Presidencies and Provinces of British India

7/30/2019 Presidencies and Provinces of British India

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Presidencies and provinces of British

India

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Jump to: navigation,search"British India" redirects here. For other uses, seeBritish India (disambiguation).

A Mezzotintengraving of Fort William,Calcutta, which formed the Bengal Presidency inBritish India 1735.

Provinces of India, earlierPresidencies of British India, still earlier, Presidencytowns, and collectively British India, were the administrative units of the territories of

India under the tenancy or thesovereignty of either theEnglish East India Companyorthe British Crown between 1612 and 1947.

The term "British India" has also been used secondarily as a shortened form for "the

Britishnation in India."[1]

[edit] British India

Colonial India

Portuguese India 1510

1961
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Dutch India 16051825

Danish India 16961869

French India 17591954

British India 16131947

East India Company 1612

1757

Company rule in India 1757

1857

British Raj 1858

1947

British rule in Burma 1824

1948

Princely states 1765

1947

Partition of India 1947

This box:viewtalkedit

The East India Company established its first permanent factoryin India in 1612. For thenext century and a half the Company functioned primarily as a trading company,

establishing trading posts with the permission of the Mughal emperorof India and

competing for business with otherEuropean trading companies.[2] However, followingthe decline of the Mughal Empire in 1707 and after the East India Company's victory at

the Battle of Plasseyin 1757, the Company gradually began to formally administer its

expanding dominions.[3]

By the mid-19th century, the East India Company had becomethe paramount political and military power on the subcontinent, its territory held in trust

for the British Crown.[4]

Company rule in India, however, ended with the Government of India Act 1858

following the events of the Indian rebellion of 1857.[4] British India was thereafterdirectly ruled by the British Crown as a colonial possession of the United Kingdom, and

India was officially known after 1876 as theEmpire of India.[5] India consisted of regions
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referred to asBritish India that were directly administered by the British,[6] and other

regions, thePrincely States,[7] that were ruled by Indian rulers. These rulers were allowed

a measure of internal autonomy in exchange for British suzerainty.British India

constituted a significant portion of India both in area and population; in 1910, for

example, it covered approximately 54% of the area and included over 77% of the

population.[8]

In addition, there were Portuguese and Frenchexclaves in India.Independence from British rule was achieved in 1947 with the formation of the

Dominions ofIndia andPakistan, the latter also including present-day Bangladesh.

The termBritish India also applied to Burma(Myanmar) for a shorter time period:

starting in 1824, a small part of Burma, and by 1886, almost two thirds of Burma hadcome underBritish India.[6] This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma commenced

being administered as a separate British colony.British India did not apply to other

countries in the region, such asSri Lanka (then Ceylon), which was a British CrownColony, or the Maldive Islands, which were a Britishprotectorate. At its greatest extent,

in the early 20th-century, the territory ofBritish India (shown in the second map in two

shades of pink) extended as far as the frontiers ofPersia in the west; Afghanistan in thenorthwest; Tibet in the northeast; andChina,French Indo-ChinaandSiamin the east. Italso included the Colony of Aden in the Arabian Peninsula.[9]

Crown.[10]

[edit] Presidencies of British India (17651858)

Map of India in

1765

Map of India in

1795

Map of India in

1805Map of India in 1823

Map of India in

1837Map of India in

1848

Map of India in

1857Expansion of British Bengal and

Burma

AfterRobert Clive's victory in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the puppet government of a

newNawab of Bengal, was maintained by the East India Company. [11]However, after the
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invasion of Bengal by theNawab of Oudh in 1764 and his subsequent defeat in the Battle

of Buxar, the Company obtained theDiwani of Bengal, which included the right to

administer and collect land-revenue (land tax) inBengal, the region of present-dayBangladesh, West Bengal and Bihar.[11]In 1772, the Company also obtained theNizmat

of Bengal (the "exercise of criminal jurisdiction") and thereby full sovereignty of the

expanded Bengal Presidency.[11]

During the period, 1773 to 1785, very little changed; theonly exceptions were the addition of the dominions of theRaja ofBanaresto the western

boundary of the Bengal Presidency, and the addition ofSalsette Island to theBombay

Presidency.[12]

