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Imperial Technology and ‘Native’ Agency This book explores the impact of railways on colonial Indian society from the commencement of railway operations in the mid-nineteenth to the early decades of the twentieth century. The book represents a historiographical departure. Using new archival evidence as well as travelogues written by Indian railway travellers in Bengali and Hindi, this book suggests that the impact of railways on colonial Indian society were more heterogeneous and complex than anticipated either by India’s colonial railway builders or currently assumed by post-colonial scholars. At a related level, the book argues that this complex outcome of the impact of railways on colonial Indian society was a product of the interaction between the colonial context of technology transfer and the Indian railway passengers who mediated this process at an everyday level. In other words, this book claims that the colonised ‘natives’ were not bystanders in this process of imposition of an imperial technology from above. On the contrary, Indians, both as railway passengers and otherwise influenced the nature and the direction of the impact of an oft-celebrated ‘tool of Empire’. The historiographical departures suggested in the book are based on examining railway spaces as social spaces – a methodological index influenced by Henri Lefebvre’s idea of social spaces as means of control, domination and power. Aparajita Mukhopadhyay is a history lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London. Imperial Technology and ‘Native’ Agency A Social History of Railways in Colonial India, 1850–1920 Aparajita Mukhopadhyay First published 2018 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2018 Aparajita Mukhopadhyay The right of Aparajita Mukhopadhyay to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mukhopadhyay, Aparajita, author. Title: Imperial technology and 'native' agency : a social history of railways in Colonial India, 1850–1920 / Aparajita Mukhopadhyay. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; NewYork, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017056528| ISBN 9781138226685 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315397108 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Railroads—Social aspects—India—History. | Railroad travel—Social aspects—India—History. | India—Civilization—1765–1947. | India—History—British occupation, 1765–1947. Classification: LCC HE3298 .M85 2018 | DDC 385.0954/09034—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017056528 ISBN: 978-1-138-22668-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-39710-8 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon, UK For my parents Contents Acknowledgements ix Glossary xi Introduction 1 1 On time? Railway time and travel-discipline in colonial India 20 2 A ticket to control? Limits of railway travel-discipline in colonial India 41 3 A shared space? Contestation of station spaces and railway travel-discipline in colonial India 83 4 Chariots of equality? Travelling in railway carriages and social transformation in colonial India 108 5 To eat or not to eat? Railway travel, commensality and social change in colonial India 141 6 A nation on the move? Railway travel and conceptualisations of space in colonial India 164 7 Shared spaces, shifting identities: Railway travel and notions of identity and community in colonial India 187 Conclusion: All aboard the train? Technology transmission and social transformation in colonial India 213 Bibliography 227 Index 240 Acknowledgements Originally this book was intended be a replica of my PhD dissertation that I submitted to the School of Oriental and African Studies, London in 2013. But in the intervening years I decided to substantially revise, alter and expand the dis - sertation. As such, with new chapters added and some old ones discarded or published elsewhere, in its current form this book resembles only the broadest contours of my PhD dissertation. Given the long journey this book has traversed, I have been indebted to individuals and institutions for their support. It will be, however, difficult to even start recounting my debts, intellectual and otherwise without thanking Peter Robb (my PhD supervisor) and Ian Kerr. It will not be an exaggeration to claim that both Peter and Ian have lived with this project in more ways than one and have generously shared their time, knowledge, constructive criticism and gentle humour. Over the years Ian has read most parts of this manuscript in one form or other and has always offered useful critique as well as consistent encouragement. Ian’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of Indian railways remains a source of inspiration. My intellectual debts to Peter and Ian cannot be sufficiently articulated in the confines of these pages. I would also like to express thanks, albeit belated, to Joya Chatterji and Tirthankar Roy, examiners of my PhD dissertation. Both Joya and Tirthankar’s comments and suggestions have helped me to re-think crucial concepts that have proven significant in writing this manuscript. Thanks are also due to many fellow scholars and friends who over the years have unhesitatingly shared their knowledge, time and critical insights. Though for reasons of brevity here I do not proffer a list of names of scholar/friends who have shaped my thoughts; I hope my private acknowledgement of intel- lectual camaraderie will rectify this lacuna. I am also thankful to those scholars and colleagues who generously commented on various parts of this manuscript presented as conference papers in London (SOAS, Birkbeck, UCL), New Delhi, Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Tours, Albuquerque, Helsinki, Philadelphia, New Mexico and Seattle. This book would not have taken this shape without the help I received from the staff of the Asia and Africa Reading Room in the British Library. They not only endured my never-ending demands for documents and books with efficiency, x Acknowledgements but also enlivened my days with humour and friendship. The library of the School of Oriental and African Studies too, proved invaluable for this project. This book was written in a period of transition, both professional and personal. Unsurprisingly therefore, I have drawn upon my husband, parents and sister for emotional support. I would not have been able to write this book without my husband’s presence and support. He not only believed in my ability to finish the project, but kept aside his own forthcoming monograph manuscript to share caring responsibilities of our newborn daughter so that I could continue to write. His academic specialisation in the History of Early Modern Europe and the History of Science has also helped me to widen my own research interests. My parents and my sister offered consistent emotional support and have lived with this project since my PhD days. This book is dedicated to my parents for en couraging me to pursue my goals. Last but not least, this book has grown with my daughter. I hope one day she will enjoy reading it. I also owe a special thanks to Robert Langham, Senior Publisher for History, Routledge for believing in this project. The shortcomings of this book, however, remain solely mine. Aparajita Mukhopadhyay Glossary Anna A currency unit formerly used in India. One anna was 1/16th of a rupee. Aryavarta Literally ‘abode of the excellent ones’. In the texts used in this study the word means ‘land of the Aryans’. Bhadralok Gentleman; a well-mannered person. A word with significant socio-economic connotation in colonial and post-colonial Bengal. Bhisti A Muslim water bearer/carrier. Desh Country. Desh Bhraman Travelling around the country. Dharamsala A waiting place for travellers managed by Hindus. Durga Pujo Annual autumnal festival of Bengali Hindus celebrating the goddess Durga. Ghat A landing place near a river or other water bodies. Grahak Customer. Jati A group defined by various common economic, political, social and cultural factors. Paani Panrey A Hindu water bearer/carrier usually of high caste. Raj (Sanskrit: to rule). Used with the definite article (the Raj), the word usually signifies British rule in India. Serai A waiting place for travellers managed by Muslims. Swadesh One’s own country; a conjunction of two Sanskrit words swa (self/own) and desh. Swajati One’s own jati; a conjunction of two words swa (self/own) and jati. Introduction The strong barriers of the most rigid and exclusive caste systems in the world have been penetrated on every side by the power of steam. In India for many years past, caste prejudices have been practically extinguished within the fences of a line of railway and the most sacred Brahmin will now contentedly ignore them rather than forgo the luxury and economy of a journey by rail, while everywhere the usually impenetrable and lethargic eastern has been aroused out of sleep, has learned to move with alacrity and even to acquire the virtues of punctuality, under the uncompromising and imperious tuition of the locomotive whistle.1 The above words of sanguine belief in the transformative powers of steam comes from G.W.

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