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UNIT 1 ENTRY OF ENGLISH: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Structure Objectives Introduction The Process of A Language Unfolding Itself Introducing Language From A Position of Power Introduction of English in India: Phase One Introducti...

UNIT 1 ENTRY OF ENGLISH: A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Structure Objectives Introduction The Process of A Language Unfolding Itself Introducing Language From A Position of Power Introduction of English in India: Phase One Introduction of English in India: Phase Two Introduction of English in India: Phase Three Introduction of English m India: Phase Four Let Us Sum Up Questions 1.0 OBJECTIVES This unit will take you into the extremely fascinating area of interaction between history and culture. Ordinarily, we study a trend, an author or a literary work in isolation from the time in which these emerge and are shaped. Here, on the other hand, you will view a language in the process of evolution from the point it was introduced into the life of a nation to the point when it became a self-propelling full- fledged entity. You will also be face to face with a number of important things that contributed to a linguistic phenomenon moving inexorably towards a socio- ideological and cultural event never to be taken apart from the 'soil' in which it was implanted. Let us look at what English means in India next. 1.1 INTRODUCTION.English in India is a truly broad field, encompassing in time more than two eventful centuries and in geographical space countries as far apart from each other as eastern and western sides of the globe. The happening of a European language (the policies and actions of an organised as well as evolving society hidden behind it) in the midst of an alien culture over a long period of time should be considered a phenomenon meriting close investigation and study. In our context, it would be particularly useful to go into the question of a powerful outsider seeking to wilfully subjugate a community caught in its own queer dialectic of existence. The outside force and the indigenous pattern of trends got so intertwined in the early nineteenth century that each seemed to be guided by the other in its pursuit of growth or survival. The next section will deal with what I call the "process of language unfolding itself." 1.2 THE PROCESS OF LANGUAGE UNFOLDING ITSELF The twentieth century India saw an entlrely different kind of resistance by natives to the foreign rule, unlike what was witnessed in the nineteenth century. The former had honed their political skills to such an extent (they had imbibed the spirit of enlightenment and rationality of the west and tended to use new concepts of fieedom, equality and individual dignity against their ~oliticalmasters) that the tussle between - the two went far beyond the economic it became more and more hegemonic. Our Institutionalisation of purpose in this course is to connect the nineteenth century social struggle against the English Studies in India British with the twentieth century 'hegemonic' tussle, a tussle aimed at transforming attitudes and winning minds. The temtory that we mainly explore in this course is that of language. A language, even a totally alien language, is not a simple, one-sided item of use. Instead, a language is a whole system of knowledge-constructing activity in which participation. of diverse elements is the key factor. This takes us straight into the area of literature. As we notice, English began to be used Increasingly by writers and thinkers in India. Such a phenomenon of use necessitated a deep understanding of western works and trends and mastery over a language to the level that one experiments and struggles within it to describe and put across one's intent. All this requires a fair degree of acquaintance with the cultural ethos of that language. Thus it is that those who face the question of coming to tenns with an alien tongue read its authors and thinkers with exemplary seriousness and view the represented or referred reality from a different angle. This enables them to widen their mental horizon and equips them ideologically to evolve an appropriate stance. The criss-cross of such a path would be discernible when we see the process of English in India unfolding in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What do we make of the growth of English as a medium in the post-Independence India? This is the period in which a nationalist response to an 'alien' tongue was expected, when the newly-emerged nation could take deeper interest in the unveil~ng of new life-patterns in the native tongues. In the next section we shall examine what happens to a language when it is introduced from a powerful hegemonic position, like in the case of the introduction of the English language in India. 1.3 INTRODUCING LANGUAGE FROM A POSITION OF POWER In the early phase of its active presence in India, English represented a position of power. I talk of 'active presence' to denote that English came to bear a stamp of authority in the eighteen thirties, the period in which the British could flaunt their influence and define on their authority the parameters suitable to India. Macaulay's famous Minute of 1835 is the case in point. This has been discussed to an extent in the following unit of this block and at length in one of the later units in this course. Here, I draw your attention to the tone adopted by Macaulay in the Minute. To quote: I have no knowledge of either Sanskrit or Arabic. But I have done what I could toform a correct estimate of their value. I have read translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanskrit works. I have conversed, both here and at home, with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. 1 am quite ready to take the oriental learning at the valuation of the orientalists themselves. I have neverfound one among them who could deny that a single shelfofa good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. We are not supposed to take this statement literally but towderstand the argument that Macaulay advances in-the context of the nineteenth cen* India. There is a sort of rhetoric in the tone and Macaulay seems to understand the absurdity of not know~ngand yet being able to "form a correct estlmate." Add to this the fact that he is addressing the audience of his choice - the people who share not just his prejudice but, his position of power, the people with the job on hand to frame a new language 6 policy for the colony. Here, the word 'orientalists' signifies scholars who assiduously examine a specific phenomenon the results of which they make available to the larger Entry of English community of scholars for further study and reference. Obviously, Macaulay is in no ' position to disagree with the orientalists on their findings, one of which is that "a single shelf of a good European libraiy was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia." The second point I make with reference to this statement is that Macaulay has specifically commented here on "the oriental learning, and not regions of imagination where Indian creative talent has flowered." To him, "celebrated Arabic and Sansknt works" do not contain what he calls oriental learning. The European orientalists, particularly those in the nineteenth century, looked for knowledge and study - that field of investigation in which new findingsalead on to the further knowledge of trends (as in science) in natural and social life. Yet, what has come out most strongly in the statement of Macaulay is what Edward Said has called in his The World, The Text And the Critic, the rhetoric of belongng and administration. In Said's words: Macaulay 's was an ethnocentric opinion with ascertainable results. He was speaking from aposition ofpower where he could translate his opinions into the decision to make an entire subcontinent of natives submit to studying in a language not their own. This in fact is what happened. In turn this validated the culture to itself by providing a precedent, and a case, by which superiority and power are lodged both in a rhetoric of belonging, or being "at home", so to speak, and in a rhetoric of administratian: the two become interchangeable (p12-13) To this extent, thus, what Macaulay says could be considered seriously, his colonialist blas not withstanding. From here onwards, let us divide our discussion about English in India into four parts. I do this to take you into the context in which Enghsh, once introduced, went from strength to strength, so to say, in our country. These four parts, historically speaking, are: 1) The first phase when a policy framework was created to bring in an alien language primarily to have a human work force, read middle class, made to order and spread the message of superior thinking and culture through it; 2) The second phase in which English started making a dent in our lives and largely affected our ideas and value systems; 3) The third phase marked by the dialectic of supporting and opposing the emerging scenario under the impact of a growing nationalistic psyche culminating in the final attainment of freedom from the British yoke in 1947; 4) The fourth phase of post-Independence India witnessing the peculiar process of resisting1 adopting English in thee wake of new trends emerging in the country. I refer to the social development accompanied by a crisis in polity and culture that unfolded in this period. Placed in the time-frame, these phases belong to the first half of the nineteenth century till 1857, from 1857 to roughly the eighteen eighties when nationalism struck roots organisationally, from the last decades of the nineteenth century to 1947 and the post-Independent period till the end of the century respectively. We shall examine in detail the introduction of English during the First Phase (1800-1857). 