Portions of the Kingdom of Mysore were annexed to the Madras Presidency after theThird Anglo-Mysore Warended in 1792. Next, in 1799, after the defeat ofTipu Sultan in

the Fourth Anglo-Mysore Warmore of his territory was annexed to the Madras

Presidency.[12]In 1801, Carnatic, which had been under the suzerainty of the Company,began to be directly administered by it as a part of the Madras Presidency.[13]

North-Western Provinces, constituted in 1836

from erstwhile Ceded and Conquered ProvincesPunjab annexed in

1849

Oudh annexed in

1856

Madras Presidency: Expanded in the mid-to-late 18th centuryCarnatic Wars andAnglo-Mysore Wars.

Bombay Presidency: expanded after the Anglo-Maratha Wars. Bengal Presidency: Expanded after the battles ofPlassey (1757) and Buxar

(1764), and after the Secondand Third Anglo-Maratha Wars.

Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri: ceded bySindhiaofGwaliorin 1818 at the conclusion of

the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Coorg: Annexed in 1834.

Ceded and Conquered Provinces: Established in 1802 within the Bengal

Presidency. Proposed to be renamed the Presidency of Agra under a Governor in1835, but proposal not implemented.

North-Western Provinces: established as a Lieutenant-Governorship in 1836 from

the erstwhile Ceded and Conquered Provinces

Sind annexed to the Bombay Presidency in 1843. Punjab: Established in1849 from territories captured in the Anglo-Sikh Wars.

Nagpur Province: Created in 1853 from the princely state of Nagpur, seized by

the doctrine of lapse. Merged into the Central Provinces in 1861.

Oudh annexed in 1856 and governed thereafter until 1905 as a Chief

Commissionership, as a part ofNorth-Western Provincesand Oudh.

[edit] Provinces of India (18581947)
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/Fourth_Anglo-Mysore_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi4-10-11%23cite_note-igi4-10-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzeraintyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi4-11-12%23cite_note-igi4-11-12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Western_Provinceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceded_and_Conquered_Provinceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oudhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnatic_Warshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Mysore_Warshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Maratha_Warshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plasseyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Buxarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Maratha_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Maratha_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmer-Merwara-Kekrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwaliorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1818http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coorghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceded_and_Conquered_Provinceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Agrahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Western_Provinceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1836http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_regionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1849http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Sikh_Warshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagpur_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_lapsehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oudhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-Western_Provinceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=3


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The British Indian

Empire in 1880, when,three years after the

formal name-change to

"Empire of India," itwas still being called

"British India.")

The British Indian

Empire in 1893, afterthe annexation of

Upper Burma and

incorporation ofBaluchistan

A map of the BritishIndian Empire in

1907 during the

partition of Bengal(19051911)

The Indian Empire in

1915 after the

reunification ofBengal and the

creation of the

separate provinces of

Bihar, Orissa, andAssam.

Central Provinces: Created in 1861 from Nagpur Province and theSaugor andNerbudda Territories. Berar administered since 1903, renamed the CentralProvinces and Berar in 1936.

Burma: Lower Burma annexed 1852, established as a province in 1862, Upper

Burma incorporated in 1886. Separated from British India in 1937 to become

administered independently by the newly established British GovernmentBurma

Office.

Assam: separated from Bengal in 1874.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands: established as a province in 1875.

Baluchistan: Organized into a province in 1887.

Madras Presidency shown in an1880 map.

Bombay Presidency in an1880 map.

Bengal Presidency in

1880

An 1880 map ofCentral Provinces. The

province had been

constituted in 1861.

1908 map ofCentralProvinces and Berar.

Berar was included in

1903.

Beluchistan, shown

as an independent

Beluchistan, shown as

a part of the BritishIndian Empire in a
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kingdom along with

Afghanistan and

Turkestan, in an1880 map.

1908 map.

North-West Frontier Province: created in 1901 from the north-western districts of

Punjab Province.

East Bengal: separated from Bengal from 1905. Re-merged with Bengal in 1912

Bihar and Orissa: separated from Bengal in 1912. Renamed Bihar in 1935 when

Orissa became a separate province.

Delhi: Separated from Punjab in 1912, when it became the capital of British India.

