Introduction: How, When and Where PDF

1 Introduction: How, When and Where How Important are Dates? There was a time when historians were fascinated with dates. There were heated debat...

1 Introduction: How, When and Where How Important are Dates? There was a time when historians were fascinated with dates. There were heated debates about the dates on which rulers were crowned or battles were fought. In the common-sense notion, history was synonymous with dates. You may have heard people say, “I find history boring because it is all about memorising dates.” Is such a conception true? History is certainly about changes that occur over time. It is about finding out how things were in the past and how things have changed. As soon as we compare the past with the present, we refer to time, we talk of “before” and “after”. Living in the world we do not always ask historical questions about what we see around us. We take things for granted, as if what we see has always been in the world we inhabit. But most of us have our moments of wonder, when we are curious, and we ask questions that actually are historical. Fig. 1 – Brahmans offering the Watching someone sip a cup of tea at a roadside tea stall, Shastras to Britannia, frontispiece you may wonder – when did people begin to drink tea or to the first map produced by James Rennel, 1782 coffee? Looking out of the window of a train you may ask Rennel was asked by Robert Clive yourself – when were railways built and how did people to produce maps of Hindustan. travel long distances before the age of railways? Reading An enthusiastic supporter the newspaper in the morning you may be curious to know of British conquest of India, how people got to hear about things before newspapers Rennel saw preparation of maps began to be printed. as essential to the process of domination. The picture here tries to suggest that Indians  Activity willingly gave over their ancient texts to Britannia – the symbol of Look carefully at Fig.1 and write a paragraph explaining British power – as if asking her how this image projects an imperial perception. to become the protector of Indian culture. Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 1 6/6/2022 12:36:43 PM  All such historical questions refer us back to notions of time. But time does not have to be always precisely dated in terms of a particular year or a month. Sometimes it is actually incorrect to fix precise dates to processes that happen over a period of time. People in India did not begin drinking tea one fine day; they developed a taste for it over time. There can be no one clear date for a process such as this. Similarly, we cannot fix one single date on which British rule was established, or the national movement started, or changes took place within the economy and society. All these things happened over a stretch of time. We can only refer to a span of time, an approximate period over which particular changes became visible. Why, then, do we continue to associate history with a string of dates? This association has a reason. There was a time when history was an account of battles and big events. It was about rulers and their policies. Historians wrote about the year a king was crowned, the year he married, the year he had a child, the year he fought a particular war, the year he died, and the year the next ruler succeeded to the throne. For events such as these, specific dates can be determined, and in histories such as these, debates about dates continue to be important. As you have seen in the history textbooks of the past two years, historians now write about a host of other issues, and other questions. They look at how people earned their livelihood, what they produced and ate, how cities developed and markets came up, how kingdoms were formed and new ideas spread, and how cultures and society changed. Fig. 2 – Advertisements help Which dates? create taste By what criteria do we choose a set of dates as Old advertisements help us important? The dates we select, the dates around which understand how markets for new we compose our story of the past, are not important products were created and new on their own. They become vital because we focus on tastes were popularised. This 1922 advertisement for Lipton tea a particular set of events as important. If our focus of suggests that royalty all over the study changes, if we begin to look at new issues, a new world is associated with this tea. set of dates will appear significant. In the background you see the outer wall of an Indian palace, Consider an example. In the histories written by while in the foreground, seated British historians in India, the rule of each Governor- on horseback is the third son of General was important. These histories began with the Queen Victoria of Britain, Prince rule of the first Governor- General, Warren Hastings, Arthur, who was given the title and ended with the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten. In Duke of Connaught. separate chapters, we read about the deeds of others — Hastings, Wellesley, Bentinck, Dalhousie, Canning, 2 OUR PASTS – III Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 2 4/22/2022 2:49:16 PM  Lawrence, L ytton, Ripon, Curzon, Harding, Irwin. It was a seemingly never-ending succession of Governor- Generals and Viceroys. All the dates in these history books were linked to these personalities – to their activities, policies and achievements. It was as if there was nothing outside their lives that was important for us to know. The chronology of their lives marked the different chapters of the history of British India. Can we not write about the history of this period in a different way? How do we focus on the activities of different groups and classes in Indian society within the format of this history of Governor-Generals? When we write history, or a story, we divide it into chapters. Why do we do this? It is to give each chapter some coherence. It is to tell a story in a way that makes some sense and can be followed. In the process we focus only on those events that help us to give shape to the story Fig. 3 – Warren Hastings became we are telling. In the histories that revolve around the life the first Governor-General in 1773 of British Governor-Generals, the activities of Indians While history books narrated simply do not