1.4 THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH IN INDIA: PHASE ONE C1800- 1857) As I take up the first phase, I draw your attention to the fact that by the beginning of the nineteenth century Indian economy had become potentially if not actually subservient to British interests. This fact was visible when more and more administrative power started passing into the hands of the East India Company and by proxy to the British regime. The period also characterised the enfeeblement of Indian interests divided as they became in the absence of a unifylng factor. On their side, the British basked in the glory of their resurgent economy back h o m ~and. victory over Napoleon in the second decade of the nineteeflth century. In India, thus, Institutionalisation of the fight between an alien power and a politically weak and divided society was an English Studies in India unequal one. I particularly point towards a strong Britain at the time. ~ k eregistering r her presence as a vibrant economy in the previous century, England had gained the status of a 'super power' around the period she became active in India as an administrator, reformer and benefactor. Those of us who are conversant with English literature would realise that this period is known in t$e literary history as the Romantic period, a period when poets such as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley and Keats sent across a sharply a critical message against growing bourgeois interests. Romantics were true dreamers wedded to the cause of the simple village folk that were gradually sidelined by the bourgeoisie in the eighteenth century. To grasp the point, we have to separate the dream in Romanticism from everything else and transpose it over the situation existing in India in the same period. In their society the British were engaged in pulling themselves out of medievalism and transforming their thinking along modernist lines. Such was the zeal of dreamers in England. However, away from home in the temtory of a colony, the intellectually equipped functionaries of the English state had a different role to play. There is no wonder that a Macaulay would embark on the course of enlightenment and rational thought far away from his shores where around 1835, where an extremely bitter and scathing critique of the English society of the time began to be presented in English fiction. Students of Eqglish literature are thus, better placed to see the irony in the situation. Coming back to what was happening in India under the increasing British control, we notice in the early nineteenth century India an attempt is being made on the part of * ' policy-framers to perform what could be termed 'social engineering' of a sort. Under this, a whole group of the natives spread through the length and breadth of India would read, write and think English. We have to recognise that the 'social engineering' of which I mention in the above paragraph did occur and there did gradually emerge a group in the country linked umbilically to the British. These were the natives who largely fought in India the battles of the British, telling the rest of the Indians about orthodoxy and obsolescence existing within them as well as the desirability of adopting a superior culture and value system. The sense of servility the British intended to cultivate among Indians became a fact as a consequence of the influence-wielding conduct of this middle class. A demoralised society as India was at the time it watched abjectly the spectacle of western superiority~resentedthrough the behaviour of 'enlightened' English- speaking individuals. We also know that historically speaking, India had yet a long way to go towards modernity and that it was indeed stuck in orthodoxy. It can also be broadly accepted that the process of confiontation between the 'eastern' and 'western' ethos set in motion the extremely significant trend of liberal education and reform movements in our country. Through English, our elites and middle class individuals came face to face with a perspective radically different from their own. Let us look at the developments that were to take place in the introduction of English during the Second Phase (1857-1880). 1.5 THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH IN INDIA: PHASE TWO (1857- 1880) The momentous happening with which the second phase of English in India is linked was the famous revolt of Indian soldiers against the British in 1857. It was termed 'mutiny' since the British considered it an illegal and unethical act. From the Indian  point of view, it was an expression of discontent and anger against a power in the Entry of English presence of whom the country felt helpless. Without going into the causes of the. - revolt, we can relate this event to the antagonism developing between a strong force in occupation and a country ridden with insurmountable problems of poverty and backwardness. Be that as it may, the British from 1857 onwards chose a course different from the one they had adopted earlier. With the change in status according I to whlch India was placed directly under the English monarch and thus becoming a colony, our society would be managed in the new context as a formation constituting I subjects. The general perception of the English was also meanwhile altered vis-8-vis Indians. Indians from now on would be treated with suspicion irrespective of whether they were from the middle classes, the urban poor, villagers or the landed gentry. The term 'mutiny' with its wide ideological ramifications covered all aspects of British behaviour. The question is whether the adoption of English by Indians in the mean time had given a wrong mutinous orientation to the Indian middleclasses in this phase responded to issues such as individual freedom differently from the way they ' were supposed to do by their masters. The reformist acts undertaken by the regime earlier may also have unleashed trends in India that drew inspiration fiom the spirit to: critique orthodoxy. With pioneers such as Ram Mohan Roy active in the realm of reform and change earlier in the century, various communities in India, forged ahead of others and threw up visionaries who would work with all their might to transform the environment at a latter day. Some of these communities took keen interest in education and aimed at ushering in the era of modernity. This second phase was especially productive in the area of literature unlike the previous one that had inspired only thinkers and reformers. The reason is not far to seek. With increase in the knowledge of English, a large number of creative minds began to look at their counterparts in England as their role models and sought to emulate their example. You will have reference to them in the Blocks that follow. One interestilig example is that of a novel written in English by Bankim Chander Chatterjee. His novel Rajmohun 's Wife presented in one go a peculiar amalgam of the Indian folk tale and the English novel. Whereas the characters in the novel are typically Indian with shades of black and white, the descriptions of nature and the ornate style draws much from the contemporary English writing of the day. Add to this the fact that the narrative reveals a number of influences of the contemporary thought in England. I suggest through this point the emergence of a phenomenon in which the Indian art forms had an interface with the European ones. The latter helped the Indian mind to wrestle free from the highly stylised and moralistic renderings of myths in the 1ndian' writing. However, this phase unhappily caused the marginalisation of those Indian forms that struggled to represent new experiences, dichotomies and disharmonies in Indian life. It certainly took the middle class minds away from some of the best trends emerging in Indian language literatures. The Urdu Ghazal of the day, for instance, remained largely confined to the urban elites, not finding its way to the experimenting and innovating youths of the educated rriiddle classes. Radicals would harness the same ghazals however, (as in the case of Faiz), at a later stage, to create political awareness among the freedom-loving Indians across the country. Combine this literary trend in English taking shape in the hands of the 1ndias with some of the new activist reformers, some of them women, in society that chose to read in English and write in an Indian language. We see that a meaningful interaction did begin occurring as a consequence of the efforts of these reformers. Place it in the context of a new educational pattern crystallising in the field of education to realise that a number of visionaries in the second half of the nineteenth century took the courageous step of combining English with Indian languages in colleges and universities. Two institutions that wexe brought into being and subsequently flourished remarkably were known as the Anglo-Arabic and Anglo-Vedic institutions , of learning. With a strong orientation in the so-called Muslim or Hindu thought, these Institutionalisation of institutions rightly sought to adopt the rational approach of receiving knowledge from Englislr Studies in India whichever quarter. They asserted that knowledge was not confined to the place where it initially emerged and that it was a part of the universal human heritage. The point of orientation I am making here is to indicate that language as a vehicle of expression and as the medium of communication can be used with advantage by any community and society, irrespective of the place where it was active initially. As said above, English in India in this phase opened a window to western learning and made available to the emergent middle class a number of perspectives, many of them radical and modem. At the same time, it also put on the periphery those languages and dialects that Iiad been forged by ordinary people struggling to evolve their own idioms and devices to articulate their specific expenences. It also clearly made hierarchies that put English on a pedestal and assigned inferior position to things Indian. The harm caused by English is perceivable at the sociological level where things occur subtly. English in this phase also worked to the detriment of Indian writing where the genuine emotions of the masses could be expressed in a forthright manner. With a minuscule minority in India capable of receiving information or knowledge through English, the appeal of this foreign tongue remained limited in our environment. The damage was particularly in the case of youths who felt drawn to English, little realising that the language chosen by them restricted not just the appeal of their writing but also the scope of the issues and themes they chose to represent in their writing. What happened or was to happen to Engllsh during the pre- Independence and pre- Partition days will be discussed in the next section. 