We Also Make Policy

Title: We Also Make Policy – An Insider’s Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions
Author: Subhash Chandra Garg
Publisher: HarperCollins India, 2023 (First)
ISBN: 9789356994713
Pages: 494

This book is the memoirs of Subhash Chandra Garg who was the Finance secretary of the government of India in charge of the crucial Economic Affairs department from 2017 to 2019. He was a 1983 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre. With a long stint in the finance portfolio, he had also worked as the director of World Bank in the US. He had a cordial relationship with Arun Jaitley who was the finance minister who selected him. As Jaitley fell ill, he was substituted by Piyush Goyal. Garg had a strained relationship with him. After the 2019 elections, Nirmala Sitharaman assumed charge as the minister and there was open fight between her and Garg. From the hints in the book, it is safe to assume that the author exhibited a clear streak of independence in work bordering on insubordination. We see him locking horns with other ministers too. After only 55 days of working together, Sitharaman transferred him out of finance to the less glamorous ministry of Power. This shift to a junior position upset him and he took voluntary retirement from service within three months even though Garg protests that the transfer was not the reason for his quitting. This book encapsulates the major issues handled during his tenure and the story of how the policy is formulated in the highest echelons of government. The book has definitely proved its worth in providing ‘an insider’s view of how the Finance ministry functions’ even though the emerging picture is not so reassuring because of the fuzziness of thoughts, clash of opposing visions and the slow pace of decision-making in the government.

It is well known that the postings in the highest circles of bureaucracy are controlled by the wishes of the political masters. Whether it was the result of coincidence or an engineered confluence of circumstances or a pure merit-based selection, Garg was selected as the Director of World Bank while serving in Rajasthan as the state’s finance secretary. It was equally out of the normal that he was recalled before the end of tenure and placed as the secretary in charge of economic affairs in the central finance ministry which oversees the most critical units that set policy such as budget preparation, liaison with RBI and SEBI, setting the government’s monetary policy, inflation targets and printing of currency. No wonder the author was stung when he was shifted out of the ministry.

Recently, the finance ministers of the four south Indian states vehemently complained about the unfair allocation of more financial resources to north Indian states on the basis of the 2011, rather than the 1971 census figures. The southern states performed better in birth control and as a result their population share to the total declined. This in turn reduced their share of resources. This was claimed to be based on the report of the 15th Finance Commission. Garg was instrumental in setting the agenda and guiding the Commission and this book informs that the population aspect was thought of in the initial stages itself and a compensating factor beneficial to the southern states introduced in the final report. He claims that the insistence on using 1971 figures is fiscally counterproductive. The whole objective of the Finance Commission is to determine the right amount of central taxes to be devolved to the states to meet the gap in their fiscal needs to provide a minimum and common standard of services all over the country. This required the Finance Commission to direct resources toward poorer and more populous states. Hence the better performers were given an incentive in a new way which he deliberates in full.

Garg also comments on some policy decisions which were taken in a good spirit but which did not bring in the desired results. He designates the 2016 demonetisation as ‘a misadventure’ and ‘not a clear success’. With this understatement, he examines another policy front opened by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) without any political backing. The central bank under Urjit Patel as governor actively pushed for localization of financial and payment data. IT law did not mandate it but Patel ‘somehow got convinced that data localization was in the national interest’. There was no demand from the players, public or the government and it was very difficult for multinationals to redesign the data storage networks. The author accuses that it was entirely one individual’s preference. We see bureaucrat babus in various departments quickly ganging up for data privacy. This looked eerily similar to the license-quota-permit raj the nation dismantled in the early-1990s liberalization drive. The spectre of the license raj still haunts the corridors of power ready to pounce back at the slightest notice. This book provides many examples in which officers still think in the same way an official in the same capacity thought forty or fifty years ago. It is often the political nudge that sets the trajectory right. This book should be a warning to political visionaries who plan to reform the administration. They would do well to permanently exorcise this ghost of the socialist era, once and for all.

The current Narendra Modi regime provided a tremendous boost to the economy, catapulting the GDP from the tenth position in 2014 to the fifth slot at present. This book claims that even in the face of this huge progress, there is still scope for improvement. It still suffers due to policy paralysis in certain sectors such as the issue of sovereign bonds in foreign currency and privatization of more airports after divesting the six in 2020. Increased lethargy, lack of direction and blurred focus affect the privatization of CPSEs and asset monetization policies. Garg also summarizes the way in which the government should behave on this front. There is no reason for the government to continue in business. Its responsibility is to deliver public goods, formulate policies for businesses and redistribute income from the rich to the poor. Operating businesses is none of its business. It’s a waste of fiscal resources and governance. Privatization is the most appropriate model and the need of the hour is for the government to get out of most CPSEs producing goods and services. It need not be defensive about privatization.

Garg’s writing style is matter of fact, to the point and informational. However, it is not a pleasant read for ordinary readers. Bureaucrats may enjoy the not-clearly expressed nuances and appreciate them with their familiarity to the concerned backstage politics. This makes the narrative rather stiff for others. Besides, this book does not pack enough gossip to make it delectable for the general public. Another notable aspect is the freedom the bureaucrats possess in sticking to their stubborn positions even against the wishes of their politician bosses. Our author was on good terms with Arun Jaitley when he was the minister. After his exit on medical grounds, Piyush Goyal assumed charge. Nirmala Sitharaman took over the portfolio after the 2019 elections. Garg was at loggerheads with both of them. Sitharaman resented his continuing in the ministry and he was shunted to the ministry of power which felt like a demotion to him and he opted to take voluntary retirement with one year to spare in his normal service. In the power ministry too, he had serious differences of opinion with its minister who was himself an ex-IAS officer. Even with all these fights behind him, the author could escape almost unhurt with nothing more serious than transfers to less prestigious offices. This shows that these positions of power and good pay are also conferred with security of tenure. The author summarizes his career with a one-liner that is the pinnacle of understatement - “Life is never dull in the Ministry of Finance”. The book is not exciting, but a good read.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Goa, 1961

Title: Goa, 1961 – The Complete Story of Nationalism and Integration
Author: Valmiki Faleiro
Publisher: Vintage Penguin, 2023 (First)
ISBN: 9780670097920
Pages: 391

Great Britain was not the only colonial power that had possessions in India. Even after 1947, the French and the Portuguese continued to hold on to their colonies of Pondicherry and Goa respectively, along with its hinterlands. However, with the achievement of India’s freedom and strengthening of popular freedom movements in these provinces, the writing on the wall was very clear and distinct – colonialism has to go. France addressed this issue and gracefully left India with a treaty in 1956 and India looked eagerly to Portugal to follow suit. However, being less well developed on international etiquette and civilizational maturity, Portugal held on to its Goan estate with a fierceness that originated from stubbornness and autocracy at home. The Portuguese dictator Salazar reiterated his intention to keep Goa under Portuguese rule. Peaceful agitations continued but its prospects of success dwindled each day as Salazar ratcheted up the oppression machinery. Finally, on Dec 18, 1961, Indian armed forces rushed into Goa in a ‘police action’ and subjugated it within 36 hours. The demoralized and ill-equipped Portuguese forces didn’t even put up a decent fight before surrendering. The outcome was rather low key with 22 dead on the Indian side, 17 on the Portuguese side and over 3000 Portuguese prisoners of war. This book is a review of the situation in 1961, with events leading up to it and the consequences of India deliberately veering off its much professed ideal of peace and nonviolence. Valmiki Faleiro is a journalist and prolific writer. He was once the Mayor of Margao city.

