Science as a Tool in British India Ft K Kochhar The production and growth of modern science in India was encouraged by the British with a view to furthering colonial interests. British-sponsored science, by its very nature was field science and its agenda was decided on grounds of political and commercial gain. In the pursuit of this state-sponsored science, Indians provided cheap labour. It was only much later, with the westernisation of the Indian middle classes, that Indians began to pursue science on their own initiative but this was as an extension of the nationalist movement and science increasingly began to be seen purely as an intellectual exercise rather than as a means of producing wealth. WHILE discussing the impact of modern that human prosperity depended not upon determination of the latitude[6]. It was science on India, it is important to take note the goodwill of the king or god, but on Portugal's way of paying tribute to a science of India's role in the development of modern human skill. Since the source of money was to which it owed its power. The Portuguese science. The arrival of the first British ship science, the pursuits the leisured class chose arrived in India even before the Mughals did, in India coincided with the invention of the were also scientific. The new craftsmen loved Christianity more than they loved telescope in Europe. There were huge pro- became rich and respectable; and the new Indian territory, and did not know how to fits to be made from trade with India, pro- wealthy became patrons of science. It is successfully deal with the scurvy deaths on vided the ocean navigation could be made significant that the profits of the makers of the sea. safe. To survive on a vast featureless ocean, scientific instruments did not come from the The earliest men of science from Europe a mariner had to know his latitude and government, who paid less but imparted were the missionaries of the Society of Jesus, longitude, and for this he needed telescopes, prestige and recognition. The profits instead who first arrived in 1542 and remained ac- sextants, clocks, and star charts. Farmers, came from the private buyers [4]. It was thus tive for more than 200 years[5a]. In 1759 the weavers, and other traditional craftsmen in the accumulated wealth of India that fund- king of Portugal banished all Jesuits from Britain now took to making scientific in- ed the industrial and scientific revolutions Portuguese colonies; and in 1773 the Pope struments. Many apprentices in the clock- of Europe. Note that the scientific revolu- banished the Order altogether. It was revived making trade later became inventors of in- tion came after the industrial revolution. The in about 1818, with the first English Jesuits dustrial machines and helped usher in the existence of a wealthy middle class, indepen- arriving in Calcutta in 1833. The Jesuits were industrial revolution [1J. Thus it was a clock- dent of the government, is a prerequisite for the only European men of science in India maker who helped barber-turned- the growth of science. The purpose of who did not have a materialistic axe to grind. industrialist Richard Arkwright build his science is to produce and protect wealth. The No wonder their work did not have any con- epoch-making 'water frame'. Also, James purpose of this wealth is to support science. temporary significance. The Jesuit geogra- Watt started his career as a maker of Western science was not a cut-and-dried phical data were dug up from the archives mathematical instruments, like sextants and product that was taken off the shelf and and put to use in the mid-18th century when compasses. shipped to India. The British influence in knowing India became a paying proposition. For an invention to make an impact, it India, modern science in Europe, and the use The Portuguese success brought British should take place at a time when the socie- of science in India all grew together, so that and the French traders to India. The parent ty has the capital as well as a market. A tur- by the beginning of 20th century Indians companies started compiling sea charts and ning point in the history of India as well in were ready for a tryst of their own with keeping records of voyages. Observatories the history of-science and technology is the modern science. We present here a model as were opened at Paris (1667) and Greenwich battle of Plassey. Before 1757, Bengal had a framework for discussing the advent and (1675) to solve the problem of the longitude. a surplus balance of payments; its exports growth of modern science in colonial India. The Astronomer Royal supplemented his exceeded the imports by a factor of four. In The model distinguishes between three meagre salary by giving tuition to young contrast, during 1757-80 Bengal pumped in mutually overlapping stages of development. men seeking employment with the East India a substantial sum of 38 million pound sterl- The first stage here called 'the colonial- Company. It paid to join the company, and ing into England [2]. Its effect was electric. tool stage' encompasses the whole span of it paid to know astronomy. The first inventor of a textile machine, European presence in India and consists of With the post-Aurangzeb collapse of the John Kay, who patented his fly shuttle in introduction and use of science, especially Mughal empire, the European 'vaishya' out- 1733, barely escaped with his life, finally dy- by the British, as an imperialist tool, with fits developed 'kshatriya' ambitions and got ing pennyless in far-away France. His incidental benefits to science. The second down to the task of acquainting themselves machine was smashed by other weavers [3] stage, the 'peripheral-native stage", came into with their future empire. The French were who sensed that it would drive them out of being when the British were well entrench- more successful on the scientific front than the limited domestic market they all com- ed in India. In it, the Indians were assigned on the colonial. The first worthwhile map peted for. But by the time John Hargreaves the peripheral role of providing cheap labour of India was compiled in 1752 by the French made his spinning jenny (1764) times had to the colonial science machinery. The third geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon changed. His very first machine was also stage, 'the Indian-response stage', arose as D'Anville at the request of French East India smashed, but very soon he had weavers back a reaction to the second stage, and is Company, who based it on whatever geogra- ai his door, this time asking him to make characterised by scientific activity by Indians phical information he could lay his hands machines for them. They could now form themselves and on their own initiative. We on. The value of D'Anville's Carte de I'lnde a guild and jointly enjoy the overseas shall now discuss each stage separately, can be judged from the fact that it was market. It is thus no wonder that cure for drawing illustrations mostly from the Survey reprinted in England in 1754 and then again scurvy, the dreaded disease of the mariner of India [5], which represented science in lhe in 1759, along with the annotated transla- (1754) came just before Plassey, while spin- most dedicated service of the state. tion of his memoirs[5a]. ning jenny (1764), water frame (1769) and Astronomy was the first modern science steam engine (1769) soon followed. COLONIAL.-TOOL STAGE to be brought to India for use as a geo- The money from trade with the east Indies graphical and navigational aid[5a]. Its use created a wealthy middle class in Europe The gold coins minted by the Portuguese was however sporadic and mostly out of per- whose way of looking at things was dif- for use in India depict the armillary sphere, sonal curiosity. Systematic scientific effort ferent. It was for the first time in the history the basic instrument of navigation used for became essential when the 1757 battle of

