British Raj was quite a lot of fun — there were a lot of famines killing millions every few years, the literacy rate was hovering around 10%, highways were pathetic, dams not there, power generation abysmal, social inequality highly rampant with untouchability, administration was a joke with 500+ princely states uncomfortably existing alongside the direct British rule, India had no major seat/say in world bodies (one reason why India could not become a permanent member of UNSC despite being a founding member).
Then we got divorce from Britain in 1947. We made famines history by building dams ac
British Raj was quite a lot of fun — there were a lot of famines killing millions every few years, the literacy rate was hovering around 10%, highways were pathetic, dams not there, power generation abysmal, social inequality highly rampant with untouchability, administration was a joke with 500+ princely states uncomfortably existing alongside the direct British rule, India had no major seat/say in world bodies (one reason why India could not become a permanent member of UNSC despite being a founding member).
Then we got divorce from Britain in 1947. We made famines history by building dams across the country and focusing on our food needs. Our literacy rate jumped 7 fold and we fully integrated all the princely states into one single administrative unit. We built highways, airports and metro rails across the country. Our trade and economy improved significantly to be considered a major world player. We built a great many institutes of excellence and we are a critical part of many world bodies including the UN, G-20, SCO, NAM etc.
We wrote an equitable constitution and rendered untouchability illegal. There has also been a lot of social upliftment of the lower castes. Their condition is not perfect — but better than the situation 70 years ago.
We are not where we want to be — but we are getting there and just about 2–3 decades away from excellence. 70 years is too short a time to fix centuries of misgovernance.
The only Indians who liked the Raj were those upper castes in power — they had an army of servants, living in palatial homes and got things handed on a platter. You can still see the descendents of these elites sometimes nostalgic about their past. Otherwise it was a dark period in our history.
Life in British India, which lasted from 1858 to 1947, was marked by a complex interplay of cultural, social, economic, and political factors. Here’s an overview of various aspects of life during this period:
1. Social Structure
- Caste System: Indian society was largely organized around the caste system, which dictated social hierarchy, occupation, and marriage. The British often used this system to their advantage, exacerbating divisions.
- Religious Diversity: India was home to multiple religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, and Christianity, leading to a rich cultural tapestry but also in
Life in British India, which lasted from 1858 to 1947, was marked by a complex interplay of cultural, social, economic, and political factors. Here’s an overview of various aspects of life during this period:
1. Social Structure
- Caste System: Indian society was largely organized around the caste system, which dictated social hierarchy, occupation, and marriage. The British often used this system to their advantage, exacerbating divisions.
- Religious Diversity: India was home to multiple religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, and Christianity, leading to a rich cultural tapestry but also instances of communal tension.
- Education and Reform: The British established schools and universities, leading to the rise of a new educated middle class. Social reform movements emerged, addressing issues like women's rights and caste discrimination.
2. Economic Conditions
- Agriculture: The majority of the population worked in agriculture, but British policies often prioritized cash crops for export, leading to food shortages and famines (notably the Great Bengal Famine of 1943).
- Industry: British India saw some industrial growth, especially in textiles and jute, but much of the industry was controlled by British interests, limiting local economic benefits.
- Trade and Taxation: The British imposed heavy taxes on Indian farmers and craftsmen, leading to widespread poverty and economic exploitation.
3. Political Landscape
- Colonial Governance: The British established a centralized system of governance, with significant power held by British officials. Local rulers retained some authority but were largely under British control.
- Nationalism: The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of nationalist movements, with leaders like Mahatma Gandhi advocating for self-rule and civil rights through non-violent resistance.
- Revolts and Resistance: There were several uprisings against British rule, including the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, which was a significant but ultimately unsuccessful rebellion.
4. Cultural Life
- Art and Literature: This period witnessed a flourishing of literature and art, with writers like Rabindranath Tagore gaining prominence. The fusion of Western and Indian styles influenced music, dance, and visual arts.
- Public Life: Social clubs, political gatherings, and literary societies became venues for discussion and activism. Festivals and traditional celebrations continued to play a vital role in community life.
5. Daily Life
- Urban vs. Rural: Life varied significantly between urban centers (like Bombay, Calcutta, and Delhi) and rural areas. Urban areas experienced modernization, while many rural communities retained traditional lifestyles.
- Health and Sanitation: Public health was often poor, with limited access to clean water and healthcare, contributing to high mortality rates from diseases.
Conclusion
Overall, life in British India was characterized by a blend of traditional practices and the impacts of colonial rule, leading to significant social changes, economic challenges, and a growing desire for independence that ultimately culminated in the partition of India in 1947.
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My grandfather, who is no more, told me this story when I was in school.
His uncle was a temple trustee for the local temple in the late 1920s. The villagers wanted to celebrate the annual temple festival with fireworks, and they procured some raw materials. All hell broke loose. The police registered a case and initiated prosecution against the trustee on the charge of possessing explosives! Those were the early days of the independence movement, and the police considered the fireworks as explosives.
Our family was shaken and deeply disturbed. Family prestige was at stake. My grandpa told us th
My grandfather, who is no more, told me this story when I was in school.
His uncle was a temple trustee for the local temple in the late 1920s. The villagers wanted to celebrate the annual temple festival with fireworks, and they procured some raw materials. All hell broke loose. The police registered a case and initiated prosecution against the trustee on the charge of possessing explosives! Those were the early days of the independence movement, and the police considered the fireworks as explosives.
Our family was shaken and deeply disturbed. Family prestige was at stake. My grandpa told us that they tried to reason with the police inspector, but he wouldn't listen and was determined to proceed with the case. Someone even tried to negotiate a bribe of twenty tolas of gold (approximately 220 grams) with the inspector. But the inspector wouldn't relent. (One should at least appreciate his incorruptibility here.)
To these worried men, someone brought useful information: the district collector, a white ICS officer, would be passing through the nearby village road the next day on his way to the taluk headquarters. These men and a group of villagers gathered with garlands and some dry fruits and waited on the road. A dignified and authoritative-looking white officer arrived, riding his BSA motorbike. He pulled over to the roadside and asked, in broken local lingo, what the commotion was about. They garlanded him, offered the eatables, and explained that they were peace-loving agriculturists who lived by family honor, far removed from any notion of violence. They explained that they were only preparing fireworks for the festivities and were absolutely innocent of any kind of explosives. But the local inspector was harassing them by booking a false case against them, which would badly hurt the family honor.
The white man somehow saw the truth in their disclosure. 'No one would have dared to come in front and say lies to the authority,' must have been his inner feeling. Whatever his thoughts, he asked them to see him in the local court. Those days, the district collector was also a first-class magistrate. He heard them fully, as well as the police inspector. He drew his own conclusion and announced that the inspector was absolutely lacking in diligence to distinguish fireworks from explosives and to correctly gauge the motives of the people he booked. The uncle was acquitted of all charges, and the police inspector was chided for lacking the required prudence and diligence. The village celebrated with full fervor. And my grandpa told this story with admiration for the collector's fairness and his ability to see through the truth, uninfluenced by subordinate staff. He was full of awe, praise, and respect. He affirmed that it was justice well dispensed!
Encouraged by this experience, my grandpa, during World War II, boldly confronted a tahsildar for booking a case while a cart of grain was being transported from the fields to our village home. Those were times of serious food shortage. Grain was rationed, and possession of more than the prescribed quantity was deemed hoarding. The tahsildar, an Indian, wouldn't listen to reason that a farmer would need to transport the grain to stock at home. A case was booked, and the cart of grain seized. My grandpa made a trip to the district headquarters and met the collector, a white man. My grandpa argued that, as the head of a large family with quite a few farmers under him, he needed sufficient grain not only to feed them but also for seeding the next crop. He asserted that no one could deprive him of that right. The collector heard him patiently and ordered the release of the grain cart. It seems he even apologized for the overzealous approach of the civil administration!
He told these stories of small victories against injustice and how a white man stood fair, not only in color but in dispensing justice as well. My grandpa lived another 25 years post-independence and always rued how incompetent and unjust our rulers had become compared to the earlier administration. He had extensive dealings in land matters and civil court issues, so he was fully aware of the decline of honesty in post-independence administration and used to express that vocally. These are some of the stories I heard from him.
With such goodwill, the white man never felt threatened about his security to travel alone on a motorbike on a desolate road in an alien country. And that's how a small number of about a thousand officers could administer the country from the Khyber Pass to Burma. They used our own people, who did their dirty work willingly and crawled when asked to bend.
Though our Bollywood likes to portray British officers as rapacious villains, in general, the villagers have a very positive view of the British administration. The continued awe and respect many have for IAS officers even today stems from that root.
Sans political masters, the ICS officers were quite powerful those days, yet they remained mostly above reproach. It is said the ICS was an experiment in India by the enlightened Oxbridge-educated, which was said to be superior to the then-prevailing public administration in Britain. They couldn't implement their new ideas there due to the political situation but found an opportunity to implement them in nascent India. They saw a purpose in their posting to India.
Despite the gross corruption and incompetence of our second-rung post-independence politicians, if our country still functions, it owes much to the strength of the administrative systems established then.
Edit: Grammar correction
A real life story from British India, as told by my grandfather:
Once, during his school days, a teacher gave some homework for the class to do and he didn't do it. The next day, at school, the teacher was checking everyone's homework and punishing whoever had not done it. When my grandfather's turn came, he said this:
Teacher: Show me your homework.
He: Sir, I've done it but forgot my notebook at home (thinking that he will be spared of punishment).
Teacher: Okay, go to your home, get it and show to me.
After an hour, when the teacher was taking junior level class, he called my grandfather there
A real life story from British India, as told by my grandfather:
Once, during his school days, a teacher gave some homework for the class to do and he didn't do it. The next day, at school, the teacher was checking everyone's homework and punishing whoever had not done it. When my grandfather's turn came, he said this:
Teacher: Show me your homework.
He: Sir, I've done it but forgot my notebook at home (thinking that he will be spared of punishment).
Teacher: Okay, go to your home, get it and show to me.
After an hour, when the teacher was taking junior level class, he called my grandfather there.
Teacher: Show me your homework.
He: Sorry Sir, I didn't do it.
The teacher, obviously got angry and took his cane to punish him. My grandfather held his cane, saying that he should be punished in his class, not in front of the juniors.
During those days there used to be some kind of jury, who were mostly British, in schools to discuss any such teacher-student arguments. The matter went to the jury and after hearing the matter, they agreed that if teacher has to punish, it should be done in his class, and not in any other class.
This is one of the many interesting stories my grandfather used to tell me.
This gives us lesson that even if we have made a mistake, it should not stop us from raising our voice against something which we feel is wrong.
My grandpa who was a high school pass out and worked as a bookkeeper in a British firm spoke highly of the White managers who were known for their legendary discipline, punctuality and able administrative skills.
For eg. in a routine check a White manager will arrive impromptu and take some merchandise with him from the store - the staff there have to question him whether he had paid/paying for the merchandise if not he must not be allowed to take the merchandise out of the store.
Employees were given salary on time with proper bonus, increment and pay for over time(OT) unlike the situation no
My grandpa who was a high school pass out and worked as a bookkeeper in a British firm spoke highly of the White managers who were known for their legendary discipline, punctuality and able administrative skills.
For eg. in a routine check a White manager will arrive impromptu and take some merchandise with him from the store - the staff there have to question him whether he had paid/paying for the merchandise if not he must not be allowed to take the merchandise out of the store.
Employees were given salary on time with proper bonus, increment and pay for over time(OT) unlike the situation now where the grumpy appraisal managers make us work for 16–18 hours a day and cheat us on OT and increment.
In-disciplined and misbehaving staffs whatever their social standing, qualification and skills were not tolerated and booted out immediately unlike our managers today who will be let for their abuse.
By the time my grandpa retired the management of the firm passed wholly into Indian hands.
Well his pension for the four odd decades that he worked was cheated and the court case was dragged on for more than two decades.
After getting favorable verdicts in the high court, the case went to the supreme court
where an honourable would be finance minister would appear and play his game to
give a highly depreciated pension sum in favour of the firm’s management.
No wonder my grandpa loved the British and regretted independence which favoured the corrupt.
Only the nationalists who wrote the history books painted the British as corrupt, the citizens of that generation who lived both under the British and free India seem to favour the former heavily.
It is time to analyse objectively and separate facts from fiction rather than parroting the corrupt Indian nationalists.
I asked my grandfather about this. He said life was rather normal at that time. In fact a lot normal as compared to what is shown in the movies. He was a horse cart driver. He said that Britishers were rather generous to give a lot in tips and treated him with respect. Just a little rudeness sometimes. He very rarely saw the brutalities that are evident in a lot of stories that we have heard.
In reality, I don't know how frequently those things happened. He may just have been lucky to never see or experience them.
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Where do I start?
I’m a huge financial nerd, and have spent an embarrassing amount of time talking to people about their money habits.