Aden: separated from Bombay Presidency to become province of India in 1932;separated from India and made the Crown Colony of Aden in 1937.

Orissa: Separated from Bihar in 1935.

Sindh: Separated from Bombay in 1935.

Panth-Piploda: made a province in 1942, from territories ceded by a native ruler.

[edit] Major Provinces

A map of the British Indian Empire in 1909 during the partition of Bengal (19051911),showing British India in two shades of pink (coral andpale) and theprincely states in

yellow.

At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were

administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor. The following table lists

their areas and populations (but does not include those of the dependent Native States):[14]

During the partition of Bengal (19051911), a new province,Assam and East Bengalwas

created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911,East Bengalwas reunited with Bengal,

and the new provinces in the east became: Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.[14]

Province of

British India[14]Area (in thousands

of square miles)

Population (in millions

of inhabitants)

Chief Administrative

Officer

Burma 170 9 Lieutenant-Governor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Bengalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biharhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orissahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panth-Piplodahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rajhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_(color)#Coral_pinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variations_of_pink#Pale_pinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma#Colonial_era_.281886.E2.80.931948.29http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:British_Indian_Empire_1909_Imperial_Gazetteer_of_India.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Bengalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biharhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aden_Colonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orissahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panth-Piplodahttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rajhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_(color)#Coral_pinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variations_of_pink#Pale_pinkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-46-13%23cite_note-igi-46-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma#Colonial_era_.281886.E2.80.931948.29


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Bengal 151 75 Lieutenant-Governor

Madras 142 38 Governor-in-Council

Bombay 123 19 Governor-in-Council

United Provinces 107 48 Lieutenant-Governor

Central Provinces

and Berar 104 13 Chief Commissioner Punjab 97 20 Lieutenant-Governor

Assam 49 6 Chief Commissioner

[edit] Minor Provinces

In addition, there were a few minor provinces that were administered by a Chief

Commissioner:[15]

MinorProvince[15]

Area (in

thousands ofsquare miles)

Population (in

thousands ofinhabitants) Chief Administrative Officer

North West

Frontier

Province

16 2,125 Chief Commissioner

British

Baluchistan46 308

British Political Agent in

Baluchistan served as ex-officio

Chief Commissioner

Coorg 1.6 181British Resident in Mysoreserved as ex-officio Chief

Commissioner

Ajmer-Merwara 2.7 477British Political Agent in

Rajputana served as ex-officio

Chief Commissioner

Andaman and

Nicobar Islands3 25 Chief Commissioner

[edit] Provinces at independence, 1947

At Independence in 1947, British India had seventeen provinces:

Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Assam

Baluchistan

Bengal Province

Bihar

Bombay Province

Central Provinces and Berar

Coorg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Provinces_of_Agra_and_Oudhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provinces_and_Berarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provinces_and_Berarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_(British_India)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam#British_Assamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-56-14%23cite_note-igi-56-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-56-14%23cite_note-igi-56-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Province#British_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Province#British_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Province#British_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodaguhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmer-Merwarahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmer-Merwara-Kekrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biharhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provinces_and_Berarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coorghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Presidencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Provinces_of_Agra_and_Oudhhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provinces_and_Berarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provinces_and_Berarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_(British_India)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assam#British_Assamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-56-14%23cite_note-igi-56-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India#cite_note-igi-56-14%23cite_note-igi-56-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Province#British_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Province#British_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North-West_Frontier_Province#British_erahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodaguhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmer-Merwarahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India&action=edit&section=6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmer-Merwara-Kekrihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islandshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchistan_(Chief_Commissioners_Province)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biharhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Provincehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Provinces_and_Berarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coorg


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Delhi Province

Madras Province

North-West Frontier Province

Panth-Piploda

Orissa

Punjab Sindh

United Provinces of Agra and Oudh

Upon thePartition of India into Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan, twelve

provinces (Ajmer-Merwara-Kekri, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar,Bombay, Central Provinces and Berar, Coorg, Delhi, Madras, Panth-Piploda, Orissa, and

the United Provinces) became provinces within India, three (Baluchistan, North-West

Frontier, and Sindh) within Pakistan, and two (Bengal and Punjab) were partitionedbetween India and Pakistan.

