That does not finish the picture. We have the education of this
future state. I say without fear of my figures being challenged
successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or
a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because the British
administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of
things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the
soil and began to look at the root, and left the root like that, and
the beautiful tree perished. The village schools were not good
enough for the British administrator, so he came out with his
programme. Every school must have so much paraphernalia,
building, and so forth. Well, there were no such schools at all.
There are statistics left by a British administrator which show
that, in places where they have carried out a survey, ancient
schools have gone by the board, because there was no recognition
for these schools, and the schools established after the European
pattern were too expensive for the people, and therefore they
could not possibly overtake the thing. I defy anybody to fulfill a
programme of compulsory primary education of these masses
inside of a century. This very poor country of mine is ill able to
sustain such an expensive method of education. Our state would
revive the old village schoolmaster and dot every village with a
school both for boys and girls.
(MAHATMA GANDHI AT CHATHAM HOUSE, LONDON,
OCTOBER 20, 1931)
..
From 'The Beutiful Tree" by The Great scholar DHARAMPAL JI
क्या कोई ब्रिटेन में एजुकेशन का इतिहास जानता है ?
क्या वहां 19 वीं शताब्दी के पूर्व शिक्षा सर्व सुलभ थी ?
ये प्रश्न खास तौर पर दलित चिंतकों से है ।
School education, especially elementary education at the
people’s level, remained an uncommon commodity till around
1800. Nonetheless, the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and
Edinburgh were perhaps as important for Britain as Taxila and
Nalanda were in ancient India; or places like Navadweep were as
late as the later part of the 18th century.21 Since many of those
who began to come to India from Britain especially after 1773 as
travellers, scholars, or judges had had their education in one of
these three universities.
future state. I say without fear of my figures being challenged
successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or
a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because the British
administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of
things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the
soil and began to look at the root, and left the root like that, and
the beautiful tree perished. The village schools were not good
enough for the British administrator, so he came out with his
programme. Every school must have so much paraphernalia,
building, and so forth. Well, there were no such schools at all.
There are statistics left by a British administrator which show
that, in places where they have carried out a survey, ancient
schools have gone by the board, because there was no recognition
for these schools, and the schools established after the European
pattern were too expensive for the people, and therefore they
could not possibly overtake the thing. I defy anybody to fulfill a
programme of compulsory primary education of these masses
inside of a century. This very poor country of mine is ill able to
sustain such an expensive method of education. Our state would
revive the old village schoolmaster and dot every village with a
school both for boys and girls.
(MAHATMA GANDHI AT CHATHAM HOUSE, LONDON,
OCTOBER 20, 1931)
..
From 'The Beutiful Tree" by The Great scholar DHARAMPAL JI
क्या कोई ब्रिटेन में एजुकेशन का इतिहास जानता है ?
क्या वहां 19 वीं शताब्दी के पूर्व शिक्षा सर्व सुलभ थी ?
ये प्रश्न खास तौर पर दलित चिंतकों से है ।
School education, especially elementary education at the
people’s level, remained an uncommon commodity till around
1800. Nonetheless, the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and
Edinburgh were perhaps as important for Britain as Taxila and
Nalanda were in ancient India; or places like Navadweep were as
late as the later part of the 18th century.21 Since many of those
who began to come to India from Britain especially after 1773 as
travellers, scholars, or judges had had their education in one of
these three universities.
- For Bombay, Shah quoted G.L. Prendergast, a member of
the Council in the Bombay Presidency (briefly referred to earlier)
who had stated in April 1821:
I need hardly mention what every member of the Board
knows as well as I do, that there is hardly a village, great or
small, throughout our territories, in which there is not at
least one school, and in larger villages more; many in every
town, and in large cities in every division; where young
natives are taught reading, writing and arithmetic, upon a
system so economical, from a handful or two of grain, to
perhaps a rupee per month to the school master, according
to the ability of the parents, and at the same time so
simple and effectual, that there is hardly a cultivator or
petty dealer who is not competent to keep his own
accounts with a degree of accuracy, in my opinion, beyond
what we meet with amongst the lower orders in our own
country; whilst the more splendid dealers and bankers
keep their books with a degree of ease, conciseness, and
clearness I rather think fully equal to those of any British
merchants.72 - Modern Indians tend to quote foreigners in most matters
reflecting on India’s present, or its past. One school of thought
uses all such foreign backing to show India’s primitiveness, the
barbaric, uncouth and what is termed ‘parochial’ nature of the
customs and manners of its people, and the ignorance,
oppressions and poverty which Indians are said to have always
suffered from. To them India for most of its past had lived at
what is termed, the ‘feudal’ stage or what in more recent Marxist
terminology is called the ‘system of Asiatic social organisms’. Yet,
to another school, India had always been a glorious land, with
minor blemishes, or accidents of history here and there; all in all
remaining a land of ‘Dharmic’ and benevolent rulers. For yet
others subscribing to the observations of the much-quoted
Charles Metcalfe, and Henry Maine, it has mostly been a happy
land of ‘village republics’.
