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Running Your Little Empire-BRITISH LIFE IN INDIA
The Indian Civil Service (or ICS) provided the men who governed India. Graduates of British universities who had passed an examination and interviews and then undertaken a year of training in England, most eventually worked as district officers, virtual rulers of the several hundred districts which were basic administrative units. Assisted by perhaps a few other Europeans as well as Indian officials and clerks, they might render legal decisions, determine land tenure, oversee local police, recommend public works projects, provide famine relief when necessary, even hunt leopards or tigers which menaced villagers. Their power and prestige were such that they were jokingly called "the heaven born" and likened to the Brahmans who stood at the top of the Indian caste system.
[2]ALSO READ:-Beating the heat and ruling the country-ENGLISH MAN'S LIFE IN INDIA:-http://pazhayathu.blogspot.in/2012/04/beating-heat-and-ruling-country-english.html
[3] ALSO READ BLOG:-TYPICAL ENGLISH BUNGALOW:-http://oldphotosbombay.blogspot.in/2010/06/typical-english-bungalow-see-bombay.htmlOther men assumed administrative positions in such organizations as the Forest Service, which cared for great jungle preserves; the Education Service, which ran schools; the Survey of India, which mapped the subcontinent; the state-owned railways; the Police; and the Political Service (made up of already-experienced officers from the ICS or the Army), which dealt with the Indian princes who ruled large portions of India under British oversight (they also staffed British consulates in parts of China and Persia and helped administer the sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf). Others joined commercial enterprises, such as the great trading houses of Calcutta and tea, coffee or jute plantations.
The military life also took many to India. India, in fact, had two large armies. The British Army posted a big part of its strength to India. But there was also the largely separate Indian Army, with British officers and Indian soldiers. Stationed in far-flung cantonments, Army officers worked in support of the civil administrators in maintaining control and engaged in the intermittent warfare which broke out in such areas as the Northwest Frontier, where potentially rebellious tribesmen kept the region unsettled.
Official India was virtually all male, but wives would often play major roles in their husbands' work, touring with them, ministering to local needs, and discovering local problems. Women might also lead more independent lives in mission work or in healing professions.
Robert Clive 1757 Battle at Plassy
Siraj -ud-daula
political map of India in 1800
| political map of India in 1857 |
British photograph of Maharaja
British drawing of Indian labourers
Memsahib in a rickshaw
"Mummy and her Tiger", 1920
20th century: Leader and Sowars
INDIAN PRINCE WITH ENGLISH RULERS[ Bhairam Deo died in 1891 , leaving a minor son Rudrapratap Deo .During his minority the state was managed by government until January 1908 when the young Raja was installed as Feudatory Chief of Bastar.In 1910 a tribal revolt was occured against the Diwan and British government who ruled over the state.Raja Rudrapratap Deo died in 1921 and his daughter Praphul Kumari Devi ascended the throne in 1922.Later in 1927, she was married to Praphul KumarBhanj Deo,who belonged to the royal family Mayurbhanj of Orissa.Praphul Kumari Devi died in 1936 in London and her elder son Maharaja Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo 'Kakatiya'ascended the throne in 1936 at a minor age.The famous Maharani hospital at Jagdalur was built in memory of Maharani Praphul Kumari Devi in 1937.Later in 1941, the Air strip had been made at Jagdalpur.One bridge was also constructed during this time over river indravati.In 1948, Bastar state has been merged in Indian Union.
Munshi (language teacher) instructing new arrival
Never the Twain? Indo-British Relations
The nature of relations between the British and Indians changed over time, as did British attitudes toward India and Indians. In earlier days some Britons assimilated readily to Oriental ways of life or even intermarried with Indians. Particularly after the traumatic uprising of 1857-58, however, relations were often strained, as conventional ideas about European racial superiority became more prominent and as Victorian notions of morality and evangelical movements to convert the world to a particular kind of Christianity became influential. By the latter part of the 19th century, for example, the idea of a "respectable" English person marrying an Indian was virtually unthinkable. Of course, the very fact that the British were by definition a ruling elite and Indians -- however rich or important -- a subject people often strained relations. This could exacerbate cultural misunderstandings, a situation which is the focus of E.M. Forster's great anti-imperial novel, A Passage to India.Those who remembered their time in India were aware that the Indo-British relationship was often problematic. They felt, for example, that a certain need to be impartial outsiders in the administration of Indian matters sometimes made them seem aloof. Yet they insisted that they frequently had cordial relations with Indians and were in close contact with many aspects of Indian life and society. They spoke Indian languages and, if touring a district, might interact with no one but Indians for weeks or months at a time. As time went on there was also increasing emphasis on Indianization of the various British services, so that more Indians came to have responsible positions that made them officially equal or even superior to Englishmen in the administrative systems.