1.6 THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH IN INDIA: PHASE THREE (1880 - 1947) In my opinion, the third phase of the evolution in English in India (I mean by this the impact English had in Indian life and the way it was itself being shaped in its role by the happenings of the period) reflects a sharp sense of the events unfolding in India in recent history. This phase brought out the inefficacy of a foreign language, whatever the extent of patronage the language enjoyed. In the period, our society, decided to form itself as a meaningful entity by adopting a course at once challenging and desirable. Inspite of being diverse in scope and interests, our society came to reco~lisearound this time what could be termed seeds of commonness. I refer to the Indian National Movement that began towards the end of the nineteenth century and culminated in the Independence of 1947. We see a peculiar relationship, clearly an antagonistic one, between the nationalist upsurge in India and English. This is also the question of the role a language or a number of languages play in what can be broadly called social life. At this point, we have to remind ourselves again that India was a British colony bearing the bitter implication of being second to a metropolitan centre. It was supposed to serve at the cost of its resources, culture, identity and dignity the interests of a foreign power. Please consider that of the four I have cited, three - culture, identity and dignity - particularly are the concerns of the middle class. Macaulay's dream of creating a middle class in India that would fight English battles and act as buffer between the administration and the common masses took, it appears, a reverse turn in the nationalist phase in our society. One noticed a split between the English knowing middle classes meant to emulate the behaviour and values of the master segment and thus working to the detriment of their own society. This happened but the reverse also raised its head deep within their psyche. The examples of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru are particularly Entry of English educative in that they symbolise the needs of the time. Both stood for the effort of the enlightened sections aimed at creating nationalist consciousneC. The enlightened sections in India chose in the case of the split the issue of dignity in preference to the modernity of the kind the British represented as colonisers. Also bear in mind, as indicated above, that what I call enlightened sections in India had a modernity and rationality as well as a moral daring that would be the envy of the thinkers and practitioners of the eighteenth century European enlightenment. Both Gandhiji and Nehru spoke and wrote English better than most Indians. However, they sent a different message across to people within the Congress as well as outside. They stressed that the language of the National Movement was to be an Indian language, a language that ordinary Indians could understad anti speak What about the efficacy of an Indian language at the time? Most of the Indian languages in the nineteenth century had a vocabulary rooted in the medieval life and ethos. Few of thein had what we call a grammar of their own, that which recognised their structures and identified rules determining them. Yet. we have the great example of Bankim Chandra deciding to write in Bengali soon after he had written Rajmohun S Wife in English. In English, Bankim was quite proficient. If he continued in that language, there is no reason why he should not have used with good effect the cadences of speech in English. Equally well, he would have been fluent and spontaneous in descriptive prose. But the language of his fiction had to be Bengali for the reason cited above. Premchand's example in this series comes next, a truly radical example since unlike most other Indian writers of the time he shuffled between many native languages and dialects to finally settle down to writing in Hindi. His Hindi drew froin the spuken word and was yet formal. There is no denying that Premchand's linguistic resources with respect to Persian and Urdu were e'normous. His English also matched well with that of his contemporaries, most of who felt more at ease in it than in their mother tongue. Premchand's mother tongue was Avadhi, a dialect that had a greater claim on acceptability in North India than any other spoken language in the region, with the sole exception of Braj. What I imply is that India in this phase of the national movement needed a language through which the message of freedom, resistance to imperialism, identity and self-respect could be put across effectively. I'he kind of Hindi that evolved over the first few decades of the twentieth century fitted this requirement in spite of the fact that languages such as Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, etc. were richer in vocabulary and cultural content. The important thing in the discussion is that English did not figure anywhere in the scheme, even as it remained the language of higher discourse at the national level. A mass movement required a language capable of being understood and absorbed by the masses and Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati or Marathi were the ones meant to play the role of carrying the nationalist argument to the ordinary people. Is that the reason why Indian writing in this period flourished as never before in different Indian languages? If there is any renaissance of Indian writing in our history, it belongs to this phase of the National Movement. Compare this writing in the Indian languages with that by Sri Aurobindo, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao or R K Narayan in English around the same period and we notice that the substance of Indian life, its down-to-earth appeal emblematise in the fiction of Tagore, Premchand, Sharat Chandra, Nanak Singh, Sadat Hasan hfanto, and many Gujarati or Marathi writers of that age at a qualitatively different level. Combine this with the sweep and wide appeal of giants in poetry such as Iqbal, Subramaniam Bharati, Faiz and Nirala and the picture gets complete. This stage marks the hey-day of India's languages and literatures that push the language of our colonial masters clearly to the margins. English as it stands today ti@-seven years aiter Independence will be analysed in the next section. ~nstitutionalisationof English Studies in India 1.7 THE INTRODUCTION OF ENGLISH IN INDIA: PHASE FOUR (1947-2004) The fourth stage, that of the post-Independent India, is highly problematic, with the process of efflorescence in Indian languages and literatures getting reversed with the passage of time. The progress and growth of Indian languages and literatures slowed down considerably in this period. Writing in Indian languages became increasingly distanced fiom the broader concerns of society as time passed. In inverse proportion to this, English has been able to gain unprecedented popularity. This stage has also been witness to a great surge forward of English as a language not just of communication but d s o of creative endeavour. As a medium of instruction at the present time, it has more or less totally replaced Indian languages at the college and university levels. In the media, too, the influence of English has increased by the day. Elitism and English are inseparable. There is a mushrooming of institutes teaching spoken and written English not just in metropolitan centers but even small towns. Privately managed, these institutes are money-spinners. From the language of the colonial. masters ever since its beginning in the nineteenth century, English has been adopted by the Indian ruling class as their language. Power and prestige are associated with it. We notice that a smartly dressed English-speaking individual is the role model of every youth in our country. It is indeed interesting to watch a popular Hindi film actor talking in English while being interviewed in a Hindi programme on the T V and seeking to impress the viewer by his accent and command over the language of prestige. *. In the same manner, Indian writing in English has increased in appeal and influence. Study and research in English attract better talent than in Indian languages. What could be the reason for this? It is difficult for us to make an objective assessment of this phenomenon since things are rather close to us in time. At best, we can raise some pertinent questions. We shall take this up at length in Unit 4 of this Block. 1.8 LET US SUM UP This overview has sought to emphasise the circumstances in which English was introduced in India by our colonihl masters way back in the nineteenth century. The expansion and growth of English was not easy or smooth. After crossing the initial hurdles, it was able to attract a large number of Indians and was instrumental in inspiring a whole group to adopt it. Thus emerged in the nineteenth century an Indian middle class swearing by English manners. English in India passed through a number of phases till it became established as a part of Indian life in the post-Independence period. Its importance has increased considerably in the closing years of the twentieth century. 1.9 QUESTIONS 1. Comment on the circumstances in which English was introduced in nineteenth century India. 2. Discuss the reasons behind the. marginalisation of English during the Indian National Movement.  i 3. Would it be correct to say that finally English has changed from a language Entry of English of the colonial masters to a language of the privileged in India today? Give reasons in support of your answer. 