The Symbolic Landscape of the British Hill Station in India Author(S): Judith T

Climate, Race, and Imperial Authority: The Symbolic Landscape of the British Hill Station in India Author(s): Judith T. Kenny Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 85, No. 4 (Dec., 1995), pp. 694-714 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of American Geographers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2564433 . Accessed: 04/12/2013 12:39

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This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 12:39:42 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Climate, Race, and ImperialAuthority: The Symbolic Landscape of the BritishHill Stationin India

JudithT. Kenny

Departmentof Geography,University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The hill stationin modern India is fre- took precedence over the accessibilityof gov- quentlyviewed by theWestern visitor as ernment to their minions conducted imperial an islandof Victorian values and symbols governmentfrom these remote locations. withouta clientele.When thearchitectural his- The superiorityof the hillclimate forAnglo- torianPhilip Davies visitedthe municipalityof Indians (as Britishcolonials called themselves3) Ootacamund'in the Nilgiri mountains of south- was summarized by one colonial who wryly ern India, he marveled at the landscape's observed that"like meat, we keep betterhere" "curiouslydistorted vision of England,an (Eden 1983:129). And just as the climate was anachronisticreflection in an Orientalmirror" the popular prescriptionfor the physical health (1985:128). Britishjournalist Mollie Panter- of Anglo-Indians,the environmentsuited their Downes had been similarlyimpressed with this mental health as well. Sparsely settled by Indi- "comfortinglittle piece of England"and "still ans, the hillswere viewed as a blank slate on flourishingreflection of Britishrule" (1967:8, which Anglo-Indians could create a familiar 105). Perhapsit is notsurprising that these English visitorsinterpreted the landscape of Ootaca- mund as a misplacedrelic of India'scolonial pastboth in formand function.As a derivative Distributionof British-builtHillStations of a Westerncolonial experience, the hillstation'sinstitutional complex and morphological images included Christianchurches, private schoolstaught in the Englishlanguage, the ad- ministrativeheadquarters of districtand state government,and the kindsof recreationalfa- cilitiesusually associated withBritish country lifeor an Englishspa. Ootacamund,or Ooty as itwas moreaffec- tionatelynicknamed, was one of approxi- matelyeighty settlements2 built by the British to serve as mountainretreats from the "hot gO season" of the Indianplains (Figure 1). Shortly afterthe establishmentof the firstof the hill stationsin 1819, Britishcolonials looked for- wardto the annualsummer migration up into the hillsaway fromthe heat,the dust,and the "natives."Beginning in the 1860s, select hill stationsalso servedas summercapitals of the 1. British-builthillstations. Distribution of In- "Raj"-a Sanskritword forrule which became Figure dian hill stations built in the nineteenth century. synonymouswith British crown rule. For six to Source:Mitchell 1972. eight monthseach year,administrators who believedthat the comfortof thecolonial rulers

Annals of the Association c AnmericanGeographers, 85(4), 1995, pp. 694-714 ?1 995 by Association of American Geographers Publishedby BlackwellPublishers, 238 MainStreet, Cambridge, MA 02142, and 108 CowleyRoad, Oxford, OX4 lIF,UK.

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 12:39:42 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The BritishHill Station in India 695 landscape, a "comfortinglittle piece of Eng- same time,India served as a laboratoryfor en- land." vironmental"knowledge" and forappropriate Colonial planning policies continue to "European"adaptations to the tropics(Frenkel influencemodern Indians through the persist- and Western 1988; Aiken 1994).6 ence of boththe builtstructure of urbanareas Whatdoes the hillstation suggest about the and colonial models of landscape. The large differencesbetween the Britishand the Indi- degree of continuity,however, has not pre- ans? How was thislandscape shaped to serve cluded a reinterpretationof the hillstation's as a place appropriatefor the Britishrulers? valueand use. Certainly,the hillstations are not And what was the government'srole in museumpieces and the coexistenceof the so- affirmingits symbolic significance and material cialistgoals of an independentIndia with towns effect?The imperialideology of differencewas historicallyassociated with elitist, colonial val- historicallyas well as geographicallyspecific, ues createintriguing tensions and dilemmasfor but owingto space limitationsI cannot cover planners."Down HillAll the Way?,"a recent the entirehistory of the hillstation in British cover storyof the nationalmagazine India To- India.I focusinstead on the hillstations of the day (June1989), focused attentionon the fu- late nineteenthand early twentiethcentury tureof the hill stations.4 In addition to question- when,during the "hillcraze" ofthe highimpe- ingthe continuedattractiveness of the stations rialage, theirgrandeur increased and the num- as summerresorts given the impactof a grow- ber of stationsgrew rapidly.As mightbe ex- ing numberof visitorson the environmental pected,the eightyIndian hill stations were not qualityof the hilltowns, the articletouches on all createdequal. In additionto differencesof thedebate over the hillstation's role as a "para- site and situation,hill stations varied in social sitic"or 'generative"settlement form. In this acceptabilityand function.Ootacam und-the context,anticipating and planningfor the fu- premierhill station of the Madras Presidency tureof the hillstations cannot avoid an exami- and a summercapital of the British"Raj"- nationof the legaciesof imperialistsnor of the servesas a particularlyappropriate context for social, politicaland aestheticvalues thatthe examiningthe relationsbetween government Britishinscribed on these resortsettlements practicesand discoursesof the Other in the and summercapitals of the "Raj." shapingof hill-stationlandscapes. The hill stationsbuilt some two hundred yearsafter the Britisharrived in Indiawere not simplya transplantedBritish landscape. They Discourses of the Other were expressiverather of broadernineteenth- centurybeliefs that set the colonialworld apart To conceptualizediscourse is to open an fromEurope. The hillstations reflected and re- avenue for the considerationof the relation inforcedassumptions of social and racialdiffer- between languageand ideologyand between ence, and in so doing naturalizedthe separa- linguisticand non-linguisticpractice. Dis- tion of rulersand ruled.This settlementform courses can be definedas social frameworks and landscape model was embedded, of thatenable and limitways of thinkingand act- course, in a largersystem of colonialcontrol ing.7These frameworks"em brace particular and a generaldiscourse of imperialism.5By im- combinationsof narratives,concepts, ideolo- perialistdiscourse I mean the frameworkthat gies and signifyingpractices" that correspond shaped the imperialists'interpretation and rep- to an area of social action(Barnes and Duncan resentationof the non-westernworld via a sys- 1992:8). Inherentin the concept are relations tem of meaningand a process thatsustained between discourses,knowledge, representa- relationsof dominationby representingthem tions,and power.Scholarly work in thispost- as legitimate.Intertwined with imperialism is a structuralmode of analysis addresses dis- second discourserooted in Europeanclassical courses of the Other(e.g., of race, genderor theoriesof climateand race whichdefined dif- any otherconventional category of difference) ferenceby the "temperate"and "torrid"zones. thatimply power differentials.One of these, Race,and itsassociation with environment, be- colonialdiscourse theory,8 is specificallycon- came keyto thelate nineteenth-century defini- cerned with"the constructionof the colonial tionof differential power relations between the subject in discourse, and the exercise of imperialrulers and those they ruled. At the colonial power throughdiscourse" (Bhabha