Garden party with British and
Indian guests at the Viceroy's Palace, New Delhi; photograph courtesy
of Brigadier Richard Gardiner; 1930s.
Indian man with Englishwomen at a fete to aid the Indian Red Cross;
photograph courtesy of Major General Sir Charles and Lady Dalton; 1930s.
Constraints in social relations sometimes meant that Britons interacted with Indians mostly in formal or superficial situations.
"A Hindu Hill Shepherd of Kashmir," color illustration (from a
watercolor original) by Mortimer Menpe7s in his The People of India
(London: Adam and Charles Black, 1910).
In their taped recollections Britons spoke with particular affection of encounters with Indian peasants and other common folk. Of course there was no question of peasants claiming social equality with European sahibs, so they in no way impinged on British dominance and could even be romanticized.
On the other hand, interviewees suggested they had limited intercourse with educated, middle class Indians -- who increasingly challenged British rule as time went on -- and some indicated ambivalence about or suspicion toward such people.
British and Indian guests
of a maharajah, dining in a tent; photograph courtesy of the Centre of
South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge; early 20th century.
Socializing with Indian princes was a high point of life in India according to many recollections. Connections to this world of royalty could validate British status.
"The Folly of Worshipping Cobras Cut in Stone," photographic
illustration in Across India at the Dawn of the 20th Century, by Lucy E.
Guinness (London: Religious Tract Society, 1898).
British attitudes toward Indian culture were complex. A few English people became devoted students of it, some had little interest in or were even appalled by it, others took a selective interest. Guinness's travel account was meant to champion the work of Christian missionaries and thus to denigrate Indian "paganism". However, in general interest in Indian customs sometimes focussed on those which were disquieting to Europeans. There was considerable fascination with the practice of "suttee," the immolation of widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands, a practice finally outlawed.
And there were many accounts of the Jaganath procession, in which the Hindu deity was pulled on a cart by devotees, some of whom were crushed beneath it in an excess of religious fervor. Such customs could serve to suggest fanaticism, social instability, and the continuing need for British rule to control such excesses.
"Sutteeism on the Banks of the Ganges --
Preparing for the Immolation of a
Hindoo Widow," steel engraving by J. Hedway from a drawing by Captain
Grindlay in The Indian Empire: Its History, Topography, Government,
Finance, Commerce, and Staple Products, by R. Montgomery Martin, 5 vols.
(London: London Printing and Publishing Co., 1879-81?).
"The Burning Ghat -- Calcutta"; postcard (Calcutta: Art Union), early 20th century; "The Burning Ghat, Benares"; postcard (London: Raphael Tuck and Sons), 20th century; "Bombay Parsi Tower of Silence"; postcard (Bombay: Phototype Co.), early 20th century.
"Exotic," and to Europeans perhaps horrifying, Indian modes of disposing of the dead -- such as the Hindu practice of public immolation and the Parsi custom of exposing the bodies to be eaten by birds -- intrigued the British.
"Devotees in India Sacrificing Themselves to the Idol Juggernaut";
wood engraving; 19th century.
"Festival of Al-Mohurram"; steel engraving by F.W. Topham after a drawing by H. Melville; 19th century. Though recorded because they seemed colorful, images of sectarian festivals were also reminders that these customs could provoke violence between Hindus and Muslims and that British rule staved off intercommunal chaos.
Old Deccan Days; or, Hindoo Fairy Legends, Current in
South India, by Mary Frere, 2nd edition (London: John Murray, 1870).
First published in 1868, this pioneering collection of oral tales is
indicative of the interest taken by some English people in Indian
culture through folklore. Frere was the daughter of a Governor of
Bombay.
