged by the numerous and respectable body of pititinnen:
and has thought fit to make this further statement, in adtlitiirn to what
had been before exprased as the reasons, which, in his mind, have
made it an urgent duty of the British govcrilnlent to prevent the usage
in support ofwhich the petition has becn preferred: but if the petitioners
should still be of opinion that the latc regulation is not in conformity
with the enactments of the imperial parliament, they have a n appeal
to the king in council, which the governor-gcneral shall he most happy
to forward.
--
With the coming of James Mill to the East India Company's London office, a
systematic utilitarian attempt was made to combat the Orientalist, Cornwallis and
the Munro heritage. A total vision of political reform on the philosophical premises
of' utilitarianism was sought to be given a concrete shape. We see a series of laws
and penal codes enacted under the Benthamite principle of a centrally logically and
coherently evolved system which would go down to the grassroots. In the process it
would give the direction to the Indian government to function 'with a united
purpose.'
Construction of India
and the IJtilitarians
WLb Conquat
st
The consolidation or the empire under Dalhousie was to take the paradoxes of the
various kinds of perceptions of British India still more forward. Dalhousie took
forward Mill's vision of belligerent advancement of Britain's mission, in his policy
towards the native Indian States. Again, in the true Benthamite tradition he created
'rill India' departments with9single heads for Post and Telegraph Services, the Public
Works Department, etc. He was thus to give fruition to the idea of efficient
administration within the framework of a unitary all India empire. This latter was in
direct contrast to Munro's vision of India as loose federation of regional entities.
'
md W i d a t i o n
At the same time Dalhousie was prepared to take a liberal stance in some respects.
For example, he was to encourage the development of his legislative council into a
forym for the pepresentation of non-official opinion. He also provided it with
elaborate rules of procedure taken from the English Parliament. He even favoured
the admission of Indian members into the legislative council. He agreed with the
Macaulay's view of diffusion of English education and along with his colleague
Thomason encouraged a system of vernacular education at mass level.
However this impulse to link the,task of changing the Indian society to the tasks of
law, landed property or education gradually declined. With the consolidation of law
codes, revenue administration and education and the all India empire, the focus
shifted to efficiency of governance. Pragmatism with rationality and efficiency now
dominated the British administration. Utilitarian arguments were st/ll used for
glovernance, for example in the change of law codes under Macaulay. But the overall
spirit of reform declined.
The later British administrators of our period were to emphasise that the British rule
had always been governed by law. However, it was argued then. for efficient
administration force had to be used and there was no need to justify it by
cansideration of political change or reform. The utilitarian task of transforming
India then was subsumed under the principle of an efficient and good government
held up by the 'steel frame'of British administration.
..............................................................................................................................
2 ) H o w did Henlinck war;t to bring ahout a social change in ladiii'l
L'V:~.,.l;~rnec Mill
1)
In
............ ..................................................
...........................................:. . . . . . . . . . . .
.......................
..............................
...................
Imperial.Ideology :Orientalkt
Comtrudion of lndia
and the Ulilitariadi
.................................................................
British Conquest
and Consolidation
P.J. Marshal : The New Cambridge History of India, Vol.II.2, Bengal, The British
Bridgehead, Eastern India, 1740-1827.
R.C. Majumdar (ed.) : British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Vol.IX, Part-I,
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Publication)
N.K, Sinha ( 4 . ) : Economic History of Bengal, Vol. 3
Michael H. Fisher : A Claslz of Cultures: Awadh, The British and The Mughals.
Richard B. Barnett : North India Between Empires: Awadh, The Mughals and
@e British.
S.N. Sen : Anglo-Maratha Relations, 1785-1796.
bric Stokes : English Utilitarians and India.
,
I
Objectives
Introduction
Structure of the East India Company
East lndia Company's Monspoly
Monopoly Versus Free Trade
Nature of the Company's Trade
Mercantile Business and Political Power
Rise of Industrial Capitalism and ;he C'ornpany'i; ?.lerc;inri!c I'cdicici
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers To Check Your Progress Exercises
14.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit you will study:
how the East India Companies were structured as J o ~ nstock
t
enterliliscs r r i
many investors,
how and why these merchant capitalist ventures known as East I n d i ~
Companies were given monopoly trade privileges by the g o ~ ~ r n n ~ e n t !st ~ t : : ~
respective countries,
how there was a struggle between monopoly trade of the English East lrld~a
Company and English Free Traders, leading to the withdrawal of monopoly
privileges,
the nature of the trade of the English Companj and t h t private ~ r a d co f
servants of the Company in India as a collect ~ v emon~)pol\.
the reasons why merchant capitalist enterprises turncd roudld\ acqull;itlon
territories and political power, and
how the rise of industrial capitalism changed the nature of Indo-Rritisll
economic relations, and consequent changes in the Company's mercan.rllc
policies.
--
14.1 INTRODUCTION
You already know the circumstances in which the East lndia Companies came into
existence as a result of the long evolution of merchant capitalism in Eurcpe (Block
2). You also know the role played by European East India Companies, particularly
the English Company, in the political history of India in the last decades of the
18th and early 19th centuries (Block 3). This Unit introduces you to the structure
and nature of the East India Company's trade in lndia and the monopoly that it
enjoyed, the struggle between monopoly trade of the Company and English Free
Colonial FxmW!'
Traders, the motives behind acquisition of territories and political power by the
Company, rise of industrial capitalism in England and its effect o n the Company's
mercantile policies.
___________-__
You must have cbsdrved that today business enterprise is dominated by companies
which sell s t ~ c k sand shares in order t o raise the capital they need in business.
Thesc are joint stock companies as distinct from business owned by a single
proprietor or some proprietors in partnership. The East lndia Companies of
Burope were some of the earliest joint stock companies in the world.
I
What was so special about these companies and how did the joint stock form of
organisation give them any advantage? T o begin with, the joint stock structure,
that is t o say the collect~orrof capital from a number of stock or shareliolders
enabled these c o m p a ~ i e sto put :ogether a much laiger quantity of capital then was
possible for a single proprietor or a few in partnership. Moreover, a ioint stock
company ensured continuity of business activities and policies oker a long period,
sometimes for centuries; unlike the shorter life span of business run by a single
proprietor. Consider also the fact that In joint stock company there is scope for
mobility of capital: in other words, the money invested in the shareholdings of one
companv could be taken out by the share owner (by selling his share t o another)
qnd put to other uses, including inveqtment in another company. Thus capital was
not tied up in one enterprise, but moved with.greater ease to more profitable
enterprises, thus ensuring the most efficient use of capital.
For all these reasons the joint stock company form of organising the business of
East Indian trade was superior to and more effic~entthan any earlier fc~rm.
Particularly for the trade with lndia the European countries needed this new form
of organisation because of the large amount o f investment required, the
uncertainty of business (ship-wreck. wars etc.), and the long waiting period
between investment and realisation of proiit (due to the long voyage by sailing
ships around the continent of Africa t o India). In the early days the English
merchants used to pool their money t o buy o r hire and equip ships t o go on a
voyage in lndia for these reasons. The logical culmination of this development was
the foundation of the East lndia Company (1600) as a joint stock enterprise. In
the beginning only a few very wealthy merchants of London were shareholders of
the East India Company. But in course of the 18th century relatively smaller
shareholders began t o participate in and became owners of the new United
Company of the Merchants of England Trading to the East lndies (founded in
1708). This new company continued t o be called the East lndia Company as of
old.
- -- -- -
--
Another structural feature of the English East lndia Company was that it was
granted a monopoly by the government o f England. What was meant by this
monopoly and why did the government grant it? 'Monopoly' in a general sense
mean? the cxclusiv= control of trade with lndia and other countries on the lndian
Ocean and further east up to China. In consequence only the East lndia Company
(to the exclusion of any other person or business firm) was legally entitled to trade
w ~ t hthe above-said countries. This was a legal right conferred upon the East lnd~ia
Company by Queen Elizabeth 'I in the first instance and later by other monarchs.
Whv did the m o ~ a r c h ror governments d o so in the 17th and 18th centuries? They
gave this monopoly right to the East lndia Company partly because it was
comrrlonly bel~eved,under the influence o f the Mercantilist school of thought, that
the state must promote trade abroad t o bring home wealth from foreign trade. I he
risky trade with distant countries was supposed to be particularly in need of
monopoly system so as t o ensure t o the investors profits of monopoty and thus t o
encourage such investment. Moreover, the relatively wealthy English merchants in
the Indian trade were influential in the monarch's courts and the government.
At ally rate, the upshot was that rhe Government in England conferred a
monopoly of trade on the East lndia Company. This was done by granting t o the
Company a 'charter', i.e a deed or a written grant of monopoly rights renewed
from tlme ro tlme by the government. The instrument by which such a right was
conferred on the company became known in late 18th and early lYth centuries a s
the 'charter act', passed by the English Parliament. (The French and Dutch East
l r ~ d ~ a<nomparile\ also enloved monopoly rights granttc! by thew government.)
N o w , 11 I \ one thing to declare such a government grant of monopoly. and it 1s
quite another thlng t o mahc the monopoly (i.e. the exclus~onof others) effect~vein
f.-ct. What d ~ dthe legal monopoly mean ~n actual practice?
conflict, between the Bcngal Nawab and the English (scc Block 3). In fact the
prrvate trade int-erests of the Company's servants and the Company's official trade
becdme practically inseparable in the last half of the 18th century.
As for the Frec Merchants' their chief aim was to expand their business at the cost
of t~heCompany's business. Yet they were tolerated because the Company's
servants found them increasingly useful to enable the Company's servants to invest
their savings and ill-gotten plunder. Sending money to England was also facilitatexi
by the Free Merchants. As the Directors of the East lndia Company and
conscientious Governors like Lord Cornwallis began to insist on the withdrawal of
the servants of the Company from private trade, the Frec Merchants obtained
mote capital from the Company servants. They acted so to speak as agents of the
Company Servants. Hence there developed a number of Agency Houses which
letar, in the last half of the 19th century, became known as Managing Agencies.
In the meanwhile the monopoly privilege of the EIC came under attack in
England. The doctrine of Free Trade, promoted by economists Iike Adam Smith
(Wealth of Nations, 1776). was inimical to monopolies. The capitalists excluded
from Indran trade by the EIC naturally lent support to the campaign for Free
Trade. Capital accumulating in England wanted freedom from restrictions on
investment. Moreover, the on-going Industrial Revolution brought to the fore in
the last half of the 18th century rndustrial capitalist interest; the purely
merchandising activities of the ElC. importing g d s from lndia to England.
diminished in importance in comparison w~thindustrid manufactwing in England.
There were strong lobbles in Parliament plsssing for the abolition of the
Company's monopoly .
ln these circumstances the Charter Act of 1813 was passed abolishing the
manopcly in Indian trade; another Charter Act in 1833 abolished the remaining
part of the Company's privileged monopoly, that in the China trade. Thus, after
mare than two hundred years, the monopoly conferred on the EIC was taken away
by the government.
Cbeck Your Progress 1
1) What are the ad\an!,.ges of the joint ,lock companics? -\n\wt.r In
l'lbc
sentences.
icc;.t*ct
of i:\
Mercanlile M i c h
and India11Trade
Other European East lndia Companies were marginalised; the military and
political victories of the English Company over the other ones have been
mentioned in Block 3.
ii)
The weakness of the successor states and principalities since the decline of the
Mughal Empire allowed the East lndia Conipanies to bully and bribe the local
powers to grant Europeans special trade privileges.
iii) Artisans as well as peasants, e.g.. weavers and indigo growers, were sometimes
subjected to coercive practice from the last decades of the 18th century in
order to procure goods at a cheap price or to persuade them to produce the
goods for the Company. By the end of the 18th century the position acquired
by the English E.ast lndia Company and the servants of the Company in
private trade may be described as a collective monopoly in respect o f t h e chief
commodities of export to Europe.
Cdoli.l~cmomy
In the beginning of European trade with India there were only voyages to India by
one. or more ships.from time to time. However, it was not easy to procure large
qiahtities of goods in lndia at short notice when a 'voyage' visited an Indian port.
Therefore, it became necessary to set up Factories in or near major sea ports 01.
production centres. You must note that these were not factories of today where
things are actually produced; the word 'factory' in 17th and 18th century English
meaht foreign trading stations set up by a merchant Company. The officials posted
there were called 'factors' who were essentially salaried agents purchasing goods on
behalf of the East lndia Company for export. Now the English as well as ;he other
East lndia Companies wanted to protect the factories with a fort around it. After
the decline of the Mughal empire set in, such protective fortification may have
been needed in some regions and some local government tacitly or explicitly
allowed acquisition of land and building of forts by East lndia Companies.
However, the Compan~esbegan to exceed the limits of legitimate self protection
and fortified and militarized their trading stations as centres of armed power
challenging local governmeuts. Fort William of Calcutta and Fort ST. George of
Madras were prominent instances of this kind (see Block.3). Thus, the fort
provided z nucleus allowing the foreign merchants to spread their control over the
neighbouring territory. The territorial claims of the Company sometimes had a
legal basis (e.g. the grant o i zamindari rights, as in Bengal), but more often than
not the real basis of the territorial claims In the last decades of the 18th century
was the military strength of the Company. You already know how the European
Conlpanics operated as one of the territorial powers from the middle of the 18th
cenrury (Block 3).
The evolution of the English EIC from the Voyag~system to factory system, from
that to forts and eventually to the position of a territorial power helped in
business; it was, not just .a fit of absent mindedness and an aberration from the
proper task of merchants that led to the political hegemony of the Company that
became the British lndian Empire. I t was useful to have mil~tarypower to back up
coercion on .the artisans (e.g the Bengal weavers) to produce goods at a cheap
price. to bully the local merchants to make them subservient to English factors and
private traders, and, of course, to eliminate other foreign merchants (particularly
the French and the Butch) from competing with the English. .Moreover, a military
and territorial power could extract from the regional principalities and the local
nobility "Protection money", bribes etc, not to speak of plunder that warefare
brought in. Finally, control over territories brought in revenue. The classic example
of this was the Dewani of Bengal from 1765. 'The Company's share of the land
revenue of Bengal enabled it to reduce for many years the remittance of bullion
from England. Bullion was needed to buy goods in lndia for export by the
Contpany and It was. of course. desirable to reduce bullion export from England
by raising cash in lndia to pay for exports from India. Thus the territorial
ambitions of the East lndia Company made a lot of economic sense so far as
English interests were corrcerned.
These are some of thc reasons why we see the Company playing such a salient role
in-Indian political history in the 18th century to emerge as the largest territorial
power by t h beginning of the 19th century.
--
i)
In short, the lndian empire acquired by the merchant company had to fulfil a
different role after the transformation o f England into the first industrial capitalist
country. The merchant company and their empire slowly veered towards a new role
in the new scheme of things. In the period you are studying in this course, i.e. till
1857, only the beginnings of a new imperialikn can be seen. It is seen in the
decline of the export of lndian manufactured goods to England. The value of
cotton cloth exported from lndia to England declined from pound 1.3 milliorl to
only pound 0. I million in the years !815 to 1832. In the same period the import of
cottorr cloth from England increased almost 15 times. In the previcus cer.tury the .
mainstay of the Company's mercantile policy was to purchase cotton cloth in lndia
for export. That procurement or purchase was naturally abandoned in the early
decades of the I%h century. In the last days of the Company's trading career, in
the 1820's, no cotton manufactures were expor~edby it to England; the only goods
it exported were raw silk, salt petre or raw material for gunpowder, indigo an
agricultural product, and (the only manufactured commodity) a small amount of
silk cloth. As regards imports from England, the East !ndia Company stopprci it
altogether from 1824, except for military stores etc. used by the Comapny itself.
The trade between lndia and Europe passed from h e . hands of the Cornpany to
private traders; as you know, the Charter Act of 1813 fuily opened lndian trade to
the private traders.
Another great change in the Company's policies and finances rook pldce in the
first decades of the 19th century. This was the increase in non-commrrcial earnings.
of the Company, 1.e. what was called the Territorial Revenue which came f:orn the
land revenue and other taxes collected from territories conquered by the Company.
At the same tlme the commercial earning declined because, as you already know
the Company's trade diminished in these years to the vanishing point. Thus from
1820's the Company depended almost entirely on Territorial Revrntx whereas up
to the 1765 the only income had been from commercial profits. From 1765, the
assumption by the Company o f the Dewani of Bengal. territorial revenue began to
increase and eventually outstrip commercial earning.,. Thus the finances of the
Company reflected its transformation from a merchant corporatlcn to a terr~torial
power.
Finally. one may note that it was the Company's deliberate policy to divert the
revenue ~t collected to commerical purposes. This was a rewlt of the Company
being simultaneously part of the government in Bengal from 1765 and a merchant
conlpany. A substantial portion of the revenue cf Bengal was used in the purchase .
of goods for export to England, the so-ialled 'investment'. 4 s a Gomn1i:tee of the
Engl~shHouse o f Commons put it In 1783, such 'intestment' was not actual!^
employment of trading capital brought into Rengal, but merely a means of
"payment of a tribute". This was a major example of what the lndian economlc
nationalists later called 'economic drain'. The territorial revenues also enabled the
Company to raise money on credit (the so-called Territorial Debt) and to pay for
military action for further territorial expansion.
Check boar Progress 2
I
I
1)
rc::ill.
I L . : I ~ : ~ ) : )and
Mercantile Pdicies
and Indian Trade
Structure
15.0
15.I
15.2
15.3
Objectives
Introduction
First Experiments in Land Revenue Management
The Permanent Settlement in Bengal
15.3.1 A Settlement with Zamindars
15.3.2 The Position o f the Cultivators
15.3.3 Effects o f the Permanent Settlement
15.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit we shall study the land revenue settlements made by the British in
different parts of India up to 1857. After studying this Unit you will be able to
undetstanki:
the' 3eaning of the term 'revenue settlement',
0
15.1 INTRODUCTION
Agriculture has been the most important economic activity of the Indian people for
many centuries. Naturally, therefore, kings and rulers have always drawn a large
part of their taxes from agriculture. The British government, as it established itself
in variou,~parts of India also imposed very heavy taxes on agriculture. In order to
assess and collect these taxes, it instituted various land revenue settlements.
Let us try and understand what this means. Imagine that the British East India
Company has just defeated some Indian ruler, and annexed his territories. Now
they wanlt to collect taxes from these lands. You may think that this could be done
by lootiqg and plundering-and this was in fact often the first thing that was done
in newly conquered territory. But it is not possible to continue like this: F~rstof
all, because loot is usually kept by the looter, and does not find its way into the
government treasury, and secordly, because this sort of activity is likely to cause
people to flee to other areas, or to so impoverish them that nothing can be got
later on. So it is necessary to institute some regular system of taxation.
such a system has two requirements: the government has to fix what or how much
will be paid - this amount is called the 'assessment; and it has to fix who will have
to pay. Now the person who is called on to pay a certain amount must have some
connection with, some control over the land from which the tax is to be collected'
because he will otherwise be incapable of paying anything from it. So when the
government places the burden of payment on somebody, it must also see that ne
has some control over the land so that he gets an income from which the tax can
be paid. If, ,he does not get anything from the land, he can obviously not pay
anything to the government.
Now, when the government had fixed (or 'settled') how the land tax (or land
ievenue) 'was to be 'assessed', and who was to pay it, and what was to be paid.
the essential steps in a land revenue settlement were complete. In this Unit our
focus is on the various land revenue settlements introduced by the British in India,
their features and the impact they had on Indian economy and society.
I
i
After gaining control of Bengal in 1757, the British thought that they would retain
the administration established by the Nawabs of Bengal. but would use it to collect
an ever-growing amount for themselves. However, the rapacity and corruption of
the Company's employees, and their continua1 interference in the administration
led to complete disorganisation, and was one of the causes of the terrible famine
of 1769-70, in which it was estimated that one-third of the people of Bengal died.
From 1772 therefore, a new system was introduced: this was the farming system.
Under this system the government gave out the collection of land revenue on a
contract basis. The contractor who offered to pay the largest adount from a
certain district or sub-division was given full powers for a certain number of years.
Obviously, such contractors (they were called 'farmers' in those days), would try
and extort as much as possible during the period that they held the contract; it
would not matter to them if the people were ruined and the production in the later
years declined. After all, they would have made their profit. Extortion and
opprcssion were the obvious results of such a system. Furthermore, many of the
contractors had offered to pay very large amounts, and later found that they could
not collect so much, even with great qpression. Finally, the system also led to
corruption. As with many government contracts even today, profitable contracts
on very easy terms were given to the friends and favourites and 'benamidars' of
men in power, leading to loss to the government. In 1786 Lord Cornwallis was
sent out to India with orders t o clean up and reorganise the administration.
expected from this measure. It would reduce the scope for corruption that existad
when officials could alter the assessment at will. Furthermore, now that the state!
would not demand anything extra if the production increased it was hoped that
landholders would invest money in improving the land as the whole of the benefit
would come to them. Production and trade would increase, and the government
would also get its taxes regularly. Finally, Cornwallis believed that even if the Ian4
tax was fixed, government could always levy taxes on trade and commerce in order
to raise more money if it was needed. In any case, the land revenue was now fixed
at a very high level - an absolute maximum -of Rs. 2 crore and 65 lakhs.
.
I
seize, that is, carry away the tenants' property if the rent had not been paid. He
did not need the permission of any court of law to do this. This was a legal
method of harassment. In addition to this the zamindars often resorted to iliegal
methods, such as locking up or beating tenants who did not pay whatever was
demanded. The immediate effect of the Settlement was, therefore, to greatly
worsen the position of the actual cultivators of the soil, in order to benefit the
zamindars and the British Government.
I
I
It may seem that the settlement was greatly in favour of the zamindars but we
should not forget that they were also now obliged to pay a fiied amount by fixed
dates eveiy year, and any failure on their part meant the sale of the zarnindari.
Furthermore, many of the zamindaris were rated for large sums that left no
margin for shortfalls due to flood, drought or other calamity. As a result, many
zamindars had their zamindaris taken away and sold in the decades immediately
after the permanent Settlement. In Bengal alone it is estimated that 68 per cent, of
the zamindari land was sold between 1794 and 1819. Merchants, government
officials, and other zamindars bought these lands. The new buyers would then set
about trying to increase the rents paid by the tenants in order to make a profit
from their purchases. Raja Rammohan Roy remarked that:
under the premanent settlement since 1793, the landholders have adoptsci
every measure to raise the rents, by means of the power put into their hands.
However, many zamindars still found it difficult to pay the amount demanded b)
the British. One such zamindar, the Raja of Burdwan then divided most of his
estate into 'lots' or fractions called parni taluqs. Each such unit was permanently
rented to a holder called a patnidar, who promised t o pay a fixed rent. If he did
not pay, his patni could be taken away and sold. Other zamindars also ~esortedto
this: thus .a process of subinfeudation commenced.
Gradually the population of Bengal increased, waste and jungle land came under
cultivation. Rents also increased. On the other hand, the tax payable to
government was fixed, so the position of the zamindars improved, and they were
able to lead lives of indolence and luxury at the expense of their tenants. Only in
1859 did the State take some step to protect the rights of tenant: a law passed that
year bestowed a limited protection on old tenants, who were now termed
occupancy tenants.
TheNewLmd
Revenue Settlements
Colonial
1)
2)
What were the mor:vrT bchlnd the ~nrroductionof the Permanent Seltlerlaent
in Bengal? !&'!?at wau tt.; effect on the position of the cultivators? Answer in
100 words.
:::>el!
........................................................................................................
.....................................................................................................
........................................................................................................
........................................................................................................
3)
15.5.1
You can see that the officer fixing the tax, or settling the revenue, has a difficult
mask. He has to fix the tax on thousands of fields in a sub-division or district, and
GO fix it in such a way that the burden on each such field is approximately equal.
If the burden is not equally distributed, then the cultivators will not occupy the
heavily assessed fields, and cultivate only those with a light assessment.
Mow, in fixing the assessment of a field, the revenue officer had t o consider two
things: one was the quality of the soil - whether it was r.ocky or rich, irrigated or
dry etc.; the other was area of the field. It followed, therefore, that this system
depended on a survey, that is, a classification of it. Thus one acre of first class
rice land should pay the same amount regardless of whether it was located in this
village or that one. But how was this amount to be fixed?
Munro usually fixed it by estimating what the usual product of the land was- for
example - 2600 Ibs. of paddy per acre. He would then claim that the State share of
this amounted to one third of this, or two-fifths of [his, and thus calculate the
amount that the cultivator had to pay the State. This, of course is the theory of
ryotwari -in practice, the estimates were largely guesswork, and the amounts
demanded so high that they could be collected with great difficuhy , and sometimes
could not be collected at all.
15.5.2
After some experiments with other ways of managing the land revenue, the Madras
authorities were by 1820 converted to the ryoti:ari system, and its triumph was
indicated by the appointment of Munro as Governor of Madras. Munro advanced
many arguments in favour of this system. He argued that it was the original Indian land tenure, and the one best suited to Indian conditions. Its adoption was
due, however, to one main reason - it resulted in a larger revenue than any other
system could have produced. This was because there were no zamindars or other
intermediaries who received any part of the agricultural surplus - whatever could be
squeezed from the cultivator went directly to the State. The Madras government
was chronically short of funds, and such a system would naturally appeal to it. So.
taking advantage of the rejection of the Permanent Settlement, it introduced the
temporary ryotwari settlement.
in the first half of the 19th century. No .one would buy it, because buying it meant
that the new owner would have to pay the extortionate land revenue. After paying
it, be would have no income from the land, and obviously, in such circumstances,
no one would purchase land.
15.5.5
The ~ $ o t w &Settlement
i
in Bombay
Ryatwari in the Bombay Presidency had its beginnings in Gujarat. The British
began by collecting the land revenue through the hereditary officials called desais
and the village headmen (Patel). However, this did not produce as much revenue
as the British wanted, ar, they began collecting directly from the peasants in
1815-14. When they conquered the Peshwa's territory in 1818 the ryotwari system
on the Madras pattern was also introduced there, under the supervision of Munro's
disciple Elphinstone. The abuses that characterised the Madras ryotwari soon
-red
in the Bombay Presidency also, especially as the Collectors began trying
to increase the revenue as rapidly as they could.
A regular measurement and classification of the land was commenced under the
supervision of an officer named Pringle. This survey was supposed to be founded
upon the theory of rent developed by the English economist Ricardo. This theory
was hardly applicable to Indian conditions, and, in any case, Pringle's calculations
were full of errors, and the resulting assessmerit was far too high. When the
government tried to collect the amounts futed by Pringle in Pune district, many of
the cultivators gave up their lands and fled into the territory of the Nizam of
Hyderabad. This assessment thus had to be abandoned after some years.
It was replaced by a reformed system divised by two officers named Wingate and
Goldsmid. Their system did not try to apply any theoretical rules: instead it aimed
at moderating the demand to a level where it could be regularly paid. The actual
assessment of each field depended upon its soil and location. This new assessment
began to be made in 1836 and covered most of the Deccan by 1865. Its effects
upon agricultfire were beneficial, and the dultivated area expanded as the new
assessment was introduced.
We have seen how the Permanent Settlement established a few big zamindars in a
position of dominance over the mass of the peasants. The socid effects of the
ryotwari settlements were less dramatic. In many areas the actual cultivating
peasants were recorded as the occupants or 'ryots', and thus secured the title to
their holdings. However, as we saw, the tax was so heavy that many peasants
would have gladly abandoned at least some of their land, and had to be prevented
from doing so. It was also possible for non-cultivating landlords to have their
names entered as the occupants (or owners) of particular holdings, while the actual
cultivation was carried on by their tenants, servants or even bonded labourers. This
was partic&rly the case in irrigated districts like Thanjavur (in Tamil Nadu) where
many of the 'ryots' held thousands of acres of land. There was no limit to the
amount of land that a ryot could hold, so there could be great difference in wealth
and status between one ryot and another. However, money-lenders and other
non-cultivators were not much interested in acquiring lands because of the heavy
taxes that came with them. Hence the small peasants, oppressed though they might
be by the tax-collector did not have to fear expropriation by the money-lender or
landlord.
Under the reformed ryotwari system that gradually developed in Bombay after
1836 and Madras after 1858 the burden of the land revenue was somewhat
reduced, and land acquired a saleable value. The purchaser could now expect to
make a profit from owning land :the State would not take it all as tax. One result
of this was that money-lenders began to seize the lands of their peasant debtors
and either evict them.or reduce them to tenants. This process led to considerable
social tension, and caused a major rural uprising in the Bombay Deccan in 1875.
zarnindars as far as possible, and even supported them in the law c o w s when the
taluqdars brought suits against them. But the so-called village zamindars were
supported only because it was planned to extract the highest possible revenue from
them. They were freed from taluqdar's claims only to subject them to a full
measure of government taxation.
The result was often the ruin of the village zamindars. One officer reported that in
many villages of Aligarh:
the Juma (land revenue) was in the first place considerably too heavy; and in
which the Malgoozars revenue payers seem to have lost all hope of 'improving
their condition or of bearing up against the burden imposed on them. They
are now deeply in debt, and utteriy incapable of making any arrangements
for defraying their arrears.