In 1950, after the new Indian Constitution was adopted, the provinces in India werereplaced by redrawn states and union territories. Pakistan, however, retained its five

provinces, one of which, East Bengal, was renamed East Pakistanin 1956 and becamethe independent nation ofBangladeshin 1971.

THE COMING OF EUROPEAN COLONIALISM

From the 15th century onwards the first European colonists had started visiting the shores

of India.

From the 15th century

onwards the first European

colonists had started visiting

the shores of India.

In the early 16th century, Portuguese rule was established on the West coast of India atGoa. But the Portuguese did not succeed in moving deep into the country, their

domination remained confined to the coastal periphery. It was only the British who

managed to take on the mantle of administering the country from the Mughals.

But the British ascendency which began with the battle of Plassey in 1757, did representthe beginning of the end of feudalism in India. The century from 1757 to 1857 was the

transitory stage from feudalism to the modern era. Thus in our country, the decline of
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feudalism did not entirely come about due to its internal decay it was largely mediated

through the intervention of European colonialism.

But the decline of feudalism was facilitated by the general confusion that prevailed in thecountry after the eclipse of the Mughal empire as the executive authority of the country.

The interior of the Govind palace at

Datia. The opulence and grandeur of themedieval palaces was unparalleled. The

reason for this was that there manor was

a status symbol for the feudal lords.

Though the Mughal empire did survive till 1857, its heyday can be considered to have

come to an end in 1707, with the death of Aurangzeb.

The Marathas could not rise to the status of being the central authority for the entire

country though at one time their armies had marched upto Attock beyond Peshawar neartoday's Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
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10/19

Like a flower blossoming from the water,

the Palace at Udaipur sits aesthetically on

the Lake.

For a brief period of 3 years from 1756 to 1759, the Marathas ruled Punjab and the

Mughal emperor was a pensioner of the Marathas recelving an annual pension of as.60,000 from Mahadji Shinde, the Maratha Sardar of Gwalior .

The rebellious Governors of the Mughals and Marathas

But the seeds of disintegration of feudalism had been sown during the reign of Aurangzebitself, the sudden increase in tax incidence by re-imposition of the hated Jazia penalty

(abolished by Emperor Akbar) on the majority of the subjects of the Mughal empire who

were Hindus along with the general tendency of Nawabs (provincial governors) to delink

their provinces, notably Bengal, Hyderabad and Oudh from the Mughal emperor'scontrol, who increasingly became powerless to resist this tendency of his provincial

governors.

The Ghungat (veil)

along with child-marriage

is a gift of Muslim Rule to India.

During Muslim Rule, the modesty of any lady

was fair game for the Muslim chieftains.

The example of Rani Padmani is well known.

But there are innumerable unnammed Hindu women,

whose modesty was violated during those

dark days of the arbitrary Muslim rule.

This tendency acted as a drain on the Mughal treasury; primarily due to the expenditure

of the efforts to regain effective control over these rebellious Nawabs - and secondly by

the loss of revenue from these lost provinces. Such distintegration of the Mughal empirealso made it easier for the British to grab one province after another.


11/19

Traditional dresses of India.

Indian garments are traditionally

unstiched.

Men use the Dhoti and the

Angavastra

The Dhoti is draped over the legs andthe

Angavastra is thrown across the

shoulders.

except that a part of the saree is

pulled across the shoulders.

Both Men and Women wear

colourful garments

The East India Company

On behalf of the Brtish East India Company, the resourceful British Governor-GeneralRobert Clive grabbed Bengal in 1757 from its governor Siraj-ud-doulah, Oudh fell from

the hands of Wajid Ali Shah and the titular Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was

himself packed off in 1857 after the abortive Sepoy Mutiny.

Among the Marathas also this tendency towards disintegration due to rebelliousgovernors like the Bhosales of Nagpur - who never accepted the authority of the Peshwa,

the Holkars of Indore, the Gaikwads of Baroda and the Scindias of Gwalior distancing

themselves from the authority of the Peshwa at Poona, ultimately caused the downfall ofthe Maratha empire.


