Modern South Asia and the Colonial Transition

Introduction to Modern South Asia and the Colonial Transition

• Today’s lecture marks a transition from the ancient, medieval, and early modern periods to what historians call Modern South Asia, dominated by the era of colonial rule.

• This phase of the course focuses on the next six lectures, exploring themes of racism, gender, sexuality, social history, and cultural history.

• Broadly, this period is synonymous with European colonialism as it moved into South Asia.

Collective Review and the Concept of Polyphony

• The professor initiated a check-in regarding the first seven weeks of content.

• Adjectives identified by students to describe the previously studied history include:

  • Time: Capturing the vast temporal scale.

  • Fruitful: Denoting a massive volume of content, names, ideas, and people.

  • Contradictory: Filled with internal tensions and dialectics.

  • Diverse/Identity-rich: Highlighting the multiplicity of identities found in pre-colonial South Asia.

• The core argument is that European Colonialism was an assault on polyphony (the plurality and diversity identified in the pre-colonial period).

• Colonialism attempted to demolish, criticize, or render irrelevant the history that came before it (e.g., the work of medieval poets and the patronage of kings).

• Historical relevance is often produced by this encounter; pre-colonial history becomes relevant today because it survived a direct attempt by colonial knowledge systems to erase it.

Case Studies in Cultural Continuity and Resistance

The Lives of Buddhist Nuns (Continuity from $2,200$ Years Ago)

• The tradition of women entering Buddhist orders as a form of social critique began roughly $2,200$ years ago (week one material).

• Video Case Study: A nunnery in the Himalayas (Zanskar Mountains, near Tibet).

• Observation of daily life:

  • The community size is strictly limited; an old nun's proverb states that the number should not exceed $12$ (though there are currently $13$, including juveniles and novices).

  • Hierarchy: A nun called a "Chomo" is in charge of the "Ducom" (the prayer building), involving lighting candles and emptying offering bowls.

  • Schedule: In winter, prayers start at $07:30$ \text{AM} due to cold; in summer, they begin between $05:30$ \text{AM} and $06:00$ \text{AM}.

• Social Function: Many nuns join to avoid the "domestic drudgery" of marriage. Married women are expected to live in their husband’s home and care for children and in-laws. Nuns, conversely, maintain close ties with their parents and describe their life as one of "happiness" and "laughter" as opposed to the "stress" of a husband.

Bhakti and Sufi Dialogues (Continuity from $700$ to $900$ Years Ago)

• This represents a dialogue between two forms of heterodoxy: the Bhakti (devotional) and Sufi (mystical Islamic) traditions.

• Teaching through paradox: The video performance features rural singers using analogies of inverse relations, such as the "Lotuses raining and the sky being drenched."

• The pedagogical style is democratic and multiplicity-driven. Instead of a single orthodox path to God, these saints teach that interpretation depends on what is in one's individual heart.

• This multiplicity directly challenges rigid, monochromatic orthodox views by encouraging critical thinking and pluralism through communal music and all-night debates.

Performance, Gender, and Theyyam (The Malabar Coast)

• Context: The Malabar Coast (Western South Asia) facing the Western Indian Ocean.

• Tradition: Theyyam ($T-H-E-Y-Y-A-M$).

• Key features of the performance:

  • Percussion: Use of heavy, rhythmic drumming.

  • Ritual Feats: Performers jump through fire; the flaming orange/red costumes and fire symbolize bravery and the sacred.

  • The Mirror: The performer looks into a mirror to see their reflection, which is believed to bring forth a divine sphere where the past and the divine speak through them.

• Historiographic Significance: Theyyam turns the lives of ordinary people (e.g., a woman who was cheated, a man destined for terminal illness) into historically relevant archetypes. It celebrates the "bearer of history" through bodily acts, dance, and drama.

• Influence on Modern Culture: These patterns of percussion and rhythm directly influence South Asian Hip Hop (e.g., the rapper Hanumankind and his vertical wall "Circle of Death" motorcycle stunt videos), R&B, and film music.

Colonialism as a Historically Transformative System

• Colonialism is defined as a Historically Transformative System.

• Historically: Colonialism positions itself as "New" and the colonized as "Old" or "Passing," creating a hierarchy of modernity.

• Transformative: Colonial officials in the late $18^{th}$ to early $19^{th}$ centuries consciously sought to transform environments (nature, society, laws) across Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.