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1994:67). Bydefinition, imperial discourse and As importantas these analysesare, muchof the discourseof climate might be subsumedin the postcolonialcritique is peripheralto this thiscategory. Maintaining their distinctiveness, examinationof the hill-stationlandscape which however,clarifies their historical role. focuses insteadon the storiesthe Britishtold Examplesabound in which culturalgroups about themselves.9In the summercapitals of have perceivedother cultures not so muchas the Raj,the relativeisolation of the hillstation theyare but in termsthat benefit the perceiv- affordedthe Britisha stage with "homelike" ing group. The phrase "imaginativegeogra- qualitieson which to definetheir difference phies" introducedby the literarytheorist Ed- and to confirm,in appropriatelyBritish terms, ward Said (1979) describesthese transforma- theiridentity as rulersof India.Although the tionsof othercultures. These colonialgeogra- Anglo-Indiansense of self was not divorced phies "helpthe mindintensify its own sense of fromthe Indianas colonialsubject, the rulers itselfby dramatizingthe distanceand differ- could "overlook"indigenous elites and subal- ence between what is close and what is far ternswhile in the hills.The hillstations thus away" (1979:55). Farfrom being innocentdis- serveda particularrole withinthe imaginative tortions of other cultures, those repre- geographiesof imperialdiscourse, a role that sentationsimply power relations."Taxonomic enabled the imperialist"mind [to] intensifyits lores"developed as partof these geographies own sense ofitself by dramatizing distance and serve to separateraces, regions,and nations difference"(Said 1979:55) fromthe centersof accordingto categoriesof difference. Although Indianpopulation in the plains. Said'swork on Orientalismis perhapsthe best- One of the tropes10which conveys this dis- known analysisof imperialpractices and distanceand itsdifferential power relations is race. coursesof the Other-an analysiswhich shows Althoughthe biologicalsciences have longdis- how "Europeanculture was able to manage- missed race as a meaningfulconcept, it en- and even produce-the Orientpolitically, so- dured in popularusage as a metaphorfor the ciologically,militarily, ideologically, scientifically ultimate,irreducible essence of difference.As and imaginatively"(1979:3)-others have ex- the literarytheorist Abdul JanMohamed has ar- tended his argument(e.g., Inden1990). gued, "theperception of racialdifference is, in Initially,critiques of Orientalistconstructions the firstplace, influencedby economic mo- dealt primarilywith a Western discourse tives"(1986:80). Borrowinga metaphorfrom shaped by Western experts, government FrantzFanon, he definesthe conqueror/native agents, and authors in service of Western relationshipas a "Manichean"struggle-a dual- power.The significanceof such analysesrests isticconflict between light and dark-inwhich in parton the centralityof imperialismin the thecolonialist discourse "commodities" the na- culturalrepresentations of Britainto the British tivesubject as a stereotypedobject. This rep- (Spivak 1985:261). Subsequently,however, resentational"economy," JanMohamed argues, postcolonialcritiques broadened this perspec- constitutesthe centraltrope of colonialistdis- tiveto accommodatethe ambivalenceof colo- course, one whichties changingpolitical and nial discoursein social relationsbetween im- economic intereststo the representationof perialand indigenouselites. Employingsuch people and places duringan age of race and concepts as mimicryand culturalhybridity, imperialism. these latercritics exposed the ironiesof the Among the shortcomingsof colonial dis- imperialists''civilizing mission," a mission course theory,arguably the mostprominent is whichdepicted indigenous people as: "almost the characterizationof imperialismas a ho- the same, but not quite . . . Almost the same mogenous ideology accompanied by a ho- but not white . . . a mimic man . . . to be An- mogenizationof racism.As NicholasThomas glicized is emphaticallynot to be English" (1994) observes, peoples have been distin- (Bhabha 1994:86-87; emphases in the origi- guishedby a varietyof othercriteria including nal). In a relatedintellectual challenge, mem- the lack of civility,industrial goods, and eco- bers of the SubalternStudies project rejected nomicdevelopment.11 That said, race endures the discourseof India'selites as derivativeand as a key discursivedevice fordefining differ- chose insteadto rewritethe historyof colonial ence in muchof the nineteenthand twentieth India by givinga voice to the "separateand century.An historicalanalysis of Britishrepre- distinctivepoints of view ofthe masses" (Guha sentationsof India suggeststhat these were and Spivak1988:vi). informedby otherstandards associated with a

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 12:39:42 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The BritishHill Station in India 697 complextransformation ofcolonial society, and Englishevangelical reformer William Wilber- most especiallyby discoursesof imperialism force would promote. "Let us endeavor to and climate/race. strikeour rootsinto their soil," he proclaimed, "bythe gradual introduction and establishment ofour own principlesand opinion;of our laws, institutionsand manners . . ." (Morris 1973:74). The Transformationof Colonial This pronouncement of imperial interest Society(1 760s-1 850s) voiced the concernsof a nation"challenged" by the "needs" of India. Europeancontact with indigenous peoples Assumingcontrol of a largerportion of India theoreticallyoffered the optionsof responding resultedinevitably in a separationof the British to the Otherin termsof identityor difference. and theirnew Indiansubjects. From the 1760s, Earlyin the colonial period,when tradewith the EastIndia Company's settlements in India Indiawas primarilydependent on thegood will increasinglybecame models of Britishstatus. of Indians,the Britishtended to ignore sig- Where once the social ideal was to live likea nificantdivergences in behavioror to explain Nawab (a Mughaltitle), new idealsof suburban awaythose differences by reference to culture. livingand Britisharchitectural styles set the Recall that the merchantsof the East India standardfor the colonialelite of Madras,Cal- Company were not a strongcolonial force; cutta,and Bombay.Similarly the troops that theywere presentonly at thetolerance of local had been concentratedin urbancenters were landowners.Confined as theywere to thefour dispersedinto cantonments that amounted to coastalareas ofMadras, Calcutta, Bombay, and "petrifiedmilitary camps" (Davies 1985:77) on Suratfrom 1619 to the 1760s, the Britishknew the periphery.Adjacent to the militarystation, verylittle of Indiaor Indiansociety. What has the civilstation was occupied bythe members been describedas an "easy symbiosis"(Bayly of the colonialbureaucracy. While these new 1988:69) was underminedin the laterpart of settlementssheltered the colonialsfrom some theeighteenth century with the collapseof the ofthe inconveniencesof lifein India,they also MughalEmpire and commercialconflict fueled isolatedthem from Indian society. by wars betweenthe Britishand French.The Indiansociety was changingas well. Utilitar- increasinginstability ofthe countryside and the ian beliefencouraged education of Indiansso growingpresence of the European military thatthey might be raisedto Britishstandards helped to divertthe Britishsettlements from and values.Yet, as Bhabhadescribes, the edu- commercialto imperialistchannels (Spear cated Indiansubject became the ultimatefigure 1963; Bayly1988). of mockery.The "mimic"colonial subject sug- The transformationof colonial societywas gestedthat to be Anglicizedwas emphatically also influencedby markedchanges in English not to be English.By 1850, the emergenceof society and culturebetween 1780 to 1850. a WesternizedIndian elite in the port cities Utilitarianand Evangelicalreformers called for challengedBritish views of the transformation changes in Britainand in her colonies. They of Indiansociety. Indian society in generalen- criticizedthe styleof conduct that had brought tereda period of stress.British policy created wealth and power to the Britishin India by social disturbancesthrough the greatland set- callingit criminal behavior. The presenceof the tlementsof northernIndia and the displace- Britishin India,however, was not disputedby mentof manylandholders, and the imposition the reformers.Indeed, as dutyreplaced trade of Britishcustoms and lawsendangered Indian as the expressed interest,the Britishfelt a religions.Moreover, aggressive policies of an- greatersense of permanencein India.Reform nexationcarried out by the East India Com- came in the CharterAct of 1813 whichbroke pany's Governor-General,the Marquess of the monopolyof the EastIndia Company and Dalhousie,resulted in Britishcontrol of three- made Parliamentthe ultimateauthority in India. fifthsof India by 1856. The "improvementof Such a move would have been unthinkable India"appeared to be a plot againstthe old onlyforty years earlier when in 1774 the gov- culturesof India.British military authorities and ernorof Bengal, Warren Hastings, declared that high-castemembers of the East India Com- "the dominionof all of India is what I never pany'sBengal Army provided the flashpoint to wishto see" (Watson1981 :129). Butdominion the incendiarysituation. Policies disliked on re- was preciselywhat the nineteenth-century ligiousgrounds, including the movementof