12/19

Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi was one of the important leaders

of the uprising of 1857 against the British. The uprising,

despite its nationalistic overtones, was in its essence, a fight

of the Indian feudal classes of kings and princes, against

the new incoming imperial power of the British. The mass

participation that characterised the freedom movement

was to come in much later with Lokmanya Tilak and

Mahatma Gandhi.

The general increase in defence expenditure which started with Aurangzeb's Deccancampaign against Shivaji, the firebrand Maratha leader; was kept up later by the

numerous battles of Indian monarchs against each other and later against the East India

Company. This was an important reason for commercial stagnation. This commercialstagnation of trade within the country was partly responsible for the absence of the rise of

a significant merchant capital and its transformation into industrial capital in the 17th and

18th centuries when Indian merchants had established contacts with their European

counterparts at Surat, Mumbai (Bombay), Chandranagore, Chennai (Madras), etc. AsIndian chieftains and kings badly needed resources to finance their campaigns they levied

arbitrary taxes and declared state monopolies over the trade in profitable commodities.

Provincial governors often abused their positions to participate in trade either by directly

starting trading ventures or by thrusting themselves as partners upon one or more Of theprospering merchants, and grabbing fat shares of their profits. These resources were used

for financing military campaigns and also for the unproductive squander by the feudalprincelings.

The Lucknavai Gharana (Style)

of the Kathak dance style


13/19

is an amalgam of the Indian and Central Asian Dance styles.

The Jaipuri Gharana represents more closely

the original dance style based on Bharatmuni's Natyashatra.

Exclusive monopolies for the resale of superior foreign goods were declared much to the

detriment of the Indian trading community and the profits were siphoned off to finance alavish court and feudal lifestyle. The losses due to the imposition of such feudal

privileges acted as a dead-weight on the nascent merchant capital, making it increasingly

difficult for the emergence of a strong Indian manufacturing industry which requiredcapital formation for its establishment. Had this been allowed an Indian industrial base

could have been formed around the year 1800 itself as happened in Japan.

But this was not to be and the task was left to the British. In the early days of British rule,

the British Viceroys and other colonial administrators collaborated with the Indian feudalnobility to usurp this country. Unlike the fierce struggle between the Muslim monarchy

and the Hindu landed nobility in the initial days of Muslim Occupation, the coming of the

British power saw a smooth adjustment between the pre-British landed aristocracy andthe colonial power. The Jagirdars and Inamdars generally became the Zamindars in the

new set-up.

The Zamindari System

The reason why only the aristocracy rebelled in the Sepoy mutiny against the colonial

power lies in the absence of religious fanaticism in the British colonialists like that in theearly Muslim Sultans of Delhi. When British rule was established in Bengal and Oudh in

the latter part of the 18th century, the colonial administration formed a class of

intermediary revenue collectors who were drawn from the native landed nobility itself.

These revenue collectors called Zamindars were basically different from the Jaqirdarsand Subahdars of the Mughal period in that they did not have the admnistrative powers of

the feudal lords of the Mughal period. True, the Zamindars had many arbitrary powersbut this was never formally recognised and the British administration did not interfere

with the zamindars till as.long as their arbitrary powers did not create a rival centre of

power. To begin with no Zamindar had a private army, he could not dispense justice andhe could levy no tax which was not sanctioned by the colonial administration . This

prevented a Zamindar from becoming mini or a semi-independent ruler which the

Jagirdars and Mansabdars could easily become under the Mughals.

But it was not from these collaborators of British colonialism that the first Indian

capitalists were to emerge. The Zamindars were the rural lackeys of the Britishcolonialists who due to the rights of revenue collection conferred on them by the British,

developed a vested interest in supporting the British colonial rule.


14/19

The marble craftsmanship seen here in the

palace at Deeg - the capital of the Jat Raja

Suraj Mal was superb. But in the 18th and

19th centuries, the continuation of such

lavish mediaeval lifestyle of our princes

and feudal lords was to prove counter-productive for industrialization and

accumulation of capital. This coupled with

our being under colonial rule made India

miss the Industrial Revolution.

The Sepoy Mutiny

The Sepoy Mutiny can be called the last upsurge of Indian Feudalism. It was those

princelings who were deprived of their kingdoms due to the many ploys of the British

Colonial expansionist policy like "The Doctrine of Lapse" that activly participated in theMutiny. The feudal counterparts of the Zamindars who participated in the last upsurge of

Indian feudalism the mutiny in 1857 were wiped out by the colonial power between 1857and 1860.