The first part of the book describes how Portugal alienated ordinary Goans with its highhanded policies. The locally anointed Catholic priests were against the white clergy from the very beginning. To add to the discrimination, Goa was downgraded from a province of Portugal in 1930 to a mere colony. From the status of citizens of Portugal, Goans were overnight reduced into its ‘subjects’. Civil servants in Goa were replaced with whites to ‘renationalize Goa’. With Salazar’s dictatorial rule of 36 years in Portugal starting from 1932, all political parties in Goa were banned and public get-togethers of any sort discouraged. Even wedding invitations were mandated to carry the seal of the censor. Goans had to suffer racial slurs pronounced by white Portuguese administrators and politicians, such as the remark by one of them that ‘the Goans are for our race what the woodworm is to the wood’. Twentieth century Goa was of no economic or strategic significance to Portugal. Salazar declared in 1954 that maintaining Goa required an annual burden of 7 million escudos. But still, Goa was an emotion, a remnant of Portugal’s glorious nautical history. Portugal also entertained the Hyderabad Nizam’s interests to merge with Pakistan. He had requested one year’s time for accession to India after independence. In the meantime, he offered to buy Goa and thus have a seaport accessible to his landlocked state. His plan was to become a part of Pakistan as its third wing! Nizam’s hopes were dashed in 1948 in another police action staged by Sardar Patel and Hyderabad was annexed to India. This strengthened the apprehensions of Delhi that allowing the Portuguese to stay on in Goa would be a thorn in the nation’s flesh.

The book summarizes the confused and ambivalent attitude of the Congress party towards Goa. While the party was spearheading the freedom struggle against the British, the Goa National Congress (GNC) was doing the same against Portugal in Goa. There were numerous such organisations practicing both violent and nonviolent means. But in 1934, the Congress dissociated its links to GNC citing Goa as an alien land! The GNC then shifted its office from Goa to Mumbai, but the Congress was unimpressed. After independence too, the Nehru government was always reluctant to take the plunge in evicting the Portuguese. In 1954, freedom fighters liberated the Portuguese territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. This intensified the Goan agitation but Nehru still demurred to intervene because ‘it will be construed as India’s interference in the internal affairs of Portugal’ (p.40). Nehru was forever conscious of his personal reputation even at the cost of national interest. He extended the principle of nonviolence, which can at best be regarded as only an aspiration in foreign policy, to absurd limits. The repressive Goan police shot at unarmed satyagrahis on Aug 15, 1955, in which 22 were killed. Nehru came under immense pressure to intervene militarily, but he reiterated in various fora that India will not send in troops. The book indicates that the decision to send troops was also influenced by pressure from external agents. In the Non-Aligned Movement summit held in Sep 1961, Nehru was criticized by the newly created African states to act strong. Several delegates told to his face ‘to act and not just talk’. Besides, things were not going well in the internal politics and economic spheres and a general election was scheduled for Feb 1962. Nehru finally decided to attack and annex Goa in Dec 1961.

Faleiro discusses about how oppressive was the Portuguese regime, particularly after assumption of the prime minister’s office by Salazar. Goa was historically, geographically, ethnically, culturally, linguistically and legally one with India. During British rule, it was commercially integrated to India. Goans were granted free entry to India while Indians were restricted to enter Goa. Tens of thousands of Goans were employed and permanently domiciled in different parts of India. Numerous Goans worked in India’s military and some of them had reached its top positions too. The living standards of colonial Goa were dismal with no opportunities for higher education and decent employment locally. This lack of facilities prompted upwardly mobile Goans to emigrate out of it. As a result, the proportion of Christians in the total population plummeted. They were 64 per cent in 1850. This came down to 38 per cent in 1961 and further slid to 25 per cent in 2011.

As mentioned earlier, Nehru was dilly-dallying on the use of military to liberate Goa. This book explains the alternate actions which he took to bring Portugal to accept his claim of Goa. But as was his industrial, economic and military policies back home, this too was a disaster. India declared an economic blockade of Goa in 1953, preventing all material export from India. But Goa imported all commodities from overseas, including vegetables and cotton yarn from Pakistan. To meet the extra monetary demand due to increased freight, mining and export of the plentiful iron and manganese ores were boosted many fold. Nehru’s administration faced this unexpected challenge with dismay and indecision. Instead of crippling the Goan economy, the blockade resulted in an economic boom. Consumer goods were heavily controlled in Nehruvian socialist economy and as a result, large scale smuggling of these articles occurred across the porous borders of Goa. The ineffective blockade was finally lifted in April 1961, but smuggling continued unabated. India’s decision to take the so-called ‘police action’ was also affected by Portuguese weakness which was established by events in Africa. The French gave freedom to Dahomey (Benin) in 1960. There was a 4-acre micro-territory of Portugal called Sao Joao Batista de Ajuda inside this country which they refused to relinquish to Benin. Having run out of patience, Benin’s forces occupied the territory in July 1961 and served as a model for Nehru to imitate.

The book dedicates a considerable space for elaborating the military activities of Dec 18-19, 1961 in which the Portuguese forces sued for peace and surrendered within 36 hours after the first shot was fired. They were ill-equipped and demoralized. The Portuguese had estimated that even if they deployed its entire military, it would not have held on for more than five days! However, India’s intelligence units failed to make a realistic estimate of Portugal’s defence capability in Goa and as a result erred on the side of caution. The result was like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. Portugal was hugely outmatched in infantry, artillery and navy. There were 17 Indian warships against Portugal’s single ship and they had no air power to defend Goa. One good thing was that the Portuguese surrendered without shedding much blood on both sides even though Salazar had ordered them to fight to the last man and destroy the magnificent buildings of Old Goa. The PoWs were court-martialed in Portugal after their release from India and awarded prison sentences. Some elements had portrayed the Goan Catholic community as pro-Portuguese, un-Indian and antinational. The author takes great pains to debunk this falsehood citing the active participation of the community in the struggle against Portugal. The elite of both Hindus and Christians and the business class supported the Portuguese rule but that was not extended to the ordinary people. The book also includes a note on the crimes committed by a few Indian soldiers on the civilians of Goa as if they were a conquered people. These were extremely isolated events which were quickly acted upon. In fact, the attack included the participation of several Goan officers to convince the locals that the invaders are actually one with them.

The book narrates several goof ups of Nehru but claims that India rose to become ‘a world leader against colonialism after 1947’. It also gives credit to defence minister V K Krishna Menon in planning the Goan offensive, sometimes compelling a reluctant Nehru to fall in line. It also hints that the Chinese attack on Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh hardly a year later was an indirect consequence to India’s 1961 operation in Goa. What is noteworthy in the book is its repeated emphasis on the participation of Goan Christians in the liberation effort. Describing several incidents of protests involving and avoiding violence, the author establishes the truth that Goa’s liberation involved people of both Christian and Hindu faiths in substantial measure. The book also includes a list of 209 Catholic freedom fighters as an annexure. This book provides a good reading experience of a chapter in Indian history which is usually rolled up in one sentence or as a footnote in mainstream rendering of history as it is thought to be an aberration on India’s policy of peace, non-intervention and nonviolence. But Goa is the one episode in which India behaved – as John F Kennedy quipped – ‘like what a normal state would do, instead of sermonizing to the world lofty and impractical homilies’. The author is a Goan and he has included some anecdotes gleaned from local circles.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Remnants of a Separation

 

Title: Remnants of a Separation – A History of the Partition through Material History
Author: Aanchal Malhotra
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2017 (First)
ISBN: 9789352770120
Pages: 385

Before I begin: This is my 700th book review here. The journey which started about sixteen years ago still runs smoothly and happily.