fit, they have no space. What, then, do we the deeds of Governor-Generals, do? Clearly, we need another format for our history. This biographies glorified them as persons, and paintings projected would mean that the old dates will no longer have the them as powerful figures. significance they earlier had. A new set of dates will become more important for us to know. How do we periodise? In 1817, James Mill, a Scottish economist and political philosopher, published a massive three-volume work, A History of British India. In this, he divided Indian history into three periods – Hindu, Muslim and British. This periodisation came to be widely accepted. Can you think of any problem with this way of looking at Indian history? Why do we try and divide history into different periods? We do so in an attempt to capture the characteristics of  Activity Interview your mother a time, its central features as they appear to us. So the or another member of terms through which we periodise – that is, demarcate your family to find out the difference between periods – become important. They about their life. Now reflect our ideas about the past. They show how we see divide their life into the significance of the change from one period to the next. different periods and Mill thought that all Asian societies were at a lower list out the significant level of civilisation than Europe. According to his telling events in each period. of history, before the British came to India, Hindu and Explain the basis of your Muslim despots ruled the country. Religious intolerance, periodisation. caste taboos and superstitious practices dominated social life. British rule, Mill felt, could civilise India. To do INTRODUCTION: HOW, WHEN AND WHERE 3 Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 3 6/14/2022 2:38:32 PM  this, it was necessary to introduce European manners, arts, institutions and laws in India. Mill, in fact, suggested that the British should conquer all the territories in India to ensure the enlightenment and happiness of the Indian people. For India was not capable of progress without British help. In this idea of history, British rule represented all the forces of progress and civilisation. The period before British rule was one of darkness. Can such a conception be accepted today? In any case, can we refer to any period of history as “Hindu” or “Muslim”? Did not a variety of faiths exist simultaneously in these periods? Why should we characterise an age only through the religion of the rulers of the time? To do so is to suggest that the lives and practices of the others do not really matter. We should also remember that even rulers in ancient India did not all share the same faith. Moving away from British classification, historians have usually divided Indian history into ‘ancient’, ‘medieval’ and ‘modern’. This division too has its problems. It is a periodisation that is borrowed from the West where the modern period was associated with the growth of all the forces of modernity – science, reason, democracy, liberty and equality. Medieval was a term used to describe a society where these features of modern society did not exist. Can we uncritically accept this characterisation of the modern period to describe the period of our study? As you will see in this book, under British rule people did not have equality, freedom or liberty. Nor was the period one of economic growth and progress. Many historians therefore refer to this period as ‘colonial’. What is colonial? In this book, you will read about the way the British came to conquer the country and establish their rule, subjugating local nawabs and rajas. You will see how they established control over the economy and society, collected revenue to meet all their expenses, bought the goods they wanted at low prices, produced crops they needed for export, and you will understand the changes that came about as a consequence. You will also come to know about the changes British rule brought about in values and tastes, customs and practices. When the subjugation of one country by another leads to these kinds of political, economic, social and cultural changes, we refer to the process as colonisation. You will, however, find that all classes and groups did not experience these changes in the same way. That is why, the book is called Our Pasts in the plural. 4 OUR PASTS – III Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 4 4/22/2022 2:49:18 PM  Source 1 How do We Know? What sources do historians use in writing about the last Reports to the 250 years of Indian history? Home Department Administration produces records In 1946 the colonial One important source is the official records of the British government in India was administration. The British believed that the act of writing trying to put down a mutiny was important. Every instruction, plan, policy decision, that broke out on the ships agreement, investigation had to be clearly written up. Once of the Royal Indian Navy. this was done, things could be properly studied and debated. Here is a sample of the This conviction produced an administrative culture of kind of reports the Home memos, notings and reports. Department got from the The British also felt that all important documents different dockyards: and letters needed to be carefully preserved. So they Bombay: Arrangements set up record rooms attached to all administrative have been made for the institutions. The village tahsildar’s office, the collectorate, Army to take over ships the commissioner’s office, the provincial secretariats, and establishment. Royal the lawcourts – all had their record rooms. Specialised Navy ships are remaining institutions like archives and museums were also outside the harbour. established to preserve important records. Karachi: 301 mutineers Letters and memos that moved from one branch are under arrest and a few of the administration to another in the early years more strongly suspected of the nineteenth century can still be read in the are to be arrested … All archives. You can also study the notes and reports establishments … are that district officials prepared, or the instructions under military guard. and directives that were sent by officials at the top to Vizagapatnam: The provincial administrators. positionis completely In the early years of the nineteenth century, these