Economic and Political Weekly August 17, 1991 1927 Plassey transformed the British East India desirable it was to determine the length of the assertion of the local British pride, suc- Company into a jagirdar. The company a degree of latitude on the Coromandel coast cinctly expressed in the letter written by the bahadur was fully conscious of its needs: and in Bengal. It was too early for the com- Madras director of public instruction to his survey of its present and future lands, safe- pany to bother about the shape of the earth chief secretary[8]: "I earnestly hope that ty navigation; increased revenue; and pro- when its ships were getting wrecked. Rennell the rulers of India will take a higher per administration. The first need was and Alexander Dalrymple, the company's and more extended view of the matter, and geographical knowledge. In 1757 itself when hydrographer at London made a joint consider what is due to this country. . . " Clive was still at the nawab's capital Mur- reply[5a]. This rhetoric, and the workshops of shidabad, he proposed that "an exact and Whatever Advantage to Science may be the public works department, ensured useful survey may be made which will enable derived from the exact determination of the the observatory's survival but not its us to settle beneficial boundaries". Accor- figure of the Earth, we conceive no other prosperity. dingly a 'Surveyor of the New Lands' was benefit can possibly attend the Admeasure- India's astronomical fortunes revived with appointed in 1761, and in 1767, two years ment in Bengal; but that proposed on the the advent of the new field of solar physics. after the company received 'divani' rights Coast of Coromandel will contribute towards India was ideal for extensive photography over Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, Maj James the construction of an exact chart of the of the sun, which was not possible in cloudy Rannell was made the 'Surveyor General of coast. Britain. Also, it was then believed that a Bengal'. The Coromandel coast is rocky full of study of the sun would help predict the Surveys were continually required for shoals, without a natural port and was a failure of the monsoons. In 1878 solar military purposes. Geographical location of graveyard for the company's ships. A survey photography was started at Survey of India, important places in the country were deter- of the coast was thus literally a matter of Dehra Dun, and photographs were sent to mined with alacrity by "borrowing a sextant life and death, and eventually in 1785 a England for analysis[8]. A solar observatory here, a watch there, and a quadrant in professionally trained surveyor-astronomer was set up at Kodaikanal in 1899. another quarter, from different officers at Michael Topping was brought from England, Once the Trigonometrical Survey was Calcutta who happened to possess them". on free passage and equipped with his begun, the government lost interest in the Surveyors were sent out with every army to instruments. Madras observatory. In 1801 the Madras prepare route maps. The importance of Since his work required a reference meri- astronomer was getting a monthly salary of surveys can be gauged by the fact that in dian, an astronomical observatory[8] was set Rs 672, whereas the superintendent of the 1790 when the governor general took the up at Madras in 1790. It was the first modern Trigonometrical Survey was slightly better command against Tipu, the sultan of public observatory outside Europe. While placed at Rs 980. Seven decades later, in Mysore, he appointed the surveyor general pleading for it, Topping reminded the com- 1877, while the astronomer's salary had to his personal staff. In 1793 the company pany directors that they now had a chance crawled up to Rs 800, the survey chiefs had paid the fabulous amount of Rs 6,000 to a of "affording their support to a science to jumped to a substantial Rs 2,565. Fifteen surveyor for a map of Mysore accompanied which they are indebted for the sovereignty surveyors were getting more than the astro- by a memoir[7]. of a rich and extensive empjre". Although nomer, three of them being fellows of the The destruction of Tipu in 1799 extend- the company had grandiosely declared that Royal Society. All surveys were manned by ed the company's territories from the east the purpose of the observatory was to "pro- military officers. Whereas meteorological coast to the west. Just as Plassey had pro- mote the knowledge of astronomy, geogra- and magnetic observations were considered duced its Rennell, Seringapatam produced phy, and navigation in India", the key ob- legitimate military duty, pure astronomy was its Lambton, only more quickly. Unlike Ren- jective was left unstated: so as to promote not[9]. nell's survey which was run in traditional, the company's profitability. The last word on where pure science stood route survey style, Major William Lambton Science was only a part of the duties of up vis-a-vis the applied belongs to teh modelled his.on the lines of the recently the company's officers. The value of various irrepressible Everest. In 1834, on orders from started surveys in France and England. The services can be gauged by the value placed the government, astronomical instruments Trigonometrical Survey of Peninsular India on them. Topping's monthly salary as the from the survey were issued to enable the started in 1800 with second-hand instru- 'Company's Astronomer and Geographi- former Bombay astronomer to observe the ments bought within the country. Expected- cal Marine Surveyor* was 192 pagodas phenomenon of the opposition of Mars. ly, its history is also the history of the en- (1 pagoda = Rs 3Vi; £1 = Rs 8). He got This happened when Everest was out on a trenchment of the British in India. In 1817 double this amount (Rs 400 pagodas) as the field tour. On his return Everest made a the Mahrattas were finally crushed. On 'Superintendent of Tank Repairs and Water strong protest against the loan, saying[8], January 1, 1818, the survey was renamed the Courses'. An additional 100 pagodas came . . . The discoveries which the late Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (GTS) from the superintendence of the surveying Astronomer of Bombay is likely to make in and extended to cover the whole country. It