Europeans visiting a complex of Hindu temples;
lithograph by Prince Waldemar of Prussia; 1853, later hand coloring.
Indian architectural splendors attracted British and other Western
visitors. Prince Waldemar, a talented amateur artist, was one of a
number of distinguished Europeans who visited British India for
sightseeing or sport.
"Sir William Jones";
steel engraving after a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds; 19th century.
Jones (1746-1794) made noted contributions to the study of Sanskrit
and ancient Indian law.
An Introduction
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
1. The Passage to India | interviews
2. Running Your Empire | interviews
3. Life in the Bungalows | interviews
4. Imperial Diversions | interviews
5. Never the Twain? | interviews
6. No More India to Go to | interviews
Imperial Diversions:
The Club, the Hills, the Field
Britons who spoke of their pasts in India remembered the need for
diversions from what they saw as everyday lives of hard work and
often difficult conditions. Indeed these diversions--especially
the abundance of field sports--were seen as among the joys
of a life in India.
An Englishman in India could maintain horses whose upkeep in England
would have been prohibitively expensive. Thus he could have plenty of
recreational or competitive horseback riding. And the plenitude of
wild game provided the shooting beloved by the English upper classes, but
in India people could enjoy it without the need for private estates
or trout streams. In the hot season, when an intense sun baked the Indian plains, "the Hills" offered another kind of diversion, the relief of cool weather at high altitudes. From the early 19th century the British developed "hill stations," towns they could go up to when heat enveloped the rest of India. In fact, whole governments moved to the Hills in the hot months. Simla in the Himalayas became the official summer capital of British India when the Viceroy and much of the bureaucracy came up from Calcutta or New Delhi. With temporarily concentrated European populations, the hill stations were noted for gay, leisurely life, though working husbands customarily came for only short periods while their wives might spend the whole season.
Closer to home, the club offered a respite from daily routine. Virtually wherever in India a few Britons lived, a club evolved. It might have only a modest bar, a tennis court, perhaps a reading room, but it was an important institution as a central gathering place. The admission or exclusion of Indians as members or guests became a difficult issue in Indo-British relations as time went on.
Paying off the beaters after a tiger hunt; 20th century; photograph
courtesy of the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge.
Joining in field sports enabled English women to participate more fully
in the pleasures of life in India; photograph courtesy of Major General
R.C.A. Edge.
"A Little Over Ridden"; lithograph; 19th century.
Hog hunter, probably along the Ganges River.
The sport of hog hunting (or "pig sticking") involved chasing on
horseback and spearing dangerous wild hogs. Though limited geographically,
the sport had a very popular image, perhaps because it seemed to evoke
ancient ways and almost feudal methods of organization.
"The Return from Hog Hunting"; aquatint by Samuel Hewett from a
drawing by Captain Thomas Williamson; 1819.
"The Line of Beaters," color illustration (from a water color by the author)
in Pig-Sticking or Hog-Hunting: A Complete Account for Sportsmen--and
Others by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, Bart. (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1924).
The founder of the Boy Scouts, who had seen Army service in India, was a notable devotee of the sport.
British soldiers on the Mall at Murree, a popular hill station; postcard; 1920s.
"Simla--the Mall"; postcard, photograph by R. Hotz; c. 1900. Simla, where the Government of India functioned during the hot
weather, was a vibrant temporary capital. The architecture seen here is
notably European, as though the Hills were meant to be psychologically
as well as physically removed from the terrible heat and
related pressures of the Indian plains.
Women in dandi, sedan chairs used to carry European travellers
through the Hills; postcards (Umballa: Herman Dass and Sons); 1890s.
"Simla"; lithograph by Captain J. Luard; 19th century. Only the workers in Indian garb suggest that this is not a European landscape, as though the Hills were not merely a refuge from the heat but a kind of symbolic return to a more culturally familiar place.
Club scene; color illustrations in Lloyd's
Sketches of Indian Life by W. Lloyd (London: Chapman and Hall, 1890).
