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History �Our Pasts-3�Class – Viii, Chapter – 07�Civilising the “Native”,�Educating the Nation

Prepared by:-

Kapil Rawani

TGT ( Social Science)

Mobile no:- 8280283168

Email id:- warrior.kapil@gmail.com

JNV Durgapur, Burdwan

West Bengal, PATNA REGION

Part - 01

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Civilising the “Native

In the earlier chapters you have seen how British rule affected rajas and nawabs, peasants and tribals. In this chapter we will try and understand what implication it had for the lives of students. For, the British in India wanted not only territorial conquest and control over revenues. They also felt that they had a cultural mission: they had to “civilise the natives”,

What changes were to be introduced? How were Indians to be educated, “civilised”, and made into what the British believed were “good subjects”?

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The tradition of Orientalism

In 1783, a person named William Jones arrived in Calcutta. He had an appointment as a junior judge at the Supreme Court that the Company had set up. In addition to being an expert in law, Jones was a linguist he had studied so many languages. At Calcutta, he began spending many hours a day with pandits who taught him the subtleties of Sanskrit language, grammar and poetry. Soon he was studying ancient Indian texts on law, philosophy, religion, politics, morality, arithmetic, medicine and the other sciences.

Jones discovered that his interests were shared by many British officials living in Calcutta at the time. Englishmen like Henry Thomas Colebrooke and Nathaniel Halhed were also busy discovering the ancient Indian heritage, mastering Indian languages and translating Sanskrit and Persian works into English.

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The tradition of Orientalism

Jones and Colebrooke came to represent a particular attitude towards India. They shared a deep respect for ancient cultures, both of India and the West. Indian civilisation, they felt, had attained its glory in the ancient past, but had subsequently declined. In order to understand India it was necessary to discover the sacred and legal texts that were produced in the ancient period. For only those texts could reveal the real ideas and laws of the Hindus and Muslims, and only a new study of these texts could form the basis of future development in India

Influenced by such ideas, many Company officials argued that the British ought to promote Indian rather than Western learning. They felt that institutions should be set up to encourage the study of ancient Indian texts and teach Sanskrit and Persian literature and poetry. The officials also thought that Hindus and Muslims ought to be taught what they were already familiar with, and what they valued and treasured, not subjects that were alien to them. Only then, they believed, could the British hope to win a place in the hearts of the “natives”; only then could the alien rulers expect to be respected by their subjects.

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Orientalism

With this object in view a madrasa was set up in Calcutta in 1781 to promote the study of Arabic, Persian and Islamic law; and the Hindu College was established in Benaras in 1791 to encourage the study of ancient Sanskrit texts that would be useful for the administration of the country.

Orientalists – Those with a scholarly knowledge of the

language and culture of Asia

Vernacular – A term generally used to refer to a local language or dialect as distinct from what is seen as the standard language.

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“Grave errors of the East”

From the early nineteenth century many British officials began to criticise the Orientalist vision of learning. They said that knowledge of the East was full of errors and unscientific thought; Eastern literature was non-serious and light-hearted. So they argued that it was wrong on the part of the British to spend so much effort in encouraging the study of Arabic and Sanskrit language and literature.

James Mill was one of those who attacked the Orientalists. The British effort, he declared, should not be to teach what the natives wanted, or what they respected, The aim of education ought to be to teach what was useful and practical.

By the 1830s the attack on the Orientalists became sharper. One of the most outspoken and influential of such critics of the time was Thomas Babington Macaulay. He saw India as an uncivilised country that needed to be civilised.

He urged that the British government in India stop wasting public money in promoting Oriental learning, for it was of no practical use.

James Mill

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Thomas Babington Macaulay

He felt that knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature the world had produced; it would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy. Teaching of English could thus be a way of civilising people, changing their tastes, values and culture.

Following Macaulay’s minute, the English Education Act of 1835 was introduced. The decision was to make English the medium of instruction for higher education,

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Education for commerce

In 1854, director general of east India company sent India some rules and regulation for improvement of education system in India specially focused on the education system beneficial for British trade and commerce, this is known as Woods dispatch.

One of the practical uses the Despatch pointed to was economic.

Introducing them to European ways of life, would change their tastes and desires, and create a demand for British goods, for Indians would begin to appreciate and buy things that were produced in Europe. Wood’s Despatch also argued that European learning would improve the moral character of Indians. It would make them truthful and honest, and thus supply the Company with civil servants who could be trusted and depended upon.

Following the 1854 Despatch, several measures were introduced by the British. Education departments of the government were set up to extend control over all matters regarding education. Steps were taken to establish a system of university education.

Charles Wood

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Recapitulation

1. What is orientalism ?

2.Role of William Jones , Thomas Colebrooke , Nathaniel Halhed in the field of orientalism.

3. Grave errors of the east.

4. Thomas Babington Macaulay

5. Woods dispatch

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Home Work

1. Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law?

2. Why did James Mill and Thomas Macaulay think that European education was essential in India?

3. Give a brief accounts of William Jones.

4. Write about Asiatic society of Bengal

5.What was the outcome of woods dispatch?

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