The Formation of a Regional Cultural Idiom in Colonial North India
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Geographies, Histories, Boundaries: The Formation of a Regional Cultural Idiom in Colonial North India Harriet Bury This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of Ph.D. at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, November 2006 1 ProQuest Number: 10672982 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672982 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Abstract The dominant cultural formation which emerged in several areas of public and political life in north India at the beginning of the twentieth century presented itself as a national culture which was able to articulate and represent the vast and disparate interests of the new cultural-political entity of the nation. In fact the concepts, terms and vocabulary of this national culture were derived from a predominantly Vaishanava cultural and religious order propagated by the largely high caste, merchant communities of north India, which itself had been recast and reformulated to negotiate with and encompass the demands of contemporary needs and aspirations. The story begins with the entry of the colonial state into the region as a newly transformed political and administrative power seeking to establish an integrated and effective administration through tax on land. Colonial interventions and classifications, both administrative and intellectual, are also the subject of the second chapter which offers an analysis of early Orientalist and missionary interpretations of Hindu textual sources, emphasising the Aryan and Vedic roots of Hindu civilisation. However, while the relevance of colonial constructions is emphasised, the thesis recognises a dialogic relationship between colonial projects and the initiatives of the colonised which often involved resistance and contestation of state practices. The third chapter explores the transmittance and mediation of knowledge within a new public domain being created by colonial education and print. It traces the emergence of a new type of indigenous intellectual and the role of such figures in the mediation of knowledge through the colonial disciplines of geography and history. History as a discourse of legitimacy used by both the colonial state and indigenous intellectuals served as an important tool for constructing new forms of national identity. The national cultural and religious identity being newly fashioned in the historical writings of the publicist and foremost Hindi intellectual of this era, Bharatendu Harischandra, is the subject of the fourth chapter. Chapter five continues with the issue of identity and explores the self-conscious construction of boundaries between self and other, community and non-community, in the context of regional and pan-Indian travel, The final chapter explores how, by the end of the nineteenth century, language had become the dominant symbol through which a shared cultural and political identity was projected. 2 Table of Contents Glossary 4 Note on Transliteration 8 Acknowledgements 9 Introduction 10 Chapter I. Colonial Intervention and Classification in the 35 North Western Provinces Chapter 2. Mapping Hindu Spaces: Banaras and the Interpretation 69 of Archaic Knowledge Chapter 3. Diffusing Knowledge: Contest and Mediation in 109 Hindi Textbooks Chapter 4. A North Indian Historiography: Bharatendu 139 Harischandra and the Construction of a National Past Chapter 5, Anxieties of Travel: Constituting the Nation in 177 Hindi Travel Accounts Chapter 6. Imagining a Hindi Pradesh: Language and the 213 Formation of Tradition Conclusion 246 Bibliography 253 3 Glossary Acharya religious philosopher and/or founder of a sect Amani system of land taxation Amil revenue collector Asabhya uncivilised Ashraf gentry Ashtachap eight main gurus of devotional sects Asnan ritual bathing Atavi barbarous, uncivilised Avatara incarnation of a deity Ayurveda Hindu system of medecine Banjar wasteland Basti settlement Bhakta devotee, disciple Bhakti devotion Bhaktimarg devotional movement Bbasha vernacular language Bhugol geography Birtia class of landholder Boli dialect Chachar lands left fallow Char dham four comers (of Hindu sacred geography) Chaukis tolls Chitravali biography Danpatr deed of gift Darshanas philosophical schools Desh nation, region, land, country Deshbhasha regional language, national language Dharma religious duty Dharmshala rest house for pilgrims Dharmashastra religious law books Digvijaya world conquerer (title attributed to religious leader) Ek Ishvaravad monotheism Gopi cowherd Grihastas householders Huzoor Tahsil revenue agreement Imambari Shia shrine Itihas history Jagat world Jama land revenue demand Jamabandi document of revenue demand Janapada populated land Jangala jungle Jati literally caste or sub-caste, also community, people. 