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troops overseas and the use of greased car- ThomasMetcalf (1989:7) makesthis point ex- tridges-bothin violationof caste restrictions- plicitly;imperial architectural styles were, in his were the rallyingpoints for the "IndianMu- view, manifestationsof an interconnected tiny,"also known as the Sepoy Rebellionor structureof power and knowledgethat in- Uprisingof 1857. For fourteenmonths, the formed colonialism everywhere. Although world of Britishauthority dissolved on the overgeneralized,Metcalf's thesis sometimes il- northernplains of India. luminatesas when he notesthat: "In the public Althoughthe spiritof reformhad been in- buildingsput up by the Raj it was essential creasinglytinged with expressions of racialsu- alwaysto make visibleBritain's imperial posi- periority,the hostilitiesassociated with the up- tionas ruler,for these structureswere charged risingunderlined the impressionof irreconcil- withthe explicitpropose of representingem- able difference.The yearof the mutinymarked pire itself"(1989:2). Butthere are manyways significantshifts in the Britishrepresentations of buildinga buildingor landscape,and the of Indiaas expressedin their theories of impe- self-consciousnessof Britishdebates over ar- rial authorityand discourses of difference. chitecturalstyles nicely record their changing Blamingthe mutiny on theEast India Company, visionsof themselvesas rulersof India. the Parliamentin Londonabolished the Com- The expressionof these concerns was rarely pany and named Victoriasovereign of British straightforward,however, in Britishsettlement India in 1858. India became an imperialpos- planning.Frequently, public safety served as a session and the Crown'srepresentatives there metaphorfor control (Oldenburg 1984), and (militaryand civilianofficials) acquired new decisionsputatively based on healthconcerns statusand responsibility.Rather than promote masked desiresfor comfort and a prestigious change,the new governmentwas to protect environmentfor the colonial populations and preserveIndians' religious traditions and (Frenkeland Western1988). Veena Olden- culturaldifferences. burg'saccount of the rebuildingof Lucknow Concurrently,the prevalenceof new "scien- afterits destruction in the rebellionof 1857, for tific"theories of racialsuperiority during the instance,emphasizes the Britishconcern for 1850s supporteda growingBritish preoccu- securityfrom internal conspiracy. By demolish- pation with the "grandeurof our race" (Sir ingthe "labyrinth"of the traditionalcity, British CharlesDilke cited in Elridge1973:49)-or, less plannerscreated space fora broad streetnet- kindly,with the "mutinymentality." The irony workthat facilitated surveillance and policede- ofthis fixation on racialdifference was the psy- ployment.Similarly, in the hills,the Britishsus- chic and social distortionit entailedfor the tainedthe illusionof an Englishtown (Kanwar Britishin India. 1990) by housingthe Indianservice population While profitingfrom the fearon whichthe Raj in segregatedareas. rests,the Anglo-Indians are victimsof a fearwhich Indiaarouses in them.They live amidstscenery theydo not understand,sense thatIndians hate them and feel Indiato be a poisonous country Climate, Race and Imperial intendingevil against them. (Parry 1972:279-280) Authority If"their imaginative geography" reinforced the Anglo-Indiansense of superiority,it likewise Climateand Health fed theirfears of a "scenerythey do not understand." The modest scholarlyattention devoted to The transformationofVictorian British values the Britishhill station in Indiareflects perhaps and beliefsnecessarily spilled over onto the its seemingly"natural" existence in a cultural landscapes of the colonialworld (King1976; ecologyof coloniallife. Initially, the hillstation Oldenburg1984; Frenkeland Western1988; was the upland counterpartto the lowland Metcalf1989; Kanwar 1990). Scholars who militarystation, save forits distancing of Anglo- have analyzed the social and politicalunder- Indiansfrom the perceivedunpleasantries of pinningsof colonial architecture and urbande- lifein India.Hill stations were a relativelynew velopmenthave emphasizedthat the imposing colonialsettlement form when, in 1838, Emily buildingsbuilt by the Britishserved as social Eden wrotefrom the Himalayanhill station of controls over the indigenous populations Simla to a family member in England and/oras healthsanctuaries for Anglo-Indians. (1983:129):

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It certainlyis very pleasant to be in a prettyplace, mationto the climateof the plains; and 2) with a nice climate. Not that I would not startoff women owing to their"highly mobile" tem- this instant,and go dak [transportby relay]all over the hot plains,and throughthe hot wind, ifI were peraments (presumably temperamental) told that I mightsail home the instantI arrived at and/orpreference for the social lifeof the low Calcutta,but as nobody makes me thatoffer, I can country.Ironically, by the latenineteenth cen- wait here betterthan anywhere else.... turymany would describethe hillstations as places forwomen while the "men of action" Miss Eden'ssentiments regarding hill-station popularizedin heroic tales preferred the plains. lifewould be sharedby severalgenerations of Despite the perceived healthbenefits, the Anglo-Indians.Patrons of the colonialhill sta- hillstations' separation from the low country tionsliberally praised natural environments that caused concernwhen Britishofficials first mi- were relativelycool, green,and unpopulated. gratedto thesesanitaria. Before the abolition of The contrastwith the lowlandsseemed to pro- the East India Company,the Companycom- voke the question"could thisbe India?"(Pan- plainedof the expense incurredby these an- ter-Downes1967). Inthe case ofOotacamund, nual, unofficialretreats (Kenny 1991). But by assessmentsranging from Tennyson's descrip- the1850s, persistence overcame official objec- tion of the "sweet half-Englishair" of Ootaca- tions as district,provincial, and imperialad- mund(Baker 1967:217) to a laterpaean to its ministrationsmoved theirsummer headquar- value as "an islandof Britishatmosphere hung ters to the hillstations. Imperial government above the Indianplains" (Pentland 1928) com- moved 1,200 milesfrom Calcutta to Simla;the municatedthe site's superiority and theescape. Madras Governmentspent six monthsat Oo- Geographicresearch on the hillstation em- tacamund;the BombayGovernment occupied phasizes its role in the physicaland mental Mahableshwarand Poona for four months healthof the colonials(Mitchell 1972; Spencer each; the BengalGovernment went to Darjee- and Thomas1948). As Nora Mitchellnotes in lingfor three months; and the Governmentof herdiscussion of the hillstation, the Anglo-In- the North-WesternProvinces and Oudh spent dians' perceptionof healthfulenvironments fivemonths in NaniTal (Figure 2).12 These hab- were shaped by a combinationof classical itsbecame officialonly after Simla was desig- theoriesand themedieval belief in miasmicairs natedas the Viceroyof India'ssummer capital (poisoned by noxious,decaying organic mat- in 1864. In 1870, Ootacamund,next in rank, ter).Although in hindsightthese ideas guided officiallybecame the seat of summergovern- the developmentof the hillstations and the ment for the governorof the Madras Presi- perceptionof themas healthyenvironments, dency.Other summer capitals soon were ac- the earlyrecord of Britishencounter suggests corded officialstatus. a more cautious,if not mixed,reaction to the The definitionof who would benefitfrom "discovery"of the hills.As Sir RichardBurton the hillstation, and forwhat reasons, was a key explainedin talkingabout the hillstation of aspect in an evolvingnineteenth-century dis- Ootacamund,"we demi-Orientals,who know course. The discourse also justifiedgovern- by experiencethe dangersof mountainair in mentpractices which further sanctioned racial India, only wonder at the man who first and spatialcategories. Imperial practices sup- planted a roof-treeupon the Neilgherries" portedthe distinction of this British enclave not (1851:270). Withoutan understandingof ma- only as an appropriateplace forcolonial ad- laria'scause, the disease was ascribedto the ministrators,but also as a racialand spatialcate- "dangersof mountainair in India."Only after gory that symbolizedBritish superiority and explorationof the interiorrefined the colonials' difference.Features which seemed to set apart definitionof "feverzones" did the cooler cli- "Europeans"(used as a nineteenth-centuryra- mate and the assumed absence of disease cial category)were ascribedto the hillstation serve as a rationalefor their hill stations. Pro- and inscribedin itslandscape. motionof thisnew resourcewas required,as was an interpretationof its benefits(Kenny 1991). Notall were suitedto the hillsaccording Race and ImperialAuthority to Dr.Baikie (1834; 1857), the residentmedical expertof Ootacamund.He warned thattwo The Victorianrevival of theories relating race Europeangroups might find the hillclimate un- and climatecoincided with the waningof re- satisfactory:1) pensioners owing to theiraccli- formenthusiasm in post-MutinyIndia. These