4. Do you agree that English is associated with the value system of imperialism in the twentieth century? Support your answer with examples. Itistitutionalisation of -. - English Studies in India UNIT 2 MACAULAY, RAJA RAM MOHUN ROY AND CHARLES E TREVELYAN Structure Objectives Introduction 2.1.1 The Introduction of English Studies in Jndia The New Face Of Imperialism 2.2.1 New Developments In Indian Society Raja Ram Mohun Roy's Letter to Lord Amherst Macaulay's Minute on Indian Edzication 2.4.1 The Postcolonial Critique Of Macaulay's Minute The Orientalists and the New Education Policy 2.5.1 The Political Pragmatism of Macaulay's Minute C E Trevelyan - On the Education of thk People of India Let Us Sum Up Questions Glossary 2.0 OBJECTIVES l The primary objective of this uiiit is to give an outline of the specific debates in the early nineteenth century on the education of the Indian subjects of the British Empire. The three tracts that comprise this unit and encapsulate these debates have been discussed and their main arguments have been surnrnarised. Another objective is to situate these debates in a larger historical context so that they do not appear to be products of certain intellectuals who discussed education as a purely acadenlic matter. The historical context is one of imperialist domination and economic exploitation of India's resources by the British East India Company. At the same time the early nineteenth century was a witness to the growth of the social refom1 movements m India with the rise of some of the most dedicated crusaders against social maladies. The discussion of the three tracts, it is hoped, will show that the educational reforms instituted by the British government cannot be understood unless they are placed within the matrix of the larger socio-political forces. 2.1 INTRODUCTION English Studies was introduced in India in the first half of the nineteenth century. The year 1835 can be taken as the official date of introduction in India, the date when the Teaching of English at all levels (primary, secondary and higher) was officially sanctioned by the Rritish colonial government. However, the process for the education of Indians through the language of the colonisers was set into motion much before 1835. This process can be broadiy classified into two parts. The first comprises a set of arguments and opinions advocating the study of English literature and European sciences through the medium of English. The second is the establishment of schools and colleges for the study of English as well as the setting up of institutional bodies for the formulation of educational policies on behalf of the colonial government. In this Unit we shall restrict our focus to the first half of the process. 2.1.1 T h e Introduction of English Studies in I n d i a Macaulay, Raja Ram Mohun Roy and It can be said that the new educational policy of 1835 officially announced in the Charles E. Trevelyan Governor General's Resolution that: The great object of the British government ought to be the promotion of European literatzrre and sciences among the ~zativesof India [and that] all the firnds appropriated for the purpose of education would best be employed in : Eng!ish education alone - This statement did not reflect a sudden shift in the educational policy of the colonial government. Rather it was an outcome of a long debatetconflict between advocates of English education and those who favoured the study of classical Indian languages --- Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education (1 835) and Trevelyan's On the Education of the People ofIndia (1838) incorporate all these debates along with a passionate plea for the introduction of English studies. However, it must be noted that as early as 1792 Charles Grant, an employee of the East India Company recommended the dissemination of European literature and sciences through the medium of English among the people of India. The reasons given by Grant for this extraordinary importance attached to the study of English literature are significant. They form the backbone of all later arguments demanding an official approval of English studies. In his treatise Obsen~ationson the State of Society among the Asian Subjects of'Great Britain Grant paints a grim picture of Indian society steeped in superstition, idolatry and immorality. These evils of Indian society he believed could only be removed by a system of western education that according to Grant possessed all the advantages of a superior civilisation. However, in Grant's opinion, English education would be highly beneficial to the colonialists. Grant was certain that the natives by acquiring western knowledge and gaining a command over the language of their rulers would be brought nearer to them. This reduction of distance between the natives and their governors would ensure the formers loyalty. Grant also postulates that it would be easier to trade with anglicised Indians and ensure their cooperation in the realm of commerce. Thus the original aim of the colonists - the extension of British commerce would be fulfilled. It can be easily seen that Grant's educational scheme is not simply limited to the enlightenment of natives. It may be said that for Grant, educational instruction was also a strategy for political and economic consolidation of the British imperial power. Moreover, the question of the enlightenment of Indians also seems to be based on the assumption that native culture and civilisation is intrinsically inferior with no redeeming features. Aren't both these assumptions debatable and problematic? The solution offered by Grant is the imposition of an alien but superior culture. Grant's view is uncon~fortablyclose to the formulation of the Christian missionaries in India who thought that the inherent barbarism of Hindustan could only be successfully countered by Christianising the whole country. In the next section we shall examine what we may call the new phase of imperialism. 2.2 THE NEW FACE OF IMPERIALISM M i l e Grant was thinking of anglicising the native, the British educational policy was ninning on completely different principles. Before the Anglicist viewpoint on education was realised in actual practice, the colonial system of education was guided primarily by pragmatic considerations. The encouragement of ancient and medieval Indian learning by the British was based on the policy of neutrality regarding Institutionalisation of religious-cultural matters. The fear of rousing the religious sensitivities of the English Studies in India Indians precluded any attempt at conversion or indoctrination. In other words, the policy on noninterference in education was conditioned by the imperatives of socio- political control over the newly conquered territories. It will then be worthwhile to ask - what were the reasons for this crucial policy shift? What made the colonial masters think that the old policy of placating the native's cultural prejudices was outdated? Can we assume that the framers and supporters of the new educational policy of 1838 redefined British imperial domination? A study of the various minutes and tracts of those who wanted to introduce English in India reveals that they differed from the old policy makers on the issue of controlling the socio-cultural life of their Indian subjects. They did not see imperialism as a purely political practice with minimum interference in the socio-cultural affairs of the colony. Imperialism was now constructed as a transcendent force sweeping the entire globe with a great burden of 'civilising' the natives. In other words Macaulay, Trevelyan and other anglicists represent imperialism as a benevolent political enterprise zealously working towards the improvement of less developed communities. The assumption, of course, is that these communities cannot improve on their own due to,the innate depravity1 inferiority of their socio-cultural practices. Let us examine the new developments that were to take place in Indian society as a result of this grand assumption. 2.2.1 New Developments In Indian Society From the previous discussion, we arrived at the conclusion that the assumption of the intellectual and moral leadership of the Indian people by the new batch of colonists represents a new phase of British imperialism. What was earlier seen as a politically dangerous arid unpragmatic move (i.e, the introduction of English) now became a preferable course to follow. The representatives of the old educational policy like H H Wilson and H T Prinsep saw, (in this confidence of the new educationists), the inexperience of "individuals with manifestly strong prejudices," individuals who "knew nothing of the people and the country." However the confidence of a Macaulay or a Trevelyan was not merely the product of a new imperial mindset but had a solid basis in the socio-cultural developments in Indian society. These developments asserted themselves strongly in the en gal Presidency where a new class of Bengali intellectuais had arisen. This class was extremely vocal in their support of English education. Many institutions for the spread of education through the medium of English were established by learned Bengali Hindus with the financial and moral support of the missionaries and sympathetic officials of the East India Company. I The intellectual ferment in middle class Hindu community of Bengal signalled the slow but sure growth of the social reform movement in India. This movement was a revolution in ideas with its trenchant criticism of the decadent and corrupt aspects of the Indian social system. These Bengali intellectuals fully supported the imperial diatribe against Suttee, Child Marriage and Thuggely. These intellectuals saw the colonial regime's critique of the inhuman social customs, as a much needed support to their own agenda. The Letter of Raja Rammohun Roy, the great Bengali social reformer addressed to the British Governor-General Lord Amherst reveals to us a process in which the indigenous impetus of reform oblivious of the new imperial agenda strengthened the arguments of the imperial ideologues and ultimately contributed to the implementation of their educational plans. In the next section we shall take a closer look at Raja Ram Mohun Roy's Letter to Lord Amherst.  