Unfortunately, due to their British-oriented education, or
because of some deeper causes (like the scholastic and hairsplitting
tendency of Brahmanical learning), Indians have
become since the past century, too literal, too much caught up
with mere words and phrases. They have lost practically all
sense of the symbolic nature of what is said, or written.79 It is not surprising 
- To Macaulay, all
Indian knowledge, if not despicable, was at least absurd: absurd
history, absurd metaphysics, absurd physics, absurd theology.page -91A little later, Karl Marx seems to have had similar
impressions of India—this, despite his great study of British
state papers and other extensive material relating to India.
Writing in the New York Daily Tribune on 25 June 1853, he
shared the view of the perennial nature of Indian misery, and
approvingly quoted an ancient Indian text which according to
him placed ‘the commencement of Indian misery in an epoch
even more remote than the Christian creation of the world.’
According to him, Indian life had always been undignified,
stagnatory, vegetative, and passive, given to a brutalising
worship of nature instead of man being the ‘sovereign of
nature’—as contemplated in contemporary European thought.
And, thus Karl Marx concluded: ‘Whatever may have been the
crimes of England’ in India, ‘she was the unconscious tool of
history’ in bringing about—what Marx so anxiously looked
forward to—India’s westernisation. - The complete denunciation and rejection of Indian culture
and civilisation was, however, left to the powerful pen of James
Mill. This he did in his monumental three volume History of
British India, first published in 1817. Thenceforth, Mill’s History
became an essential reading and reference book for those
entrusted with administering the British Indian Empire. From
the time of its publication till recently, the History in fact
provided the framework for the writing of most histories of India.
For this reason, the impact of his judgments on India and its
people should never be underestimated.
तत्कालीन भारतीय पाठशालों में दी जाने वाली शिक्षा ब्रिटेन की तुलना में उत्तम थी।
स्कूल का शिक्षा काल ज्यादा लम्बा था ।
पढ़ाने का जो तरीका था , जिसको ब्रिटेन ने अपने यहाँ लागू करके शिक्षा को पॉपुलर किया , भारत में सैकड़ों सालों से चली आ रही थी।
पेज -28
स्कूल का शिक्षा काल ज्यादा लम्बा था ।
पढ़ाने का जो तरीका था , जिसको ब्रिटेन ने अपने यहाँ लागू करके शिक्षा को पॉपुलर किया , भारत में सैकड़ों सालों से चली आ रही थी।
पेज -28
मद्रास प्रेसीडेंसी और बिहार बंगाल का डेटा किसी revelation से कम नहीं है।
ये पिछले 100 साल विद्वानों द्वारा से प्रस्तुत की गयी तस्वीर से उलटी है , जिसमे ये बताया गया कि शिक्षा हिंदुओं में सर्फ द्विज को और मुसलमानों में शासक वर्ग को ही उपलब्ध थी।
वास्तविक तस्वीर एकदम उलट है , कम से कम हिंदुओं में मद्रास प्रेसीडेंसी में और बिहार के दो जिलों में।
शुद्र वर्ग जिसको नीचा समझा जाता था , वो उन स्कूलों में ज्यादा संख्या और हजारों की तादात में उस समय के स्कूलों में शिक्षा प्राप्त करते थे।
पेज -30
ये पिछले 100 साल विद्वानों द्वारा से प्रस्तुत की गयी तस्वीर से उलटी है , जिसमे ये बताया गया कि शिक्षा हिंदुओं में सर्फ द्विज को और मुसलमानों में शासक वर्ग को ही उपलब्ध थी।
वास्तविक तस्वीर एकदम उलट है , कम से कम हिंदुओं में मद्रास प्रेसीडेंसी में और बिहार के दो जिलों में।
शुद्र वर्ग जिसको नीचा समझा जाता था , वो उन स्कूलों में ज्यादा संख्या और हजारों की तादात में उस समय के स्कूलों में शिक्षा प्राप्त करते थे।
पेज -30
BOOKS USED IN SCHOOLS
The main subjects reported to be taught in these Indian schools
were reading, writing and arithmetic. The following lists of books
used in the schools of Bellary, as also of Rajahmundry may be
worth noting, and may to some degree indicate the content of
learning in these schools.
NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE SCHOOLS IN
BELLARY DISTRICT42
A. Most commonly used
1. Ramayanum 2. Maha Bharata 3. Bhagvata
B. Used by Children from Manufacturing Classes
1. Nagalingayna-Kutha 2. Vishvakurma-Poorana
3. Kumalesherra Kalikamahata
C. Used by Lingayat Children
1. Buwapoorana 2. Raghavan-Kunkauya
3. Geeruja Kullana 4. Unbhavamoorta
5. Chenna-Busavaswara-Poorana 6. Gurilagooloo, etc.
D. Lighter Literature Read
1. Punchatantra 2. Bhatalapunchavunsatee
3. Punklee-soopooktahuller 4. Mahantarungenee E. Dictionaries and Grammars used
1. Nighantoo 2. Umara 3. Subdamumburee
4. Shubdeemunee-Durpana 5. Vyacurna 6. Andradeepeca
7. Andranamasungraha, etc.
The main subjects reported to be taught in these Indian schools
were reading, writing and arithmetic. The following lists of books
used in the schools of Bellary, as also of Rajahmundry may be
worth noting, and may to some degree indicate the content of
learning in these schools.
NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE SCHOOLS IN
BELLARY DISTRICT42
A. Most commonly used
1. Ramayanum 2. Maha Bharata 3. Bhagvata
B. Used by Children from Manufacturing Classes
1. Nagalingayna-Kutha 2. Vishvakurma-Poorana
3. Kumalesherra Kalikamahata
C. Used by Lingayat Children
1. Buwapoorana 2. Raghavan-Kunkauya
3. Geeruja Kullana 4. Unbhavamoorta
5. Chenna-Busavaswara-Poorana 6. Gurilagooloo, etc.
D. Lighter Literature Read
1. Punchatantra 2. Bhatalapunchavunsatee
3. Punklee-soopooktahuller 4. Mahantarungenee E. Dictionaries and Grammars used
1. Nighantoo 2. Umara 3. Subdamumburee
4. Shubdeemunee-Durpana 5. Vyacurna 6. Andradeepeca
7. Andranamasungraha, etc.
NAMES OF THE BOOKS IN USE IN THE SCHOOLS IN
RAJAHMUNDRY43
1. Baula Ramauyanum 2. Rookmeny Culleyanum
3. Paurejantahpatraranum 4. Molly Ramauyanum
5. Raumayanum 6. Dansarady Satacum
7. Kreestna Satacum 8. Soomaty Satacum
9. Janakey Satacum 10. Prasunnaragara Satacum
11. Ramataraka Satacum 12. Bahscara Satacum
13. Beesanavecausa Satacum 14. Beemalingaswara Satacum
15. Sooreyanaraina Satacum 16. Narraina Satacum
17. Plaholanda Charatra 18. Vasoo Charatra
19. Manoo Charetra 20. Sumunga Charetra
21. Nala Charetra 22. Vamana Charetra
23. Ganintum 24. Pauvooloory Ganintum
25. Bhauratam 26. Bhaugavatum
27. Vejia Valousum 28. Kroostnaleelan Velausum
29. Rathamathava Velausum 30. Suptama Skundum
31. Astma Skundum 32. Rathamathava Sumvadum
33. Bhaunoomaly Paranayem 34. Veerabhadra Vejayem
35. Leelansoondary Paranayem 36. Amarum
37. Sooranthanaswarum 38. Voodeyagapurvem
39. Audepurvem 40. Gajandra Motchum
41. Andhranamasungraham 42. Coochalopurksyanum
43. Resekajana Manobharanum
RAJAHMUNDRY43
1. Baula Ramauyanum 2. Rookmeny Culleyanum
3. Paurejantahpatraranum 4. Molly Ramauyanum
5. Raumayanum 6. Dansarady Satacum
7. Kreestna Satacum 8. Soomaty Satacum
9. Janakey Satacum 10. Prasunnaragara Satacum
11. Ramataraka Satacum 12. Bahscara Satacum
13. Beesanavecausa Satacum 14. Beemalingaswara Satacum
15. Sooreyanaraina Satacum 16. Narraina Satacum
17. Plaholanda Charatra 18. Vasoo Charatra
19. Manoo Charetra 20. Sumunga Charetra
21. Nala Charetra 22. Vamana Charetra
23. Ganintum 24. Pauvooloory Ganintum
25. Bhauratam 26. Bhaugavatum
27. Vejia Valousum 28. Kroostnaleelan Velausum
29. Rathamathava Velausum 30. Suptama Skundum
31. Astma Skundum 32. Rathamathava Sumvadum
33. Bhaunoomaly Paranayem 34. Veerabhadra Vejayem
35. Leelansoondary Paranayem 36. Amarum
37. Sooranthanaswarum 38. Voodeyagapurvem
39. Audepurvem 40. Gajandra Motchum
41. Andhranamasungraham 42. Coochalopurksyanum
43. Resekajana Manobharanum
In most areas, the Brahmin scholars formed a very small
proportion of those studying in schools. Higher learning,
however, being more in the nature of professional specialisation,
seems in the main to have been limited to the Brahmins. This
was especially true regarding the disciplines of Theology,
Metaphysics, Ethics, and to a large extent of the study of Law.