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havingevolved in a physicalenvironment (Brit- TheImperial and Provincial ain) that bred a superiorpeople capable of Seatsof Government administeringothers (Hutchins 1967; Metcalfe forBritish India, 1857-1910 1964). Races of the world were differentiatedby anatomyand intellectand kept apart by cli- NainiTalIA mate,with each sharingits "prescribed salubri- isi Agra* rjlg ous limits"(Hutchins 1967:161). The theory furtherimplied that an Englishmanplaced in Bengalwould live witha tolerabledegree of Calcutta healthbut he "would soon cease to be the same individual"and his descendantswould _Bom~Bobay degenerate.The Europeanconstitution could A Poona Maah habeleshwar not survivethe thirdgeneration in the climate of India proclaimedthe Parliament's"Select Committeeon Colonizationand Settlement(of India)"of 1857 (Hutchins1967:61). The theoreticalrelationship between climate,race, and healthwas refinedthroughout the latterpart of the nineteenthcentury. In Health Resorts for Tropical Invalids, the Sur- geon General of the Bombay Presidency Figure 2. The imperialand provincialseats of gov- launcheda protestagainst those "who have ernment for BritishIndia, 1857-1910. The informal practice of conducting business in the hill stations portrayedthe climateof Indiaas notinimical to during summer months was formalized after1864. Europeans"(Moore 1881:3-4). Perhapsit is the ImperialGovernment then moved theirofficial head- need forsuch a protestin 1881 thatis most quarters to Simla during the hot season, while the notable.He argued thatthe climateand the Madras Presidencyspent the season at Ootacamund, exposureto disease in the plainsthreatened the Bombay Presidency visited Poona and Ma- hableshwar four months each, the Bengal Govern- the healthof Anglo-Indians.Itis onlyby "peri- ment leftCalcutta for Darjeeling, and the Govern- odicalescape fromthe influenceof the plains," ment of the North-WesternProvinces and Oudh he advised,"that the majority of Europeans can moved its seat of administrationfrom Agra (later retainboth mental and physicalhealth and vig- Lucknow) to the hill station of Naini Tal. Sources: Gopal 1965; Mitchell1972. our."The need to escape "theheat" meant of course a simultaneousescape from"the native." Althoughthe new governmentof India graduallyaccepted these "hill migrations," complaintsfrom the governedmounted with theoriesrationalized the irreconcilablediffer- the time spent in the hillsand the expense ences between "Europeans"and Indiansas a associatedwith maintainingsecond, summer formof environmentaldeterminism. The links seatsof government. Indian protest reached its between environmentand racial charac- peak in 1884 when thirtythousand petitioners teristicswere not new to the nineteenthcen- fromthe Madras presidencyalone asked Par- tury,but the discourseof climatewas dressed liamentto haltthe annualexodus to the hills in new scientificterms. By the early1850s, and the "hillcraze." Formany Indians and cer- theoriesof racialdifference assumed that racial tain membersof the non-officialBritish com- typeswere fixedand the productsof multiple munityit appeared thatthe governmentwas creations.The theoryof evolution, while over- planninga permanentmove to Ootacamund turningthese beliefs,did not loose the hold of and thatevery district collector was buildinga pseudo-scientificracism. Indeed, evolutionary summeroffice on higherground. Protests were theory's "strugglefor survival"provided a heardfrom other cities in BritishIndia where mechanismfor racial differentiation and con- Indiansubjects questioned the moves of impe- flict.In that struggle, the "White race" prevailed rial,provincial, and districtoffices into the hills because itwas moreadvanced and adaptable oftenfor more than half the year (Kenny 1990).

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In defense of this practice, the liberalgover- those who picturednot increasedefficiency nor of the Madras Presidency cited the greater but men on holidaypursuing leisure activities efficiencyof administratorsin the hills. Refer- in the hills(Figure 3). As the stayof the upper ringto gentlemenfrom "the rainyisles" at work echelonsof government in the hillstation capi- in the hillstation, he pictured "one of the most talsincreased to eightmonths out of twelve,it hard working men in the Presidency, rubbing was onlynatural that the strugglefor the domi- his hands in a drivingScotch mist,as happy as nant representationof hill-stationactivity a Newfoundland dog on a frostyday in Eng- would become critical. land" (Madras Mail: July1, 1884). Representing Ultimately,the government'sthesis of in- the contraryviews of the petitioners,an edito- creasedefficiency in a climatesuited to natives rial in the Madras Mail (April 1, 1884) argued of Britainoutweighed the petitioners'demands that: foraccessibility to decisionmakers.The peti- tionerswere effective,however, in reducing Ootacamundis a verygood kindof place formen on leave,for dames, damsels, small boys and po- the amountof timespent in the hills.On the nies;but it is nota good place forthe development recommendationof Parliament,the governors of a highsense of duty,or the attainmentof that and theirsecretariats were limitedto six to activesympathy of the people of Indiawhich is as seven monthsa year in the summercapitals. oil to the bearingof state. Despite growingnationalist protests, the bu- This representationwas a popular one among reaucraticmachine of imperialgovernment

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Figure 3. The Mac~~~~abfamily in front of their hill station bungalow, circa 1901, replete with horses, dog, parasol,...... and solar topee. Source: India Office Library and Records Office, London. Mac~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~abCollection #752/4 ...... No.58.~~ ...

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had momentumon itsside. Withthe approval the lookof a risingEnglish watering place." (Treve- of Parliament,the practiceof Britishauthority lyancited in Price1909:64) and the hillstation were inextricablylinked. The "Englishwatering place" awaitedits trans- The summerseat of governmenthad in effect formationfrom sanitarium to summercapital become a symbolof the Raj. Successive ad- after1870. ministrators,from governors to municipal FollowingOotacamund's designation as the councilmen,believed it was theirduty to en- seat of summergovernment, the hillstation hance the beautyof the new capitalsand to underwentsignificant change. Between1871 increasetheir attractions. As one retiringgov- and 1901, populationgrew rapidly from 9,932 ernorof the Madras Presidencyreminded his to 18,596 permanentresidents and a seasonal constituents,be sure to "make Ootacamund populationof more than twice that.The in- beautiful,make it convenientbut above all crease in officialsand staffwas accompanied keep it healthy" (Ootacamund Municipal byrising numbers of Indians and Anglo-Indians CouncilOctober 20, 1900). seeking commercialopportunities. The 1884 establishmentof permanentmilitary headquar- tersof the MadrasArmy on the hillsextended The EnglishLandscape of the the officialpresence. Ooty was perceivedby Hill Station the Anglo-Indiancommunity as a Britishsettle- mentdespite the fact that the Indian population For many outside the hill station'ssocial outnumberedthe Europeanby a ratioof more world,Ootacamund served as a symbolof the than ten to one and thatthe site includeda colonialadministration's disregard for the peo- small but significantIndian commercial class. ple of India.To the colonialofficials, however, AlthoughIndian residents of Ootacamund held the landscape of Ootacamund symbolizeda the majorityof the station'sreal estateduring view ofsocial order, the "natural"environment this period,they were "absent"for the most forthe Britishrepresentatives of imperialgov- partfrom the settlement'ssocial and political ernment.The viceroyLord Lytton captured this circles. view duringhis visitto Ootacamundin 1877: The landscape model chosen forthe sum- "I affirmit to be a paradise.... The afternoon mer capital,therefore, need not incorporate was rainyand the road muddy,but such Eng- the monumentaldisplays of colonialauthority lishrain such deliciousEnglish mud" (quoted in the "IndianFeudal" or Indo-Sarcenicstyles in Price 1909:63). Lyttonfurther described a typicalof publicbuildings in the plains.14Sym- landscape composed of familiarBritish fea- bolizingthe genteel,refined, and aristocratic tures: "ImagineHerefordshire lanes, Devon- imagesof Englishupper-class living-or, as the shire downs, Westmorelandlakes, Scotch Britishnewspaper The Statesmanmight have troutstreams." Early visitors also projectedim- put it,the "aristocraticrace" (citedin Southof ages of Englandonto the naturalenvironment India Observer(SIO): September12, 1877)- of Ootacamund and therebyinfluenced the the hillswere well-suitedfor this "elegant pas- developmentof the landscape (see Kenny toral"model and the rulingclass lifeassociated 1990). The "founder"of Ootacamund,John withit. In the case of Ootacamund,contem- Sullivan,set out to make the hill stationan poraryliterature depicted it as a siteof unpre- IndianUtopia with an Englishlandscape by in- tentiousdignity, beautiful (English) surround- troducingnot only Europeantrees, flowers, ings, and a legitimacybased in its history fruitand vegetables,but also the serpentine (Eagan1912:31 ). lake of a countryestate (Figure4).3 Later visi- In structureand architecturaldesign, the public torsto the hillstation commented on the re- buildingsare, naturally,neither elaborate nor pre- markablesimilarities between this landscape tentious. Yet, the prominence usually afforded and home.The Britishstatesman and utilitarian them by theirposition on hillcrests, coupled with ThomasBabington Macauley, arriving in Oota- their beautifulsurroundings, lends them a certain dignity,while much of historicinterest attaches to camundin 1834, saw: them. a pleasantsurprise of an ampitheatreof green hills encirclinga smalllake, whose bankswere dotted These qualitiesimply, moreover, the virtues as- withred-tiled cottages surrounding a pretty Gothic sociated withthe late nineteenth-and early Church.The whole stationpresented "very much twentieth-centurymodel of an essentiallyrural

