Vishnu’s Crowded Temple This page intentionally left blank MARIA MISRA Vishnu’s Crowded Temple India since the Great Rebellion Yale University Press New Haven & London Disclaimer: Some images in the printed version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook. First published in the United Kingdom in 2007 by the Penguin Group. First published in the United States in 2008 by Yale University Press. Copyright © 2007 by Maria Misra. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Set in 10.5/14 pt PostScript Linotype Sabon by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Control Number: 2007936529 ISBN 978-0-300-13721-7 (cloth : alk. paper) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my father, Manmohan Nath Misra, 1926–2006 . This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements xi Maps xii Introduction xxiii 1 Tropical Gothic 1 2 Babel-Mahal 47 3 Far Pavilions 102 4 Spinning the Nation 144 5 A House Divided 206 6 The Last Viceroy 259 7 Flames 311 8 Levelling the Temple 368 Epilogue, or Divine Developments 435 Glossary 451 Sources and Bibliography 456 Index 495 . This page intentionally left blank List of Illustrations Photographic acknowledgements are given in parentheses. 1. Typical Pictures of Indian Natives in Colours, F. M. Coleman, 1902 (private collection) 2. Collecting anthropometric measurements, late nineteenth century (Royal Anthropological Institute, London) 3. The Royal pavilion of the 1911 Delhi Durbar (PA Photos) 4. The ‘Gallery’ bridge on the Kalka–Simla Railway, 1910s (copyright © Popperfoto.com) 5. Charasi Devata Auvali, c. 1912 (Ravi Varma Press/private collection) 6. The Residence of the Viceroy of India, 1935 (Hulton Archive/ Getty Images) 7. The Bombay Municipal Corporation Building, 1920s (copyright © Popperfoto.com) 8. Freedom is Our Birthright, B. Santra, late 1940s (image courtesy the Twin Studio Archive, copyright © The Singh Twins (Amrit and Rabindra KD Kaur Singh)) 9. Bengalis queuing at a soup kitchen in Calcutta, 1943 (copyright © Bettmann/CORBIS) 10. Muslim refugees during Partition, Pakistan, 1947 (PA Photos) 11. Mohandas Gandhi next to his spinning wheel, 1946 (Margaret Bourke-White/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) 12. Gandhi on the Salt March, 1930 (copyright © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS) 13. The Evolution of Gandhi, Dinanath, c. 1948 (private collection) 14. A pictorial biography of Nehru, by Lakshminarayan Subiram ix list of illustrations Sharma (Bombay Picture Publishing Corporation, no. 22. Courtesy of Almona Bhatia of www.indiamart.com) 15. The National Flag being hoisted on the Red Fort in Delhi, artist unknown, after 1947 (private collection) 16. The Assembly Building, Chandigarh, 1960s (copyright © Popperfoto.com) 17. Land to Defend, Yogendra Rastogi, 1963 (courtesy of the artist; private collection) 18. Agricultural Beauty, Mulgaonkar, from a mid 1950s calendar (private collection) 19. Film poster for Sholay, 1975 (copyright © Pvt. Sippy Films Ltd) 20. Indira Gandhi and Sanjay, Yogendra Rastogi (courtesy of the artist; private collection) 21. The Gandhi family, 1977 (Jitendra Arya/Camera Press) 22. Slum dwellings and newly built high-rise apartments, Mumbai, 2004 (Sebastian D’Souza/AFP/Getty Images) 23. L. K. Advani emulating Ram, poster, 1990 (copyright © Living Media India Ltd/IndiaTodayImages.com.) 24. Ram bestriding the proposed Sri Ram Birthplace Temple at Ayodhya, VHP poster, early 1990s (copyright © SPP Delhi) 25. Hindu nationalists celebrate atop Babri Masjid, December 1992 (Doug Curran/AFP/Getty Images) 26. Chariot of Lord Jagannath at the Jagannath Rath Yatra festival in Puri, November 2006 (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images) 27. Bust of E. V. Ramaswami Naiker, ‘Periyar’, at the Srirangam Vishnu temple in Tiruchi, Tamilnadu, December 2006 (copyright © M. Moorthy/The Hindu) 28. Protestors burning effigies of Manmohan Singh and George W. Bush, March 2006 (copyright © Parth Sanyal/Reuters/CORBIS) 29. ‘HE ISNOT SUPERMAN,BATMAN OR POPEYE. HE IS YOUR OWN INDIAN SUPERHERO’ (photograph copyright © Barry Dawson, from Street Graphics India, Thames & Hudson Ltd, London) 30. Laloo Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi, August 2005 (AFP/Getty Images) 31. Photographs of B. R. Ambedkar, January 2004 (copyright © Antoine Serra/In Visu/CORBIS) 32. A statue of Hanuman, Karol Bagh, September 2005 (copyright © Business Line/The Hindu) x Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Oxford History