Two clubs: British Indian clubs might be as grand as the "Royal
Bombay Yacht Club" or as simple as that in a smaller station,
such as "Tennis Court & the Club, Nathiagali"; postcards;
early 20th century. On the reverse of the Bombay Yacht card a correspodent has
written:
"A lovely club. People have tea parties on the lawn (behind the wall)."An Introduction
Acknowledgements
1. The Passage to India | interviews
2. Running Your Empire | interviews
3. Life in the Bungalows | interviews
4. Imperial Diversions | interviews
5. Never the Twain? | interviews
6. No More India to Go to | interviews
Running Your Little Empire
Those who went to India remembered it as a place of hard work and
recalled sometimes resenting British popular stereotypes of them as
having lives of leisure--waited on by servants, spending time in posh clubs,
attending balls, riding to hounds. They saw the work of empire as demanding,
difficult, and at times dangerous. Numerically "thin on the ground,"
they often assumed great responsibilities and administered vast territories
or supervised numerous underlings.
The Indian Civil Service (or ICS) provided the men who governed India.
Graduates of British universities who had passed an examination and
interviews and then undertaken a year of training in England,
most eventually worked as district officers, virtual rulers of the
several hundred districts which were basic administrative units.
Assisted by perhaps a few other Europeans as well as Indian officials
and clerks, they might render legal decisions, determine land tenure,
oversee local police, recommend public works projects,
provide famine relief when necessary, even hunt leopards or tigers
which menaced villagers. Their power and prestige were such that
they were jokingly called "the heaven born" and likened to the Brahmans
who stood at the top of the Indian caste system.
Other men assumed administrative positions in such organizations as the
Forest Service, which cared for great jungle preserves; the
Education Service, which ran schools; the Survey of India, which mapped
the subcontinent; the state-owned railways; the Police; and the Political
Service (made up of already-experienced officers from the ICS or the Army),
which dealt with the Indian princes who ruled large portions of
India under British oversight (they also staffed British consulates
in parts of China and Persia and helped administer the sheikdoms of the
Persian Gulf). Others joined commercial enterprises, such as the great
trading houses of Calcutta and tea, coffee or jute plantations.
The military life also took many to India. India, in fact, had two
large armies. The British Army posted a big part of its strength to India.
But there was also the largely separate Indian Army, with British officers
and Indian soldiers. Stationed in far-flung cantonments, Army officers
worked in support of the civil administrators in maintaining control and
engaged in the intermittent warfare which broke out in such areas as the
Northwest Frontier, where potentially rebellious tribesmen kept the region
unsettled.
Official India was virtually all male, but wives would often play major
roles in their husbands' work, touring with them, ministering to local needs,
and discovering local problems. Women might also lead more independent
lives in mission work or in healing professions.
Christmas card produced for members of the Junior Naval and Military
Club; 1930s. "96" refers to club's London address; the card refers to
distant imperial postings of many members, such as this "gunner"
(Royal Artillery officer) depicted with his Indian mountain battery
on the Northwest Frontier.
Wife of an ICS officer on tour in Surat; photograph courtesy of the
Centre of South Asian Studies
, University of Cambridge; 1929.
Advertisement for tents in the Hoghunter's Annual (Calcutta) for
1930.
Tents were an essential ingredient of English life in India. Officials,
particularly district officers, commonly spent a significant part of the
year "on tour," traveling around the areas of which they were in charge,
listening to residents, dispensing decisions, and inspecting conditions.
The tents were often commodious and a touring official might have virtually a
multi-room canvas house; they were taken down by servants in the morning
and sent ahead to the next camp site and set up, ready for the officer's
arrival; such conveniences as portable metal bath tubs would be carried along.
"Our
Moonshee," lithograph in Curry and Rice on Forty Plates by
George Francklin Atkinson; 3rd edition (London: Day and Son, 1859?).
Because they needed to conduct business in Indian languages, British
soldiers and administrators labored to acquire local vernaculars, through
the aid of a munshi or language instructor. Atkinson's lithographs depict
with dry humor life in a "typical" English "station" in the second
half of the 19th century.
"A
Doctor's Travelling Tent"; color postcard ( London: All-British
Picture Co., Ltd.; no. 9 in the "Indian Medical" series); 20th century.
Indian sepoy (infantryman) and his wife; Company School painting,
South India, Tanjore artist; late 18th century.
