Sekhar Bandyopadhyay - From Plassey to Partition – A History of Modern India

From Plassey to Partition:

A History of Modern India

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay

Victoria University a/Wellington

Orient Longman

FROM PLASSEY TO PARTITION: A HISTORY OF MODERN INOlA ORIENT LONGMAN PRIVATE LIMITED

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The external boundary and coastline oflndia as depicted in the maps in this book arc neither correct nor authentic.

IX

Glossary

XIV

l .ist of Abbreviations

xx

1. Transition of the Eighteenth Century

1.1 Decline of the Mughal empire

1.2 Emergence of the regional powers

12

1. 3 Foundation of the British empire

37

2. British Empire in India

2.1 The imperial ideology

2.2 Parliament and the empire

2.3 Extracting land revenue

82

2.4 The apparatus of rule

2.5 Empire and economy

122

3. Early Indian Responses: Reform and Rebellion 139

3.1 Social and religious reforms

3.2 Peasant and tribal uprisings

158

3.3 The revolt of 1857

4. Emergence of Indian Nationalism

4.1 Historiography of Indian nationalism

184

4.2 Agrarian society and peasant discontent 191

4.3 The new middle class and the emergenceof nationalism

205

4.4 Foundation of the Indian National Congress218

s. Early Nationalism: Discontent and Dissension 227

5.1 The moderates and economic nationalism227

5.2 Hindu revivalism and politics

234

viii Contents

5. 3 The rise of extremism and the swadcshimovement

5 .4 Muslim politics and the foundation ofthe Muslim League

6. The Age of Gandhian Politics

2 79

6. 1 The carrots of limited self-government, 1909- 19

6.2 The arrival of Mahatma Gandhi

6.3 Khilafat and non-cooperation movements 297

6.4 Civil Disobedience movement

311

6.5 The act of 1935, "Paper Federation" and theprmces

323

7. Many Voices ofa Nation

7 .1 Muslim alienation

334

7.2 Non-Brahman and dalit protest

7.3 Business and politics

358

7.4 Working class movements

7.5 Women's participation

381

8. Freedom with Partition

8.1 Quit India movement

8.2 The turbulent forties

8.3 Towards freedomwithpartition 438

Postscript

4 73

Appendix

4 7 5

Bibliography

4 79

Index

5 14

Map 1: The Mughal empire in 1707

6

Map 2: The regional powers of the eighteenth century21

Map 3: British territories in India in 1857

46-47

. Map 4: British India and the princely states, c. 1904

116-117

Map 5: India in 1947

458-459

This book proposes to present in eight thematic chapters a generalhistory of India under British rule. It focuses more on the Indianpeople, than on the colonial state or the "men who ruled India". Ithighlights the perceptions of the ruled, their cultural crises and socialchanges, their rebellion, their search for identity and their attemptsto negotiate with a modernity brought to them through a variety ofcolonial policies. Above all, it narrates the story of how the Indiannation was gradually emerging, with all its contradictions and tensions, under the domineering presence of W estem imperialism.

In recent years there has been a tremendous outpouring of research publications in this area. And therefore, it is time to relatethese specialised research findings and theoretical interventions tothe whole story, Tucked away in my island abode down under-separated from my primary sources by thousands of miles-I thoughtthis would be an ideal project for me. This book tries to provide, onthe one hand, a story with adequate empirical details needed by students for history courses and by general readers. On the other hand,acknowledging that there can be multiple interpretations of a historical event, the narrative is consciously situated within its properhistoriographical context. The book, in other words, summarisesthe findings and conclusions of an enormous body of research literature that has been produced in the last two decades or so on thecolonial history of India. However, although it presents a synthetichistory, it does not offer an eclectic view. The narrative has carved itsway carefully through the undulated terrains of Indian historiography. Sometimes, it has taken sides, sometimes it has treaded amiddle path, but on occasions it has also been innovative and unorthodox. In other words, it refers to the debates and critically examines them to arrive at its own conclusions about the establishmentand functioning of colonial rule and also the emergence of a pluralistand polyphonic nationalism in India.

The book begins with a discussion of the political transformationof India in the eighteenth century, marked by the decline of theMughal empire at the one end and the rise of the British empire on