Here are the biggest mistakes people are making and how to fix them:
Not having a separate high interest savings account
Having a separate account allows you to see the results of all your hard work and keep your money separate so you're less tempted to spend it.
Plus with rates above 5.00%, the interest you can earn compared to most banks really adds up.
Here is a list of the top savings accounts available today. Deposit $5 before moving on because this is one of the biggest mistakes and easiest ones to fix.
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My grandfather was from Iran but grew up In Lahore, Pakistan.
Coming from a relatively wealthy Shia Muslim landowning family money was never an issue. The first time he met a British Man was in 1939. The British Collectors had come to collect the local taxes. Being Iranian he was fluent in Persian, Urdu, Tajik (dialect of Persian) and Turkish. The Collector Nathaniel was relatively young. He demanded my father to teach him Persian and Urdu. As of course this would make it easier to communicate with the populace.
My grandfather began to teach him, and after some weeks the Man decided that he had
My grandfather was from Iran but grew up In Lahore, Pakistan.
Coming from a relatively wealthy Shia Muslim landowning family money was never an issue. The first time he met a British Man was in 1939. The British Collectors had come to collect the local taxes. Being Iranian he was fluent in Persian, Urdu, Tajik (dialect of Persian) and Turkish. The Collector Nathaniel was relatively young. He demanded my father to teach him Persian and Urdu. As of course this would make it easier to communicate with the populace.
My grandfather began to teach him, and after some weeks the Man decided that he had learned enough.
He then proceeded to invite my Grandfather to return with him to Madras (Now Chennai) where he offered to help my father enlist in the University of Madras which is one of the oldest universities in India.
Over the years a friendship would bloom. They would attend the same courses, He would teach my father English and in exchange my grandfather would teach him about Islam and Life in Lahore.
Nathaniel left in 1948 As the Indian State and Pakistan was born. However he returned in the mid 1960’s and married a British-Indian Women in Chennai.
However there wasn’t always a nice side to British Rule. My grandfather was looked down upon by Nathaniel’s friends, beaten, verbally degraded by Professors and Students in the college and even forced to eat Pork in the Canteen which is a deadly sin for Muslims.
My answer will be purely based on whatever I have read from Bipin Chandra Modern India and few other books and videos!
British India starts from 1757 to 1947. Though before 1757,there was british influence in many states. But many writers have considered this period as British India.
Education
Literacy rate was below 6% during 1947. Only affluent and upper caste were able to get educated. Female literacy was very poor.
Employment
Before industrialization, Indian farmers and artists were in good condition. They got good amount of money after selling their products to foreign countries. Their demand
My answer will be purely based on whatever I have read from Bipin Chandra Modern India and few other books and videos!
British India starts from 1757 to 1947. Though before 1757,there was british influence in many states. But many writers have considered this period as British India.
Education
Literacy rate was below 6% during 1947. Only affluent and upper caste were able to get educated. Female literacy was very poor.
Employment
Before industrialization, Indian farmers and artists were in good condition. They got good amount of money after selling their products to foreign countries. Their demand was very high in Britain.
But after industrialization, things changed. Huge unemployment. People had to sell themselves because of debt.( Mercantile Phase)
Condition of women and men
Rape of women and violence against them. Both men and women were treated like slaves. Though slavery was abolished condition didn't change. One thing which improved was “sati”. It was abolished in 1829. Thinking about women became liberal because of Raja Ram Mohun Roy, Vidyasagar, Derozoio etc. Remarriage changed life of many women. Age of marriage was also increased (I remember it was 14)
Tribes
There condition was very bad. As you can see there were many revolt like Santhal, Munda, Ho, Kol, etc. Their forest land were encroached. They weren't allowed to have product of forests. Around 15000 Santhals were killed in Santhal revolt of 1855–56.
Religion
Earlier there were harmony among different communities. But British used Divide and rule policy. After 1857 , we can see conflict among communities based on religious beliefs.
So overall life was in critical phase during British era. Though people were coming in the shade of Science and technology but the intention was Exploitation only!
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I asked this question to my paternal grandfather and from what I understood, life was pretty good in big towns and cities as compared to life in India post independence. My grandfather was born in what you could call an upper middle class family. My great-grandfather was an Accounts Officer in the Military Accounts Department in the Indian Civil Services, equivalent to a Central Group 'A' Civil-service today. My great-great-grandfather was a grain trader/merchant who had his own shop. They used to live in the city of Rawalpindi, Punjab now in Pakistan after the partition.
My grandfather said
I asked this question to my paternal grandfather and from what I understood, life was pretty good in big towns and cities as compared to life in India post independence. My grandfather was born in what you could call an upper middle class family. My great-grandfather was an Accounts Officer in the Military Accounts Department in the Indian Civil Services, equivalent to a Central Group 'A' Civil-service today. My great-great-grandfather was a grain trader/merchant who had his own shop. They used to live in the city of Rawalpindi, Punjab now in Pakistan after the partition.
My grandfather said that life in those days was a lot better than post-independence. He said in particular that law and order in British India was respected and effectively enforced. Crime rates were also very low. It was the British Raj that brought modern amenities to India like the schools and universities, Railways, postal services, telegrams, electricity, canal irrigation systems, sewerage drainage, and water supply systems, etc.
My grandfather had done a small stint in the Military Accounts Department himself as a clerk and had the opportunity to work with a couple of British officers and said that they were very congenial.
At the end of the the day, they were not exactly the ruthless and mean white men that the Bollywood movies portray. They were just officers posted in an overseas location.
I also had a chance to interact with my maternal grandmother who came from a Zamindar(land owner) background from the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, Western Punjab now also in Pakistan. When I asked her about her life in the village, she did not mention the interference of the British in the day to day affairs. The Zamindars were the higher authorities in those days at the village level. The administration of the British in the villages was limited to a British District Officer/ Magistrate who enforced the law.
The movies probably exaggerate the relentless attitude of the British officers to bring out the patriotic element in the viewing audience. In all probability, the violence must have been some form of law enforcement.
However, this is just a view from the lives of two people and there could be different views. Also this view is geographically restricted to the province of Punjab and maybe life was different elsewhere.
However, in all reality the population of the British officers was so less that they probably did not go out looting and plundering on the streets. Sure, the British Crown had policies of high taxation and a general attitude to deplete the resources of the colony, but I don't think it was any different than the policies in the previous governments of the Princely states.
For whom?
For the European traders and business people, India provided an opportunity to make a living. Many Scots took that opportunity since there were fewer opportunities in Scotland. The trade-off was that they often lived in isolation, far from their own compatriots (think of the tea planters) and died early. The graveyards of India are full of people whose lives were cut short at an early age
For whom?
For the European traders and business people, India provided an opportunity to make a living. Many Scots took that opportunity since there were fewer opportunities in Scotland. The trade-off was that they often lived in isolation, far from their own compatriots (think of the tea planters) and died early. The graveyards of India are full of people whose lives were cut short at an early age by disease.
For the Indian peasant, life continued as had always done, and still does: a life of grinding poverty. Few would have known or cared that they were being governed by the British.
For the Indian nationalist, it was a time of political struggle. They would have felt the satisfaction of commiting their lives to a noble cause, and there would have been a feeling of excitement and fear of the consequences.
For the ICS officer, life was often rewarding. 20 year olds went out to govern huge territories, administering justice, and collecting taxes. They too often had to spend months away from their fellow Britons, and must have felt lonely at times, but they had the consolation that they belonged to the elite (‘the heaven born’ as they were called), and were greatly respected for their moral probity and language skills. They devoted their working lives in what they considered to be in the service of the people, but they kept themselves apart socially. as in the UK on military bases: the officers live separately from the other ranks. You mustn’t socialise with thepeople you give orders to.
For the British wives, they were often bored, and had to spend months alone as their menfolk went off to run their businesses or political duties. Gossiping and affairs were common, especially in the hill stations where they felt they could ‘let their hair down’ away from the critical eyes of the Indian population.
For the British soldiers, life too was often boring, except now and again where there was the excitement of going to war along the north-west and north-east frontiers. Their status was low (just above that of the Indian). They were committed to their soldiering for many years.
For the aspiring Indiajn middle-classes wanting to get to the top, there would have been frustration that the top jobs were generally reserved for the British. This was changing in the final years of the Raj, and more of these senior positions were opened up to them, particularly in the legal profession. And Indian businessmen were free to make themselves millionaires.
What next? Oh yes, workers and lower and middle management levels, did their jobs as per usual. My own father-in-law was a post master in Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Gangtok and Tibet, and respected the British he worked with and for. A private school owner I met a few years ago modelled his school on the British schools he was familiar with.
For the Indian jawan, the army offered reasonable and stable salaries and entitlements. To the frustration of the nationalist, most saw it as a good job and were uninyterested in nationalist ppolitics.
Many urbanIndians would have come across British racist attitudes. Not being allowed in a train carriage, or into a British club, or to travel among cer...
Honestly? It depends. If you have newer appliances and systems, probably not. But if your HVAC is on its last legs or you just bought an older home, a home warranty can probably save you from a massive repair bill.
Here’s when a home warranty makes sense:
- You don’t have the cash to cover surprise repairs.
- Your appliances and systems are older than 5 years.
- You’re bad at budgeting for maintenance (no judgment).
But they’re not all great. Some have weird exclusions or bad customer service. If you’re considering one, read the fine print - and you’re probably better off going with a larger company. I’v
Honestly? It depends. If you have newer appliances and systems, probably not. But if your HVAC is on its last legs or you just bought an older home, a home warranty can probably save you from a massive repair bill.
Here’s when a home warranty makes sense:
- You don’t have the cash to cover surprise repairs.
- Your appliances and systems are older than 5 years.
- You’re bad at budgeting for maintenance (no judgment).
But they’re not all great. Some have weird exclusions or bad customer service. If you’re considering one, read the fine print - and you’re probably better off going with a larger company. I’ve had a bit of a look and Choice Home Warranty seems like a decent option: link to their site here.
The day of 2022 when entire Amritsar cried
Excavation work figured out a death well in which 282 Indian sepoys were thrown on August 1, 1857.
Ajnala- Amritsar, Punjab
Sikh historian Surinder Kochar and Gurdwara Shaheed Gunj Management Committee figured out the Rebel's Grave, popularly known as the ' kaalon ka kuan', where the Indian soldiers were pushed into by British officials.
The final authentic report was documented in 2022
"The digging of the well continued for two days and officials found mortal remains of around 100 soldiers, including 50 skulls and 40 jaws, teeth, 47 one rupee coins of the
The day of 2022 when entire Amritsar cried
Excavation work figured out a death well in which 282 Indian sepoys were thrown on August 1, 1857.
Ajnala- Amritsar, Punjab
Sikh historian Surinder Kochar and Gurdwara Shaheed Gunj Management Committee figured out the Rebel's Grave, popularly known as the ' kaalon ka kuan', where the Indian soldiers were pushed into by British officials.
The final authentic report was documented in 2022
"The digging of the well continued for two days and officials found mortal remains of around 100 soldiers, including 50 skulls and 40 jaws, teeth, 47 one rupee coins of the East Indian Company, besides golden jewellery and other goods.
The well used as a mass grave has been covered by a 10- feet layer of soil.Hundreds of people gathered at the site when the excavation work was started.There were tears in hundreds of eyes when the committee members found some bones.
The crowd gathered around the site got emotional on seeing the mortal remains of the martyrs after 157 years.
Nobody thought about these martyrs for 157 years.
The August 1, 1857, homicide was perpetrated by Frederick Henry Cooper, the then deputy commissioner of Amritsar, and colonel James George Smith Neill, who was noted for his ruthlessness and indiscriminate killing of Indian rebels and civilians.
Frederick Henry Cooper in his book The Crisis in the Punjab: From the 10th of May Until the Fall of Delhi also mentions this incident as " awful tragedy".
Around 500 Indian soldiers of Regiment 26 of Bengal Native Infantry had fled the Mia Meer Cantonment of Lahore. While 150 soldiers were gunned down, some were swept away in a swollen river. The British army was able to capture 283 sepoys, who were tied with a rope and were brought to Ajnala. According to Cooper, 282 captured soldiers were thrown into the well alive or murdered and the Britishers constructed Gurudwara to manipulate the faith of Indians.
Warning - Graphics images ahead
It was Hell for a ancient and spiritual country like Bharat
18 year old Khudiram Bose hanged for fighting for freedom of his motherland
Thousands were hanged, thousands murdered and millions jailed and maimed even those who use to protest peacefully
Artificial famines created by British loot killed millions and millions
Bengal Famine
Timeline of major famines in India during British rule - Wikipedia
Bengal famine of 1943 - Wikipedia
Racism of the worst form
Loot of heritage
British museums shine thanks to all the loot from India
Anti Hindu riots
Warning - Graphics images ahead
It was Hell for a ancient and spiritual country like Bharat
18 year old Khudiram Bose hanged for fighting for freedom of his motherland
Thousands were hanged, thousands murdered and millions jailed and maimed even those who use to protest peacefully
Artificial famines created by British loot killed millions and millions
Bengal Famine
Timeline of major famines in India during British rule - Wikipedia
Bengal famine of 1943 - Wikipedia
Racism of the worst form
Loot of heritage
British museums shine thanks to all the loot from India
Anti Hindu riots
They reduced the great country to a lump creating countries from her land at will and destroyed millions of lives and families in the creation of Pakistan.