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Ootacamundx SiteMap of the Hill Station,_

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Figure 4. Ootacamund ~Sit Ma of th*ilSain 1913 Loato of "Erpen an Inda seteet wihi thehil sttin Rlatv elvto iniae th seaato of use by toorah as welasbditneSor: Adate fro 184 188 an 1859 _pla 11maps. _

and an essentiallyunchanging England. The ru- tensionsof colonialrule and the isolatedalien ral mode impliedgreatness centered not on settlement"(1973:281). the commercialclass and the industrialtowns Historicattachments to place and a sense of buton thetraditional aristocracy and landown- belongingwere incorporatedin the official ership(Weiner 1981; Williams1973). In tracing landscapeof Ooty.In 1870, Stone House-the theseattitudes toward the city and thecountry, oldestbuilding in the hillstation and one asso- RaymondWilliams observed thatthe cultural ciated withthe "discoverer"of Ootacamund, importanceof rural ideals grew despite the de- JohnSullivan-was chosen to house theSecre- cliningimportance of the workingrural econ- tariat'soffices. This singular example of English- omy.Rural ideals of how to livewell, "from the style stone structurebecame the center of styleof the country-houseto the simplicityof officialbusiness. The firsteffort to improvethe the cottage"(Williams 1973:248), affordedan officiallandscape involved the beautificationof image of Home for the colonial society:"its the groundson StonehouseHill followed by ruralpeace contrastedwith the tropicalor arid improvementsto the Secretariatbuilding. If places of actualwork; itssense of belonging, earlierobservations of Ootacamund'snatural of community,idealised by contrastwith the environmenthad inspiredcomparisons to the

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landscape of a gentleman'spark, these later Ooty forthat purpose. Shortly after, construc- investments groomed the image (Price tionbegan on a new mansiondesigned along 1909:20-21). the lines of the Duke's own countryhouse, While Stonehouse Hill was the center of Stowe House, Buckinghamshire.Buckingham's officialbusiness, Government House would choice of a Palladian-stylecountry house rep- soon become the centerof Ootacamund'sso- resented,presumably, the Duke's ideas on the cial life(Figure 5). Priorto its constructionin appropriatedesign of a countryhouse as well 1877, governorsvied withother visitors to rent as his interestin replicatinghome. Although one of the moresubstantial houses duringthe the classicalcolumns of the Palladianfacade season,but these rents and otherexpenditures went out of fashionduring the lateeighteenth on personalaccommodations were the per- centurywith the influenceof romanticism,the sonal responsibilityof the governorsand their stylesaw a revivalin theearly nineteenth cen- staffs.But in 1876, inspiredperhaps by the turyjust as Stowe House was in the planning proclamationnaming Queen Victoriaqueen stages. Perhaps,as Mark Girouardsuggests, empress,the presiding governor of the Madras the classicalportico of a Palladianhouse sym- Presidency,the Duke of Buckingham,estab- bolized morethan education and culture. lisheda hillresidence. The governoracquired Certainlythe architectGilbert Scott, who was a house on the slopes of the highesthill in broughtup in the 1820's underthe shadow of

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Stowe and the dukes of Buckingham,saw authori- Literallyand figuratively,Government com- tarianismin great classical houses. "Their cold and mandedthe highground of the hillstation, as proud palladianism. .. seems to forbidapproach- the only ruralthoughts they suggest are of game did the Englishtown center.Figure 6, entitled keepers and park rangers."(Girouard 1978:242) "A General View of Qotacamund,"captures TelegraphHill-Ooty's British center-as it ap- While romanticstyles would dominate the hill peared duringthe 1880s. Concentratedwithin station's residential,commercial, and govern- thisarea, and locatedabove the Indianbazaar, mental office buildings,the Governor's Palla- were the officialchurch (St. Stephen's), district dian mansion was an exception. and municipalgovernment offices, and, in in- This mansion was not without controversy. creasingnumbers, British-managed businesses. The ImperialFund was tapped over a number St.Stephen's, built in 1826 withEast India Com- of years in an effortto complete Government pany fundsand with timbersfrom the de- House and to furnishit. Monitoringthese ex- stroyedpalace ofan Indianruler (shown in the penses, the Madras Mail newspaper voiced foregroundof Figure6), served as the geo- loud criticismof the governor's hillstation con- graphiccenter of the hillstation, the historic structionprogram. Aftercompletion of the fa- centerfrom which the stationhad grown,and cilities,however, Government House and the the geometriccenter from which all mileage SecretariatOffices came to be seen as "natural" withinthe districtwas figured. parts of the landscape and of governance. Although"English" land uses clusteredon

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this hilltopfrom the station'searly years, the The "Unhealthy"Indian developmentof an Englishtown became a Settlements conscious effortafter 1870. Colloquially,Tele- graphHill became Cutcherry,or publicoffice, Hill. The Britishfaced a dilemmain the hillstation. Gotacamundas a Britishsettlement depended on a large Indianpopulation to supportthe Effortshave been made duringthe past few years forthe convenience of the public, to concentrate privilegedlifestyle of Anglo-Indians. But this in- around the Collector's Officesand Courts,the Post dispensableIndian labor pool was also viewed & Telegraph Offices and Courts, the Post & Tele- as a source of disease thatcould threatenthe graph Offices,the TahsildarSubmagistrate's Court, hillstation's role as sanitarium.The extentof the RegistrationOffice, and in a few days the Bank will be in our midst.In shortwhat is known as the the governor'sentourage suggests the labor CutcherryHill [is] the very heart of Ootacamund. requiredfor managing hill-station life: ... (S5O: March 22, 1884) Several special trainsconveyed his [the gover- nor's]patriarchal following of staff,band, clerks, In 1884, the MadrasArmy located itshead- servantsof all kindswith their families, between quarterson an easternspur of TelegraphHill. fiveand six hundredsouls, besides nearlya hun- Tenyears later, municipal business was accom- dred horses from the stables. . . . (Pentland 1928:137)15 modated in the lastadministrative building to be constructedon the hill.Located on the In Simla, the Viceroy'shunting expeditions lower side of the hillabove the bazaar, the alone required 2,000 bearers (Kanwar MunicipalBuilding was the only publicoffice 1990:135).The luxuriouslifestyle did notguar- on TelegraphHill with a view of the Indian antee immunityfrom the disease thatspread areas oftown. The Englishtown center of Ooty throughthe low country,and the Indiansettle- was thus separate from and superior to mentswithin the stationserved as a reminder downslope landscapes. The Britishvantage of thatfact (see Figure4). A choleraepidemic point opened vistasto the surroundinghills in 1877 raised serious questionsamong the and the lake below while closingoff for the Britishresidents of Gotacamund. How was mostpart the view of the "natives." Even within Gotacamund'sreputation as a beautifuland sa- the hillstation, height distanced the rulersfrom lubriousspa to be insured?Furthermore, who the ruled. was to benefitfrom the sanitationmeasures? In Ooty, social rank was closely matched Seven months before Lord Lytton's1877 withelevation. This match reflected the pictur- declarationthat Ootacamund was paradise,the esque qualityof the settingas well as a favor- localnewspaper delivered a ratherdifferent as- able interpretationof the site's healthfulness. sessment.Reporting on "anothercase of im- Fromthe arrivalof the firstBritish in Ootaca- portedcholera," the Anglo-Indiannewspaper mund,they had comparedthe topographyof South of India Observerexpressed concern thestation to an amphitheaterof hills surround- about the (British)community's ability to avoid ingthe lake.Accordingly, the Britishbuilt "su- a severe epidemicwith the growingmigration periorclass" residenceson the crestsof the of Indiansup fromthe lowlands.Disease "im- hillsthat made up this amphitheater.To be ported"with migrantIndians represented an sure,some worriedinitially over exposureto externalthreat to the healthand welfareof certainwinds, or to possible associationsbe- Ootacamund.Assessments of Ootacamund's tween crestsites and illness,or even to dis- health problems and the methods used in tances between bungalowsthat were time- combatingthem reflectednot only the con- consumingand perhapsdangerous (DeWend temporaryunderstanding of medical prob- 1829). But these were momentaryconcerns. lems,but also a primaryconcern for the health Afterhill stations were firmlyestablished, their of the Europeanpopulation. Controlling built morphologieswere seen as "natural"and pic- space as a means of maintaining"social hy- turesquerather than precariousand theiralti- giene" had been partand parcelof European tudinalpositions as indicatorsof the salubrity advancementsin medical"knowledge" since of residentialsites safelydistanced from "un- the eighteenthcentury (Foucault 1980; Burke healthy"Indian settlements. 1985).16 Fearing that the coalescence of the