Macaulay, Raja Ram 2.3 RAJA RAMMOHUN ROY)$ LETTER TO L O N ) Mohun ROY and AMHERST Charles E. Trevelyan The Letter is the most significant indigenous contribution to the debate of education in the early nineteenth century. Rammohun Roy wrote this Letter in order to protest against the ruling regime's decision to open a Sanskrit College in Calcutta. It has been already pointed out that before the new educational policy was implemented, the government of India supported instruction in the classical Indian languages. Tt hnded institutions involved in the spread of Hindu and Mohammedan learning and gave financial assistance to Sanskrit and Arabic scholars in order to encourage them to achieve.distinction in their respective fields. The government also provided grants for the printing of ancient Sanskrit and Arabic texts in the original and in translation. The Governor Generals in the fonliative years of British rule were committed to the spread and encouragement of native learning. Both Warren Hastings and Lord Minto were instrumelital in the establishment of many institutions where oriental literature was taught. By 1823 (the date of the Letter) this official policy of the government faced repeated assault5 fiom a number of quarters. The attack primarily came from the missionaries, the Anglicists of @e East India Company and the ' 'enlightened' Bengali elite. In spite of all these pressures, the colonial regime had decided to continue the policy of Hastings and Minto. The proposal for the establishment of a S a n s h t College at Calcutta was a part of this decision. Ram Mohun Roy's Letter locates a contradiction between the modem, scientific spirit of European civilisation and its educational policy in India. The proposal to establish the new Sansknt College comes as a shock to Roy since, in his view, it does not conform to the liberal image of the ~riti'sh.It is clear from a careful perusal of the letter that Ram Mohun Roy expects the colonial power to be true to its libeml iniage and find ways and means to promote westem sciences,and arts for the benefit of its Indian subjects. Ram Mohun Roy iinds the indigenous system of instruction outdated because it is medieval. It teaches systems which have no rational and scientific basis and are of little use in the modem world. Roy finds abstract metaphysical questions distasteful. These questions were central to the native educational system. Speculations like "in what manner is the soul absorbed into the Deity" or Vedantic belief that "visible things have no existence" would not, in Roy's view lead to the improvement of Indian society. Progress and modernisation was only possible if people were taught the modem sciences and literatures of the West. Roy was also opposed to the teaching of Sanskrit grammar that embodied only tiresome subtleties. For Roy, Sanskrit was a language that due to its intrinsic difficulties acts as a banier to the diffusion of useful knowledge. The students spend the best years of their lives learning to speak and write correct Sanskrit. Roy was against a mechanical kind of language teaching that treated language as an end in itself arid not a means for conveying something useful. However, it is noteworthy that Roy makes no specific mention of the medium of instruction. -4lthough he'critiques the Sanskrit language for being an "impervious veil," it is the useless, metaphysical learning concealed under this veil that is the chief object of his attack. The critique of the Vedantic beliefs does not necessarily mean that Roy's arguments like those of the colonialists embody a wholesale condemnation of Indian cultural practices and the assertion of the essential superiority of European socio-cultural structures. Although the comparison in Roy's Letter definitely puts Europe ahead of the Orient, this modernity of Europc does not constitute its essence but has been achieved after a long conflict with the medieval world- view. According to Ram Mohun Roy, Europeans have emerged from the medievalism of the scholastic philosophers by replacing scholasticism with the scientific spirit of Baconian philosophy. By analysing the march of European civilisation from the rational rel~giosityof the Middle Ages to the world of modem science; Roy was able to give a historical dimension to the pitifbl ignorance of the Indianpeople. Within Roy's , I~tstitutionalisationof analytic framework, the superstitious and essentially religious character of the English Studies irr India nahve's world defines a historical epoch akin to the pre-Renaissance world of the schoolmen in Europe. Roy's historicisation of the social-cultural practices of the Indian masses subverts the idea of their inherent inferiority. It also ushers in the possibility of change as an intensive educational programme consisting of modern sciences and arts that could root out the decadent medieval ideas that in his view, hampered progress. Ram Mohun Roy's Letter is one of the most significant documents of Indian educational history. Its significance lies not only in its basic assunlption of the superiority of the western system of instruction and of western scienies and literature 'but also i3 the fact that it strengthened the Anglicists' contention that a change in the educational field was desired by the natives themselves. Angllcists like Macaulay used Ram Mohun Roy's criticism of the absence of usehl knowledge in the Sanskrit system of education to denigrate native culture and top suit their own imperialistic agendas. It is therefore, pertinent that we examine Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education next. 2.4 MACAULAY'S MINUTE ON INDIAN EDUCATION T B Macaulay's Minute on Indian Education of 1835 is regarded by many as the most significant document in the history of Indian education. In fact its importance has been over-emphasised to an extent that it is sometimes held to be solely responsible for the introduction of English in British India. It would be unfalr to other workers in the field (e.g., C E Trevelyan) if we hold this view. However, the Minute can be seen as a watershed that not o d y governed the educational policy of the British administration after 1835 but also reflected a crucial change in the strategy of control and subjugation of the native population. On the face of it, the issue of control and repression appears to be wholly external to Macaulay's famous discussion on the benefits of giving English education to the natives of India. The discussion confronts us with 'facts' that are totally contrary to the idea of suppression of any potential dissatisfaction among the Indian masses. One of the most important 'facts' is that the Indians themeelves prefer Engl~sheducation to native learning. Macaulay, the crusader for the "vast intellectual wealth" of Europe attacks the Orientalists, accusing them of bribing the Indian student to learn languages and literatures that in Macaulay's interpretive framework represent irrationality and barbarism. Thus he asserts, "the people should be left to make their own choice between the rival systems of education without being bribed." But the most important 'fact' of Macaulay is the incontrovertible superiority of English literature language and sciences to Oriental learning. This conviction of Macaulay propels him to the swift conclusion that all the literatures of the East are not worth "a single shelf of a good European library." Macaulay finds the vernaculars so poor in their vocabulary that no usehl instruction can be given in these languages. Thus the rejection of indigenous literatures and languages and their replacement by English is the only course available to the 'enlightened' colonial educationists. The Minute also encapsulates the concept of the White man's burden, the messianic responsibility of enlightened Europe to inculcate modern values among the less civilised communities. Macaulay predicts that this process of acculturation will make the natives forget their inferior cultural past and facilitate cultural assimilation. The new native who will emerge after receiving English education will be "Indian in blood and colour but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect." This cultural intolerance and the consequent plea for cultural subsumation are transmitted in the guise of imperial generosity. The assumption that the great wealth of the European intellectual heritage being offered to Indians is implicit in the historical parallel that Macaulay draws between Renaissance England and nineteenth Macaulay, Raja Ram century India. He argues that the Engl~shmenof Renaissance England embraced the Mohun Roy and ancient Greek and Latin learning rejecting their medieval Anglo-Saxon culture. This Charles E. Trevelyan analogy facilitates Macaulay's conclusion that "what Greek and Latin were to the contemporaries of More and Ascham, our tongue is to the people of India." Thus Macaulay in the Minute presents XI image of an imperial policy devoted to the welfare of the Indian subjects of the British Empire. Firmly convinced of the civilising inission of the Empire's servants, he charges the Orientalists with not only a dereliction of thcir imperial duties but of erecting barriers in the way of progress and modernisation of Indian society. Let us now examine Macaulay's Minute critically in the light of postcolonial theory. 2.4.1 The Postcolonial Critique Of Macaulay's Minute Macaulay was severely criticised by the English O~ientalistsfor his rhetorical condemnation of Indian culture. H H Wilson and W H Macnaughten, two committed Orientalists of Macaulay's time were outraged at the negation of an entire cultural heritage as worthless by an individual who had spent only a few years in India and consequently in Wilson's view knew nothing of the country and the people. This outrage forms the basis of most postcolonial critiques of the hegemonic mode of imperial thinking. This kind of critique contains reflections on the arrogance of. imperial ideological practices, the complete want of regard / ignorance of an entirely different culture, a refusal to understand cultural distinctiveness etc. B Rajan's view of Macaulay's Minute is one of the best instances of this kind of cultural critique. According to Raj an: Understanding the subjected culture or even laying down the basis for a dialogue with it is not the primaqf objective... The Anglicist view based on imperial assumptions of superiority that in its nature cannot be dialogic, is less concerned with world understanding than with remaking the world in the western image. It may be noted that the critique concentrates only on the discursive practices of imperial power. It does not focus upon the material benefits that this discourse confers upon the imperialists. The English Orientalists negated the idea of any practical utility of the new educational scheme. The question that confronts us now is, whether the new policy of devaluing native literatures and languages had any practical use or did it, as the Orientalists contended, endanger British interest in India? We shall discuss the attitude of the Orientalists towards the New Educ~tional Policy in the next section. 