school[5a]. science would hardly repay the inconvenience even surreptitiously covered trans- In the early years, the observatory was no occasioned by retarding the operations of the Himalayan region. The GTS came to its own more than a surveying outfit. This role ended Great Trigonometrical Survey. . . in 1830 under Lt Col Sir George Everest who with the 1830 reorganisation of the GTS, but From geography to geology was but a was also appointed the surveyor general. The navigational needs were still outstanding. In- natural step. In 1818 Henry Voyesey, a GTS fixed with great accuracy the longitude creased sea-trade activities of the British re- surgeon, who doubled as a geologist was at- and latitude of a large number of places. The quired familiarity with the southern skies. tached to the GTS so that he could draw details were then filled in by the topogra- In 1844 after 14 years of labour, Thomas "attention to anything that might influence phical and revenue surveys. In 1878 the three Glanville Taylor (FRS) produced the cele- geometrical and astronomical observations". were merged under the name the 'survey of brated Madras catalogue giving positions of The survey of the Himalayan region natural- India'. (The name GTS is often retroactive- about 11000 southern stars. It was hailed by ly brought forth interest in its legendary ly applied to include Lambton's survey, and the Astronomer Royal as "the greatest mineral wealth. The governor general wrote the Survey of India to its predecessor con- catalogue of modern times" and revised in (1817): stituents.) Uniformly accurate data from 1893 with funds from the India Office and We have been duly sensible of the want of such a huge landmass as India led to the im- the Royal Society[8]. professional enquiry into the mineral pro- portant geodesical theory of isostasy and to The observatory was now redundant. duce of the hill country lately acquired by a mathematical model of the earth, known Even the British astronomers who now had us. The remedy now offers itself. as Everest geoid. observatories in South Africa and Australia The remedy consisted of the person of As early as 1787, General William Roy, lost interest. The Astronomer Royal wanted Alexander Laidlaw, 'mineralogist and in- the founder of the British survey wrote how it abolished but could not succeed against vestigator of natural history', though Mack-

1928 Economic and Political Weekly August 17, 1991 ing in liberal education'. He was sent out by flora were carried out. The company did not PERIPHERAL NATIVE STAGE the court of directors. His pay was consis- mind the enrichment of science as long as tent with the wealth he was to explore: "a it took place in the normal course of its own Just as the British in India needed science, salary of Rs 600 plus Rs 200 for hill carriage, activities. But the moment it was asked to they needed Indians also. The first task and free issue of instruments and stores, to extend patronage to science for the sake of assigned to the natives was to educate the say nothing of an advance of Rs 2,500 in science, it baulked. It refused to promote a foreigners about the lay of the land, without cash". He was attached to the survey of project by Joseph Dalton Hooker and which knowledge their military might would Kumaun. The governor general wanted him Thomas Thomson for its compilation, be useless. In 1774 "Golam Mohamad, a to look for metals but added "To copper or notwithstanding a memorandum from the sepoy officer" was sent "to explore the roads iron I would not point Mr Laidlaw's atten- British Association for the Advancement of and countries of the Deccan" and "to gain tion, as I think that working either might Science, Hooker's monumental seven— intelligence about the Mahratta powers". In injuriously affect important articles of volume Flora of British India (1875-1897) the 1780s, the surveyor general of Madras British export". Laidlaw did not pay atten- had to wait for orders from the secretary of employed "Munshys to survey some roads tion to anything, and was dismissed after state[10]. between places well ascertained in the map" two years[5c]. and procure "some very useful information". The British desire for exploration and in- The company reimbursed the expenditure of Voyesey's reports included one on the creased revenue led to the epoch-making Rs 12,000. In 1791 the Bengal surveyor stone used in building the Taj at Agra. He discovery of fossil fauna in the Shivalik hills. Reuben Burrow while budgeting for his also reported on diamond mines of south The story deserves to be told in some journey asked for 'a Moonshy' at Rs 25 a India. Industrial revolution meant the reali- detail[7], because it brightens a particularly month adding "The last article is more sation that coal was more important than dark period in Delhi. As early as AD 1360, necessary than at first sight may appear, as diamond. As the steamer ships were pressed Firishta informs us, when Firozeshah it is often requisite to send a Moonshy to into use, the government became interested Tughlak cut through a hill with 50,000 men make enquiries and to take bearings, and to in coal fields. This led to the appointment to dig a west Yamuna canal, he noticed get copies of routes etc". "A properly in- of a geological surveyor to the company, and bones of giants three yards long. After structed native" Mirza Mogul Beg collected in 1851 to the geological survey of India[10]. preliminary survey in 1809-10, restoration data between 1786 and 1796 that went into (The survey of India, the geological survey, work was begun in 1815 and completed in "a map of the countries to the west of Delhi, and the medical service, were the only 1827. In the meantime, in 1779, the Rohilla as far as Cabul and Multan", prepared by science services in the pre-mutiny India.) Fauzdar of Saharanpur, Zabita Khan, had Francis Wllford in 1804. Geological evidence in support of the set up a public garden at Saharanpur and The most spectacular use of the native continental-drift hypothesis came from appropriated the revenue of seven villages India; this fact is commemorated in the surveyors, was by Col Charles Reynolds (later for its maintenance. Ghulam Kadir, and after lieutenant-general), surveyor general of name 'Gondwana' for the ancient southern him the Mahrattas, continued the arrange- super continent. As was the case with GTS Bombay, who employed them for 12 years ment. In 1823 Lord Hastings converted it from 1795 to 1807 to collect data for a large- earlier, the geological survey arranged for into a 400-acre botanical garden (to which lectures at Presidency College, Calcutta[10]. scale map of western India, especially of ter- was later added a nursery of trees for canal ritories outside the company's control. As The company's interest in Indian botany banks). a part of this work, Reynolds discovered that did not arise from medicinal and commercial Ghaggar does not cross the desert to reach plants as was the case with the Portuguese, Hugh Falconer, FRS, the superintendent the sea as had been supposed by earlier but from wood. Shipments out of Calcutta of the Saharanpur