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X«rox Urtiverally Microfilm a 300 North z—b flood Ann Arbor, Mlchkgin 4*10* I 74-14.195 MEYERS, ATfrada Elizabeth. 1940- THEODGRE BECK AND SAYYID AHMAD KHAN: THE MYTH OF PROVOCATEUR AND PUPPET IN MUSLIM SEPARATISM 1B75-T909. The American University, Ph.D., 1973 History, modem University Microfilms, A XEROX Com pany, Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1974 ALFREDA ELIZABETH MEYDRS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii THEODORE BECK AND SAYYID AHMAD KHAN: THE MYTH OF PROVOCATEUR AND PUPPET IN MUSLIM SEPARATISM I8T5-19O0 by Alfreds Elizabeth Meyers Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of The American University in P artial F ulfillm ent of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in South and Southeast Asia Area Studies Signatures of Committee: C h airm an : Dean ' / M em b er: P a te : Jcj { j "73 Member: ( L h s v u d x^ * 5 . J . ^ ( u L s 1973 The American University Washington, D. C, THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY H 7 7 0 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The American University and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to bor­ rowers under rules of the Library, Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission lor extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT......................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION................................................................................................ 1 I. THE PLAY: INDIA FROM 1875 TO 1909 ........................................ 10 II. THE ACT: ORGANIZATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN THE INDIAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY............................................... 53 III, THE SCENE: INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ALIGARH MOVEMENT OF SAYYID AHMAD KHAN ............................................................... 87 IV. THE ACTORS: THE MOHAMMEDAN ANGLO-ORIENTAL COLLEGE'S ENGLISH FACULTY ............................................129 V. THE HERO: THE BECK MYTH: THEODORE BECK, PROVOCATEUR OR PUPPET OF MUSLIM SEPARATISM? ...................................................................................164 VI. THE STAR: THEODORE BECK, MISSIONARY ADMINISTRATOR ............................................................................219 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................251 APPENDIX I: MUSLIM PARTICIPATION IN CONGRESS . 25B APPENDIX II: MUHAMMEDAN EDUCATIONAL CON­ FERENCE 1866-1906 ............................................... 259 APPENDIX III: MUSLIM ANJUMANS AFFILIATED TO THE UNITED INDIAN PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATION 260 APPENDIX IV: COMPOSITION OF THE MOHAMMEDAN ANGLO-ORIENTAL COLLEGE STUDENT BODY, 1875-1009 ..................................................... 262 iv V TABLE OF CONTENTS—Continued P a g e APPENDIX V: EUROPEAN STAFF OF MOHAMMEDAN ANGLO-ORIENTAL COLLEGE ............................... 264 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 266 ABSTRACT The roles of Theodore Beck and Sayyid Ahmad Khan in the evolution of Muslim separatism in the Indian Sub-continent were cast in the perspective* perceptions* and events of late nineteenth century Indian politics and by analyses of authoritarian paternalist Liber all am tempered by Social Darwinism. Theodore Beck (1859-1899)* second Principal of the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College* and Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1817*1898)* the institution's founder and paramount figure in the Aligarh Movement, worked harmoniously for their shared aspirations for the regeneration of the Muslim community. They pre­ sented a particular vision of Anglo-Muslim interests predicated upon loyalty* English style education for Muslim aristocrats* and disapproval of popular politics and democratization of the raj. Priorities established by Sayyid Ahmad Khan, with which Theodore Beck concurred* were predicated upon the receptivity of the British raj to Muslim initiative, and upon the mutual recognition of reciprocal Anglo-Muslim interests* These priorities underwent evalua­ tion, reinterpretation, and finally* repudiation. They were not, how­ ever* questioned by either Theodore Beck or Sayyid Ahmad Khan. But, in the process of reinterpretation* Theodore Beck and the English faculty became ensnared in Aligarh Muslim elite factionalism. Cordial vi vii Anglo-Muslim relations at Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College shattered in the first decade of the twentieth century, wrecked on exclusivist definitions of identity. Eviction of the English faculty, whose role was always circumscribed by Aligarh Muslim elite defini­ tions, emerged as a symbol of Muslim identity and post Sayyid Ahmad Khan political maturity. During the lives of Theodore Beck and Sayyid Ahmad Khan political myth developed and Intruded upon Aligarh politics. Theodore Beck, for fifteen crucial years (1884-1B99) Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College’s Principal, emerged as a figure in that political mythology* He was identified as an external cause for Muslim factionalism and separatism, as well as for the late entry of Muslims into agitational politics. Theodore Beck, the Victorian English loyal lieutenant of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, who was a minor and unoriginal figure both in English and Muslim circles, came to be presented as the provocateur of Muslim separatism, as the perverter of Sayyid Ahmad Khan, as the usurper of control at Aligarh, and consequently, as the personification of British duplicity and perversity. Functionally this characterization rested on the "'divide and rule'" thesis which later isolated an external scapegoat for Partition. Despite compelling evidence discrediting the "divide and rule11 thesis, and despite the inadequacies and inconsisten­ cies in the myth of Theodore Beck, the fable has been perpetuated and has survived. Despite the myth's survival quotient, Theodore Beck viii was* viewed in the context of the era, a minor figure in a movement restricted in both time and place. He was not particularly important in the definition of Muslim separatism. He was not original. In fact, despite the mythology* the definition of Muslim identity itself made Theodore Beck a scapegoat. INTRODUCTION In approaching the problem of this dissertation--the role of the English faculty of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, and particu­ larly of the second Principal, Theodore Beck, in the evolution of Muslim separatism--I have progressed from the general to the particular, from the macrocosm of late nineteenth century Indian politics to the m icro­ cosm of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, In this way Theodore Beck, the English faculty, the Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, and Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Aligarh Movement are viewed in the perspec­ tive of the era in which they evolved and operated. In Chapter I the climate of opinion in India at the end of the nineteenth century is characterized. Three distinguishable elements are immediately obvious. First, the Government of India and the English civilian community were dominantly committed to the righteous­ ness, stability, and eternity of the British raj. This commitment was buttressed by attitudes of racial superiority which were in turn philo­ sophically justified by an authoritarian paternalism grounded on a rein­ terpretation of early nineteenth century liberalism. The British thought in racial categories, which designated such divisions as "virile warlike Muslims" or "gregarious timid Bengalis.