From an early period the East India Company raised its own army, which
evolved into the Indian Army.
The youthful Superintendent of the Hill States inspecting
with local Indian officials; photograph courtesy of the
Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge; 20th century.
The Governor of Sind inspecting a canal project; photograph courtesy of
the
Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge; 20th century.
Wife of Indian Political Service member visiting women of the royal
family of a princely state under her husband's direction; photograph
courtesy of the
Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge; 1920s.
"An Artillery Elephant on Duty"; hand-colored lithograph by Captain C. Gold; 1799.
Practice firing from
the walls of a fort on the Northwest Frontier; photograph courtesy of the
Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge;
20th century.
The Frontier was the loosely controlled area between British India and
Afghanistan inhabited by various tribal groups. The British and Indian
armies frequently operated in the region to maintain order and their small
campaigns provided what was considered valuable military experience for
the troops.
Operations and fortifiations on the Frontier: "Convoy of A.T.
Carts from Paiaza. 100 Yds. Above the Barrari Tangi"; postcard (Simla:
Army Canteen Board), 20th century; "Shagi Fort.
With the Khyber Hills in the Background. N.W.F.P."; postcard
(Peshawar: K.C. Mehra & Sons), 20th century.
English officer with his men, members of the Frontier Constabulary;
photograph courtesy of the
Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge; 1912.
The Frontier Constabulary was a paramilitary force which patrolled part
of the Northwest Frontier.
An officer of the Survey of India mapping in the Himalayas; photograph
courtesy of Major General R.C.A. Edge; 1930s.
The young Maharajah of Bastar with his British guardians; photograph
courtesy of the
Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge; 1937.
A significant portion of India continued to be ruled by Indian princes
under indirect British control. When a minor ascended to a princely throne
or if there was gross mismanagement or scandal in a princely state, a
British official would be given more direct control. But normally a rajah
or nawab had considerable independence to administer his own dominions
under the influence of a British Resident or Political Agent.
An Introduction
Acknowledgements
1. The Passage to India | interviews
2. Running Your Empire |
interviews
3. Life in the Bungalows |
interviews
4. Imperial Diversions |
interviews
5. Never the Twain? |
interviews
6. No more India to go to |
interviews
Life in the Bungalows
Recollections of English domestic life in India present a picture of
an existence both contented and full of difficulties, both luxurious
and spartan. Britons generally occupied commodious bungalows (the word
itself comes from Indian terminology meaning something from Bengal and
referred to a particular housetype originally from that province)
and commonly employed numerous servants to run the household.
Yet even into the 1940s the house would not have electricity, running
water, refrigeration; it would have been open enough for insects, rats,
snakes and--in remote areas--even wild animals to invade. Moves to new
postings were frequent and thus life was unsettled. It was thought
important to send children home to England for schooling, so that family
members were separated. There were likely few other Europeans nearby,
so that people--especially wives with no official work, possibly no
children at home, and only a menage of servants to interact with all
day--might feel very isolated. Indeed, women who found outside
interests--whether their husbands' work, local charitable pursuits, or
the outdoor life--were thought to be happiest.
"Dooreahs or Dog Keepers Leading Out Dogs"; aquatint by Samuel
Hewitt from a drawing by Captain Thomas Williamson; 1806.
An establishment which was an Indian version of an English country
estate was an ideal striven for by earlier British sojourners in India,
few of whom could have ever achieved anything so ambitious in England.
"Christmas in India"; chromoxylograph from a drawing by E.K. Johnson;
1881. An idealized picture of British home life: attentive servants and
happy children (who would be packed off to England for schooling before
long).
Bungalow occupied by a British family in Ranchi; 20th Century; photograph
courtesy of Major General R.C.A. Edge.
Tea plantation bungalow; 1930s.
Interior of tea plantation bungalow; 1930s. Though large and sometimes well furnished, British bungalows in India
might have very simple furnishings. Sometimes furniture was simply hired
from Indian contractors.
English child on pony held by servant; 20th century; photograph courtesy
of the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge.
Advertisement for cooling equipment in the Hoghunter's Annual (Calcutta)
for 1929.