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Fiue..Th.oerBzar .ira185.hoig.hIn..1895,.the. Wlo Bn cosngte ae portionsof..

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the lake to the rightof the earthen bridge would be filledin to improve sanitaryconditions and to add to British park land. Source: India Office Libraryand Records Office, London. Collection No. 394/87. Reprinted by permission of The BritishLibrary.

Indianand Europeansections of Ooty'spopu- harams or anythingelse you like, you must have lationthreatened the "health of the town" (SIO: insanitaryconditions, and the danger is immeasur- ably more in a cold hillstation where the tempta- May 30, 1877), Ooty's plannersmade Indian tion to huddle more closely together for warmth areas the primetargets for "improvement." in unclean surroundingsis proportionatelygreater. Ironically,the cholera epidemic in the hill There has been more than one plague spot of this stationresulted in improvementsin the British kind in Ootacamund for many generations now. landscape.A February1877 reporton Ootaca- (Higgenbotham 1912:74) mund'ssanitary conditions noted that the larg- In cold hillstations, the Indians'need to "hud- est numberof cholera victims resided near the dle moreclosely together" merely exaggerated bazaar area and thecontaminated water of the "natural"tendencies. Comments of this sort lake(Figure 7). Dense livingconditions, sanita- were commonplacefrom the earliestyears of tion problems,and disease definedthe envi- hill-stationliving. British explanations invariably ronmentof the bazaar and, accordingto one focused on Indians'reactions to the British- travelguide book, climateand race explained styleclimate of the hillstations and to the basic it: insuitabilityofthe climate to the"race," and just whereyou have Indianscongregating together in as invariablyomitted the social constraintsof congeriesof dwellingscalled parcherries,agra- limitedspace for Indiansettlements and the

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expense of hill-stationreal estate. Moreover, extreme measures to preserve the station's the Britishusually glossed over the caste dis- health (51: June6, 1903) followingthe plague tinctionsassociated with parcherries and agra- of 1903. The local Anglo-Indian newspaper harams-thedifference between the livingar- commented on the incidentalbenefits of these eas of brahamins and untouchables,respec- public health measures: tively-thusimplying that Indian dwelling areas Ifthe scourgeof plague had not visitedOotaca- were indistinguishablein terms of environ- mundlast year, we shouldhave probablygone for mentalquality. years withthose unsightlyand insanitarynative The crowded, unsanitaryconditions in the housesclose to themain road. Now nearlyall have bazaar were lamented but not remedied. been swept away and the road broadened.The gradientsfrom the lowerto the upperpath in this Budgetaryattention focused instead on the neighbourhoodhave been much improved,and municipalmarket located in the bazaar where the whole localityaltered. (51: March12, 1904) conditionswere described as unhealthyand inconvenient.Municipal council records ex- The new carriage road in the area of the lake tolledthe benefitsof improvingthe drainage suggested other possibilities. Portions of the withinthe marketarea which would enable bazaar characterized as "centres of disease" "Europeansto do theirown marketing"and to were destroyed, but the problem of over- improvefood qualityfor hill-station residents crowding was merelyexacerbated as displaced (Ootacamund Municipal Council April 14, residents sought housing in the bazaar's re- 1877). The newlyconstructed market, with its mainingstructures. The 1907 HillSanitaria Mu- cleanlinessand "picturesque"color, soon be- nicipal Act reinforced these measures by came a favoriteexcursion for European visitors authorizinghill municipalities to raise taxes and to Ootacamund. control land uses in order to maintain the OotacamundLake was targetedfor improve- healthfulstatus of these stations.Anglo-Indians ment as well. Fromthe constructionof the justifiedthese extreme measures as a means of popular serpentinelake in the 1820s it had preservingthe convenience, beauty,and salu- served as a source of drinkingwater for the brityof hill stations in environmentssuited to bazaar until1877 when the sanitarycommis- the Britishin India. sionerwarned Indian residents to avoid drink- ingfrom the lake. Previously,the municipality had reclaimedsome ofthe swampyarea at the easternend of the lake; thisreduced the area Visitorsto the SummerCapital of"unhealthy" ground as itcreated a new public recreationarea. In 1875, the reclaimedland BritishGuests was enclosed, plantedas a park,and named aftera previousgovernor, Lord Hobart.The Appropriateto the statusof local society and culminationof the lake drainingscheme took the significanceof the landscape, hill stations anothertwenty years, in partdue to the on- drew many visitorsduring the official"season." goingprotest against "robbing Ooty of one of No longer simplya refugefor the Anglo-Indian, its most beautifulfeatures" (SIO: January12, travel guides "packaged" Ootacamund as a 1884). The drainedarea, which extended from summer capital of the Empirewhich combined the bazaar to the lake's easternedges, was the romantic"call of the East" with the ameni- ultimatelyadded to HobartPark and prepared ties of an Englishtown. As increasingnumbers for "public"use. In 1895, what had been a of Britishtravelers added the empire to their sanitaryproblem was turnedinto a socialasset list of required destinations,travel guides as- forthe upper-echelonsof hill-stationsociety. sumed that the Nilgirishill country would be The purposeof healthwas served,according included on their itineraries: to Victorianstandards, by providingan exten- "half-English"is wonderfullydescriptive of the sive fieldfor exercise as well as a necessary general characteristicsof the Nilgiris.. . . English sanitaryimprovement for the bazaar residents. fruits,vegetables, and flowerswe have in abun- Apparentlythe Britishnever considered using dance; butalso thefruits and produceof the tropics to identifythe East;... in styleand interiorour the reclaimedland as an area forresettling the houses are verylike Englishcountry places; but crowded area of the bazaar. thelarge compounds surrounding them, with their Ootacamund'smedical officerurged more godownsand out houses are characteristicallyIn-

