scholarly journals The Punjab Exhibition of 1881 and Politics of the British Raj

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (Special Issue) ◽  
pp. 40-48
Author(s):  
Punita Kapoor
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Difference ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Traditional Art ◽  
British Raj ◽  
The Arts ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Indian Art

In 1849, Punjab was annexed by the English East India Company. This paper deals with the Punjab Exhibition of 1881, where along with textiles, arts and other local handicrafts of India were put on display. Claiming to revive the indigenous Indian arts, crafts and textiles, the exhibition represents the politics of selected exhibits that catered to the taste1 and choice of the British. The exhibition helps in understanding the objective and importance of conducting imperial exhibitions, as exhibitions were also redefining the European homes. A detailed analysis of the exhibition foregrounds how colonial rule redefined the idea and representation of indigenous handicrafts and art. The indigenous handicraft was also immensely being guided by the European market. Thus, the paper focuses on the aspects and strategy adopted by the British at promoting and preserving Indian art and textile. Moreover, efforts at preservation of the arts got institutionalised in the form of art schools. These were set up for the purpose of promoting and building taste for Indian traditional art in the British markets. The paper attempts to understand how the British shaped the notion of heritage and cultural difference between the coloniser and colonised and the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ through the exhibition. By analyzing the Punjab Exhibition 1881, the paper aims to deal with some pertinent issues such as strategic organisation and representation of the exhibits, as well as the legacy of the exhibition during colonial rule. The paper argues that though the British took to organising exhibitions to promote and preserve Indian art and textile, but in reality, it was a disguise aimed at establishing imperial supremacy over the colonised and maintain a hierarchical relationship of aesthetic and traditional culture between the ruler and the ruled.

The Facilitators I: Policing

2021 ◽  
pp. 69-105
Author(s):  
Deana Heath
Keyword(s):  
Structural Violence ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
British Government ◽  
Police Reform ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Legal Violence ◽  
Set Up

Focusing on the role of atrocity facilitators, particularly colonial officials and the British government, in the governmentalization of torture by the police and other officials in colonial India, this chapter examines the ways in which, following the transfer of India’s governance from the East India Company to the Crown in 1858, the extra-legal violence of torture became systematized as a technology of colonial rule. Beginning with an analysis of what led to the perpetration of torture by state officials, the existence of which had long been known in both India and Britain, to erupt into scandal in 1854, the chapter interrogates how the commission set up to investigate torture led to the emergence of a new facilitatory discourse that served both to deny the existence of torture and the structural violence that underpinned it, as well as to displace blame for it from the colonial regime to its Indian subordinates. The chapter further explores how police reform in the commission’s aftermath was designed not to eradicate torture or ensure the welfare of the Indian populace but to safeguard the coercive and terrorizing powers of the colonial state

With Eyes on the East and Ears on the West: Handel's Orientalist Operas

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen T. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Royal Academy ◽  
East India Company ◽  
George Frideric Handel ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
The West ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The Arts ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
Formal Establishment

After the formal establishment of an Austrian competitor to the English East India Company (eic) in 1722, the English drew on every resource available to force the Austrian company to close down—not only political pressure and extensive pamphleteering but also the arts. Of the fifteen operas presented by the Royal Academy of Music from 1724 to 1728, twelve, including seven by George Frideric Handel, featured settings in the Orient. Chosen by the directors of the Academy, who were also eic directors and investors, these Oriental settings kept the image of the East in front of aristocratic audiences, including important Members of Parliament, who had the power to assist the East India effort.

scholarly journals Useful knowledge, ‘industrial enlightenment’, and the place of India

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxine Berg
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Useful Knowledge ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Great Divergence ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
British State ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractResearch is now turning to the missing place of technology and ‘useful knowledge’ in the debate on the ‘great divergence’ between East and West. Parallel research in the history of science has sought the global dimensions of European knowledge. Joel Mokyr's recentThe Enlightened Economy(2009) argued the place of an exceptional ‘industrial enlightenment’ in Europe in explaining industrialization there, but neglected the wide geographic framework of European investigation of the arts and manufactures. This article presents two case studies of European industrial travellers who accessed and described Indian crafts and industries at the time of Britain's industrial revolution and Europe's Enlightenment discourse on crafts and manufactures. The efforts of Anton Hove and Benjamin Heyne to ‘codify’ the ‘tacit’ knowledge of a part of the world distant from Europe were hindered by the English East India Company and the British state. Their accounts, only published much later, provide insight into European perceptions of India's ‘useful knowledge’.