Those of the princelings who did not support the mutiny and threw in their lot with the

British, continued to hold nominal favour of the colonial power in the form of privy

purses and princely titles. The development of Indian capitalism took place as an totallydistinct process with its roots in the new cities like Bombay, Calcutta and Madras

established by the British. The traditional merchants under Mughal and Maratha rule had

not been in a position to accumulate capital - and establish manufacturing industries for

various reasons like the unfavourable political conditions, the Islamic ban on usury andalso lack of foresight.

The pierced marble work that the artisans of medieval

India created was unmatched across the globe. But this

tradition acted as a drain on our economy and prevented

the emergence of the culture of thrift, savings and

productive investment that we saw at work in London,

Manchester and in Europe in general in the 19th century.This heralded the modern age in Europe, while India under

colonial rule remained in the middle ages.

Gujaratis and Marwaris - The Nascent Indian Capitalist Merchant Class


15/19

The Indian industrial capitalist class thus came from a totally different background.

Almost none of the Indian industry houses of the late 18th and early 19th centuries had

the background of being feudal nobles, like Jagirdars or Inamdars. The Parsi merchants inwestern India were the first community from whom developed Indian industrialists, they

were followed by the Hindu communities like the Gujaratis and Marwaris. But during the

l9th century and first half of the 20th century it was overwhelmingly in England and notin India that industrial development received a boost. Hence in India the transition from a

feudal land based agrarian economy to a modem industrial economy was brought about

with a deformity due to the imperialist subjugation to boot.

While such fine skilled craftsmanship was much relevant in the middle

ages. With the coming of mechanization, and mass production,

craftsmanship became irrelevant and a waste of manpower. Whenever

the British saw competition from craftsmen, it suppressed their arts as in

the case of the cutting off the thumbs of the skilled superfine saree

weavers of Bengal.

The policy of 'Great' Britain was of a systematic annihilation of Indian handicraftindustries by exposing them to the ruinous competition from the cheap machine products

coming from UK. The supply of cheap Indian raw materials and the dumping of finished

products made from those raw materials filled the coffers of British industrialists while itdrained India. Thus India was made to push from behind and pull from ahead the Chariot

of Britain's industrial revolution.

Even agriculture was drained off by the rapacious Zamindari system. In the Zamindari

system the obscurantism and arbitrary privileges of India's feudal past were combined

with the cold calculating rapacity o? British imperialism. India' s subjugation under themost advanced capitalist country of that age unleashed the wholesale pauperization of

rural artisans and peasants and yet there was not accumulation of capital. The

accumulation took place in Manchester and London.

Thus after nearly two centuries of living through the twilight of two ages of the dying

feudalism and the deformed nascent newborn Capitalism, we inherited an economy

which bore the worst features of both feudalism and colonial capitallsm at the dawn ofour independence.


16/19

The Mutiny of 1857 created the

first stirrings of a national

movement for securing

Independence from the British.

But in its essence, the Sepoy

mutiny was a war fought by theIndian kings and princes to

preserve their privileges and

rights of succession, which were

being threatened by the British

policy of the "Doctrine of Lapse".

The Sepoy Mutiny was a war of

the feudal princes against a new

incoming imperialist power of the

British. The freedom movement

that came later under Tilak and

Gandhi was a mass struggle in itsreal sense.

THE RETURN OF INDIAN SOVEREIGNTY

On the midnight between August 14th and 15th, 1947 came to an end not just British rule

of two centuries but alien domination which had begun nearly 750 years back when

Indians had started losing their sovereignty to the Sultans of Delhi.

The coming of independence after seven centuries of alien rule had been generally

preceded by a brutal tyranny, where Indians had been made to pay a penal tax if they

were not ready to disown their country, its culture and their ancestral faith: their places ofworship had been arbitrarily desecrated and destroyed; their life and security and thehonour of their womenfolk had been at the mercy of rulers who had contempt for

everything Indian. (This was the general situation during Muslim rule} except during the

reigns of Akbar and Jehangir and in the period after the death of Aurangzeb whenMughal power was on the decline and hence was not in a position to tyrannize its Hindu

subjects.