Behind the Bungalow by "EHA," illustrated by F.C. MacRae, 14th
edition (London: W. Thacker & Co; Calcutta and Simla: Thacker, Spink & Co.,
1929). Originally published in 1889 (reprinting earlier newspaper sketches),
this little volume went through numerous printings. Each chapter details
the activities of some type of servant and the book's popularity testifies
to the fascination their household servants held for the British (most
of whom could never have hoped to maintain such an establishment in England).
Servant figurines; painted clay and lacquered fabric; late 19th
century; and servant figurine; painted clay; 20th century.
Such figurines were popular souvenirs available in great variety.
These represent a bearer or butler, a bhisti or water carrier, and a
sweeper.
A bearer or head servant; an ayah holding a European child; a dhoby
or laundryman; the laundryman's wife. Company School paintings, South
India (Trichinopoly) on mica; c. 1860.
Postcards depicting household servants; produced by both Indian
publishers, such as Moorli Dhur and Sons of Ambala, and British, such as
Higginbotham and Company of Madras and Bangalore; early 20th century.
The great profusion of cards reflects the great profusion of servants: a
syce to care for the horses which virtually every sahib maintained; the
ayah to care for young children; the sweeper, who maintained latrines and
removed "night soil"; the dhurzi, more of a subcontractor than a servant,
who would come and sit in a European house for days at a time doing the
sewing. The bearer was a man's personal servant who would run the household
of a bachelor sahib.
Sahibs and memsahinbs were especially intrigued by
the dhobi or laundryman, who supposedly accorded unspeakably harsh treatment
to their clothes to get them clean. Being able to employ an impressive
number of servants -- far more than could have been afforded in England --
was an attraction of Anglo-Indian life (though many Britons professed their
large households to be a mixed blessing).
Englishman being shaved by servant; postcard (Madras and Bangalore:
Higginbotham and Company); early 20th century. Being shaved, even while still half asleep, epitomized for some the
luxury of Indian servants. Even working-class British soldiers stationed
in India would employ Indians to shave them while they still slept in their
barracks bunks. The chair depicted here is a planter's long-sleever, the
arms extended to provide a foot rest.
"Comic" postcards depicting the foibles of Indian servants--the lazy
bearer who rests when his employer is away; the punkah-wallah who nods off
when he is supposed to be awake pulling the rope that works the fan which
cools his sleeping sahib (Madras and Bangalore: Higginbotham and Company);
early 20th century.
"Inoculation against the Plague, Bombay"; "Military Cemetery, Dagshai,
India"; postcards; early 20th century. From early days the British saw India as a place of danger and early
death, especially due to disease.
An Introduction
Acknowledgements
1. The Passage to India | interviews
2. Running Your Empire |
interviews
3. Life in the Bungalows |
interviews
4. Imperial Diversions |
interviews
5. Never the Twain? |
interviews
6. "No More India to Go to" |
interviews
No More India to Go to:
Departure and Connections
The
process by which Britain disengaged from political control of India was
a long and arduous one. Though reaction against British rule was
periodic, Indian nationalism evolved in the latter half of the 19th
century, a process stimulated by the creation of the Congress Movement
(actually founded by an Englishman) in 1885, as Indians increasingly
opposed being ruled by a foreign power. The march to Independence
involved protracted political maneuvering, various reforms, visiting
British delegations, much debate and discussion, repressions, mass
demonstrations, and -- in some places -- riots and terrorism. Mohandas
K. Gandhi emerged as the guiding force of the independence movement. The
Second World War weakened the power of the British Empire and a
post-war Labour government in London undermined the dedication to
empire. The decision was made by the British government to prepare for
the independence of India, though two separate nations emerged -- Hindu
India and Muslim Pakistan -- as did violence between religious groups.
Most of the British in India returned home to retirement or new lives. Some "stayed on" in various capacities, but the old system which had sent Britons to India as colonial rulers had ended forever and with it a unique mode of life. Those who spoke of this end spoke of it with a mixture of regret, good will, recognition of the inevitable, and pleasure in on-going ties to the new nations.
