Instructor:  Professor Pinch
Seminar hours:  Monday:  1310-1600
Office hours:  Wednesday and Friday, 1400-1600, or by appointment (x2399, wpinch@wesleyan.edu)

This seminar examines the transition to British colonial rule in India, with an eye toward the social history of soldiering, military conquest, and colonial control. It is not a seminar in military history.  Though the outcome of battles, the decision-making processes implicit to military command, and the technological merits of weaponry are of obvious importance to any historical inquiry into war, of greater importance to the seminar will be the effects of warfare on society and culture, and the social and cultural dimensions of war-making, in an India that was increasingly tied to Europe.

The seminar is divided into four parts:

1) Introduction [weeks 1-3], in which students begin thinking about the relationship between warfare and society, the nature of the state, and about the transition to British colonial rule in Indian society as a process that lasted from about 1700 to the late 1800s.

2) Soldiers [weeks 4-7], in which students explore questions of identity, religion, technologies, and techniques in the context of military service, beginning as early as 1450 and ending around 1850.

3) Criminals [weeks 8-9], the objective of which is to understand the systemics of colonial control at the ground level in the nineteenth century, focusing in particular on the transformation of rural society into peasant society.

4) Students [weeks 10-13], the topics and readings for which are To Be Announced, since they will depend on each student’s research project.

• Discussion/presentations [20%]
• 1000-word essay relating Bayly's Indian Society to Keegan's History of Warfare [20%], due Monday, 29 September, at 9 a.m.
• 6000-word research paper [60%], due Wednesday, December 10, 4 p.m.

Students should meet individually with the professor to determine the topic for the research paper, and to discuss sources and how to go about getting them at Olin.  The first of these meetings should occur no later than the end of September.

The following books, required for the first three weeks of the course, are available at Atticus:

• C. A. Bayly, Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire
• J. Keegan, A History of Warfare

Schedule of Topics and Readings:

Part 1:  Theoretical and Topical Introduction

15 September:  Warfare and Society

• Keegan, 1-234

• Keegan, 234-392
• Tilly, "War Making and State-Making" [on reserve]

• Read Bayly, entire [Note:  Keegan-Bayly paper due today, 9 a.m.]

6 October:  Horse:    Fogleboch/Pinch

• Jos Gommans, "Indian Warfare and Afghan Innovation"
• Dirk Kolff, "The End of an Ancien Regime" [preceding this essay, in the reserve room copies, is one by William McNeill.  Feel free to read it if you so wish]
• Seema Alavi, "The Makings of Company Power"
• James Skinner, Military Memoir of Lieut.-Col. James Skinner [2 vols.]

• Bruce Lenman, "The Transition to European Military Ascendancy in India, 1600-1800"
• Seema Alavi, "The Company Army and Rural Society"
• Sitaram Pandey, From Sepoy to Subedar

• Dirk Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy

3 November:  Sikhs:    Free for all

• W. H. McLeod, The Evolution of the Sikh Community, 1-19, 37-58, and 83-104 [the other two chapters, which you are free to peruse at your leisure, relate more to doctrinal-cum-hagiographical issues and are covered in Textual Sources, below]
• W. H. McLeod (ed.), Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism, esp. chapters 1-4, and 7.1 and 7.2

10 November:  Thags, Pindaris, and other scoundrels:    Royko/Guha

• Stewart Gordon, "Scarf and Sword"
• Anand Yang (ed.), Crime and Criminality, 1-47, 128-163
• William Sleeman, Report on the Depredations committed by the Thag Gangs...1836-39 [ILL office]
• Gov't of Bengal, Selections of the Records of the Government of Bengal, no. XVIII: Correspondences relating to the suppression of Dakoiti in Bengal

• C. A. Bayly, The Raj: India and the British, 231-249 and the map on 418
• Historical Atlas of South Asia, 62 [map] and 214 [text] -- two editions of this text are located on the atlas tables in the reference section of the library
• Rudrangshu Mukherjee, "'Satan Let Loose'"
• Gautam Bhadra, "Four Rebels of 1857"
• F. W. Buckler, "The Political Theory of the Mutiny of 1857"
• Eric Stokes, "1857 and Afro-Asian resistance movements"
• NB:  a readable account of the rebellion is Christopher Hibbert, The Great Mutiny : India, 1857 [this is a suggested reading, not required]