The result of this situation was h a t large areas of land began t s pass into the
hands of money-lenders and merchants who ousted the old cultivating proprison
or reduced them to tenants-at will. This occurred most frequently in t k mxe
commercialised districts, where the land revenue demand had been p&ed to the
highest level, and where the landholders suffered most acutely from the business
collapse and export depression after 1833. .By the 1840s it was not uncommon to
Sind that no buyers could be found to take land that was being sold for arrears of
land revenue. As in the Madras Presidency, the tax in these cases was so high that
the buyer could not expect to make any profit from the purchase. Overall,
therefore. the mahalwari settlement brought impoverishment and widespread
dispossession to the cultivating communities of North India in the 1830s a d 1840s.
and their resentment expressed itself in popular uprisings in 1857. In that year
villagers and taluqdars all over North India drove off government official,
destroyed court and official records and papers, and ejected the new auction
purchasers from the villages.
2)
In what way did the Mahalwari Settlement diffcr from the Ryotuari
Settlement? Answer in five lines.
3)
What was the effect of thc h,lahal\vari Settlernen! on the rural econoiny?
Answer in 60 words.
T?ICNrw I.and
ljc-
2)
3)
Your answer s M d fdcw on the ecooomic interest that the British had for
the introduction of the Permanent Settlement. In the second p u t of the
answer, you should write about the growing d w n d a n c y of the cultivators on
the zamindars and the miseries that the cultivators had to face. Sce Sec. 15.3.
See Sec. 15.2.
1)
2)
3)
One was with the zamindars, other was with the Ryets, for more diffomcer,
See Secs. 15.3 and 15.5.
SeeSecs. 15.5 and 15.6.
Growth of money-lenders and merchants in the rural economy, disposKIIliaa
and impoverishment of the cultivating communities, etc. Sce Sub-Sec. 15.6~2.
Srttkncnts
,-
Structure
Objectives
:ntrodclciion
I he Range n!' <_'9rnrnercial1sation
C~mmrr~:i;.;';s-~io:
Bcicrre t h e - ~ r i t i s h
Comnel.c~e,:,a~ic~n
U!ldcr rhe British
-
I 6.4. l
16.4.2
i6.4.3
!6.4.4
T i e c ,.rnpanv'< ..2ilns
1mpli:d:iars of These Aim:
Efcccr 0:' ihc Exporl TraL- on ..2gr1cu!'urr
The Sele. :,>n o! ;he Co:nmersial Crops
Ra~bSilk
Opum
Indigo
Cct:on
Pepper
Sugar
Tca
1rnpoverishm:nt
lnsrabiliiy
The Various Markers
Social Structure
i.et Us Sum Up
Answers T o Check Your Frogress Exercises
-6-. 0 OBJECTIVES
---- .
.--
--
----
---
- .---
.---
16.1 INTRODUCTION
The market is a familiar institution for all of us. You must have frequently gone
t o a market to make purchases, or sometimes to sell things. This is because we live
in a conmercialised economy. People work and earn, or produce and sell, because
they get money with which they can buy what they want on the market. All sorts
of things.can be bought on the market - from little things like cigarettes or sweets
to expensive things like houses or land. There are even markets for labour - for
e ~ a m p l e the
, employment exchanges tha! are run by the Government are a sort o f
labour market. But private labour iilarkets also exist: I am sure t!lat you can think
of places whcre you would g-if you needed to hire a carpenter or a coo;;c. .
The Cu~nmerci~llsalion
of Agrkullure
Many other kinds of markets exist in a developed market economy, but we d o not
need to consider them.
Thus we have seen that there are many kinds of markets, and some markets can
function even where others do not exist. For example, villagers may begin sel!ing
their surplus wheat or cotton even at a time when land is held on the basis of
traditional customs and cannot be sold at all. Again, it is quite possible for some
of the crop to be sold-while another part is disposed of in customary, non-market
waysL for example given to the village priest or carpenter or smith. So
commercialisation is a slom process, not a sudden or dramatic event.
The Mughal empire broke up in the 18th century, and was succeeded by various
r w n a l kingdom (as you have seen in Block 1). They sometimes collected lower
the Mughals had done, but they also collected mainly in cash which
indicates that the commercial system continued to exist.
tue,than
--
p
-
In ardcr to understand this we have to look at the nature of this new ruling
powa. I1 was a trading company based in Britain, which had been granted a
monopoly d the Eoctern trade by the British Government. Its aims and objectives
would therefore be different from thosc of an lndian ruler, or even a raider like
Nadir Shah.
16.4.1
The Company was mainly concerned with acquiring lndian goods for sale in
Europe. Since there was little demand'for British goods in India at that time, the
Company had to bring gold and silver bullion to lndia to pay far its purchases.
After the conquest of Bengal it hoped that it would no lower have to import this
bullion into India: instead, it would collect taxes from its lndian subjects and use
the surplus over its local expenditures to buy goods that would be exported to
Europe. Then there would be no need to send out gold and silver from Britain.
You can see that under such an arrangement lndia would, in a roundabout way
pry a tribute to the Company in the form of goods to be sold in Europe. The
Company would usc its political power to make commncial profits for itself.
16.4.2
Now. you will sec that for this a h to be realiscd the Company had to manage to
d o two things:
i)
It must collect taxes so as to yield enough not only to pay its military ancl
administrative expenses in India, but also to provide a surplus for the finance of
its trade;and
ii) India should produce at low prices goods for which there was a demand in the West,
so that the surplus revenues could be remitted in the form of these goods.
No sooner had the company acquired the Diwani (revenue control) of Bengal in
I765 than the Directors in London wrote to their employees in lndia to 'enlarge
every channel for conveying to us as early as possible the annual produce of our
acquisitions' and to 'increase the investment of your company to the utmost extent
that you con.' (The term 'investment' referred to the money spent in buying goods
for export to Europe.) More than twenty years later, the Governor General, Lord
Cornwallis, had the same aims. Tlrt value of Bengal to the British, he stated.
kpended 'on the continuance of its ability to furnish a large annual investment to
Europe'.
The policy of high taxation has becn discussed in Unit IS, dealing with land
tcvenue systems, JJO we shall now concentrate on the second of our two points:.
that India should produce expoltable goods for the 'investment'.
16.46
When Indian rulers collected taxex, most of the money was spent within the
locality or region, and so agriculture was little affectd by foreign demand. Indian
exports of handicraft and other p o d s more than covered imports from outside the
country. Initially the British also concentrated on exporting Indian manufacture,
like textiles, to the West. But a dangerous rival to Indian textiles appeared in the
later 18th century, as a cotton mill industry grew up in Britain. These mills found
it difficult to compete with the Indian products, and in the 1780s they launched an
agitation, claiming that the East Iadia Company was injuring them by its import
of Indian fakrics.
The company realked that it needed to promote other lines of export from India,
agricultural products were a safe line. They could not compete with British
products, and might serve as raw materials for British induskry. This strategy had
been followed in the case of silk from the 1790is, but with the development of
British industry this trend grew stronger Furthermore, by the 1789s an indirect
method of remitting the Indian tribute via China had began to take shape. The
British imported large quantities of tea from China, and had to pay for it in silver,
as the Chinese did not want Western goods. However, the Chinese bought Indian
products like ivory, raw cotton and (later on) opium. If the British controlled this
trade, then they would not need to send silver to China- the tea could be got in
exchange for Indian products that the British acquired in India. This system
became known as 'triangular trade', with the three points being Calcutta, Canton,
and London. Wealth circulated through the first two but gathered in the
Company's treasury in the third.
So, to conclude, The East India Company was interested in producing a controlled
commercialisation of agriculture in order to provide commodities for either the
Chinese or the Western market.
The Comlnercialisstipn
of Agriculture
21
h\
did :tic 6.i)girii.l i' ornpany plan for commercialisation of Indian agriculture?
A n w e r i:! _hi!words.
16.5.1
Raw Silk
The Company was interested in this product almost from the beginning of its rule.
In 1770 the Directors wrote from London that Bengal silk, if properly made, could
replace the Italian and Spanish silk that the British weavers were then using. So
experts were brought in to improve the methods of silk making in India, and to set
up workshops (called 'filatures') where the cocoons were spun into silk thread for
expart. The company through its agents and officials also coerced the growers of
the mulberry trees (on whose leaves the silk-worms feed) and the workers in the
fllrteres, so as to keep the price of silk low, so as to allow the contractors to
make large profits. Silk remained an important export until the last decades of the
19th century.
16.s.2
Opium
We Lave already seen that the British found it difficult to pay for the tea that they
i m ~ r t e dfrom China. However, they soon hit upon the device of selling the
Chinese opium. Opium is an addictive drug, like nicotine and alcohol, and once a
person has started taking it, he finds it difficult to give up, and will pay high
prices in order to get it. The British found it highly profitable to smuggle opium
into China
Opium had long been produced in India in small quantities. It was used a medicine
as well as a narcotic. In 1773 Warren Hastings, searching for fresh sources of
revenue placed its production and trade under Government control, and appointed
contractors to handle the crop. Later on officials knows as opium agents were put
in charge of it. The opium poppy could only be grown under a contract to sell to
the.Ciovernment at a price fixed by it. Any attempt to evade this contrd was
severkly punished. The price fixed was as low as possible, so as to yield a large
profip to the State. The supply was also sought to be controlled so as to maintain
a high price o ~ the
i Chinese market. Great efforts were made to put down the
initpendent producers of opium in the Malwa region of Central India - when they
failed the company contented itself by imposing a heavy export duty on the Malwa
opiudn. Thus we see t h ~ the
t development of opium as a commercial crop fulfilled
both the objectives of the Company - it gave a large revenue in India, and also
created a channel (via China) for the remittance of that income to London.
16.51.3 Indigo
This is a blue dye extracted from a tropical plant. It was used to colour textiles.
Up to the 1790s much of the Western supply had come from the Caribbean
colonies. But then, production there,declined, and Indian indigc found a growing
market. The company had been encouraging Eu:opeans to settle in its territory to
produce indigo, and purchasing it from them for export. Production inueased
rapidly. It was less than 5,000 factory maunds in 1788-9 and reached 133,000
maunds by 1829-30.
Indigo was grown under two systems of production dj and ryoti. Under the first,
the planter undertook the cultivation with their own ploughs and cattle, employing
hired labour for the purpose. The plant was cut and taken to the planters' factory
for the dye to be extracted. Under the ryoti system (also known a s - ~ i w ~the
) ,
peasants cultivated the plant on their own land. and had to deliver it t o the factory
at a futed price. Almost all the indigo was producd under this system, as it had
inany advantages for the planter. To begin with, the price paid to the peasant was
very low, and yet he could not refuse to grow the indigo. Refusal might lead to a
beating or imprisonment and the destruction of the other crops on his land. To
further strengthen the planters' powers, doctored accounts were maintained which
showed the peasant to be in debt to the factory-a debt that was to be cleared by
going on delivering indigo. Somehow, the debt was never cleared, but increased
from year to year. The planters were Europeans, and maintained excellent relations
with the Magistrates and Government officers, so that no complaints against them
were ever heeded by officials. So the peasants were compdled to go on growing
this plant at a loss to themselves: their accumulated discontent finally found
expression in what were known as the 'Indigo Riots' in 1859-60. Thus we see that
this important commercial crop was growl1 under a system of outright coercion.
16.5.4 Cotton
If indigo was the important commercial crop in Eastern India, raw cotton was that
of Western india. A significant export to China had developed by the 1780s,and
the East India Company and Bombay merchants, who enjoyed its favour, sought
to control the sources of supply. By 1806 substantial territory had been acquired in
Gujarat, and the Company began forcing the cultivators to sel! to them at a price
lower than thar Prevailing eisewhere. Now however, the Company came into
conflict with private European merchants and were compelled to give up the
system and retire from this trade in 1833.
16.5.5 Pepper
Here again the political power of the Company was used to force down the price.
and to prevent merchanis from selling to the French or other competitors. Here
again, the company was forced to hand over to private British merchants in the
1830s.
16.5.6 Sugar
The sugarcane is indigenous t o India, and gur and chhi have been produced here
for many centuries. It was extensively consumed within India. In the 1830s the
indigo planters were faced with a fall in prices and sales, and so capital began to
be invested in producing sugar for the London market, where import duties had
been reduced and demand was rising. Large areas of land were given to European
speculators who bagan setting up sugar plantations in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The
local peasants had long produced gurfor local consumptiolr and sale to other parts
of India, but they were now made to produce a thickened sugarcane juice (called
m b ) for delivery to the planters who processed it into sugar. As with indigo, the
peasants received advances, and were then bound t o deliver to the factory at a
low. fixed price. Large profits, were made by the planters, and exports grew; in
1833-34 Calcutta had sent less than 1,600 tons of sugar to England, but by 1 W ?
it sent over 80.000 tons-a fifty fold increase. This prosperity was short lived, and
when prices fell after 1848 most of the factories shut down, and exports almost
ceased. Indian gur merchants and khadsrris then took the trade back into the old
channel of sale to Mirzapt~rand central India.
16.5.7 Tea
In the 1830s the Company faced mounting hostility in China because of its
i~~sistance
on smuggling opium. It feared.-that its lucrative trade in tea might be
interrupted, and began to promote the"cultivation of tea within its own territories
in Assam. When the experiment proved successful, the gardens were handed over
to a private company, the Assam Company. Other tea companies also set up
prdcns in the 1850s. Since there were no local labourers to be had. the tea
gardens1 brought in indentured or bonded labourers from Chota Nagpur and
elsewhere in large numbers. This is the only instance in which commercial crops
were produced in large capitalist enterprises. However, the.expansion of tea, coffee
and other plantations really occurred after 1860. and thus falls outside the period
that we are studying now.
I IIL.C ~ n ~ m c r c i . t ~ i ~ ; ~ ~ i t ~ n
or \gr~raltl~rr
Let us start with the lndian economy as a whole. You will remember that the
object of the British was to produce goods for export to Europe, so that funds
could be accumulated in the Company's treasury in London. Private English
businessmen also wanted to send money back so that they could ultimately retire
to a life of comfort in Britain. The expons therefore served essentially to remit
resources out of India. It was the method by which the Indian 'tribute' was
transferred to Britain. India received no imports in return for these exports.
Obviously such a transfer impoverished India. The growth and export of
commercial crops thus served to impo;erish rather than to enrich India.
16.6.2
Instability
Strange though it may seem, the way that commercialisation developed in India
actually tended to check the appearance o f the other markets. First of all, except
in the case of tea, the crops were not produced by hired labaur. As we saw in the
case of indigo, the preferred system was one in which the peasant could be coerced
into supplying the required product at a very low price (what was called the rydi
system). In such a system, earnings would be very small which was why the
peasants had to be coerced into it. They could survive because they and their
families colrld grow food on the rest of their land - but a landless labourer could
not do this, and would have had to be paid more. So the planters and businessmen
did not like to employ wage labour, and the labour market did not develop.
The effect on the input market was similar. The .peasant had to use his own
plough, bullocks, etc. to raise the commercial crop. But he was not paid enough
for this - as that would reduce the planters' profits. He could bear the loss because
these things were needed to grow his own food supply also, but as in the case with
labour, rro free market for these inputs could easily arise.
The growth of a land market .would also be inhibited. You will realise that land
cannot be consumed like rice or dal. When we buy land we look forward to
getting some income from its yield. &rt no one will buy it if he 1s not reasonably
sure that he will be allowed to get this income- that an indigo planter or opium
agent will not suddenly make some new demand on him. The fear of such action
will obviously prevent outsiders from buying land and thus creating a land market.
The hereditary cultivators may go on tilling the soil: after all, what alternative
employn~entdo they have? But the exacting regime of the tax-collector, the
zamindar and the planter will check the growth of a market in land.
Finally, there is the credit market, the market for loans. Here also the effect of the
system was to check its expansion. The indigo cultivators were given loans by the
planters as a way of tying them down. An English official observed: 'If a ryot
once received an advance he could very seldom or never clear himself and thus
beccmes little better than a tond-slave to the factory'. No one else would lend to a
man in this situation, for how could the loan be repaid? C h che other hand, the
planter himself did not want the advance repaid, because then the peasant would
escape from his control. Similarly, in the case of opium, the peasants took the
advance to grow the crop at least in part because they feared that a refusal would
anger the village headman and the Government. A free market, with the freedom
for each individual to act in his own interest clearly did not exist.
Colonial Economy
words.
EXERCISES
Cheek Your Progress 1
11 See
Sec. 16.2
2 ) Your answer should focus mainly on the ccrmmercial interest of the English
Company, See Sec. 16.4
UNIT 17 DE-INDUSTRIALIZATIQN IN
INDIA
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
What. h We Mean By De-industrialization
The Pre-British Economy
17.3.1
17.3.2
17.3.;
17.3.4
De-industrialization
Conclusions
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers To Check Your Progress Exercises
17.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit you will get to know, about:
what is meant by de-industri4ization in our period,
the impact of European trade on India's Industries, and
the connection ktween de-industriali?ation and the policies of the East lndia
Company.
1 7 . INTRODUCTION
The increasing political a d economic subjugation of lndia to Britain since the
middle &the eighteenth century M a pronaunced impact on the Indian economy.
The destruction of traditional Indian craft induslrics was one of the earliest noticed
nianifestations of British economic control over lndia. This process has often been
referred to as the 'de-mdustrialization' of the Indian economy in Indian economic
history.
--
- -
--
the destruction of Indian craft industries under early British rule to substantiate
their point that India was being exploited under British rule. The nascent free
trader group in Britain attacked the East Indiz Company's monopolistic control
over lndia by criticizing the destruction of the country's traditional crafts under
the Company rule.
17.3.1
Eurly European trade with India was heavily balanced in India's favour. The
seventeenth century saw Indian cotton textiles rapidly displacing pepper and other
spices to become the most important Asian, import into the west. By 1664, the
English East India Company imported more than 750,000 pieces of cotton goods
from India, which accounted for 73 per cent of the Company's total trade. In the
following two decades the figure further increased to 1.5 million pieces with cotton
textiles now contributing to 83 per cent of the total import value. (Cambridge
Economic History of India, hereafter CEHI Vol.1).
The marked expansion of lhdlan cotton textile exports substantially accelerated the
growth of the textile indrtstry 'which probably provided employment to a sizeable
wction of the population.'
This unprecedented growth of Indian textile imports into Europe was accompanied
by a steady inflow of bullion into India from the buyer nations, because lndia
continued to enjoy a positive balance of trade vis-a-vis these nations. It has been
suggested that the Indo European trade of this period, which has clearly tilted in
favoul of India could not have been sustained at the level for nearly three
centuries without the discovery of American mines. The increased European
Iiquilty became a vital prerequisite for permitting the sustained financing of this
trade with its highly adverse balance of payments.
3 A) Coltoa dedag
2 B) Wnvlng
Dp-lndustrilisation in India
17.3.2
C)Loom
Tabk 1: Colmodity Cornpodtiom and pcrcclltrkrr of decled Items lm the total v a l r of Indbm
cxporla 1811 to 1858-1 (Soam CEHl p.842)
Cotton
Opium Sugar
Total
As early as 1720 the British manufacturing interests had successfully prohibited the
imF)ortation-of Indian silks and printed calicoes into Britain. The duty for home
consumption of Indian calicoes and muslins was very heavy. In 1813 the
Paa'liament again imposed an increased consolidated duty on home consumption of
calicoes and muslins.
Thus we find that in the period till 1813 Indian industry, especially the textile
industry was being adversely affected in two ways. On the one hand the Company
in its eagerness to depress the purchase price of cotton manufactures in India,
virtually reduced the weavers to the status of indentured labourers, by forcing
thdm to take advances from the Company and sell their products below market
prices. By the regulation of 1789, for instance, they were forced t o pay a penalty
of 35 per cent on the advance taken if they defaulted in supplying the goods. The
rapacious private trade of the Company servants and the shortsighted policy of
making quick large profits severely affected the textile industry as well as the
economy as a whole.
On the other hand, the East India Company, which had a monopoly on the trade
with India itself became the focus of attacks from traders who had been excluded
from having a share in the Indian trade as well as from the nascent British
manufacturers who perceived the manufactures imported by the Company into
Bdtain to be threatening their own industries.
The Company's own shortsighted exploitation and the free trader inspired
sanctions against Indian manufactured imports into Britain resulted in a
priogressive decline in the share of Indian cotton piece goods in the Company's
investments from Rs,92,68,770 in 1705 to Rs.90.51.324 in 1799 and to
R$.25,50,00(i in 1810. The value of cotton piece goods exported on Company
account from Bengal declined from Rs.61.67.85 1 in 1792 to Rs.3.42.843 in 1823.
The shift in the commodity composition of Indian exports from manufactured
gmds to primary products since the early nineteenth century is accompanied by a
complimentary increase in the share of manufactured goods in Indian imports.
Ti&
2: Commodity compodtioa of selected imports into India, 182&1MO (Sourn: CEHI, p.857)
Cotton
Yarn
Value
(%)
Cotton
Piecegoods
Value
(%)
Metals
Value
Wines &
(%)
Value
Woolen
- ( C ) Value
(%)
aj
b;
c)
d)
9 j D I S C O V0~1 ~~mciicar,
Y
ii~lncsclrlrlnd tile ediiy European ti,;de
a) enableti Euro;canz, to have the mcdns to Irnance thr~riThldc :L..,EPI
b) ondo;:$ Erirope4n;t ta st09 traaiar~~ i t i lladla
cj had igo ;rupatt
.ii:
d) both 5 ) and v)
..;
I~did
17.4 DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION
Early nationalist economists such as R.C. Dutt and subsequently Madan Mohan
Malaviya (in his dissent note at the Indian Industrial Commission) argued that
lndia underwent de-industrialization; their evidence was statistics of import of
manufactures, particularly import figures of Manchester made cotton cloth. For
instance Dutt showed that the value of cotton goods sent from England and its
ports east of the Cape of Good Hope mainly to India, increased in valuq from 156
in 1794 to 108824 in 1813.
In the pre-1813 period it was the excessive exploitation of the Indian industrial
sector especially the textile industry by the monopolistic East lndia Company
which led to the progressive degeneration of this industry. Forcible reduction of
,
purchase prices in India was resorted to by the East lndia Company to increase the
difference between its buying and selling price and consequently increase its trading'
profits.
The import restrictions on Indian textiles in England further weakens this industry.
The income of weavers and spinners were drastically reduced, thereby restricting
any possibility of capital accumulation and technological innovations in this
traditional industrial sector.
While India's traditional manufacturing sector was being steadily weakend under
the Company, in the sameqeriod Britain had begun its Industrial Revolution and
was rapidly expanding its industries by revolutionizing its technology as well as
organization along principles of capitalist production.
The growing British textile industry had all the advantage which were dented to its
Indian counterpart. The British industry had a rapidly developing technological
base, it had the advantages of economies of scale and finally it was carefully
protected in its formative years from foreign competition.
Some historians have put forward the view that the export of British machine
made yarn and cloth did not harm the indigenous textile industry because under
British rule the growth of political stability, better transport facilities and market
17.5 CONCLUSIONS
The above discussion and the findings of various local and regional studies, when
viewed in the context of an unequal exploitative metropoliscolony relationship,
clearly suggests that Indian industry definitely declined in the first century of
British rule in India.
Britianss deliberate policy of converting India from manufacturing country to a
-supplier of primary produce for its industries is very clearly reflected in the
following extract from a Petition of the East India Company before the Select
Committee in 1840- "this company has in various ways, encouraged and assisted
by our great manufacturing ingenuity and skill, succeeded in converting India from
a manufacturing country into a country exporting raw produce ... The peculiar
state of the relation between this country and India and the necessity for extracting
from the latter three,millions of money for Home charges ... and the altered state
of Indian industry in its being converted from a manufacturing country i n t o a
country exporting raw produce, are circwnstances which ... ought to influence the
Legislature to afford every possible protection to its agricultural produce."
Thopgh imperialist rule in the India had a generally cripling effect on traditional
Indian industries, the impact varied from industry to industry.
Ptcrafts which were practised as a subsidiary occupation in !he agricultural
slack saisons, using l d y available cheap raw material such as basket weaving
ud coir r o t k were the most immune lo competition from machine-made foreign
goo&. Minor manufacturing in v-i
by potters, smiths ud carpenters were'
only affected marginally b y f h i substitution of their products by foreign imports.
Workers in leather and cobblers were affected by the exports of hides from the
cquntry. Similarly rural crafts with wider markets were affected by the capture of
these markets by foreign goods. The traditional urban based luxury crafts were
badly hit by their customers (usually the nobility) changing over to patronising
foreign goods.
Thus the differential impact of de-industrialization may be mainly explained in
terms of
a) failure of imported manufactures to substitute certain varieties of indigenous
products,
b) the protection afforded by the lack of market integration at the village level in
many areas, and
c) finally the forced continuation of certain crafts inspite of their being
uneconomic due to the lack of more viable employment opportunities.
Check Your Progress 2
1 ) Write a brief comment (100 words) on the vicw of nationalisr ec3nomist.s on
dt-industrializaiiori.
.......................................................................................................
UP
--
Finally on the basis of qualitative official and private observations, trade statistics,
employment data (however unreliable it might have been) and a knowledge of the
imperatives and limits of the colonial economy in India, we can safely conclude
that the Indian manufacturing sector did decline in the face of competition from
machine-made, technologically superior manufactured imports from Britain during
the first century of colonial rule in India.
import.
MercamUHst: Policies and activities related to trade.
Per capita iaceme: Income per head in the country.
R e d income: The actual income after taking into account things like price size etc.
That is to say.
Productivity: The kvel of production in industry or agriculture after the input of
capital and human resources.
0;;jectives
Introduction
Subordinat~onof 'Native' Capital
?omination - Market and the Producers
City and Countryside
Transfer of Funds
External Trade
Indian Railways and English Capital
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers To Check Your Progress Exercises
18.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit completes our survey of the British economic impact on India. Some
major aspects of the theme have already been studied in Units 14-17. We take up
in this Unit a few questions which remain to he discussed:
a the changes in the position of the Indian traders and bankers as the English
East India Company and English private traders became dominant in India
from the 1750's;
a how this domination affected the artisans and peasants whose products were
drawn into the 'market' by the English Company and business houses;
18.1 INTRODUCTION
\
---
-.
- -- - --
----
1-cr LI\ n w turn I'rom :he realni of traders to that of producers, the farmers and
d r ~ i \ d ~\~Cry
\ . little is known of the trentis in production that could tell us about
national income or about thc enrnings of artisans and farmers. However, we do
k n o ~about the way producrion and markcring was organised in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries. HOWwab that affected by the activities of the Er.glish East
Ind~aCompany, 11s servants engaged ill private trade and English 'free traders' and
agency hou\es'! (You habe been introduced to them in Unit 14).
The essence of merchant capitalist operation is to 'buy cheap and sell dear'. I t is
good to have a monopoly to enable one to do that. It is even better to be able ro
use coercion and state power to do that really well. This was the Seautry of the
position of the East lndia Company as a government (since 1765 in Bengal and in
some other parts of lndia where the Company extended territorial control:
(Block-3).
As you know, by the 1770's and 1780's there had developed a collective monopoly
of the English Company and its servants engaged in private trade in respect of
ccrtain commodities, particularly cotton cloth in Bengal (Unit 14). That meant that
arrisan, had no option bui to sell their products to the i'ompany and its servants.
How wa\ \uch a situation brought about? To a great ewtent this was the result of
LI\C of coercion. A classic instance is provided by the restructuration of the
relationship between the weavers on the one hand, and the Company and the
\erbrant, of the Company on the other, between the 1750's and the 1780's in
Iknpal.
'Up to the middle of the 18th century, the weavers appear to havc enjoyed
-Independence and freedom to sell their products to the Engl~sh.the French or the
Dutch or to lndian merchants. From the 1750's. the gomastas began to compel
'weavers to $ell their products to the English. The elimination of the French and
the Dutch from conipet~tionby military means helped the process. Extortion by
fraudulent undervaluation of cloth and chicanery in the English Factories became
common. The weavers were bullied and harassed by the Factors, through the
Emmmk lmjtacl of
Cohmlal Ruk
Cdonid E
agency of Gomastas, to accept advance and to produce cioth. In the 1780's this
practice became systematised as the Khatbandi system: the artisans were indentured
to sell exclusively to the Company under Regulations passed by the Bengal
government.
Thus the artisans were reduced step by step to the position of bonded labourers by
the denial of free access to the market, by the use oi coercion, and by laws and
regulations made by the Company's government. Another instance that you
already know of is the production of indigo (Unit 16): in the ryoti system the
peasant was forced to cultivate and to supply indigo at a low price by the English
indigo planters. To a lesser degree, opium was also produced under the threat of
coercion.
Now, what is the result of this system of semi-monopoly and coercion? It creates a
buyers' market, i.e. a situation where the buyer can dictate the price, the buyer
being the English Company, its servants, and later. English traders, planters and
agency houses.
It was, of course, to be expect4 that an English Factor in the later 18th century
would pay the weaver as little as possible, or t h ~ the
i English Indigo planter in
early 19th century would pay the indigo-grower ryot as little as possible, if the
Englishman had the advantage of a monopoly position or coercive power. Lower
prices paid to the weaver or the indigo farmer would inflate the profit margin of
the English trader. Thus, sections of the artisans and peasants were producing
u n d a coercion goods which did not fetch a price that would allow more than
subsistence to the producer.
Consider this situation where trading capita! gets a nice profit margin without
having to make any capital investment in the production of cotton cloth or indigo
or opiclrm. Why should the trader invest his money ir. the production process if he
is making good money merely by buying the product at a low price? And consider
the producer who obtains such a 'low price that he cannot add to his capital stock,
for he has scarcely any surp!us after feeding himself and his family. How can the
artisan or the weaver add to his capital stock, i.e. his tools'and implements. if he
is forced to sell his-product at a price so low as to make accumulation of funds in
his hands impossible? Then who will invest and add to the capital stock and
generate higher production with new tools and implements and machines? In other
words who will invest in technological development and increase in productivity?