How the East Was Won

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Qing Dynasty ◽  
East India Company ◽  
The West ◽  
Mughal Empire ◽  
British Raj ◽  
The Qing Dynasty ◽  
Colonial Empire ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
India And China

How did upstart outsiders forge vast new empires in early modern Asia, laying the foundations for today's modern mega-states of India and China? In How the East Was Won, Andrew Phillips reveals the crucial parallels uniting the Mughal Empire, the Qing Dynasty and the British Raj. Vastly outnumbered and stigmatised as parvenus, the Mughals and Manchus pioneered similar strategies of cultural statecraft, first to build the multicultural coalitions necessary for conquest, and then to bind the indigenous collaborators needed to subsequently uphold imperial rule. The English East India Company later adapted the same 'define and conquer' and 'define and rule' strategies to carve out the West's biggest colonial empire in Asia. Refuting existing accounts of the 'rise of the West', this book foregrounds the profoundly imitative rather than innovative character of Western colonialism to advance a new explanation of how universal empires arise and endure.

Modern Astronomical Developments in India

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 894-897
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kochhar
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Solar Observatory ◽  
East India Company ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Indian Economy ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
The Government ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Modern Astronomy

Modern astronomy came to India in tow with the Europeans and was institutionalized more than 200 years ago by the (English) East India Company with the establishment in 1790 of Madras Observatory for assistance in navigational and geographical surveys. One hundred years later, in 1899, it was replaced by a solar observatory at Kodaikanal set up by the government to meet the European scientists’ demand for sunny skies and in the hope that a study of the Sun would help predict the failure of monsoons, the key factor then as now in Indian economy. It is mildly interesting to note that, when the scientific agenda was laid down by the Royal Society, no mention was made of climate or rains [1].

The Office of Akhbār Nawīs: The Transition from Mughal to British Forms

1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Political Power ◽  
East India Company ◽  
British Raj ◽  
Essential Nature ◽  
Constant Change ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
English East India Company

The persistence and yet transformation of the office of akhbār nawīs (‘newswriter’) reflected fundamental aspects of the transition from the Mughal to the British Empires. The Mughals appointed akhbār nawīs to collect and transmit specific kinds of information. This office continued, albeit with new functions, through the decentralizing of political power that characterized eighteenth-century South Asia. The expansion fo hte English East India Company meant constant change in the essential nature of political relations, changes mirrored in this office. Indeed, the Company, and its political Residents, subordinated and redefined this office. Under the British Raj, the concept ‘akhbār nawīs’ stood transformed, like the nature of the information it conveyed.

scholarly journals E-13 Role of Gogera District in the War of Independence-1857

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-153
Author(s):  
Abdul Rashid Tahir ◽  
Qaswar Abbas Khan
Keyword(s):  
Vital Role ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Large Area ◽  
British Raj ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
The People ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Masses

Different ethnic groups of India challenged the British Raj in the Great War of Independence-1857. A large number of local soldiers from different districts of Punjab province also left the British Army to stand up against the brutality of East India Company. Meanwhile, the people of the Gogera District played their vital role against the colonial forces. Among them, Ahmad Khan Kharal, Murad Fatiana, and their comrades set up a freedom fight at a vast level to challenge the hegemony of the imperialistic Army.  Their struggle had such momentum that it nullified the British control over a large area of Punjab, especially the Gogera District. Another development that invited the colonial wrath was that the people of the Gogera District refused to give revenue to the British government. This was an open rebellion that posed a serious challenge to the British Authority. The freedom fighters under the leadership of Ahmad Khan Kharal sacrificed their lives to protect their religious, cultural, and ethnic values.  In this article, the resistance and the revolutionary role of the masses of Gogera are evaluated.

scholarly journals Impact of British Raj on the Education System in India: The Process of Modernization in the Princely States of India – The case of Mohindra College, Patiala