Botanical Garden (who geographers, but instead loses its way in the required the building of freight vessels for was aware of Firshta's report), and Sir Proby sands near Sirsa. Reynolds received the which teak was bought at a high price from Thomas Cautley, superintendent of canals, princely sum of two lakh rupees for his Burma. Could teak be grown near Calcutta collected a large number of fossil bones, 300 valuable map[5a]. itself? To find an answer, a botanical garden of them within six hours. These discoveries was set up at Calcutta[10]. (Years later proved that in the remote past a sea occupied On the other end were company surveyors decline in availability of timber for ship the valleys of the Indus and Ganga. The well who hired 'native assistants' or 'harkaras' building on the Malabar coast made the known pattern of the company's attitude (messengers) to do the legwork. The com- government wise to the destruction of forests towards science is repeated here. Falconer pany refused to reimburse these expenses. It and led to the appointment of A Gibson as wanted to devote his full time to his great was one thing to pay for inside information conservator of forests for Bombay work Fauna Angiqua Sevalensis, but as a on the Mahrattas, but the company had no presidency)[7]. 1878 Memoir[l\ put it he "was not spared intention of spending its hard earned money to complete it". This work was edited and At the fall of Mysore, the botanical garden on such useless piece of information as that published after his death. at Bangalore (the Lai Bagh) was appropri- the rivers Sone and Narmada do not spring from the same place as Rennell had suppos- ated by the company "as a depository for The last scientific act of the British Indian useful plants sent from different parts of the ed but arose 40 miles apart[5a]. government was dictated by the second The company, not yet sure of itself, was country". The company's botanist at Madras world war which in turn brought about its (Benjamin Heyne) was ordered by the gover- never very comfortable with the use of the exit from India. In 1942 the council for natives, which though convenient and nor general to accompany the surveyor, with scientific and industrial research was set up the following instructions[5a]: economical, was risky. While they might add for providing scientific support for the war to the knowledge of the Europeans they A decided superiority must be given to useful effect. plants over those which are merely, recom- might become knowledgeable themselves, or mended by their rarity or their beauty, . . . We have thus seen that the British rulers worse, sell the information to the French or to collect with care all that is connected with were not interested in science as such, but Dutch rivals. For the latter reason, half- the arts and manufacturers of this country, in using science to further their interests. castes were not employed. Madras presiden- or that promises to be useful in our own; to Whenever their practical needs pointed a cy solved its problem of manpower shortage give due attention to the timber employed in finger towards a particular branch of science, in a far sighted way. Madras observatory ran the various provinces of his route, . . .and to attention was paid to that science. Harness- a surveying school from 1794 to 1810 to train collect with particular diligence the valuable ing science enriches it also. Thus in the pro- teenager European orphaned boys as prac- plants connected with his own immediate cess of empire building, India was added as tical revenue surveyors. Note that this school profession [i e, medicine]. a laboratory to the edifice of modern was not for Indians[5a,b]. Those were the In the next 50 years 'systematic, geogra- science. We now discuss the role of the days—over by 1830—when the word 'native' phical and economic studies' of the Indian Indians as laboratory assistants. denoted India-born irrespective of the

Economic and Political Weekly August 17, 1991 1929 ethnicity. the natives required any thing in way of European in outlook, and began to take Finally in 1813, the use of harkaras for education, they must come to England for English food. "Colonel Everest was at first survey work was banned, "as government it". Once the British were firmly entrenched, dissatisfied but afterwards admitted me in were anxious to prevent the Natives from ob- they shifted gear to impart English educa- his own table[5dj. taining, or being taught, any knowledge of tion to the Indians with a view to training A legend has grown that the height of the kind". Only the company's own cove- them for minor jobs in the new administra- Mount Everest was computed by Sickdhar. nanted or military officers could carry out tion. This was the beginning of 'baboo This is no doubt an attempt to push the most surveying and map making[5b]. phase'. deserving peripheral native into a nuclear The role of the 'pandits' (educated Hin- The period 1813-35 is the transitional role. Unfortunately, the story is not true; the dus, regardless of the caste) and 'munshis' period. It was in 1813 that the company ac- height was calculated at Dehra Dun, after (educated muhammadans) was over for the quired an education policy whereby it was Sickdhar had been posted at Calcutta[5d]. time being. In the next 15 years, new geo- asked to spend not less than one lakh rupees The career-graph of other computers is political equations were established, and the on education. (Actually it spent twice the instructive. After seven years of service, six British grip on India became unassailable. amount during 1813-3O)[ll ]. The were still getting only Rs 40. Five of them It was only then that 'babus' were trained ambivalence as to how this money was to be quit in 1838 to accept the newly established and pressed into service. As the survey work utilised was deliberate. As befits a cautious post of deputy collector in the revenue expanded, need for involving the Indians and clever ruler, the transition from the department. The seventh one, Nil Comul themselves was increasingly felt. After all, Moonshee to the Baboo phase was to be ef- Ghose, who was getting Rs 100 per month you cannot entirely dispense with the natives fected in an unobtrusive manner, and with also left. The GTS recruited another Indian, in their own country. A major factor in their the full and active support of the native Ram Dayal De as a sub-assistant in 1840, but favour was the climate. leadership. dismissed him in 1844. their service will prove of the greatest use in The oriental colleges were slowly anglicis- The surveyor-general's office naturally exploring the wilds—of Bustar, etc, whose ed. Unani and Ayurvedic classes were added took interest in the science teaching at Hindu dreadful climate no European constitution (1827) to the Madrasa and the Sanskrit Col- College. A European computer and sub- could possibly sustain for any length of time lege, which then made way (1835) for a full- assistant, Vincent Louis Rees, was entrusted (1828) fledged (western) medical college. Delhi Col- with the task of "helping in the training of The British surveyors naturally argued for lege was started on oriental pattern in 1823; the Bengali computers". He also taught the use of the natives[5c]: but English was introduced two years later, mathematics at Hindu College, from where The advantages derived to government are. . . and science soon thereafter. In 1817 Hindu he earned a salary of Rs 300 in addition to his apparent... opening a new field for... College was started at Calcutta. Scientific GTS salary of Rs 318 per month. The science natives, teaching them a profession hitherto equipment arrived in 1823 and science teaching was apparently not substantial. 