But the disciplines of Astronomy and Medical Science seem to
have been studied by scholars from a variety of backgrounds
and castes. This is very evident from the Malabar data: out of
808 studying Astronomy, only 78 were Brahmins; and of the 194
studying Medicine, only 31 were Brahmins. Incidentally, in
Rajahmundry, five of the scholars in the institution of higher
learning were Soodras. According to other Madras Presidency
surveys, of those practising Medicine and Surgery, it was found
that such persons belonged to a variety of castes. Amongst them,
the barbers, according to British medical men, were the best in
Surgery.44
proportion of those studying in schools. Higher learning,
however, being more in the nature of professional specialisation,
seems in the main to have been limited to the Brahmins. This
was especially true regarding the disciplines of Theology,
Metaphysics, Ethics, and to a large extent of the study of Law.
But the disciplines of Astronomy and Medical Science seem to
have been studied by scholars from a variety of backgrounds
and castes. This is very evident from the Malabar data: out of
808 studying Astronomy, only 78 were Brahmins; and of the 194
studying Medicine, only 31 were Brahmins. Incidentally, in
Rajahmundry, five of the scholars in the institution of higher
learning were Soodras. According to other Madras Presidency
surveys, of those practising Medicine and Surgery, it was found
that such persons belonged to a variety of castes. Amongst them,
the barbers, according to British medical men, were the best in
Surgery.44
Institutions of Sanskritic Learning
The schools of Sanskritic learning in the surveyed districts (in all
353) numbered as high as 190 in Burdwan (1,358 scholars) and
as low as 27 in South Behar (437 scholars). The teachers (355 in
all) were predominantly Brahmins, only 5 being from the Vaidya
caste. The subjects predominantly taught were Grammar (1,424
students), Logic (378 students), Law (336 students) and Literature
(120 students). Others, in order of numbers studying them,
were Mythology (82 students), Astrology (78 students), Lexicology
(48 students), Rhetoric (19 students), Medicine (18 students),
Vedanta (13 students), Tantra (14 students), Mimansa (2
students), and Sankhya (1 student). The duration of the study
and the ages when it was started and completed varied a great
deal from subject to subject, and also from district to district.
The schools of Sanskritic learning in the surveyed districts (in all
353) numbered as high as 190 in Burdwan (1,358 scholars) and
as low as 27 in South Behar (437 scholars). The teachers (355 in
all) were predominantly Brahmins, only 5 being from the Vaidya
caste. The subjects predominantly taught were Grammar (1,424
students), Logic (378 students), Law (336 students) and Literature
(120 students). Others, in order of numbers studying them,
were Mythology (82 students), Astrology (78 students), Lexicology
(48 students), Rhetoric (19 students), Medicine (18 students),
Vedanta (13 students), Tantra (14 students), Mimansa (2
students), and Sankhya (1 student). The duration of the study
and the ages when it was started and completed varied a great
deal from subject to subject, and also from district to district.
page- 64
The following indicative list of the crafts listed in some of
the districts of the Madras Presidency (collected in the early 19th
century records for levying tax on them) may give, however,
some idea of their variety.
the districts of the Madras Presidency (collected in the early 19th
century records for levying tax on them) may give, however,
some idea of their variety.
TANKS, BUILDINGS, ETC.