The answer is, no one. Thus the scheme of things outlined above contains one of
the explanations of the longstanding stagnation in technology and productivity
characterising 19th century India. In fairness one must add that Indian trading and
money lending capital played the same role as that of foreign trading interests in
this regard; the only difference was that the latter received more firm backing from
state bower in the initial stages of the establishment of this pattern.
In short, capital remained outside of production process, leaving technology and
organization of production by and large where it had been in the 18th century. It
is o! dourse true that there are variations from region to region, from industry to
industry. In some cases the involvement of the capitalist was greater; e.g. in the
raw silk industry in Bengat where wage employment was not uncommon, or in the
nijabsidi system (see Unit 16) where indigo planters employed people in farms
owned by the planters. These are exceptional cases and affected only a small
section of producers.
5. A Famine Scene
Ecunumic I m p c l at
Colonial Rule
old enemy, drought. From the middle of the 19th century the newly established
Public Works Department began to pay some attention to irrigation requirements
ip British India. The revenue policy also became more flexible and from 1880
famine relief measures were systematiscd. On balance it may be concluded that if
ability to withstand occasional crop failure without heavy famine mortality is a
measure of the prosperity and economic well-being of the agriculturist, the
dchievement of British rule in that regard was no better than that of previous
'pnenlightened' administrations.
Turning from the country side to the towns and cities. we notice two trends. the
decline and depopulation of old urban centres and, on the other hand, the rapid
growth of new cities and towns. The latter development was due to the needs of
British commerce and administration. The premier examples were the future
colonial metropolises, Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Simultaneously, many
hitherto small towns grew in size as administrative centres or central places for the
marketing of imported manufactures and exportable agricultural goods. The
noteworthy feature was that the new urban growth was not oriented towards
industrial production, quite unlike the European pattern. Towns and cities which
ef perienced growth in the first half of the 19th century were not places where
productive activities were located - their population was engaged predominantly in
tthe service sector i.e. marketing, transport, administration etc.
There is no doubt about the evidence of decline on stagnation of older cities, e.g.
the Mughal capital cities of Agra and Delhi, or regional seats of power like
Deccan, Murshidabad, Patna, Scringapatam, H yderabad etc. This trend Was partly
due to the shift in the political centre of gravity away from them to new colonial
metropolises. It was also due to the decline in the trade marts located in them and
rd-channeling of trade to new routes and networks. De-urbanization seems to have
been particularly marked in the heartland of Northern India, the region around
k l h i . and in parts of Western India. Whether. in an all-India perspective, the
decline of population in older cities was counterbalanced by population growth in
new ones is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps the answer does nor matter in
one sense: functionally the cities remained what they were in the pre-colonial era,
vast pumping stations for the concentration of wealth from,fhe countryside. The
colonial m~etropoliseswere d~fferentonly In that these were meant to pump out a
sqsbstantial part of that wealth. That leads us to another important feature of the
colonial economy, the transfer of funds to England.
Check Your Progress 1
I ) Explain the reasons for the change in position of the Indian merchants in [he
colon~iiiperiod. Answer ill 60 words.
p) Did
II:I:s.
coercion play any' role in coldnial trade in goods for export'! Answer in 5
Econmnk I m p ~ rd
l
Cdonld Rule
3) Hcw ~ o u l dyou corelate the frequency of famine and the colonial rule?
Ansucr In 60 word3
TRANSFER OF FUNDS
I f you take a look a1 the 17th and cariy 18th century account books of the East
lndia Company. you would see that apart from trade goods i t used to send to
lndia large amounts of 'Treasure'. ;.e. gold and 'silver. This was to buy Indian
goods for sale in Europe. The years after the battle of Plassey (1757) and the
assumption of k w a n i of Bengal by the Company (1765). saw a sharp decline in
the impcr: of 'Treasure' into India. Yet export of Indian goods to Europe
continued. How did the Company buy these goods in India? This was possible
because the surplus revenue remaining with the company (i.e. the land revenue
coi~rc~cd
II!~~;IJS
the dues payable to the Nawatr of Bengal) began to be used to buy
goods in l r ~ d ~for
a export. Therefore the Company did not need to bring silver and
gold from England.
What d ~ dthat meaa? First, it meant that what the Company collected as a
government III the form of taxes, the Company used asa mecchant company to
Inbest in i t 5 business. Secondly, i t meant that the company was getting Indian
gi)odh for sale in Europe for nothing; or that the company was collecting a tribute
from i t s terr~toriesin india in the form of goods for sale in Europe. i t can be
called a 'political tribute' - a 'tribute' because for this India obtained nothing in
return and thus rt was not normal trade, and 'political' because i t was the
Company's political power that enabled i t to collect revenue to invest in its
business. 'This i s hou there began the 'drain of wealth' or the unilateral (one-sided)
transfer of fund>.
The Company had a word for it: 'Territorial Revenue' e.g. the revenue surplus
from tjengal. Side by side the Company's accounts showed 'Commercial Revenue',
i.e. profits ol' busilress. As the Company's territory in lndia extended (Block 3),
the 'territorial revenue' expanded. The Company was able to use the territorial
revenue from one region, e.g. Bengal. to pay fcr the military costs of acquiring
other territories. Further. the territorial revenue was used to provide the funds for
the business which raked in 'commercial revenue'. I t was a perfectly self-contained
system, needing no funds from England. In fact, the system was successful not
only in financing the Company's exports to Europe, but also to finance the
Company's investment in China to buy tea and silk. The, latter branch of busines
involved export of silver to China which caused monetary problems in this
country.
This system operated in fuIl swing from 1765 t i l l 1813 when the Company's
monopoly was abolished. i n the next two decades the business of the Company
declined sharply and 'Territorial Revenue' became their mainstay. Private traders,
both Company servants and non-officials, now took the lead in export business.
They had always beer? there, as you know (Unit 14), and had been remitting or
sending out their profits to England in the form of goods through non-English or
through the English Conlpany by means of bills of exchange. Thus. apart from the
Company's account. on private account there was transfer of funds to England.
Not all that was thus sent out to England was business profit; it included earnings
of finglishmen from plunder and lost during wars, bribery obtained from regional
principalities, and fraudulent dealings with Indian business partners or underlings.
A knowledgeable English businessman, G.A. Prinsep, calculated that between 1813
and 1820 the year!y average private wealth sent out to Eneland from Bengal alone
was about Rs. I Crore and 8 lakhs.
So, profits of business and other private earnings formed one part of funds
remiticd to England. Another part was the money paid to shipping companies,
banks, insurance companies etc. irl England. This amounted t o about Rs. 57 lakhs
1n 1813-20 annusl!y. A third channel of transfer of funds was the Company's
remittance to England. This was to Day for the salarv of the Company's employees
in England, the interest on loans taken by the Company in England, dividends to
the stockholders of the Company etc. This amount varied greatly, from one to
three crores of rupees. This became known as 'Heme charges' and was the sum
total of the money sent to England by the Company's government after it stopped
trading in 1833.
While the system, described above, to get funds out of India was being perfected,
England was undergoing the Industrial Revol~ltion.Weahh from India added to
the capital accumulation England needed for industrialisation; however, it does not
follow that this was any more than one of a vast number of factors contributing
towards England's industrialisation. At any rate, industrialisation in England
radically changed the pattern of India's trade. At least that part of India's complex
trade history we should look at, for it had important consequences.
EXTERNAL TRADE
Broadly speaking, the general trend throughout the eighteenth century was that
Indian artisanal industries found a steady market abroad, and from the early
decades of the nineteenth century there was reversal of that trend. This was
accompanied by increase in import of industrial manufactures and export of
agricuItural goods.
Let us begin with the years following the battle of Plassey. In the years 1758-61.
the average value of cotton cloth exported from India by the English EIC was
about Rs. 27.4 lakhs (416.000 pieces on the average); this was abouf 81 per cent of
total value of average exports in those years. Raw silk, pepper and saltpetre
accounted for the rest, less than twenty per cent oi exports.
Now look at the picture of export trade in 1850-51. i.e.. at the end of the period
we are studying in this course. In 1850-1851 the major export items were opium,
raw cotton, indigo and sugar (accounting for about 30, 19, 11 and 10 per cent
respectively of total exports in value). Thus l n d ~ awa, now reduced to almost
totally an exporter of raw or processed agricultural goods. Of exports only 3.7%
was cotton piece goods.
As regards imports into India. in 1850-51 large quantities of English factory
manufactures were the major items; 31.5% of total value of imports was mill
cotton cloth and 9% was cotton yarn, 5% woolen cloth, 16% metals ttc.
Particularly important to note is cotton cloth and yarn. In 1850-51 India imported
Rs. 1.13 crores worth cotton yarn and twist, and Rs. 3.37 crores of cotton cloth,
called piece goods. Now look at the ~ i c t u r eonly two decades earlier: cotton yarn
import was only Rs. 42 lakhs, and cotton piece goods only Rs. 1.18 crores. in the
ear 1828-29. Thus in about twenty years these Imports from Manchester mills had
one up about three times. In the same period, the export of Indian cloth dropped
t o ah insignificant quantity. There was a reversal of roles: India ceased heing an
txporter of cotton cloth and became an importer of cloth and yarn, while England
--
t . a h' age
.
ha\ ~ t favourite
r
phrases: or catvhwords. In 19th centtrry Eurojx i t -a
'open~ngup' India, or China, o r some other African or .\clan c w n r r y awa~tinpt h ~
uonderq to he wroughr hy European capital and commerce Open~ngup meanr
prcbar~npa countrv for trade wrth European coi~ntrieshy removinj harricrc f n
trade: kuch harriers could be :he object~onof the C'hlnece government to entry
f c r e ~ g n e r or
~ . ionflicting c l a m \ of barlous European powers. or absence o f
transporratlnn \!stem c ~ ~ ~ to
t e the
d needs of Europeans. I n India. af:errhc
abolition of rhc Companv's monc?pol? privile.ges, tlpenlng I I mrant
~
~.hrrtl\riiilu.ry
deveiopment
The objectrve5 are qulte o h v ~ c v ~Harlwavs
\.
9'i;~ld enable imported Engl~sb
manufactured good%to reach I he Interfor of rht- country. facilitate the collec.r~on
and export of raw mater~alsand agr~culruratgoods from the interior, allow an
opportun~tvfor the investment of English capital in ra~lwaycompanies operatirtg I"
India.
To'attain the first two objectives railways had to be laid in a certain pattern v i ~ .
connecting the interior commerc~alcentres with the sea ports, where imported
goods came in and from where exported goods went out. These sea ports like
'C'alcut!a, Madras. Bombay and Karachi were also the centres of European busmess
and seats of political power. To serve the first two objectives, it would also he
convenient tcr have a rate of freight charges which would allow cheap transport of
manufactcred goods from port cities to the i ~ t e r i o r .and of agricultural puclds
from the interior t o port cities. Such a freight policy and alignment of railways
became standard practice in the railway companies. Hcwever. thew were la:er
developments; in the period you are concerned with now the main rhr~rstof British
policy was towards the third of the above.said ohjectirrs.
The railway companies were set up in England as joint stock companies (see
LJnit 1.i on joint stock companies). English capitalists bought shares in these
companies in the stock marker in London. In order t o encourage them t o buy
shares in a business remote from England and to create confidence in them, the
Government of lndia offered a guarantee of at least 5% interest o n their
investments. Thus all the Indian railway companies were in reality English
coinpanies protected by a 'guaranteed interest contract'.
The outconle was not good for lndia in a number of ways.
a ) A government guarantee of interest means that irrespective of profit or loss the
interest had t o be paid out of Indian tax payers' money t o the English investors.
This encouraged over-expenditure and extravagance in raiiway construction and
management.
b) The guaranteed interest had to be paid in England in sterling, thus increasing
India, why did the Government of India agree to sponsor them and offer
guarantees? Some of these reasons were stratrgic and political. Governor-General
Lord Dalhousie wrote in a well known memorandum approving of the railway
scheme: the railways would help the government to control the distant parts of
India, to move around the army to quell internal disturbance and foreign attack,
and t o guard the frontiers of India against Russia and other powers. There was
pressures o n the Indian and British government from interest groups who were
econohically and politically powerful; e.g. the promoters leading English capitalists
intqrebted in investing in these railway companies, the manufacturers of railway
engines and machinery seeking a market in India, business groups hopeful of
opening UP a market fo! English manufacturers in the interior of this vast country.
While! it is true that the p:rarigements worked out between the Engl~shrailway
companies and the British Indian government in the 1850's contained features
deterlmentai t o India's interest, the results included some positive features. The
railways brought modern technology and their workshops developed new technical
skills; the railways also served to unify the country and bring into existance a
national market. A contemporary observer, Karl Marx, was not altogether wrong
in thinking that the railways were forerunners of modernisation in some ways. This
may be true despite the fact that the basic objectives we mentioned In the
beginning were to promote British economic interest.
Check Your Prbgress 2
1 ) What do you understand by 'drain of wealth'?
'
3) What was the impact of colonial rule on india's external trade? Answer in 100
words.
,
8
When you look at these developments in the perspective of the transition from
mercantile to industrial imperialism (Unit 14). the land revenue policy in British
lndia (Unit IS), the commercialisation of agriculture (Unit 16). and deindustrialisation (Unit 17). you can form an idea of the shape of the colonial
economy which emerged in a more developed form in the latter half of the 19th
century.
Factory:
F m Trade:
Dadai merchant: lndian traders who acted as middleman and advanced cash to
producer (e.g. the weaver) on behalf of the buyer (e.g. the East India Company).
Home Charges: A term, part of Anglo-Indian jargon, which refers t o the BGtish
I ) Your answer should refer t o the change in the nature of trade in India, tire
increasing political power of the English etc. See Sub-sec. 18.2.2.
h a m k lmpsct of
CdoR*l Rule
For.This Block
3) Y o ~ answer
r
should include frequent warfare, excessive land revenue demands,
forceful cultivation of commercial crops etc. See Sec. 18.4.
Check Your Progress 2
I) See Sec. 18.5.
2) To iaciiitate transport of goods, to build up link between the city and the
country side, to invest capital for goods return etc. See Sec. 18.7
3j YoL'r answer should focus on the growing import of manufactured goods in
01 India
19.1 Ihtroduction
19.2 Impact of the Transition from Mughals to British Paramountcy
!i
-19,5
19.8
19.9
19.10
19.1 1
Consequences
Let Us Sum U p
Key Words
Answers to Check Your ProgresS Exercises
19.0, OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will get to know about:
the changes in the languages of India which came in the
transition from the
'
Mughal empire to the days of British paramountcy.
how the developments in languages accompanied new polarizations which were
occurring in the Indian society.
the ways in which the developments in the languages were affected by the coming
of the Western influence, and
solie consequences the developments in the modern lndian language had on
modern Indian history.
19.1
INTRODUCTION
i
..
The languages of India went through important developments in the 18th and 19th
centuries. This had a significant impact on modern Indian history. Of these
developments, the most important was the growth of the vernacular languages. as
distinct from the classical languages. The vernacular languages acquired a standard
form and a new prose literature. As we shall see, these developments had a close
bearing upon the course of the social and cultural history of modern India, and even
Cultural Contoun
a*
Th(e deepening impact of the West in turn brought to bear upon the vernacular
litqrature the strong influence of English literature. The literary forms prevailing in
Vi$torian England, such as the novel or the sonnet, had no exact equivalents in the
ve nacular literatures of India, which adopted them with great enthusiasm. A
_hi torian of Malayalam literature states that in any assessment of contemporary
literature one conclusion is inescapable: all the present forms and
owe their origin to English literature. In his opinion the whole range of
essay, literary criticism, biography, history,
the English pattern, and poetic forms also-the short
:I
I
i
,
sollrce. This is as true of the other Indian languages a s of Malayalam. Since the
break from the old to the new, the history of these literatures is the history of these
new forms and movements, though it must be added that folk literature continues in
its own channels unaffected by thc imported forms.
The Langumges of
Modern India
:v
~ h f moulding
j
of the standard languages fostered the cultural leadership of the
cated middle class and promoted political and social solidarity of a dynamic
Ire under their direction. Paradoxically, however,'it also produced some social
peltirizations that increased the distance between the new middle class and the lower
sections of the population.
3.1 Bengali
r was so right from the time when the new prose was created and in which the
llectual activity of the modern Indian Renaissance was carried on. The first such
llectual prose literature--the Bengali writings of Kaja Rarnmohan Roy (from
5 onwards)-had as its medium a cumbrous, artificial language far removed from
common speech of the people, and totally inaccessibm them. fhough capable
xpreising the most complex rational and scientific thought in his hands, and
~ g later
h
on beautified and naturalized by such creative writers as Ishwar
mdra Vidyasagar, Akshoy K u ~ n a rDutt and Bankiln C'handra C hatterjer (a
cess completed by the appearance of Bankiln's first novel Durgesh Nnndini in
5 ) . t h ~ srich literature remained outside thc reach of the common people of
al. Even while Kabindranath I'agore had begun writing the most original poetry
odern India, the weavers, artisans and peasants of Bengal, impervious to the
literature, continued to thrill to the songs of the folk singers. There was a
~ i n distance
g
between the folk dialects and the language of the middle class. The
gali language was split. in the nineteenth century, between the formal, written
.ary language (called sadhu bhrrshrr) and the spoken tongue, and though
jindranath adopted a Chalit Bhasha (a.language both spoken and written) in the
Ds, this too was the language of the middle class.
b
\
191..3.2 Gujarati
phenomenon was net confined to Bengal. In his foreword to K.M. Munshl's
Thie
hiqt~
ory of Gujarati literature (l935), Mahatma Gandhi, to whom the book was
I
deb icated, noted the distinction, in Gujarati as well as other languagec, between the
ladl:uage understood and spoken by the middle class and the language of the folk
ps which constituted the literature of the people. He characterized the written
,ature of Gujarat as the literature of the commercially minded and self-satafied
dle class, and deIiveredothejudgement that it was 'effeminate and sensuous'& ~ t s
:. He also observed in this connection that the written Gujarati literature was
uqtcwched by the language of the masses of Gujarat: 'Of the language of the people
wiknow next to nothing. We hardly understand their speech. The gulf between them
add us the,middle class. is so great that we do not know them and they know still
leds of what we think and speak.'
14.%3.3 Tamil
/
T+ take another example of what Mahatma Gandhi meant, in moderq Tamil prose.
tob,, the informal, spoken, colloquial language did not become the language of
.ature. Conversely, the formal literary language was not spoken as day-to-day
,
~rmalspeech by the Tamil speaker, not even by the educated intellectual Tamil
)ugh his Bengali counterpart did so in part). In Tamil literature there was no
a logy to the Bengali Chalit Bhasha, a languagethat was spoken and written
ultaneously by at least one section of the popblation, i.e. the middle class.
ead, as Kamil Zvelebil has noted, there was the Tamil equivalent to the Bengali
hu Bhasha, i.e. the formal, written, literary language, spoken by no one; and,then
.e were the various local and social dialects, the language of the Brahmans being
inct from the language of the rest.
I
I
The Languages of
Modem India
It
w n c r i ~ r i n ~ i c Ilivn t n ~ i r - h p r l h v m n r l ~ r n i t vnf a n v c n r t
The ew Muslim middle class writers, such as Mir Musharraf Hussain, who started
priti g in Bengali in the latter nineteenth century, adopted the standard Bengali
langbage and not Musalmani Bangla.
Cultwl Contours
b he& was another twist t o the situation in Gujarat. The standard Gujarati language
of tqe nineteenth certtury was the product mainly of Hindu writers like
~ a r h a d a s h a n k a r .The Parsis and Muslims of the region took n o conspicuous part in
fashboning it. Instead the literary energies of the minority communities flowed into
the bew 'Parsi-Gujarati', confined to qavels and stories of the 'shilling shocker' type,
a n d t h e even humbler 'Muslim-Gujarati'. Mahatma Gandhi kgretfully noted the
,
emekgence of these separate literary streams, and the manner in which they had
tortored the language out of shape. Yet he was comtrained t o say that it was
impbssible to ignore these two streams: 'They are not wells of Gujarat undefiled. But
I no lieviewer of Gujatati literature can afford to ignore the existence of works which
hunpreds, if not thousands of Parsis and Muslims read and by which, may be, even
sha e part of their conduct.'
I'
Ardund the same time, Rabindranath Tagore, too, expressed his misgivings at the
ass rtive attempts of some Muslim writers in the new Bengali prose to Islami7e the
lan uage by adopting Arabic, Persian and Urdu words. This attempt t o distort the
lan uage (which must be distinguished from the old poetical Musallnanl Bangla of
175 -1900) was not ultimately successful. (It is Interesting to note that the Bengali
Ian uage adopted in Bangla Desh today is closer to the language of Rabindranath
tha t o that favoured by the Muslim ulama of his own day.) But the distance of the
podr Muslim community of Bengal from the Hindu middle class who created
stapdard Bengali made it vulnerable to such attacks.
I
Thb same problem appeared in the deep south and in Hindustan. There was a
polarization between the Sanskritized Tamil of the Brahman and the Dravidian
( T a h i l of the Non-Brahman. And there was the more catastrophic polarization of the
1 vednacular language of Hindustan between high Urdu and high Hindi.
1
I
I
I
1
'
'
1g.5
I
~ t / vernacular
e
language of Hindustan, which the ruling Muslim elite of the medieval
pepod variously referred to as Hindavi, Hindustani or Hindl, and in which some of
even composed poems a t times (e.g. Akbar's courtier Faizi was the author of
Hindi couplets), was a composite language prevailing over the whole of north I
between Punjab and Sind o n the west and Bengal in the east. It was classified
into four distinct language groups of different origin, each with several
diplects :
I ) ( Rajasthani-Mewati, Marwari, Jaipuri, Malvi, etc.
2)' Western Hindi-Bangru (Hariana), Braj Bhakha (Mathura), Khari Boli (Delhi
I and Meerut), Kanauji (lower part of central Doub), Bundeli (Bundelkhand and a
( good part of the Narmada valley), etc.
3)( Eastern Hindi-Baiswari or Awadhi, Bagheli, Chhattisgarhi, etc.
4)' Bihari-Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi, etc.
4 s Delhi was the headquarters of the Muslim soldiers from the days of the
Delhi
Sbltans, it was from the dialect of this district and Meerut, known a s Khari Boli
(l)terally meaning 'the rough speech') from which the lingua franca of the camp
d)eveloped.
d h e Turki word Urdu literally meant the camp, and the camp language spread into the
the Muslim soldiers moved in there. Eventually, a literary version of the lingua
of the H ~ n d u s t a n camp,
i
known as Rekhta o r Dakkani, emerged in the Muslirp
of Bijapur and Colkonda. In the Mughal kmpire, however, the ruling elite/,
wedded intellectually t o Persian, did not compose any works in the language of
It thus remained a spoken tongue in the north, there being no literature in ilt
dialects of Hindustan in which poetry was most actively composed by bot
indus and Muslims were Awadhi and Braj Bhasha, and the dialect of Delhi and th
lingua franca of the camp were not regarded a s natural vehicles of written literature and
poctry.
The situation changed when t h e Mughal Empire, which admitted only Persian as the
language of learned discourse began to decline. Wali Dakkani of Aurangabad who
was well known for his poems in Dakkani visited Delhi in 1700; about this tlme
there was a trend in favour of their own vernacular language among the learned
Muslim poets of Delhi who had hitherto only composed in Persian. They set about
enriching and purifying it with the help of Persian. The 'rough speech' in Delhi
especially that in use among the royal family courtiers, attendants and soldiers
increasingly became the language for literary composition. The poets and scholars
weeded out from this still undeveloped dialect a large number of plebeian Hindi
words and enriched it by a ceaseless process of importation from Persian.
Paradoxically the revolt agalnst Persian in favour of the mother tongue thus
resulted, not in bringing Urdu closer to the indigenous element, but in widening the
gulf between it and the popular speech.
The early Urdu poets of the first half of the eighteenth century sometimes called
their language Hindi, and sometimes Urdu. The distinction between the two was still
not entirely clear. lnsha Allah Khan composed the tale Rani Ketki Ki Kahani (1801)
in a simple, common Hindust/ani prose. When the Fort William College of the
English opened a department for teaching t k language in April 1801, it was named
the department of Hindustani, by which they meant Urdu. The department also
provided for the teaching of Braj h a s h a for the sake of contact with the Hindu
population, and its head Gilchrist made a clear distinction between Hindustani (i.e.
Urdu) as a Muslim and Hindwi (i.e. Hindi) as a Hindu language : 'Hindoos will
naturally lean most to the Hinduwee, while the Mussulmans will of course be partial
to Arabic and Persian, whence two styles anse, namely the court o r high style and
the country or pristine style...'Gilchrist's identification of Hindustani with Urdu was
somewhat off the mark, a n d as Grierson later pointed out in the Linguistic Survey of
India, Hindustani was a narrow sense the language of the upper Gangetic Doab (i.e.
Khari Boli) and in a broader sense the lingua franca of India. A s it was capable of
being written both in the Persian and the Devnagari characters, Urdu came to
denote the special variety of Hindustani in which Persian words occurred frequently,
while Hindi gradually became confined to the form of Hindustani in which Sanskrit
words abounded.
The Lavaages of
Modern India
Cultural Cmtours
lankuage, but in 1837 this rule was rescinded and Urdu alone rema~nedthe language
of the law courts. An agitation in favour of Hindi and Nagri in the late nineteknth
cedtury created much tension between the Muslims and the Hindus. Munshi
Prqmchand who wrote his famous novels in both Hindi and Urdu said bitterly the
year before he died: 'It was all the doing of the college at Fort William, which gave
recpgnition to two styles of the same language as being two different languages. We
cajnot say whether there was some kind of politics at work even then or whether the
twb languages had dready diverged substantially. But the hand which split our
laqguage into two also thereby split our national life into two.'
3. Development o f Devnagi
~ e r s i a n and
,
his own mother language was deprived of his genius. As communal
separation became more pronounced, by and large the Punjabi Hindus and the
Punjabi Muslims devoted themselves to Hindi i n d Urdu respectively.
Check Your ~ r & r e s s 1
I ) List briefly the main changes In the development of lndian languages in the
period of transition from Mughal to British paramountcy.
3)
The dialect from which both Hindi and Urdu have arisen is:
i ) Kannada
ii) Ahomiya
iii) K hari Boli
iv) Mewati
19.6
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Despite what has been said above, the underlying pattern of the development of the
modern Indiap languages cannot be grasped unless we keep in view their basic unity.
la] Nehru said, their roots and inspiration were much the same and the
in wh' h they grew u p was similar. All of them also faced the same
from $tern
thought and influence. Even the languages of Southern
different origins, grew up in similar conditions. As Nehru put it,
each of these languages was not merely the language of a part of India, but was
essentially a language of India, representing the thought and culture and
development of this c untry in its manifold forms.
What7s often not realized is the deep interconnections between the various languages
of India both before an& after the emergence of standard or high forms in the
-nineteenth century. Guru Govind Singh, the tenth guru of the Sikhs (1675-1708),
composed his verses mainly in Hindi (Braj Bhasha), but some also in Persian and
Punjabi. Again, Dayaram (1767-1852), the greatest poet of the period of transition
from old t o new Gujarati literature, travelled far and wide, visited Gokul, Mathura,
Vrindavan, Kasi and &her famous places ~f pilgrimage, and studied Hindi, Vraja,
Sanskrit and the old qujarati Masters. He wrote many poems in Hindi, Vraja,
Marathi, Punjabi, Sadskrit and Urdu, besides of course writing in his own language.
After the emergence of the standard languages, too, the interconnection between
them continued t o be deep. Modern prose developed in ea* of them under the same
sort o f western impact, and the successful novels in each ldnguage were studied by
novelists in other languages. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee provided a n early model,
and latyr on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's works were translated in virtually every
Indian language and sold in thousands. A 1ater.example in Rabindranath Tagore
? ...
>
......
.....
-1.
__.1_1.1..
,1.__~-^.,
_ . P . . L
___
:. ..
>L
_
_ - _r!
:_
'hc! Lanpug- of
Modem Indh
Cultwal Contours
19.b
~ h emain
i
effort of the medieval writers in the vernacular languages had gone into
poe ry. That is not t o say that prose was entirely lacking in this period. The
D r vidian languages had a long but intermittent tradition of prose writing. A few 01
the'ilndo-Aryan lan&ages also had some scattered specimens of literary prose. But
Bedgali, Oriya, Maithili, Sindhi etc., had virtually no prose literature. With some
exc@ptions,only fragments of written prose are to be found In the north lndian
Ian uages.
+
'-
Th$ clearest form of prose literature in the Indo-Aryan vernacular languages was the
historical chronlcle.iThese are, however. found only in a few languages: the Buranjis
of {he Ahoms (in Ahom and later o n in Assamese) the Bakhars of the Marathas (in
arclhaic Marathi), and the Janamasakhis of the Sikhs (in mixed Hindi and Puniabi).
The bardic chronicles of Rajputana were in verse, but there was one unique prose
wolrk In Marwari. This was the chronicle and gazetteer compiled in the seventeenth
ceqtury by Muhanpta Naimasi, a minister of Maharaja Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur.
Thk chronicle is known as Muhanota Nainasi ri Khyata, which narrates the history
of la11 the major Rajput clans; attached to it is a gazetteer of Jodhpur state, entitled
M rwar ra Parganam ri Vigat, a scientific and statistical work, the design of which
w s apparently inspired by the great Ain-i-Akbari of Abul Falal in the previous
cebtury.