20 unknown to them in this presidency—and teaching was started. Interestingly George years later, in 1855, Mahendralal Sircar, allowing government to take advantage of the Everest, who arrived in India in 1806 when much interested in science, left the Presidency cheapest agency—obtaining correct surveys barely 16, himself learnl his science from College to join the Medical College, of the land, on which the principle revenue survey-related books available in British. saying[12] that "the principal object of of the state depends—and a properly authen- Earlier the company had hired Hindu and education was to teach the pupils how to ticated survey, so necessary to the due ad- Muslim boys to attend Oriental Colleges. read and write the English language". ministration of justice. Now the Hindu boys paid from their pockets While in general Indians were kept out of The policy found support at the highest to receive English education. actual field survey work, there was one type level. In 1829, Lord William Bentinck, gover- Calcutta's Hindu College became a of survey which they alone could do. And nor general of India, wrote in a minute on trusted source for supplying scientific Babus that was the surreptitious survey of the trans- the organisation of the survey[5c]: to ihc survey. The 1830 reorganisation of Himalayan regions, where Europeans would It is by a more enlarged employment of survey with George Everest at the helm have been immediately spotted and killed. native agency that the business of a govern- required immediate use of the 'native agen- This work was of great strategic importance, ment will be at once more cheaply and effi- cy'. Although field data were being collected and necessary to fill the gap between the ciently transacted. by the British surveyors themselves, they had Indian and the Russian surveys. With It is quite remarkable that the needs of no time to sit down and reduce the data. characteristic British thoroughness and the survey were reflected in the company's Arrears had in fact piled up for the previous disdain these surveyors were only taught how attitude towards native education. eight years. It was therefore decided to set to take the observations; they were not In the post-Plassey period, it became up a computing office as distinct from the taught how to reduce the data lest they essential for the British to know India, not field staff. When the government expressed cheated. When they were exceptionally only the land but people also. This infor- the hope that "all requisite computers may useful, they were rewarded with scientific mation can have come only from the Indians be drawn from existing establishments under medals, khitabs, and jagirs. Otherwise, even themselves. Accordingly there opened a[ll] this presidency", Hindu College was ready their names are not recorded; they are 'Muhammadan Madrasa' (178!) at Calcutta to fulfil it[5dj. (Hindu College was taken indicated merely by capital letters!7,13]. and a 'Sanskrit College' (1791) at Banaras over by the government in 1855 and renamed It will be appropriate here to give some so that band of young Hindus and Muslims Presidency College.) details[7,13). "During the year 1876 one of could separately collect the traditional Offer of employment as computers was the trained native explorers of the Great information from their elders and pass it on sent to a number of students; salary was to Trigonometrical Survey named 'the Mullah' to the British (English was not taught at be Rs 30 per month during a six-month pro- ascended the Indus river from the point these institutions). We may call this 'the bation, then Rs 40. Radhanath Sickdhar and where it enters the plains of the Punjab at Moonshee phase' of education in British six other students of Hindu College joined Attock to the point where it is joined by the India with the old spellings being advisedly at the end of 1831. Sickdhar's case is well Gilgit river". In 1877 "M-S-, a native used to underline the intended purpose. known. Exceptionally brilliant, he was made gentleman of the Muhammadan faith, and In 1792, one of the company directors had a sub-assistant at GTS after his probation of much repute among his co-religionists" succinctly expressed the argument against at a salary of Rs 107 per month. He was then explored the areas beyond Hindu Kush. He educating the natives; "we had just lost 19 years old. He rose to become the chief was presented with one of the two medals America from our folly in having allowed computer when he was transferred to Calcutta which were placed at the disposal of the the establishment of schools and colleges, in 1849 to hold charge of the computing of- surveyor general of India by the Venice and that it would not do for us to repeat the fice. He reiired in 1862 and died in 1870. A International Geographical College for same act of folly in regard to India; .. if bachelor, Sickdhar became thoroughly award to meritorious native explorers. We do

1930 Economic ana Political Weekly August 17, 1991 not know the name of this gold medallist, Kshatriya clansmen, including his nephew, tial to involve Indians in the task of ruling but the case of Nain Singh and Kishan Singh the king, for taking to a brahmanical pro- over India. Thus inherent in the British rule is well known. They were called Pandit fession. The raja of Puri bestowed on him was the preparation of Indians to eventually brothers. They are however, neither Pandits the titles Harichandana Mahapatra. In 1893 overthrow that rule. (in the sense of caste appellation) nor the viceroy issued a 'sananda' conferring on The preparation, slow as it was, started brothers (they were cousins). him the title of Mahamahopadhyaya, a title quite early. In 1774, the company established A native officer of the survey, sub- normally reserved for Brahmins. A year a Supreme Court of Justice at Calcutta. It surveyor Imam Baksh Bozdar took part in before his death, he was sanctioned a mon- was a revolutionary concept. For the first eight different expeditions during 25 years thly pension of Rs 50 "in view of the high time in the history of India, there was now of his service. On his retirement in 1884 was social position of the Maha-mahopadhyaya", a framework of law which did not depend given a grant of 250 acres of land in the Dera with the viceroy explaining to the secretary upon the personality of the ruler. Indian Ghazi Khan district (now in Pakistan), and of states for India[16]: lawyers would provide valuable leadership the title of 'Khan