under control and no documents were carefully copied out and beautifully violence has occurred. written by calligraphists – that is, by those who specialised Military guards have in the art of beautiful writing. By the middle of the been placed on ships nineteenth century, with the spread of printing, multiple and establishments. copies of these records were printed as proceedings of each No further trouble is government department. expected except that a few men may refuse to work. Director of Intelligence, HQ. India Command, Situation Report No. 7. File No. 5/21/46 Home (Political), Government of India Fig. 4 – The National Archives of India came up in the 1920s When New Delhi was built, the National Museum and the National Archives were both located close to the Viceregal Palace. This location reflects the importance these institutions had in British imagination. INTRODUCTION: HOW, WHEN AND WHERE 5 Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 5 6/3/2022 5:07:10 PM  Surveys become important The practice of surveying also became common under the colonial administration. The British believed that a country had to be properly known before it could be effectively administered. By the early nineteenth century, detailed surveys were being carried out to map the entire country. In the villages, revenue surveys were conducted. The effort was to know the topography, the soil quality, the flora, the fauna, the local histories, and the cropping pattern – all the facts seen as necessary to know about to administer the region. From the Fig. 5 – A custard-apple end of the nineteenth century, Census operations plant, 1770s were held every ten years. These prepared detailed Botanical gardens records of the number of people in all the provinces and natural history of India, noting information on castes, religions and museums established by the occupation. There were many other surveys – botanical British collected plant specimens surveys, zoological surveys, archaeological surveys, and information about their uses. Local artists were asked to anthropological surveys, forest surveys. draw pictures of these specimens. Historians are now looking What official records do not tell at the way such information From this vast corpus of records we can get to know was gathered and what this a lot, but we must remember that these are official information reveals about the nature of colonialism. records. They tell us what the officials thought, what Fig. 6 – Mapping and survey operations in progress in Bengal, a drawing by James Prinsep, 1832 Note how all the instruments that were used in surveys are placed in the foreground to emphasise the scientific nature of the project. 6 OUR PASTS – III Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 6 4/22/2022 2:49:21 PM  Source 2 “Not fit for human consumption” Newspapers provide accounts of the movements in different parts of the country. Here is a report of a police strike in 1946. More than 2000 policemen in Delhi refused to take their food on Thursday morning as a protest against their low salaries and the bad quality of food Fig. 7 – The rebels of 1857 supplied to them Images need to be carefully studied for they project the viewpoint from the Police Lines of those who create them. This image can be found in several kitchen. illustrated books produced by the British after the 1857 rebellion. The caption at the bottom says: “Mutinous sepoys share the loot”. As the news spread In British representations, the rebels appear as greedy, vicious and to the other police brutal. You will read about the rebellion in Chapter 5. stations, the men there also refused to they were interested in, and what they wished to preserve take food … One of for posterity. These records do not always help us the strikers said: “The understand what other people in the country felt, and what food supplied to us lay behind their actions. from the Police Lines kitchen is not fit for For that we need to look elsewhere. When we begin to human consumption. search for these other sources, we find them in plenty, Even cattle would though they are more difficult to get than official records. not eat the chappattis We have diaries of people, accounts of pilgrims and and dal which we travellers, autobiographies of important personalities, and have to eat.” popular booklets that were sold in the local bazaars. As Hindustan Times, printing spread, newspapers were published and issues 22 March, 1946 were debated in public. Leaders and reformers wrote to spread their ideas, poets and novelists wrote to express their feelings. All these sources, however, were produced by those who were literate. From these, we will not be able to understand how history was experienced and lived by the tribals and the peasants, the workers in the mines or the poor on the  Activity Look at Sources 1 and 2. streets. Getting to know their lives is a more difficult task. Do you find any Yet this can be done, if we make a little bit of effort. differences in the nature When you read this book, you will see how this can of reporting? Explain be done. what you observed. INTRODUCTION: HOW, WHEN AND WHERE 7 Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 7 4/22/2022 2:49:22 PM  Let’s imagine Let’s recall 1. State whether true or false: Imagine that you are a historian wanting to (a) James Mill divided Indian history into three find out about how periods – Hindu, Muslim, Christian. agriculture changed in a remote tribal area (b) Official documents help us understand what after independence. the people of the country think. List the different ways in which you would (c) The British thought surveys were important find information on for effective administration. this. Let’s discuss 2. What is the problem with the periodisation of Indian history that James Mill offers? 3. Why did the British preserve official documents? 4. How will the information historians get from old newspapers be different from that found in police reports? Let’s do 5. Can you think of examples of surveys in your world today? Think about how toy companies get information about what young people enjoy playing with or how the government finds out about the number of young people in school. What can a historian derive from such surveys? 8 OUR PASTS – III Reprint 2024-25 chap 1-4.indd 8 4/22/2022 2:49:24 PM