1
I
T e prose of the Buranjis, the Bakhars, the Janamsakhis and tlie Khyatas was
ar haic. There were occasional flashes of originality in such prose, but ~t was not
cabable of conveying modern, scientific thought.
be prose literature of the Dravidian languages had a longer ancestry and a Inore
character. The typical form of old l~teraturein these languages was a genre
Champu, a mixed i'orm of verse and prose, also familiar in Sanskrit. But
also more straightforward prose literature. T o take a few examples:
i)/
I
I
I
i/i)
(
I
i
jv)
I
)
1
1.
will be evident from the above that Tamil, Kannada and Telugu prose had
I
ttained a fairly wide range before the dawn of modernity. All the same, the new
that developed in these languages in the nineteenth century was very different
not modelled o n these earlier examples. O n the whole, new prose in the I
. .
- - ..
. - . .
. .
.
.
The Lungumges of
Modem Inpin
scieflific thought,could be adequately conveyed. The new prose also expressed the
process of encounter between Indian culture and Western culture.
//
It should be noted, however, that even earlier than this there had been a long,
I missionary
C
activity especially in the south, in
though isolated, record of ~
connection with prose and printing. The Jesuit Missionaries who came in the wake
of the Portuguese navigators and traders set up the first printing press in Goa in
1566. The two most important printing establishments in the south were later set up
a t Ambalakkadu (1679) and Tranquebar (1712-13) and there was a stream of printed
works issued by Catholic missionaries in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam in
the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centufies. They translated the Bible, wrote
Christian puranas, and compiled grammar and dictionary in the Dravidian
languages. Especially well remembered is Father Arnos who came t o Kerala in 1700,
spoke and wrote Malayalam like a n a p e , and left long poems in that language on
Christian themes, such as the Messiah Charitram; a s well as a Malayalam grammar
and dictionary now lost. The most interesting fruit of the Catholic missionary
enterprise, however, was a couple of inventive Malayalam prose works by two native
Christians who visited Rome in 1778-Malpan and his disciple Kathanar, Malpan
wrote Vedatarkkam (Logic of Religion), the first Malayalam prose work to treat of
social problems, and Kathanar wrote the even more interesting Vartamana Pustakam
(Book of News) and account of their perilous voyage and triumphant entry t o Rome
by a circuitous'route travelling via the Cape of Good Hope, Brazil and Portugal.
However, the Catholic missionary enterprise in the Dravidian languages did not
leave a permanent impact, and it was a n isolated effort.
It may be noted that there was a smaller Portuguese missionary effort at writing
Bengali prose, but it disappeared without leaving any trace on B e n y l i literature. The
beginning of a systematic Western impact on the Indian prose literatures cannot be
dated before 1800. In that year an important conjunction took place: the
establishment of the Serampore Baptist Mission Press, which was the first major
printing press in Northern India, and the founding of the Fort William College by
Wellesley with the object of teaching the Indian-languages to the officers of the East
India Company, a task made urgent by the expansion of the Company's dominions
all over India during his administration.
At the Serahpore Baptist Press, the dedicated missionary William Carey enlisted the
help of Indian scholars to translate the Bible-Ramram Basu for Bengali, Atmaram
Sharma for Assamese, Vaijnath Sharma for Marathi, etc. The Baptist Mission Press
employed Bengall, Nagri, Persian, Arabic and other characters for printing. Between
1801 and 1830 it printed works in about 50 languages, including Assamese, Bengali,
Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Khasi, Marathi, Punjabi, Oriya, Sindhi, Tamil
and Telugu.
At the Fort William College, William Carey and John Gilchrist came to head the
Bengali and Hindustani departments respectively, and they had a host of lndian
munshis under them teaching and writing in these and other vernacular languages.
Gilchrist, whose department was considered more important as it taught the lingua
franca of the country, wrote the Hindi Dictionary (1802). Carey, who turned out to
be a more versatile teacher, wrote grammars of Bengal~,Marathl, Punjabi, Telugu
and K a n ~ a d a The
.
most important part of the publishink programme of the College
was the text-books written by the munshisl for teaching the
there existed no much works, this' was a n original effort
i ~ ~ O * a nattempt
t
.-.
Culturnl Contours
version of Bhagavata Purana). rhe subjects covered tales, history, biography, letters,
dialogue$ and proverbs.
O n the ;hole, these grammars and prose works were rather artifical and they left no
perceptiqle Impact o n the future literature, and the beginning of spontaneous literary
composition in prose came later and had no demonstrable connection with the early
effolrts df the Bapt~stmissionaries and the munshis of the Fort William College.
These dfwelopments wcre connected with the growth of English schools and colleges,
the rise ,of the vernacular press, and the appearance of text book societies and
leazned a n d literary associations In the great metropolitan centres like Calcutta and
Bombag.
The firlit of the new orose literatures, that in Bengali, was the product of the growing
impact of institutions like, the Hindu College (18 17) and the Calcutta School Books
S m i e t j (I81 7), the circulation of newspapers like the Samachar Darpan (l818),
Slrmbap Kaumudi (1821) and Samachar Chandrika (1822) and serious writing of
Rammlohan Roy, lshwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Debendranath Tagore and Akshoy
Kumaf Dutt. The Aligarh Anglo-Muhammadan Oriental College (1877) of Saiyid
Ahmad Khan created a dynamic new body of Urdu prose writings that Included the
w ~ r k s l o fNazir Ahmed, Shibli Numani and Hali. The time lag between the respective
.
develqpments i n Bengali and Urdu was a consequence of the differential rate of
Westeirn influence : the new Bengali literary prose flowered forth between 18 15-1865,
while lthe new Urdu literary prose gathered momentum only in the 1870s. In between
them,( Marathi prose modernized itself, largely as a result of the impact of the new
educqtion imparted by institutions like the Elphinstone College of Bombay (1835)
an
Prabhakar (1842), and
and tpe circulation of the Darpan (1831), ~ i ~ d a r s h (1841),
Jnanbprakash (1849). The flnal classical touch came with the Nibandhamala o r
essays of Vishnushastr~Chipluukar (1874). Among the Drav~dianlanguages the
earliyst and most dynamic response to the challenge of the West was exhibited by
hlalt$yalam, which owed its new prose literature to the text-books wrltten by Kerala
~ a r h for
a the Text-book committee of Travancore in the 1870s and 1880s, and to
the hewspapers Keralamitram (1860), Kerala Patrika (1885) and Malayali (1886).
CONSEQUENCES
The developments in the modern Indian languages had significant consequences for
mopern I n d ~ a nhistory. These may be summarized as follows:
The development .of standard vernacular languages brought social leadership to the
i)
I educated middle class, because it was this new class which created the standard
language in each vernacular. By this means, the middle class could seize leadership
of the s o c ~ a land cultural movements of modern India, and later o n of political
movements as well.
i
ii), At the same time the emergence of the standard language, which was the
language ot' the middle chs, aeatetl s distance between that class and the
masses of India, who clung to spoken dialects and folk literature.
iii) There were also differential linguistic developments which accentuated the
differences between the communities-Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, etc.
ij) All the same there emerged an educated middle class which was p-h-~ndian in
its scope. In its hands, the new vernacular prose became the medium of
I
rational,, scientific thought. There sprang up a press and a public and the
I
growth of enlightened opinion through the medium of prose formed the
I
essential background to the shaping of the modern nation.
The Lmgugea of
2)
How did the growth of lndian languages have a n impact on the growth of the
National Movement?
19.10
KEY WORDS
Modern India
Objectives
fntroduction
f h e Poetical Heritage of Old lndia
$he End of Old Poetry
10.3.1 Urdu Poetry
$20.3.2Other Languagec
20.4 'The New Poetry
20.5 Peuelopments on the Stage
20.5.1 Western Influence
h0.5.2 Maturity
20.6 'The Rise of the Novel
20.6 1 New Narratives
20.6 2 Bankim's Age
20.7 Let Us Sum Up ..
20.8 ,'Key Words
20.9 ~ n & e r sto Check Your Progress Exercises
20.01
OBJECTIVES
about the ways in which this nterature got fresh impetus, a'nd
how new forms of Indian literature developed under this impetus.
Unit; 19 has described the growth of the language of modern India. Here the growth
of literature in the modern lndian languages will be discussed. The development of a
stanflardized language in each of the major vernaculars of India, together with the
emergence of a well-developed language of prose in the vernaculars, had a critical
impact on the evolution of Indian literature. T o put it simply, literature in the
vernlacular languages of lndia evolved from the old to the new.
Thelvernacular languages of India had not developed prose literature in the
eighiteenth century. There was a huge literature, but it was almost entirely in verse.
Thiq old poetical literature bore the stamp of the mentality of a traditional age. The
impact of English literature on Indian literature began to be felt in the nineteenth
century. Two main consequences flowed from this. One was the development of a
newi kind of poetry, with several new forms borrowed from English poetry. The
other was the emergence of a prolific prose literature that bore the stamp of the new
ageland the modern mentality. Since it is not possible to depict the changes in
melbtality and literary creativity with the limits of a strictly defined.period, in this
unit we also look beyond, to the decades preceding and succeeding this period.
201.2
'immediately preceded it in tbe turbulent years of the Mughal decline and the English
expansion. It must be stressed, however, that the devotional literature of Bhakti and
Sufism which had flourished at a n early time had a n impohant influence on the
poets of modern India.
In the old Sufi and Bhakti poetry the figure of the Beloved stood for God. But
devotional poetry was not very characteristic of the eighteenth century which came
under the influence of a highly conventionalized style of erotic poetry. Here and
there we do, however, encounter some great Sufi and Bhakti poets and singers in
that age of turbulence: in Sind, Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit; in the Punjab, Waris
Shah; in the deep south, the Telugu composer Tyagaraja who set his thousands of
devotional poems to matchless Carnatic music.
The Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit and his Punjabi contemporary Waris Shah
took Hindu folk tales of their own regions, the love stories of Sasui and Punhoon
and of Hir and Ranjha; they embroidered into them a deeper Sufistic inteipretation;
and thus they produced the classics known as the Risalso of Shah Abdul Latif (died
1752) and Hir-Waris (1766). Both tapped the deep pathos of popular love stories to
give a spontaneous touch to Sufi preaching.
Hir Waris turns on an extra marital affair. The headman's daughter Hir is forcibly
separated from the cattle-herd Ranjha by her kinsfolk and married off to a husband
to whom she acts coldly. Her continuing attachment to her lover who roams the
country as a Jogi ends in a tragic series of deaths. She is killed by her relations, and
on hearing this Ranjha sighs deeply and his soul departs from his body. But as far as
Waris Shah is concerned, their souls are united for ever in heaven. He feels that true
love on earth is symbolic of the Sufi's union with God.
Shah Abdul Latif embroidered upon several folk stories of Sind. Of these, the
pathetic love story of Sasui and Punhoon, set ageinst the background of the parched
desert, is the most popular among the Sindhis. Shah Abdul Latif's treatment of the
well known theme begins when Sasui's husband, a stranger from Baluchistan named
Punhoon, is secretly taken away by his kinsfolk at night on fleet-footed camels. The
girl crosses the trackless desert of Sind, and the bare mountains of Baluchistan,
alone in search of her husband. She loses her life amidst the sands in a quest that
embodies for Shah Abdul Latif the devoted man's untiring search for God. This is
the song Shah Abdul Latif puts into the mouth of the girl before she finally
disappears in the sands :
I did not meet my love although
A hundred suns to setting sped.
0 let me yield my life when I Have
seen him, hence my journey made.
Shah A b W t a t i f s e e s in Sasui's unremitting struggle into the last the difficult path
~
to obliterate the distinction between himself and God. But he and
of the S U striving
other poets of his sort are something of an exception in that troubled age. The
eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century are marked by a
conventional poetry in most of the Indian language, inspired not so much by deep
devotion as by decadent eroticism.
20.3
The social crisis accompanying the decline of the Mughal empire left a deep imprint
on the literature of the age. A sense of decadence pervaded the literature of
practically every major language in Northern and Southern India before the new
prose and poetry emerged under the impact of Western influence. This was especially
true of the Urdu poetical literature that came into its own in the eighteenth century.
Frpm its birth in Delhi around 1700 it showed the signs of a profound moral crisis,
i n d i c ~ t i nthe
~ misfortunes of the aristocratic Muslim society which patronized the
poetry.
Literature Ln the
Indian Languages
Cultunl Contours
Wipe (sharab) and woman (saqi, a euphemistic term for the courtesan) formed an
inseparable combination in the Urdu poetry of the age. The dissipation, luxury and
senbuality of the declining aristocratic society was reflected in the predominance of
the(figure of the courtesan in the Urdu poetry of Delhi and Lucknow. No longer
intdnt on the marriage of souls, the typical poet looked forward to a sensual union
with the beloved, as'is indeed made clear in the following verse from Insha Allah
Khbn, son of Mughal courtier of Murshidabad and a displaced young men driven to
Lubknow after the English take-over in Bengal.
I
Lohe in Lucknow as lnsha Allah Khan and other Urdu poets came to cultivate it in
the/ latter part of the eighteenth century was a pastime, rhe accomplishment s f a
coqrtier too sophisticated and cultured to believe in feelings. The Hindi poetry of the
age, too, exhibited symptoms that were similar. The Jagat Vinod of a Padmakar
B atta (1753-1833), composed in the rich and luxurious court of Jaipur, reflects a
w rld from which serious concerns are excluded and which exacts from those who
livk in it one duty alone, that of pursuing pleasure. Hindi poetry had undergone
sirice the middle of the seventeenth century a long-term change from 'Bhakti' to 'Riti'
(meaning on emphasis on rhetoric and poetics and also poetry of a secular and
se$suous type composed according to a carefully cultivated technique). This school
hald lost its freshness by endless repetition and was barren at the beginning of the
niheteenth century.
be 'dictatorship of the Grammarian and the Rhetorician' was not confined to the
la guage of Hindustan alone, and had affected Bengali, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil and
0 iya as well. K.M. Munshi talks of 'a weary' lifeless age in Gujarati literature at the
close of the eighteenth century, Mayadhar Mansinha speaks of 'the dark night of the
I
0 iyas' in wdicd voluptuous and ornate poetry flourished, and Chenchiah and
B ujanga Rao describes as 'one long night' the period of Telugu literature between
1430-1850.
e fall of the Hindu kingdoms of Orissa and Vijayanagara seems to have created in
InAia t
h c ~a m p kind n f ~ n r i a and
l
rnnral rricic that the
~uh~eouent
&'
li
il
1
)
disintegration of the Mughal Empire produced in Hindustan. The Kavya style which
flourished in Telugu came to depend more on hyperbole and exaggeration : 'One
poet said that the turrets of the city seemed to kiss the sky. Another went a step
further and imagined that they pierced the vault. Yet a third outstripped these,
describing them as emerging in the court of Indra.' The moral tone of the Telugu
poetFy of the age was not high Suka Saptati related the artful way in which society
women violated their marital vows and Bilhaniya related to a sexual intrigue between
p young daughter and her teacher. The same stories were to be found in Bengali as
well presented in another garb and with spperb technique by Bharat Chandra Ray
(died 1760). The insecurity and turmoil of the age lent an underlying tone of
darkness to its poetry. A profound sense of the evening tide dominated the songs of
kali the Mother composed by Ramprasad Sen in mid-eighteenth century Bengal:
Let us play, you said, and brought me down on earth
Under false pretence: (3 Mother, the play did not
Fulfil my wish. What was to be on this playground
H a s been played out. Now at evening, says Ramprasad,
Gather up the child in your arms and let us go home.
Ramprasad Sen
The saFe sense of gloom permeated the Persian and Urdu poetry of Mirza Ghalib
(1797-1869) who lived and wrote, his incomparable ghazals in Delhi between 18271857. He was the last great poet of the old world, a poet of the Mughal twilight. For
him, living in Delhi under the last of the Mqghab,
Life is not journey with an end, there is
No rest in death,
We move not on, but slip and slide
On unsure, trembling feet.
With Ghalib, the old poetry shot forth its last ray of disappearing glory. Even while
he was turning out Persian and Urdu ghazals in the set mould of Delhi, Michael
Madhusudan Dutt and other Bengali poets of Calcutta were importing new forms
into Indian poetry by engrafting on to it from English poetry the blank verse, the
sonnet and the modern individualistic epic.
Literature in the
Indian Languages
But it was Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) who best represented the new spirit in
1n&. It was he who accomplished the naturalization of the humanist and rationalist
valqes of the West in Indian literature. He did not make any forced adaptation of
fordign models : instead, the influence of the Upanishads and of Kalidasa, of
VaiShnava lyricism and the rustic folk songs, were organically blended in his poetry
witfi Western influences. This achievement brought him world-wide recognition, and
in 1P13, the Nobel Prize. He was not merely a poet; he wrote novels, shog stories,
plays, essays and literary criticism, all of which reached maturity in his hands. In due
coufse his writings influenced the_various Indian languages through Qirect reading or
traxislations from the Bengali original. It may be truly said therefore that with him
modern Indian literature came of age.
' WhBt was the nlw spirit that Tagore embodied? It w a be evident a t once when we
look at his challenge to the doctrine of Maya (Illusion)-the philosophical basis of
Indk's age-old 'otherworldy' culture. It may be noted that some of the medieval
bhakti poets had not accepted the doctrine of Maya. Tagore'was indebted to that
poetic tradition; but his assertion that the world was real went much further and it
contained a scientific and humanistic core of benefits. It expressed itself in his love
of his country, but it was not narrow of patriotism. His patriotic ideal, which
embraced the whole of humanity and was inspired by the spirit of reason and
freedom, found expression in a famous poem of the Citanjali which won him the
Nobel Prize:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
where the world has not been broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic walls
Where words come from the depth of truth;
where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into
the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
*here the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
thought and action
lnto that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
In al word, Tagore imparted the universal-spirit of progress and reason to the
liteqature of his country, and he did so in a uniquely Indian manner, not forgetting
GO^ and the eternal truth.
The age in which he lived and worked saw the rise of several other poets who
Indian literature with theirdistinctive poetical works. Subrmanya Bharati,
the lgreatest poet in modern Tamil, was greatly encouraged by his example. Bharati's
Kujil Pattu, a collection af songs of love, may be taken to be the counterpart to
Tag re's Citanjali; he also wrote Swatantra Pattu, an yqually influential collection of
son s of freedom. The three great contemporary Malayalam poets, Kumaran Asan,
Ulldor S. Parameswara lyer and Vallathol Narayana Menon, also exuded the same
newi spirit. Together they created what a historian of Malayalam literature calls the
'golfen age of romantic poetry' in that language.
i
1
Amlong other contemporarieh of Tagore must be mentioned Bhai Vir Singh, a Sikh
poek whose Punjabi masterpiece, Rana Surat Singh (1905), depiets a widow's
spi{itual journey in search of her dead husband; Narsinhrao Divatia. a -Gujarati poet
who wrote an incomparable elegy on his son's death (Smarana Samhita) in 1915; and
the Hindi poets of Chhayavad, ~ a Shahkar
i
Prasad, Nirala and Sumitra Nandan
pant, who were inspired by Tagore and the European symbolists to introduce a
mystic and romantic subjectively in the Hindi poetry of the 1920s.
The account of modern Indian poetry would remain incomplete without a reference
to Mohammed Iqbal, who furrowed a course 'fferent from that of Tagore. During
the prolonged crisis that overpowered the Tu ish Caliplkate in the second decade of
the twentieth century, he emerged as a poet of Pan-Islamisni in the UrduJanguage.
Later he wrote several works in Persian which gave him a certain recognition in the
Islamic world outside India. With Bal-e-Jibril (1935) he returned to Urdu again.
Although at first an outspoken nationalist, he came by 1930 to advocate a sephrate
homeland for the Muslims in India. He died in 1938, leaving behind a poetical
heritage rich in spirituality and informed by the spirit of Islamic revivalism.
2) Was the new poetry able to shake off the earlier decadence?
................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
' 20.5
The stage brought a new dimension to Indian literary activity in the nineteenth
century. It did not exist before. The idea caught on when the European community
in Calcutta performed English plays on the stage. Before this, there were folk
performances of various sorts under the sky-Kathakali in Kerala, Yakshagana in
Karnataka and Andhra, Yatra in Bengal and Orissa, Ras Lila in Braj, etc.
Combining song, dance and bits of acting, these were performances without a formal
theatre. There was no drama proper,-except for survivals of classical Sanskrit drama
here and there. In certain parts of the country, for instance in Orissa and Kerala,
Sanskrit drama was still to some extent a living tradition. When plays on the stage
were first attempted in the nineteenth century, Sanskrit drama, especially Kalidasa's
Abhijana Shakuntalam, provided a source of inspiration in several provinces.
Cultuml Contours
t
I
This wbs not the Indian audience's first acquaintance with plays of Western type. A
~mssiabvisitor to Calcutta, named Gerasim Lebedeff, translated an English play into
Bmgali, and had it enacted on the stage in -1795. ~ v e nearlier than this, Christians of
~ a n t r a Kerala,
l
ever since coming into contact with the Portuguese, had produced
plays that exhibited some of the features of western drama. But these were isolated
produckions, and had on influent= on the development of dramatical literature from
around the middle of the nineteenth century.
~rnong/the first original plays influenced by Western notions were the tragic play
mentioped before, named Kirtibilas, and Taracharan Sikdar's Bengali comedy of the
sa*e y&ar(1852), entitled Bhadrajuna, which followed both Sanskrit and Western
nolionsl of comedy in developing the Puranic theme of Subhadra's elopement ~ h h
'
Arjluna. In Marathi, the first full-fledged play was Prasannaraghava (1851). The fiht
Urdu pay, Anant's Indar Sabha (1853), is said to have been enacted in Lucknow by
Nawab b a j i d Ali Shah, his courtiers and his concubines. It is based on an
inc@nse$uentialtale of a fairy's love for a man, the latter's imprisonment by god
Indra, qnd how the fairy rescued her beloved in the guise of a jogan.
1
I
1
Playsl we+ enacted at first by amateur groups, usually in the mansion of some
notable fdmily. Michael Madhusudan Dutt's tragedy, Krishnakumari, was staged in
the ~pbhdbazarRaj house of North Calcutta in 1865. The first public theatre, named
the Natio a1 Theatre, was set up in Calcutta in 1872. Soon there were several rival
Calcutta t eatres and professional troupes. In Bombay, the other great centre where
the pn'ofes(siona1stage flourished, the Parsi community, realizing the commercial
possibiliti#s of the theatre, set up several companies in Bombay and soon extended
several parts of Western and Northern India. These were itinerant
on a round of the leading cities of India and attracting large
wds to gaudy and dazzling plays in which the actors acted with sweeping
a shrill declamatory style. Naturalism had no place in such theatre and
produced seldom attained the dignity of literature. The development .
24
of the professional stage had by early 20th century brought about a split between
literary drama and-popular drama in every part of India.
~ite"ture in the
Indian Lmguagcs
Cultural Contours
most famous are Maharashtra Jivan Prabhat (1878) and Rajput Jivan Sandhya
(1979).
The historical novel came into vogue in other Indian languages, too. The reason is
that, contemporary society in the late nineteenth century afforded little scope for
love bnd heroism on account of numerous social restrictions. In consequence, tales of
nerojsm and love had to be set in a historical context. The first romantic historical
novel in Marathi, Ramchandra Bhikaji Gunjikar's Mochanged (1871), is built around
a hill fort in Maharashtra which Shivaji captures eventually. Later on, Harinarayan
Apte had great success in Maharashtra with his historical novels : Mysorecha Vegh
(189()), Gad A h Pan Simha Gela (1903), Suryodaya (1905-1908), etc. C.V. Raman
Pillai's great historical trilogy in Malayalam-Martanda Varma (189 l), and
DhNmaraja and Rama Raja Bahadur-evoked the time of troubles in eighteenth
centiry Kerala in authentic detail.
Manp of these historical novels had the heroic deeds of the Rajputs and the
M a r ~ t h a sas their theme, with Muslim characters being sometimes shown in an
tlnfakourable light. The historical novels that appeared in Urdu drew their
inspikation, by way of contrast, from the historical glories of Islam, both within and
outside India. The leading Urdu novelist, Abdul Halim Sharar, wrote several novels
exhibiting the great superiority of Islam in its heyday over non-Muslim, especially
Chribtian, powers. The first of these, Malik-ul-Aziz Vaj a n a (1888), was his rejoinder
to Scott's I'albnian, which he considered to be biased against Islam; in vicarious
reveage, Sharar had King Richard's niece, Varjana, fall, in love with Saladin's son,
Ma@-ul-Aziz. Mansur Mohana (1890) was written to exonerate Sultan Mahmud of
Ghakni from charges of looting and destruction. Flora Florinda (1897), set against
the ackground of the excesses of the Christians in Moorish Spain, portrays a
Mus im girl presented by the Christians. Sharar's stories were usually built around a
romkntic affair between a captain of the Saracen army and a high born maiden of
the imvaded land.
To wet novels successfully in the contemporary social context made greater demands
for nealism on the art of the novelists. Bankim Chandra showed the way with his two
major social novels, Bishabriksha (1873), and Krishnakanter Will (1878). These
works had a depth of characterization that set the standard for Indian fiction for
years t o come. 0. Chandu Menon's Malayalam novel, Indulekha (1888),
to combine romantic love with realistic social detail. Govardhan Ram's huge
Gujfrati novel, Saraswati Chandra (4 parts, 1887, 1892, 1898, 1900), had a romantic
and sentimental interest, but in this work the hero and the heroine decided at the
end :not to marry each other as the girl was a widow and the idealistic lovers were
unylling to hurt the skntiments of their community h r i Narayan Apte's large
Maqathi novel, Pan Lakshant Kon Gheto (1890), was a more realistic work dwelling
on the injustice and violence of Orthodox Hindu society towards widows. Mirza
Ha i Ruswa's Umrao Jan Ada (1899) a distinguished Urdu Novel with a courtesan
as t e protagonist, recounted her story in the first person with remarkable
detdchment and objectivity.
1
~
2)
What was the difference between the early novels and the novels which were
written in Bankim's age?
24.7
LET US SUM UP
Under the impact of English literature, Indian poetry recaptured its freshness In
the nineteenth century. There was experimentation with new forms, such as blank
verse, the sonnet and the lyric. Above all there was the exuberance of a'new
creative spirit that changed the very content of poetry.
Another direction in which the creative spirit of the modern age manifested itself
was the appearance of the stage. The setting up of the stage gave the impetus to
the prolific growth of dramatical literature under the influence of both classical
Sanskrit drama and the Western plays, especially those of Shakespeare.
..
r Under the influence of the West, there emerged a completely new branch in
Indian literature. This was the novel, accompanied by the short story. This
brought in its wake a new social realism in lq%n literature.
.-
I
Cuttunl Contours
21.0
OBJECTIVES
This Unit attempts to introduce you to experiment; that the British government
made in the field of education in India during 1757-1857. In this Unit you will learn
about :
the changing relationship between colonialism and education,
the characteristics of the indigenous system of education,
the debate over the education policy,
the spread of Western education, and
the significance of the new education system in modern India.
21.2
COLONIAL EDUCATION
C u ~ t u mContours
~
Though Sanskrit learning was the exclusive domain of the Brahmans, from the
reports available of the early 19th century we find that the non-uppercastes and
tha scheduled castes had also representation in the lower level schools.
wbmen were generally debarred from the formal education system.
a l n t h e absence of printing press till 19th century oral tradition and memory of the
Thuq the education system that existed in India in the early 19th century had its
own lmerits and demerits. The elementary schools provided the opportunity for basic
ceductition to rural people and its curriculum was secular in approach and responsive
to pdactical needs. Probably in the higher centres of learning (Tols and Madrasas)
too h u c h emphasis on niceties of grammar, philosophy and religion narrowed down
the sbope of expansion of secular and scientific knowledge. The colonial rulers
discqrded the indigenous system and replaced it by a system of education of theil
own. Tne potentiality that the indigenous system had as a means of mass education,
Was (iestroyed. In the following section we would see how controversies started
gmo g different groups about what should be the role of the East India Company in
the
~ ~ ~ m l n n r n nI\<n tn A . . n m + ; ~ , r
:r 1 - A : -
The Spread of
English Educstion
1
I
I
I
1e lauaq aq pInoM 6aqi ~t?qios amqn3 put? aZenZut?~1 ~ 3 0 1aqi slt?!3!jjo qsfluataqi
q x a 1 01 p a ~ u t 6? ~a q ~~suo!1wap!suo3 1m!i3eld amos 6q pap!n% alaM sis!leluiauo aqi
I
The Spread of
English Education
IP"
What then shall that language be? One half of the committee
maintain that it should be the English. The other half strongly
recommend the Arabic and Sanscrit. The whole quesYion .teems
10 me to be- which Imguoge is the best worth k n o w h ~ ?
1 have no knowledge of- either Sanscrit o r Arabic. But I
have done what I could t o form a correct estimate of their
value. I have read translations of the most alebrated Arabic
and Sanscrit works. I have conhrsed. both here and at home.
with men distinguished by their' proficiency in the Eastern
tongues. I am quite ready to take the oriental learning at the
valuation ef the orientalists themselves. I l u r e never found one
among them wlro could deny that a single sheu of a good
Eurnpean library was worth the whole nati~uliterature of India
and Arabia. TIre intrinsic svpcrlority of tire Western literatrrre
is in*d fully adinitfed by those members of the comntittee who
'
support the oriental plan of education.