Royal Insignia of the British. Up to the

Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the British Rule

in India was in the hands of the British

East India Company. After the Mutiny,

the British Government directly

handled the administration of British

Rule.


17/19

A Pauperized Class of Landless Peasants

This period was followed by subjugation under a European power that aimed at a

systematic economic exploitation of this country. The only positive aspect of this passingof sovereignty from one alien ruler to another was the end of the arbitrary humiliation

and the beginning of an orderly economic plunder!

British economic imperialism created a pauperized artisan class and peasantry who

formed into the proletariat employed in British owned and later Indian owned factories inthe urban areas. The migration of the pauperised artisans and peasant was a phenomenon

that occurred for the first time in Indian history. Many of these pauperised artisans and

peasants had no land or profitable occupation left in the rural areas thus they migrated to

the cities with empty hands.

Even those who remained back in the villages had to cope up with the demands of the

Zamindar representatives of British colonialism for revenue. Even the worst famines in

the country's history that occured during British rule could not bring about even atemporary suspension of revenue collection. The colonial administration thus wanted its

pound of flesh whether its victims were living or dying. Even in the best of times the lot

of rural peasants was far from enviable and during such famines its misery was

compounded manifold. This led to other problems of perpetual indebtedness, small sizeof individual holdings by sale of a part of land to the Zamindars and moneylenders,

fragmentation of land, etc.

Abolition of Zamindari and Tax on Agricultural Income

After the end of British rule, the Indian National Government not only formally abolished

Zamindari but also the income tax on agricultural produce and thus removed necessity forhaving any institution of intermediary revenue collectors between the farmers and the

state that had existed from the post-Mauryan times till the British period. The situationtoday has some elements in common with that existing under the Mauryans. Only that the

problems of over-population , disguised unemployment, rural indebtedness, smallness

and fragmentation of holdings, etc., have been added.


18/19

The progress made in

India under British

Rule like the coming

of railways, Postal

System, Telegraphic

communications, etc.,were all undertaken

by the British

Administration to

facilitate their rule.

The aim of British

policy was to integrate

the Indian economy

with that of the British

in way such that India

supplied Great Britain

with cheap rawmaterial

for being

manufactured into

valued-added (costly)

finished products.

India again was to

provide a ready

captive market for

British goods

made from Indian raw

materials. Theresultant enrichment

and industrial

development

was to take place in

Britian and not in

India. Thus at the

dawn of

independence,

India inherited an

economy that had the

worst features of boththe feudal and the

industrial ages

without the

advantages of either.

Looking Forward


19/19

The ills of Indian agriculture are reflected in the mass movement of the rural poor to the

cities. Those of us whose families had migrated from the villages two or three

generations back have today established themselves in the cities and some of us can besaid to be prospering. In most cases our rural roots are forgotten, only to be remembered

on the occasion of a wedding in the family during which religious convention requires

that we go to our family Gods located in our ancestral villages, for getting the wedding orother ceremonies like thread ceremony, naming ceremony solemnized. Other occasions

when rural India captures our attention is during farmers agitations, rasta rokos which

block rail and road links between cities. The farmers demands for higher procurementprices and support prices catch a city dweller's attention as these prices ultimately hurt his

pocket. But nevertheless it goes to establish that Indian urbanities are bound to have links

with rural India and be affected by developments in rural India.

Thus it would pay for an average Indian to be informed about the rural setting, its historyand its problems which in other words is our own past as we all have sometime or the

other moved from our rural ancestral homes to the urban areas. By doing this we would

not only understand better our rural brethren, but would also understand ourselves better.

Royal Gardens such as this one

generously used marble, gold and

precious stone for inlay work. Such

works of art that the artisans of medieval

India created was unmatched across the

globe.

But overindulgence of the princelings

with such opulence led to the fritteringaway of wealth of the nation.

_________________________________________

Now we move on to examine the essence of India - Hinduism and the influence it has

had on other religious communities in India. We shall also examine how this influence

has played an important role in shaping India's society for the past 3000 years from 1000B.C.E. up to the present.
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Presidencies and Provinces of British India

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