The British Raj: Modern Indian Thinking


Figure 1.--The photo was taken in Satara located in Maharashtra state. A pupil of a Hindu Brahmin school is playing cricket. The photo fuses precolonial Hindu and Vritish colonial traditions. As common in this sort of schools, the boy is wearing a lungi as only clothing, without any other garment and with no footwear. On the other hand he is playing a characteristic British sport, that now it is also the main Indian sport. We doubt if this boy and hus friends are even aware of this mixed cultural scene so thoroghly aceoted have been many aspects of the Raj become part and parcel of Indian life. A British reader tells us, "The Indian Film Industey made a film about how cricket came to India. It is called Lagaan 2002. As far as I can tell it is a work of fiction and not a historicaly true account."

Modern India is a society profoundly affected by its two century experience with Britain. The evidence is everywhere. We see a British-style parlimntary democracy, the ruke of law, a huge public school system, British sports, the English language, an increasingly successful capitalist economy, modern technology, and more. British culture has not replace Indian culture. India has retained much of its own vibrant culture. It is this culture that impresses the casual visitor, the colors and fabric of thousands of years of India's own native culture. But the impact of Britain on India is profound. One of the wonderful advantges of the internet is the ability from ones own comfortble living room to converse with people all over the world and exchang ideas and opinions. We have found this an incredible leaning experence. we have been struck with the hatred and intolerance pervasive in Pakistan. That was not totally unexpected, but the intensity of that feeling and the willingness to justify shooting little girls in the head who just wanted to go to school shocked us. We have also been surprised, in this case surprised and not shocked, by our conversations with Indians. We expected Indians to be critical of the Bitish becaue of the colonial experience, but also recognize the many positive aspects of the British relationship. Our conversations with Indians have found a seething anger toward the British and an unwillingness to conceed any positive contribution that Britain has made in India. Now we can not say that this is the majority opinion in India. And we do not know just what is taught in Indian schools, but it is a strongly held outlook we have noted in our internet conversations with Indians. In fact we have been sharply criticized for saying anything positive about the Raj. An American reader tells us, "I have a very good friend from India. He refers to the British as Britishers and feels they are arrogant. He is very shaped by his first 20 years growing up in India and was taught at a private boarding school in the Himalayas."

British-Indian Culture

Modern India is a society profoundly affected by its two century experience with Britain. The evidence is everywhere. We see a British-style parlimntary democracy, the ruke of law, a huge public school system, British sports, the English language, an increasingly successful capitalist economy, modern technology, and more. Notice the boy here playing cricket. Nothing could be more quientually Engkish than cicket. Yet this boy is playing cricket at a very cinervtive rligious school. We are not even sure thathe is aware of just how British the csport is. and even more intereting i the extent to which Enhlish is used at the school. British culture has not replaced Indian culture. India has retained much of its own vibrant culture. It is this culture that impresses the casual visitor, the colors and fabric of thousands of years of India's own native culture. But the impact of Britain on India is profound

Reader Views

One of the wonderful advantges of the internet is the ability from ones own comfortble living room to converse with people all over the world and exchang ideas and opinions. We have found this an incredible leaning experence.

Pakistan

we have been struck with the hatred and intolerance pervasive in Pakistan. That was not totally unexpected, but the intensity of that feeling and the willingness to justify shooting little girls in the head who just wanted to go to school shocked us. You can get some of the flavor of these discussions on aage we created on Pakistni radicalism. An note that these people we spoke with are from the Pakistani businss community, not Islamic fanatics in the tribal areas. Vt frightening indeed.