Cultural Contours
tHat d veloped in England with the Industrial Revolution was highly critical of the
c ~ m pny's modopoly trade. Post-industrial Revolution saw little of value beyond
aodedn western culture. The Evangelicals had a firm conviction in the superiority of
dhris 'an ideas and western institutions. Two great exponents of the Evangelical view
Were harles Grant and ~ i l l i a mWilberforce.
others who did not share Evangelicalfaith also &re convinced of the superiority of
wste$ knowledge and one of the chief promoters of this idea was Thomas
Babin on Macaulay. He recommended that western learning should be promoted in
India hrough English language and this should be the objective of education policy
i s 1ndIa. James Mill, the chief advocate of Utilitarianism in India, was highly critical
of In 'an religion and culture. Instead of support to oriental institutions, he had
erlnph sised Western education. But he believed that education alone was not
siffici nt to bring desired transformation in India; legislative and administrative
relfords were also essential for this purpose.
all of these groups who may be called 'Anglicists', in general believed that
Iqdia
br? s were in a backward stage and Western education given through English
labgu ge alone was the remedy. But education was expensive. Therefore it was better
ta ed ate a group of people who would gradually educate the rest of the society.
Efiuca ion would filter down from the elites to the masses. In this way it would help
tq dev lop new cultural values and knowledge in India. This was after called the
'filtration' theory.
a
6
The dissionaries had a completely different logic for supporting the introduction of
~ h ~ l i ducation
sb
in India. The motive of the missionaries was to get access to the
inldige ous society through education and to propagate new cultural values which
would help them in conversion of people to Christianity.
The rjsponse of Indians to this debate over education policy was a mixed one. Ram
Nohay Roy and others favoured introduction of Western education with the belief
thkt it would help Indians to assimilate the knowledge of western science,
ism, new ideas and literature. This would help in the regeneration of the
Some other people believed that knowledge of Western education, specially
of English, would help them in getting jobs and coming close to the
they were in support of Western education. In opposition to this
conservatives who were staunch supporters of Indian classical
They had the apprehension that introduction of Western
to the collapse of indigenous society and culture.
were different shades of opinion among the Europeans as well as Indians
of the company in the development of education in India. Let us see
what rfiajor developments took place in Indian. education during
Check y o u r Progress 1
.....I ..........................................................................................................................
i
I
'
~
34
...I. .........................................................................................................................
2)
3) Read the following sentences and mark right (4or wrong (X)
In the indigenous system of education mass education was neglected.
i)
Women in general were deprived of education in the indigenous system.
ii)
iii) In the beginning the company officisris avoided any intervention in
indigenous education.
iv) The Anglicists wanted to promote western education because they wanted
to modernise India.
21.5
As ,we have seen in the earlier section, the beginning of English education can be
traded only to the early 19th century. Before that the efforts made by the
missionaries or by individuals were very limited in nature. We may mention in this
connection Schwartzs schools in Tanjore, Ramnad and Shivganga, the Baptist
Missionaries in Serampore, the London Mission Society, the American Methodists
in Bombay, etc. They had pioneering contribution in modern education. These
missionary activities and the mounting pressure by some Englishmen like Charles
Grant and William Wilberforce compelled the Company to give up its policy of nonintervention in education. For the first time the British Parliament included in the
Company's charter a clause that the Governor-General in Couhcil is bound to keep a
sum of not less than one lakh of rupees per year for education. But the company
used this fund mainly to promote and encourage Indian language and literature. The
importance of the Charter Act of 1813 was that the Company for the first time
acknowledged state responsibility for the promotion of education in India.
\
In 1823 a General Committee of Public Institution was set up to look after the
development of education in India. Most of the members of this committee belonged
tn t h C\r;entol;ct
~
n r n ~ ~anA
n tho\>ctrnnnlv c s A v n ~ a t ~tho
A nmmntinn n.f nrientll
The Spread bf
English Education
Cultural Contours
/
d + r e fund was provided to support the English education, while there was
cudtailment in the fund for the promotion of oriental learning.
kuckland who came after Bentinck as the overn nor-~enehl also believed in the
nked for the promotion of English education in India. He recommended the opening
of mdre English colleges in Dacca, Patna, Benares, ~ l l a h a b a d Agra,
,
elh hi .and
~ a r r e l l l The
~ . General Committee of Public Instruction was abolished in 1841 and its
place was taken by a Council of Education. The next major landmark in the
devel4pment of English education in this period was the Wood's Despatch of 1854.
5lir Charles Wood, the president of the Board of Control, in 1854 laid down the
piolicd which became the guiding principle of the education programme of the
goverbment of India. The Despatch categorically declared :
"Tqie education that we desire to see extended in India is that which has for its
objlect the diffusion of the improved arts, science, philosophy and literature of
Eufope, in short of European knowledge."
provinces
of
from the local people who strongly pleaded to the British for further expansion of
educational opportunities.
:Similarly in Aombay and Madras also missionary schools were established. In
Bombay notable developments were the Native Education Society and the
Elphinstone lnstitution which played a role similar to the Hindu College of Calcutta.
In Madras the Christian Coll e was founded in 1837 and the Presidency College in
853. In Uttar Pradesh the fi t English-medium college was founded at Agra in
1823. Thus by 1850s we find that in most of the provinces in India the basis of
modern education was laid down by the British.
21.6
AN APPRAISAL
The'above discussion shows how gradually the English education developed. The
government promoted this system while neglecting the indigenous system of
education in the 19th century. The spread of English education in India was a long
process and before 1857 its spread and depth were limited. Nonetheless the changes
that came in education upto 1857 deserve a close scrutiny. There was no doubt thatthe new education broadened the horizonbof knowledge. Specially the establishment
of printing press and easy availability of books removed the traditional barriers and
made education accessible to more people. The ideas of the western thinkers
influenced the younger generation of the indigenous society and they began to
question the existing traditional values. A new spirit of rationalism developed.
However, these positive contributions have to be balanced against the grave
limitations of the education system that developed under colonial sponsorship. The
English education system totally ignored the importance of mass education. In the
indigenous system the elementary schools provided basic education to a wide section
of society. But in the new education the emphasis was to educate a selected few. The
Anglicists idea of filtering down education from elites to masses did not work in
practice. This system did not provide equal access to education to all and this led to
the perpetuation of the backwardness of socially backward castes and communities.
The existing divisions in the society widened.
Secondly, in spite of advocacy of western science and technology, in the curriculum
of schools and alleges the emphasis was on western literature, philosophy and
humanities. Technology and natural science were neglected and without s'uch
knowledge the intellectual advancement as well as economic development of a
country was hampered.
Another aspect of this new education was the subordination of education to political
t Anglicist the basic object of their education
power. Whether it was O ~ e n t a l i s or
policy was to strengthen colonial rule. The Orientalists wanted to do it through
indigenisation and the Anglicists wanted to do it through westernization. The basic
purpose of the education policy was insqparable from the political interests of the
colonial government.
Thus we have seen that education became a n issue of debate among various schools
of thought. The education policy in the first half of 19th century was a product of
this clash of opinions. On the whole, the colonial administration was keen to
promote a n education policy which served its own interests.
Check Your Progress 2
1 ) Discuss the official policy of education between 1835 to 1857. Answer in 100
words.
2)
W ite a critical note on the effect of English education in India. Answer in 100
wo ds.
21.7
LET US SUM UP
In this J n i t we have seen how gradually ths indigenous system of exiucation was
the British with a new system of ed cation. There were many
who fried t o promote oriental learni g but the Anglicists prevailed over
New schools and colleges were established to promote learning.
and economic idws came through the channel of western
policy ignored scientific and technical education.
this education was mainly the upper crust of society. S o
with the English education was very limited in nature.
21.1
FEYWORDS
I
, ,
I.ibehls : I n 19th century England a new political party emerged, called Liberal '
party] Me bers of this party who were called liberals believed in toleration and
advo ated freedom of thought-and expression.
Orientalists :The company offi&als who advocated for the promotion of Indian
culture, tradition and languages were called Orientalists.
Utilitarians : See Unit 13, Block 3.
2) There was a mixed reaction, some favoured western education, some were very
critical of it. See Sec. 21.4.
3) i) X ii)
iii)
iv) X
bje tlves
ntroduction
.
After the Crisis
A New Mentality
parly Origins of the New Mentality
Western Knowledge and its Impact
New Rationalism
t h e New Romanticism
bet Us S u m Up
Fey Words
bnswers to Check Your Progress Exercises
22.0 1 OBJECTIVES
I
so&
221.1 ( INTRODUCTION
I n prevjous Units you have broadly seen how India h o v e d from the disintegration of
tha ~ u k l i a empire
l
t o the establishment of a colonial milieu. That, this process
foriced /he lndian mind to think about its culture a n d society a n d frame a response
t o the dewcorners, is the subject of this Unit
Tho nedd t o respond t o the changed situatioli in the wake of the criiis of the Mughal
emfiire preated a n urge to define a n d defend identities all over India. A new political
s i t ~ a t i o hbrought problems of adjustment and definition for the Indian mind. These
problerqs had t o be dealt in the initial 'dhases from within the resources offered by
religionand tradition. This was t o throw up a number of competing sects and their
'kaders, whose public debates strengthened a n awareness of religion and cultural
identity,
Here wd have the example of Bengal where the movements of Faraizis,
Mulham/nadiyas advocated a return t o past 'purity' of Islam in different ways. Given
the wei+l position of peasant and artisan classes who were attracted to such
mouemdnts, these movements inevitably strayed into areas of economic conflict.
Heqce easant-landlord conflicts acquired a religious colour. A n important figure in
this con ext was Titu-Mir whose'rebellion was crushed when it turned antigovernqent.
~ o ~ e v eapart
f , from the politico-economic aspects, the debates and differences
betyeenthese various groups were equally important. These debates raised and
clarified the issues of religion in returning to past 'purity'. A similar role was played
by disp tations and discussions between the Namdhari and Nirankari followers of
Sikhism in Punjab. In Orissa and Madhya Pradesh the Satya Mahima Dharnia and
the Satnamis focused on the issue of purity of religion amongst the lower castes and
tribals. A section of Nadars in the south opted for an alternate religion i.e.
Christianity
for, understanding and establishing their identity.
With the exception of the Nadar Christians all other movements raised issues specific
to the core of their religion. In doing so a process of community mobilization was
attempted which included methods as diverse as community kitchens (as amongst the
Nirankaris) to mass prayets (as amongst Bengal & Bihar Muslims). Issues such as
the place of women in the society, caste or modes of worship were debated and
settled with reference to the past and a concept of 'purity'. Thus, apart from the
educated urban middle cl& reformers and thinkers (discussed below) at the level of
the common people basic issues of cultural identity were stirring into life issues often
framed in the religious idiom. ,
Culhvrrl Contours
The 1ndiPn mind did not have deep and genuine contact with Western thought until
the 182ds and 1830s when two rival social circles in Calcutta had come into
existence/-the 'progressive' circle headed by Dwarakanath Tagore and Raja
Rammopan Roy and the 'conservative' circle headed by Kadhakanta Deb. This
phase i n t h e social and intellectual history of Calcutta where the 'reb~rth'm?y be sald
to have laken place, began when Rammohan finally took up residence in Calcutta in
1816. Evpn earlier, around 1805 the Raja had published from Murshidabad his
Persian ork. Tuhfatul Muwahhiddin which elicited a great deal of d e b a t e . ' ~ h i l e
the detai s of the debate need not detain us. it is important to keep in mind that the
disputanb appealed to logic and reason. and Karninohan In particular to inductive
reason; there are many things for instance, many woderful inventions of the people
of Eiuro e and the dexterity of jugglers, the causes of which are obv~ouslynot
known, Q d seem to be beyond the comprehension of human power, but after a keen
imidht
instructions of others, those causes can be known sat ~sfactorily
." This
reason only may be a sufficient safeguard for intelligent people against
being
indud?de eived by such supernatural workings. Thus Rammohan on the way to
comprehifnding the importance of scientific observation. He questioned all revelation
that wasnot provable. The remarkable thing about these debates was that the Raja
had not yet read and accepted either Locke or NeWton.
01
The secohd and related point to note is that all disputants in the debate accused one
another ~f violating the good of society thereby implicitly adhering to the notion of
utility. Rbmmohan condemned all religious rites that were detrimental to social life
and did #ot lead to the amelioration of the condition of society. In his view, the
value of (eligion lay in the fear of punishment in the next world.
I
~atibnallslnin Bengal thus in a sense predated the lormal Western impact which was
priwrilyl c catalyst accelerating the pace of change.
0
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2)
................................................................................................................................
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22.5
- r e
Shah ~ k h t a Gopal
,
Krishna Gokhale and D.K. Karve. Thus it was no
that the early crop of Bombay nationalists came from the portals of
~ l p l q 4 t o n eCollege. In Madras city, the Presidency College became an important
Muslims of North India after having lagged behind for more than half a
the 1870s led by Sayyid Ahmed Khan joined forces to design and
Aligarh the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, a private British style
institution that would not simply be a transplant of an English model
an indigenous creation. The implications of the new educational
While on the one hand, the new institutions subsequently
c ~ t r i d u t e dto an articulation of political sentiment, there was more immediately the
creati+ of a new intellectual milieu best represented in contemporary literature as
in contemporary treatises on socio-religious matters and public
ncements. Popularisation of western literature influenced ind?genous literary
add iniellectual effort that tended increasingly to lay stress on new currents of
rations/lity and romanticism.
InBen
anp re
intielle
detaiI.
dn's
and anatomy with other useful sciences', letters defending the freedom of
India were all singularly inspired by a. faith in reason and rational
his abiding concern for reason and rationality was shared by many
zio in particular encouraged his students to think for themselves as a
ch, the young western educated Bengali questioned not any particular
ligious tradition, but the tradition of belief without rational argument
Kumar Dutta, editor of the Tatva Bodhini Patrika wrote several
s where, without denying the existence of God, Dutta sought arguments
n the grand book of Nature itself. His subsequent work on Indian
a critical sociological examination of religious sects in a spirit of
nlightened enquiry. In all these deliberations, Comte's positivism and
trines constituted important influences. Tom Paine's Age of Reason
Man and Macaulay's Essays were widely read and assimilated as was
on of Women. From these were derived new notions of reason, justice
concerns of welfare. Admittedly, reasoned justice were not foreign t o
phy: reason, for instance, was integral to both Vedantic a& Islamic
t reason as imported from the West was wider than logic. Educated
appreciate that,Europe had conquered the world of knowledge
urity of its strenous exercise of reason'. Europe thus infected India
to discover the inner workings of all phenomena by observations
eason had therefore to be empirical and scientific for it was reason
the way to progress. Reason was allied to progress and progress
philosophy of life. Thus Tagore extolled a world "where the mind
is vditho t fear," and where "knowledge is freen.
Thel not on of justice which was allied with that of reason was a new characteristic of
modern Indian culture. The individual with his conscience emerged. Man owed it to
himself nd to God that he abide by the voice of individual conscience. Conscience
extdnde .from the religious sphere t6 social protest. The development of social
prolest as evident in the proliferation of plays after the Mutiny-Nil Darpan,
Janjind Dupan, etc. The sphere of protest extended as intellectuals guided by
conlcie ce re-exarn~nedthe entire foundation of traditional society and sought to
The love inspired protest which Kumaran Asan put in the mouth of the Buddha was
restated in a message of Swami Vivekananda in his famous saying:
"Where are you looking for God when he is present in every Human being before
your eyes? One who loves others serve God."
In conclusion, one must emphasise that the development of critical consciousness in
India was as much a reformation as it was a renais ance. It was a process that
absorbed new elements adapted itself to new needs and restated itself in new terms.
The h d i Mind
~
and
rn Knowkdp : Growth
' Critlcal Comciopaness
in the wake of the crisis of Mughal empire the Indian mind drew upon the
resources of religion to come to grips with its identity,
hod certain new directions were provided to the Indian mind with the Western
impact,
hod diverse trends of thinking changed under the Western impact.
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NOTES
Structpre
22.0
Qbieotives
22.4
22.5
22.6
In previous Units you have broadly seen how India moved from the disintegration of
the Mughal empire to the establishment of a colonial milieu. That, this process
forced the Indian mind to think about its culture and society and frame a response
to the newcomers. is the subiect of this Unit.
The need to respond to the changed situatiori in the wake of the crisis of the Mughal
empire created an urge to define and defend identities all over India. A new political
situation brought problems of adjustment and definition for the Indian mind. These
problems had to be dealt in the initial phases from within the resources offered by
religion and tradition. This was to throw up a number of competing sects and their
'kaders, whose public debates strengthened an awareness of religion and cultural
identity.
Here we have the example of Bengal where the movements of Faraizis,
Muhammadiyas advocated a return to past 'purity' of Islam in different ways. Given
the social position of peasant and artisan classes who were attracted to such
movements, these movements inevitably strayed into areas of economic conflict.
Hence peasant-landlord conflicts, acquired a religious colour. An important figure in
this context was Titu-Mir whose rebellion was crushed when it turned antigovernment.
However, apart from the politico-economic aspects, the debates and differences
between these various groups were equally important. These debates raised and
clarified the issues of religion in returning to past 'purity'. A similar role was played
by disputations and discussions between the Namdhari and Nirankari followers of
Tbe Spmd M
Eylbh Edlmtion
I
I
3) i) X ii)
iii)
iv) X
Sikhism in Punjab. In Orissa and Madhya Pradesh the Satya Mahima Dharma and
the Satnamis focused on the issue of purity of religion amongst the lower castes and
tribals. A section of Nadars in the south opted for an alternate religion i.e.
Christianity
for, understanding and establishing their identity.
With the exception of the Nadar Christians all other movements raised issues specific
to the core of their religion. In doing so a process of community mobilization was
attempted which included methods as diverse as community kitchens (as amongst the
Nirankaris) to mass prayets (as amongst Bengal & Bihar Muslims). Issues such as
the place of women in the society, caste or modes of worship were debated and
settled with reference to the past and a concept of 'purity'. Thus, apart from the
educated urban middle cla* reformers and thinkers (discussed below) at the level of
the common people basic issues of cultural identity were stirring into life issues often
framed in the religious idiom. ,
cultural Cbntours
western impact on the Indian m i d was a propelling force thrt drove dominant
curlrend within Indian society to the surface, starting a critical spirit of self-enqui~y.
A ahro~ologicalsequence of the evolution of the new mentality has thus to be
attctmpt/ed in the context of the new political and social environment that
accromppnied the establishment of tlie Company's p~liticairule. Western impact ar
what M.G. Ranade referred to as foreign manure was largely channelled through
agencie$ such as the educational systcm, educational and cultural societies, law
Rammqhan Roy and the 'conservative' circle headed by Kadhakatita Ileb. This
phase i$ the social and intellectual history of Calcutta where the 'rebirth' m?y be said
to have taken place, began when Kammohan finally took up residence in Calcutta in
18116.Eben earlier, around 1805 the Raja had published from M ursliidabad his
Peqsian work. Tuhfatul Muwahhiddin which elicited a great deal of d e b a t e . ~ h i l e
the detiils of the debate need not detain us, it is important to keep in mind that tlie
disputahts appealed to logic and reason. and Kani~nohanin particular to inductive
reabon; "there are many things for instance, many woderful inventions of the people
of Europe and the dexterity of jugglers, the causes of wh~chare obviously not
known,and seem to be beyond the comprehens~otiof liumati power, but after a keen
i*ht
pr instructions of others, those causes can be known satisfactorily." This
The secbnd and related point to note is that all disputants in the debate accused one
and did not letid to the amelioration of the condition of society. In his view, the
v a l ~ eof religion lay in the fear of punishment in thc next world.
Rationalisln in Bengal thus in a sense predated the lorlnal Western impact \vhlch \van
i catalyst accelerating tlie pace of change.
................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
The Indian M i n d ar
Western Knowledge : Crowi
................................................................................................................................
2) How did rationalism in Bengal help in accelerating the pace of change?
*
I
22.5
C ~ C o n t o w ,
23.6
NEW RATIONALISM
es from the Scriptures, but the clinching arguments were grounded firmly on
principles. A similar concern for rational thought informed by human value
il
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- -
--
UNIT 23 CONSTITUTIONAL
DEVELOPMENTS (1757-1858)
Structure
23.0
23.1
23.2
23.3
23.4
23.5
23.6
23.7
23.8
23.9
23.10
23.1 1
Objectives
Introduction
Background
The Regulating Act, 1773
Pitts' lndia Act, 1784
Charter Act of 1793
Charter Act of 1813
Charter Act of 1833
Charter Act of 1853
Government of lndia Act. 1858
Let Us Sum Up
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
23.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit you will :
become ramiliar with the important constitutional devqlopnlents in the first
century of Hritish rule
trace the transition from Company's rule to rule by the Crown
acquaint yourself with the stages in the evolution of the structure of Government,
and
bring out the link between the constitutional changes and the economic and
political interests behind them.
23.1
INTRODUCTION
The English East lndia Company was essentially a commercial body. Following the
principles of mercantilism and to ensure monopolistic profit the company needed
political power hence political activities which resulted in acquiring revenue-yielding
territories. After 1757 it was in a privileged position of yielding political power over
a large section of the population of India.
The authority which controlled the Company was situated far away from lndia in
Britain. The Hritish Ciovernment faced many problems from this situation and
relationship. The Company had becomea great empire combining the role of trader
and an overlord. It was now clear that the power and sovereignty of the Indian
empire was vested in the Company. 7 hr British Government decided that it could no
longer be allowed to remain outside the ambit of the state. Even Clive and Hastings
had held that constitutional relations with the Crown might be desirable.
23.2 BACKGROUND
Establishing the sovereignty of the Crown in place of the Company was yet too bold
a siep t o be taken. That would have directly put a n enormous mass of patronage in
the hands of the government. Again it would have caused much bitterness in India
and among European hations. The wise step was to subject the Company to control
on the basis of current doctrines of constitutional law.
A select committee of Parliament was appointed in April, 1772 t o enquire into the
state of affairs in India. In August the Company begged the Government for a loan
of 6: 1,00,000.It was surprising that although the servants of the Company collected
wealth, the Company faced serious financial crisis.
The problem before the British Government was to define the relationsh~pof East
lndia Company and its possessions with the British Government. Another problem
was td determine the way the Company's authorities in Britain were to control the
large number of officials and soldiers working for it in far away India. The question
of providing a single centre of control over farspread British possessions in Bengal,
Madras and Bombay was also causing great concern.
The form of the relationship of the East lndia Company and ~ t possessions
s
with
the British Government was most important because it was closely connected with
party and parliamentary rivalries in Britain. English statesmen were politically
ambitious and English merchants were commercially greedy. Bengal had yielded rich
resources into the hands of the Company. Fabulous wealth brought home by its
officials caused jealousy in the British natian. Mirchants, the growing section of
manufacturers and newly risen 'free enterprisers' were striving to have a share in the
profits of Indian trade and wealth coming from India. Why should East lndia
Company alone enjoy this? They wanted to put a n end to the monopoly of trade
held by the Company. With this end, they criticised the way the Company
administered Bengal.
Many political thinkers and statesmen of Britain were afraid that the Company and
its powerful rich officials would lower the standard of morality of the English nation
and increase corruption in British politics. The seats in the House of Commons were
bought by the Company for its agents. It was feared that the Company, with the
help of money brought from India, might achieve dangerous supremacy in the
British Government.
A new School of economists who were advocating free trade condemned exclusive
companies. Adam Smith in his book, 'Wealth of Nations' wrote that exclusive
companies were causing harm both to countries which estabIish them and the
countries that they govern.
The East India Company's position was unique a t home. King George-Ill patronised
it. It fought with the help of its friends in Parliament. The Parliament decided on a
compromise. A balance was worked out. The British decided t o control the
Company's lndian administration in the interest of Britain's influential elite class as a
whole. The Company was allowed t o continue with its monopoly of Eastern ttade.
The Directors of the Company were given the control of Indian administration.
- -
Constitutional
Developments ( I 757-1858)
The Act also provided for the establishment of a Supreme Court of Justice at
Calcutta to give justice to Europeans, their employees and citizens of Calcutta.
Legislative powers were granted to the Governor General and Council to make rules,
ordinances and regulations for the civil government of Fort William and subordinate
factories.
The Regulating Act did not work smoothly in practice. Its defects and weaknesses
were exposed when it was put to working. Supervision of the British government was
ineffective. The Governor General had to face the opposition of his council, who
united against him. He had no power to override them, though in case of an equal
division he had a casting vote. Disunity of the Council prevented it from solving
external and internal problems of a serious nature. They had to often face deadlocks
which impeded smooth working of the administration. The President of Madras arid
Bombay were under the general controlling power of the Governor General and
Council proved inefficient in actual working.
The Constitution of the Company's government in lndia was revised. The Act
established the principle that the government of lndia be placed under the Governor
General and a Council of three, so that if only one member of the Council supported
him, he could have his way. The Governor General was given a casting vote. The
Act clearly stated that the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay were to be
subordinate to the Presidency of Bengal in all matters of war, diplomatic relations
and revenue.
The Governor General and council were made subordinate to British Government.
They were forbidden to declare war and enter into any treaty without the sanction of
the directors or the secret committee.
Pitt's lndia Act is important in many aspects. The President and the b o a 4 were
destined to be the future Secretary of State for lndia and his council. It helped in
uniting lndia by giving supreme power to Governor General over the Governors of
Presidencies.
By reducing one member of the Executive Council of the Governor General his
position was strengthened. The Governor General and Governors were given the
authority to override their councils. The possessions of the Company in India came
under the supremacy of the British Parliament.
I
1
I
I
.
'
The Government of India was to be carried on till 1857 according to the framework
given in the Pitt's lndia Act. Cornwallis, when appointed Governor General, insisted
on having the power to override his council in important matters such as safety,
peace abd interests of the Crown in India. The Act of 1786 gave him the powers he
asked for. The offices of the Governor General and the Commander-in-Chief were to
be united in the same person.
Declaratory Act of 1788 gave full powers and supremacy to the Board of control.
This wa6 a step towards transfer of powers of the Company to the Crown.
Check Your Progress 1
I)
Why dtd the Rntish Covcrrin:cnt decttie that the a!fat15 of the 1 a\t
Company should no .longer remain okt\lde thc~rcontrol)
::l(i~d
2) Which weaknesses of the Regulating Act were removed by the Pitt's India
Act?
The Act of 1793 thus laid the foundation of government by written laws and
regulations in British lndia in place of the personal rule of the past rulers. The
interpretation of regulations and written laws was to be done by the Courts. The
concepts of a civil law. enacted by a secular human agency and applied universally,
was an important change.
Indians were not given positions where they could share the influence o r authority.
Indians were excluded "to satisfy the demand of English men for lucrative jobs."
Constitutional
L)evelopments ( 1757-1858)
the minister for lndian affairs. The Directors were to act as expert advisors of the
President of the Board of Control. The Board of Control was invested with authority
to superintend, direct and control the affairs of the Company relating to the
Government or revenues of the lndian territory which vested in the Company in
trust for the English Crown.
Governor General of Bengal became the Governor General of India. The Governor
General in Council was to control, superintend and direct the civil and military
affairs of the Company. Bombay, Bengal, Madras and other regions were subjected
to complete control of the Governor General in Council. Central Government was to
have complete control over raising of revenues and expenditure. Expenses of
Provincial Governments, creation of new offices, and obedience of all members of
the Government of Bombay, Madras were under strict control of the Central
Government.
By the Act of 1833, the Governor General in Council were given the power to
legislate for the whole of the British territories in India. These laws were applicable
to all persons, British or lndian foreigners or others and to the servants of the
Company. They were enforceable by all cou'rts in India.
The Act added one more member to the Executive council of the Governor General.
the Law Member, whose work was fully legislative. He had no vote in the Council
and he was to attend meetings, on invitation. But he practically became a regular
member of the council. Lord Macaulay, the Law member, influenced't he educational
policy of the government for a number of years.
The number of members of the Presidency Councils was reduced to two. Bombay
and Madras were to keep their separate armies under the Commanders-in-Chief.
They were to be under the control of the Central Government.
The Act provided for the codification of laws in India. There were several type of
laws before 1833. There were the English Acts, Presidency Regulations, Hindu Law,
Muslim Law, Customary Law etc. By this Act the Governor General was empowered
to appoint the Law Commission to study, collect and codify various rules and
regulations prevalent in India. The lndian Penal Code and Codes of Civil and
Criminal Law were enacted by the efforts of lndian Law Commission.
Section 87 of the Act declared, "that no native or natural born subject of the crown
resident in lndia should be by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent,
colour or any of them be disqualified for any place in the company's service." It was
a momentous declaration. Lord Morley later described it as the most important
lndia Act passed by the British Parliament till 1909. This was not of much practical
importhnce, since nothing was done and Indians remained excluded from higher
posts in civil and military service.
The Charter Act of 1833 made no provision to secure the nomination of Indians to
the covenanted services of the company. Yet the clause proclaiming on
discrimination was of great importance for it became the sheet-anchor of political
agitation in lndia towards the end of the century.
Check Your Progress 2
I ) Which important source of profit did the East lndia Company lose in 1833'?
Write in five lines.
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
.........................................................................................
2 ) What were the main clauses of the Charter Act of 1793? Write in ten lines.
Constitutional
Developments (I757-1858)
Impact of British
Rule :
Polity and Society
In practice the Legislative Council threatened to alter the whole structure of the
Indian Government. It had developed into "an Anglo-Indian House of Commons."
23.9
As the Charter Act of 1853 did not give the East lndia Company the right to
govern lndia for another 20 years, it gave an opportunity to the Home Government
to step in and take the place of the East lndia Company in India. This process was
hastened by the happenings of 1857, or the s o called 'Mutiny'.