Beyond personal ties, however, were the cultural ones which had grown up over the course of more than two centuries. India obtained the English language -- indeed, created a distinct version of English -- a factor which had a profound influence upon the writing and literature of the subcontinent. The English language, on the other hand, borrowed numerous words from Indian languages (pajama, jungle, coolie, bungalow, kabob). More importantly, the Indian connection gave English literature a milieu dissected and projected by numerous British writers -- Kipling, Forster, Paul Scott, George Orwell, Rumer Godden. British landscape artists -- Edward Lear, Sir Charles D'Oyly, William and Thomas Daniell -- were attracted to India to create vivid images that introduced Europeans to the physical shape -- both natural and cultural -- of the great subcontinent. The tradition of Indian miniature painting adapted itself to a British market. European style buildings sprouted all over India, while British architects adapted Indian styles for use both in India and Britain. British dominance brought about many changes in Indian life, while the Indian connection made a lasting impact upon British popular culture. Indeed, India became ingrained in British consciousness -- as an image, as a place where friends or family members lived, as a symbol of British power. Since the Second World War, there has been a mass influx of Indians and Pakistanis into Britain -- a development enabled by former imperial connections -- so that today, perhaps ironically, many more people from the subcontinent live in England
No More India to Go to:
Departure and Connections
The process by which Britain disengaged from political control of
India was a long and arduous one. Though reaction against British rule
was periodic, Indian nationalism evolved in the latter half of the 19th
century, a process stimulated by the creation of the Congress Movement
(actually founded by an Englishman) in 1885, as Indians increasingly
opposed being ruled by a foreign power. The march to Independence
involved protracted political maneuvering, various reforms, visiting
British delegations, much debate and discussion, repressions, mass
demonstrations, and -- in some places -- riots and terrorism. Mohandas K.
Gandhi emerged as the guiding force of the independence movement. The
Second World War weakened the power of the British Empire and a post-war
Labour government in London undermined the dedication to empire. The
decision was made by the British government to prepare for the
independence of India, though two separate nations emerged -- Hindu India
and Muslim Pakistan -- as did violence between religious groups.Most of the British in India returned home to retirement or new lives. Some "stayed on" in various capacities, but the old system which had sent Britons to India as colonial rulers had ended forever and with it a unique mode of life. Those who spoke of this end spoke of it with a mixture of regret, good will, recognition of the inevitable, and pleasure in on-going ties to the new nations.
Beyond personal ties, however, were the cultural ones which had grown up over the course of more than two centuries. India obtained the English language -- indeed, created a distinct version of English -- a factor which had a profound influence upon the writing and literature of the subcontinent. The English language, on the other hand, borrowed numerous words from Indian languages (pajama, jungle, coolie, bungalow, kabob). More importantly, the Indian connection gave English literature a milieu dissected and projected by numerous British writers -- Kipling, Forster, Paul Scott, George Orwell, Rumer Godden. British landscape artists -- Edward Lear, Sir Charles D'Oyly, William and Thomas Daniell -- were attracted to India to create vivid images that introduced Europeans to the physical shape -- both natural and cultural -- of the great subcontinent. The tradition of Indian miniature painting adapted itself to a British market. European style buildings sprouted all over India, while British architects adapted Indian styles for use both in India and Britain. British dominance brought about many changes in Indian life, while the Indian connection made a lasting impact upon British popular culture. Indeed, India became ingrained in British consciousness -- as an image, as a place where friends or family members lived, as a symbol of British power. Since the Second World War, there has been a mass influx of Indians and Pakistanis into Britain -- a development enabled by former imperial connections -- so that today, perhaps ironically, many more people from the subcontinent live in England than Britons ever lived in India. In many ways these Asians are now transforming British life.
Family photo album; 1920s-1930s
Camp Coffee bottles; 1970s. Labels for commercial products, such as this one of a British officer in camp in India with his Sikh orderly, reminded Britons of the Indian connection. That the label persisted into the 1970s suggests the enduring appeal of India for the British.
"India: The Imperial Cadet Corps, Composed Only of Indian Native Princes," cigarette card from another series, "Allied Cavalry"; issued by John Player and Sons; c. 1918.
"Ruins of the Antient City of Gour, Formerly on the Banks of the
Ganges"; aquatint by Thomas Daniell; 1795.
