Overview 2

Question 1

What did the debate about Sati look like?

Answer 1

• one major exception to non-interference with local laws
• was abolished in late 18th century; public debate continued
• British officials and Indian literati debating about moral and legal foundations of the practice; voices of women not included in the debate (seen as passive objects)
• rare practice –> sensational depiction by British to further legitimize their colonization (“civilizing”; Christians as superior…)
  –> debate actually not about the women

[Practice of wives (mostly higher caste) burning themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands
Idea: you become this god (good wife)]

Question 2

What was the Great Rebellion?

Answer 2

• 1857 to 1859
• British called it “the great mutiny” (unlawful, downplaying extent of rebellion)
• Indian nationalists later called it “the first great war of independence”
• Indian soldiers within the British army rebelled
• rebellion spread: peasants, landowner, local kings and queens joined
• more than a mutiny; not centralized rebellion but more like several rebellions –> they all hated the British

Question 3

What are some possible reasons for tension/unease among the Indian soldiers in the British army?

Answer 3

• rumor about cartridges being creased in cow or pig fat going around (religiously outrageous for Hindus and Muslims)
• military law: Indian soldiers had to cross the sea to fight for the British elsewhere –> Kala Pani: endangers you to loose your caste status because if you leave India you cannot carry out your daily routines anymore –> fear it might mean your community will reject you
  –> want to pollute us to convert us into Christians

Question 4

What is the doctrine of lapse?

Answer 4

• 1848 –> introduced recently before the rebellion
• can only keep your kingdom if you have a male heir
• kingdoms of female heirs automatically go to the British
• example of one warrior queen fighting the British to keep her kingdom –> different people had different reasons hate the British and rebel

Question 5

How did the rebellion end?

Answer 5

• put down brutally by the British; murdered many rebels
• expensive for the British and also many deaths on their side

Question 6

What was the result of the rebellion?

Answer 6

• British crown took over –> crown Raj
• bureaucratic operatus grows massively
• composition of British army changes: before rebellion: 1 European vs. 6 Indians; 10 years after: 1 European vs. 2 Indians (changes again with WW1)
• soldiers recruited from more diverse social groups: idea: if there was ever another “mutiny”, they might fire on each other and kill each other because they come from different groups and different religions –> divide and rule

Question 7

What is meant by “domestic rod of order and international fire brigade”?

Answer 7

• Once most kingdoms were conquered, the British Indian army was freed up to fight in other parts of the British empire all over the world
• e.g. Sudan, China, South Africa, Egypt, Afghanistan, Burma, Tibet
• Presence of Indian soldiers increased drastically in WW1 and WW2

Question 8

What happened when the government of India Act was passed?

Answer 8

• 1858: EIC no longer able to govern the country –> transfer of territories of the EIC to the British crown
• India ruled under a direct system of governance as part of the British empire
• EIC: nationalized, agreement with British government of 1853, shareholders receive a 10% dividend for 40 years
• British government could not dissolve the EIC until the 40y term would expire in 1873

Question 9

What did the British Queen promise India in 1858 and what is the impact of this framing today?

Answer 9

• economic and social improvements
  –> there was investment in public infrastructure financed by colonial state = by Indian tax payers (canals to improve agriculture; railways to reduce transportation costs and promote trade; telegrams)
• impact today: railway still used as an argument for why “colonialism wasn’t that bad”; “bringing modernity and progress to India”