Stone-cutters Wood woopers (Wood cutters)
Marble mine workers Bamboo cutters
Chunam makers Wudders (Tank diggers)
Sawyers Brick-layers
METALLURGY
Iron ore collectors Copper-smiths
Iron manufacturers। Lead washers
Iron forge operators। Gold dust collectors
Iron furnaces operators। Iron-smiths
Workers of smelted metal। Gold-smiths
into bars। Horse-shoe makers
Brass-smiths
TEXTILES
Cotton cleaners Fine cloth weavers
Cotton beaters Coarse cloth weavers
Cotton carders Chintz weavers
Silk makers Carpet weavers
Spinners। Sutrenze carpet weavers
Ladup, or Penyasees Cot tape weavers
cotton spinners Cumblee weavers
Chay thread makers Thread purdah weavers
Chay root diggers (a dye) Gunny weavers
Rungruaze, or dyers Pariah weavers (a very large
Mudda wada, or dyers in red
number)
Indigo maker Mussalman weavers
Barber weavers Dyers in indigo
Boyah weavers Loom makers
Smooth and glaze cloth men। Silk weavers
OTHER CRAFTSMEN
Preparers of earth for bangles Salt makers
Bangle makers। Earth salt manufacturers
Paper makers Salt-petre makers
Fire-works makers बीArrack distillers
Oilmen Collectors of drugs and roots
Soap makers Utar makers, druggi
Stone-cutters Wood woopers (Wood cutters)
Marble mine workers Bamboo cutters
Chunam makers Wudders (Tank diggers)
Sawyers Brick-layers
METALLURGY
Iron ore collectors Copper-smiths
Iron manufacturers। Lead washers
Iron forge operators। Gold dust collectors
Iron furnaces operators। Iron-smiths
Workers of smelted metal। Gold-smiths
into bars। Horse-shoe makers
Brass-smiths
TEXTILES
Cotton cleaners Fine cloth weavers
Cotton beaters Coarse cloth weavers
Cotton carders Chintz weavers
Silk makers Carpet weavers
Spinners। Sutrenze carpet weavers
Ladup, or Penyasees Cot tape weavers
cotton spinners Cumblee weavers
Chay thread makers Thread purdah weavers
Chay root diggers (a dye) Gunny weavers
Rungruaze, or dyers Pariah weavers (a very large
Mudda wada, or dyers in red
number)
Indigo maker Mussalman weavers
Barber weavers Dyers in indigo
Boyah weavers Loom makers
Smooth and glaze cloth men। Silk weavers
OTHER CRAFTSMEN
Preparers of earth for bangles Salt makers
Bangle makers। Earth salt manufacturers
Paper makers Salt-petre makers
Fire-works makers बीArrack distillers
Oilmen Collectors of drugs and roots
Soap makers Utar makers, druggi
Rice-beaters Shoe makers
Toddy makers Pen painters
Preparers of earth Mat makers
for washermen Carpenters
Washermen Dubbee makers
Barbers Winding instrument makers
Tailors Seal makers
Basket makers Chucklers
Mat makers
Toddy makers Pen painters
Preparers of earth Mat makers
for washermen Carpenters
Washermen Dubbee makers
Barbers Winding instrument makers
Tailors Seal makers
Basket makers Chucklers
Mat makers
There is a sense of widespread neglect and decay in the
field of indigenous education within a few decades after the
onset of British rule. This is the major common impression
which emerges from the 1822-25 Madras Presidency data, the
report of W. Adam on Bengal and Bihar 1835-38, and the later
Panjab survey by G.W. Leitner. If studies of the detailed data
pertaining to the innumerable crafts, technologies and
manufactures of this period, or for that matter of social
organisation were to be made, the conclusions in all probability
will be little different. On the other hand, the descriptions of life
and society provided by earlier European accounts (i.e. accounts
written prior to the onset of European dominance) of different
parts of India, and the data on Indian exports relating to this
earlier period (notwithstanding the political turmoil in certain
parts of India), on the whole leaves an impression of a society
which seems relatively prosperous and lively. The conclusion
that the decay noticed in the early 19th century and more so in
subsequent decades originated with European supremacy in
India, therefore, seems inescapable. The 1769-70 famine in
Bengal (when, according to British record, one-third of the
population actually perished), may be taken as a mere
forerunner of what was to come. page - 69
field of indigenous education within a few decades after the
onset of British rule. This is the major common impression
which emerges from the 1822-25 Madras Presidency data, the
report of W. Adam on Bengal and Bihar 1835-38, and the later
Panjab survey by G.W. Leitner. If studies of the detailed data
pertaining to the innumerable crafts, technologies and
manufactures of this period, or for that matter of social
organisation were to be made, the conclusions in all probability
will be little different. On the other hand, the descriptions of life
and society provided by earlier European accounts (i.e. accounts
written prior to the onset of European dominance) of different
parts of India, and the data on Indian exports relating to this
earlier period (notwithstanding the political turmoil in certain
parts of India), on the whole leaves an impression of a society
which seems relatively prosperous and lively. The conclusion
that the decay noticed in the early 19th century and more so in
subsequent decades originated with European supremacy in
India, therefore, seems inescapable. The 1769-70 famine in
Bengal (when, according to British record, one-third of the
population actually perished), may be taken as a mere
forerunner of what was to come. page - 69
Karl Marx, as such no
friend of imperialism or capitalism, writing in 1853 was of the
view, that, ‘England has to fulfill a double mission in India: one
destructive, the other regenerating—the annihilation of the old
Asiatic society, and the laying of the material foundation of
Western society in Asia.’65 page -69
friend of imperialism or capitalism, writing in 1853 was of the
view, that, ‘England has to fulfill a double mission in India: one
destructive, the other regenerating—the annihilation of the old
Asiatic society, and the laying of the material foundation of
Western society in Asia.’65 page -69
However, it is not India alone which experienced this phenomenon of deliberate destruction. Other
areas of the world, especially the Americas and Africa, seem to
have experienced such destruction to an even greater extent. The
nearly total annihilation of the native people of the Americas—
after their subjugation by Europe from 1500 A.D. onwards—is
an occurrence of equally great import. A native population
estimated by modern scholars to have been in the range of 90 to
112 million around 1500 A.D.,66 —far more numerous than the
estimated total population of Europe then—had dwindled to
merely a few million by the end of the 19th century. It is
probable that while differing in extent and numbers, similar
destruction and annihilation had occurred in different parts of
the world through conquest and subjugation at various times
during human history. Further, quite possibly, no people or
culture in the world can altogether claim innocence for itself
from any participation at one time or another in such
occurrences. Nonetheless, whatever may be the case regarding
the world before 1500 A.D., the point is that after this date,
ancient, functioning, established cultures in most areas of the
world, if not wholly eliminated, had become largely depressed
due to the expansion of European dominance. This requires little
proof. It is obvious.