Thomas Daniell and his uncle William were among the most successful of the British artists who visited India over the years, producing paintings and prints which conveyed to those at home what India looked like and which gave the Indian landscape a role in British art. The Daniells were in India 1794-96 and published dozens of aquatints in portfolios such as Oriental Scenery.
Painted blue earthenware plate by J. and R. Riley of Staffordshire;
c. 1815.
This plate combines two aquatints by the Daniells, one of a Calcutta street, the other of a sacred tree in Bihar, to create a single image. Pottery with Indian motifs was another factor in bringing India to the British public.
Indian clerk, Malabar Coast; Company School painting, 19th century.
Because they wanted souvenir images of the India they knew, Britons in India began to patronize Indian artists who could provide them. Thus there arose the "Company School" of miniature painting, so called because the pictures were originally produced for employees of the East India Company. Though they drew upon a long tradition of miniature painting in India, the painters adapted their style for European consumption. The subtleties of the earlier traditions were sacrificed to produce fairly simple illustrations of a limited range of Indian life which the British encountered. Thus the Company paintings provided what was in some ways a restricted vision.
"Book Hawker and Wife," Company School painting on mica, North
India (?); c. 1850;
"Mussalman [Muslim] Taking His Bride Home,"
Company School painting on mica, North India (?); c. 1850;
The mounting, decorations and labeling indicates that these images were parts of albums, probably brought home to England from India. Company School paintings tended to focus on a simple range of representative crafts and occupations, castes and ethnic groups, and commonly observed events and occasions.
"Khansamah Followed by Coolie
Bringing Home the Provisions for the Day," Company School painting, Patna
artist; c. 1880.
"Basket Makers,"
Company School painting by Bani Lal of Patna; c. 1880.
"Mysore Government Offices, Cubbon Park"; "Oilette" postcard
(London: Raphael Tuck and Sons; c. 1910; "View of Calcutta from the
Esplanade," steel engraving; 1850s (?), later hand coloring.
Especially in the cities they founded, like Madras and Calcutta, but
elsewhere as well, the British imposed European architectural styles.
In this engraving the European woman and child in the center
appear to be engulfed by Indian humanity, but they in turn are dominated
by the severe lines of the European structures in the near distance.
"Municipal Building" and "Victoria Terminus," photographs in a
souvenir portfolio, "Views of Bombay"; late 19th century.
By the end of the 19th century British architects were mingling European and Indian styles in the structures they designed in India.
"The Legislative Buildings, Delhi (India)" and "The Secretariats
of the Government of India," tear-out postcards (Delhi: H.A. Mirza and
Sons); c. 1912.
By the time the British built New Delhi -- out of a desire to move their capital from Calcutta to a more central and more historically symbolic place -- the British had developed a style of architecture that fused Western and Indian features.
"The Royal Pavilion, Brighton," postcard (Brighton: A.W.W.); c.
1910; "North Gate, Pavilion, Brighton," postcard from a watercolor by
W.H. Borrow (London?: Water Colour Post Card Co.); c. 1900; British
structures influenced by Indian architecture, in Apollo, August 1970.
Indian architectural features also found their way into British buildings, most notably into the fantasy Royal Pavilion in Brighton, rebuilt in this style after 1817 for George IV when Prince of Wales. However, Indian influence can be seen in many other buildings.
"Court of Honour, Franco-British Exhibition, London, 1908,"
postcard published by Bonnett and Shum; 1908;
"The Lake by Night, British Empire Exhibition, Wembley,"
color postcard published by the Photochrom Co.; 19xx.
Vast exhibitions showcasing European overseas empires not only brought Indian architecture to England but played a major role in further building popular awareness of India.
An Introduction
Acknowledgements
1. The Passage to India | interviews
2. Running Your Empire | interviews
3. Life in the Bungalows | interviews
4. Imperial Diversions | interviews
5. Never the Twain? | interviews
6. "No More India to Go to" | interviews
Vast exhibitions showcasing European overseas empires not only brought Indian architecture to England but played a major role in further building popular awareness of India.
Life of leisure, massacre, extortion, servants, luxury, it is not surprising that some are nostalgic for that exploitative past.
Traveller's Bungalow in India, Antique British Raj Lithograph
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