The partition of India into two independent countries in 1947 was sordid to begin with but it turned into a disastrous nightmare with each passing week. An estimated one million people were killed, numerous women were raped or abducted and many tens of thousands were forcibly converted to Islam. Several millions had no choice but to migrate to the other side of the border with whatever little they could carry, mostly in their hands. In several instances, they had only a few minutes to prepare for cutting all roots from their native land. This book is about the reminiscences of those people who migrated in 1947. They were lucky to have escaped with their life, but not so fortunate as to be free of first-hand experiences of the carnage that was played out, especially in Punjab. This book does not simply compile the recollections of these octogenarians but makes them relive their past life based on the few material things they could bring along and has assumed a large sentimental value such as a piece of cloth, a utensil, an ornament or a souvenir connected to a prized association. The book carries the memories from a generation receding into the past to a generation advancing into the future, both with great speed. Aanchal Malhotra is an artist and oral historian working with memory and material culture. She is the co-founder of the ‘Museum of Material Memory’, a digital repository of material culture from the Indian subcontinent, tracing family histories and social ethnography through heirlooms, collectibles and objects of antiquity. The author is a descendant of migrants on both sides of the family. This is her dissertation thesis for the degree of MFA (Master of Fine Arts).

This book is organized as a collection of conversations with individuals who witnessed and experienced the unforgettable moments in the subcontinent’s history and its partition. Author’s engagement with the most senior members of a family (the partition is already 76 years old), persuade their great-grandchildren to view them in a new light and as a source of inspiration and encouragement. After all, not everyone goes through the tough times as brought down by cataclysmic events related to the partition of a country that was an organic whole for most of recorded history. The importance of material memory is focused on in this book. Not content with learning the individual experiences, Malhotra prompts her subjects to show her any item of interest that they had brought along in the exodus and still holds dear. These small articles of personal attachment suddenly get transformed into a tangible link to the painful past. We also see that younger family members, who had viewed these items with nothing better than indifference, if at all, quickly find them cherishable and priceless. In a sense, it brings out the links to the past as well as strengthens the ties to the future. The author’s remark on memory loss caused by aging is arresting: “memory begins to fade little by little. First the edges soften, eroding away the most recent years and then slowly age gnaws its way till it reaches even the seemingly impenetrable, the nucleus of our lives – our oldest and dearest memories”.

 One similarity that runs through all the people’s experiences in the early stages is the disbelief and skepticism on the viability of partition itself. The sheer fact that a nation can be divided and its people separated did not cross the minds of common people who went about their normal lives while Muslim politicians openly demanded partition. There were indeed a few ‘nationalist’ Muslim leaders high up in the Congress hierarchy who opposed it but their ratio could be expressed in ppm (parts per million) rather than percentages. The author here gives some leeway to the guilty party and gives the nuance that both political sides wanted partition. She had to travel to Pakistan and interview the people who left India that probably made her adopt this ambivalent argument that is designed not to irritate anybody, but at the cost of truth. Lack of clarity on borders made the situation troublesome as Hindu pockets in Pakistan and Muslim pockets in India near the prospective border did not know to which country they would be annexed to by Cyril Radcliffe, the arbiter of the fate of millions. This book suggests that Radcliffe faltered in some cases and succumbed to favours by conceding to the needs of the elite few over the needs of many, much against the mapmaker’s better judgement.

The author claims that one cannot attribute the events that unraveled in 1947 to a single cause or community and hence the notion of singular responsibility is thereby absent (p.33). This is plain wrong and the result of unwillingness to see the elephant in the room. It was the Muslim side which demanded partition right from the partition of Bengal in 1905, also largely on religious lines. The Bengal division was later reversed, but as the Muslim League grew stronger and stronger with each passing year on the base of concessions by the Congress, it could finally run its writ in 1947. The demand for Pakistan was ignored at first and later resisted, but the League then intensified their claim and resorted to horrible violence such as the Direct Action Day of Calcutta in 1946. Pakistan was born with both pre-natal and post-natal bloodshed. Even then, 35 million Muslims chose to stay back in India. The author’s quest to balance the narrative is obviously woven to please their descendants. Malhotra then notes that ‘it is not religion; it is human nature and quest for power that drives madness of violence’. This is so absurd that it is not even wrong. It is what you can call a secularization of bigotry. The violence was aided and abetted by the tenets of a particular religion. When it flared beyond control, others also imitated their methods to pay them back in the same coin. This reluctance to face the intense religious zeal of interlocutors that went in in the creation of Pakistan is exemplified by an incident narrated in the book. Azra, a 90-year old matriarch in Lahore, had migrated from Jalandhar in Indian Punjab. She recalls that she had actively participated in public processions in Jalandhar shouting Hamara dil mein Quran hai (we hold the Quran in our hearts) and Hamein Pakistan chahiye (we want our Pakistan). At this point, our author incredulously ejaculates ‘but did you actually believe them?’ (p.65). She evidently did, but our author was not willing to accept that the old woman sitting in front of her was a fanatic of the first order! This is a classic instance of the typical liberal hare standing stunned motionless against the headlights of fanaticism. We also read about people who so loved the land to which they belonged that they were ready to convert for the simple privilege of being allowed to stay there. Bhoptiyan village in Lahore district was a Sikh majority one. All the Sikhs converted to Islam to remain there. The author also suggests a division of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 as a workable solution to the Kashmir problem which is embarrassingly naïve.

Even though the author has interviewed 19 people from both sides of the border and presented their cases with a heart-warming clarity, she has clearly missed the communal wood for the individual trees. We see that the people who had gone over to Pakistan do not flinch when asked whether they wanted to undo partition. They don’t. One of them says that there is indeed ‘a difference’ between Hindus and Muslims. The author is unnerved by this candid assertion and mumbles farak kya hai (what’s the difference) to which the kind Pakistani replies that ‘even though we considered ourselves equal to the Hindus in every way, there was no denying the inherent differences’ (p.180). Another boasts that ‘it was not money or material prosperity that brought me here to Pakistan but inspiration. I was inspired by the idea of this land and aspired to become something for it’. On the other hand, this book narrates an incident in which a person who had gone to Pakistan coming back a few years later and establishing a Muslim shrine in Samana, Punjab at which place people of all religions pray. Another lady claims to have come from a generation who professes to be secular and open to pluralism and multiculturalism. These facets are seen in action in India alone, while in Pakistan the minorities are either killed off or converted. One only needs to look at the percentages of minority population in both countries in 1947 and compare it to the numbers at present. The author also claims that when she read Jinnah’s Pakistan Address of March 1940, she ‘could not understand the vehemence, perhaps due to my own naivety’ (p.181). Bigotry is incomprehensible to the liberal mind. The unfortunate part is that since she does not understand it she assumes it to be absent.

Aged people are the subject matter of the book, but it is touching and the way the young generation treats the old is just lovely. The insight that has gone into the author’s occasional philosophical remarks such as ‘life is not easy, but it is never supposed to be’ is truly great. Even people who are not in any way connected to the partition would find this book appealing as it provides a pathway to the hearts and minds of their grandparents and to reevaluate them on the face of challenges they had encountered and overcome. A particular thing to note is that the book is biased towards stories of the rich, influential people like zamindars with large havelis, topmost bureaucrats or people who could afford a year-long world tour in 1947. Anyway, the book presents a rich and fulfilling reading experience.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star

Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan

Title: Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan – And the Struggle with the Musalman Powers of the South
Author: Lewin B. Bowring
Publisher: Asian Educational Services, 2003 (First published 1899)
ISBN: Nil
Pages: 233

Lewin B. Bowring was a British civil servant who served as the Chief Commissioner of Mysore from 1862 to 1870. This was the time when the maharajah was all but deposed in name and the kingdom was being directly administered by British officers. Bowring was a man of letters who used the sources that came into his notice in his official capacity and created a concise narrative of the reign of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. He is much more objective than contemporary British authors but harbours an affiliation to the official perspective. The rule of the father and son duo lasted only 38 years, which might seem at first sight a glitch in the centuries-old rule of the Hindu Wodeyar dynasty of Mysore. But the upheaval the state witnessed in this interval – innumerable wars, sieges, victories, defeats, pillage, booty, plunder, torture of innocent people and forced conversions – mark it as the lowest period in Mysore’s history. Nor was it redeemed to any extent by any gracious policy of these two tyrants. Even today, the name of Tipu Sultan evokes strong responses from the descendants of his victims and serves only to divide the society. In the case of impact on the country, Tipu’s rule may be compared to that of Saddam Hussein and the hard times Iraq had to go through during his devastating stint in power.