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-28
Author(s):  
Kanika Bansal
Keyword(s):  
Education System ◽  
East India Company ◽  
British Raj ◽  
Northern India ◽  
Postal Services ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Princely State ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Masses ◽  
The Impact

British rule is said to have been responsible for the modernization witnessed in the Indian civilization. The impact of this process was quiet evident from the changes adopted by the Indians in their life style, thinking processes, attires, food and education. Besides the advancements made in the spheres of roads, transports, postal services etc, their rule acted as a significant period of transition from the indigenous style of education to western education. The foundations were laid by the East India Company and the Christian Missionaries to employ Indians for administrative tasks as well as to serve their political, economical and colonial interests. Originally the access to education was limited to the royal families, as the British were of the opinion that Indians could become aware of their rights and positions and protest against their Raj posing a threat to the British establishment in India. Lord Curzon’s efforts in the 20th century gave way to spread of higher education within the masses and channelized Indian education system. However the rulers of the Princely States in of India who were granted autonomy by the British to manage their own kingdoms acted as major agents to undertake the social and educational reforms within their territories. With the spread of education from elementary to higher levels, many new schools, universities and other institutions were developed during this period which are symbols of educational advancement as well as hold high architectural merit. Patiala, aprime princely state is a well known academic centre also important for its rich culture since the British Raj. Education in Patiala originated under the Maharajas with the opening of the school of languages in 1860A.D. With the introduction of Mahindra College (the first Degree College in a city) in 1870, became came an important educational centre. It was the only college between Delhi and Lahore for a long time that promoted contemporary higher learning in Northern India. The historic college building represents an aesthetic mix of regional interpretation of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. Later on many educational institutes catering to medical facilities, sports education etc. was set up in this princely state. This paper is thus an attempt to explore the education reforms during the British Raj, the changes that happened and their triggers. It also brings out reforms initiated in Princely States specifically Patiala as a seat of learning and a detailed study of the Mohindra College, Patiala, that represents an excellent example of educational institutions developed during the 19th century. The present study was done as a part of an academic project undertaken during Masters of Architecture under the able guidance of Prof Kiran Joshi..

History as Self-Representation: The Recasting of a Political Tradition in Late Eighteenth-Century Eastern India

1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 913-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumkum Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Eastern India ◽  
Political Tradition ◽  
Late Eighteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
English East India Company

If power is mediated by knowledge, then the early decades of British colonial rule in India were indeed, as Ghulam Hussain Khan Tabatabai, the intellectual and historian par excellence of those times wrote, a time of ‘half-knowledge’.The decades between 1757 and 1772 witnessed the implantation of this colonial regime in Eastern India through the transformation of the English East India Company from a mercantilist trading corporation into the paradoxical status of ‘merchant-sovereign and the sovereign merchant’ at the same time. The role of sovereign thrust upon the officials of the company the far from easy task of administering this society in ways that were most conducive to the extraction of the largest possible surplus from it for its new masters.

John Company Armed: The English East India Company, the Anglo-Mughal War and Absolutist Imperialism, c. 1675–1690

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Vaughn
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
South Asian ◽  
East India Company ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Glorious Revolution ◽  
Mughal Empire ◽  
Imperial Expansion ◽  
English East India Company ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The Glorious Revolution

During the 1670s and 1680s, the English East India Company pursued an aggressive programme of imperial expansion in the Asian maritime world, culminating in a series of armed assaults on the Mughal Empire. With important exceptions, most scholarship has viewed the Company's coercive imperialism in the later seventeenth century and the First Anglo-Mughal War as the results primarily, if not exclusively, of political and economic conditions in South Asia. This article re-examines and re-interprets this burst of imperial expansion in light of political developments in England and the wider English empire during the later Stuart era. The article contends that the Company's aggressive overseas expansion was pursued for metropolitan and pan-imperial purposes as much as for South Asian ones. The corporation sought to centralise and militarise the English presence in Asia in order both to maintain its control of England's trade to the East and in support of Stuart absolutism. By the eve of the Glorious Revolution, the Company's aggressive imperialism formed part of a wider political project to create an absolute monarchy in England and to establish an autocratic English empire overseas.

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