It was a calamity that superseded the Islamic genocides in many spheres and crippled a ancient civilization which has given so much to the world
Imagine crowded markets full of life and color. People from all walks of life would gather, selling goods, sharing stories, and dreaming of a better future. The markets were like a giant painting, showing the colorful saris of Indian women and the serious suits of English men, the smell of spices mixing with the aroma of tea, and Indian music playing side by side with Western tunes. This was the usual scene in those days.
However, life wasn't the same for everyone. While the British and wealthy Indians lived in luxury, ordinary people faced many problems. They had to deal with poverty, a lack o
Imagine crowded markets full of life and color. People from all walks of life would gather, selling goods, sharing stories, and dreaming of a better future. The markets were like a giant painting, showing the colorful saris of Indian women and the serious suits of English men, the smell of spices mixing with the aroma of tea, and Indian music playing side by side with Western tunes. This was the usual scene in those days.
However, life wasn't the same for everyone. While the British and wealthy Indians lived in luxury, ordinary people faced many problems. They had to deal with poverty, a lack of food, and illness. Life was tough for them, and the divide between the rich and the poor was very noticeable.
Schools and other services were mainly for the British and the rich Indians, leading to differences between city life and village life. The English language started to become important, seen as a ticket to a better life. But at the same time, our Indian languages and traditions were fighting to stay alive and relevant.
Politics was a hot topic. People were starting to talk about freedom from British rule. The charkha, or the spinning wheel, became a symbol of this fight for independence. Everyone was getting involved, from the learned men to the farmers and craftsmen. The struggle for freedom was on everyone's mind.
At the same time, this period saw the growth of literature, art, and reforms in society. Indians who had been educated in English started to question old practices in society, while also arguing against British rule. This led to a lot of new ideas and creativity.
Life in British India was full of contrasts. There was hardship, but there were also chances to grow. There was conflict, but also a coming together of cultures.
There was a good and bad side both to life under the British Empire in India. From a historical point of view a very good portrayal of this time is well illustrated by the life of my Great Grand Father, Baba Shib Dayal Bedi. His life would actually exhibit the rise of Indians who actually were successful in the period of the British Raj after the first war of independence in 1857. He was born in a small village in United Punjab in 1874. His father’s name was Baba Ulaas Rai Bedi. They were descended from the linage of Baba Laxmi Chand, Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s youngest son. They held land holdi
There was a good and bad side both to life under the British Empire in India. From a historical point of view a very good portrayal of this time is well illustrated by the life of my Great Grand Father, Baba Shib Dayal Bedi. His life would actually exhibit the rise of Indians who actually were successful in the period of the British Raj after the first war of independence in 1857. He was born in a small village in United Punjab in 1874. His father’s name was Baba Ulaas Rai Bedi. They were descended from the linage of Baba Laxmi Chand, Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s youngest son. They held land holdings in the Village of Pousi which had been present since the time of Emperor Akbar some 250 years before. They lived in an ancient walled house, with extended family. My Great Grand Father who was very good in Farsi and Indian history finished his schoolings. At the age of 16 his father and mother passed away from illness which the local Hakim and Ved could not remedy. We have long believed this was Tuberculosis, as he would for the rest of his life describe the fevers which would return at night to torment his parents. Thus, he became responsible for his younger brother. He wanted very much that this younger brother should be educated in Western style education. Although he had not the understanding yet or knowledge of what this would entail or would fully mean. One day while pondering what his lineage meant and what the future was, he sat in the flat fields of Punjab, and looked at the sky at night. His brother was seated next to him on a spring night. He discussed how the world was changing, Trains had been built, but there were still cities which needed routes to develop. There were communications which traveled under some mysterious “taar”, or wire under the oceans which could send messages. And then something called “Bigli”, or lightening which was captured and could make light. They sat and thought of these mysteries of the British Empire.
Some months later, a supposed English man crossed my Great Grand Father’s field. It was midday on an afternoon during the month of May in 1892. It was very hot, and this man simply walked across the field with Survey equipment. My Great Grand Father would later state, he had no idea what equipment it was, but he knew that this man was up to something. He thought maybe he wanted to build a road and this would ruin his farms. None the less, he knew the sun was high and there was no way he would be able to complete his work with out resting. So knowing few words in English he gestured to the man to come to sit under his favorite Mangrove tree with him. At some point the man accepted this and sat down. He gestured to my Great Grand Father what his name was, for my Great Grand Father “O’Hara” was understood. He assumed he was British. The man came again everyday for a week and brought an interpreter. He learned about our family and then asked that my Great Grand Father teach him Farsi,Punjabi and Hindustani. He agreed only on the condition that he in return be taught English and that his younger brother go to England to study. Well, formal requests would not matter soon, as O’hara and Baba Shib Dayal Bedi, would become best friends over the next ten months.
He began to learn English and soon could talk to his best friend. And he learned of an England which was far away but part of every Indians life at that time. He ate canned food which came with Mr. O’Hara and saw how differently Indian Tea was consumed by them. He learned that Mr. O’Hara was sent by the Crown to build Railway lines. And then Mr. O’Hara offered my Great Grand Father the opportunity to become a contractor to build this infrastructure. For my Great Grand Father, this was a great opportunity, but he did not want to leave his village. O’Hara feared he would not be able to convince my Great Grand Father to start this business. Although for his task it did not matter, but he wanted my Great Grand Father to become part of this great change and to achieve prosperity beyond growing crops. He knew changing his view on age old traditions would not be easy. But at the end he succeeded in opening his mind, as he would not be leaving India. And, he would be helping the country not promoting foreign rule. After all Mr. O’Hara said “I am Irish not British.” He agreed and this began a career which simply was unimaginable.
Early Tracks, and Rail Engines.
Family with early Automobiles Baba Shib Dayal Bedi imported to India.
Baba Shib Dayal Bedi, in the Bedi family home Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Baba Shib Dayal Bedi, would go further than any dreams he ever had. Early on in building railway lines, he would save Mr. O’Hara’s life from Pathan Bandits. They would both be wounded, and recovered together. The lines would be built, and by 1905, my Great Grand Father would settle in Saharanpur U.P. He had become one of the largest contractors in North India. He had over 5000 full time workers. His company Baba Shib Dayal Bedi and Son’s, would later in the 1920’s build large parts of the I.T.C. complex in Saharanpur U.P. He would have electricity in his house in 1918. And the day this happened he saw the light he dreamed about in the fields in Punjab. In the coming years he would be instrumental in bringing electricity and public water works to Saharanpur and U.P., He registered some of the first cars in U.P. and first fleet of trucks and buses. He would go on to found transportation companies to take pilgrims to Rishikesh and Benaras. Baba Shib Dayal Bedi and Son’s created factories to produce cement, and construction materials. He built Gurudwara’s, Temples and Schools at his own expense.
His brother Baba Hari Das Bedi, went to England to become a Lawyer, he graduated. My Great Grand Father went to recieve him in Bombay. And he had brought his Model T Ford to pick him up. Which at that time was very rare in India. He wanted to show him how much progress he had made while he had been studying. The journey had been very long and as he the whole family waited, Baba Hari Das never came. It was stated that he “expired” on his way back to India. His body was thrown over board and never had a funeral. For the rest of his life this tragedy left him with sadness. Later he would have the case reopened, it is was found out, that there was no official conclusion other than fowl play could have been involved. Being that he was an Indian abroad, and the culprits most likely were not Indian, no justice had been rendered. This was the other side of the British Raj, my Great Grand Father would not forget this aspect either.
He would always remark that at this time in the British Empire, in some ways India was advancing scientifically like it had not since the age of Mauryan Dynasty. But poverty was ever present, this contrasted to all other golden ages of India, the Mughal, Gupta and Mauryan. He was aware of this, he became the Municipal Commissioner of Saharanpur during the waning days of the British Raj, he envisioned an India which would rapidly industrialize in the coming decades. When World War II came, he saw clearly that this would be then end foreign rule in India, when so many did not. His sympathies lay with the freedom fighters who were laying their lives down for a new India.
My father as a toddler.
When my father Baba Dina Nath Bedi, was born he said to have had cannons fired for 24 hours with a marching band also present. Baba Shib Dayal Bedi passed away in December 1941. He predicted, that my father would be the most educated person our branch of the family had produced. His prediction would come true, my father would have two Master’s degrees and a Phd. He would would go abroad and attend the London School of Economics. He would be a pioneer in Computer Science and Full professor in the subject. This feeling of academics being the liberator of the future of India, would be a dream shared by the whole nation in the age of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Thus, this was one of the many experiences of Indians with British Empire.
Arrival of Prime Minister Nehru to Saharanpur, Early 1950’s picture taken by my father Baba Dr. Dina Nath Bedi
Baba Shib Dayal Bedi as Municipal Commissioner of Saharanpur, U.P. United India, 1930’s. His emphasis on education was immensely forward looking for that time in India.
As Baba Shib Dayal Bedi had in his whole life been for the education of all Indians, my father would become our Family’s first Phd. Baba Dr. Dina Nath Bedi to the left.
This is the special 550th Birth Anniversary of the Birth of Baba Nanak, issue of The Week. Here are pictures of My Father Baba Dina Nath Bedi, My Mother Chhaya Rani Bedi, and Myself. The article includes many of our experiences with the message of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Family Tree of a Meherchandia line of Guru Nanak Dev Ji - Bedi Foundation
This is an specific incident narrated to me by my late naniji (maternal grandmother). She was born in the former princely state of Rewa, during British rule. Her father worked at the fort of the Raja of Rewa.
Naniji's father used to take her to the fort sometimes. British officers used to visit the fort and there happened to be a few officers in the fort on one such day. Since she was a cute little child, everyone wanted to carry her in their arms, including the British. Naniji was calm as long as an Indian was carrying her. Whenever any Briton carried her, she would start crying profusely and
This is an specific incident narrated to me by my late naniji (maternal grandmother). She was born in the former princely state of Rewa, during British rule. Her father worked at the fort of the Raja of Rewa.
Naniji's father used to take her to the fort sometimes. British officers used to visit the fort and there happened to be a few officers in the fort on one such day. Since she was a cute little child, everyone wanted to carry her in their arms, including the British. Naniji was calm as long as an Indian was carrying her. Whenever any Briton carried her, she would start crying profusely and will again calm down when returned to the arms of an Indian. This happened with every Briton. Amused by this, the locals used to say that she will become a freedom fighter because she didn't even like to be touched by any Briton. She couldn't become a freedom fighter though, because India became independent when she was still a child.
On a side note, my naniji also narrated how the British would bathe in the local river all day long because they could not bear the Indian heat.
- I heard many times from old people that in the British Era “ शेर और बकरी एक ही घाटपर पानी पीते थे “[ The tiger and the goat drank water from the same pond/place ] that means the British treated all of the people equally and there were no Firsts among Equals or say there was a common law of the land for everybody.
- These days people are so heavily charged with patriotism that they do not have regard for the Rationale and Logic and curse the British for enslaving the country.
3. The British made life of the people easy and comfortable by creating infrastructure, means of communication, railways, ro
- I heard many times from old people that in the British Era “ शेर और बकरी एक ही घाटपर पानी पीते थे “[ The tiger and the goat drank water from the same pond/place ] that means the British treated all of the people equally and there were no Firsts among Equals or say there was a common law of the land for everybody.
- These days people are so heavily charged with patriotism that they do not have regard for the Rationale and Logic and curse the British for enslaving the country.
3. The British made life of the people easy and comfortable by creating infrastructure, means of communication, railways, roads, posts and telegraphs, hospitals, law and order, police, judiciary, schools/education, especially for the marginalised who otherwise were deprived of knowledge.
4. They created jobs in the various departments as well as the defence forces.
5. It is a different issue that the Zamindars committed atrocities on the villagers and peasants to collect taxes and even confiscated the land for not paying taxes because of famine or low harvest.
6. The British were well aware that unless and until they controlled the upper castes, they wouldn't be able to rule India and they allowed FREE HAND to the Brahmins, the Banias/Moneylenders and the Zamindars to do what they liked and achieve the desired results. The British were a handful therefore they needed the manpower to run the country thus they kept the upper-caste people, Indian officers and the village administrators in good humour.
7. Since India was divided into several hundreds of kingdoms if the British had not brought them under one regime, India would have been something like Africa.
8. We must thank the British for bringing modern civilisation in India.
Life in British India was a mix of British control and Indian diversity. The British lived in luxury, running the government and military, while Indian kings and elites enjoyed wealth but had limited power. A small middle class grew in cities, inspired by modern ideas. Meanwhile, most Indians were poor farmers, struggling under heavy taxes and hardships. British rule brought railways, education, and new laws but also caused deep resentment, leading to the Indian independence movement. It was a time of stark contrasts between wealth, poverty, modernization, and resistance.