In the book’s first part, Bowring depicts Haidar Ali’s ascendancy to power noting that he was treacherous but extremely fortunate. He was a faujdar or military commander of the Wodeyar kings. He was an able soldier who chased the powerful Marathas out of the country. Raised to the title of Fateh Haidar Bahadur, he was the person the king sought help from when the incompetent king found himself in thrall by minister Nanjraj. Haider ousted Nanjraj but himself kept the king a prisoner. At this stage, Khande Rao, another minister, sought help from the Marathas. Haidar was defeated at first but the Marathas had to hastily return due to their defeat to Abdali at Panipat in 1761. Haidar then gained absolute control of Mysore and imprisoned his enemies. He mockingly promised to cherish Khande Rao like a parrot. True to his word, Rao was put in an iron cage and fed uncooked rice and milk till the end of his life. Haidar never refrained from any act, however dastardly, if that could gain something for him. The chief of Chitradurg, Madakei Nayak, stoutly resisted him. However, Haidar saw that the enemy had 3000 Muslim soldiers in his troops, induced a Muslim holy man to corrupt them and betray their master. Nayak was defeated and 20,000 young boys were forcibly taken away to Seringapatam to be converted to Islam.

Bowring also makes an effort to estimate the personality and character of both the protagonists. Haidar was a bold, original and enterprising commander who was skillful in tactics, fertile in resources, full of energy and never desponding in defeat. Unfortunately, he was also a man of the loosest morals and never spared any woman who had the misfortune to attract his attention (p.77-8). He habitually circumcised the prisoners of war for conversion. Still, the author claims that he was free from bigotry when compared to his son Tipu. Just imagine how fiendish Tipu might have seemed to his contemporaries! Haidar was permissive in employing people of other religions as his officials so long as they obeyed his orders.

This book introduces Tipu as a conceited zealot and bloodthirsty tyrant who always violated treaties and ceasefire obligations. Many a times, he promised personal safety to the besieged but as soon as they surrendered, imprisoned them. Tipu was a bitter foe of the British but that does not make him a freedom fighter. He was an ally of the French who were also looking to establish colonies in India. Tipu in fact drove the kings of Cochin, Travancore and Coorg to the bosom of the British to obtain help in defending against Tipu’s invasions. But Tipu’s star set in 1792 when the allied forces of the British, Nizam and the Marathas besieged Seringapatam and a humiliating treaty of capitulation was imposed on him. He had to cede half of his territories, pay three million rupees, release all prisoners and give two of his sons as hostages. Bowring deduces that Tipu was urged on by religious bigotry, innate cruelty and despotism. He thought little of sacrificing thousands of lives to his ardent zeal and revengeful feelings. These darker shades in his disposition are not relieved by any evidence of princely generosity, such as Haidar Ali occasionally showed (p.220). He sent ambassadors to Mauritius, which was the nearest French military base urging its governor to invade India as Tipu’s ally. Napoleon’s victory in Egypt in 1798 and other international interests finally convinced Britain to unseat this thorn in their flesh. Tipu fell in battle and died befitting a brave warrior. That seems the only saving grace for him.

The book includes a whole chapter on Tipu’s fanaticism and cruelty as if it had anticipated the glorifying false narrative a section of the people would attribute to him in future. During the siege of Mangalore, 30,000 Christians were taken to Seringapatam and forcibly converted. Similar was the fate of the people of Coorg who revolted. He destroyed numerous temples in Malabar and forcibly converted its inhabitants. In Kuttippuram, 2000 Nairs were converted and forced to eat beef as proof of their conversion. He frequently mentioned in his dispatches that ‘Hindustan is overrun with infidels and polytheists’ (p.187). He changed place names to denote their submission to Islam. Devanahalli, where he was born, was renamed Yusafabad, Chitradurga to Farukh-yab Hisar, Mangalore to Jamalabad, Sadashivgarh to Majidabad, Madikeri to Zafirabad and many more. Tipu filled his subordinate cadre with officials who shared his ruthless spirit. There was a commander named Mohammed Raza in his army. He was popularly called Benki Nawab which means Lord of the Fire. It is said that on one occasion, he shut certain Nairs up with their wives and children in a house and burnt them alive (p.191).

The book affords much historical vigour in presenting the narrative. Whenever a king or dynasty is mentioned, their pedigree and succession charts for a few generations before and after are given. Bowring assumes the shades of a disdainful Orientalist at times. It is almost a creed for him that the natives are not trustworthy. He comments that European diplomats are no match for the duplicity and craft of Orientals. By the time this book was written in 1899, the French had been totally eclipsed and marginalized to a few toeholds on the subcontinent’s coast. This encourages him to do a What-If analysis related to the mid-eighteenth century wars. The author points out that the French reserved all its strength for operations against the British in North America and seemed indifferent to recovering the prestige it had lost in India. Had it dispatched a sufficient army to the Coromandel Coast when Haidar was operating against the Madras forces, Fort St. George would have fallen and British authority would have been supplanted by the French. In the end, De Bussy arrived too late. With Haidar’s death and the success of Hastings’ diplomacy, French influence terminally declined. The Chapter 15 titled ‘Haider declares War Against the English’ was missing in the copy I handled, but the pages were numbered sequentially without any error.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Missionaries and a Hindu State: Travancore

Title: Missionaries and a Hindu State: Travancore 1858-1936
Author: Koji Kawashima
Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000 (First published 1998)
ISBN: 9780195655346
Pages: 252

The reformation of Kerala society, sometimes denoted by the more grandiose term of ‘renaissance’, was as thorough as well as far reaching. Human development parameters of present-day Kerala are more in the company of those of the developed western nations than other states of India where pace has picked up only recently. This social progress of Kerala is directly related to the renaissance, but what caused it in the first place? Of the three geographical entities of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar that comprise the Kerala state, Travancore excels the other two, but closely followed by Cochin. This book shows how Travancore changed itself into a modern state, how they used Christian missionaries during the process of state building and how the British authorities were concerned in this process. It also explains how the state encountered, assimilated, utilized and resisted westernization and imperialism in the period 1858-1936. Koji Kawashima teaches political science and economics at Kokushikan University in Tokyo, Japan. He is not well known in Kerala for his scholarship on its society and I guess this book is the thesis of his research work. There is precious little about the author in the book.

Travancore was a Hindu state right from the beginning but it still permitted the missionaries to work and propagate their religion. They did not put any obstacles in the missionaries’ way in converting Hindus to Christianity. No other country in the world other than native Indian states was this liberal and tolerant in the nineteenth century. Travancore never came under Muslim rule in its history and therefore retained its ancient Hindu type and character. This was further reinforced by King Marthandavarma by surrendering the state to Lord Padmanabha, an aspect of Vishnu. The state made huge expenditures from the treasury for temples and maintaining feeding houses for Brahmins. The relationship between the missionaries, Travancore state and the British government which was the paramount power, changed greatly over time from the late-nineteenth century onwards as a result of the growing influence of Indian nationalism, Hindu revivalism and the growing awareness of self-identity among the depressed castes and communities.