India

We have also been surprised, in this case surprised and not shocked, by our conversations with Indians. We expected Indians to be critical of the Bitish becaue of the colonial experience, but also recognize the many positive aspects of the British relationship. Our conversations with Indians have found some who are aware that the Raj had both positive and negative aspects. Readers vary as to the balance, but recognize the many substantial aspects. An Indian tells us, "Hatred for the british is a national sentiment in India. Of course, like all rules, this has an exception too. My family was never anti-British, although that's not to say that we were pro-British. My grandfather used to tell me stories of the wonderful administration during the Raj. It was much better than the India we have today. I'm sure that there are at least a few other families like mine, but we're a minute minority. Although, I won't deny that the Raj had its cruel moments, there were atrocities, but invasions are all about that anyway. Part of this hatred could be because patriotism was advertised as pity earlier. Fresh out of the Raj with its atrocities, it seems that the best way of inspiring love for the country was to advertise what we have been through and how the British are at fault for it. Also, this was our last invader and last foreign rule. So, today's generation would know only the stories from the Raj. Our parents, grandparents and probably great grandparents can only keep alive these stories. This is perhaps why we have accepted all our previous invaders, right from the Aryans up to the Mughals, except the British. Needless to say, politics is also involved. In the race to become a superpower, we love belittling other countries, especially the UK. Most leaders don't propogate how amazing India is, but how inferior other countries are; in terms of culture mostly. It is of course far more complicated than this. But these are my opinions and observations." [Indian reader.] What has surprised us is the continuing seething anger toward the British and an unwillingness to conceed any positive contribution that Britain has made in India. Now we can not say that this is the majority opinion in India. And we do not know just what is taught in Indian schools, but it is a strongly held outlook we have noted in our internet conversations with Indians. In fact we have been sharply criticized for saying anything positive about the Raj. An American reader tells us, "I have a very good friend from India. He refers to the British as Britishers and feels they are arrogant. He is very shaped by his first 20 years growing up in India and was taught at a private boarding school in the Himalayas." What we havevnoted about those who are strudently critical is theretheir lack of basic histort and tendency to just repeat nonsencical sloganbs and I am sorry to say just lie about basic facts. A good example is an internet convrsation I had with a bloger. When I called him out on his false and absurd statements, he simply lied. He stated, "Millions of Indians died every decade during the Raj." [Patnaik] And this was only one part of one of the most absurd, factless diatribes that I have ever seen. Attributing the deaths to the British. The British of course had their faults, but actually the population of India not only rose during the raj, but also life spans. The reason was the basic sanitation, public health, and modern medicine the British brought. Of course it is the job of historians to assess issues like colonialism and the British Raj. What surprises us is how few Indians are intereted in a fact based discussion of the Raj.

CIH Comment

I suppose what I do not understand is the focus on atrocities. I know they did occur--Amritsar being the most serious, The highest estimate I have seen is 1,000 killed. In terms of 20th century atrocities that is rather small. That was only half the number of victims killed in one run of a NAZI gas chamber. And Britain did play a major role in saving India from German or Japanese rule. The Japanese killed 15 million Chinese. There seems to be little recognition of what would have occurred under German or Japanese rule. Or for that matter Communist rule had the Communists won the Cold War. The Communist death toll in China is 45-75 million people. Given killing on that scale, it does seem rather strange to dwell on atrocities amounting to 1,000 dead. That of course sound insenative, but it beeds to be put into the perspecyove of he tens of millions killed by the great totalitatian natuinsof the 20th century: NAZI Germany, Imperial Japan, Soviet Union, and Communist China.

Sources

Patnaik, Rohit. Internet exchange, November 11, 2015.

Indian reader (April 7, 2015). Our Indian readr has asked us to withhold his name. He writes, " Thank you for including my response in your note. However, I must tell you that I represent a very minute minority and my views do not echo the general Indian sentiment. While I appreciate your gesture, could I request you to keep my name anon? I could land in the problem owing to my frank views. My apologies for the request, should it sound absurd to you. The truth is we are not very honest friendly. I'd love to discuss this further with you, but I request you to not quote me as a representative of the Indian sentiment."







CIH






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Created: 11:00 AM 4/4/2015
Last updated: 6:15 AM 11/12/2015