Life in British India was a mix of British control and Indian diversity. The British lived in luxury, running the government and military, while Indian kings and elites enjoyed wealth but had limited power. A small middle class grew in cities, inspired by modern ideas. Meanwhile, most Indians were poor farmers, struggling under heavy taxes and hardships. British rule brought railways, education, and new laws but also caused deep resentment, leading to the Indian independence movement. It was a time of stark contrasts between wealth, poverty, modernization, and resistance.
One man's benevolence is another man's humiliation.
If:
- a smart, savvy man knocked on your door,
- made obeisance and requested a room to live in,
- flattered you and gave you gifts, gained your trust and bribed your friends away,
- then started giving you counsel on how to run your home; slowly started re-arranging your home,
- eventually took over your best room, your best linen and best china, and your business and livelihood,
- took your kids' toys away, and decided what they should and should not learn in school, decided what career they should choose,
- and then one day, got hold of your bank cards
One man's benevolence is another man's humiliation.
If:
- a smart, savvy man knocked on your door,
- made obeisance and requested a room to live in,
- flattered you and gave you gifts, gained your trust and bribed your friends away,
- then started giving you counsel on how to run your home; slowly started re-arranging your home,
- eventually took over your best room, your best linen and best china, and your business and livelihood,
- took your kids' toys away, and decided what they should and should not learn in school, decided what career they should choose,
- and then one day, got hold of your bank cards and cheque books and started writing large cheques to himself,
- spent your money to make his own place bigger, his business better and clothe/feed/educate his family better,
- built an extension to your house to make his stay more comfortable - with your money,
- bought new appliances and gadgets, with your money, all of which he kept primarily for his own use,
- made you and your family work hard to feed his needs, made you dress to please him, talk in his accent to please him,
- killed your first-born when he dared to protest at the this mistreatment,
- smartly eliminated further opposition by getting your kids to fight among themselves,
- played God with you in his moments of expansiveness by 'improving' you,
- fed you and your family scraps from his table, and put your kids to fighting his battles elsewhere,
- starved one of your kids to death by stashing your food away behind locked doors,
- even re-wrote the story of your family so that you never can explain to someone what your life would have been if he hadn't interfered,
- and, eventually boasted to the world about all the wonderful changes he has brought to your house…how he brought new technology to your home, and how he has taught you to talk/walk/behave more fittingly like him…
Then:
- even if other people believed him, would you? and would you call him benevolent?
Life in British India varied widely depending on factors such as social class, region, and individual circumstances. The period of British rule in India lasted from the mid-19th century to 1947 when India gained independence. Here are some key aspects of life in British India:
- Colonial Administration: The British East India Company initially governed large parts of India before the British Crown took over direct control in the mid-19th century. The country was divided into provinces, each under the rule of a British governor. Local rulers retained power in some princely states, but they were of
Life in British India varied widely depending on factors such as social class, region, and individual circumstances. The period of British rule in India lasted from the mid-19th century to 1947 when India gained independence. Here are some key aspects of life in British India:
- Colonial Administration: The British East India Company initially governed large parts of India before the British Crown took over direct control in the mid-19th century. The country was divided into provinces, each under the rule of a British governor. Local rulers retained power in some princely states, but they were often subordinate to British authority.
- Social Hierarchy: British India was characterized by a rigid social hierarchy based on caste and class. The caste system determined one's social status, occupation, and interactions with others. The British administration maintained and, in some cases, reinforced these social structures.
- Economic Impact: The British introduced a range of economic changes that had both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, the introduction of railways, telegraphs, and modern communication systems facilitated trade and economic development. However, exploitative economic policies, including heavy taxation and the extraction of resources, led to widespread poverty and economic inequality.
- Agriculture and Landownership: The British implemented the Permanent Settlement Act in some regions, freezing land revenue rates, which often benefited landlords at the expense of peasants. In other areas, the Ryotwari system directly taxed individual cultivators. Changes in landownership patterns had significant socio-economic repercussions.
- Educational Reforms: The British introduced a Western-style education system, emphasizing English language and literature. This had a profound impact on the Indian elite, creating a class of English-speaking professionals who played crucial roles in the independence movement.
- Cultural and Religious Diversity: British India was home to a vast array of cultures, languages, and religions. The British administration attempted to adopt a policy of non-interference in religious matters, but tensions sometimes arose, such as during the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
- Struggles for Independence: The latter part of British rule in India saw the rise of the Indian independence movement led by figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. The struggle for independence gained momentum through various movements, including nonviolent protests, civil disobedience, and calls for self-rule.
- Partition of India: In 1947, India gained independence, but it was accompanied by the partition of the country into two separate nations: India and Pakistan. The religious divide led to large-scale migrations, communal violence, and significant social disruptions.
Overall, life in British India was marked by a complex interplay of economic, social, and political factors, with both positive and negative consequences for the diverse population of the subcontinent.
Life was miserable.When Brits arrived (in 1700s) India accounted for 25% of world GDP. By the time they left in 1947, India's share was reduced to about 2%.
Lets travel back in time.You choose any profession you want.
You become a farmer
You have to pay rent even if there was drought.You would exploited by the zamindars(owners and middlemen) as they could keep the amount they collected after paying the tax to the british.
Like art?Become a craftsman
The indian kingdoms were known for its craft ,but that hit rock bottom under the british.The british wanted to make india their market and therefore a
Life was miserable.When Brits arrived (in 1700s) India accounted for 25% of world GDP. By the time they left in 1947, India's share was reduced to about 2%.
Lets travel back in time.You choose any profession you want.
You become a farmer
You have to pay rent even if there was drought.You would exploited by the zamindars(owners and middlemen) as they could keep the amount they collected after paying the tax to the british.
Like art?Become a craftsman
The indian kingdoms were known for its craft ,but that hit rock bottom under the british.The british wanted to make india their market and therefore all forms of export were discouraged.Heavy duties were imposed for commodities.
The british also controlled cotton and exported all the raw cotton therefore the textile industry was hit badly.(That is why Gandhi asked indians to wear khadi)
The regional kingdoms were overthrown,so there was no need of armours,swords etc.
hmm...so good luck.
Life of the educated middle class
No matter how learnt indians were,they were always treated as a subordinate to the british.
An indian had to clear the Imperical civil service by the time he was 19 (Decreased deliberately from 21 to make it harder).
They were not given government posts easily,remember that this was the only secure job back then.The lack of jobs helped the growth of communalism in a way as a a person would recommend someone of the same community.
And these smart men grew angry took up revolutionary nationlism.
Throw your certificates in the bin and join the HSRA.
Labour
Men ,women and CHILDREN had to work 12-16 hours a day in hazardous,cramped environment.
"Lord" Curzon was then kind enough to amend the Indian factory act to help children,now they only had to work for 7 hours.
Good at writing?join the press.
But make sure you kiss their ass,cause if you don't and publish anything that expresses "disaffection" towards the raj ,then you would be arrested for sedition and given a nice comfy room at the Andaman jail for life.
Social service
In 1886,they spent 19 crores for the army,17 crores for administration and 2 crores for education and health and that too in british settlements.Enough said.
Racial discrimination
Do you like to travel?
-Well get on the train compartment alloted specially for filthy indians.
Do you like parks?
-Too bad,Whites only
You can swim,but not in a pool,whites only.Sorry.
Goddamn!! give up already,join the british
Join the army and fight for the british against the indians.Too bad you'll never be given a post above the rank of a subedar (lieutenant) .And would probably also forget your name as you would be lovingly called a pig or a nigger.
But you needn't worry,you would probably be dead due to the famines.
1854-1901: 2,85,25,000 died to famines.
1943:30,00,000 died.
All of them were due to the negligence of the british. . No other period in history had left the Indian subcontinent in such a pathetic state.
I have not seen the situation in India during the British rule. I born in independent India. Still I have heard and read about it. I felt that it was not very much different from the situation we are facing now a days. When people were raising their voices against the suppression and atrocities of the British Rulers, they usually used to beat the people by using the police or used to put the people in jail. At present also our own Government is doing the same thing. No differences at all.If we say something against the policy of the Government, which the people do not want, the Government will
I have not seen the situation in India during the British rule. I born in independent India. Still I have heard and read about it. I felt that it was not very much different from the situation we are facing now a days. When people were raising their voices against the suppression and atrocities of the British Rulers, they usually used to beat the people by using the police or used to put the people in jail. At present also our own Government is doing the same thing. No differences at all.If we say something against the policy of the Government, which the people do not want, the Government will kill or put in the jail, or suite us saying a traitor. Therefore, I think there is no differences between the British Rulers and the present Rulers.
A tennis party pose among tea trolleys: full-length dresses and sun hats for the ladies; shirt-sleeve order, neat moustaches and optional pipe for the men.
This is just one of many photographs showing life in India at least a century ago - and they were all found in a shoebox.
One image shows buildings in the city of Calcutta lit up over the Lal Dighi body of water, commemorating a British royal vis
A tennis party pose among tea trolleys: full-length dresses and sun hats for the ladies; shirt-sleeve order, neat moustaches and optional pipe for the men.
This is just one of many photographs showing life in India at least a century ago - and they were all found in a shoebox.
One image shows buildings in the city of Calcutta lit up over the Lal Dighi body of water, commemorating a British royal visit, while another depicts ships arriving at the Chandpal Ghat, the main landing site for visitors to the city along the Hooghly River.
All 178 of the plate-glass negatives were found inside a size-nine Peter Lord shoebox by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) in Edinburgh.
Photo: A tennis party poses (one, far right, with a pipe) among tea trolleys in this photo taken in India around a century ago
Photo: Two men stick dance in front of a crowd in Maidan, Calcutta. The dance represents a mock fight between legendary warrior Durga and the mighty demon king Mahishasura
Photo: Buildings on the south-east side of Lal Dighi, Calcutta, lit at night for the 1912 British royal visit by King George V and Queen Mary. All 178 images were found in a Peter Lord shoebox in Edinburgh and are about 100 years old
Photo: Archivists have confirmed some of the images were definitely taken in 1912, when the royals visited. It was the only trip by a British monarch to India as Emperor of the subcontinent
Photo: King George V and the Queen arrive in Delhi in 1911
They are said to have been taken in the country at the time of the British Raj and it is thought the negatives were untouched for almost 100 years.
Archivists at RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland in Edinburgh.) have already confirmed that some of the images were definitely taken in 1912, when King George V and Queen Mary visited Calcutta. It was the only visit by a British monarch to India as Emperor of the subcontinent.
Some of the photographs show the city's buildings lit up at night in tribute to the royal visit.
Little else is known about the images and the photographer, prompting a search for clues as to his or her identity.
One theory is that the photographer was a British civil servant in Calcutta, or was connected to the jute trade, as many Scots were said to be at the time.
There is a Scottish cemetery in the city that dates back to the time of the British Raj, which has recently been cleaned up and recorded.
RCAHMS hopes that members of the public and photography enthusiasts might be able to shed more light on this discovery.
Photo: An unknown man and woman pose for the camera. The images - all plate-glass negatives - were discovered by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland in Edinburgh
Photo: A crowded riverside with bathers at Chandpal Ghat in Calcutta, the main landing site for visitors to the city along the Hooghly River
Photo: A street scene in an unknown location, capturing life in India at least a century ago
They also approached John Falconer, curator of photographs at the British Library, who helped to identify some of the locations and remarked on the high quality and beauty of the images, but so far the identity of the photographer remains a mystery.
Claire Sorensen, RCAHMS architectural historian, said: 'We don't know for sure how they came to be in our collection because we receive archive material from countless different sources, ranging from the archives kept by architectural practices to generous public donations.
'Sometimes we take in large amounts of material at once, and often documentation for historical deposits does not exist.
Photo: Ships arriving at Chandpal Ghat, while crowds gather by the docks
Photo: A Jain temple complex in Calcutta. RCAHMS hopes that members of the public and photography enthusiasts might be able to shed more light on the photographic discovery
Photo: A street hairdresser giving a 'Hindustani haircut' (pudding bowl) in Strand Road South, Calcutta
Photo: Celebrations for the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Calcutta in 1912
'Over time, all this new material will be inspected and catalogued as part of our collection - undergoing conservation work where necessary - and then made available to the public.
'It's fantastic that a small shoe box contained such a treasure-trove of photographic imagery, but in some ways it's not unusual.
'Our experience as an archive has shown us that some of the most interesting discoveries can be made in the most unlikely of places.'
Photo: A Muhurram (sacred month) procession through a crowded Calcutta street with tazieh theatre performance in the background. Tazieh drama re-enacts heroic tales of love and sacrifice
Photo: Calcutta is lit up for the royal visit; right, a group seated in two ferry canoes moored in a stream at an unknown location
Photo: Waterside with a group of washermen at a dhobi ghat (open-air laundry zone)
BRITISH DURING THE BRITISH RAJ
* There were never really that many Britons in India. At the height of British imperialism in the 1930s, there were only 167,000 Europeans in all of South Asia. Britons in India were characterized by their English mother tongue, Christian religion, European lifestyle at home, Western clothes and employment in administration and service positions.