Kawashima brilliantly captures the spirit of missionary work in Kerala and how its effectiveness and aggressive nature changed over the decades. The Protestant missions of London Mission Society (LMS) and Church Mission Society (CMS) were the most prominent and more powerful than Catholic missions. The East India Company officially prohibited missionary activity through its charter, but was ‘curiously inconsistent and self-contradictory in practice’. The company forbade missionary activity in Bengal where a large Muslim population held sway and were opposed to it. On the other hand, they encouraged the missionaries in South India where the Hindus were in a majority who would tolerate anything. The first British Residents of Travancore, C Macaulay and John Munro were zealous evangelists. State funds were granted to missionaries to carry out their conversion work. It was Munro who took over the administration of Hindu temples and thereby obtained the right to control its wealth. The missionaries resented any hurdles in their work. In 1857, Rev. John Cox warned the Maharajah that the only way of avoiding annexation of the kingdom to British provinces was to remove the current Resident and Dewan who were not supportive to the missionaries. Their insolence must have been maddening to native officials! After the Revolt of 1857, the British changed their policy of ‘civilizing’ India and decided to honour the social customs and rights of the native rulers. But these right envisaged in Victoria’s Proclamation of 1858 took effect very gradually in Travancore, by the 1890s. The rise of patriotism and nationalist feeling in India also prompted the British to display religious neutrality. By the 1930s, the missionaries’ position had become very weak indeed.

The book narrates several instances when the funds of the Hindu state were diverted to missionary work of converting Hindus to Christianity. Munro even appointed Charles Mead, a missionary, as the civil judge in Nagercoil. This was the first time an evangelist was given such high powers in a native state. But Resident W. Cullen was hostile to them and resented the unconstitutional authority of the missionaries. The Maharajahs were also generous to the missionaries and liberally allotted funds for what was in effect cutting the branch they were sitting on. The LMS was given a bungalow in Nagercoil and rupees five thousand for purchase of paddy fields. CMS was gifted the land for Kottayam college worth rupees twenty thousand besides thousand rupees as grant. They were also granted a tract of land near Kollam ‘at least seven miles in circumference’! The raja of Cochin presented five thousand rupees to LMS for building the Nagercoil church.

The author also finds the answer to the question of why the Hindu state permitted the missionaries to carry on general education of the public along with religious study. The state compromised with the missionaries for the purpose of ‘modernization’ by utilizing their educational and medical activities. Bible was taught in several government schools too. The educational institutions run by the government had only a tenth of the students’ strength of the missionary schools. Religious education was forcefully imposed on Hindu students. A missionary recorded that ‘the heathen children at first stoutly refused to learn any Scripture lessons like Christian children. They were however obliged to do so by the rules of the school’ (p.87). When missionaries targeted higher castes for conversion, they had no hesitation in opening schools exclusively for them to avoid pollution by mixing with the lower castes. Several Nair schools sprang up. A M Blandford of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society started schools for Nair, Kshatriya and Brahmin girls. A school opened inside the sacred enclosure of the Padmanabha Swamy Temple. Bible was taught in this school and students had to mandatorily attend Christian prayers at the close of the morning and afternoon classes. This supreme manifestation of tolerance and accommodation was repaid by the missionaries with contempt and derision. J. Knowles, a prominent LMS missionary, noted that ‘medical work will enable the mission to touch the hearts of classes who otherwise are likely to remain shut up in their heathenism. It is also a great help with Christian adherents in the struggle against demonism and superstition’ (p.138). But gradually, the state realized the true colours of the missionaries. In 1902, it prohibited religious education during school hours.

Around the middle of the nineteenth century, missionaries were instrumental in facilitating many social reforms of which the Breast Cloth Disturbance is one. The women of lower castes were to keep their breasts bare in public which was resented by them. A few of the converted women started to dress like upper castes which led to the disturbance. Intervention by the missionaries enabled their flock to dress up in public. However, caste discrimination among the converted Christians existed in as severe a measure as in the Hindu fold. It was the inability of the missionaries to control this menace in their church that finally closed the tap of conversion. The book describes several such instances. The growth of communal identities among the Syrian Christians and the lower castes was a decisive factor that made the state reform its administration and adopt democratic measures, however limited it might have been. Definite change came with Hindu revivalism and the rise of national feeling. The British were also compelled not to intervene too forcefully. In 1901, the British decided not to intervene in the missionaries’ demand for the division of the Hindu Undivided Family (tharavad) and provide inheritance share for the converted. It is to be noted that after the 1880s, the missionaries did not influence any social reform. The Education Code of 1909 threw open government schools to all castes. The process was culminated in 1936 by the Temple Entry Proclamation.

There are people who credit the missionaries for Kerala’s top spot in literacy and education. The truth is that they had a part in it but not as big as is usually made out. Moreover, they were not much interested in medical care as compared to education. Kawashima finds a credible reason for this lack of enthusiasm. This was because medical missionaries were operating in other parts of India, especially NWFP. This was largely because ‘the other methods of diffusing Christianity were inefficient or impossible due to the fierce fanaticism of the Muslims living there’ (p.138). Whether education or medicine, what mattered most to them was how to spread their religion. On the other hand, the support and initiative of enlightened maharajahs and dewans in the medical field helped the state prosper in every parameter of personal health. The rajahs encouraged the introduction of western medicine and provided it freely to the people. This was in sharp contrast to British Indian provinces where medical priority was given to the army and jails only. The hospitals were much more egalitarian also. The lower castes were treated in government hospitals much before they were admitted to schools.

Even though the book has relied upon several impeccable reference sources, the author does not seem to be well conversant with the social conditions in Kerala apart from his academic exposure to it. He has heavily leaned on Left scholars who never miss a chance to peddle their partisan agenda. Unfortunately, the author has become an unwitting accomplice in their maneuvering. In the 1920s, the American Rockefeller Foundation extended help in improving the sanitation of Kerala. After noting down its contribution in enhancing public health, Kawashima unnecessarily and irrelevantly guesses the cause of the Foundation’s philanthropy and regurgitates the Marxist line thus: “improving the public health of people in developing countries was considered important for neocolonialism or the informal empire which supplied raw materials to the developed world and also provided consumers for western commodities” (p.123). Each chapter in the book has an introduction and conclusion which are essentially a summary of the contents of the chapter in repetition. A great advantage of the book is the chapter on Cochin which surveys the conditions in Travancore’s neighbour state and brings out the similarities and differences.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Bose – The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist

Title: Bose – The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist
Author: Chandrachur Ghose
Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2022 (First)
ISBN: 9780670096008
Pages: 714

Just as various rivers flow into the bosom of the sea, various political strategies and movements vied with each other for driving the British out and achieve independence for India. Violence was the earliest thread in liberation’s fabric that germinated straight from defensive measures against the establishment of the British empire, continued through the 1857 revolt and then channeled into political assassinations. After the amalgamation of India to the Queen’s domain in 1858, constitutionalism was the second channel of national aspiration. Then came Gandhi with the third alternative of nonviolent mass uprising. When India became free at last, it was due to the combined effort of all the three forms, but the British transferred power to the Gandhian faction who had public support and at the same time was readily amenable to British persuasions. When they sat down after 1947 to write the story of how India became free, all those outside the pale of Congress were left out or marginalized. The contributions of Subhas Chandra Bose to the freedom struggle are often condensed into a few lines whereas entire books can be made to bring out his single-minded efforts. This book is a good chronicle of the Bengali leader who was disillusioned with Congress and left the country to fight for her freedom seeking help from the oppressor’s enemies. Chandrachur Ghose is an author, researcher and commentator on history. He is one of the founders of the pressure group ‘Mission Netaji’ that has been the moving force behind the declassification of secret documents related to Netaji. His activism led to the declassification of over 10,000 pages in 2010.

A good snapshot of Netaji’s pre-political years is presented in the book. He did not join the coveted Indian Civil Service (ICS) even though he came on top in the examination and instead plunged into political work under Chittaranjan Das. He was elected the CEO of Calcutta Corporation but was arrested and incarcerated in Mandalay jail for three years suspected for having links to violent elements. He was practically exiled to Europe for several years in the 1930s. On return, he was selected as the president of the Indian National Congress. When his re-election bid was opposed by Gandhi, a poll was conducted and Bose defeated Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Gandhi’s nominee, by 1580 votes against 1377 in 1939. As the Gandhian lobby made his life impossible as the party president, Bose resigned. He was soon arrested again and confined to house arrest. In a daring escape, he fled to Germany which was at war with Britain. Disappointed at not getting much support from Hitler and Mussolini, Bose moved to Southeast Asia which was conquered by Japan. He constituted a national army using Indian prisoners of war and fought to liberate India. This was at the fag end of World War II but the axis powers soon fell in battle. It is believed that Bose died in a plane crash on his way seeking to open a new front with a possible alliance with Russia.