areas of the world, especially the Americas and Africa, seem to
have experienced such destruction to an even greater extent. The
nearly total annihilation of the native people of the Americas—
after their subjugation by Europe from 1500 A.D. onwards—is
an occurrence of equally great import. A native population
estimated by modern scholars to have been in the range of 90 to
112 million around 1500 A.D.,66 —far more numerous than the
estimated total population of Europe then—had dwindled to
merely a few million by the end of the 19th century. It is
probable that while differing in extent and numbers, similar
destruction and annihilation had occurred in different parts of
the world through conquest and subjugation at various times
during human history. Further, quite possibly, no people or
culture in the world can altogether claim innocence for itself
from any participation at one time or another in such
occurrences. Nonetheless, whatever may be the case regarding
the world before 1500 A.D., the point is that after this date,
ancient, functioning, established cultures in most areas of the
world, if not wholly eliminated, had become largely depressed
due to the expansion of European dominance. This requires little
proof. It is obvious.
One of the statements which thus came up was that the
ignorance and illiteracy in India was caused by British rule; and,
conversely, that at the beginning of British political dominance,
India had had extensive education, learning and literacy. By
1930, much had been written on this point in the same manner
as had been written on the deliberate destruction of Indian crafts
and industry, and the impoverishment of the Indian countryside.
However, to many within the expanding strata of westernised
Indians—whether Marxists, Fabians, or capitalist-roaders, their
views on India and their contempt for it almost equalled that of
William Wilberforce, James Mill, or Karl Marx—such charges
seemed farfetched, and even if true, irrelevant.
ignorance and illiteracy in India was caused by British rule; and,
conversely, that at the beginning of British political dominance,
India had had extensive education, learning and literacy. By
1930, much had been written on this point in the same manner
as had been written on the deliberate destruction of Indian crafts
and industry, and the impoverishment of the Indian countryside.
However, to many within the expanding strata of westernised
Indians—whether Marxists, Fabians, or capitalist-roaders, their
views on India and their contempt for it almost equalled that of
William Wilberforce, James Mill, or Karl Marx—such charges
seemed farfetched, and even if true, irrelevant.
At any rate, nowhere was there any suggestion
made that it was much less than it had been in 1822-25. The
population of the Madras Presidency in 1823 was estimated at
1,28,50,941, while the population of England in 1811 was
estimated at 95,43,610. It may be noted from this that, while the
differences in the population of the two regions were not that
significant, the numbers of those attending the various types of
schools (Charity, Sunday, Circulating) in England were in all in
the neighbourhood of around 75,000 as compared to at least
double this number within the Madras Presidency. Further, more
than half of this number of 75,000 in English schools consisted of
those who attended school at the most only for 2-3 hours on a
Sunday.
However, after about 1803, every year a marked increase
took place in the number of those attending schools in England.
The result: the number of 75,000 attending any sort of school
around 1800 rose to 6,74,883 by 1818, and 21,44,377 in 1851,
i.e. an increase of about 29 times in a period of about fifty years
made that it was much less than it had been in 1822-25. The
population of the Madras Presidency in 1823 was estimated at
1,28,50,941, while the population of England in 1811 was
estimated at 95,43,610. It may be noted from this that, while the
differences in the population of the two regions were not that
significant, the numbers of those attending the various types of
schools (Charity, Sunday, Circulating) in England were in all in
the neighbourhood of around 75,000 as compared to at least
double this number within the Madras Presidency. Further, more
than half of this number of 75,000 in English schools consisted of
those who attended school at the most only for 2-3 hours on a
Sunday.