2.5 THE ORIENTALISTS AND THE NEW EDUCATION POLICY It has been already pointed out that the encouragement of Sanskrit and Arabic learning by the Company officials was in consonance with the early colonia! policy of religious neutrality. The colonised people were seen by the British as highly sensitive where their scriptural learning was concerned. Thus the new policy based on an explicit assertion of cultural superiority was seen by the Orientalists as not only a falsification of the true state of Indian learning but an unpragmatic political move. Most critiques of the Orientalist disagreement with the new policy are based on the assumption that the Orientalists were concerned less with politics than with an academic interest in e'astern learning. For instance, Kalyan K Chatterjee in the book English Education in India sees the Orientalist emphasis on learning the , classical Indian languages as "cosmopolitanism and intellectual curiosity of eighteenth century Enlightenment." Thus it becomes necessary for Chatterjee to Znstitutionalisatior,of assert the Orientalist "enthusiasm for the Oriental languages and literatures English Studies in India transcended the merely pragmatic need for acculturating the British administrators in the Indian inilieu (italics... the unit writers). Therefore, it becomes ecessary to clarify the Orientalist position vis-a-vis Indian -T education and its difference from the Macaulay-Bentinck group that was responsible for the promulgation of the new education policy of 1835. As we have already seen tlie oppositional relation between the two camps has led to an identification of imperial hegemonic thinking of the Anglicists and a liberal understanding of Indian culture with the Orientalists. Percival Spear has summarised this opiriion succinctly when he says that the Anglicists argued that Indian civilisation had no value and had to be replaced by Westein civilisation while the Orientalists were of the opinion that Indian civilisation was ripe for enrichment by Western knowledge. However, on a closer scrutiny, it can be seen that the Orientalists did iiot attack the fundamental assumption behind the Anglicist position - "the notion the unquestionable superiority of European literature and science." In fact they un-hesitantly referred to "the direction to true science and good taste in literature which the superior lights of Europe ought to enable us bestow." John Cytler, an Orientalist and a translator of books into Arabic pointed out that "Fastern sciences bear scarcely more proportion to those of Europe, than the first lisping of an infant to the ratiocinations of man." It is easy to see the hierarchical nature of the discourse in which the child is to be taughtldominated by the man. '. Therefore it cannot be said that the Orientalists had no links with a discourse designed to serve hegemonic ends. The disagreement with the Anglicists primarily lay in how these ends were to be achieved. The Orientalists falr~uredan alliance with the upper caste Indians that actually constituted the Indian ruling class. This alliance obviously excluded any attempt at direct indoctrination in Christianity or a criticism of native learning on the grounds of a want of a scientific attitude. The Orientalists felt that since European science and the natives held literature in low esteem, it was indeed not desirable that it was imposed upon them. H H Wilson, the great Oriental scholar pointed out that "a mere English scholar is not respected for his learning by the natives, they have no notion of English as learning but they have a high respect for a man who knows Sartskrit or who knows Arabic." In Wilson's view such prejudices would be difficult to eradicate in the near future and therefore "any attempt to enforce an acknowledgement of the superiority of intellectual produce amongst the natives of the West can only create dissatisfaction." Thus it is not surprising that Macaulay's Minute not only struck the Orientalists as a product of a man not acquainted with ground realities but as a set of pronounceinents fraught with grave political consequences. Was the Minute politically pragmatic is the question that arises now. Let us examine its validity in the next section. 2.5.1 The Political Pragmatism of Macaulay's Mitzute When Macaulay in the Minute harps on the native clamour for English education, he is responding to charge of being unpragmatic. The imperial hauteur apart, the reasons given in the Minute for teaching English literature and language are not solely dependent on the argument of their innate superiority to native learning. Thus the 'intrinsic value' of English literature is only one of the arguments for the imposition of English on the natives. Since the importance of this argument has been overemphasised by postcolonial criticism, it appears to constitute the entire thrust of Macaulay's educational programme. Macaulay, in fact, works hard in the Minute to convey the impression that the Orientalist fear of the native backlash at the prospect of English education is illogical. He points out the dissatisfaction of the jobless ex- students of the Sanskrit College who wasted the best years of tlieir lives in learning what according to Macaulay gave them neither bread nor respect. In Macaulay's view the great enthusiasm of the leamed natives for English instruction proves that hostility by the Indians towards the new policy only exist in the realm of imagination. He even b~oughtout the details of the relative popularity of native and English texts. There was no great demand for Arabic and Sanskrit books, which the Conzmittee of Macaulay, Raja Ram Plrhlic I~zstructionhad printed at so great a cost while the Culcuttu School Book Mohun Roy and Society was selling a large number of English books at a profit. For Macaulay, as ' Charles E. Trevelyan John Clive points out, 'the state of the market was the decisive test." I The Mznute implies that the old policy of the appeasement of the natives and of yie1dii.g to their religious prejudices is of no further use and needs to be replaced by a new programme of instruction in English, which responds to the indigenous demand for improvement through the teaching of sciences, and the literatures of Europe. Thus Macaulay's Minute does not see English education as an imposition. As Clive po~ntsout ''Macaulay was familiar with the feelings of liberal Hindus on the subjfct of education." It is also clear that Macaulay interpreted the Indian social scene as a site, which contained seeds of social transformation. No longer were the religious figureheads held as representatives of cormnunities whose significance could not be ignored. 'fie social reformers who battled against decadent social systems and values were fully suppdrted in their work by Bentinck and Macaulay. The new tide of reform helped Macaulay to project his scheme as practical and worthy of I implementation. He could also accuse his opponents of not conforming to the ostensible project of imperialism - the intellectual and moral improvement of the colonised peoples. The Minute thus builds up an assurance that British imperial interests will not be harmed by the new educational scheme. Certain portions of Macaulay's tract implies that the new framework of education will only increase the efficiency of colonial administration and help in the growth of trade. As Macaulay points out, English "is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Governtnent and is likely to become the language of cominerce throughout the seas of the East." However the fact that the Indian class speaks English or that English is to becpme eventually, a language of trade does not confirm the political and conlmercial dominance of the British in India. What is needed is a class of Indians thoroughly bred in the literature and arts of the colonisers. It is quite clear that Macaulay's cduca.tion system is designed to produce a nativewho faithfully imitates the habits, customs and values of his/ her master. It is also evident that an anglicised native intellectual taught to revere and identify hiin/her self with the coloniser's culture will not be sufficiently critical of the exploitative nature of the colonial regime. Thus any potential subversion will be kept in check. Thus Macaulay's scheme of anglicisation was not politically unpragmatic but was specifically structured to meet the needs of British imperialism. Its results were visible in the next fifty years. It succeeded in creating a class of Indians who were well versed in the art of speaking and writing English, Indians who would eventually be absorbed into the lower rungs of British administration. The anglicised elite was a!ienated from the rural masses of India. The reason lay not only in an education in a foreign language but also in the fact that it occupied positions of power in the civil administration and thus became a part of the exploitative colonial structure. However English education also acquainted the Indian intelligentsia with the liberal thought of the West that greatly contributed to the deteiopment of the anti-colonial movements later. Having analysed Macaulay's Minute in detail let us now turn our attention to C E Trevelyan and study the implications of his work On The Education Of The People Of India. 