4 Jivan charitra life story, biography Jyotisha astronomy Kachar low lands Kahani stories, tales Kavya classical tradition of Sanskrit poetry Khadir cultivated land Khetihars cultivators Khudkasht resident cultivators Kshetra religious place Koti merchant store/warehouse Mahal lineage division Mahatmya Sanskrit eulogy Mahayatra pilgrimage to one or more of the great Hindu tirthas Mai land revenue Malguzar revenue official Malikana type of tax Mat faith, doctrine Matribhasha mother tongue Mela festival Mimansa philosophical system Mohalla neighbourhood Mulk region Munshi literally, accountant Muqqadam village official Murtipuja image worship Naga snake deity Nankar type of tax Naya Vidya new knowledge Nibatidhakara Sanskrit digest Niti polity Nyaya Logic Paikasht non-resident cultivator Pan betel nut Pandit a brahmin learned in the traditional Hindu texts Pargana land revenue unit Pathshalla school Patta deed of lease Patwari village accountant Pavitra holy, sacred Polaj lands in permanent cultivation Pothi manuscript, collection of manuscripts Prachin ancient Praja political subjects, citizens Prant region Pradesh region, state Puja worship Punya merit 5 Purvajom ancestors Qabuliyat revenue agreement Qanungo revenue official Raksa demon Rahdari protection tax Rais gentry, notable Raiyat/iyot peasant, cultivator Rajatva realm Rajavali genealogical list of kings Riti convention, manner; manneristic style of poetry Ritu seasons Rusoom rent Ryotwari type of tenancy in southern states Sadhu Hindu ascetic Sair revenue from sources other than land Samadhi religious death Samaj society Sampradaya religious sect, tradition, community Sanad Mughal deed/charter granted by a ruler Sanatana Dharma the eternal (orthodox) religion Sanyasin disciple Sarkar district Sati death by fire Shastrartha doctrinal disputation Shilalekh stone inscription Shishya parampara tradition of disciples Sloka Sanskrit verse Smriti Hindu texts dealing with moral and religious duty Sthan place Suba province Svadhinta independence Svabhav nature Svarup nature Tahsildar revenue collector Takavi type of government grant Taluqa administrative sub-division, unit of land Taluqdar land-controller Tanhadari protection tax Tapasya penance Terai flat, marshy land Tirtha pilgrimage place Tirthayatra act of pilgrimage Vaishnavata Vaishnavism Vamshavali genealogical text Vana forest Varna four divisions of the Hindu social order Vedanta Hindu philosophical system 6 Vyakarana Sanskrit grammar Vyavahar interaction Vyavastha decree Yaksa pre-Hindu nature deity Yavana outsider, immigrant, Muslim Yuga Hindu time period, age, era Zilla Muslim revenue district 7 Note on Transliteration Despite the large number of Hindi words in the text I have avoided the more correct system of transliteration with diacritical marks in favour of following the conventional spelling of Hindi words to enable an easy reading of the work. Some familiar spellings of words and place names have been retained without ‘modem’ transliterations in order to avoid confusion with spellings used in quotations. Except where indicated, all translations in this work are mine. Some terms used only once have been italicised and explained in the text. Other non-English words are included in the glossary and italicised when they first appear but are otherwise printed in roman. 8 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Avril Powell, for her patience, support and encouragement throughout the research and writing of this thesis. Apart from encouraging me to ‘find my own way’ in the beginning she has been able to tell me when it is time to finish. I would also like to offer special thanks to Peter Robb who has gone well beyond the call of duty in reading and commenting on a late draft of the thesis and who throughout has offered a good deal of intellectual and emotional support. I am very grateful to him. Also at SOAS I am grateful to Rupert Snell, David Arnold and Daud Ali, each of whom offered help, advice and opportunity for discussion on individual arguments in the thesis at various points in the early stages. I wish to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Board (now Council) for funding the major part of this research