However, after about 1803, every year a marked increase
took place in the number of those attending schools in England.
The result: the number of 75,000 attending any sort of school
around 1800 rose to 6,74,883 by 1818, and 21,44,377 in 1851,
i.e. an increase of about 29 times in a period of about fifty years
Tribhuwan Singh In 1813, this bold intention was publicly and powerfully
expressed by William Wilberforce when he depicted Indians as
being ‘deeply sunk, and by their religious superstitions fast
bound, in the lowest depths of moral and social wretchedness.’90
T.B. Macaulay expressed similar views, merely using different
imagery. He commented that the totality of Indian knowledge
and scholarship did not even equal the contents of ‘a single shelf
of a good European library’, and that all the historical
information contained in books written in Sanskrit was ‘less
valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgement
used at preparatory schools in England
expressed by William Wilberforce when he depicted Indians as
being ‘deeply sunk, and by their religious superstitions fast
bound, in the lowest depths of moral and social wretchedness.’90
T.B. Macaulay expressed similar views, merely using different
imagery. He commented that the totality of Indian knowledge
and scholarship did not even equal the contents of ‘a single shelf
of a good European library’, and that all the historical
information contained in books written in Sanskrit was ‘less
valuable than what may be found in the most paltry abridgement
used at preparatory schools in England
- According to Mill, ‘the same insincerity, mendacity, and
perfidy; the same indifference to the feelings of others; the same
prostitution and venality’ were the conspicuous characteristics
of both the Hindoos and the Muslims. The Muslims, however,
were perfuse, when possessed of wealth, and devoted to
pleasure; the Hindoos almost always penurious and ascetic; and
‘in truth, the Hindoo like the eunuch, excels in the qualities of a
slave.’ Furthermore, similar to the Chinese, the Hindoos were
‘dissembling, treacherous, mendacious, to an excess which
surpasses even the usual measure of uncultivated society.’ Both
the Chinese and the Hindoos were ‘disposed to excessive
exaggeration with regard to everything relating to themselves.’
Both were ‘cowardly and unfeeling.’ Both were ‘in the highest
degree conceited of themselves, and full of affected contempt for
others.’ And, above all, both were ‘in physical sense, disgustingly
unclean in their persons and houses.’Compared to the people of India, according to Mill, the
people of Europe even during the feudal ages, (and notwithstanding the vices of the Roman Church and the defects
of the schoolmen), were superior in philosophy. Further, the
Europeans ‘were greatly superior, notwithstanding the defects of
the feudal system, in the institutions of Government and in
laws.’ Even their poetry was ‘beyond all comparison preferable to
the poetry of the Hindoos.’ Mill felt that it was hardly necessary
to assert that in the art of war ‘the Hindoos have always been
greatly inferior to the warlike nations of Europe.’ The agriculture
of the Europeans ‘surpassed exceedingly that of the Hindoos’,
and in India the roads were little better than paths, and the
rivers without bridges; there was not one original treatise on
medicine, considered as a science, and surgery was unknown
among the Hindoos. Further still, ‘compared with the slavish and
dastardly spirit of the Hindoos’, the Europeans were to be placed
in an elevated rank with regard to manners and character, and
their manliness and courage.
- Where the Hindoos surpassed the Europeans was in
delicate manufactures, ‘particularly in spinning, weaving, and
dyeing’; in the fabrication of trinkets; and probably in the art of
polishing and setting the precious stones; and more so in
effeminate gentleness, and the winning arts of address. However,
in the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture the Hindoos
in no way excelled Europeans. Further, ‘the Hindoo loom, with
all its appurtenances, is coarse and ill-fashioned, to a degree
hardly less surprising than the fineness of the commodity which
it is the instrument of producing.’ The very dexterity in the use
of their tools and implements became a point against the
Indians. For as James Mill proclaimed: ‘A dexterity in the use of
its own imperfect tools is a common attribute of rude society.’ - As to James Mill, so also to Wilberforce, Macaulay, and
Karl Marx and the thought and approaches they represented the manners, customs and civilisation
of India were intrinsically barbarous. And to each of them, India
could become civilised only by discarding its Indianness, and by
adopting ‘utility as the object of every pursuit’93 according to Mill;
by embracing his peculiar brand of Christianity for Wilberforce;
by becoming anglicised, according to Macaulay; and for Marx by
becoming western. - The neglect and deliberate uprooting of Indian education,
the measures which were employed to this end, and its
replacement by an alien and rootless system—whose products
were so graphically described later by Ananda Coomaraswamy—
had several consequences for India. To begin with, it led to an
obliteration of literacy and knowledge of such dimensions
amongst the Indian people that recent attempts at universal
literacy and education have so far been unable to make an
appreciable dent in it. Next, it destroyed the Indian social
balance in which, traditionally, persons from all sections of