* Journalist Jan Morris wrote in Newsweek, "Britons...on the other side of the world had come to think of India as part of their own national identity, a permanent presence in the public consciousness, at once exotic and familiar. Innumerable British families, of all social rank, had sent their representatives to India, as soldiers, as business people, as administrators, as ne'er-do-well younger sons or as pious missionaries."
* The invention of the steam ship really opened up travel between Britain and India. The first run of the P&O steamer around the Cape of Good Hope took 91 days to travel from Southampton, England to Calcutta, with eight days spent taking in coal.
* In 1876, the British parliament ruled that India should become an empire and Queen Victoria was named Empress. A viceroy ruled India. When King George VI (1936-53) visited India he was greeted as the King of England and the Emperor of India.
* European perceptions of India, and those of the British especially, shifted from unequivocal appreciation to sweeping condemnation of India's past achievements and customs. Imbued with an ethnocentric sense of superiority, British intellectuals, including Christian missionaries, spearheaded a movement that sought to bring Western intellectual and technological innovations to Indians. Interpretations of the causes of India's cultural and spiritual "backwardness" varied, as did the solutions. Many argued that it was Europe's mission to civilize India and hold it as a trust until Indians proved themselves competent for self-rule. [Source: Library of Congress]
British Superiority
* "As the British came to govern more and more of India," Pico Iyer wrote, "they developed an even stronger feeling of racial superiority, the spirit of paternalism carrying not only concern but all the condescension that the word can imply. The increased separation of the races intensified by the growing presence of upper-class British women on the subcontinent." With the presence of these more insular and perhaps most racist women, the British men partied less with their Indian friends and paid fewer courtesy calls on the local maharajas.”
* One British woman wrote in 1809: "These [Indian] people, if they have the virtues of slaves, they have their vices also. They are cunning and incapable of truth; they disregard the imputation of lying and perjury and I would consider it folly not to protect them for their own interest."
* The 1830s and 1840s was a period in which reformers like Thomas Babington Macaulay were intent on remaking and Westernizing India. In his book Orientalism the historian Edward Said has argued that British presence in India and other colonies was based on a sense of “otherness” rooted at least in part on racial superiority and strengthening the English identity and was “about powerful people imposing their will on less powerful people.”
* In his book Ornamentalism; How the British Saw Their Empire the historian David Cannadine said the British empire had its roots in transplanting the British class system abroad not on racial pride and has argueed the whole thing was kind of as show. He wrote: the British Empire “was about antiquity and anachronism, tradition and honor, order and subordination; about glory and chivalry, horses and elephants, knights and peers, processions and ceremony, plumed hats and ermine robes; about chiefs and emirs, sultans and nawabs, viceroys and proconsuls; about thrones and crowns, dominion and hierarchy, ostentation and ornamentalism.”
Getting Rich in India
* Members of the British upper-class were besides themselves that an upstart like Robert Clive—the "unpromising son of a penurious country gentlemen"—could spend a few years in India and amass more wealth than landowning families had accumulated in centuries of abusing peasant farmers. Among many upper class families in Britain, the eldest son was expected to run the family estate and the second eldest son was expected to go off to India to seek his fortune. [Source: Pico Iyer, Smithsonian magazine, January 1988]
* Even 10-pound-a-year clerks in India had a good life. Expecting to make fortunes later in their careers as traders and merchant, they took out loans and lived a lavish lifestyle way beyond what they could have enjoyed at home. Generally they were only required to work between 9:00am and noon. The rest of the day was often spent napping, drinking, gambling, womanizing and smoking opium and hashish. Those that made money often did so by hiring cargo space on ships to ship goods like to textiles, spices, artifacts and opium to England.
* After reports of the fortunes made by Clive and others filtered back to England, it seemed that everyone wanted a position in India. Bribes were paid to London officials to secure positions. The situation got so out of hand that, as one member of parliament put it, traders "rolling one after another; wave after wave; and there is nothing before the eyes of the natives but an endless hopeless prospect of new birds of prey and passage."
* Traditional English society became so fed up with nouveau riche adventurers from India the word nabob (based on “nawab,” a local Indian ruler) was coined to describe them. Somerset Maugham who often wrote about Asia once said: "The type of person who did leave Great Britain for faraway posts had no particular tradition to uphold, as did the landed gentry. He was most times an incompetent, rank opportunist, or a trouble maker."
Enjoying the Good Life in India During the Raj
* The British settlements in India were ruled by the British Governor-in-Council. These governors enjoyed a lifestyle that rivaled the Mughal emperors. State dinners featured 600 different dishes and numerous courses, each ushered in with a trumpet. When the governor of Bombay left his palace in 1700 he was carried in a palanquin escorted by 80 servants waving silver wands. One of these governor, Elihu Yale (Madras, 1687-92), used part of his fortune to start a small college in New Haven, Connecticut. [Source: Pico Iyer, Smithsonian magazine, January 1988]
* British culture also found its way to India. The members of the newly formed Indian Civil Service were educated men of taste. "Where the rough and ready merchants of old had lived like local princelings," Iyer wrote, "the new arrivals preferred to live like well-heeled Britons. Tom-toms were gradually replaced by fife-and-drum corps, curries by English dishes and local clothes by the latest (or almost latest) London fashions. Country houses complete with tidy gardens began to spring up." There were also some interesting mergings of cultures. First class train compartments in the 1880s were outfit with hookahs and hashish. Servants fixed tea and shined boots.
* Most of the British residents were male. With no English wives to tie them down, these Englishmen were fond of attending parties which featured food, drink, opium and fun with dancing girls who usually doubled as prostitutes. It was customary for unmarried British men to keep an Indian mistress-housekeeper who would also raise their children.
* After the Suez canal opened in 1868, and travel was shorter and easier, married English men and their families became more common and more British women arrived and married the single English men. After that the British community became more self-sufficient and more insular and separated from the India community.
Good Life in Calcutta During the Raj
* Calcutta became a British version of a Mughal palace. Civil servants were brought in on gilded palanquins with silver bells and embroidered curtains to Calcutta's theaters, where they watched English farces from private box with silk canopies. A typical bachelor in 1780 had 65 servants, and no soldier would go to battle without a steward, cook, housekeeper, washerman, a mistress and 15 servants who carried his bed, tent, luggage, wine, tables, live poultry and other necessities. [Source: Pico Iyer, Smithsonian magazine, January 1988]
* The well-heeled English crowd would spend their morning going to the racetrack; their early afternoons napping in the sweltering heat; their late afternoon cruising the embankment in their carriages; and their evening playing card games and attending balls and dinner parties. Ice cream was delivered from Maine in clipper ships and unmarried girls from England were brought over in cool weather on what later was nicknamed the Fishing Fleet (unmarried returned Empties took the journey home).
* Drinks were kept cool with ice made in a novel way. In the early 18th century Indians were able to make ice when the temperature was above freezing as a result of cooling evaporation. The water was poured into bowls in the ground where it froze as some of the water evaporated during the night. In 1828 over 120 tons of ice was produced in this fashion. The supply, which was stored in pits covered by thatch roofs, lasted more than six months.
Disease and Life in India
* Many Englishmen didn't last long enough to enjoy these fruits in a climate where "two monsoons was the age of a man." Many dropped dead in the first six months from cholera, malaria, heatstroke, small pox, cobra bites or accidents. Others wasted away more slowly from syphilis, exotic jungle diseases and doctors who treated cholera with a red hot iron on the heel. Bombay was known as the "burying ground of the English."
* The average lifespan for an Englishman in India was 31, for an Englishwoman just 28. At one point six out of every seven officers was claimed by dysentery, typhoid, cholera or malaria. British soldiers were urged not to stay past a limit of two monsoons. One military doctor calculated that a soldier was five times more likely to die in India than in England.
* Methods for treating and avoiding disease left a lot to be desired. The English didn't boil their water but insisted on wearing red flannel underwear even in the sweltering heat.
Hill Stations
* In the intense Indian summers, the English gentry and their servants fled the cities for the hill stations in the cooler mountains. The British built 96 hill stations in India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Burma. The Dutch built some in Indonesia, the French in Vietnam and the Americans in the Philippines. Most were built between 1820 and 1885. Simla, the largest hill station, was the capital of British India for most of the year and headquarters for the imperial army.
* The first hill stations were built in 1820 after it was discovered that British soldiers fighting Gurhkas in the foothills of the Himalayas felt better and came down with less diseases in the high altitude than soldiers stationed at low altitudes.
* The hill stations began as sanatoriums and convalescent centers, but it wasn’t long before they became places where healthy upper class people went to escape the heat of the lowland plains. Most of the hill stations were located above 6,000 feet because that seemed to be the ceiling of malaria-carrying mosquitos. Naturally cool air proved to be the perfect remedy for a world where air conditioning, insect repellant and antibiotics had not been invented.
* Most hill stations were built on ridge tops. Now, while this had its advantages in fighting disease. It was not practical for supplying water, especially when trees were cut down and ground water levels drops. In the early days there were no scenic train rides. Visitors were brought up the slopes in bullock carts, on horseback, or in sedan chair...
This is a story as told to me by my grandmother.in those days the people who served in the British army especially the English men would come on horses randomly in any village.she was around fourteen years old when one of her friends was playing with her in the farm outside the village.one britisher came and just took away grandmother's friend because she was beautiful, literally dragging her through the village bylanes and nobody dared to raise a voice against that fellow.dadi never got to see or hear about her friend again and she was married off to my grandfather before something like that
This is a story as told to me by my grandmother.in those days the people who served in the British army especially the English men would come on horses randomly in any village.she was around fourteen years old when one of her friends was playing with her in the farm outside the village.one britisher came and just took away grandmother's friend because she was beautiful, literally dragging her through the village bylanes and nobody dared to raise a voice against that fellow.dadi never got to see or hear about her friend again and she was married off to my grandfather before something like that happened to her.
During British colonial rule, India suffered in various ways, and some of these impacts continue to affect the country today:
- Economic Exploitation: British colonial policies, such as heavy taxation, land revenue systems, and the exploitation of resources, led to economic stagnation and impoverishment in India. While some infrastructure developments occurred, they primarily served British interests rather than benefiting the Indian population as a whole. The legacy of economic exploitation has contributed to persistent poverty and inequality in India.
- Social Inequality: British rule exacerbated
During British colonial rule, India suffered in various ways, and some of these impacts continue to affect the country today:
- Economic Exploitation: British colonial policies, such as heavy taxation, land revenue systems, and the exploitation of resources, led to economic stagnation and impoverishment in India. While some infrastructure developments occurred, they primarily served British interests rather than benefiting the Indian population as a whole. The legacy of economic exploitation has contributed to persistent poverty and inequality in India.
- Social Inequality: British rule exacerbated social hierarchies and caste-based discrimination in Indian society. The British favored certain groups, such as the upper castes and wealthy landowners, while marginalizing and exploiting lower castes and indigenous communities. Despite efforts to address social inequalities, caste-based discrimination remains a significant issue in India today, impacting access to education, employment, and social mobility.
- Cultural Suppression: British colonial policies aimed to impose Western cultural norms and values on Indian society, undermining indigenous cultures and traditions. While India has retained much of its cultural heritage, the legacy of cultural suppression is evident in aspects such as language, education, and legal systems. Efforts to reclaim and preserve indigenous cultures and languages continue in contemporary India.
- Political Oppression: British colonial rule in India was characterized by authoritarianism and repression of dissent. While India gained independence in 1947, the legacy of political oppression persists in challenges to democratic governance, freedom of expression, and human rights. India continues to grapple with issues such as government censorship, corruption, and political violence.
- Famines and Economic Disruption: British colonial policies contributed to frequent famines and economic disruption in India, leading to widespread suffering and loss of life. While India has made significant progress in addressing food security and economic development since independence, challenges such as poverty, malnutrition, and rural displacement persist, particularly in marginalized communities.
- Divide and Rule: British colonial strategies of "divide and rule" exacerbated communal tensions and divisions among the Indian population. While India achieved independence through a united struggle against colonialism, communalism and identity-based politics remain significant challenges in contemporary India. Communal violence, religious intolerance, and caste conflicts continue to undermine social cohesion and stability.
- Resource Drain: The British prioritized extracting resources like cotton and tea for their own industries. This left India with fewer resources for its own development.
- Deindustrialization: Competition from cheap, mass-produced British goods destroyed traditional Indian industries like textiles and handicrafts. Millions of artisans lost their livelihoods.
- Land Revenue Policies: Harsh land taxes imposed by the British led to widespread poverty and famines, especially when cash crops were prioritized over food production.