Whigs and Tories had joined hands to complete without delay the process of
extendihg crown government over India. Lord Palmerston, the British Prime
Ministdr, declared his Government's decision to assume directly the Government of
lndia by the British Crown. John Stuart Mill prepared-a dignified and weighty
petition which was presented by the Company against the Government decision t o
both the Houses of Parliament. But no petition could any longer stem the tide of
mounting criticism against the Company's administration. Lord Stanley. President of
the Board of Control introduced a bill for the 'Better Government' of lndia which
became an Act of Parliament in August 1858.
The Government of lndia passed from the hands of the English East lndia Company
to the crown. The armed forces of the company were transferred t o the crown.
The Board of control and court of Directors were abolished. Their place was taken
by the Secretary of State of lndia and his lndia Council. They were to govern lndia
in the name of her majesty. The Secretary of State was t o sit in Parl~ament.He was
a cabinet minister of England and as such was responsible t o Parliament. Ultimate
power over lndia remained with Parliament.
The Act created a n lndia council of fifteen members. It was t o advise the Secretary
of State who could overrule its decisions. Approval of the Council was essential in
financial matters. Most of the members of the lndia Council were those who had
retired from Indian services.
The Secretary of State was given the power of sending and receiving secret messages
and despatches from the Governor General without the necessity of communicating
them t o the lndia Council. The Secretary of State was t o present t o the House of
C o m q o n s periodically report on the moral and material progress of India.
The Government of India in its dealings with England was guided by the directions
laid down by the Secretary of State in Council. All matters concerning legislation.
land revenue. public works, railways, jobs, new expenditure and policies were rigidly
scrutinised and controlled by the Secretary of State. The Rules and Regulations made
in lndia by the secretary of state were t o be laid on the table of the House of
Commons.
The Governor General became known from now as the Viceroy or Crown's
representative. In matters of policy and its execution the viceroy was increasingly
reduced to a subordinate position in relation to the British Government. The
Govetnrnent of lndia was finally directly controlled from London.
...................................................................................
2)
of
Constitutional
Developments (1757-1858)
'
24.3
institutional Framework
24.3.1 Judicial System
24.3.2 Administrat~veSystem
24.3.3 Extent of Indian Part~cipation
24.0 OBJECTIVES
In the previous Unit (No 23) you got a summary of the const~tutionalprovisions
which were made by the British rulers in lndia from 1717 till the end of company's
rule. This Unit will take the story further and talk about how the structure of
administration and judiciary were gradually being built up by the British. This would
involve looking at the ideological orientation and specific requirements of the rulers
on the one hand, and the various changes and innovations made in the field of
administration, on the other. In this Unit you will study:
various ideas and elements that went into the making of the British administrative
policy
the institutional framework that evolved in accordance with that policy, and
an assessment of the administrative and judicial system introduced by the British
in India.
24.1 INTRODUCTION
You have seen in the earlier Units how the British gradually controlled the entire
country through a series of conquests. The East lndia Company was transformed
from b mere commercial body into a political force. Mere conquests could not
possibly hold the empire together for a long time. It had to be sustained by evolving
a comprehensive system of administration. This Unit, is therefore, concerned
exclusively with ideas and institutions. We discuss the British ideas on how to govern
India, and than go on to describe thckind of administrative institutions which were
evolved in order to govern and control India.
24.2.1
The administrative and legal system introduced by the British did not take shape
overnight and did not evolve in a vacuum. It was spread well over eighty years, was
implanted through a series of measures and acts, and was based on the initiative
taken by many British administrators and thinkers. A number of its provisions and
schemes continue even today. It did not evolve in a vacuum but should be seen
against the background of intellectual movements in the late 18th and early 19th
century Britain, which looked upon the British administration of lndia as on one of
its major concerns.
One of the earliest influences that can be seen is the idea of improvement. This
influence, evident at the earliest in Cornwallis, looked a t the creation of English style
aristocracy in land a s the best means of developing India. This aristocracy, identified
by Cornhallis as the Zamindars was looked upon as trustees who would encourage
the growth of trade and production under them. This coupled with English style
institution of law and administration-where the object was t o separate revenue and
judicial function of administration would effectively ensure the improvement of lndia
under the landed aristocracy. (See Block 4 and Section 24.3 below.)
,Whereas Cornwallis worked mainly with the ideas and perceptions which came
before utilitarianism, Macaulay was a liberal who had grown up in interaction with
both the missionary zeal of evangelicalism and the emerging pragmatism of 1830s
and 1840s. Thus we see him take up the codification of laws (see sec. 24.3) with
vigour. However, though he approved of this aspect of institutionalism, he did not at
all agree with their goal of reforming India.
Between the concern of Cornwallis and Macaulay,came the intellectual current called
.
'utilitarianism' (you have read about it in Unit 13 of Block 3) with James Mill,
Jeremy Bentham, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill a s were its major exponents
showed a special interest in the lndian question, and were largely responsible for the
kind of administration and judicial system that came into being in India. The
ufilitarians reflected on how to govern and control lndia and their ideas gradually
gained acceptance in Britain perhaps because they represented and combined the
interest of the British merchants. manufacturers and missionaries. What were their
ideas on lndia and prescription for the lndian problem ?
lndian society was seen by them as completely devoid of the values of rationalism
and individualism, which were seen as the essential principles for building a
modern society.
A traditional and decadent society like lndia could be improved through proper
legislation, which would impart "human justice" as against "divine justice"
practised in traditional societies. This meant that "British administration with its
principles of justice and uniformity could convert lndia into progressive and
dynamic society.
However in this scheme the instrumentality of education was rejected by Mill.
And s o was the lndianisation of the Government structure. Given their character,
Indians were seen unfit in the task of their over 'modernisation'. Mill therefore
dismissed the idea of giving any power and responsibility to Indians. Utilitarians
prescribed a modern machine of government, run by the British.
In other words, from the 19th century onwards when information about lndia
began trickling into the European societies, there began a debate among thinkers,
scholars and administrators on the lndian problem and its solution. Among them the
utilitarians. with their well defined structure of ideas, a set of followers, their
keenness on India, and the readymade applicabilities of their concerns (of taxation,
forms of government and administration of justice) to India, proved t o be the most
outspoken and effective. In 1819, James Mill was admitted into the executive
government of the East lndia Company. This made it easier for the utilitarian ideas
to be implemented in the lndian situation. Their ideas can be summed up in the
format of problems and prescribed solutions.
Problems
'
Indian society was backward, decadent, retrograde and despotic. There was
degradation of the many by the few and absence of any security for the individual
and his rights.
This resulted in poverty, therefore crime
Servility and superstition was (characteristic of Indian people)
15
Solution
Advancement of society through'the establishment of a good government with
good laws and sound administration.
This would lead to freeing of individual initiative from despotism, customs and
communal ownership (which Mill saw a sign of a primitive society and inhibiting
the making of a civil society).
T h i s would give a free and full scope for capital and labour and place due
emphasis on individual rights and ownership (as against communal ownership,
characteristic of Indian society).
Towards the same and it was necessary to legally define and protect individual
right in land.
To put it briefly, the utilitarian thinking was a n advocacy of a 'Rule of Law'. Laws
were to be scientifically defined and embodied in a written form in codes. They were
to be implemented through the creation of a body of local courts to make law
accessible to every man. Only this could create an individualist competitive society.
I,
t4
transformed t o suit the new requirements. And hence started the process of
transforming Indian administration the details of which you will study in the next
section. Similarly, the entire legal structure had to be overhauled to promote modern
business, create a market economy, free commercial relations and t o regulate the
various economic transaction smoothly with the help of modern laws. And hence
started the process of the transformation of Indian administration and judiciary, the
details of which you will need in the following section.
Check Yoilr Progress 1
were the problems o l the Indian society, and
1 ) What according to util~tar~ans,
what was the way out? Write in ten lines.
2)
Why did the British g o in for administrative reforms in the 19th century'?.IWrite
....
in ten lines.
24.3.1
'
The separation of civil and revenue administration meant, that the collector hitherto
the holder of judicial and revenue responsibilities was now deprived of his judicial
functions and concerned mainly with revenue. The collection of revenue and the
administration of justice were now to be carried out by separate officials appointed
for that purpose. There was now a coltector responsible for the collection of revenue
and a judge Magistrate with civil and criminal jurisdiction, Broadly the structure of
the new judiciary was something like this
Civil Courts
Sadar Diwani Adalat
Provincial Court 1-1V
District Courts Presided over by a District Magistrate trom Civil Services
Registrar's Court
Subordinate Courts (Presided over by lndian Judges called Munsif and Amins)
Criminal Courts
Sadar Nizarnat Adalat (Sadar Fauzdari Adalat in Madras, Bombay)
Court of Circuit (Presided over by Civil servants)
Local Courts (Presided over by Indian Magistrates, called Principal Sadar
Amin in Madras)
This system of a hiera;chy of courts was tried and implemented first in Bengal which
had assumed the states of a Laboratory for the British rule where they could make
experiments in the field of administration, and they extend it to the rest of the
country. Before we proceed further, let us try and understand the chart above. The
Sadar Diwani Adalat and Sadar Nizarnat Adalat formed the top of the pyramid and
were situated in Calcutta. Below these were the provincial courts of appeal (in the
case of civil courts) and the courts of circuit (in the case of criminal courts) which
were established in the towns of Calcutta, Dacca, Murshidabad and Patna. Below
these were the registrar's courts and all those were presided over only by the
Europeans. The participation of Indians was confined to subordinate positions such
as Munsifs. Amins; the Qazis and the Pandits who merely advised the judges on the
existing Mohammedan and Hindu laws.
Thus was laid the foundation of a new judicial structure in India. In years that came
this structure grew and evolved. Many changes are made in it and it was
subsequently applied to other parts of India. Let us at this stage look at some of the
important characteristics of the judicial structure developed in lndia in the 19th
century.
One important feature of the system of law that was erected was that enough
tolerance was displayed toward the existing traditional and religious laws. The
criminal courts did not altogether abolish the Muslim criminal law but applied it in a
somewhat modified form, so as to make it less harsh. Similarly the civil courts also
did not do away with the customary laws which had been followed by the local
people. Evidently at this stage the East lndia Company was not bent upon an
overhauling of the system. Only a partial modification was attempted. The existing
institutions of justice and also revenue appropriation were not dismantled.
Another feature of the new judicial system was the establishment of a whole network
of laws through the process of enactment of laws and codification of old laws. This
was well in keeping wifh the 19th century British passion for the codification of laws.
The traditional system had been based on I) customary laws based on traditions and
social practices, 2) religious laws based on Shastras and Shariat, and 3) laws flowing
from the will and authority of the rulers. As against this, the British created a new
system of laws. They introduced regulations, codified the existing laws and
systematised and the laws were now open to judicial interpretations and subsequent
amendment. Through the Charter Act of 1,833, all law making authority was vested in
the Governor General-in-Council. In the same year, a Law Commission was
appointed. Headed by. Lord Macaulay, it prepared the Indian Penal Code which was
applicable throughout the country. Thus there came into being, for the first time, a
set of laws which included into its fold every Indian.
The two main theoretical principles underlying the entire judicial system were the
notions of the Rule of Law and Equality before law.
The Rule of Law for lndia was a n integral part of utilitarian thinking on Law. They
posited the Rule of Law as the possible solution t o the three main problems :
1) Tremendous discretionary power in the hands of the individuals who were likely
t o misuse it;
2) lack of definition of individual rights, and
3) the existence of a large body of unwritten laws without any clear direction.
The Rule of Law meant that the administration was now to be carried out strictly
according to certain laws which defined the rights, privileges and obligations of the
people, and not according to the personal desires of the rulers. It also meant that in
theory at least, nobody was above law. Even the official. and those who supervised
law, were in theory, accountable to the same set of laws and could be brought before
a court of law for violating any law. The law once formulated, could place
restrictions on the actions of the rulers. However, the laws formulated and
interpreted were such that they contained enough space for the oppression of the
people. As it happened, various bureaucratic misdeeds, did not require a violation of
law, they could be done well within the legal rights of the officials. Qespite the
theoretical principle of "rule of law", there remained domains of action. e.g. by the
police o r army, which remained unaffected by restrictions which should have
followed from the principles. A great deal of extra-legal continued to be exercised by
the police and civil-servants. In fact, under the Rule of Law, legality itself became a n
instrument of power and oppression.
Equality before law meant that in theory all the citizens irrespective of their caste,
status etc. were now placed at a n equal footing in the eyes of the law. The concept of
equality before law did not of course, include Europeans into its fold. Separate
courts and laws were set up for them. In criminal cases they could be tried only by
the European Judges. In reality total equality before law could not possibly be
implemented. But it did bring about a national equality among.lndians.
l
-
In practice, the Indian people had t o pay a heavy price for the undeniably laudable
principles of the Rule of Law and Equality before Law. Justice became very
expensive and therefore out of reach for most people. Now the stamp fee had t o be
paid which was very costly. It cost Rs. 1,000 t o start action in a court on a property
worth Rs.50,000. Moreover, the new laws were quite complicated and most people
could not understand or interpret them. Lawyers, therefore, had t o be employed and
that added t o the expenses. T o seek justice people now had t o come t o the district
towns or the provincial centres. Also the legal process generally became very lengthy
and sometime law suits dragged on for years. T o take one example a zamindari in
~ a d i a went
s
into litigation in 1832 t o settle some inheritance and d2bt suits. The
Judgment was finally delivered only as late as in 1896 i.e. after 64 years.
However, the judicial system introduced in India did have the merit of saving in
motion the process of the unification of India. Now it was possible t o conceive of
India, in judicial terms at least, as one unit. The British formulated and used the idea
of legality as a n instrument of controlling India. But later, in the 20th century, the
same instrument of Jegality was t o be used by the leaders of the national movement
to defend civil liberty and right t o challenge government authority within the limits
of law.
A h i n i s t r a t i u n and Law
the Police.
Let us briefly see the composition and functions of each of them.
The Civil Service
The main job of the civil service was to translate law into action and the collection
of revenue. The term 'civil services' was used, for the first time by the East lndia
Company mainly to demarcate its civilian employees from their military and
accesiastical counterparts. The service was initially only commercial in nature but
was late transformed into a public service.
From the very beginning it was a graded post-the gradations being-Apprentices,
writem, factors. junior merchants then finally senior merchants. It was from senior
merchants that appointments for higher services including the Governor were made.
This iystem of grading continued till 1839.
The appointment to these services was the sole prerogative of the court of Directors
of the East lndia Company. These nominated civil servants indulged in corruption.
bribery and illegal private trade. Cornwallis tried to check this corruption. arising
out of apolicy of patronage practised by the court of Directors. He imposed certain
restrictions on the civil servants (like forbiding private trade) but increased their
salaries as a compensation. For instance. the collector of a district was to be paid
1500 a month, besides one per cent commission on the revenue collected from his
distri~t.At this stage, the company's service was perhaps the highest paid service in
the World.
All this, however, failed to solve the twin problems of corruption and inefficiency.
Lord-Wellesly. who arrived in 1798 took significant stepts in this direction. He
introduced the idea of a suitable training for the civil servants in India. He felt that
the foundation of the training of the civil servants should be laid in England and
further training imparted in India. This was founded the Fort William College in
Calcutta on 24 November 1800, where the civil servants were to reveive training in
literature. science and languages in India. After five years, an East lndia College was
established at Hailybury for imparting two years, training to young officers for the
civil services. Indian Civil Services for the next fifty years or so remained the
product of the Hailybury College.
The method of recruitment. however. remained through the system of patronage in
the hands of the court of Directors who were free to nominate their sons and
nephews for the services.
The idea of 'competition' for recruitment (as against nomination practised earlier)
was introduced for the first time by the Charter Act of 1833. But it was to be a very
limited competition and could be termed as nomination-cum-competition for
recruitment. The Court of Directors were to first nominate four times the number of
civil servants required. These nominated candidates had to go through a competitive
examination. through which one fourth could ultimately be selected to join the
coveted Civil Services.
But gradually the demand for open Public competition started gaining ground. The
Charter Act of 1853 ultimately took away the power of the court of Directors to
make nominations and made a provision for open competition. For regulations
regarding age, qualification and subjects for the competitive examination a
committee was appointed headed by Macauly which was to submit its
reconimendations to the Board of control. Subsequently the college at Hailybury was
abolidhed in 1858 and the competitive examinations became the sole responsibility of
the Civil Service Commission. This competitive examination was to be held annually
in England and it was therefore, virtually impossible for an Indian to compete in it.
In late 19th century there began a demand that the competition examination should
be held in India.
The afficers of the civil serviCes were employed both in the control officer and the
district. The chief Officer in the district was the collector who was initially
responsible exclusively for the collection of revenue. He had t!le authority to decide
all disputes related to the boundary and the rent. He was assisted by a Tehsildar who
was ah Indian. After the reforms of 1831 the offices of the Magistrate (you have
head about him in sub-section 24.3.1) and the local chief of Police were also
transferred to him. This gave him total authority in the district. Given the large size
of some of the districts, a post of Deputy Collector, placed between the Collector
and the Tehsildar in the hierarchy was also created after 1831. This was soon
converted into an uncovenanted post which meant that experienced lndians could be
employed as Deputy Collectors.
The lndian Civil Services in years to come, developed into one of the most efficient
and powerful civil services in the world. Its members played a very crucial role in the
framing of the British Policies in lndia and also in maintaining and running the
mighty British empire in lndia. After 1947, independent lndia inherited this system
of Civil Services, which continue in its essentially original form even today.
'
A major reason for lndianisation was the expenses involved. The wars fought under
Hastings, especially the Anglo Burmese war produced a financial crises. This crises
was compounded with the need to make administration more extensive. The
extension of the covenanted services (services held by the Erigl~shmen)was virtually
impossible. So, on the one hand there was the need to make the administration more
extenslve. And on the other hand, was their inability to bear the cost of the extensive
administration, by British standards. The only way out was to recruit lndians in
large numbers to fill subordinate posts as they were cheaper and easily available
compared to Englishmen. This did not threaten the British aspirants for the lucrative
Indians posts, as they did not want to compete for the subordinate jobs in India.
It was mainly for this reason that the claims of the Indian people for a share in
administration were being publically recognised, and the British Government was
also providing the justification in terms of justice, moral*obligation, and local needs
etc. A regulation of 1831 placed in the hand of the Indian Judicial officers a large
share of the judicial responsibility. Bentinck was succeeded by Auckland who
increased the power and salary of the Indian Judges.
But it must be remembered that the top posts, involving decision-making authority
wert reserved strictly for the British till the late 19th and early 20th centuries when
the lndians started making a n entry into the coveted civil services.
...........................................................................
ii) ~ ~ u a l i t y ' b e f o rLaw.
e
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iii) Police
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>....,
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iv) Army
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2)
i)
Under the new judicial system, the civil and revenue adminlstrat~onwere'
separated from each other.
ii)
The existing traditional and religious laws were abolished from the very
beginning under the new system.
iv) lndian participation in the British Services was confined to lower ranks only.
2-4.4 LET US S U M UP
P
In the 19th century India started a process in which new legal and administrative
institutions came into being, grew and took a definite shape. This process was a
product of certain British ideas on the Indian problems from the early 19th century
onwards, as well as certain changes in British interests pressing for administrative
reforms. The result was network of laws applicable throughout the country and a
vast administrative structure to implement the laws. This structure was truly modern
i'n nature and pan-Indian in its spread. Its impact, clearly visible only in the 20th
century was somewhat ambivalent in nature. To the British Government it provided
the channels for control over the Indian people, and for greater penetration into
India. To the Indians on the other hand, it provided the ground on which a protest
could be launched and the authority of the British could be challenged.
2) In your answer you should refer to thechanges in the British interests thereby
necessitating a comprehensive administrative structure in the 19th century. See
Sub-sec. 24.2.2.
Check Your Progress 2
I) i) and ii) See Sub-sec. 24.3.1 iii) and iv) See Sub-sec. 24.3.2
25.0
OBJECTIVES
25.1 INTRODUCTION
Tha latter half of the 18th century saw the English East lndia Company emerge as a
victorious commercial military power in Bengal after its victories a t the Battles of
Plassey and Buxar. The remaining decades of the 18th century and the early 19th
century witnessed the slow and halting transformation of the British Company from
trader-conquerors t o rulers. This shift necessitated the establishment of institutional
inftjastructures and a definite policy perspective for governing the subject population.
This process was marked by an initial dependence on pre-colonial institutions and
mekhanisms of rule, followed by ad hoc modifications in them, finally culminating in
reordering af the institutions of government.
Economic and intellectual developments in-Britain, combined with the requirements
and limits of the newly established colonial government of lndia provide the context
for the formulation of state policies i n colonial India.
noticeable stream in the historiography of this subject has focused on the multiple
ideological influences on colonial policy makers as the dominant determinant of
policy formulation. More recent studies at the regional and district levels have tried
to counter the earlier preoccupation with the monolithic colonial state as the prime
variable in the framing of policies. These works attribute great significance to local
power configurations in determining the final outcome of state policies.
25.3
The term social policy covers wide range of policies pertaining to law. education, ,
family, criminality, status ranking, social information gathering and various other
similar kinds of state intervention for the collective life of the governed population
with the object of regulating it. Given the extremely wide coverage of the term 'social
policy' and the fact that some of these areas have already been covered in earlier
Units, we shall concentrate in this Unit on British attitudes towards certain lndian
attention and action in early colonial period. It may be mentioned at the outset that
most of our discussions refer largely to Bengal. Being the headquarters of the
Company's government in lndia and its early subjugation to British rule, Bengal
provided a laboratory where the government developed many of its early state
policies. Bengal was also the region where there existed a substantial number of
educated middle class people who played a role in evolving a social policy. The
economic activities of the British in Calcutta and the spread of western education
among its upper classes contributed to the exhilaration of social and cultural life in
the city. he' Western educated Bengali elite, therefore. actively discussed and
responded to British policies. apart from trying to shape its formulation.
Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of lndia, was in favour of creating an
English bureaucracy, which would be well versed in lndian languages and responsible
to lndian traditions. In 1784 Hastings noted that "Every accumulation of knowledge
and especially such as is obtained by social communication with people over whom
we exercise dominion founded on the right of conquest, is useful to the stage : it is
the gain of humanity ......" For Hastings the mastery over traditional lndian
languages provided the key to understanding lndia and communicating with the
subject population. With this end in mind he drafted a proposal for creating a
professorship in Persian at Oxford. Civil servants were encouraged to learn Persian
and Hindustani before coming to India. Since the Company took official action on
the issue of language training only as late as 1790, Hastings as an immediate
solution. gathered around himself a group of civil servants who we're dedicated to the
study and translation of lndian texts on law and jurisprudence. To encourage such
activity. Hastings offered attractive financial inducement for translation exercises.
Under his patronage Bengali became the first Sanskrit based vernacular to be studied
systematically by Englishmen. Nathaniel Halched, a close aide of Hastings compiled
and translated into English a set of Hindu customary and religious laws. In 1788 he
published a Grammar of the Bengali Language.
Hasting's efforts at reproducing Company documents in lndian languages promoted
the beginning of printing and publishing in Calcutta. Warren Hastings was also
instrumental in founding the Asiatic Society which was to help in 'rediscovering' the
early traditions of Indians. The establishment of the Calcutta Madrassa was another
step in this direction.
The cultural and social policy during Hasting's governor generalship has often been
explained as one inspired by the ideology of British Orientalism. It must be kept in
mind that this ideology also fitted in with the requirements and limits of the British
empire in India. Knowledge about the subject population, their social customs,
manners and codes were essential prerequisites for developing. Permanent
institutions of rule in lndia, Hasting's policy to rule the conquered in their own way
and resist anglicization reflected a combination of Orientalist conceptions and
elements of political pragmatism. Early British oficial reports on the conditions of
the Malabar on the West Coast exhibit the above discussed tendency to view native
social practices sympathetically even when they differed from Western norms. For
instance late 18th century reports describe the Nair custom of matriliny and
polyandry without contempt. Company officials reported on polyandry amongst Nair
Write in 50 ~ c ~ r d s .
2)
25.4.1
Infanticide
The first traditional social custom which was suppressed by the British lndian
government was the practice of infanticide. Female infanticide was prevalent in many
parts of India. The difficulty and expenses incurred in marrying girls amongst the
Rajputs, the Jats, the Mewatis and the Rajput Rajkumars of Benares gave rise to the
practice of killing female infants by starvation or poisoning. Jonathan Duncan, the
Resident of Benares was the first official who tried to curb this social evil. Instead of
unilaterally abolishing infanticide by legislation Duncan met the local Rajkumars
and convinced them that the killing of female infants went against the tenets of
Hindu scriptures. Duncan knew that in the prevailing social system female children
were an economic liability to their families and he promised monetary compensation
by the Government if the Rajkurnars abandoned this practice.
Reverend Ward in his book A View of the History, Literature and Religion of the
Hindoos provides a detailed description of the practice of infanticide in Bengal.
William Carey, a missionary in the College of Fort William vehemently argued for
abolishing these customs. A member of the Governor General's Council who was
sympathetic to the Serampore Missionaries pointed out these social evils to
Wellesley. Carey after consulting Hindu pundits submitted a petition to the
government for immediately suppressing these practices. Around the same time the
Calcutta magistrates sent a letter to the Vice-President-in-Council stating that
infanticide had never enjoyed sanction under the Mughal or the British governments.
They also mentioned that no public opposition was encountered when the police
prevented infanticide.
Ultimately a law banning infanticide was enacted as Regulation V1 of 1802.
The abolition of infanticide which appears to have been effective in Bengal did not
result in any significant opposition by the public. Probably its limited practice in
Bengal and the absence of religious sanction allowed the British to stamp it out
easily. The banning of infanticide in other parts of India does not appear to have been
effective, as this practice continued even after its prohibition.
In the case of suppression of infanticide the initiative for change came for local level
officials and missionaries. The Governor General gave his assent only after
ascertaining the views of the Hindu pundits and the unlikely possibility of such a
measure causing public hostility.
25.4.2
Sati
The next significant state intervention in Indian social life was the suppression of
widow burning or sati. This practice was widespread in all the three Presidencies at
the beginning of the 19th century with the larger number of reported incidents being
in the lower districts of Bengal.
OFFICIALLY REPORTED INCIDENTS O F SAT1 IN THE LOWER PROVINCES
. 1815-1823
No. of incidents
Calcutta
Dacca
Murshidabad
Patna
Benares
Bareilly
Total
Widow burning was practised not only by the Brahmans but also other castes.
However, in proportion to the total population the incidence of Sati was very
limited. For example during the 1825 cholera epidemic when more than 25,000
people died, the total number of widow burnings amounted to only 63 in Bakarganj
district of Bengal.
As early as 1795 Colebrook tried to demonstrate that this practice constituted a
departure from the authentic Vedic tradition. Though Sati had been a vogue from
very ancient times in India, a number of Indian rulers including Akbar, Jahangir,
Guru Arnardas, the Maratha chief Ahalya-bai, the Peshwas, the King of Tanjore and
the Portuguese in Goa tried to discourage this practice.
No sustained and systematic effort was made to suppress this inhuman practlce till
the 19th century. While the other European companies in Bengal had banned widow
burruing 'in their territories, the Calcutta Supreme Court disailowed it only in one
part of the city.
The Igovernment's early attitude towards this practice can be seen when in 1789,
Brooke, the collector of Shahabad disallowed an act of Sati. Referring the case of
Governor-General Cornwallis, he noted "The rites and superstitions of the Hindu
religion should be allowed with the most unqualified tolerance, but a practice at
which human nature shudders cannot permit without particular instruction"
Cormwallis replied asking him not to employ coercive methods and try and persuade
the people to stop this practice. In 1797 the Midnapore District Magistrate who
stopped the burning of a child widow was asked by the Governor General to avoid
coercion and use persuasion.
Led by William Carey, the Serampore Missionaries conducted a survey on widow
burqing in the vicinity of Calcutta. Carey got the pundits employed by the college of
Fort William to collect Hindu shastras containing information on Sati. After
studying these he concluded that whereas Hinduism did not forbid it, it did not
make it -obligatory either. Carey then sent a memorial to Wellesley for curbing Sati.
In 1805 Wellesley asked the Judges of the Nizamat Adalat to find out to what extent
the practice of Sati was based on Hindu religion. The Pundits of the court declared
that forcible burning of widows was not permitted. The court also noted that %ti
being widely practised and popular among Hindus, any measure to abolish it would
result in considerable dissatisfaction amongst them.
In 1813 after some vacillation the governmen't fixed the minimum age for a widow to
become Sati at sixteen years and declared that a mother of a child less than three
yearb could not become Sati unless another person undertook to look after the child.
In 1819 and 1821 two Judges of the Supreme Court pleaded for an immediate
suppression of Sati arguing that such a measure would not result in any serious
public resentment. This plea was rejected by the government. In 1821 Lord Hastings
refused to authorize the total abolition of Sati fearing it would incite religious
fanalticisms. Hasting's successor Lord Amherst was against the prohibition of Sati
becaluse he feared that such a measure would have immediate adverse repercussions
on the sepoys of the army. The Bombay government and Charles Metcalfe in Delhi
were also not in favour of immediately suppressing this custom.