society appear to have been able to receive fairly competent
schooling. The pathshalas and madrassahs had enabled them to
participate openly and appropriately and with dignity not only in
the social and cultural life of their locality but, if they wished,
ensured participation at the more extended levels. It is this
destruction along with similar damage in the economic sphere
which led to great deterioration in the status and socio-economic
conditions and personal dignity of those who are now known as
the scheduled castes; and to only a slightly lesser extent to that
of the vast peasant majority encompassed by the term ‘backward
castes’. The recent movements embracing these sections, to a
great extent, seem to be aimed at restoring this basic Indian
social balance. - A graphic image of the more privileged products of this British
initiated education was given by Ananda K Coomaraswamy as early as
1908. Coomaraswamy then wrote: ‘Speak to the ordinary graduate of an
Indian University, or a student from Ceylon, of the ideals of the
Mahabharata—he will hasten to display his knowledge of Shakespeare;
talk to him of religious philosophy—you find that he is an atheist of the
crude type common in Europe a generation ago, and that not only has he
no religion, but is as lacking in philosophy as the average Englishman;
talk to him of Indian music—he will produce a gramophone or a
harmonium and inflict upon you one or both; talk to him of Indian dress
or jewellery—he will tell you that they are uncivilised and barbaric; talk
to him of Indian art—it is news to him that such a thing exists; ask him
to translate for you a letter written in his own mother-tongue—he does
not know it. He is indeed a stranger in his own land.’ (Modern Review,
Calcutta, vol 4, Oct. 1908 p.338).
These reflections and judgments led to the obvious
conclusion, and Mill wrote:
Our ancestors, however, though rough, were sincere; but
under the glossing exterior of the Hindoo lies a general
disposition to deceit and perfidy. In fine, it cannot be
doubted that, upon the whole, the gothic nations, as soon
as they became a settled people, exhibit the marks of a
superior character and civilisation to those of the
Hindoos.92
page- 93
conclusion, and Mill wrote:
Our ancestors, however, though rough, were sincere; but
under the glossing exterior of the Hindoo lies a general
disposition to deceit and perfidy. In fine, it cannot be
doubted that, upon the whole, the gothic nations, as soon
as they became a settled people, exhibit the marks of a
superior character and civilisation to those of the
Hindoos.92
page- 93
Tribhuwan Singh Given such complete agreement on the nature of Indian
culture and institutions, it was inevitable that because of its
crucial social and cultural role, Indian education fared as it did.
To speed up its demise, it not only had to be ridiculed and
despised, but steps also had to be taken so that it was starved
out of its resource base. True, as far as the known record can
tell, no direct dismantling or shutting up of each and every
institution was resorted to, or any other more drastic physical
measures taken to achieve this demise. Such steps were
unnecessary; the reason being that the fiscal steps together with
ridicule, performed the task far more effectively.
page -94
culture and institutions, it was inevitable that because of its
crucial social and cultural role, Indian education fared as it did.
To speed up its demise, it not only had to be ridiculed and
despised, but steps also had to be taken so that it was starved
out of its resource base. True, as far as the known record can
tell, no direct dismantling or shutting up of each and every
institution was resorted to, or any other more drastic physical
measures taken to achieve this demise. Such steps were
unnecessary; the reason being that the fiscal steps together with
ridicule, performed the task far more effectively.
page -94
And most importantly, till today it has kept most educated
Indians ignorant of the society they live in, the culture which
sustains this society, and their fellow beings; and more
tragically, yet, for over a century it has induced a lack of confidence,
and loss of bearing amongst the people of India in
general.
What India possessed in the sphere of education two
centuries ago and the factors which led to its decay and
replacement are indeed a part of history. Even if the former
could be brought back to life, in the context of today, or of the
immediate future, many aspects of it would no longer be
apposite. Yet what exists today has little relevance either. An
understanding of what existed and of the processes which
created the irrelevance India is burdened with today, in time,
could help generate what best suits India’s requirements and the
ethos of her people.
Indians ignorant of the society they live in, the culture which
sustains this society, and their fellow beings; and more
tragically, yet, for over a century it has induced a lack of confidence,
and loss of bearing amongst the people of India in
general.
What India possessed in the sphere of education two
centuries ago and the factors which led to its decay and
replacement are indeed a part of history. Even if the former
could be brought back to life, in the context of today, or of the
immediate future, many aspects of it would no longer be
apposite. Yet what exists today has little relevance either. An
understanding of what existed and of the processes which
created the irrelevance India is burdened with today, in time,
could help generate what best suits India’s requirements and the
ethos of her people.