24 November:  No Class:  breathing room for students to focus on research projects

1 December:  Military Afghans

• Kevin on Pindaris

The Pindaris have been characterized throughout recent history as constituting only loosely organized groups of horsemen whose sole cohesive activity was the execution of the seasonal raiding party or luhbur. It was this very practice that prompted the British to lead a campaign of extermination against them in the Pindari Wars of 1817-1819. And it has largely been the only point of association considered by historians when studying the Pindaris. Clearly the raids were a very important and distinguishing aspect of the Pindari peoples, but the question arises of whether they did not perhaps have a more developed and unified identity. In other words, if they could in fact be regarded as a legitimate social group with certain military, religious, linguistic,ethnic and cultural beliefs, traits and practices common to all or most of the members of the Pindaris. Were there distinct habits and customs that developed among these horsepeople that would suggest a process of social formation may have occured within their ranks. Does the emergence of a socio-cultural identity among Pindaris have a discernible history? Can we then turn that history of identity to the question of caste, colonialism and military service in India and its history?
 

• Jesse on the Great Game

On January 13th, 1842, Dr. William Brydon arrived in the East India Company outpost of Jalalabad, declaring himself to be the "Army of the Indus."  The defeat, in fact the destruction of this essentially British force was the most serious loss suffered by the British in their two hundred years of rule in India.
    The First Afghan War was an extension of the "Great Game" being played by the Russians and the British across Central Asia.  Hopkirk’s work on the subject suggests that the individual agents of both the British government and the East India Company drew the Company into the First Afghan War.  These agents, men like Alexander Burnes, William Mcnaghten, and Eldred Pottinger, became personally involved in the situations they were assigned to monitor.  This personal involvement led these emissaries to argue the cases of their favorites to the British authorities of the day.  Although some of these agents were more successful at this than others, they all worked to further British interests in the Central Asian "buffer zone."
    With the Simla Doctrine, the Company, Ranjit Singh, and Shah Shujah took Afghan politics into their own hands.  They decided that the contemporary ruler of Afghanistan, Dost Muhammed, should be disposed in favor of Shah Shujah, essentially a British puppet.  How did they come to this conclusion, and how did they justify the rule of Shah Shujah?  The Afghans, by all accounts, did not take to Shah Shujah.  How did this discontent end with the destruction of the British expeditionary force.
    In his article on "The Political theory of the Mutiny," William Buckler discusses the relationship of the Company as vassal to the Mughul empire.  He argues that the East India Company promoted itself to Britain as "conqueror of India," but at the same time treats the Mughul emperor as suzeirn.  Thus the British concept of kingship was put aside on the subcontinent in favor of the Indian version.
    In Afghanistan, Dost Muhammed ruled as vassal of the Mughul emperor.  When faced with a choice between the British, similarly vassals of the Mughuls, and the  Russians, who were complete outsiders, he preferred the British.  This choice was cemented by his friendship with the British agent Alexander Burnes.  By choosing to replace Dost Muhammed with Shah Shujah, Mcnaghten operated under his own, European, concept of authority.
    This is the point were Mcnaghten broke with Company tradition.  His misunderstanding, or perhaps his disregard for the Indian concept of legitimacy and kingship led to the defeat of the Army of the Indus.
    How did the Company’s manipulation of the Mughul patronage system cause or contribute to the advent of the First Afghan War?

Bibliography:

Bayly, C.A.  Empire and Information.  Cambridge:  University Press, 1996.
Boyd, Newell D.  "British Disaster in the First Afghan War,"  The Historian v. 53, n. 3 pp. 571.
Buckler, Francis William. Legitimacy and symbols : the South Asian writings of F.W. Buckler /, edited by M.N. Pearson.  Ann Arbor:  University of Michigan, 1985.
Gommans, Jos.  The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire.  New York:  Brill, 1994.
Hopkirk, Peter.  The Great Game.  New York:  Kodansha America, Inc, 1992.
Norris, J.A.  The First Afghan War, 1838-1842.  Cambridge:  University Press, 1967
Paksoy, H.B.  "Nationality or Religion?"  Bulletin of the Association for the Advancement of Central Asian Research, v. 8, n. 2 (Fall, 1995).
Pandey, Sita Ram.  Sepoy to Subedar.
Ram Gupta, Hari.  Panjab, Central Asis, and the  First Afghan War.  Chandigarth:  Panjab University Press, 1987.  [Biography of Mohand Lal]
Richards, J.F.  Kingship and authority in South Asia .  Madison :  University of Wisconsin,  l981.
Severn, John.  "Empire-Building and Empire-Builders:  Twelve Studies," International History Review v. 19, n. 3 pp. 673.
Waller, John H.  Beyond the Kyber Pass: the Road to British Disaster in the First Afghan War.  New York:  Random House, 1990.