While the government dithered over this issue the Westernized Bengali intelligentsia
led by Rammohan Roy actively agitated for the abolition of Sati. In 1818 he sent a
petition to the government urging them to abolish this practice and counter
orthodox Hindu demands against prohibition. A vigilance committee was organized
to slirictly implement the age restrictions on the practice of Sati. Rammohan engaged
in a polemical debate with the supporters of Sati such as Kasinath Tarkavagish
(18 IY), wrote pamphlets and newspaper articles to mobilize public opinion against
this customs. He used his journal Sambnd Kaumudi to further his campaign, with
papers like Samachar Darpan and B q a d u t supporting him. The Samachar
Chandrika became the organ of his orthodox Hindu opponents.
Meanwhile the Christian missionaries attracted English public attention to the evils
of %ti and the urgent need for its prohibition by the government, in Britain. The
Parliament instructed the Indian government to publish all the available information
on %ti.
In spite of the mounting demand for its abolition in India and Britain the
parljament, and the company authorities in England did not want to take any
decision themselves, not knowing what reaction it would produce in India. Finally it
was left to Bentinck, the Governor-General to legislate against Widow burning in
December 1829.
The abolition of widow-burning by the government did not result in any visible
disaffection or resentment among the Indians. As in the case of infanticide, the
initiative for banning widow burning came mainly from the Western educated Indian
intelligentsia, Christian missionaries and individual administrators. The marked
procrastination by the Company's government in abolishing it was mainly due to its
extreme fear of inciting a violent Indian reaction.
25.4.3
Slavery
Slavery was another institution which came under attack in British India. Slavery as
a system of labour exploitation was prevalent in lndia till its abolition in 1843. The
extent and economic significance of the slave labour in general economic terms,
however, varied greatly from region to region. In Bombay and Calcutta slaves
constituted an article of trade; Arab traders brought slaves from Arabia and Africa
for sale. In order to survive famines, such as the one in 1803, a large number of poor
offered themselves in the slave market.
In Madras. unlike the other two presidencies, predial slavery was very important.
This form of slavery was very significant in the region's agricultural production.
Malabar. Coorg and Canara were the chief areas where widespread predial slavery
existed.
Procrastination was once again the most evident feature in the Government of lndia
attitude towaqds the abolition of slavery. As early as 1774 the Government was
concerned about this practice. Evangelical propaganda against slavery led by
Wilberforce helped in focusing public attention in Britain on the evils of slavery in
India. Though Britain abolished slave trade in her dominions in 1820. the Company
in lndia acknowledged the legality of slavery on the grounds that it was a traditional
practice with religious sanction.
The Charter Act of 1832 directed the lndian Government to ameliorate the condition
of slaves "assoon as extinction shall be practicable and safe, and should prepare
drafts of laws and regulations for the purposes aforesaid."
This led to the appointment of the lndian Law Comm.ission of 1835. Though its
primary task was to frame a Penal code. the law commission drew up an anti-slavery
Report in 1841. The Law Commission requested the government that some of.its
members be permitted to conduct local level enquiries into the practice. The
government refused this request.
In 1839 the Law Commission submitted a Draft Act whereby inflicting corporal
punishment on slaves was made a penal offence. Before taking any action on the
Draft Act the Commissioners discussed the possibility of such a measure exciting
public disaffection. Regulation X of 181 1 (prohibition of import of slaves by land),
Regulation IV of 1832 (prohibition of inter provincial movement of slaves) and the
practical abolition of slavery in Delhi were reviewed and seen to have had no hostile
repercussions. Several members of the commission were against immediate passing
of the Act and letters were sent to ascertain the views of the Bombay and Madras
governments on the issue. The Bombay government did not feel the need for any
special law and the Madras administration also doubted the expediency of such an
Act.
Under pressure of parliamentary opinions. the law commission was again asked to
frame a new Act which after considerable delay on the part of the lndian
Government was passed as Act V of 1845, abolishing slavery in lndia.
The impact of the Act suppressing slavery was however very limited. The most
crucial provision in the Act merely stated that no claim to the labour of a slave was
to be recognized in a British court of law and that a government official could no
longer force a slave to return to his master.
The more important factor in the decline of slavery was the generation of souices of
alternate employment in the later 19th-century in plantation and public works.
The above discussion suggests significant shifts in British attitude towards lndian
traditions and culture. The changing servitor role of the lndian colony and the
pragmatic political considerations of the lndian government produced the context
which defined the direction of state policies in India.
The conscious attempts at state intervention in India's social practices and customs
were extremely limited in their impact. However, the colonial government by altering
the political configuration of precolonial India did trigger off significant structural
social changes. The British consciously denied political power and privileges to the
precolonial ruling Indian groups while recognising their social and caste status.
Education was also an important instrument of social changes, perhaps more
effective than legislation. (See Unit 21).
The small Western educated Bengali intelligentsia epgaged in debates with the state
on policy matters, responded to policy changes and independently tried to bring
about social changes in Bengal. This groups of intelligentsia which included
personalities like Rammohan Roy and Keshub Chandra Sen were impressed by
Britain's progress and convinced that Indian society needed urgent social change. At
the same time the resisted anglicization as well as Christian missionary attempts to
convert Indians.
Intellectuals like Rammohan Roy offered to their countrymen a reformed Indian
religion, vedantism, free of superstition and priesthood. The Brahmo Samaj, which
was their organizatienal form coupled Hindu reformation with an adoption of
progressive Western values. Unfortunately the Brahmos and the Bengal reformist
groups could mot extend their campaign beyond the restricted Western educated'
urban Bengali population. The message of social reform, however, spread gradually
to many parts of India and brought about reform movement under Indian initiative,
independent of governmental support. (See Units 26 and 27).
It may therefore be reiterated that the pragmatic considerations of the British Indian
government acted as a strong check to the translation of reformist ideas into state
policies in India. Social and religious institutions were an area in which the
government intervened with great caution. Even the policy of limited state
intervedtion in social affairs, surveyed above, suffered a total reversal in the period
after the 1857 revolt. From then onwards social reform was left mainly to indigenous
initiative.
Cheek Your Progress 2
I ) What were the reasons for the changes that took place In the colon~al\dciai
policy in the period after Warren Hastings?
2) Write on the development and the impact of British policies with refsre~lceto
Sati, Infanticide. and slavery.
25.6
LET U S S U M U P
After reading this Unit we hope that you have grasped the various ideological and
material factors which provided the direction for British social policy in India. The
Government of lndia cautiously intervened in Indian social practices under pressure
from individual administrators. missionaries and Indian social reformers. However,
the impact of these policies (except in the field of education) was extremely limited
and did not provoke any significant lndian response. In the post 1857 period even
these limited efforts at social changes were consciously abandoned by the colonial
government.
I)
You should gather your information from Section 25.3 and 25.4 and then
compare the two.
26.4
26.5
26.6
26.7
26.8
Northern India
Southern India
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
26.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this Unit you should be able to learn about:
the purpose of development of new ideas aiming at multi-dimensional change of
society,
the 19th century Indian thinkers and'their ideas on various asp x t s of sociocultural life, and
the overall impact of these new ideas on the existing socio-cultural-rdigious
beliefs in India.
I
I
Nineteenth century was a very significant phase in the history of modern India. It was
during this period that the country witnessed the emergence of many intellectual
currents for national regeneration in all its aspects: religious, social, cultural,
economic and political. Although the intellectual endeavours aimed a t achieving allsided improvement, the main emphasis was accorded to social and religious aspects.
Despite the vision of the movement being multi-dimensional, social and cultural
problems acquired predominance over economic and political ones in thinking. In a
word, socio-cultural reform formed the major plank of the nineteenth century Indian
intelletual movement
During the first decades ofqthecentury, the movement, however, was a very small
affair of a limited number of individuals whose passion for fighting social
obscurantism could not pose a major challenge to the advocates of orthodoxy. The
movement, however, maintained its morhentum and reached its peak during the
second half of the nineteenth century. In this Unit we will look beyond the strict
chronological limits of this course and also consider developments in the later decades
of the 19th century in order to present a total picture.
It is proposed to study here the basic features of the intellectual, social and religious
movements oriented towards Reform in India during the nineteenth century. We
would first try to study in brief the ideas and activities of individual intellectuals (Unit
26) before making generalisations about the movement in the context of the country
as a whole (Unit 27).
The emphasis is not, however, on the biographical sketch of individual thinkers and
reformers, but on their ideas which formed the ideological backdrop of the
.movement.
I
I
R a m m o b n Roy remained a rationalist during the entire period of his intellectual life.
In ~phfatlhis. rationalism was 'in 'full bloom. Even in his later writings reason retains
its rightf~lplace as the touchstone of reality. Although later he sought the support of
the scriptbres, that was to promote reform of Hindu society.
In 18128 hk established a new society, the Brahma Sabha which later came to be known
as the Brdhma Samaj. His primary purpose was to rid Hinduism of its evils and to
preadh mbnotheism. It incorporated the best teachings of other religions and acted as
a powerful platform for the advocacy of humanism, monotheism and social
regenerat{on.
R a m h o h F was extremely pained at the prevailing social degeneration. In particular
he wqs copcerned with the pitiable plight of women in socieyt. He launched a crusade
against thie evil practice of Sati, the burning of a widow on her husband's funeral
pyre. His pgitation bore fruit finally in 1829 when Lord William Bentinck, the
GoverslorrGeneral of India, enacted a law against that practice. However, the solutign
which he iput forward for the living widows was not widow-marriage but ascetic
widowhodd.
I
He condehned polygamy, early marriage and opposed the subjugation of women and
their infedor status in society. He related their p;oblems to the root cause of absence
rights. To him, female education was another effective method to free
from social stagnation.
I
He propadated the introduction and spread of modern education which could act as a
majorl vehicle for the dissemination of modern ideas in the country. For its promotion
he providdd enthusiastic support to David Hare who, along with many Indian
notables Calcutta, founded the famous Hindu College in 1817. He also ran an
English Sc/~oolin Calcutta at his own cost. In 1825 he founded the Vedanta College
which offeled both Indian and Western learning.
01
Ramnioha took up not only social and religious problems but also political and
economic issues of the times. He stood for the Indianisation of services, trial by jury,
separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary, freedom of the press,
and judicial equality between Indians and Europeans. He criticised the Zamindari
system for its oppressive practices.
Rammohan was a progenitor of nationalist consciousness, and ideology in India. His
every effort of social and religious reform was aimed at nation-building. Through his
reform he wished to lay the foundations for the unity of Indian society, divided into
divergent groups. In particular he attacked the rigidities of the caste system which,
according to him, had been the source of disunity among Indians. He held that the
monstrous caste system created inequality and division among the people on the one
hand, and 'deprived them of patriotic feeling' on the other.
Rammohan was an internationalist, libertarian and democrat in his orientation. He
took active interest in international affairs and wanted amity among nations. His
concern for the cause of liberty, democracy and nationalism led him to cancel all his
social engagements when he came to know of the failure of the Revolution in Naples
in 1821. By giving a public dinner he celebrated the success of the Revolution in
Spanish America in 1823.
Whatever his limitations, Rammohan Roy was certainly the first luminous star on
the Indian intellectual firmament of the nineteenth century. In 1833 this great Indian
passed away leaving behind his ideas and the message of modernisation for others to
pursue.
1. Rnmmohnn Roy
I
Social and Cultural Change
tiaditlons, and began to question the whole fabric of Hindu society and religion. The
Derokians, the followers of Derozio, were staunch rationalists; they measured
everything with the yardstick of reason. DerozTo was disinissed from the Hindu
col1eg)e in 1831 because of his radical views, and shortly afterwards he died of cholera
a$ the1 young age of 22.
Under the aegis of the Tattvabodhini Sabha emphasis on indigenous language and
cultuke became much more pronounced. Bengali texts in all subjects were published.
A TaJttvabodhini Press was established and in 1843 the Tattvabodhini Patrika, a
journal of the organisation was started for the propagation of ideas. Debendranath
Tagare became a Brahmo in 1843 and he reorganised the Brahmo Samaj in the same
year.
'
Another great intellectual associated with the Brahmo Samaj was Keshab Chandra
Sen. Keshab laid stress on female emancipation. He emphasised universalism as
against Debendranath's stress on national Hindu identity. Despite doctrinal
diffelences among themselves the Brahmasamajists collectively contributed to the
propagation of Rammohan's ideas and changing bengal's society. They denounced
prieqtly intermediation in religious matters and stood for the worship of ohe God.
They supported widow-marriage, monogamy and women's education.
re re at
His (great contribution, however, lay in the field of female emancipation. Widowmarkiage was the specific social issue he devoted his entire life to. His agitation for
legabising the re-marriage of widows fetched support of the enlightened sections from I
varipus parts of the country and finally such a law wab enacted. Under the supervision
of \lidyasagar the first legal Hindu widow-marriage among the upper castes in India
was celebrated in 1856. Through his endeavours nearly 25 widow marriages were
'
solelmnised between 1855 and 1860. This was certainly a major breakthrough in the
hist(ory of radiCal social reform, and was a great advance from Rammohan's idea of
ascetic widowhood. He promoted the higher education ofwomrn for their general
uplift. As Secretary to the Bethune School, founded in Calcutta in 1849, he was
instrumental in leading the movement for women's education. He also campaigned
against child-marriage and polygamy.
The last of the great thinkers of 19th century Bengal who created a Stir in Hindu
society was Narendra Nath Datta, known as Swami Vivekananda. His guru or
spiritual preceptor was Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1834-1886). Ramakrishna stressed
universalism in religions and denounced religious particularism. However, his primary
concern remained with religious salvation and not social salvation.
His message was popularised inside and outside India by his famous disciple, Swamy
Vivekananda (1863-1902) Vivekananda condemned the caste system and people's
obsession with rituals and supe~titions.In 1896 he founded the Ramakrishna Mission
to carry on humanitarian and social work. The main motto of the Mission was to
provide social service to the people, and it carried on its mission by opening schools,
hospitals, orphanages, libraries, etc. in different parts of the country.
M Your Progress 1
1) Explain in 100 words Rarnmohan Roy's views on religion a d tjrt zmd&m,d
women in India.
:.
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~ r g h m oSamaj
.-
........................................................................
Tqttvabodhini Sabha
WESTERN INDIA
In western India the main focus of reform movement was on social ideas rather than
religious and philosophical. Throughout nineteenth century there developed a general
awareness among the various lower castes against many forms of social
discrimination. Thinkers like Vishnubawa Brahmachari, Jyotiba Phule, Ranade and
others played very significant role in the development of this social awareness.
nature. For example, the Paramhansa Sabha's principal objective was the demolition
of all caste distinctions. Each new recruit to the Sabha had to undergo initiation
ceremony, and take the pledge that he would not observe any caste distinctions. He
had to eat a slice of bread baked by a Christian and drink water at the hands of a
Muslim. The Sabha was, however, a secret society; its meetings were conducted in the
strictest secrecy for fear of facing the wrath of thq orthodox. The challenge to the
caste system and other social evils thus remained limited to the participation of its few
members only.
Reform Movement-1
The movement for reform arose relatively later among the Indian Muslims only
aftefi the 1860s. Sayyid Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) urged the Muslims to reject the
decadent medieval thought, and to imbibe modern scientific knowledge and outlook.
He condemned the custom of polygamy, and advocated removal of purdah and
spread of education among women. He taught tolerance and urged the people to
devehop rational outlook and freedom of thought.
He was greatly concerned with the promotion of modern education fot which he
worked throughout his life. In 1875 he founded the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental
College in Aligarh for the spread of Western education. Later this developed into the
~ l i g b r hMuslim University.
He viewed the Quran as the most authoritative and rational religious text fdr the
Muslims. He respected all religions and spoke against religious fanaticism ahd
bigotry. Some of his followers desisted from joining the emerging national movement
and believed that the two communities might develop along separate paths.
.....................................................................
'
Refonn Movement I
C) Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan was in-favour of religious tolerance and advocated
freedom of thought.
D) Veeresalingam, the key figure of Andhra social reform movements, was not
in favour of female education.
E) The caste associations in South India did not play any role in socio-religious
reforms.
2) A)
B) X
C)
D) X
E) X
27.4
27. i
27.2
27.j
27.1
Objectives
Introduction
Vision of the Future
Method of Reform
Nature of the Movement
27.4.1
27.4 2
27.4.3
27.4.4
2745
2716
27,7
2718
Social Questtom
Religious Ideas
Use of Scriptures
Link with the Past
Limitations
Prelude to Nationalism
Let Us Sum Up
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
27.0 OBJECTIVES
This Unit should be seen in continuation with the previous Unit. After you have gone
thlrough it you would learn: '
*'
the methods advocated by the 19th century intellectuals to implement their ideas
of reform,
the issues and ideas which were raised during the reform movement,
*I
*I
37.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous Unit you were introduced to a set of ideas on the culture and society
in India, articulated by the intellectual reformer of 19th century India. You have also
become familiar with the impact of these ideas, also referred to a s the reform
Movement, on the existing social milieu. This Unit takes the story further and talks
about the aims of the movement and the method through which a new social order
was to be effected. The nature and limitations of the intellectual endeavour of the 19th
Fentury and its contribution to the development of nationalist thinking during the
Subsequent period would form the major areas of examination in this Unit.
The intellectuals placed a very high premium on knowledge. Ignorance was viewed as
a curse and attributed to as the root cause of the prevalence and doggedness of
superstitions and obscurantism in Indian society. Illiteracy in general and among
Reform Movement-11
transfortmation of society. Thus, change and continuity both constituted the basic
elementp in their scheme of social transformation.
The intdllectual movement in India was an urban phenomenon; it originated and
greatly bperated in the urban areas only. The main means used for the propagation of
ideas add for the creation of favourable public opinion were the urban
commupication channels such as the press, lectures, and sabhas, propaganda
networN.
Despite being a localised affair, it was, however, not region'al in its inspirations and
aspiratibns. Although their activities remained confined to certain urban pockets, the
int&llecdualsextended their vision to comprehend the problems of different regions
and thecountry as a whole. Moreover, they made conscious attempts to undermine
the notibns of provinciality and regional distinctions.
.,
4. A scene of Sati
The intellectuals held that the practice of enforced widowhood and polygamy signified
cruel crimes against humanity. it was based on human degradation and denoted
barbarity and low level of social development. Lokahitwadi lashed:
\
There was a common realisation among 19th century reformers that without social
reform as the basis society could not progress, social reform was considered a
stepping-stone into political independence, economic development and the attainment
of national strength and vigour. It had a'broader objective of 'removing all obstacles
towards developments in all departments'.
I
t
5
I
As we have seen in Unit 26 some of the 19th century thinkers denounced idolatry,
polytheism and priestly intermediation in the religious matters of the people.
These intellectuals'attack on the existing Hindu belief system was, however,
diametrically different from the attack of missionaries on the Hindu faith. The
intellectuals denounced religious malpractices for the purpose of reformation; the
missionaries denounced Hinduism essentially for that of proselytisation.
Raqmohan Roy challenged the intellectual rationale of conversion into Christianity.
He argued that if Hindu religion was corrupted or lacking in rationality, so was
Christianity. He pointed to some practices in the Christian faith such as adoration of
idols, crucifixes, miracles and the notion of Trinity. He came to the conclusion that on
comparison the monotheism of the Vedanta was superior to Trinitarianism in
Christianity. Dadoba also attempted to expose the contradictions inherent in the
Christian faith. He wrote:
"The Christian doctrine of Holy Trinity does not reconcile with the unity of
God, which all the Christian missionaries so promptly proclaim to the heathens
in India. I could no more believe in the mystery of a Trinity in Unity or of a Tripersonal God, as it is called, than I could believe in three apples in one apple,
the very notion being paradoxical on the very face of it".
Vishnu Bawa Brahmachari used to give lectures on the sands of the Chaupati in
Bombay on what he thought were superior features of Hinduism compared to
christianity; he opposed proselytisation by Christian missionaries.
We are not concerned here with the truth or falsity of these doctrines, but we must
note one thing: these intellectuals' attack against conversion and Christian influence
' was theological in nature, and not communal. It was not directed against the
Christian community nor was it intended to create communal tension or animosity.
~ e l i g i o nhad, in fact, a very significant place in the nineteenth century thought. It was
the realisation of the interconnection between religion and society and the significanck
of the former to the healthy evolution of the latter that the intellectuals emphasised.
Reform Movement-I1
I
I
Religidus reform was therefore taken to be the precondition of progress and enduring
social Qhange. Chandavarkar held that the material life and religious life were the two
interrelated aspects of the same existence, and a healthy social growth was not
possiblle if it was not counterbalanced ;by an inlightened religion.
This, hbwever, does not imply that the social reform in the nineteenth century was
secondbry to the 19th century thinkers' religious concern.
These jntellectuals believed in an organic connection between religion and social life
and advocated the renovation in the entire society. Ranade wrote:
"Growth is structural and organic, and must take slow effect in all parts of the
organism. . . . The whole existence requires renovation. The liberation that has
tq be sought is not in one department of life, but it is an all-round work. You
cannot have a good social system when you find yourself low in the scale of
political rights nor can you be fit to exercise political rights and privileges unless
ypur social system is based on reason and justice. If your religious ideas are low
ahd grovelling, you cannot succeed in social, economic or political spheres. This
ioterdependence is not an accident but is the law of our nature."
It woulb be erroneous, therefore, to call the intellectual awakening a religious
movement and to view the intellectuals as religious reformers. In fact, it was their
concerd for the promotion of social and material advancement of the society that
distingaishes the nineteenth century movement from the medieval Bhakti one. In the
Bhakti movement religion weighed supreme; in the nineteenth century awxkening
society gained pre-eminence.
Check t o u r Progress 1
1 ) Read the following statements and mark correct (
i)
J ) or incorrect ( X ).
ii) : T h e reforms did not stand for a structural transformation, they sought
changes within the structure of the society.
iii) The rncans uscd for the propagation of ideas by the reformers were essentially
thc urban communication channels.
,
2) Write ten lines on the method for reform advocated by the intellectual of the 19th
ccntury .
regulations. As to the caste system, we havq departed from the rules of our own
old scriptures. They (scriptures) recognised only four castes at first. In our
present circumstances, the number of castes into which the Hindu community is
divided is four thousand more than four."
Thus we find that on the one hand the intellectuals sought the support of the
scriptures where desirable for the reforms they advocated and, on the other,
reinterpreted the very scriptures to Austify deviations from them. In fact, the scriptures
were sagaciously used by them according to the need and desirability felt for
furthering the cause of reform.
,*
-1
Their links with the past was, however, not revivalist in nature. Ranade clearly stated:
"In politics no one would now advocate a return to the autocracies and personal
despotism of former days; nor again the industrial sphere would it do to stick to
the old primitive methods in our attempts to improve the old or start new
industries. So, too, neither in the social sphere would mere revival meet our
requirement."
I
I
I
In other words, they did not stand for an outright replication of the past but its
revision in accordance with the needs of the present. Chandavarkar wrote:
"I too venerate the past, for without it we would not have had the present. But it
is the vital past that we must care and not break away with from. Nothing that, is
of the past has a right to live if it stunts our growth and numbs our calibre. We
cannot break from the past if it is vital. But what is wanted is not just a word for
the past. Rather we have to put in a word for the present. The ideal of authority
is one of our social ideals that need to be revised, not revived."
In terms of impact, extent and achievements the 19th century intellectual endeavours
we have described could not achieve any spectacular success. Caste distinctions
remained strong and the religious and social practices did not die away.
Child-marriage and enforced widowhood remained as pressing a problem as ever.
Reform in practice in any case affected a very small minority. The masses remained
nearly untouched by the ideas of the intellectuals. There was certainly a kind of mass
approach in their writing in the vernaculars. But despite their best endeavours to
appeal to the masses, their appeal for all practical purposes remained confined to the
urban middle classes, particularly the educated sections.
t
1
Given the situation of widespread illiteracy in the rural areas and because of the
absence of modern and diversified communications network, they were doomed to
have a very limited audience, mainly urban-based. ~ h u ' seven in terms of its practical
appeal the movement remained urban, besides its other limitations.
Moreover, they had undertaken the most difficult task of cbntemporary public life,
that is, the problem of socio-cultural reform. In cultural issues feelings and trad~tions
are involved to a very large extent. Traditions die very hard. Caste and customs proved
to be hard to eradicate from Indian cqnsciousness. In political and economic matters
logic is and can be an 'instrument of power', but where feelings and traditions are the
authorities, logic is almost impotent. t t is really very difficult to bring about changes
in the long established customs and traditions and deeply rooted prejudices.
Above all, the growth of the awakening during the period of colonial domination
posed certain inherent limits on the success of the movement. British rule did not
create a wider social audience capable of appreciating the basic modern~tyof their
ideas. The fact of widespread illiteracy remained a great obstacle to the realisation of
Reform Movement-Il
their goal. Their intellectual ideas and activities could not, therefore, stir the minds of
the general ppblic.
I
Bhandarkar prote, 'the lamp has been'lighted but the light is flickering'. Their
contribution lies in lighting the lamp; it flickered for reasons beyond their control.
Assessing their own role Chandavarkar said in 1886:
"It is ehough for us, it should be enough for us, if we are able to say that we
have nQt remained idle or inactive, but tiave done something, even if that
somethling be very little to carry the work of social reform a little further than
we fouhd it and helped our successors to carry it further."
The intellectuals did have certain concrete gains to their credit. It was greatly due to
their cotlstaqt endeavours that abolition of Sati and legalisation of widow-marriage
were achievep during the nineteenth century. There was much intellectual fervour,
prolonged agitation and acute discussion during the controversy over the age of
Consent Bill, Such debates, even if they failed to bring about any concrete change
immediately, raised the level of consciousness. Their attempt did set afoot the process
of the undermining of the hold of superstitions and bigotry in the society, however
slow the proress was.
Another significant contribution of the intellectuals lay in the realm of female
education. The pace with which the number of girls was increasing inthe schools
indicates thd onset of the trend of women emerging out of social seclusion imposed
upon them. Female education was no logner deemed dangerous by the increasing
number of people. The significance of such development can be ascertained by the
fact that duriing the subsequent period women started taking part actively in public
and national life. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi could bring them into the vortkx of the
national movement in the twentieth century mainly because the groundwork was
already pregared by the nineteenth century intellectuals.
The ideas ahd activities of the intellectuals were directly or indirectly re1,ated to the
task of nation-building and national reconstruction. The social reform movement, as
a matter of ifact, was not an isolated phenomenon; it was loaded with wider national
political and economic considerations.
At the cultural level they attempted to distinguish the essential from the secondary,
the positive from the negative, the progressive from the reactionary in order to locate
and define what may be called a 'national culture'.-It is generally within culture that
we find the first seed of opposition which leads ultimately to the structuring and
developmeqt of the liberation movement. Intellectuals like Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee and Bhaskar were among the first to provide a critique of the colonial rule.
~okahitwadiwas the first to look for Swaraj. He pointed out as early as the late
1840s:
"The British rule in India is not eternal; we shall also become wise by learning
Western science and technology, and we should endeavour to excel and beat
them bn their own ground. It is only then that we shall begin gradually to
demapd power. In order to remove our discontent the British might part with
some Ipower. The more power they give the more will it whet our appetite for it
and tbe British may begin to oppose our demands. If they do so we may perhaps
have to do what the Americansdid when the drove away the English from their
land."
Here Lokahitwadi's political far-sightendness is noticeable in his chalking out in a
way the actual course of the Indian National Movement which was not yet born.
Reform Movemenl-I1
2) In what sense did the reform movement prepare the ground for the national
movement? Answer in about 50 words.
iv) X
2) In your answer you should talk about the primacy that the reformers assigned to
education. See Section 27.3.
--
28.0
28.1
28.2
28.3
28.4
28.5
28.6
28.7
28.8
28.9
28.10
Objectives
introduction
Pre-Colonial Social Discrimination and the Colonial Impact
Pegional Variations.: South India
hestern India
Northern and Eastern India
bontinuity and Change in Colonial India
A New Consciousness : Some Regional
Examples
bet Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
28.0 , OBJECTIVES
After sthdying this Unit you will be able to:
leain about v a ~ b u forms
s
of social discriminations in different parts of-India,
understand the impact of Colonial rule on the existing social system a d how the
changes came in it, and
explain the growth of a new consciousness among the disprivileged groups and
hoy did they try to change the existing social order.
28.1 INTRODUCTION
In$an dociety being based on caste system gave birth to different kind of social
discrimi~nationand created two broad social orders - privileged and disprivileged. In
this Unit we have tried to idtroduce you to_various forms of social discrimination and
disprivilleged groups in different parts of India. Social discrimination existed in India
long bebre the beginning of the colonial ruie. But the establishment of colonial rule
brought changes in economic and administrative system which to a great extent
inflbencled the existing social system in India. How 'and to what extent the change
came in Indian social system have been discussed in this Unit. Here we have also
touched upon the process of social mobility among the lower and intermediary castes
and also the challenge by some disprivileged groups to the agelong Brahmanical
domination in the society.
By the time colonial rule made its presence felt in the second half of the eighteenth
century, the situation had become somewhat fluid, though not to the extent of
eliminating social discrimination. But as India became a colonial appendage to a
',capitalist world economy, new economic relationships began to take shape. The policy
of de-industrialisation deprived the rural artisans of their hereditary occupations and,
in course of time, undermined the basis of a non-competitive and hereditary system of
economic organisation at the rural level. The service castes found it difficult to get
their payments in the way they got under the jajmani system. In its efforts to maximise
the revenue collection , the company resumed various forms of rent-free tenures
resulting in the impoverishment of those service groups who were dependent on them.