2.6 C E TREVELYAN - ON THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIA Charles E Trevelyan was one of the forenlost crusaders for the establishment of English studies in India. Like his brother-in-law T B Macaulay, he had a firm conviction that education in India had t,o be built upon new foundations. He saw India and her inhabitants in an advanced state bf moral and intellectual decay. This Institutionalisation of depressing imperial view of the colony was counterpoised by his optimism that Englislr Studies in India teaching of English literature and language could successfully rejuvenate the people of India and lead them away from the path of false beliefs, false religions and immoral behaviour. Trevelyan's condemnation of Indian religions and their corrupting effect on the native psyche were comparable to the missionary view of native religions and the resulting attempts at conversion. In his letters to Governor-General William Bentink, Trevelyan unravels a scheme of spreading English literature language and religion in India. His vision is, however, not limited to India alone. India according to Trevelyan is merely a stepping - stone to the anglicisation of the entire Asian continent. In his famous treatise On the Education of the People ofIndia Trevelyan interprets education as a tool with which the conversion of the Indian people could be achieved. Conversion obviously involves a rejection of native religions and cultures by the nativesIIndians themselves. L ~ k ethe missionaries, Trevelyan is unable to see any redeeming feature in the native cultures. These cultures, in his view, have to be replaced by the advanced culture of the West represented by the English colonisers. The missionaries considered the non-idolatrous variant of Christianity as one of the primary factors respolisible for the greatness of the western civilisation. Therefore, they insisted on the teaching of the Bible. Trevelyan, on the other hand, agreed with the dominant official opinion about the delicate sensitivities of Indians where religion was involved. Thus he does not view direct proselytisation as congenial to British rule in India. Trevelyan was of the opinion that English literature could act as a mediator between English culture and the natives. He concludes that the best possible way to convert Indians is to teach them this literature. Trevelyan hardly makes a distinction between English culture and Christianity. The two are treated as inseparable. Trevelyan shares the religious zeal of the missionaries to propagate this Christian culture of the Englishmen in India. However, he differs from them by rejecting the direct indoctrination of Indians. English literature, in his view, can take the place of the ~ i b l e It : can be easily seen that Trevelyan's views on the subject of education were a combination of evangelist fervour and political pragmatism. His genuine hatred of indigenous Indian learning which was just "an ocean of words" with no "influx of ideas," made him a strong advocate of English education. His urge to awaken Indian society from its intellectual and moral stupor brought him into contact with the opinions of Bengali social reformers who also demanded a system of western education. The awareness of this indigenous demand strengthened Trevelyan's conviction. His cause was popular and radical while his opponents' (the Orientalists) schemes were anti-popular and conservative. But the reasons for Trevelyan's rejection of Hindu and Mohammedan learning went beyond a simple cultural prejud~ce.The reasons were profoundly political and were central to the issue of domination and subjugation of the native people. As Trevelyan himself pointed out: The spirit of English literature cannot but be favourable to the English connection. Familiarly acquainted with us by means of our literature, the Indian youth almost cease to regard us as foreigners.... Educated in the same way, interested in the same pursuits with ourselves, they become more English than Hindus.... In other words, English education will erase the consciousness of foreign domination as it wlll produce natives who will be cut off from indigenous knowledge and totally identify themselves with the English colonisers. Trevelyan notes in his Education that Hindu and Muslim literature will mainein the awareness of the Englishman's foreign origins and will relegate him to the status of an outsider. Hindu scriptures teach that the English are "unclean beasts" while the literature of the Muslims constructs them as infidels in the land of the faithful. Thus in the interests of British Macaulay, Raja Ram imperialism, it was imperative that such literatures were rejected and replaced by the Mohun Roy and literature of the colonists. Cultural subsumation will preclude any resistance or Charles E. Trevelyan rebellion on the part of the Indian subjects of the British Empire. Here a question might.be raised in relation to the process through which cultural assimilation of the native takes place. Trevelyan visualised the process as a kind of displacement whereby the actual Englishmaniwoman is removed fiom the mental framework of the colonised subject by English literature that then becomes the only basis for an understanding of the coloniser and hislher culture. Trevelyan rightly recognises the advantages of the process. As the native converses with the best minds of England through English literature, s h e comes to foml a much higher opinion of the English than by a nomlal daily interaction with actual English people. Does Trevelyan mean to say that the real face of the British Empire does not invite/desewe homage on the part of the colonised subject? What is however certain is the fact of conquest and domination and its removal ftom the sphere of reflection and criticism through the agency of English literature. Trevelyan, like Macaulay uses analogies from history to justify his thesis. But while Macaulay concentrates on the culture's potential of spreading civilisation in an alien land, Trevelyan notes in glee that the people of subjugated nations never revolted against their conquerors as they were taught to identify themselves with the invaders. This was achieved by a dissemination of the conqueror's culture. Speaking of the Romans he points out that: Acquisifioirs made by superiority in war, were consolidated by superiority in the arts ofpeace; and the remembrance ofthe original vzolence was lost in that of the benefits which resulted from it. The provincials of &ly, Spain, Africa and Gaul having no ambitions except to imitate the Romans and to share their privileges with them, remained to the last faithful subjects of the empire. Historical examples prove 'that imperialism has triumphed not by mere repression but by a destruction of the memory of the repression by projecting itself as the benefactor of the subjected people. As Trevelyan correctly notes, the benefits that accrue from such a relationship not only include the transference of a superior culture from the metropolis to the colony but also a certain sharing of power and privileges. In the Indian context, this sharing would mean the absorption of the natives into the British administrative structure. Trevelyan agreed with J S Mill who advocated the appointment of Indians to the civil government posts "in proportion as the Native [became] trustworthy and qualified for high office." Thus while anglicisation, for Trevelyan ensures a cultural hegemony, it is also made a precondition for the opening up of employment opportunities. English education will produce natives "with enlightened views and integrity which distinguish European oficers." These natives it was believed would make efficient administrators. It is not difficult to find reasons for this imperial generosity. As Trevelyan points out, it was the new policy of Lord William Bentink that made government jobs available to the anglicised Indian. He tells us that the old policy of excluding Indians from the British civil administration was a product of the Cornwallis era. Trevelyan agrees with the assumptions on which Cornwallis based his policy. The assumption was of course, the vast superiority of the Europeans in administrative skills. Cornwallis' policy was shelved because "the public revenue did not admit of the employment of a sufficient number" of European officers. And William Bentinck who was in the words of John Clive "sent to economize" solved this problem by employing natives to transact public business. However, ~tcannot be said that Trevelyan's support for Bentinck-Macaulay anglicisation policy was completely determined by a desire to ensure that the oppressive nature of British Empire was kept well hidden. He genuinely believed that India was in a need for sacial-cultural resurgence. He contended that this renaissance could be brought about by English education alone. He was against the Zt~stitutionalisatiorrof cultivation of Persian and Sanskrit learning which, in his vicw, could never enrich the English Studies in India vernaculars. By enrichment, Trevelyan meant the flow of modem ideas into the native Indian languages. These ideas would, in his opinion, lead to the growth of a rich indigenous vernacular literature. Since English literature and European sciences will be the source of inspiration for the literature in thcse diverse Indian languages there w ~ ldevelop, l in Trcvelyan's words "a common standard of taste, a common nomenclature." In other words, English will function as a uniting factor for all these literatures. This union will ultimately facilitate the emergence of a national literature. What Trevelyan had in mind was an image of a nation broken up into different linguistic groups and correspondingly, different cultures with English serving as a nodal language that unites these linguistic entities. The result will be "a united and enlightened nation." Trevelyan believed that the of a national literature of India conformed to his disparaging view of native, or local cultural forms. The diversity among languages in Ind~ais seen by him not as an instance of a rich cultural plurality but as "one of the greatest existing obstacles to improvement in India." Trevelyan's Education encapsulates an entire gamut of arguments to justify the introduction of English studies m India. It encompasses several ideological terrains ranglng from strong rmssionary fervour for the uipliftment of the poor, benighted Asiatics to the plain Machiavellian desire to consolidate and strengthen British