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Jun. 1st, 2006 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
titusnowlThe 1857 mutiny marked a major turning point in Anglo/Indian relations. During the first half of the 19th century, and particularly through the '30s and '40s, the primary aim of the British raj was to bring India into the modern empire - to educate and reform. For the time, it was an enlightened rule. Of course the natives were believed to be ignorant, backwards, and superstitious, but the colonial government truly believed that by giving an example and carefully educating the native population, they could turn India into an enlightened modern nation - an extension of England with an equally propserous middle class.
The majority of those who came to India in those years were Romanticists, open to what was perceived as the headily emotional, more primal atmosphere of India as compared to India. Their philosophy made them more likely to integrate with, or at least feel sympathetically towards, the natives they ruled. Government officials openly took Indian mistresses and Army officers treated their Sepoy recruits equally to their Englishmen. The military and civil service also integrated the natives, although, somewhat paradoxically, at this juncture they did so (in order turn India "modern") by setting aside Indian tradition and awarding promotions based on individual merit without regard to caste.
By the 1850s, the demographics of those emigrating to the Colonies was changing. Transportation to and within India was becoming easier, enabling men to bring wives and families with them, and this new crop of men could not brook the supposed licentiousness of native life. Certainly they could not take Indian mistresses with their wives around; they also discouraged the unattached from doing the same, to preserve appearances, and generally led to a widening of the gap between native and colonial, in order to preserve the womenfolk from the "primitive, uncouth" Indian environment.
In turn, the goals of government changed. Reformation remained the main object, but it became increasingly interpreted - by both sides - as a stamping out of native culture, as distinguished from a drawing in of British culture. Just as the Englishmen became less apt to assimilate, Indians became more wary of attempts to be assimilated.
The Army policies became more strict and more bold in their breaking of religious rules; ignoring caste was not widely spoken out against, but the new regulations cut deep. A sore point was the act of forcing recruits to cross the ocean - a legitimate request in the British view due to the inefficiency of marching ground troops across the country when a hop on a boat would have been much faster, but a blasphemy to the natives, who had a religious requirement never to allow their feet to leave the earth of their native land. (This is given as a fact in my books, but the exact religion that made this requirement is never stated. One assumes they are speaking of the Hindu troops, rather than the Muslims.) The infamous matter of the greased cartridges for the Enfield rifle in 1856 (the new rifle had cartridges which one had to bite into to use, and which had to be greased in order to work properly; a rumor was spread amongst the troops that the grease was of a forbidden animal, beef suet was rumored amongst Hindi troops and pork fat amongst Muslims; neither was true, and the Army responded by issuing ungreased cartridges for the natives to grease with their own choice of lubricant, but the rumor had already done its work) only served as a focal point for the growing discontent.
When it finally reached flash point, the Mutiny was devastating. It was not only a betrayal to the English rulers, who always truly believed they were doing the right thing; it was also extremely violent. British women and children were murdered wholesale, in addition to the violent military uprisings. This made the English, whose views on natives practices and beliefs were already increasingly negative, feel justified in viewing them as savages and treating them appropriately. The ideal of Anglo-Indian cooperation and growth was ruined.
After the Mutiny, the colonial government dropped all pretenses of assimilation. More families were brought over, and the English settlements became increasingly insular. Chances for socializing with the natives became almost impossible even for those who so desired. Fewer Indians were awarded Civil Service posts, and the Army reversed its policies on religion, using the tradition of caste to its advantage by forming troops of a single caste to promote coherence and compliance. The "stiff upper lip" and Victorian prudery were heavily promoted and held up in contrast with the purported childish, violent nature of the native. And the goal of the government ceased to be the promotion of India into a modern nation, and began to be the parenting of India by the wiser, stronger Britain.
It would be 90 years before they gave this up and India became its own nation.
The majority of those who came to India in those years were Romanticists, open to what was perceived as the headily emotional, more primal atmosphere of India as compared to India. Their philosophy made them more likely to integrate with, or at least feel sympathetically towards, the natives they ruled. Government officials openly took Indian mistresses and Army officers treated their Sepoy recruits equally to their Englishmen. The military and civil service also integrated the natives, although, somewhat paradoxically, at this juncture they did so (in order turn India "modern") by setting aside Indian tradition and awarding promotions based on individual merit without regard to caste.
By the 1850s, the demographics of those emigrating to the Colonies was changing. Transportation to and within India was becoming easier, enabling men to bring wives and families with them, and this new crop of men could not brook the supposed licentiousness of native life. Certainly they could not take Indian mistresses with their wives around; they also discouraged the unattached from doing the same, to preserve appearances, and generally led to a widening of the gap between native and colonial, in order to preserve the womenfolk from the "primitive, uncouth" Indian environment.
In turn, the goals of government changed. Reformation remained the main object, but it became increasingly interpreted - by both sides - as a stamping out of native culture, as distinguished from a drawing in of British culture. Just as the Englishmen became less apt to assimilate, Indians became more wary of attempts to be assimilated.
The Army policies became more strict and more bold in their breaking of religious rules; ignoring caste was not widely spoken out against, but the new regulations cut deep. A sore point was the act of forcing recruits to cross the ocean - a legitimate request in the British view due to the inefficiency of marching ground troops across the country when a hop on a boat would have been much faster, but a blasphemy to the natives, who had a religious requirement never to allow their feet to leave the earth of their native land. (This is given as a fact in my books, but the exact religion that made this requirement is never stated. One assumes they are speaking of the Hindu troops, rather than the Muslims.) The infamous matter of the greased cartridges for the Enfield rifle in 1856 (the new rifle had cartridges which one had to bite into to use, and which had to be greased in order to work properly; a rumor was spread amongst the troops that the grease was of a forbidden animal, beef suet was rumored amongst Hindi troops and pork fat amongst Muslims; neither was true, and the Army responded by issuing ungreased cartridges for the natives to grease with their own choice of lubricant, but the rumor had already done its work) only served as a focal point for the growing discontent.
When it finally reached flash point, the Mutiny was devastating. It was not only a betrayal to the English rulers, who always truly believed they were doing the right thing; it was also extremely violent. British women and children were murdered wholesale, in addition to the violent military uprisings. This made the English, whose views on natives practices and beliefs were already increasingly negative, feel justified in viewing them as savages and treating them appropriately. The ideal of Anglo-Indian cooperation and growth was ruined.
After the Mutiny, the colonial government dropped all pretenses of assimilation. More families were brought over, and the English settlements became increasingly insular. Chances for socializing with the natives became almost impossible even for those who so desired. Fewer Indians were awarded Civil Service posts, and the Army reversed its policies on religion, using the tradition of caste to its advantage by forming troops of a single caste to promote coherence and compliance. The "stiff upper lip" and Victorian prudery were heavily promoted and held up in contrast with the purported childish, violent nature of the native. And the goal of the government ceased to be the promotion of India into a modern nation, and began to be the parenting of India by the wiser, stronger Britain.
It would be 90 years before they gave this up and India became its own nation.