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dian.... inmany essential respects we hereenjoy definingwhat was "Indian."By ascribing quali- the advantagesof the West,coupled withmany ties of gentleness,grace, and simplicityto the otherEastern advantages which the West is de- nied.(Niligiri Information Bureau [NIB] 1911:1) hilltribes, these Britishrepresentations contrib- uted to the "imaginativegeographies" of the These guides forthe hillstation spoke favorably hills and plains (Kennedy 1991) which de- of the countryatmosphere: pictedhighland and lowlandpeoples as intrin- sicallydifferent, as two places and two peo- Broad,well-laid roads sweep and undulateover a country of beautifulgardens and extensive ples. stretchesof turfstudded with ornamentaltrees whichgives to the whole the appearanceof one vast park. . . . All around, formingas it were an Indian"Guests" exquisitenatural background to man'shandiwork, risethe hills, serene and grand,conveying a sense of peace and joy of life.(NIB 1911:7) Society in the summercapitals welcomed Britishvisitors, but it did not extendthe same The juxtapositionof the romantic,uncultivated receptionto even the highestranked Indians. qualitiesof the surroundingNilgiris countryside The presence of Indianprinces in the hillsta- with the "picturesque" Britishqualities of the tionswould appear to have been appropriate stationitself was appealing indeed to the British giventheir status among the rulersof Indiaand eye. by the factthat outside the boundariesof Brit- The attractivenessof a place of solitude in a ish India,this hereditary ruling class stillcon- naturalstate (i.e., India with only a few Indians) trolledone-third of India.18Moreover, Queen drew touristsjust as it had interestedexplorers. Victoria'sproclamation of 1858 acknowledged Inspired partly by romanticismand partlyby theirauthority by establishingan alliancebe- amateur anthropology,one popular touristex- tween these Indianaristocrats and the British cursion visited a Toda mund (village) to see a monarch,and thisfeudal alliance was reaffir- local aboriginal group. The same enthusiasm med and elaboratedin the ImperialDurbar of did not extend to visiting agriculturisttribal 1877 (see Cohn 1983). But even this fictive groups in the hills.17Because the Todas were kinshipbetween Indianrulers of the Native one of the important"sights" of the hills,one Statesand Britishrulers did not ensure Indian governor hostingthe viceroy,Lord Curzon, ar- princeswould receivea warmreception in the ranged for "ten specimen male and ten fe- hillstations. males" to greet him (AmpthillJuly 20, 1902). The Maharajahof Mysore was thefirst of the Whatever their effect,Lord Curzon sang the princesto purchaseproperty in Ootacamund praises of Ootacamund's charm. According to in1873; by1890, five to ten Indianrulers main- the viceroy,he came, saw, and was conquered tained "hot weather"homes in Ooty. These (Ampthill August 20, 1902), presumably by seasonal residentsincluded the Maharajahof Ootacamund's romanticsetting and a sense of Mysore, the Nizam of Hyderabad,and the comfortand control conveyed by the British Gaekwarof Baroda-threeof the fivehighest landscape. princesof Indiawho had been honoredwith Visitinghill-tribe settlements was an enter- a twenty-onegun salutein recognitionof their tainment common to several hill stations. prestigeand theirrole as a "faithfulally of the These visits shaped Britishrepresentations of BritishEmpire" (Forbes 1939:224). In Ooty, the indigenous inhabitantsalong with the hill- theyresided in "amongthe bestand mostex- station retreats (Kennedy 1991). Portraying pensivelybuilt" of the Europeanhouses (S10: them as the "noble guardians of edenic sanc- July6, 1907). tuaries" (1991:59) expressed two familiar Butentry into Ooty society,as the Nizam of tropes (solitude and mimesis) of imperialistdis- Hyderbaddiscovered, could be quite difficult. course (Pratt 1986; Duncan 1993). In these Despite his rankas firstamong the princesof "encounters," the trope of solitude reaffirmed India,he could not conclude two real estate Britishsuperiority as it provided escape to a agreements.In 1886, afterattempting to buya romantic settingtranslating place into another mansiononce occupied by the commander- more pristinetime. And the trope of mimesis in-chiefof the Madras Army,he took the naturalizedsocial and politicalrelations by em- ownerto courtfor breach of contract and won. ployingthe language of scientificobjectivity for The Britishland owners in Ootacamundde-

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nied any discriminationon theirpart, but the man"was graduallyincorporated into the prac- Nizam concluded that the governmenthad ticeof government. In Ooty, Indians made sev- broughtinfluence to bear inan attemptto con- eral attemptsafter 1884 to provideaccommo- trolthe sale of "European"housing (SIO: July dationsfor those who came to Ootacamund 7, 1886). Some ofthe resistanceto these rulers for business or dutywhile Governmentwas probablyreflected concerns over the largeen- there (SIO: March 18, 1884). Success finally tourageswhich the Indianprinces brought to came in 1911, when the firstIndian member the hillsand the possibilityof more disease of the Governor'sExecutive Commission-the (Kanwar1990:130). In "Exodusof Hyderabad Maharajahof Bobili-offeredto donate a large Governmentto Ootacamund,"the hill-station portionof his salaryto buildthe LawleyInsti- newspapercommented on the consequences tute,a residentialclub for Indiangentlemen of the Nizam of Hyderbad'sresidence in the named in honoredof the governorfor whom hills by referringto the Nizam's "followers" the Maharajahhad served. The government (S1: May 21, 1889): approvedconstruction of the facility on condi- tionthat the instituteremain non-political in its Notthat they prefer living in Ooty even duringthe hottestpart of the year in the Deccan-indeed they affiliation(Government of Madras No. 2749: dislikeit exceedingly-but in the fear of what a day September9, 1911) A small step had been maybring forth in a Governmentso capriciousas made towardthe admission of the Native Gen- thatof Hyderbad.... Selfpreservation is the first tlemanto the summercapital through the ef- law of nature especially amongst Hyderbad officials,and itis notto be wonderedat thatevery fortsof the loyalMaharajah of Bobili. one of themdreads to be separatedfrom the ear intowhich the insidiouswhisper of the enemy mightbe poured.... Postscript "Oriental"traits such as court intriguehelped to explainthe attractionof a summerlocation Bythe beginningof WorldWar I, the devel- forHyderabad's government. The intertwining opment of Ootacamundas a summercapital of imperialdiscourse and discourseof climate had reachedits zenith. After the war,growing inthe newspaper's statement imply that the hill Indiannationalism inspired by new campaigns station's advantages are wasted on these of civil disobedience could not be ignored "guests."Several years later, a confidentiallet- even in the hills.Referring to Simla,Gandhi ter from Viceroy Lansdowne to Governor describedthe summercapital of imperialgov- Wenlockput the matterbluntly (Wenlock June ernmentas "governmentworking from the 24, 1891): 500th floor" (Pubby 1988:7). AfterWorld War I, the IndianNational Congress organized NativeChiefs endeavor to get hold of propertyin a boycottagainst government in the hillsta- hillstations. A good manyhouses in Simlaare al- tionswhich it labeled as undemocratic.Over readyowned by Rajas,but we do not allow any of them to come up or to buy houses without the nextfew decades, the Britishpractice of leave. . . My own idea is thatthe presence of transferringfunds from the low countryto the theseChiefs at hillstations is distinctlyundesirable, hillsbecame indefensible.By the 1930s, the and thatwe oughtto discourageit in everyway. governmentended itssix-month summer re- I recentlyrefused to permita highofficial to sell treatto the Ootacamundbecame once his house to one of them. Nilgiris; againprimarily a place forholidays. The theory of authorityestablished in Queen Today's residentsof the hill stationhold Victoria'sproclamations of 1858 and 1877, mixedviews of the imperialyears. During the whichjoined Indianand Britishrulers as "aris- municipality'scentenary, a former health tocraticbrothers," was noteasily translated into officerrecounted a storyof citylaborers being actionin the small, closed worldof the imperial putto workto raze a structurethat "a 'native' and provincialhill stations during the yearsof of means dared to build in a portionof the imperialexpansion. town in exclusiveoccupation of whitemen" Nor was the receptionof so-called "Native (Sankaran1966:2). The "lighterside" of the pic- Gentlemen" anymore welcoming. As the west- ture,as he describedit, was the introduction ern-educatedelite that made up the majority of publicimprovements that were "objectles- of late nineteenth-centuryIndian nationalists sons and hallmarksfor civic bodies all overthe won a limitedvoice, the "caste nativeGentle- country."(1966:3) This officer'sambivalence