The book conspicuously highlights Bose’s falling out with Gandhi and his methods. Bose quickly realized the ineffectiveness of boycotting legislatures as part of the Gandhian civil disobedience program. Gandhi’s action plan for constructive work involved Charkha, the manual spinning wheel, which Bose found to be impractical and obsolete. C R Das and Bose stood for the party entering legislative councils. When Gandhi obstinately blocked the move, they formed a new front within the Congress called the Swarajya party. When Bose was arrested, Gandhi attributed it to his political work condoning violence and did not even pass a resolution seeking his release. He was let free after three years in a Burmese jail on health grounds. When his brother Sarat Bose asked for guidance on how he could be freed, Gandhi recommended the spinning wheel as the ‘sovereign remedy’. Gandhi often suspended at his will the civil disobedience campaigns which were running at full steam. At this point, Bose remarked that Gandhi was ‘an old useless piece of furniture who had done good service in his time, but was an obstacle then’ (p.207). Bose opposed sending Gandhi alone to the Round Table Conference as the sole representative of the Congress. Sending more people with him would not have been of any help either as his blind followers would not question him and he would not heed the advice of those who were not his orthodox followers. Watching Gandhi obstruct his work as party president, Bose accused him of having grown into the role of a permanent super-president.

After examining Bose’s interactions with Gandhi, the author proceeds to analyse how Nehru fared with him. Jawaharlal Nehru always remained close to the power centre that was Gandhi in contrast to Bose who worked his way up. Both were rising youth icons and represented the left-wing element in the country. On many occasions Nehru’s initial reaction was in support of Bose, but after Gandhi clarified his stand, Nehru did not hesitate to make a volte-face. In fact, he openly confessed in his letters that he could not oppose Gandhi beyond a certain point. When faced with a difficult choice, Nehru would be non-aligned. This so irritated Bose that he confided to socialist leader Minoo Masani that Nehru was an opportunist who thought about his own position first and only then about anything else. However, he maintained a good personal relationship with Bose. Both leaders extended and received the hospitality of the other during visits to Allahabad and Calcutta. Nehru’s ideas on foreign relations never rose above the wishful thinking of an idealist teenager. Bose then advised Nehru that foreign policy is a realistic affair to be determined largely from the point of view of a nation’s self-interest. He even admonished that ‘frothy sentiment and pious platitudes’ do not make foreign policy (p.296). Congress politics was riddled with factional feuds even then. Bose wrote that ‘Congress politics has become so unreal that no sincere person can be satisfied with it’ (p.81).

It is seen that even though Congress was occupied in organizing campaigns against the British, it did not have any clear idea about what to fight for and its leaders were clueless about the arrival of complete independence. In the 1920s, they demanded dominion status within the empire. After a decade, the British were almost willing to grant it, but then Congress jumped a step further and wanted complete independence (purna Swaraj). There was no timeframe in their mind on when to achieve this. Satyamurti, a prominent Congress leader from the South, came out in 1938 with a demand to fully Indianize the army in the next 25 years – that is, by 1963! In his 1938 Haripura address, Bose enunciated the principle behind the rise and fall of empires. He surmised that empires collapse after reaching the zenith of prosperity and warned that the fate of the British empire would be no different. This claim anticipated several decades at the minimum, but with hindsight we see that this observation was made just nine years before independence. So it is likely that an economically devastated Britain had had no choice other than to offer independence after the War and it was the Congress leaders who were surprised the most at the decision.

The book also includes a clear depiction of some personal traits of Bose that dent his stature as a great leader. Though he professed to be on the side of the political left, he was often accused of pandering to the interests of the upper middle class to which he belonged. There was also a touch of megalomania in him. Everywhere he went, large crowds were arranged to greet him at the railway station and to line up on both sides of the road showering flower petals. He wanted to be treated like a commander. Bose often found himself in the middle of factional politics and the way he dealt with his opponents usually turned to highhanded and undemocratic. Bose’s workers disrupted meetings of rivals and physically assaulted their leaders. This included Gandhi too. On one occasion, a shoe was hurled at Gandhi which narrowly missed him and hit his secretary Mahadev Desai who was standing nearby. Bose also indulged in opportunistic politics. Even though he opposed Gandhi’s constitutionalism, he took up positions of power in Calcutta Corporation. He tried alliances with the Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League when it suited him. Allegations of financial impropriety were also levelled against him by opponents. Bose presented a will made by Vithalbhai Patel (Sardar Patel’s brother) after he died in Europe under the care of Bose. The will bequeathed a large sum of money to Bose and his association for political work. Vallabhbhai Patel challenged the propriety of the will in a court of law and had it quashed.

Bose’s claim to everlasting fame as a freedom fighter hinges on his daring escape from captivity and military fight against the British with the help of Axis powers. Bose first approached Hitler, but his disdainful approach to India made him dither in declaring open support. The racist in Hitler was more comfortable with India under the yoke of a white nation. Hitler was also keen not to antagonize Britain by helping Bose as he hoped to mend fences with them after successfully concluding Germany’s conquest of Russia. Japan’s storming success in Southeast Asia provided Bose with an opportunity to attack British India from Burma. Earlier, he was planning to attack from Afghanistan with German help. He arrived in Singapore in a submarine and assumed leadership of the newly constituted Indian National Army (INA). But it was the moment when Japanese fortunes were turning for the worse. Moreover, Bose wanted to direct military operations by himself even though he was not trained for it. He overruled veteran Japanese commanders. He refused to split the ill-equipped INA troops into small groups and embed them with larger Japanese units. He further insisted that they will fight only as a group under the command of Indian officers. There were ego clashes with the Japanese too. Disputes on minor questions like who would salute first when an INA and Japanese officer of equal rank met each other frequently arose. After discussions at highest levels, it was decided to salute simultaneously. Bose also vetoed the Japanese plan to bomb Calcutta. In the end, the INA and Japanese troops were thoroughly trounced. But the INA captured the imagination of the Indian youth in displaying a valiant alternative in fighting the British as compared to the effeminate and ineffective Gandhian satyagraha.

The book is rather subdued on the last days of Bose. He did not want to surrender at any cost. His final plan was to go to Manchuria which was under Russian occupation and seek help from them. The outcome was highly doubtful but he wanted to try. The author is silent on whether Bose boarded the plane or what happened to it. The mystery is still unresolved. The suspense is aggravated by another incident in 1942 when a plane carrying four INA men crashed, driving Gandhi to write to Bose’s family condoling his ‘death’! However, his absence in India after the War was undoubtedly a relief not only to the British but to many national leaders as well. INA trials and the Naval Mutiny aggravated this irritation. The violence in the mutiny was unprecedented with 228 killed in police and military firings and 1046 injured. This made it plain to the British that they could no longer trust the loyalty of Indian troops in any clash involving nationalist sentiments. This finally turned the tables and forced Attlee to offer complete independence.