Bahadur'. . . . the case being a curious and interesting in the years to come. The establishment of astronomical one of devotion to learning for its own sake, The off-shoot of the introduction of observatories[8,9] at Lucknow (1834), and the lieutenant-governor believes that judiciary was even more momentous. It Trivandrum, and Hyderabad (1901) by Government in honouring such a student will became essential for the company to Indian aristocracy also rightly belongs to the honour itself. . . the grant of a pension to familiarise itself with the Hindu (as well as peripheral native stage, because although the such a student would be entirely in con- Muslim) Iawll7]. A digest of Hindu law was ownership was Indian, the control was sonance with native feeling. . . we regard the prepared from the 'pandits', but no one European. Lucknow observatory closed pandit's work as no means devoid of interest, could be found to translate it from Sanskrit down as soon as the instruments and novelty and even value since it throws light upon the into English. It was, therefore, first wore off. Trivandrum met similar fate as far beginning of astronomy, by showing what translated into Persian and then into as astronomy is concerned, but being close can be done by primitive instruments. English. It was thus clear that Sanskrit was to the magnetic equator, provided valuable In later years, Samanta Chandrasekhar not an entirely dead language; it had a utility magnetic data. Hyderabad observatory was did see through a telescope, and bitterly value also. This convergence of the practical attached to the Osmania University and had regretted that he had not had the advantage need of the company and the scholarship of a rather unspectacular existence. of such an instrument in his younger Sir William Jones brought about the all- Except for clandestine activities outside days[15]. European Asiatic Society in 1784, which the boundaries of British India where In sharp contrast stands the case of initiated researches into Indology (Indians ethnicity was a crucial factor, the role of Chintamani Ragoonatha Charry (1828-80) were not admitted till 1829). Indians in the scientific pursuits remained [8,9], who was the son of an assistant at the Moreover, European men of science were peripheral. However, as the needs of the Madras observatory. He joined the obser- fascinated by the mastery of the 'pandits' Empire grew so did its perception of the vatory as a daily-wager when still a teenager in preparing astronomical almanacs even abilities of the natives. The scientific con- and rose to become the first assistant with without knowing the why of it. Thus, John tent of the British administration in India a monthly salary of Rs 150. His 1867 Warren, a former Madras astronomer and increased steadily; and with it increased the discovery of a variable star R Reticuli is the a blue blooded French nobleman descended role assigned to the Indians. As the first step, first recorded discovery by an Indian; this from Norman the Conqueror, took up a the natives moved from being coolies to earned him the fellowship of the Royal monumental project on south Indian calculators. In the second, they graduated Astronomical Society. He set out to update systems of time-keeping. The work won to become doctors and engineers to work on the elements of traditional 'panchangs'. He approval from the 'pandits' who named it the network of railways, telegraph, roads and compiled a work in Tamil entitled Jyotisha Kaala Sankalita, and showed their apprecia- canals. Chiniamani (he did not know Sanskrit). He tion by offering to pay the expenses of the The British timed their operations well. also published an almanac Drig-garita wedding of Warren's daughter. Though When upper Ganga canal was being dug, an Panchanga with the help of the Nautical Warren had started the work 'on a call of engineering college was set up at Roorkee. Almanac. Charry gave public lectures on personal friendship' the Madras government When wood was needed lor the railways, a astronomy and brought out a book on the decided to fund it for its practical value. It forest school was opened at Dehra Dun. It 1874 transit of Venus. This book explains the was felt that the work would make Indian is no wonder that the British emphasised phenomenon by a dialogue between a calendars intelligible to the Europeans, higher education among selected Indians 'pandit' and a 'siddhanti' (an astronomer). facilitate a comparison of the European and rather than removal of mass illiteracy, which Originally written in Tamil, it was translated Indian chronologies and thus be "of service would harm their interests. The sahib's faith into English and other local languages to gentlemen employed in the Revenue and in the baboos was fully justified. During the including Urdu, Judicial departments"[18]. 1857 upheaval, it was an Indian, Sibchundcr It was only natural that while serving the European interest in India's antiquity had Nandy, who kept alive the vital telegraph scientific interests of the British, Indians far-reaching influence on the Hindus. The link between Calcutta and Bombay. should think of responding to science on discovery of their past glory, as certified by The simultaneous use by the British of their own. This takes us to the third stage the Europeans themselves, restored the long- science as well as the natives brought the two of growth of science in India. lost sense of self-esteem of the Hindus and into contact. This point is tellingly brought gave them the courage to look the Empire out by the contrasting case of two 19th INDIAN-RESPONSE STATE right into the eye. (It also created Hindus century Indian astronomers. Conquests in India made Britain self- revivalist and increased their distance from Samanta Chandrasekhar (1835-1904) conscious. India had been a fabled country; the Muslims). 115,16] was born in the small village its subjugation was seen as a proof of the During the first 100 years of their lord- Khandpara, some 50 to 60 miles west superiority of the British way of life. The ship over India, the British introduced the of Cuttack. The only astronomy he could British, therefore, set out to impress their Indians to the English language and learn was the pre-telescopic one. Following values upon the Indians. There were prac- literature; to western thought; to India's in the footsteps of Bhaskara (b AD 1114) and tical consideration too. India was already a glorious past; and to modern science; and using primitive instruments he completed at thickly populated country, where permanent education. It was now for the Indians to prove, the age of 30 his Siddhanta Darpana, con- white settlements were out of question. And to themselves more than to anybody else, taining 2,500 Sanskrit 'shlokas' of various after the disastrous Portuguese experience, that they as the inheritors of a great civilisa- metres, including 2,284 of his own composi- Britain had no intention of producing a tion were capable of becoming full-fledged tion. He was looked down upon by his nation of half-castes. It was, therefore, essen- members of the world's science club.