This content downloaded from 200.75.19.130 on Wed, 4 Dec 2013 12:39:42 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions The BritishHill Station in India 711 aboutthe hillstation is not unusual.Few doubt in the earlydays of the hillstations were lost thatthe hillstations were replicasof the well- bythe latterpart of the nineteenthcentury and planned Britishtown where Indiansplayed a socializationor acclimatizationhad no ex- subservientrole (Kanwar1990). planatoryvalue when assessingthe hillsas a resourcefor British use. The eventsof the In- dian revoltof 1857 confirmedthe growingbe- Conclusion liefthat Indianswere irreconcilablydifferent and "scientific"racial theorysupported the Nostalgiafor home is quite naturalamong view. In thisway, the hillstation was tiedto a expatriates.But the Englishcountry life recre- frameworkof meaningthat influenced the Brit- ated in the hillstation also elaboratedon the ish view of the non-westernworld in general. greaterprestige of an imperialpeople. From Examinationof these discoursessuggests links 1870 to WorldWar I, the officialstatus of Oo- to our understandingof modern repre- tacamund was encoded in the landscape. sentationsof the people and conditionsof the Separatedas they were fromthe centersof "thirdworld" (itself a construction)as well. population,authority was not representedin Creationof the hillstation allowed the British such a manneras to legitimizetheir status as imperialiststo emphasizetheir concepts of set- rulersto those theyruled. In fact,whether by tlementplanning and theirpriorities for secu- benignneglect or conscious effort,the Indian rity,sanitation, and theestablishment of various populationwas limitedto governmentclerks, amenities.Environmental theories of disease shopkeepers,and servants.Instead, the model were refinedin the latter part of the nineteenth of Britishcountry life was adaptedto servicein centuryby new insightson contagions.Con- India.When Britishcolonials thought of Eng- sequently,the "native"became the siteof dis- land,they saw not merelya historiccountry- ease, and Anglo-Indianefforts to segregateIn- side filledwith countryhouses and public dian settlementssecured unanticipated ameni- schools where officersand gentlemenwere ties.The planningof these ideal Britishtowns, bred, but also a model of authorityfor their invitereinspection particularly with respect to relationswith subordinates.Nostalgia and Britishcontrol of the Indian"infrastructure" that authoritythus guided the Britishinterpretation supportedthe "comfortinglittle piece of Eng- of the naturalenvironment and the construc- land."Given the ratherheavy hand ofthe Brit- tionof the builtenvironment in the hillstations ish, it is not surprisinglythat the ambivalence of India.From the earlydevelopment of Ooty's thathas surroundedIndian interpretations of lake to the Palladian-styleof Government these settlementsduring the imperialage has House, a Britishplace was createdin orderto not entirelyfaded away. The Victoriansocial, carryout "European"work. Within this place political,and aestheticvalues inscribedon of colonial authority,height carried further these resortsettlements and summercapitals symbolicsignificance. Located in commanding raise issues today that defy easy resolution positionsabove the Indian settlements,the when weighed againstthe goals of a socialist church,government offices, and the English India.The hillstations are no longerenclaves townremained separate and superiorto anyof of a foreignpower and, yet the question of the uses below. theirfuture retains symbolic significance in light Itis a widelyaccepted tenet in culturalgeog- of theirpast. raphythat landscape constitutesa culturally producedexpression of social order.That was what one governor'swife had in mindin de- scribingOotacamund as "an islandof British Acknowledgments atmospherehung above the Indian plains" The majorportion of this research was fundedby (Pentland1928). Her imagerysplendidly natu- SyracuseUniversity's Shell Fellowshipand supple- ralizesthe socialworld of Ootacamundand its mentedby a GraduateSchool ResearchGrant from separationfrom the Indian centers in the plains. the Universityof Wisconsin-Milwaukee.Cambridge Boththe nineteenth-centuryimperial discourse University'sCentre for South Asian Studies and the IndiaOffice Library and RecordsOffice have kindly and the discourseof climateserved to reflect given permissionfor the use of photographsfrom and reinforcethe emergingbelief in racialdif- theircollections. Thanks are due to JamesS. Duncan, ference.For the mostpart, the lessonslearned Herb Childress,Rina Ghose, and threeanonymous

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reviewers fortheir comments on earlierdrafts of this (1978:2), ". . . tropingis the soul of discourse ... paper and the UW-M Cartographic Lab for carto- the mechanism withoutwhich discourse cannot graphic assistance. do its work or achieve its end." 11. See Adas (1989). 12. The Governmentof IndiaAct of 1861 established four provinciallegislatures in addition to the im- Notes perial government (Gopal 1965:165). Territorial reorganizationtook place in 1905. 1. Udagamandalam is currentlythe officialname for 13. As argued by Cosgrove (1985), a well-managed the settlement.Although the majorityof the resi- country house and its lands represented a self- dents continue to use the hill tribe name, the sufficientworld, a microcosm of the mercantilist state of Tamil Nadu has tied the hill station into state. This "English"landscape was composed of the language of the plains in its selection of an the Palladian country house and its enclosed officialtitle. For consistency, Ootacamund and parkland of sweeping lawns, artistically-grouped other colonial-period spellings (such as Simla for trees, and serpentine lakes. Shimla) will be used in this article. 14. See Cohn (1983) and Metcalfe (1989) for a dis- 2. See Mitchell (1972) for a list of ninty-sixIndian cussion of these two stylesand the deliberations hillstations built by the Britishand more recently over the appropriateness of one or the other of by Indians. Her extensive discussion distin- these "culturalconstructions" as a reflectionof guishes stations by age and eight categories of the new colonial order in India. size and function. 15. Train service to Ootacamund was only com- 3. Anglo-Indianas applied to Britishcolonials in In- pleted in 1908, and service fromMadras to Met- dia is historicallyaccurate in this paper. The term tapollium(at the foot of the Nilgiris)did not exist was applied to the Eurasian population in India prior to 1873. Priorto trainservice, tongas and only afterWorld War I. bullock carts broughtpeople and goods the re- 4. For a case studyof Simla (ShimIa) and the recent mainingthirty miles fromMettapollium to Oota- impact of urbanization in a hill station, see camund. This portion of the journey alone re- Sharma (1986). quired eight to ten hours. 5. Following Said (1993:221), I use the term impe- 16. Studyingthe shiftof emphasis withinarchitecture rialismto mean "the practice,the theory,and the and city planningduring the eighteenthcentury, attitudesof a dominatingmetropolitan center rul- Foucault (1980:150) noted thatthe principalspa- ing a distantterritory." tial variables were related to social hygiene, and 6. The Britishused "European" as a racial category these rendered the city as a "medicalisable ob- to distinguishthemselves fromtheir Indian subject." jects, and this paper uses it in that sense. Al- 17. Hilltribes include the Todas, Kota, Badagas, and though I do not wish to overstate the congru- Kurumbas.The Todas were the only non-agricul- ence between European and Britishin terms of turalpeople. policies and/or adaptations to lifein the tropics, 18. See Dutt and Geib (1987) for maps of British- the Spanish, Dutch, and Americans in Southeast controlledterritory and the Native States in 1857 Asia also constructed settlementsakin to hillsta- and priorto independence in 1947. tions. 7. The definitionof discourse used in this paper is not the deterministicone of Michel Foucault (1967), which assumes that discourses are in- References commensurable or indisputable from the outside. I assume that while some discourses are Adas, M. 1989. Machines as the Measure of Men: hegemonic, others are contestatory. Science, Technology,and Ideologies of Western 8. As defined by Said (1993:9), colonialism "which Dominance. 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Kenny, JudithT. 1995. Climate, Race, and ImperialAuthority: The Symbolic Landscape of the BritishHill Station in India. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 85(4):694-714. Abstract.

Nostalgia for home is quite naturalamong expatriates.The Englishcountry life recreated in the hillstations of India, however, was elaborated on by the greaterprestige of an imperialpeople. This paper examines the hillstation as a landscape type tied to nineteenth-centurydiscourses of imperialismand climate.Both discourses serve as evidence of a beliefin racialdifference and, thereby,the imperialhill station reflected and reinforceda frameworkof meaning thatinfluenced European views of the non-western world in general. Because the hill station was seen as a resource to be protected for use by the Britishruler, the standards used in colonial settlement planning are framed in these discourses of privilegeand difference.Primary attention is given to the high imperialage from 1870 to 1914 when constructionactivity was greatest.Ootaca- mund, the summer capital of the Madras presidency in southern India, serves as the case study for evaluatingthis landscape type. KeyWords: climate,colonial settlementplanning, hill station, imperialdiscourse, India, Ootacamund, race.

Correspondence: Department of Geography, Universityof Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201.

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