• Evan on terrorist cults in turn-of-the-century Bengal

Before reading Nandy, I was under the assumption that the Bengali militant nationalists, in particular the brothers Ghose, were merely adapting traditional Hinduism to their specific needs. In other words, the terrorists would simply highlight parts of religious texts that they felt incited the people of Calcutta and the rest of India to participate in the coming revolution. However, The Intimate Enemy gave me an altogether different perspective on just how Aurobindo interpreted the sacred texts he cited. Nandy points out the disparity between the true traditional values of Hinduism and those preached by the likes of Swami Vivekananda and Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya. The Indian population that they were trying to reach had already been subconsciously altered by colonialism in that their views of manhood had been westernized. That is to say, traditionally the icons of Hinduism were somewhat androgynous in nature. The colonized Indian population, however, came to view androgyny as weak and powerless. Subjugated Indians, Nandy suggests, wanted to adopt the Western ideals carried to Asia by the British (which were Judeo-Christian based.).  In turn, the religious prophets of the late nineteenth century transformed Hinduism into a much more Western religion. They downplayed the effeminate characteristics of Hinduism and emphasized the masculine ones. When the terrorists looked to these reformers for inspiration, they were therefore adopting a version of Hinduism revised according to essentially Western values. One criticism I have of Nandy here is that he fails to point out that Aurobindo's gang was constantly trying to restore dignity to the mother, not the father.
    Obvious next steps are to read Anandamath, some of Vivekananda's writings, and Sister Nivedita's book, Kali the Mother. They directly influenced the likes of Barin Ghose and are therefore essential to my topic. To cut to the point, I've included a list of sources I plan to and have already pursued. I will keep in mind the central point as always: how did the Bengali terrorists of the eighteenth century adapt Hinduism to support their cause?

 --Sources--

Kali the Mother- Sister Nivedita
Anandamath- Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya
?????- Swami Vivekananda
Bande Matram- Aurobindo Ghose
Bhawani Mandir- Aurobindo Ghose
 
The Intimate Enemy- Ashis Nandy
The Nation and its Fragments- R. Chaterjee
The Bomb in Bengal Peter Heehs
Bengal Terrorists- David Laushey
Europe Reconsidered- T. Raychaudhuri
????- Tanika Sarkar

Possibilities:
"Krsncaritra" Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya
The Lords of Human Kind- Kiernan
Vidyasagar: The Traditional Modernizer- Amalesh Tripathi

I can explain the significance of each of these "possible" titles to you should you wonder why they're on the list. More will certainly be added as I continue to mine references.

• Sourav on Subhas Chandra Bose and an alternative vision of Indian nationalism and nationhood

question:
How did Bose manipulate and reconfigure the imagined community of the Indian nation?  What was the nature of this alternative Indian imagined community (vis-a-vis the dominant Gandhian-Nehruvian vision), and how/why was it appealing?
further description:
My research is presently too limited to provide any further thoughts at this time, however I intend to provide a deeper, more involved description in a week (Wed 29 Oct 1997).  Certainly, though, two important issues that I plan to explore revolve around the axes of gender, i.e., the role of women in this alternative vision, and religious identity, i.e., the lack of communal division.
primary sources:
• The Indian Struggle, 1920-1934 by Subhas C. Bose
 (Calcutta 1948: Thacker, Spink & Co.)
• The Indian Struggle, 1935-1942 by Subhas C. Bose
 (Calcutta 1952: Chuckervertty, Chatterjee & Co.)
• Crossroads [being the works of Subhas Chandra Bose, 1938-1940]
 (London 1962: Asia Publishing House)
• Selected Speeches of Subhas Chandra Bose [1928-1945]
 (New Delhi 1962: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India)
secondary sources:
• Subhas Chandra Bose and Middle Class Radicalism by Bidyut Chakravarty
 (London 1990: The London School of Economics and Political Science)
• "India’s Untold War of Independence," in the New Yorker magazine, by Amitav Ghosh
• Brothers Against the Raj:  A Biography of Indian Nationalists Sarat and Subhas Chandra Bose
 by Leonard A. Gordon  (New York 1990: Columbia University Press)
• Subhas Chandra Bose:  The Springing Tiger by Hugh Toye
 (Bombay 1970 (1959): Jaico Publishing House)
theoretical source:
• Imagined Communities:  Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism, Revised Ed. by Benedict Anderson  (London 1991: Verso)

other (as of yet uninvestigated) possibilities:
Peter Fay's INDIA'S FORGOTTEN ARMY
Jim Leiken's honors thesis, Psychobiography of Subhas Chandra Bose
Video:  Rebels Against the Raj
Sugatta Bose's Video for the Netaji Institute, Calcutta, India