Economic and Political Weekly August 17, 1991 1931 It became clear to the Indian opinion paganda"^], the Indian Association for the IACS. He turned to law only when he failed makers quite early in the game that the Cultivation of Science (IACS) was in- to get an appointment at IACS (which had English education being imparted to them augurated in January 1876. The rather no money) or at the Presidency College was inadequate Thus The Hindu Patriot peculiar name for a research laboratory (which would not offer him the same status wrote on April 6, 1854 ".. .The end aim of needs a comment. In 1876 itself a political and pay as it did to the Europeans). As vice- their [native's] education is to make them organisation of the educated middle class chancellor, Mookerjee persuaded wealthy either accountants or letter writers... The named 'Indian Association' was set up by Indians, especially lawyers, to make en- resources of the country will never be Surendranath Banerjee. The IACS was the dowments to the university for setting up developed unless the children of the soil scientific extension of the political (1914) the University College of Science and learn to develop them". movement. Technology where the professorships would The role of science as social reformer was To Sircar's great disappointment, IACS be held by Indians themselves. Raman also noted. Rajendralal Mitra (1829-91), who failed to materialise as a research laboratory; resigned his government job to become a later became the first Indian president of the it remained a forum for popular and college- professor at the university; in the process his Asiatic Society, wrote[19] in 1854 that "prac- level lectures. In 1893 IACS was recognised salary went down from Rs 1,100 to Rs 600 tical training will be an effectual means for by the Calcutta University as a teaching cen- per month [22]. the removal of those barriers to progress tre. Two eminent scientists of the day Sir The pinnacle of Indian response to which have been created by the ancient Jagdish Chandra Bose (1858-1937) and Sir modern science was the path-breaking work system of confining the cultivation of in- Prafulla Chandra Ray (1861-1944) lectured of Raman, Megh Nad Saha (1893-1956), and dustrial art to particular classes, and those at IACS though they carried out their Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974). It is im- the least educated in the community". Mitra research work at their own college, the portant to keep in mind that these spec- had just established an Industrial Art Presidency College (on retirement Bose set tacular achievements were made possible by Society where Indians could learn practical up his own research institute). Another a fortuitous combination of factors. Those skills[2O], visiting lecturer was Pramatha Nath Bose, were the days when frontline research was Here was thus an attempt to create an a senior government geologist [10]. Bose is just a short step ahead of MSc level studies. Indian infrastructure of science parallel to a good example of the transition from the Thus. Saha and Bose translated Einstein's that of British India. Such attempts were 'peripheral stage' to the 'response stage'. On German research papers on relativity for use few, half-hearted, and ineffectual. The his retirement from the Geological Survey as course material. (This was the first Bengalis believed that since they knew of India, P N Bose was offered appointment translation of Einstein into English). Shakespeare as well as, if not better, than by the maharaja of the mineral-rich state of Secondly, experimental sciences were at a the British themselves, their edifice of Mayurbhani. It was Bose who educated Sir stage where they required elementary in- science should be an extension of, and sup- Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata on the iron frastructural support. Industrial back-up ported by, the British effort. 'Science ap- deposits of the area. This resulted in the needed for researches of J C Bose, P C Ray plication' was to be left to the government; establishment of the Tata steel mill at Jam- and C V Raman was easily available in the it was 'science speculation' that needed shedpur [10]. country. It was science application under the cultivation. The lesson was not lost on the Tatas. They aegis of the British Indian government that The leadership came from Mahendralal set up a technical university at Bangalore, made science speculation by Indians possi- Sircar (1833-1904) a poor orphan who owed calling it Indian Institute of Science, because ble. Finally, the take-off stage of modern his station in life to western education. As the word university at that time had the con- physics coincided with the peaking of Indian a 1929 biographical sketch[12] of his puts it notation of being no more than an examin- nationalism. Science was seen by Indians as "The object of Dr Sircar was not to establish ing body. The Bangalore institute, which ad- an extension of their freedom struggle. a technical seminary and thus make his mitted its first students in 1911, represented Making scientific discoveries requires a cer- countrymen a nation of artisans and the first investment of 'Parsi money' for a tain amount of defiance. The suppressed mechanics, but to diffuse among them the general cause, and that too outside the Parsi anger against the colonial rulers provided ascertained principles of western science in mass-base of Bombay. The choice of that defiance. the hope that after mastering what had Bangalore was made possible by the Paradoxically, while Indian achievements already been discovered by the Europeans, munificence of the maharaja of Mysore in science were perceived as a symbol of the Hindus might, in course of time, add whose inspector-general of education, nationalism, at the same time the honours their own discoveries to those of their fellow Hormusji Bhabha, (Homi Bhabha's grand- bestowed by the colonial rulers were coveted brethren of the west!' father), was related to the Tatas by marriage. and even flaunted (P C Ray is probably the Sircar was a man of strong convictions Here, the control was British, though the only exception). and tenacity. An MD from Calcutta Medical students were Indian. (Interestingly, this The most extraordinary example of Indian College, he had the courage to face profes- technical university established by the Tatas response to modern science is the college- sional ostracism for his advocacy and prac- in the heyday of the British imperialism was dropout, creative mathematical genius tice of homeopathy. (He charged Rs 100 a named Indian, whereas the research institute Srinivasan Ramanujan (1887-1920) whose day for out-station visits.) In 1869 Sircar set up on the eve of India's independence was introduction to modern mathematics at the came up with the idea "of a national institu- named by the Tatas after themselves). age of 15 began and ended with Carr's tion for the cultivation of science by the While the 19th century IACS had failed Synopsis of Pure Mathematics which a natives of India", and enlisted the support to take off as a research laboratory, it came friend borrowed for him from the library of of Sir Richard Temple, the lieutenant- in handy for Chandrasekhar Venkata Raman the government college at Kumbhakonam governor of Bengal and "a man of wide (1889-1970), a teenaged Indian government [23]. Fortunately, there were around men of sympathies, deep culture and high educa- official, to do part-time research in physics science who had the sense to put him tion". Sircar "was well aware that official that led to a Nobel prize. At about the same in touch with the mathematicians at support was the only key to unloose the time Calcutta University was transformed Cambridge. purse-strings of his wealthy countrymen". into a postgraduate studies and research cen- A corollary of sciences being treated as The enlightened middle class would support tre by Sir Asutosh Mookerjee (1864-1924) an extension of the nationalist movement the project on merit. "But the merchant [21] who was the university's honorary vice- was that it was seen as a pure intellectual princes and landed aristocrats, hungry for chancellor during 1906-14 and 1921-23. exercise, rather than as a means towards the title and fame, would slavishly follow the Mookerjee was appointed a high court judge production of wealth. Thus J C Bose refused foot-prints of the official head of the in 1904. Earlier, he had written research to patent his discoveries [20], and when province"[12]. papers in mathematics under his pre- patents were obtained in his name refused Finally, "after six years of restless pro- anglicised name and had given lectures at to encash them. Later when Sir Shanti