imperial interests. The tract reveals a highly self -conscious voice in complete harmony with the imperial ideology. Yet it is able to provide us with some glimpses of the real motives that lay behind the institutionalisation of English Studies in Ind~a. 2.7 LET US SUM UP The views of Macaulay and Trevelyan played a decisive role in the growth of the opinion that political intervention m the realm of Indian culture was not inimical to British imperialism. The promotion of English literature and English language was seen as a measure intended to consolidate the gains made through conquest and suppression. A new interpretation of the causes of the disaffection and rebellion among the natives was also responsible for the growth of this opinion. Earlier the native was seen as volatile and murderous where lidher religion was concerned. Thus any attempt at cultural assimilation was seen as one that invited a negative response from the semi-barbaric Indian. This Indian, it was suspected, could sow seeds of revolt among other natives. This traditional view of the native was contradicted by social reformers like Ram Mohun Roy who supported the introduction of liberal rational ideas of the West in India. Now the source of subversion was no longer a hostile Indian whose religious sensibility was hurt but a c$ltural gap between the Indians and their rulers. Native culture is interpreted as an agent that increases this gap. For Macaulay and his. brother-in-law, Trevelyan, the function of English education was to close this gap by promoting a devaluation and eventual rejection of native cultures by the natives themselves and teaching them to imitatelrespect the culltural values of Britain. Although the socio-political control of the Indian masses was the aim of the new educational plan, it was masked by the ostensible project of the intellectual and moral regeneration of the colonised subject. This project also gave birth to the now familiar dichotomy of the backward Indian society and culture and the liberal civilisation of the West with English as its vehicle. This dichotomy exercised a tremendous sway over the mind of many Indians in the post-Independence era. English education is widely regarded as a symbol of power and prestige, of civilised attitudes and cultural superiority in contemporary India. In the next unit this cbntinuing hegemony of English studies as well as certain political strateges that were evolved by the political Maeaulay, Raja Ram class in the post-1947 era to counteract it will be examined. Mohun Roy and Charlks E. Trevelyan 2.8 QUESTIONS 1. Discuss the education policy in colonial India prior to the establishment of English Studies. 2. What is the contribution of the social reform movement in India to the institutionalisation of English Studies? 3. Examine Ram Mohun Roy's critique of Sanskrit learning keeping in mind his role as a social reformer. 4. What, in Ram Mohun's view is the role of English Studies in India? 5. Discuss the comparison that Ram Mohun makes between medieval scholasticism of Europe and the system of Sansknt learning in India. 6. ' f i a t are the arguments used by T l3 Macaulay in his Minute on Indian Education to advocate the introduction of English in India? 7. "Macaulay's plea for cultural assimilation of the natives is actually a new strategy of socio-political control." Examine the Minute in the light of the statement. 8. Critically analyse Macaulay's attack on the Orientalist position on Indian Education. 9. What were the similarities and differences between the views of C E Trevelyan and the missionaries on the question of Indian education? 10. What reasons does Trevelyan give for his rejection of indigenous Indian learning? 2.9 GLOSSARY Anglicists: The group of company officials who pleaded for the teaching of European literature and sciences through the medium of English. Baconian: From Francis Bacon (1561-1626) the great English humanist and philosopher. Bacon was the first philosopher who based his understanding of the world on rational, and scientific principles. Enlightenment: An intellectual movement which developed in Western Europe in the 1 7 century ~ and reached its zenith in the eighteenth. The movement expressed a trust in man's reason as adequate to solve all problems. It was against all forms of superstition, prejudice and irrational belief in tradition and authority. Institutionalisation of Hegemony: 'hegemony' denotes a process in which domination is English Studies in India achieved through consent not force, i.e. by making the people agree withrthe ideas of their rulers. -. Idolatory: The worship of idols or images. Imperialism: The political and economic domination of one country by another. Machiavellian: From Machiavelli (1469-1 527) the great Italian political thinker of the Renaissance period. Machiavelli developed the idea of politics as a game of power that remains uninfluenced by an "absolute moral law. The term - 'Machiavellian' is nowadays used in a pejorative sense denoting the cynical manipulation of people in order to stay in power. Metropolis: The home country of the colonisers. Native: The original inhabitants of a cnuntry as opposed to the colonists who left their own land and lived in the land of the 'natives. ' Orientalists: The group of company officials who were in favour of teaching classical Indian languages such as Sansknt Arabic and Persian to the Indians. Scholasticism: The philosophy of the schoolman of medieval Europe. The speculations of the philosophers of the medieval era excluded man's earthly existence from their scope. Instead they discussed God, heave and hell. UNIT 3 A VIEW OF POST INDEPENDENCE DEBATES Structure Objectives Introduction English and Interpretations of the Nationalist Movement The Radhaknshnan Commission (1948-1949) 3.3.1 The Kothari Commission (1964- 1966) The Regionalisation Scheme and its Critique 3.4.1 Major Universities Rising Social Disparities and the New Educational Policy The Rise of New Social Forces 3.6.1 The Ramamurti Commission New Developments on the Educational Scene Let Us Sum Up Questions 3.0 OBJECTIVES The primary objective of this Unit is to give a critical account of the fierce debates that raged on the 'place of English in free India', its role in the evolution of the national movement and nationalist ideology, its importance in the field of science and technology and its role in shaping the different educational policies of the Indian governments in the post-Independence era. An understanding of these debates is necessary for charting out the process through which the cultural identity of the Indian nation was forged. The secondary objective of this unit would be to discern the political imperatives for the definition of a national culture and its role in controlling waves of dissidence and rebellion emanating from within the nation-state. 3.1 INTRODUCTION In the previous unit, we examined the close relationship that existed between the policy of educat~llcthe Indians in the literature and language of the colonisers and the political-ideolog~cdimperatives of British imperialism. The great nationalists of the pre-Independence period had understood the crucial role of Enghsh in the hegemonisation of the native mind. The political independence of India from British rule raised hopes of a possible decolonisation in cultural and educational fields through the formulation of new policies by,the Indian government. One of the simplest strategies to subvert the dominance of English was its replacement by a modem Indian language. However, those who interpreted English as a vehicle of imperial domination and hoped that it would be abolished by the Indian State soon found that their opinion did not exercise a universal sway over the Indian intelligentsia and the policy makers of Independent India. Let us examine the debates on the role played by English Studies before we proceed, any further. The debates on the role played by English studies in India can be classified into two parts. The first contains a set of assessments of the original reasons for the introduction of English by the British in lndia and the impact of English education on the social and cultural identity of the different sections of Indian society. The other set of debates concentrated upon the place and relevance of English in' an Independent India. It is evident that the interpretations of the role of English in colonial India in relation to the interests of the imperial regime and the subject people would result in an Znstitutionulisution of incorporation/rejectionof English in the post-h~ldependenceera. For, as Swati Joshi English Studies in India points out: English cannot be viewed like any otherforeign language. The teaching of English has a long histoly; a histoly ofpolitical and economic subjugation of the Indian masses; a histoly of marginalisation of nativeforms of culture (Joshi,p. 1 Rethinking English). English being a legacy of colonial rule, it is obvious that its continuance in a India where political decolonisation has been accomplished will come under intense critical scrutiny. Both the official and unofficial perspectives on English studies in co~temporaryIndia have chosen not to ignore linkages between English and the colonial aim to establish a socio-cultural hegemonic structure that was intended to perpetuate colonial rule. In such a case, it is surprising that there has been no consensus on the rejection of English even in recent times. How is it that English was retained in India despite the attempts of several Education Commissions' to replace it with some Indian language? Is it that the preservation (and expansion) of English was not based on an alternative view of the history of the colonial period but on the socio-economic conditions of an independent nation? These are some questions that will be dealt with in subsequent sections of this unit. In the next section let us examine the relevance of English in Independent India. 3.2 ENGLISH AND INTERPRETATIONS OF THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT -- Though the intelligentsia of free India could not ignore the imperialist goals of Bentinck, Macaulay, and Trevelyan - the chief architects of English education in India, it q