- Discrimination: A rigid racial hierarchy placed the British at the top and Indians as subjects. This led to segregation and unequal treatment in education, employment, and legal systems.
- Disruption of Traditional Society: The British introduced Western education systems and social reforms that challenged traditional Indian social structures, sometimes creating tensions within society.
- Loss of Self-Rule: Indian kingdoms and princely states were either annexed or brought under British control, leading to a loss of Indian political autonomy.
- Suppression of Dissent: The British suppressed any movements or rebellions against their rule, often with brutal force. This stifled political participation by Indians.
British rule in India left a legacy of economic stagnation, social inequalities, and a deep sense of resentment that fueled the Indian independence movement. While there were some improvements in infrastructure, these came at a high cost to India's overall development and self-determination.
Overall, it harmed Bharat in Many Ways, even till this day we are still recovering.
Same as today: great if you were rich, awful if you were poor and sick. Who rules you is of philosophical importance ; people almost always prefer to be ruled by people who are “like them”. In a society as diverse as the subcontinent, many people are going to be ruled by people who are very different from their peer group. Would you like to be a Muslim in Delhi now? Are the people of Nagaland truly at the centre of attention of the national government? Were the cotton mill workers of Manchester better off than the traders of Bombay? Did the tenant farmers of Scotland benefit significantly from
Same as today: great if you were rich, awful if you were poor and sick. Who rules you is of philosophical importance ; people almost always prefer to be ruled by people who are “like them”. In a society as diverse as the subcontinent, many people are going to be ruled by people who are very different from their peer group. Would you like to be a Muslim in Delhi now? Are the people of Nagaland truly at the centre of attention of the national government? Were the cotton mill workers of Manchester better off than the traders of Bombay? Did the tenant farmers of Scotland benefit significantly from the ”British” domination of Bengal? Did Gandhi and Jinnah profit from their education being London-trained barristers? Forget the “British India” thing: it's not that simple.
Jallianwallah Baugh Massacre, Amritsar, 1919
Here is what a UK newspaper has to say about the British Raj: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/worst-atrocities-british-empire-amritsar-boer-war-concentration-camp-mau-mau-a6821756.html
Anyone who claims the British rule was overall good for India stands against those very same human r...
Jallianwallah Baugh Massacre, Amritsar, 1919
Here is what a UK newspaper has to say about the British Raj: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/worst-atrocities-british-empire-amritsar-boer-war-concentration-camp-mau-mau-a6821756.html
Anyone who claims the British rule was overall good for India stands against those very same human r...
They created the Aryan Indian Theory (AIT). In truth, all Indians are from India and the AIT is totally false. The British were a colonizer, all they did was to use their colon to turn it to shit. But India has become a stronger economy now in all spheres than Britain. Military, space, money, intelligence and all. All the British did was to drink beer and consume narcotics thereby degrading their brains and therefore are unable to do anything right today. India is currently playing down its military power. With simple common sense, you should know that with nuclear submarines, their navy could
They created the Aryan Indian Theory (AIT). In truth, all Indians are from India and the AIT is totally false. The British were a colonizer, all they did was to use their colon to turn it to shit. But India has become a stronger economy now in all spheres than Britain. Military, space, money, intelligence and all. All the British did was to drink beer and consume narcotics thereby degrading their brains and therefore are unable to do anything right today. India is currently playing down its military power. With simple common sense, you should know that with nuclear submarines, their navy could be next to your country and your military will not know about it. If India can send a spaceship to mars, she can definitely send it accurately to any spot on earth, loaded with nuclear weapons. We do allow a robber and a killer like Valmiki to be a sage, we don't refuse; all are redeemable.
Great life. Best life. Have anything you want. Wine women wealth. Have 10 servants working for a couple. Women servants often treated like concubines. How many million India as Anglo saxons ? Small percentage was married
they were the law or new Raja Saheb. Their word was the law. Laws were twisted even if they committed rape or murder. They could shoot anyone anywhere the law would protect them. They won’t pick up a stick all the servants did. If they had their inhuman ego Indians would wipe off their arses after shitting . The horse keepers would run along with Sahebs ride. The English they t
Great life. Best life. Have anything you want. Wine women wealth. Have 10 servants working for a couple. Women servants often treated like concubines. How many million India as Anglo saxons ? Small percentage was married
they were the law or new Raja Saheb. Their word was the law. Laws were twisted even if they committed rape or murder. They could shoot anyone anywhere the law would protect them. They won’t pick up a stick all the servants did. If they had their inhuman ego Indians would wipe off their arses after shitting . The horse keepers would run along with Sahebs ride. The English they taught Indians was like that —-respectfully I beg you to grant me leave. I beg to state that. Or. In the end your trusted servant . These words were seen in government files for 30/40 years also after independence
well imagine. As much as you want
Answering this question means we must look at what was before British Rule, and what came after.
Right from the beginning of their relationship with India, the British, who had come as traders and had become rulers and administrators, had influenced the economic and political systems of the country.
Their impact on the cultural and social life of India was, however, gradual.
Till 1813, they followed a policy of non-interference in the social and cultural life of the Indians. Yet, changes were taking place in these fields (the social life of Indians).
Education:
Initially, the East India Company did
Answering this question means we must look at what was before British Rule, and what came after.
Right from the beginning of their relationship with India, the British, who had come as traders and had become rulers and administrators, had influenced the economic and political systems of the country.
Their impact on the cultural and social life of India was, however, gradual.
Till 1813, they followed a policy of non-interference in the social and cultural life of the Indians. Yet, changes were taking place in these fields (the social life of Indians).
Education:
Initially, the East India Company did not think that it was its duty to educate Indians. It allowed the old system of education to continue. Pathsalas, which imparted a special type of education geared towards meeting the requirements of a rural society, were open to all. Sanskrit education was imparted in tols. Muslims attended Madrasas. Higher education was confined primarily to upper castes. This system of education was eventually changed by the British.
Around the beginning of the 19th century, the Company became aware of the need for introducing Western education in India. However, Christian missionaries, who were interested in spreading Christianity through education, had already established several educational institutions which were attached to their churches.
The Charter Act of 1813 directed the Company to spend one lakh rupees on the education of Indians. But even this meagre amount could not be utilised because of a raging debate over the medium of instruction. Orientalists advocated the traditional Indian learning through the medium of the classical languages of Sanskrit and Perisan. The Anglicists, on the other hand, argued that Western education should be imparted through the medium of English. In the end, it was a mixture of both, with the British adopting many aspects of Indian culture including vocabulary in to the English language.
Thomas Macaulay, the first law member in the Governor General’s Council, promoted the English language as a tool for educating the people in Western thought and ideals (Macaulay’s Minute of 1835). William Bentinck supported Macaulay’s views. In 1835, the government passed an Act declaring that educational funds would be utilised for imparting Western education through the medium of English.
In 1844, English became the official language and it was declared that people having knowledge of English would be preferred for public employment. This helped the spread of English education in India. In 1854, Charles Wood, the President of the Company’s Board of Control, worked out a plan for educational reorganisation. Through the Wood’s Despatch the Government declared its intention of “creating a properly articulated system of education from the primary school to the university”.
In accordance with the Wood’s Despatch universities were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras (1857). In 1858 Charles Wood Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the famous Bengali writer became one of the first two graduates of Calcutta University.
The Government’s educational policies educated a limited number of people. English education was promoted in keeping with Macaulay’s Minute though, eventually, vernacular education and mass education were both given importance. The traditional Pathsalas withered away as a new system of elementary education was put in its place. However, the emphasis was on higher education. English education, too, continued to flourish.
It must be remembered that the need for low- ranking English-knowing Indian clerks was one of the main reasons that prompted the government to take steps to spread Western education. Employing educated Indians was necessary because of the need to man an expanding bureaucracy. But it is important to stress, education was not limited to solely obtaining a career in the civil service.
Employing Englishmen at all levels of the administration was both expensive and difficult. Above all, the idea was to create a class which would be “Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals, in intellect.” Besides, Western education was expected to reconcile the people of India to British rule particularly as it glorified British rule.
Western education, however, influenced Indian society in a way that the British could never have imagined. Theories of philosophers like John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Adam Smith and Voltaire instilled in the Indian mind notions of freedom, liberty, equality and democracy. As a result of the exposure to such ideas, Indians began to recognise the need for change.
The imposition of English in the education system was a blessing in disguise. Indians from diverse regions speaking different languages could now communicate with each other through the medium of English. English thus united the educated Indians and brought about a feeling of oneness among them. A spirit of nationalism gradually emerged.
Rediscovery of India’s past by the British:
In order to rule India effectively, an understanding of her past traditions and culture was required. Sanskrit was promoted and several educational institutions were set up for that purpose. Many European scholars and government employees became increasingly interested in Indian languages.
William Jones founded the Asiatic Society. Jones himself was a great scholar of Sanskrit. He translated some ancient Indian works like the Manu Smriti. Many of Jones’ scholarly articles on Sanskrit and Indian past were published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
Charles Wilkins translated the Bhagavad Gita into English. Max Mueller translated the Rig Veda. The Archaeological Survey of India was set up due to the efforts of Alexander Cunningham and John Marshall. James Princep deciphered the Ashokan inscriptions which were written in Brahmi.
India’s rich and glorious history, as revealed by Western scholars, helped Indians to regain their lost pride and confidence and contributed to the development of nationalism.
Social changes and reforms under the British:
The demand for social and religious reform that manifested itself in the early decades of the 19th century partly arose as a response to Western education and culture. India’s contact with the West made educated Indians realise that socio-religious reform was a prerequisite for the all-round development of the country.
Educated Indians like Raja Rammohan Roy worked systematically to eradicate social evils. A period of social reforms began in India during the time of Governor General Lord William Bentinck (1828-35) who was helped by Rammohan Roy.
In 1829, Sati or the practice of burning a widow with her dead husband was made illegal or punishable by law. Female infanticide was banned. However, even today, infanticide is practised in backward areas in India.
Slavery, a practice that long predated the arrival of the British, was declared illegal. With Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar’s assistance, the Widow Remarriage Act was passed by Lord Dalhousie in 1856. Vidyasagar also campaigned against child marriage and polygamy.The cruel custom of offering little children as sacrifice to please God, practised by certain tribes, was banned by Governor General Lord Hardinge is important to note that since the reform movement started in Bengal, its impact was first felt here. It took time to spread it all over India.
Impact in the area of transport and communication:
The East India Company was primarily a trading concern. Commercial interests guided British policy in India. Though the Company’s political domination increased, its trading interests were never lost sight of. As the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, the manufacturing class became very powerful in England.
They now wanted the government to promote the sale of machine- manufactured British goods, especially British textiles. At the same time raw materials were imported from India to feed the growing needs of British industries.
Instead of exporting manufactured products, India was now forced to export raw materials like raw cotton and raw silk and plantation products like indigo and tea, or foodgrains which were in short supply in Britain. The demands of an industrialised England necessitated better communication facilities in the colonies.
Up to the middle of the 19th century, the means of transport in India were backward. Goods were transported by road mainly by bullock-carts, mules and camels. Riverine transport by boats was also prevalent. Due to poor communication and slow transport the volume of trade was restricted.
The British rulers soon realised that a cheaper, faster and more efficient system of transport was necessary if British manufactured goods were to flow into India on a large scale and her raw materials were to be secured for British industries.
They introduced steamships on the rivers and set about improving roads. Work on the Grand Trunk Road from Calcutta to Delhi was begun in 1839 and completed in the 1850s. Important commercial centres and areas rich in raw materials were connected by a network of roads and canals. But the most dramatic improvement in transport came with the introduction of the railways.
A railway system had rapidly developed in England during the 1830s and 1840s. Pressure soon mounted for its introduction in India. British manufacturers hoped to open up the vast and hitherto untapped market in the hinterlands for their finished goods and to facilitate the import of Indian raw materials to feed their ever hungry machines.
British bankers and investors also looked upon the development of the railways in India as a channel for the safe investment of their surplus capital. British steel manufacturers regarded it as an outlet for their products like rails, engines, wagons etc. The first railway line from Bombay to Thana was opened to traffic in 1853.
Lord Dalhousie, in particular, stressed the importance of railways for trade and for the maintenance of law and order. The railways would enable the government to administer the country more effectively. The railways would also enable the government to mobilize military troops. In 1853, Lord Dalhousie outlined an extensive programme of railway development. The interiors were to be linked with big ports and the ports were to be connected. By the end of 1869, over 4000 miles of railway track had been laid.
However, in their planning, construction and management, there is nothing to suggest that India’s own interest and well-being were taken into account. The primary consideration was to serve the economic, administrative and military interests of the British people. The railway travel of Indians between the important city centres grew only as a by-product.
The telegraph and postal systems:
The introduction of the railways, telegraph and postal system linked different parts of India and promoted an exchange of ideas among the people, especially among her leaders. The first telegraph line from Calcutta to Agra was opened in 1853. The Post and Telegraph Department was also established in the same year. A half-anna postage stamp would carry a letter from one part of the country to another.