1932 Economic and Political Weekly August 17, 1991 Swamp Bhatnagar (1894-1955) received a Republic of Science. When the Indians history of Indian surveys. large sum of money from industrial con- decided to do science on their own initiative, [6] Kurt Mendelssohn, Science and Western sultancy, he gave it away to his university, they received encouragement, if not money, Domination, Thames and Hudson, maintaining [24], in the words of his son, from the British. Thus J C Bose was retired London, 1976. that "scientific work loses its altruistic and on full salary, and Raman was knighted [7] C R Markham, A Memoir on the Indian truly cultural character if the worker before he got 'Nobelled'. The success of the Surveys, 2nd ed, 1878. becomes money-minded and begins to get British in projecting themselves as the [8] R K Kochhar, 'Modern Astronomy in financial benefits for himself". The only patrons of science as well as of the Indians India 1651-1960' Vistas in Astronomy (in exception to science-as-a-cultural-activity can be seen from the fact that even today the press 1991. syndrome was P C Ray who advocated the Ramanujan is introduced as the first Indian [9] R K Kochhar, 'Astronomy in British India: coupling of scientific research and industrial Fellow of the Royal Society, while in reality Science in the Service of the State", Current production, and himself set up a number of his fellowship is more a tribute to the good Science, 55, p 124, 1991. production units. sense of the society than to him. [10] D M Bose, S N Sen and B V Subbarayappa, A Concise History of Science in India, It is inteiesting to note that science meant We have distinguished here between INSA, New Delhi, 1971. different things to different people, depen- European scientists engaged in government [11] Syed Mahmood, A History of English ding upon their social and cultural back- science; their native scientific assistants; and Education in India (1781 to 1893), Aligarh, ground. 1b Raman, born in a caste associated the Indian scientists who were full-fledged 1895 (Reprint Delhi). with learning, science was a means of members of the 'Club of Science". Our model [12] Indian Scientists, G A Natesan and Co, establishing a 'gurukul' on his terms. To differs from the one given by Basalla [25], Madras, 1929. Saha, born in a caste considered socially which romanticises science and trivialises the [13] C E D Black, A Memoir on the Indian backward, science was an instrument of compulsions of colonialism. The develop- Surveys 1875-1890, London, 1891. social change. To Homi Jahangir Bhabha ment of science and technology in the west [14] K Sridharpuri, Story of Indian Telegraph:. (1909-66), born outside the caste structure did not take place in a vacuum. It was direct- A Century of Progress, P and T Depart- but like. Nehru an aristocrat by upbringing, ly linked to the colonisation of India, which ment, New Delhi, 1953. science meant building national institutions financed the whole exercise and in return [15] Joges Chandra Roy (ed), Siddhanta under the auspices of independent India's received fringe benefits. Darpana, Calcutta, 1897. government. [16] Chandrasekhar Mishra, Samanta Chandrasekhar (in Oriya), 7th edition, References Satyabadi Press, Cuttack, 1972. CRITIQUE [I have benefited from discussions with a large [17] Cambridge History of India, Vol I: We have argued that the production and number of friends. Special thanks go to Ancient India. growth of modern science in India was en- S Chatterjee, D C V Mallik, V V Krishna, Irfan [18] R K Kochhar, 'French Men of Science in couraged by the British with a view to fur- Habib, and A C Julka.] India During 18th and 19th Centuries', J thering colonial interests. Thus the British- Br Astr Assoc, (in the press), 1991. sponsored science, by the very reason of its [1] See Lynn Thorndike, A Short History of [19] Morning Chronicle, April 22, 1854. Civilisation, New York, 1933. [20] A K Biswas, Science in India, Firma K L existence, was field science. Geography, M, Calcutta, 1969. geology and geodesy, botany and zoology, [2] Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray Birth Centenary Volume, Calcutta University, [21] D Banerjea, Ashutosh Mookerjee', Science archaeology, medicine and even astronomy- 1962. and Culture, 56, 1990, p 347. all these stemmed from the physical and [3] Egon Larsen, Inventions, PTI Book Shop, [22] G Venkata Raman, Journey into Light, In- cultural novelty of India. This science was Bangalore, 1957. dian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, colonial in the sense that its agenda was [4] Allan Chapman, Dividing the Circle, Ellis 1988. decided on grounds of political and com- Harwood, NY, 1990. [23] The World of Mathematics, 4 Vols, mercial gain. But the studies made in India [5] R H Phillimore, Historical Records of Tempus Books, Washington. could not have been carried out anywhere Survey of India, Vols 1-5, 1945-58. In the [24] A Bhatnagar, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, else. The European scientists at work in following the first four volumes are refer- NISTADS, New Delhi, 1988. India felt and acted like pioneers in an exotic red to as 5a-d, the fifth is inaccessible. This [25] G Basalla, 'The Spread of Western land and were not always on the best of is the most authentic reference on the Science', Science, 156, 1967, p 611. terms with their counterparts back home. The role assigned to the Indians in this state science was clear-cut. They were to pro- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT vide cheap labour which they did most con- PLANNING LITERATURE scientiously. Since the natives generally knew their place, there was a general encourage- A QUARTERLY JOURNAL PUBLISHED SINCE 1986 ment to them from their British bosses. Editor: S. Bhagwan Dahiya l,ambton, and then Everest, took good care of their staff. Everest got a native Syed Mir The journal will publish Annotated Bibliography of Books and Articleron any Mohsin Hussain (who did not know aspect relating to Development published after 1st January 1986. English) appointed as the head of the Authors are requested to send their entries with full details of publication and mathematical instrument department and annotation nut exceeding 290 words for books and not exceeding 100 words for insisted on his being given the same designa- articles alongwith a complimentary copy of their publication. tion as his British predecessor, if not the Use .separate sheet for each entry. same salary. The Madras astronomer con- tinued his chief assistant Ragoonatha ADDRESS Charry in service (even after he had become Dr. S. Bhagwan Dahiya senile) so that he could get full pension Post Box 91 benefits. Rohtak-124001 (India) The westernisation of the Indian middle Annual Subscription rates for 1990 & 1991 class was as much a matter of satisfaction India : Rs. 400/- to the British as was the physical subjuga- Other countries: TJSI 80 (Air Mail) US« 50 (Surface Mail) tion of India. It was to be expected that an Special discount for back volumes 1 to 4; Just Rs. 125/- for each volumes. Empire would show some respect for the

EcoEiomic and Political Weekly August 17, 1991 1933