• Systemic: It is not just the actions of individuals, but a structural logic with specific features:

  1. Extraction and Exploitation: The primary constant is taking resources away rather than building internal institutions for the colony's benefit.

  2. Imperial Framework: It connects disparate territories into an "Imperial Framework" that is legible to the rulers. Crucially, the most powerful actors are not born in or from the place they govern.

  3. Global Market Vulnerability: Colonialism links different parts of the world into a common economic market where price or credit fluctuations in one region (e.g., the US Great Depression of $1930$) destabilize farmers in Asia.

  4. Narrowing of Alternatives: International monetary and legal institutions make it nearly impossible for colonized peoples to imagine or execute alternative economic philosophies or trade relationships.

The East India Companies and Commodity Markets

• In the $1700s$, Europeans viewed "Hind" or "The Indies" primarily as a regional commodity market.

• Key Commodities:

  • Spices: Pepper, cinnamon, cloves.

  • Goods: Salt (from Kutch), textiles (Malabar Muslin, Palampores), rubber, silk, tea, porcelain, paper, and gunpowder.

• Monetized World: Europeans found a highly sophisticated trading world with bills of exchange (promissory notes) and currency markets.

• Shift from Land to Sea: The decline of the Mughal state after $1707$ led to increased political instability on overland trade routes. This made oceanic trade and the port cities (Calcutta, Madras, Bombay) the new centers of significance.

• European Dependency: Until the $18^{th}$ century, Western Europe was a "dependent region." Spain relied on silver mines in Potosi (South America) to buy Asian goods, and ships were provisioned using Asian cotton, spices, and rubber.

Comparison of European Companies

• The Portuguese (Estado da India): Focused on Western India (Goa). Lacking desirable trade goods (wine and thick cloth), they used "Gunboat Diplomacy," meaning they used military ships with cannons to force their way into trade networks. They established factories (fortified trading posts) at Goa, Hormuz, and Melaka.

• The Dutch (VOC): Set up in Southern Bengal. Operated as a trading firm with limited licenses and local codes.

• The French: Established a major factory at Pondicherry.

• The English East India Company (EIC): Unique because it allowed agents to engage in "Private Trading" (side hustles).

  • Elihu Yale: A company agent and banker who made part of his fortune through the trading of enslaved people on the South Indian coast, which later funded Yale University.

  • They traded in cotton, silk, and Palampores (printed cotton fabric).

The Company State and the Turning Point of 1757

• A Company State is a hybrid entity of private and public power.

• Hierarchy:

  • Court of Directors (London-based shareholders).

  • Governors and Agents (answerable to stockholders and the British Parliament).

  • Judges (administering English law).

  • Presidencies: Bombay, Bengal, and Madras (and formerly Bencoolen).

• Spatial Segregation: Port cities were divided into "White Towns" (for Europeans) and "Black Towns" or "Native Towns" (for South Asians).

• Structure of Authority: Districts were governed by "Collectors" whose primary role was to collect land revenue (taxes).

• The Year 1757: The EIC defeated the King of Bengal. They acquired the Diwani of Bengal (the legal right to tax land). This transformed a trading company into a territorial ruler.

Three Pillars of Colonial Governance

• Post-$1757$, the company faced the challenge of ruling a land with deep traditions of kingship. They established three aspects of governance:

  1. Law: Claimed that Hindustan was ruled by "Despots" and "Tyrants" with no fixed laws. The Company promised to bring "Fixed Law" (English law).

  2. Knowledge: Claimed that South Asian knowledge systems were "non-systematic" and "non-rational." The Company asserted that rational, systematic knowledge must come from European rule.

  3. Economy: Claimed the local economy was controlled by moneylenders and merchants. The Company sought to replace this with a "Global Free Market" connecting the smallest farmer to international credit and trade systems.

Questions & Discussion

• Question: Regarding the Bhakti/Sufi video, what do we make of the "lotuses raining" analogy?

• Response: It is a form of teaching through inversions. It suggests that individuals have their own interpretations of God based on their hearts. This fosters plurality. If a person is orthodox and believes there is only one way to God, this multiplicity is a direct threat to that rigid worldview. It bypasses authority to go directly to the people.

• Question: Why is the mirror important in Theyyam?

• Response: The mirror allows the performer to see their reflection, signaling that the divine is speaking through them. It creates a bridge between the present and the past/divine sphere.