Faculty and the Warden and Fellows of Keble College for their support for this project. I am also very grateful to Dr David Washbrook and the filmmaker Partha Chatterjee, who read the manuscript and offered invaluable help, saving me from embarrassing errors. I have spent many happy weeks at the Indian International Centre in New Delhi discussing Indian politics and history with its invariably lively and friendly denizens, especially Robbi Chatterji. During my visits to India, politicians Mani ShankarAiyar,AmbikaSoni,Jairam Ramesh,DrSwamySubramanian, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj generously gave up their time to talk to me. I would also like to thank Charlotte Ridings for her care with copyediting, Amanda Russell for all her help with the pictures and Richard Duguid for overseeing production. I have benefited greatly from the help and encouragement of Gill Coleridge and Andrew Wylie, and I would particularly like to thank Simon Winder at Penguin for his super-human patience, good humour and shrewd advice. My greatest debt by far is to David Priestland, who is now (not altogether by choice) unusually well informed about Indian history. xi MAP 1. Most numerous castes, or other ethnic groups, based on the 1931 Census Major caste, tribes and other ethnic groups The 1931 ‘Return of the Caste’ provided much of the evidence on ‘Other Backward Caste’ numbers and distribution for the 1980 A BRAHMANS Mandal Commission Report. B RAJPUTS VAISHYAS C CULTIVATOR AND/OR PASTORAL CASTES USSR (Hindus and Sinhalese Buddhists) ETHNIC BURMANS D LOW-STATUS AND UNTOUCHABLE CASTES E MUSLIM GROUPS SYRIAN CHRISTIANS N F TRIBES (Exclusive of Muslim tribes) A Makhmi N.A. T S Kashmiri G Sikhs E . I N Pathan A Awan H G G F E B A Jat CHINA Pathan Jat Rajput B C D PAKISTAN Chamar N E Jat F N.A. Baloch Meo P Jat Chamar A Khambu Ahom Rajput E Ahir BHUTAN E L B D Murui Kachari B B Pasi Chamar Kalita Lasi Rawat Naga Sammo C Garo Khasi Shan Sindhi Goala Synteng (Ahir) Chamar Bhil D C F BENGAL A C Santal F D Chamar E D Brahman F Vaishya B B Sheikh Kuki-Chin Kurmi Koli Rajput Oraon Bauri B E D Munda C Shan F F Gond Kawar Mahishaya Kunbi F N.A. F Santal Balai BURMA C Gamit Kolta Bhil Mehra Teli F Gahra Chasa Kokna C F INDIA Burman Varli Khond Kapu Maria C F F Kapu C Maratha-Kunbi Karen D Koya Arabian Sea E Sheikh Madiga Mon C F C Lingayat Kamma N.A. A D Brahman Boya/ Beda Kapu Bay of Bengal . C Billava Vakkaliga D D Pali E Badaga Mappilla C Paraiyan D D Pallan Syrian Christian C E Maravan E C CEYLON Goyigama 0 100 200 300 miles 0 200 400 600 km MAP 2. The principal languages and linguistic families of South Asia Major language families Indo-European Austro-Asiatic Altiac Dravidian Sino-Tibetan Tai-Kadai PERSIAN KASHMIRI . DOGRI O CHINA T H S U PUNJABI P N BALUCHI DELHI E PAKISTAN P A L BHUTAN IRAN RAJASTHANI I ASSAMESE SANTHALI BODO SINDHI MAITHILI HINDI BIHARI MEITEI BENGALI GUJARATI BURMESE INDIA ORIYA MARATHI TELUGU K K Arabian Sea O A N K GOA A N N N . A D A MALAYALAM Bay of Bengal TAMIL SINHALA Colombo SRI LANKA TAMIL 0 100 200 300 miles 0 200 400 600 km MAP 3. British India, 1947 Major administrative divisions, 1947 British India Indian states N GILGIT A T S JAMMU I AND ES KASHMIR N ST C E IN W V A - O H R T P R . H O R IE N T G N F RO A F PUNJAB S E T A T S T B P U N J A I N B A E T N S T I U E M H DELHI N P I A C T A U E L BHUTAN L D S P A R O B V S RAJPUTANA I N C COOCH BEHAR E S A SINDH BIHAR MANIPUR A L I N D I A T R BENGAL BURMA E N C TRIPURA E STATES A S T OF E R WESTERN N E S S T INDIA O V I N C A L P R T R A E S N T BURMA C E B A S O S I BASTAR R O M HYDERABAD B S A DECCAN A STATES Y R . Arabian Sea D MYSORE A Bay of Bengal M PUDUKKOTAI COCHIN AND TRAVANCORE CEYLON 0 100 200 300 miles 0 200 400 600 km MAP 4. Major state boundary changes and new states since Independence Pakistan Union territories USSR Part of Pakistan until 1975 State in special relationship with India Other states N Claimed by India, A JAMMU & occupied by China T S KASHMIR I Srinagar . N A H HIMACHAL G Jammu F PRADESH A PUNJAB CHINA Armritsar Simla Ludhiana CHANDIGARH PUNJAB A Raipur N YA PAKISTAN HAR N Delhi BALUCHISTAN DELHI E UTTAR P PRADESH A BHUTAN N Ranchi Jaipur L NE ASSAM SIND Lucknow RAJASTHAN Patna BIHAR Hyderabad C BANGLADESH Karachi E GUJARAT INDIA Bhopal WEST Gandhinagar BENGAL Ahmedabad MADHYA PRADESH Kolkata BURMA B (Calcutta) C O H H M A ORISSA Y B A T T Bhubaneshwar I MAHARASHTRA S G A R Mumbai H (Bombay) W Hyderabad Visakhapatanam K A Panaji ANDHRA GOA R PRADESH N A T S .