The insistence on contract, enforced by law and law-courts, meant that those who had
access to the new system could thereby mdnipulate its levers and consolidate their
position in society. Viewed in this light, the colonial rule denied many of the
subordinate social groups their means of subsistence and, in course of time relegating
some of them to the degraded level of '.criminal tribes'. But at the same time, by
undermining the old economic basis of social organisation colonial rule fuelled an
already developing tendency towards mobility. It also indirectly rendered possible the
growth of lower caste protests in future. While pliable elements among the rural elites
were successfuIly accommodated within the framework of the British revenue system,
the intransigents were rendered powerless by the destruction of forts and disbandment
of local militias uhder British rule. In course of time the dominant groups in different
parts of India consolidated their position by manipulating the institutional framework
of the coloniaf rule.
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
.......................................................................
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.......................................................................
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2) 'P+litics has a positive role in the continuation of the caste domination'. Explain
statement in 100 words in the light of the caste system existed in Western
........................................................................
I
'
..
I
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I
........................................................................
..
I
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ii) The colonial rule by undermining the old economic basis oPsocial
organisation helped the social mobility.
I
iib) Lower status in the caste hierarchy did not deprive the lower castes from
taking part in ritual ceremonies with the higher castes.
I
ih) Agrarian bondage was quite widespread in South India in the eariy years of
the 19th century.
1
P
But during the same period a very different kind of development was taking shape
which, in course of time was to undermine the ritual and social hegemony of the
uppel caste elites. The caste system allowed for mobility at the intermediate levels
while/ preserving the top and bottom levels fixed. The fact that upward mobility was
not ebtirely ruled out gave a certain strength and resilience to the system as a whole.
I
Interbtingly, however, in course of the first century of the British rule, the bottom
level also began to stir. Some of the idioms of social and ritual dominance which the
lower orders had, under the weight af tradition, internalised over time, came to be
serid sly questioned. Initially, of cburse, there was predictable opposition from the
dom nant upper castes. But the material basis of the caste bound systzm of
Biscr mination began to change. The penetration of market forces at the rural level
~ f f e rd some opportunities in some regions which ran contrary to the occupatibnbase jati system. In some regions it was even possible for members of submerged
caste to emerge as zamindars, taluqdars or subinfeudated tenure holders. Thmwasa
mar ed tendency among many of them to "sanskritize" their behaviour. It has been
$oin ed out that acquiring symbols of sanskritization need not be taken as meek
tion of.the upper castes. It also meant the appropriation of certain symbol and
1
I
certain codes of conduct which had been the exclusive preserves of the upper castes.
In some communities missionary activities opened up new possibilities of educational
and consequently material advancement. In the changing perspective, the ideology of
hierarchically divided society failed to carry conviction especially among the victims
of social discrimination. There were indications of the emergence of a new
consciousness as a result of which what had earlier been implicitly accepted as 'duty'
came to be construed as 'disprivilege'.
thdd Dkhnbatioaa d
Dlspri*ilegcd Groups
.........................................................................
discrihnination, it was probably too late to attempt to restore the older intercaste
equaqions. In many parts of India submerged castes were smarting under multiple
disabflities. But there were others in other areas who had begun to form their own
identities on the basis of.radica1 redefinitions of their own
in the system. In
Btwing castes.
SaarWthtio~~
: Adoption of social and religious practices of the upper castes by the
tower castts in order to move up in caste hierarchy is called Sanskritization.
Sod.l Mobility :Movement'or changing of position of any social group in social
hierarchy is called social mobility.
2) You have to write in this answer that how the upper caste domination was backed
by the state power, how the Maratha policy ensured the Brahmanical hegemony
in the society, etc. See Sec. 28.4.
3) i) X ii) 4 iii) X iv) 4
Objectives
Intrpduction
Peasant and Tribal Uprisings: Origins
Some Important Uprisings
29.3.1
29.3.2
29.3.3
29.3.4
29.3.5
29.3.6
29.3.7
29.3.8
29.0 OBJECTIVES
In this Unit you will get to know:
the background to the tribal and peasant movements which took place before 1857,
the issues around which these uprisings took place, and
the nature of popular participation and mobilization in these uprisings.
29.1 INTRODUCTION
Earlier in this course we have studied the process of establishment of colonial rule in
India and the transformation that came with it in the field of economy, law,
administration and other spheres of life. What was the reaction of the common people
to this new Raj and the changes that it brought? Was the revolt of 1857 and isolated
event or was it preceded by protest movements of like nature? An attempt has been
made in this Unit to show how the peasants and tribes reacted to alien rule in the late
18th and 19th centuries,, till 1857. This Unit covers~somehajorpeasant and tribal
uprisings and the origins and character of such uprisings.
Popular Revolts
and Uprisings
,"A set of lawless banditti known under the name of Sanyasis and Fakirs, have
long infested these countries and under the pretence of religious pilgrimage,
have been accustomed to traverse the chief parts of Bengal, begging, stealing
and plundering wherever they go and as it best suits their convenience to
practice. In the years subsequent to the famine, their ranks were swollen by a
crowd of starving peasants, who had neither seed nor implements to
recommence cultivation with, and the cold weather of 1772 brought them down
upon the harvest fields of lower Bengal, burning, plundering, revaging in bodies
Peasant and
Tribai Uprisings
One noticeable feature of these insurrections was the equ'al participation of Hindus
and Muslims in it. Some of the important leaders of these movements were Manju
Shah, Musa Shah, Bhawani Pathak and Debi Chaudhurani. Encounter between the
Sanyasis-Fakirs and the British forces became a regular feature all over Bengal and
Bihar till 1800. The British used its full force to suppress the rebels.
Popular Revolts
and Uprishgs
groups ravaged the plains. There were similar types of insurrection quite often by the
Bhil chiefs against the British. The British government used its military force to
suppress the rebels and at the same time tried to win them over through various
conciliatory measures. But the British measures failed to bring the Bhils to their side.
A
29.3.5
The Kols of Singhbhum h r long centuries enjoyed independent power under their
chiefs. They successfully resisted all attempts made by the Raja of Chota Nagpur and
Mayurbhanj to subdue them. British penetration into this area and the attempt to
establish British law and order over the jurisdiction of the Kol Chiefs generated
tensions among the tribal people.
As a result or British occupation of Singhbhum and the neighbouring territories, a
large number of people from outside began to settle in this area which resulted in
transfer of tribal lands to the outsiders. This transfer of tribal lands and coming of
merchants, money-lenders and the British law in the tribal area posed a great threat to
the hereditary independent powe; of the tribal chiefs. This created great resentment
among the tribal people and led to popular uprisings against the outsiders in the tribal
area. Tht rebellion spread over Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Palamau and Manbhum. The
target of attack was the settlers from other regions whose houses were burnt, and
propert9 looted. The insurrection was ruthlessly suppressed by the British militia.
29.3.6
The Faraizi sect was founded by Haji Shariatullah of Faridpur. Originally Faraizi
movemdnt was fuelled by the grievances of rack-rented and evicted peasants against
landlords and British rulers. The Faraizis under Dudu Miyan, the son of the founder
of the sect, becaine united as a religious sect with an egalitarian ideology. His simple
way of teaching and belief that all men are equal and land belongs to god and no one
has right to levy tax on it appealed to the common peasants. The Faraizis set up
parallel radministration in some parts of Eastern Bengal and established village courts
to settlethe peasants disputes. They protected cultivators from Zamindar's excesses
and asked the peasants not to pay taxes to the Zamindars. They raided the Zamindars'
houses and cutcheries and burnt indigo factory at Panch-char. The government and
ZamindBrs1forces crushed the movement and Dudu ~ i ~ a n ' w imprisoned.
as
29.3.7
~ r n k the
n ~various peasant uprisings that posed serious challenge to the colonial
rule the Mappila uprisings of Malabar occupy an important place. Mappilas are the
descendants of the Arab settlers and converted Hindus. Majority of them were
cultivating tenants, landless labourers, petty traders and fishermen. TheBritish
occupation of Malabar in ihe last decade of the eighteenth century and the consequent
changes that the British introduced in the land revenue administration of the area
brought unbearable hardship in the life of the Mappilas. Most important change was
theltrarlsfer of 'Janmi' from that of traditional, partnership with the Mappila to that of
an independent owner of land and the right of eviction of Mappila tenants which did
not exiit earlier. Over-assessment, illegal taxes,\eviction from land, hostile attitude of
government officialswere some of the many reasons that made the Mappilas rebel
against the British and the landlords.
Peasant and
Tribal Uprisings
The religious leaders played an important role in strengthening the solidarity of the
Mappilas through socio-religions reforms and-alsohelpeain the evolution of
anti-British consciousness among the Mappilas. The growing discontent of the
Mappilas broke out in open insurrections against the state and landlords. Between
1836 and 1854 there were about twenty-twduprisings in Malabar. In these uprisings
the rebels came mostly from the poorer section of the Mappila population. The t -get!
of the rebels were generally the British officials. Janmis and their dependents. The
British armed forces swung into action to suppress the rebels but failed to subdue
them for many years.
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Popular Revolts
and Uprisings
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2) What was Dudu Miyan's message to the Bengal peasantry? Answer in 5 lines.
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29.4.1 Leadership
In the movemen'ts we have studied above the question of leadership, i.e., who led
these movements becomes important. Movements in this phase of our history tended
to throw up leaders who rose and fell with the movement. The context in which these
movements arose gave very little scope for a leadership to make an entry from outside
the immediate context of the rebellion. This is quite in contrast to the times of the
national movement where leaders from various sections of upper strata consciously, on
certain ideological premises, made an intervention into the peasant and tribal
movements.
The leadership of these movements often devolved upon men or women who were
within the culturakworld of the peasants they led. They were able to articulate the
protest of the oppressed. The Faraizi rebellion illustrated how holymen as leaders
were on the one hand trying to return to a past purity of their religion and on the
other, also addressed the peasants problems. Thus the notion that all land was god's
land the everyone had an equal share in it, mobilised the oppressed peasants and also
invoked the sanctity of 'true' religion.
Populer Revolts
and Uprisings
mobilization, forcing the vaccillators to join the rebel ranks and a harsh attitude
towards the traitors.
Protest movements of the oppressed peasants and tribals did not emerge in a
full-blows form. In the early stages they are form of social action which the state many
look upan as plain crime. Most often in the British official records this transition from
crime to rebellion is ignored and thetwo are seen as the same. Also obscured is the
fact that crimes ranging from starvation, thefts to murder spring from the violent
conditions of living in the countryside. Often an insurgency was preceded by the rise
in the rate of rural crimes. For example in 1854, a year before the Santhg rebellion, a
number of dacoities were committed against the local money-lenders. The Santhal
leaders later justified them on moral grounds to the British court saying that their
complaiirESgainst the money-lenders were never heeded by the officials.
The regional spread of rebellions of tribal and peasant communities was influenced, if
not determined, by that community's perception of the region they belonged to, the
geographical boundaries within which that community lived and worked as also the ties
of ethnicity. For the Santhals it was a battle for their 'fatherland' which had been
grabbed by the outsiders. Their fight then was for this land which belonged to them ip
the good old past and was now snatched away from them. Sometime ethnic bonds
extended the territorial limits of a tribal group as we saw in the case of Larka and
Dhangar Kols who came together in'rebellion.
Likewise the peasants and tribal people's conception of their past went into the
making of the consciousness of the rebellious and the insurgent. We have already
seen that their notions of their own pas: inspired rebels to struggle to recover
conditilons that prevai)ed before they fell upon bad times, before their oppressors
acquired domination bver them. The Faraizi and Santhal rebellions provide
particularly apt examples. This did not necessarily mean that the protest movements
were bhckward looking; it represents an effort to construct and ideal to strive for.
Check YOUP Progress 2
1) Write five lines on the nature of the leadership in the movement, described <ibo\.e
2) Do the peasant and tribal movements of our period demonstrate certain Ic\ cl ot
cohsciousness'? How?
PePsaot and
Tribal Uprisings
Objectives
Introduction
Background of the Revolt
30.2.1 The Army
'30.2.2 The Colonial Context
30.2.3 Land Revenue Settlements
30.3
30.4
30.5
Annexations
Religion and Culture
The Nature of the Revolt : Debate
30.5.1 Sepoy Mutiny?
30.5.2 National Struggle or Feudal Reaction?
30.6
30.7
30.8
30.9
30.10
30.11
'Web of Motives'
Against Generalisation
Elitist Movement or Popular Resistance?
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
30.0 OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this unit is to briefly discuss the background of the revolt of 1857 in its
core areas and the conflicting interpretations of the nature of the revolt. This Unit
should n a b l e you to:
know the grievances of the sepoys,
see the revolt in the context of the colonial economy,
examine the impact of the land revenue settlements in the core areas of the revolt,
undetstand the resentment against annexations,
assess the role of religious sentiments in the revolt, and
undertstand the nature of the revolt and the shifting issues of debate.
30.1 INTRODUCTION
The discussion of tribal and peasant uprisings in Unit 29 has given you evidence of the
resistance offered at each stage of the colonization of Indian society and economy
from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century. In 1857 in much of northern and central
India, thle linkage of the revolt of the army with that of the people proved to be a
dangerous combination for colonial rule. The causes of the revolt have therefore to be
studied:
- to locate the roots of the revolt in the army and rural society,
- to understand the links between the two, and as well as the manner in which
resistlance found expression.
The background Sections (30.2 to 30.4) will help us for the second part of the Unit
(30.5 to 30.(3),which touches upon questions regarding the nature of the revolt that
have prepccupied historians from the centenary year of the revolt, down to the 1980s.
3. Mangal Pandey
4. Bahadur Shah I1
Closer to the revolt of 1857 there had been reports of bone dust in the atta (flour)
ration. The cartidges of the Enfield rifles (introduced around January 1857) phich
had to be bitten off before loading were reportedly greased with pork and beef fat.
This seemed to confirm fears about their religion being in danger.
In addition there was professional discontent:
an infantry sepoy got only seven rupees per month,
and a covalry sawar 27 rupees, out of which he had to Day for his uniform, food and
the upkeep of the mount
there was racial discrimination in matters of promotion, pension and terms of
service,
annexations had deprived the sepoys of batta (extra pay) for foreign service
there were fears of being edged out by new recruits from Punjab.
Poprrhr Revolts
a d u-lP
A key figlure of the settlement in this region was Holt Mackenzie, Secretary in the
Territorial Department. His proposals embodied in regulation VII of 1822 had a bias
against talukdars and favoured direct settlements with village zamindars and pattidars
in order to preserve village communities. In the 1840s his proposals were worked
upon by R.M. Bird, Head of the Revenue Board and James Thomason, Lt. Governor
of the North Western Provinces. The bias against talukdars continued in what came to
be called the Thomasonian Settlement. With the precise definition of property rights
f r o 6 around 1840 there was increasing investment in them by outsiders thus leading
to the transfer and partition of joint holdings.
The outaome of the revenue settlements in the North Western Provinces can be
summedup thus:
due to the anti-talukdar bias almost all talukdars found themselves stripped of the
bulk of their estates within less than a decade. This left many lineage taluqs
dismantled.
Even the village zamindars (individualljoint), the intended beneficiaries, pressed
with heavy assessments, if not reduced to tenants, were on the brink of bankruptcy
and at the mercy of creditors. Even as late as 1852-3, 104,730 acres were'sold for
arrears in one year in the North Western Provinces.
Awadh
In Awadh which was annexed in February 1856 the summary settlement of 1856-7 was
made on the Thomasonian pattern mentioned above and produced the following
results:
While the overall assessment was reduced (in places by 37O/0), there was
overassessment in pockets, varying from 28 to 63%.
Some talukdari'estates were reduced by about 44-55%.
Before British annexation there was a system of grainsharing of the peasant with
the talukdar, after the former's subsistence needs were satisfied; the British
introduced a system of fixed revenue demand in money terms which sometimes
meant overassessment, and particularly so in years when harvests were bad or price
were low; thus peasants suffered.
It may be mentioned that there were about 14,000 petitions from the Awadh sepoys
about the hardships relating t o the revenue system.
30.3 ANNEXATIONS
By 1818, with the defeat of the Marathas and the conclusion of subsidiary alliances
the East Indian Company made claims to the status of paramount power. During
Dalhousie's tenure several states were annexed through the enforcement of his
doctrine of lapse: Satara (1848), Nagpur, Sambalpur and Baghat (1850); Udaipur
(1852) and Jhansi (1853). The failure of the Rani of Jhansi to get him to reverse the
decision despite her offer to keep Jhansi 'safe' for the British, ranged her against the
Company in 1857.
In February 1856 when Wajid Ali Shah refused to hand over the administration to the
East India Company, Awadh was annexed on grounds of misgovernment. However,
British presence since 1765, had already begun the drain and dislocation of the
Awadh economy. Company and European traders siphoned away its economic
resources, thus eroding Awadh's administrative viability.
The British had seen Awadh not just as a source of additional revenue but a field for
the investment of private capital for the cultivation of indigo and cotton and as a
potential market. There was widespread outrage against the annexation of Awadh
because:
the king had been deported to Calcutta,
there was wholesale disarming of the talukdars and demolition of their forts,
the disruption of the court meant unemployment for retainers and the army and an
end to patronage of artisans producing luxury items,
the land revenue settlements intensified this discontent.
Significantly, rebel propaganda was directed against British annexations in north and
central India.
Revolt of 1857
Caum and Nature
popahu Revolts
aduprisbom
2) Comment briefly on the changes in agrarian society in the North Western Pro\.liIIces
and Awadh on the eve of the revolt.
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Between the 1950s and 1960s historians focused much of their attention on whether
the revolt was a sepoy mutiny, national struggle or a manifestation of feudal reaction.
Let us slum up the essential argaments of this earlier debate.
l+ltorlasr
With the emergence of nationaEsT agitations against the colonial government the
revolt of 1857 came to be looked upon as part of that struggle and the focus shifted
form the greased cartridges to the oppressions of the British. V.D. Savarkhr's The
Indian War of Independence of 1857 published anonymously in 1902 remained banned
in India almost till the end of ~ r i t i s hrule.
However, several works coinciding with the centenary year of the revolt argued
variously:
that the absence of a general plan of rebellation went against such an
interpretation,
that the leaders were not imbued with national sentiment and 'would have put the
clock back',
that 1857 was not the inauguration of a freedom movement but 'the dying groans of
an obsolete aristocracy'.
On the other hand there were objections to the restrictive use of the term 'national'
and the implicit minimization of the anti-imperialist content of the revolt and of the
evidence of the Hindu-Muslim unity during 1857-8.
More recently it has been noted that though the rebel mission may not have been
'national,' their political horizon was not restricted to their ilaqas. Also that the aim
of the rebels was not so much an attempt to establish a new social order as to restore a
world that was familiar i.e. the traditional world of hierarchy, lineage, patronage and'
deference.
30.6
'WEB OF MOTIVES'
By the 1970s historians had moved away from the debate about whether to name it a
'sepoy mutiny' or 'national revolt' etc. to examining the social roots of the revolt of
the North
1857 through detailed areawise studies, most of which concentrated
Western Provinces and Awadh. Some studies have discounted the relation between
the land revenue settlements and the revolt by arguing that
03
30.7
AGAINST GENERALIZATION
It has also been suggested that the roots of the revolt lay (a) in the pockets of relative
poverty caused by ecological factors such as poor and thirsty soil d ( b ) severe'
revenue assessments which assumed tbat all occupied land was capable of arable
cultivation. Those hardest hit by tlps combination, for example, the Gujars and
Rajputs in the North Western provinces, were more predispos5d to rebel. Also that
resistance came from groups such as Gujars of Saharanpur and Rajputs of Etawah
and Allah~badwho had preserved their social cohesion. Less homogeneous village
bodies remained passive.
However, the focus of variegated political response in different geographical
sub-zones led to the argument that the revolt of 1857 was 'not one movement but
many', that!it is impossible to generalise.
Popular Revolts
and Uprkhgs
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3) What was the nature of the 1857 revolt? Answer on a separate sheet.
Revolt of 1857
Cmlses and Nature
Money-lender
,
Area of land
Ancestral
Joint ownership of village
Holder of a taluk (estate in which the holder is responsible for
revenue collection from a number of dependent villages).
Check.Your Progress 2
1) See Sub-sec. 30.2.3
2) See Sub-sec. 30.2.3
3) See Sec. 30.4
Check Your Progress 3
1) See Sec. 30.5
2) See Sec. 30.6
3) See Sec. 30.5 to 30.8
Structure
Objectives
Introduction
Course
The Revolt of the Army
The Revolt of the People
Rebel Institutions
Suppression
Aftermath
I
31.7.1
31.7.2
31.7.3
31.8
31.9
31.10
31.1 1
Landlords
Princes
The Army
British Policy
Let Us Sum Up
Key Words
Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
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31.0 OBJECTIVES
Having analysed the causes and the nature of the revolt of 1857 in the previous Unit
we now chart out the course of the revolt and its aftermath. After going through this
Unit you should learn about:
the progress of the revolt between May and June'57 and the months thereafter,
the intensity of the revolt even after the fall of Delhi in September 1857,
the institutions that the rebels evolved,
the efforts that went into its suppression,
the post-'57 restructuring of agrarian relations, and
colonial policy towards'princes and Muslims.
31.1 INTRODUCTION
Between May and June 1857 it was only some beleaguered cities like Agra, Lucknow,
Allahabad and Benares that kept alive evidence of British presence in north India. By
then the revolt had spread to Awadh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Bihar and many
parts of central India.
This Unit introduces you to the pattern of the progress of the revolt, its manifestations
not only in terms of the destruction of symbols of colonial authority but rebel
institutions that followed the outbreak.
Though British victory became clear in early 1858 it was only in the end of theyear
that the revolt was fully crushed with a combination of military strategy and,
reinforcements from England. This Unit provides an useful base for an understanding
of British policy in the decades that followed regarding social classes, Indian states
and Muslims.
31.2 COURSE
In 1857 there were some 45,000 European and some 232,000 regular troops in India.
The bulk of European units were concentrated as an army of occupation in the
recently conquered Punjab. Thus between Calcutta and Delhi there were only 5
European regiments.
On May 11 the Meerut Mutineers crossed over to Delhi and appealed to Bahadur Shah
11, the pensioner Mughal emperor to lead them and proclaimed him
Shahenshah-Hindustan.
By the first week of June mutinies had broken out in Aligarh, Mainpuri, Bulandshahr,
Etawah, Mathura, Lucknow, Bareilly, Kanpur, Jhansi, Nimach, Moradabad,
Saharanpur etc.
By mid-June and September 1857 there had been mutinies in Gwalior, Mhow and
Sialkot and in Bihar, in Danapur, Hazaribagh, Ranchi and Bhagalpur, and Nagode
and Jabalpur in central India.
By September-October it was clear that the revolt would not spill across the Narmada.
North of the Narmada the main axis of the revolt was represented by the river Ganga
and the GrandTrunk Road between Delhi and Patna.
The mutinies travelled down the Ga~ga.fromMeerut and Delhi with a time gap
between the various stations required for news to travel from one place to another.
There were rumours that 30th May 1857 was the day fixed for a total destruction of
white men all over north India.
Just as news of the fall of Delhi had precipitated the revolt of t h e a m y and civil
population, the fall of Lucknow in end of May set off uprisings in the district stations of
'Awadh.
Popwnr geVopp
d u e @
Rumours of greased cartridges, flour polluted with bone dust, and forcible conversion
to Christianity transformed popular grievances against the British into a revolt.
In several places people collected, conferred and planned their attack on gove~nment
and bahia property. People of neighbouring villages, after connected by kinship and
caste ties, got together to make such attacks. Sadar stations were often attacked by
peopla from anything between 30 to 60 villages.
The pattern of attack was the same everywhere. Scores were settled with tax
collecqors, court officials, policemen and banias. Treasuries were looted, prisoners set
free and bungalows set on fire.
Clearly the rebels gave priority to political considerations and did not hesitate to
destroy economic resources. For example, the coal mines in Kotah were damaged,
canal Pock were destroyed to prevent a British battalion reaching ~ulandshahrby
boat. Similarly numerous attacks were also made on railways and factories by the
United Provinces' rural poor who were dependent on them for their livelihood.
In the course of the suppression of the revolt what struck the British was the
remarkable solidarity among rebels. Most often pecuniary rewards could not induce
betrayal, nor could they play off Hindu against Muslims.
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2) Mark the main rebel centres on a map of India.
Such attempts at organization were made at other centres too. We have supportive
details from Awadh where Birjis Qadar, a minor, was crowned price by consensus,,
immediately after the British &feat at the battle of Chinhat on 30th June 1857. The
rebels laid down conditions such as:
orders from Delhi were to be obeyed
the wazir would be selected by the army and
officers of the army would be appointed after the consent of the army.
ThelAwadh rebel executive structure comprised two separate decision-making bodies:
one consisting of bureaucrats and court officials to see to organization and
payments,
the 'military cell' composed of sepoys or rebel soldiers and a few court officials
It is significant that at this early stage of the revolt, around July757,there was no
talukdar in any important decision-making body. In fact orders-were issued to
talukdars and zamindars, with promises of land or revenue, asking them to join the
revelt to end British rule.
Notwithstanding occasional divisions in the rebel ranks, as for example between the
folllowers of Birjis Qadar and Maulvi Ahmadullah in Awadh, it is the efforts to
maintain a semblance of organisation that is remarkable.
Guidelines were laid down for sepoys and commanders for their operations. Efforts
were made for the regular payment of rebel troops either by the conversion of
ornaments into coins or granting remission of revenue to talukdars to enable them to
pay the troops.
31.6 SUPPRESSION
6. Sepoys ~ u r d e r i n g
to the British
'
Revolt of 1857
Course MKI Aftermath
Popuhr Revolts
and Uprisings
7. ~ b t i Tope
a
9. Nana Sahib
31.7 AFTERMATH
The suppression of the revolt of 1857 was accomplished by a two pronged approach of
militark strategy and the submission of talukdars. The reassertion of British control
was thqreafter reinforced with princely support based on an assurance of
non-interference in adoption question.
31.7.1
Landlords
In the North Western Provinces the British made widespread confiscation and
redistijbution of land. Some incomplete figures show that land assessed at Rs. 17
lakhs was confiscated and land assessed at Rs. 9 lakhs was given in reward. In making
land rewards it was the larger landholders who were preferred.
After the fall of Lucknow aprocramation was issued confiscating proprietary right in
i the whole of Awadh except six specific estates. Some 22,658 out of 23,543
land m
villages were restored to talukdars in return for submission and loyalty in the form of
collection and transmission and loyalty in the form of collection and transmission of
information.
Villaqe proprietors in Awadh were to remain under-proprietors or tenants-at-will.
There was, however, fierce opposition to the talukdari settlement among the villagers
in sevieral Awadh districts in 1859-60. Faced with agrarian strife the government had
to lirdit the rental demand of the talukdars against inferior holders to a fixed amount
(1866). It was also decided that underproprietary rights enjoyed at any time during 12
years prior to annexation were to be protected.
31.7.2
Princes
It may be recalled that the British policy of annexing states had been one of the many
accumulating grievances as is evident both from the leadership provided to the rebels
by the Rani of Jhansi, Nana Saheb and Begum Hazarat Mahal, and the proclamations
of the rebels.
At one point during the revolt Canning had observed that had it not been for the
'patches of native government' like Gwalior, Hyderabad. Patiala, Rampur and Rewa
serving as 'break-waters to the storm of 1857' the British would have been swept away.
Therefore, the Queen's proclamation of 1858 declared that the British had no desire
to extend their existing territorial possessions. To perpetuate dynasties Canning
dispensed with the doctrine of lapse and allowed all rulers the right of adoption.
Territorial and monetary awards were bestowed on princes who had remained loyal
i.e. those of Gwalior, Rampur, Patiala and Jind.
r
I
I
1
i
In 1861 a special order of knighthood, the star of India, was instituted, of which the
recipients were the rulers of Baroda, Bhopal, Gwalior, Patiala and Rampur.
However, if the princes were given security from annexation it was made clear that in
the event of 'misgovernment' or 'anarchy' the British would step in to take temporary
charge of a native state.
31.7.3
The Army
A despatch from Charles Wood, Secretary of State for India to Canning in 1861 sums
up the thrust of British policy towards the army in the post-mutiny years. 'If one
regiment mutinies I should like to have the next regiment so alien that it would be
ready to fire into it.'
Soldiers from Awadh, Bihar and Central India were declared to be non-martial and
their recruitment cut down considerably.
Sikhs, Gurkhas and Pathans who assisted in the suppression of the revolt were
declared to be martial and were recruited in large numbers.
Briefly, community, caste, tribal and regional loyalties were encouraged so as to
obstruct the forging of the solidarity that was evident among the sepoys from Awadh
in 1857.
that those who laid down arms by 2 January 1859 would be pardoned except those
directly involved in the murder of British subjects,
that official service would be open to all and
due regard would be given to ancient usages and customs of India.
To the British, the appeal to Bahadur Shah I1 to head the revolt was confirmation of
the theory of a Muslim plot to restore the Mughal regime at Delhi. This belief in
official circles in fact explains the official attitude towards the community in the
post-revolt years.
So marked was the anti-Muslim attitude that Saiyid Ahmad Khan felt the need to
write a pamphlet titled 'who were the Loyal Musalmans?' In that he quoted numerous
instances of Muslim collaboration with the British.
2) Comment on the change in British policy towards the native states after the revolt.
Answer in 50 words.
I
3) Explain British attitudes towards the Muslims after the revolt. Answer in 50 words.
31.10 KEYWORDS
Telinga Raj - originates from the practice of calling sepoys Telingas from the time
Cliva brought Telugu speaking sepoys from Madras in 1756-7.
-