The improvement in communications eventually helped to foster a sense of unity among Indians. The concept of the country as a whole now took precedence over regional and provincial isolationism. Books, journals and newspapers circulated widely and were now easily available to educated Indians all over the country.
The introduction of the railways in particular helped to break down barriers of religion and caste. People from different religions and social backgrounds, while travelling in a railway compartment, mingled with one another thereby challenging the age- old orthodox notions of untouchability, caste- based eating habits etc. These are the fundamental gains for the development of Indian nationalism.
Land continued to be the main source of revenue for the British. Since tax on land formed the main source of income for the Company, the British tried to introduce an efficient system of its collection. In 1765, by the Treaty of Allahabad, the East India Company got the right to collect revenue from Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
In 1773, when Warren Hastings became the Governor General of India, he introduced the system of auctioning the right of collecting revenue for a period of five years. The right was given to the highest bidders but they were often unable to collect the stipulated revenue. In a bid to retain their contracts, they tried to extract money from peasants.
The Permanent Settlement (1793 A.D.):
To remove the defects of the revenue system, Lord Cornwallis introduced a new system of revenue collection in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, known as the Permanent Settlement. Under this system, the zamindar or the revenue collector of an estate became the permanent holder of the land.
The zamindar gained hereditary rights over the land. He was required to pay a fixed amount of revenue as tax to the Company by a fixed day of the year. If he failed to pay by the fixed day, his zamindari would be confiscated and sold. The cultivators now became tenants of the zamindars. They could be evicted by the zamindars for non-payment of their dues. Many of them lost their land.
The Permanent Settlement benefited the landlords more than the government. The Company was assured of fixed revenue at a fixed time no doubt, but it was deprived of a share of any additional income of the landlords from increasing cultivation on land. The cultivators were also left at the mercy of the zamindars who exploited them.
Mahalwari System:
The Mahalwari System was introduced in Punjab, parts of Madhya Pradesh and Western Uttar Pradesh. It was a settlement with the village community because common ownership of land prevailed in these areas. (Mahal means group of villages.) The talukdar or head of the mahal was responsible for collecting revenue from the villages.
The Ryotwari System:
In the Madras Presidency, Ryotwari System was introduced. In this system direct settlement was made between the Government and the cultivators or the ryots. Land revenue was fixed for a period of 30 years. Peasants had to pay about half of the total produce as tax.
British officers in India actually lived rather well before 1947, and it’s a subject I’m very familiar with. I’ve also lived in India, myself - as a foreigner - for long stretches, so I have some personal experience, too.
To begin with, forget the U.S. Army’s notion that soldiers should not adapt to the country they’re deployed to. Also, forget the whole concept of “deployed.”
If you were a British officer assigned to India, especially to the Indian Army, that was a career - India was going to be your new home until you resigned, retired, or died there. You had to hope you liked it. Home leave,
British officers in India actually lived rather well before 1947, and it’s a subject I’m very familiar with. I’ve also lived in India, myself - as a foreigner - for long stretches, so I have some personal experience, too.
To begin with, forget the U.S. Army’s notion that soldiers should not adapt to the country they’re deployed to. Also, forget the whole concept of “deployed.”
If you were a British officer assigned to India, especially to the Indian Army, that was a career - India was going to be your new home until you resigned, retired, or died there. You had to hope you liked it. Home leave, prior to the 1860s, was permitted only once every 10 years. At ten year intervals, you were permitted to take 3 years to go home and do whatever it was you needed to do, and that included about a year of traveling back and forth. You also had to pay for your own transport - the better part of a year’s salary - and you were on half-pay while absent.
Upon arrival in India, one of the first things a young British officer would do was hire a dubash or a khansamah. A dubash was an interpreter, who would take over the management of your affairs: he could hire servants, find a house, get you a loan, etc., whatever you required. Eventually, army regulations forbade the use of dubashes, but those duties usually were taken over (at least in part) by the khansamah, or head servant - a kind of Indian butler. An officer’s servants would do his grocery shopping and prepare his food - generally Indian cuisine. You had to get used to eating spicy food, yogurt, etc., but this is how you stay healthy in India as your body adjusts to new… well, everything.
Interestingly, water was not as much of a problem in the past as it is today for foreigners. I’ve read hundreds of accounts of foreigners traveling to India from Britain, and none of them ever refer to the water making them ill, possibly because most of them came from London, which probably had the most polluted and dangerous water in the world already. Plus, the Georgian and Victorian stomach was a lot tougher and more adaptable than modern ones: these were people who lived in a world without antibiotics after all. However, in the larger cities (such as Madras), steps were made to pipe in clean water, and there was also a conservancy department that tried to keep the streets clean.
The question implies that the British needed “life support,” including food. As I’ve noted, above, they mostly ate Indian food, but they did have some specialty items from home, which they craved mainly because it was a “taste” of home. In British India, most foreign personnel were assigned either to a civil station (an administrative center), or to a cantonment (a military base), or to some combination of the two. There were also the “presidency” capitals - Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay - from which the three major political divisions of British India were governed. In these three cities, there were “Europe shops” that imported all sorts of items from Europe, and they kept up stocks mainly by purchasing “private trade” goods.
The East India Company had a monopoly of trade between Britain and India until 1813, but its sailors were allowed “privilege in the hold” as part of their pay: for an ordinary sailor, this would mean one seaman’s chest full of non-monopoly goods; for an officer, it might be 4–10 tons of cargo space. Since such people traveled out to India frequently, they knew what was in demand, so they’d bring out everything from buttons, pins, and corsets to “pipes” of Madeira, cheese, sausages, etc. The four-to-six month journey back and forth across the Equator actually improved the Madeira, but I doubt if the same was true for the cheese and sausage. In any event, these things were available in the “presidency” capitals, and there were also Europe shops at some of the bigger “up country” or “mofussil” stations. Needless to say, you often paid ten times the price you would have paid back home, in England.
The British didn’t always eat Indian fare, however. An Indian cook who wanted to endear himself to his employer usually learned how to make - or closely approximate - British dishes. Indeed, once learned, these tricks were passed down through cooks’ families. My university used to employ an elderly man named Appalaswamy to cook at the program house for study-abroad students in Hyderabad. He had been born in 1914, and he had actually been a servant for the British before Independence. He thus had one skill that endeared him to many an American student: the knowledge of how to make a good apple pie. Needless to say, before long he was sporting the name “Apple Swamy.” I’ll always remember him fondly for nursing me back to health when I became very ill, and for eventually helping me get my flat set up, even to coming with me while we pushed an old cycle-rickshaw loaded with my stuff over to the new place. He also came right back at me with a nickname: “Triple Cup Man,” because I always liked to have three cups of chai.
After the East India Company lost its monopoly, in 1813, the old system of supplies continued until the 1830s, when private trade between Britain and India finally took up the slack. In the 1840s, the number of “unofficial” Europeans in India began to increase, significantly, and this was propelled by the establishment of the P&O, the Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Co., which ran vessels between Britain and India via Egypt: the Suez Canal didn’t open until 1869–1870, but the British had set up an overland crossing between Alexandria and Suez, via Cairo. In 1853–1858, they also built a railway along that route. By the P&O “Overland Route,” as it was called, you could travel from London to Bombay in 5 weeks, to Madras in 6 weeks, and to Calcutta in a little less than 7 weeks. Every month, the P&O’s scheduled steamers brought out about 4–5 tons of mail, parcels, and packages to British India.
Significantly, the cuisine aboard P&O ships east of Suez was often Indian, and prepared by Indian cooks. In fact, Britons who retired to England often brought Indian cooks home with them, and sought out the ingredients to keep up their Indianized dietary habits. The East India Club, in fact, was rather famous for its curry dinners, and even in the early 19th century London could boast of at least a few Indian restaurants.
From the late 1820s on, the British also developed Hill Stations in India. These were holiday retreats, located in picturesque mountain locations, where it was cooler during the summer months. Over time, the British literally “terraformed” the hills around these stations, growing all sorts of temperate climate fruits and vegetables that they otherwise could not obtain in India. I remember visiting an experimental farm at one of these stations, back in the mid-1990s, and having the overseer bring me a sampling of apples. He wanted to know if he was “getting them right,” and figured that I - as a foreigner - would know.
What about alcohol? To begin with, the British imported a lot of Madeira to India, preferring it over most other wines because it keeps well in tropical heat. As for reds, Constantia wines from South Africa were popular and also easy to import, as nearly every East Indiaman touched at Cape Town on the way out to India. Initially, beer was imported into India to provision British troops and sailors, but when the British finally began to take over highland areas in India, they immediately set up their own breweries. In fact, India Pale Ale was essentially invented to provide a lighter, more refreshing beer suitable for tropical conditions. Earlier, British troops had often binged on arrack and “toddy.” Toddy is made from distilled palm sap, and all I can say is that it goes down as easily as lemonade when it’s fresh, but the resulting hangover is like the aftermath of way, way too many tequila shots. Needless to say, such drink did no favors for the British Army, and they were keen to replace toddy and arrack with beer. Initially, the British adopted Mughal methods of making artificial ice, but in the 1840s the Tudor Co., from Massachusetts, began to import American ice to India, where it was stored in special “ice houses.” By the 1860s, however, the P&O had imported ice-making machinery, setting up the first plant at its shipyard in Bombay.
What about meat? For the most part, the British - especially in north India - ate a modified version of Mughlai cuisine, which included a lot of pilaf-like dishes that contained meat, such as briyani, or biriyani (spellings vary a lot in India). If you were traveling “up country” before the railways were built, the stage stops, or dak bungalows, invariably served a chicken curry that the British called “sudden death” - not because it was bad, necessarily, but because the cook who manned the dak bungalow often went out back and killed the poor chicken as soon as someone arrived, so he could get to work making dinner while the “sahib” enjoyed a Bass Pale Ale. The attendants at dak bungalows cooked and sold drinks as a side-line.
To provide markets with something other than “jungle chicken,” goat, and dried fish like “Bombay duck,” the British often set up poultry farms, etc., which did a thriving business, especially near large cities. Beef was also available, being used primarily to make “bully beef” for the British Army. In the 1860s, however, the slaughter of cattle for the Army began to become a political issue, and although it continued, it had to be done almost in secret. You can find butchers’ shops with beef in them in India, today, but they’re not the most hygienic places, being swarmed with flies, and they’re often hidden out of plain view.
In the latter half of the 19th century, imported canned provisions became available, and British life in India became increasingly more Western with the introduction of railways, electricity, refrigeration, motorized ceiling fans, telephone exchanges, quinine, etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, motor cars and airplanes also appeared, and after the First World War it became possible to fly between Britain and India in a matter of days, although most people still traveled back and forth with the P&O.
Interestingly, India’s first modern mall, Spencer Plaza (now sadly in decay) started out as a Europe shop in Madras (Chennai) in the early 19th century. When I first went to India, in the mid-1990s, Western foodstuffs could only be found in odd little specialty shops. I recall one, the Star Market, that used to be near the Connemara Library in Chennai (if I’m not mistaken), that used to sell all sorts of goodies, although where on earth they came from is anyone’s guess. Nothing had an expiration date, and one got the impression that it wouldn’t do to ask too many questions. Today, however, there’s no need for such shops: India makes its own versions of almost all Western-style food products (not necessarily a good thing, health-wise), and these are available in just about any grocery store.
To end this on an interesting note, during World War II, on the Burma front, Indian Army rations became very popular with Australian and British troops - so much so that curry rations began to be mixed in with their regular food. The kind of food that feels comforting in a relatively cool, damp climate like England’s isn’t necessarily what you want when you’re in hot, steamy Calcutta, sweating out the moisture in your body as fast as you can replenish it. There was a time, in the 17th century, when the English tried to eat like Englishmen in India, and it didn’t work too well; they soon came up with a saying - “two monsoons.” In other words, two years was how long you could expect to live, eating and drinking like that. Once the British adopted a more Indianized lifestyle, their death rates plunged. However, the idea that India was some kind of death sentence hung on, for a long time, because it often seemed that way. Statistically, however, you were safer in India than you were in London. That data, however, didn’t exist until the late 18th century.
What was it like in British India I don't know but what convid9 or Coronavirus has done to Prince of British is interesting.
Taught brits how to do a Namaste.
Welcoming guy puts his hand forward for shaking. Prince instead wishes him Namaste.
Person joins in
Prince meets new ones.
As in teaching them how to perfect it. Others who have no idea probably what's namaste have to greet him back.
Okay
And More
Well
Prince will be an Interesting Ambassador for India.
Bonus
What was it like in British India I don't know but what convid9 or Coronavirus has done to Prince of British is interesting.
Taught brits how to do a Namaste.
Welcoming guy puts his hand forward for shaking. Prince instead wishes him Namaste.
Person joins in
Prince meets new ones.
As in teaching them how to perfect it. Others who have no idea probably what's namaste have to greet him back.
Okay
And More
Well
Prince will be an Interesting Ambassador for India.
