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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts CULTURAL EXCHANGE, IMPERIALIST VIOLENCE, AND PIOUS MISSIONS: LOCAL PERSPECTIVES FROM TANJAVUR AND LENAPE COUNTRY, 1720-1760 A Dissertation in History by Axel Utz © 2011 Axel Utz Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2011 The dissertation of Axel Utz was reviewed and approved by the following: A. G. Roeber Professor of Early Modern History and Religious Studies Dissertation adviser Chair of committee Kumkum Chatterjee Professor of History Dean R. Snow Professor of Archaeological Anthropology William Pencak Professor of American History Dan Beaver Associate Professor of History Michael Kulikowski Professor of History and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies Head of the Department of History and Program in Religious Studies Signatures are on file in the Graduate School. ii Abstract This study explores how changing power relations influenced communication and exchange across cultural boundaries in the early to mid-eighteenth century—the period that set the stage for Western imperialism. The focus is on two areas—Tanjavur and Lenape country. Though quite distant from each other culturally and geographically—the former was located in South India, the latter in the North American Middle Atlantic—their histories followed similar trajectories. Both underwent dramatic changes. They experienced a period of peace and stability in the early eighteenth century. From the 1730s, geopolitical changes brought about political destabilization, militarization, and violence that culminated in the Seven Years’ War (1756- 1763). Accelerated British expansion was the major cause of these developments, since it violated earlier arrangements. In South India, the British East India company tightened its control of maritime trade and textile production. The state of Tanjavur was heavily affected because much of its tax income depended on rice and textile exports. In the Middle Atlantic, British expansion was accompanied by increasingly aggressive land acquisitions. Lenape polities were confronted with Pennsylvania’s changing land policies from the 1720s. When the French state tried to curtail British expansion from the late 1730s, conflicts escalated. In the process, the rationality of empires began to dominate communication and exchange across cultural boundaries. Local concerns were muted. This study is predominantly based on sources produced by Central European missionaries—Lutheran Pietists in Tanjavur and Moravians in Lenape country. Both sets of sources are extensive and unique. Pietists communicated with hundreds of local informants who represented a cross-section of society in Tanjavur. Moravians were the only contemporaries who lived in Lenape communities for extended periods of time and recorded their experiences in detail. Initially, neither Pietist nor Moravian missionaries identified with the British empire. The state of Tanjavur and Lenape polities integrated the two religious groups with a certain degree of success. Yet, their European ritual leaders belonged to global networks that depended on the infrastructure of empires. Their dependence on British means of transport and communication increased as British maritime dominance grew. Their views became aligned with British interests. iii Table of contents List of figures................................................................................................................................. vi List of maps................................................................................................................................... vii List of tables.................................................................................................................................viii List of abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... ix Introduction................................................................................................................................... 1 Tanjavur and Lenape country................................................................................................... 1 The long term ........................................................................................................................... 3 The sources and their authors................................................................................................... 6 Part 1: Tanjavur ......................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: Tanjavur and its neighbors .................................................................................... 17 ‘Warrior rule’ in Tamil country: A violent tradition in historiography ................................. 17 The state of Tanjavur and society in the Kaveri river delta: A longterm perspective............ 21 Tanjavur’s neighbors.............................................................................................................. 26 Tanjavur’s central administration and Lutheran Pietists in the 1720s ................................... 29 The military defense system: A flexible approach................................................................. 32 Bad omen: A prelude to Tanjavur’s succession crises of the mid-1730s............................... 33 Chapter 2: War, invasion, and the militarization of the Kaveri river delta.......................... 39 Local nobility on the rise: The nÂyakkar................................................................................ 41 Political chaos, realignment, and continuity .......................................................................... 46 New alliances: The northern Marathas................................................................................... 51 Internal disputes in a destabilized and militarized society..................................................... 54 Part 2: Tanjavur in global perspective ..................................................................................... 58 Chapter 3: Europeans, geopolitics, and Pietist interests in the Indian ocean ....................... 64 Violent practice and ideology: The conquests of Banda and Lanka, 1610-1680................... 67 Trade as a racist institution: Europeans and slavery in the Indian ocean............................... 70 Maritime violence and the Iranian invasion of Mughal India, 1640-1740............................. 73 British imperialism and the transformation of Pietist ideology ............................................. 75 Pietist missions in the Seven Years’ War............................................................................... 82 Toward a counterfactual perspective: Land between Asia and Europe, 1620-1720.............. 84 War between Asia and Europe, 1700-1740............................................................................ 91 iv Chapter 4: Social change in early to mid-eighteenth century Tanjavur: Sources of resistance and adaptability ........................................................................................................ 96 Three social groups in transition: KaraiyÂr, paììaÞavar, and paæaiyar.................................... 97 Economic policies in Tanjavur in the 1720s and early 1730s................................................ 98 From coastal traders to wage workers: The changing role of karaiyÂr ................................ 105 KaraiyÂr, paììaÞavar, and the local autonomy of marine fishing communities.................... 110 Paæaiyar power in early eighteenth-century Tanjavur: Local resources and their limits...... 116 Paæaiyar and politics ............................................................................................................. 120 Part 3: Lenape country............................................................................................................. 123 Chapter 5: Lenape regional polities and European settler colonialism: A longterm perspective ................................................................................................................................. 129 Political alliances in Lenape country ................................................................................... 133 The arrival of Europeans in Lenape country........................................................................ 143 European violence and ideology .......................................................................................... 148 Causes of violence................................................................................................................ 155 Historical memory................................................................................................................ 159 Lenape country in the mid-eighteenth century..................................................................... 160 Chapter 6: Lenape forced migrations, cultural integration, and Moravian interests........ 168 Lenape communities and regional backgrounds in the mid-eighteenth century.................. 169 Alligewining: Another world ............................................................................................... 173 Integration of regional backgrounds .................................................................................... 180 Kinship and integration of regional backgrounds ................................................................ 185