As a part of maintaining the political balance, the book includes several cartoons published in the Jugantar daily, all of which are highly critical of Bose. It also hints at the ideological tussle between the national poet Tagore and politico-cultural nationalists represented by C R Das and Bose. Tagore was accused of harbouring shallow internationalism in life and literature which was not sincere and did not reflect the fundamental truth in nationalism. The book also contains a chapter on Bose’s doubtful marriage to Emilie Schenkl, his Austrian secretary. It is likely that Bose secretly married her and had a daughter, but his family cold-shouldered the women’s move to get recognized as such. The book is somewhat large at 714 pages. Its essence can be deemed to be the negation of what Pandit Nehru asserted from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 16, 1947 when he said that ‘India achieved freedom under the brilliant leadership and guidance of Mahatma Gandhi’. This book’s spirit declares that this claim is in fact a myth.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

Gajapati Kapilendra Deva

Title: Gajapati Kapilendra Deva – The History of the Greatest Hindu Conqueror of 15th Century India
Author: Nihar Ranjan Nanda
Publisher: Subbu, 2023 (First)
ISBN: Nil
Pages: 244

Odisha is a land gifted with vast natural resources and scenic beauty of varying nature such as the sea, lakes, forests and hills. Its fame in history is sealed by one of the oldest battles in India fought by Ashoka against Kalingas. However, after this episode, Odisha undergoes a long eclipse in history which lasts for several centuries. This is caused in a large measure by the cabal of liberal historians who believe that medieval India rose with the Delhi sultanate and ended with the Mughals with nothing in between. Numerous Indian monarchs ruled many parts of India, often humbling the sultans, but they are much too frequently relegated to the footnotes and appendices of mainstream history. A sustained effort to cast light on these dark pages of Indian history is the need of the hour and it is heartening to take note of this contribution of a young author to this great cause. This book brings to life Gajapati Kapilendra Deva who ruled Odisha in the fifteenth century and conquered a large territory by incessant wars which helped to check the relentless onslaught of Islamic imperialism. The idea behind the book is to depict Kapilendra Deva in a dispassionate way and make an unflustered assessment of the man which is accessible to ordinary readers. Nihar Ranjan Nanda is a software engineer by profession and is working in an MNC. He is a history enthusiast and writes on it regularly on various platforms. That he is an avid reader is proved by the extensive list of references used in preparing this book.

Kapilendra Deva did not belong to the royal lineage. He rose to become the minister of Ganga king Bhanudeva IV and usurped power with the help of nobles utilizing the discontent of the people on the king’s weak response to external aggression. Kapilendra faced unrest from vassals in the initial stages. He quickly overrode them and sent his sword of conquest in all directions. As per the book, his empire extended from Jharkhand in the north to Andhra in the south with a clear incursion into Tamil Nadu up to Rameswaram. The Suryavamsi Gajapati dynasty founded by him lasted for a century and ruled from Kataka (modern Cuttack). On military strength and extent of territory, Gajapati empire is on a par with Vijayanagar and Bahmanis. There are literary references of his conquest of Hampi and Bidar, their capital cities respectively. Nanda claims that the geographical area ruled by Kapilendra was the largest under a Hindu king. Only the Marathas would excel him on this count a few centuries later.

The author depends on many sources for this pioneering effort of historiography such as records of donatives, literary texts in various languages, epigraphic records and travelogues of Portuguese and Muslim travelers and tradesmen. Exaggerations found in these sources are denoted as such which leads to a balanced presentation. To provide context to the narrative, the author begins with an introduction of the neighbouring kingdoms and the reign of the last three rulers of the Ganga dynasty of Odisha. Nanda is a proud Odia, but in variance with the practice of local historians who always try to paint a glorious picture of their protagonists, takes a very professional approach in pruning out the impossible and maintaining the remaining as plausible. A clear advantage of the book is that it has examined many sources which were contemporary or immediately after the reign of Kapilendra Deva.

The book exposes a trait of Odia kings to use religion as a device of statecraft to gain legitimacy to their rule. Cleverness has always been an inalienable part of a politician’s survival toolkit. The Ganga ruler Anangabhima Deva III (1211-36 CE) made Puri Jagannatha the overlord of his kingdom and named it Purushottama Samrajya. He styled himself as the deputy (rauta) of the Lord. Later kings of other regions have also continued this custom. This bears a striking resemblance to Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma of Travancore, Kerala who ruled in the eighteenth century. He usurped his uncle’s throne and had to face stiff opposition from his cousins and the nobility. After assuming power, he surrendered the kingdom to the tutelary deity Sri Padmanabha, a manifestation of Lord Vishnu. He and his successors thereafter used the title of Sri Padmanabha Dasa (servants of Lord Padmanabha) to denote themselves. Kapilendra Deva also had to meet revolts from vassals. In fact, he was crowned at Bhubaneshwar as Cuttack was not deemed safe. He then declared that he became king at the Adesa (advice) of the Mahaprabhu Jagannath of Puri.

This book also analyses the role played by the Suryavamsi dynasty established by Kapilendra Deva in providing a bulwark against Islamic aggression from all sides and hence preventing the Odia culture from collapse. Even today, the Odia language has very little Persian or Arabic influence because of its lesser exposure to the conquerors’ tongues. However, some inscriptions in Tamil Nadu show that festivals in some temples could not be held during the Odia invasion. This has led some historians to surmise that they were also iconoclasts of the same genre as Muslim sultans. Nanda refutes this argument with convincing proof from other inscriptions. The temple festivals could not be held probably due to the unsettled condition of the local polity while a battle was in full swing in the neighbourhood to determine the destiny of the land. Even then, there is nothing to substantiate that worship was interrupted in these temples. On the other hand, several inscriptions from other temples in Tamil Nadu itself speak about the donation of cows, village grants and new offerings made to these temples by Odia king’s local governors. The author then considers the question of why Hindu kings did not ally with each other to fight Islamic invaders. The reason may be that the sense of brotherhood and oneness was not deep in Indian rulers at that time. Even Muslim sultans fought with each other even though the call of religion was much more powerful among them. The author suggests that even if the Hindu kings had cobbled up an alliance, the Muslims would have made a grander alliance to protect their religion. We have heard about the Shah of Persia offering help to Aurangzeb to track and hunt down Shivaji even though the Persians and Mughals were locked in combat over the province of Kandahar

The book claims that Kapilendra had campaigned against the very powerful kingdoms of Vijayanagar and Bahmani and conquered their capitals of Hampi and Bidar. A detailed justification for reaching this conclusion is cited from the sources. But still it sounds doubtful. At the same time, campaigns against the sultans of Malwa and Delhi are pure conjecture. In the case of Bengal, there is proof of construction of a temple signifying Kapilendra’s victory there. The book also includes an anecdote about the Bengal sultans and the reasons for their bitter resentment against Hindu kings. Raja Ganesh had ruled over Bengal in the fifteenth century. As he was very able and powerful, the Muslim nobles invited the sultan of neighboring Jaunpur to invade Bengal and get them rid of Ganesh. The raja was defeated in the battle which ensued. The victors allowed Ganesh to remain in his religion but insisted the crown prince Jadu to convert to Islam as a condition for ceasefire. After the Muslims left, Ganesh reconverted his son back to Hinduism with many rituals and paying huge sums to Brahmins. However, the Hindu nobles did not accept Jadu as one of their own. He became furious at this humiliation, became Muslim again and named himself Jalaluddin. He was the cruelest persecutor of Hindus. The lack of accommodating spirit and inclusiveness among Hindus also contributed to their downfall in the medieval period.