Bonus
It was the coolest thing to pay 50% to 120% tax.
Even more cool was that mother who fed cocaine to her pal to make him sleep all the day so that she could arrange 50% tax(if lucky).
Farmers felt energized when they started having British institutionalized ration system for alcohol/opium so that his pal may get the proper sleep (of course, not food).
Kids were given Moksha by their mother just after taking birth, thus no pain. 14 hrs of working hrs/day.
34% mines laborers women, half of which minors smoking black coal inside Mother Land. I love British for that.
Indians with an average salary of 3$/
It was the coolest thing to pay 50% to 120% tax.
Even more cool was that mother who fed cocaine to her pal to make him sleep all the day so that she could arrange 50% tax(if lucky).
Farmers felt energized when they started having British institutionalized ration system for alcohol/opium so that his pal may get the proper sleep (of course, not food).
Kids were given Moksha by their mother just after taking birth, thus no pain. 14 hrs of working hrs/day.
34% mines laborers women, half of which minors smoking black coal inside Mother Land. I love British for that.
Indians with an average salary of 3$/month, obviously salary was meant to pay tax. Food was always there, but we never had enough money.
It was hell lot of fun, when we saw our own businesses being killed mercilessly in front of our eyes.They ridiculously forced our business shut down. They used our country to sell their products by killing the competition using viceroy powers.
Indian raw fabric of all kind was sent to Lancashire mills, so that they can develop their countries. Millions of skilled laborers went jobless and workless, because we were forced.
In 1911 and 1916, education Bills were presented by Patel and some other centre legislature. They were all turned down by the then viceroy.
While the Bengal, Bihar and Assam were burning after bengal parition 1905, we again suffered due to plague in 1918, where 2500000 (twenty five lakh) people dies in a single year.
They institutionalized corruption creating a new class among us who hates being called Bhartiya.
A lot to say.
But past is just a teacher for future.
We must learn from the past. History may repeat itself.
During the British rule about 100,000 Englishmen ruled India of about 20 crores. Now about 1 million top Indians rule Indian population of 140 crores. Standard of living of each is a bit higher. Some Indians laid down their lives for independence. That is all the difference there was.
Bharat was a flourishing culture and nature, even though battered by Islamic invasions, it was coming of age defeating and bringing Islamic invaders to their knees eventually after 400yrs of Hindu genocide (200billion hindus killed in this span). Before, the nation can revert to its evovled living style, the Britsh, Dutch and French attacked, obviously with their nefarious intentions. ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’, to spreading lies about caste discrimination to directly being responsible for famines killing 4–5lakhs one at a time. Abolishing the Gurukul culture. Creating 2 nation just to sho
Bharat was a flourishing culture and nature, even though battered by Islamic invasions, it was coming of age defeating and bringing Islamic invaders to their knees eventually after 400yrs of Hindu genocide (200billion hindus killed in this span). Before, the nation can revert to its evovled living style, the Britsh, Dutch and French attacked, obviously with their nefarious intentions. ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’, to spreading lies about caste discrimination to directly being responsible for famines killing 4–5lakhs one at a time. Abolishing the Gurukul culture. Creating 2 nation just to show that after they are gone, no nation could function properly. Making economically rich nation to poverished in a matter of 100yrs…. I would say it was adventurous. To sum it up spare a few minutes on this video
I don't know if British rule till today would have been good or bad but I would like to point out :
- Britain's prosperity did not come primarily at the cost of India. India was an economic superpower but lost out due to its late entry into the Industrial age. There is a lot of nationalist propaganda which unfairly portrays India as an extreme victim and propagates the fallacy that economic progress is a zero-sum game.
- On a similar note, USA was not built on the backs of slaves. Slaves are nowhere as productive as free citizens working for profit and for their own fulfillment. The contribution
I don't know if British rule till today would have been good or bad but I would like to point out :
- Britain's prosperity did not come primarily at the cost of India. India was an economic superpower but lost out due to its late entry into the Industrial age. There is a lot of nationalist propaganda which unfairly portrays India as an extreme victim and propagates the fallacy that economic progress is a zero-sum game.
- On a similar note, USA was not built on the backs of slaves. Slaves are nowhere as productive as free citizens working for profit and for their own fulfillment. The contribution of slaves to USA's success is small. The most important factor that made USA(and Great Britain too) in that age(1800s), an economic superpower was the fact that they had free trade and an open society that worshiped and exploited new technology and ideas. Simply put, people whether, rich or poor, were free to start their own businesses for profit without Govt.s trying to stop or regulate them. Had slavery and racism been abolished earlier, these slaves too would have been far more productive as free owners and employees working to improve their own lot.
- India benefited from the period of 1857 to around 1910 thanks to the exposure to new technology and new social ideas. Much of what we take for granted was adopted in India during that time, right from trains, telegraphs, colleges and steel plants. Of course it would have been even better if the British treated India and her citizens with more respect. But to say our standard of living declined during that time is completely wrong. We too did well, but USA and Britain did far better, which led to our losing the 25% market share. The pie grew much larger while our share did not grow as fast.
- I can not say if things would have been the same regardless had the British not come. But given the way things were, I would bet that our kings would not have bothered with new technology and ideas, and kept squabbling like they always did. But there could have been a leader who could have catapulted us into the forefront. But can not say.
- It is without a doubt that social change in India was greatly affected by the British. Despite their superiority complex, I think they treated us better than most Brahmin/Kshatriya and Muslim kings and noblemen of the past. Don't base your views on those one-sided patriotic movies that show the British as purely oppressive force. Check the facts, the legislations and the views of the British rulers. They are in stark contrast to what our own kings had in store for us.
- I am an Indian but I am proud of the good things that my British forefathers left for me and India. I do not hold them to different standards just because they weren't Hindu or Muslim or brown colored. We had extremely bad Indian kings who treated the population like filth. Is it better to be subjugated under such kings but be happy that at least we were being subjugated by our own kind? I don't think so.
- As someone quoted Macaulay, I am indeed a person who has been deeply affected by British thoughts and tastes. But so what? Would you prefer me to be deeply affected by Aurangzeb's or even Ashoka's thoughts and tastes? Should I still want monarchy by their descendants and their class systems? Why should I pay homage to these Hindu and Muslim kings by recreating their rule? Should we continue all social ills and backward technologies that our kings used, just because we belong to the same race and the British don't ?
Let's accept the truth : The British dominated the 1800s-1939 because they had better technologies and better ideas. And we should grab them and make our own. As a scientist I am in awe of British scientists and engineers of that era like Newton, Watt, Babbage, Bessemer, Darwin, Dalton etc. who revolutionized technology for all. Should I be ashamed for learning what they did ?
But like I said in the beginning, I don't know how things would have been. Would we be better off and be like Hong Kong or worse off, I really don't know. But one thing is there, among all the rulers we had in India, the British were among the least worse.
British were a burden - Indians carried them on their backs heads down!
British were a burden - Indians carried them on their backs heads down!
Yes. I’m even quite shocked in 21st century people would be defending colonialism when leaders across the world in the middle of the 20th century recognised the horrors of European misadventures. The folks who are justifying colonialism could also try justifying slavery. Not much different.
British rule was horrible for India and any other place they touched. No excuse for that. You don’t need to apologise for your past. But, stop glorifying the horror.
How bad life was?
I will give you the example of Famines. In almost every decade of British rule in India, the country was beset with some famine
Yes. I’m even quite shocked in 21st century people would be defending colonialism when leaders across the world in the middle of the 20th century recognised the horrors of European misadventures. The folks who are justifying colonialism could also try justifying slavery. Not much different.
British rule was horrible for India and any other place they touched. No excuse for that. You don’t need to apologise for your past. But, stop glorifying the horror.
How bad life was?
I will give you the example of Famines. In almost every decade of British rule in India, the country was beset with some famine or the other. And these would kill millions. The Bengal famine of 1943 killed about 3 million. The great famine of 1876 killed nearly 10 million.
Such scale of famines were not seen either before colonialism nor after colonialism. We have had droughts since 1947 (worsened by climate change) but none of them killed 100s of thousands or millions. This was because of terrible agricultural taxation policies that favored the cultivation of cash crops like Indigo in place of food crops. And with very less investment in irrigation and dam building.
I would say millions dying every few years was a bad thing. Unless you are a kind of a sociopath that justifies colonialism.
After 190 years of colonialism, India’s literacy rate in 1947 was 10%. China’s was over double that at that point. Only 40 million literates in all of India. Now, the number is about 800 million. In the 70 years of the Republic era!
One could say being illiterate and disconnected from the world of education was a bad thing. Unless you are a kind of a sociopath that justifies colonialism.
In 1871 British Raj passed an act that turned many Indians, criminals by birth. It was repealed in 1949.
You could be arrested for merely being a part of a tribe and found outside your tribal area.
One could say being arrested unfairly and discriminated by birth was a bad thing. Unless you are a kind of a sociopath that justifies colonialism.
Look at this life expectancy graph:
From 1800 when British took most of India to 1930s, the curve was flat (while it was rapidly growing in many other countries). And nook at how the curve changes from 1950. Dying young and miserable could be seen as a bad thing. You would think. Won’t you?
But, the worst thing that colonialism did was to cut Indians from the world of technology and global advancement of ideas.
Indians in 2021 could adopt any technology and grow in software, clean energy, space, telecom, finance and n-number of other fields. Until 1947, our economic policy was controlled by London and many technologies were delayed because Westminister’s primary mandate was the welfare of its own citizens.
Our people were extremely good at building and implementing technology — throughout our history. But, during the British rule India could bring nothing. For a country that dominated mathematics and mettalurgy and now sending probes to Mars, the colonial period was a time we could not even build a large factory.
During the 19th century, the growing power of technology and modern liberal ideas benefitted European colonial powers, European non-colonial powers (such as Norway), newly freed colonies such as the US and never colonised countries such as Japan. While all these countries grew, the colonised powers skipped all the ideas and languished in poverty. The effect of missing out that 19th century is still being felt. Depending on the size of the country, it takes decades [like in Korea] or a century [like in India] to get fully out of that damage.
Who lived through British time, they are not using Quora. So basically you can get answers from someone like us who heard it from their grand parents.
My grand father told me this one instance about that time-
"Our village was not so big to rule individually by British people. That time there was no electricity . So people used candles . But some times british will pass through village on their horses. So whenever we heard the sound of horses running, all people in village will quench their candles and on that moment there will be no sound of anything. It felt like we are sitting in graveyard."
The evil outweighs any benefits that the occupation might have brought.
- The administrative system was run by British for the benefit of empire. Indian population paid through the nose for her own occupation enriching her ruling class in process. The Bengal famine is just a small sample …
- The administrative apparatus was built to lord over locals not serve them. The same structure survived the peaceful handover and hobbles India to date. It's new rulers became new overlords, than becoming public servants.
- It created a class of India loathing elites who uses a European lense to look at India. The h
The evil outweighs any benefits that the occupation might have brought.
- The administrative system was run by British for the benefit of empire. Indian population paid through the nose for her own occupation enriching her ruling class in process. The Bengal famine is just a small sample …
- The administrative apparatus was built to lord over locals not serve them. The same structure survived the peaceful handover and hobbles India to date. It's new rulers became new overlords, than becoming public servants.
- It created a class of India loathing elites who uses a European lense to look at India. The historians who wrote Indian history textbooks wrote her compendium on Indian History using British and German source materials from previous centuries while sitting a couple of miles from largest collection of original manuscripts.
- It decimated any tradition of diplomatic services. The diplomatic core created by Independent Indian elites were in mold of twitterati without any training in academia or geopolitics.
- It left in its wake deep distrust of anything foreign that continues to poison her polity even today.
That’s rather an open ended question, anyway if you were to say limit it to the 1940’s then the Famine Inquiry Commission, Report on Bengal (1945: Woodhead, Ramamurty, Nanavati, Husain. Aykroyd, Gopalaswami) gives a fair bit of background on the social structures, governance, politics of India in the 1940’s. As do the likes of:
- The collection of East India Company Paintings, in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection.
- Census Of India 1931
- Novels, such as: Kim (novel)
- Movies, such as: Gandhi (film)
- Measuring ancient inequality (English) - World Bank.org
Not forgetting the numerous British Café / Br
That’s rather an open ended question, anyway if you were to say limit it to the 1940’s then the Famine Inquiry Commission, Report on Bengal (1945: Woodhead, Ramamurty, Nanavati, Husain. Aykroyd, Gopalaswami) gives a fair bit of background on the social structures, governance, politics of India in the 1940’s. As do the likes of:
- The collection of East India Company Paintings, in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection.
- Census Of India 1931
- Novels, such as: Kim (novel)
- Movies, such as: Gandhi (film)
- Measuring ancient inequality (English) - World Bank.org
Not forgetting the numerous British Café / British Film Institute documentaries lurking on YouTube, eg.
As do a few of my earlier answers eg.
people who were doing business with them were happy rest were SUFFERER