The author is not professionally trained in history, but this book is a great effort at creating history to fill up the missing links left behind by agenda-driven historians. The methods used by the author in narrating history are sturdy and scientific though the conclusions drawn may be open to question in some parts. Conjectures are also used to supply some deficiencies, but he explicitly mentions it as such. The author hopes that readers will learn something new about Kapilendra Deva in this book. This humble objective is more than achieved by this little piece of history which can be read easily. On the negative side, it must be indicated that it focuses only on political and military conquests in lieu of social, cultural or economic aspects. Scarcity of sources might be the reason behind this omission. The author consistently use the outdated acronym ‘AD’ to denote years instead of the more professional and secular usage of ‘CE’. The cover could have been a little more imaginative. It contains a graphic image of a king on top of a caparisoned elephant which makes the book look like an episode of ‘Amar Chitra Katha’. This is somewhat compensated by the silhouetted spire of the majestic Puri Jagannath temple and the stone sculpture of Kapilendra Deva.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 4 Star

Waqai-i-Manazil-i-Rum

Title: Waqai-i-Manazil-i-Rum – Tipu Sultan’s Mission to Constantinople

Author: Khwaja Abdul Qadir

Editor: Mohibbul Hasan

Publisher: Aakar Books, 2005 (First published 1968)

ISBN: 9788187879565

Pages: 100 (English), 170 (Persian)

 

South India in the eighteenth century was the battleground of the British and the French for ascendancy in the subcontinent. The contest was all-out and even wars in distant Europe were reenacted in India between the rivals. Both colonial aspirants intervened in local politics and contests for power within the royal houses. Eventually, all local rulers joined one side or the other. The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Nawab of Arcot joined the English while Tipu was a staunch ally of the French. As a precursor to French military routs in all major wars after Napoleon to the present day, France stood no chance against the British. Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali chose the wrong horse and had had to cede territories to the British after military defeats of their own. Tipu wanted to salvage the situation by making an alliance with the Ottoman sultan and also to try his luck in France and England by sending a diplomatic mission to these countries. He assembled an embassy with 900 members travelling in four ships and carrying lavish gifts such as elephants for the European sovereigns. He also wanted to establish warehouses and trading concessions for Mysore’s products in Arabia, Turkey and Iraq. The mission set out in 1785 and returned in 1789. This book is the diary of the embassy from Mysore till Basra where it abruptly cuts off. This was authored by Khwaja Abdul Qadir, the munshi (secretary) of the mission. It sheds light on Tipu’s commercial ambitions in the Persian Gulf and on certain aspects of his administration. The title literally means the ‘true facts about the House of Rome’ (Constantinople). This is translated from Persian and edited by Mohibbul Hasan who was a professor of history in the department of Islamic History at the University of Calcutta and the Aligarh Muslim University.

 

The mission was instructed by Tipu himself to visit Turkey, France and England in that order, seeking military and commercial alliances bypassing the local governor in the case of England. This fact runs counter to recently fabricated claims that Tipu Sultan was a freedom fighter who fought wars against the British. In fact, the mission was empowered to offer Trichinopoly to the British in exchange for an alliance. An elephant each was to be gifted to the monarchs of all the three kingdoms. However, the elephants – including a fourth reserve animal – died on the sea voyage. The mission was stalled at Istanbul as the French were not too eager to entertain a second embassy so close on the heels of a previous one. The team was given three objectives – a) establish factories in Turkish dominions for selling the produce of Mysore, b) secure confirmation of Tipu’s title to the throne of Mysore from the caliph as he had failed to secure an investiture from the Mughal emperor and was regarded as a usurper and c) obtain military assistance from the Ottomans against the English.

 

The diary provides a review of the political formations, the state of commerce and other facts about trade in the Arabia sea rim. It also consists of the commercial transactions undertaken by the mission and the rates obtainable for various commodities at each port of call. The threat of piracy was ever present, with bold pirates operating near every port and sea lane. The shipping was very much subservient to the weather. We read about many ships floundering in bad weather. Another notable feature is the immense influence of wealthy merchants who even controlled and guided the diplomatic relations of kingdoms and emirates which were much dependent on sea trade for survival. A Hindu trader named Maoji Seth was resident in Muscat, but had powerful agents at all ports. He loaned money to the mission at Basra. But we were taught by conventional historians that Hindus considered overseas travel as taboo which would cause them to be excommunicated. As more books on Indian traders in medieval times are published, one more falsehood at the heart of Indian historiography is being exposed. These merchants also developed practices that were later adopted by banking houses. A rich Jewish merchant named Abdullah had his agents everywhere that he issued a bill of exchange at Basra which was payable at Baghdad. When highway robbery was rampant, this was very convenient to travelers.

 

Even though the diarist is quite specific about the religious nature of the mission, both the editor Mohibbul Hasan and Irfan Habib who penned the foreword take great pains to present the effort as in fact ‘secular’. A pir (Muslim saint) always accompanied the mission. They were instructed to visit Islamic holy places in Najd and Iraq. On their return journey, Tipu insisted that they pay a visit of Mecca and Medina. A clear picture of slavery which was widely practiced by Tipu Sultan and his nobles is seen in the narrative. When one of the four ships of the embassy caught fire and sank, Jafar Khan – one of the four leaders of the mission – rescued a male and female slave from the sinking ship with much difficulty and then kept them for his own use. When their original owner knew of this and demanded them back, Khan returned only the male slave. When the owner complained to higher authorities, Khan had no option but to return the girl too. He then restored the slave to her owner along with five rupees!

 

Mohibbul Hasan’s commentary also remarks on the lack of any tangible results of the expedition. The cost in men and material incurred by Mysore was immense. Three out of the four ships that sailed out to Turkey were wrecked at sea. A huge sum of money was spent in arranging merchandise for trade and as offerings to dignitaries. Many of the retinue died of dysentery, fever, cold and plague. Out of the 900 men who embarked on the perilous journey, only a handful returned after three years. Despite enormous expenses and loss of life, the mission was only able to obtain the caliph’s permission for Tipu to assume the title of an independent king, the right to strike coins and to have the Friday prayers recited in his name. The embassy could not obtain any commercial privileges. The Ottoman sultan was already in alliance with the British in response to the political manipulations in Eastern Europe which directly affected Turkey’s interests as Austria and Russia were teaming up for emancipation of the European provinces that were under Turkish occupation.

 

The book includes a summary of the expedition’s diary reduced to nearly a third of the original size which we read in English. The main text is edited by Mohibbul Hasan, but remains untranslated in Persian. This is a serious drawback of the work. A full translation of the content is required to serve the purpose of presenting an important historical document to modern readers. The narration is in a stiff, academic style which deters readers.

 

The book is recommended only to serious readers of history.

 

Rating: 2 Star

The Colonial Subjugation of India

Title: The Colonial Subjugation of India

Author: Amar Farooqui
Publisher: Aleph, 2022 (First)
ISBN: 9789391047344
Pages: 298

When the Union Jack was lowered for the last time on Aug 15, 1947 in Delhi, it was marking the end of an eventful double century in which the yoke of colonialism was firmly affixed on India and a great plunder – the likes of which the world had not seen yet – had taken place. Since modern India still maintains many of the institutions introduced by the British, there is a distinct perception among anglophile Indians that the Empire was benign towards India. This is far from the truth. A careful analysis would show that the part of British legacy which independent India chose to sustain was only those related to political and administrative functions for running a large country. Otherwise, India did not change its cultural attributes like literature, fine arts, dance forms or visual arts. It did not change its religion or language. On the political front, India did not have a viable alternative as when the British came, she was reeling under eight centuries of Islamic invasions and forced occupation which unsettled the political stability of the country. It was the political-administrative system of the sultans which was found wanting to manage a modern state and as a consequence, was dismantled by the British – or at least a large part of it. What is to be stressed here is that the British Empire was anything but benign. This book tells the story of the establishment of a colonial empire that subjugated the native people by wars, conquests, unequal treaties and plain intimidation. The scope of the book starts with the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498 and ends with Indian independence in 1947, but the main focus of the narrative is from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 to the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms in 1919. Amar Farooqui was a professor of history at the University of Delhi and was a fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

After introducing the pre-British colonial incursions on India, Farooqui also discusses the modalities of movement of trading commodities to various destinations through the sea routes. It seems that the East did not buy anything from Europe, but instead exported spices, textiles, silk and porcelain to it. This forced the West to spend silver and gold coins to purchase the merchandise. Naturally, this unequal balance of payments caused a huge drain of bullion on their economies. Consequently, they entered into intra-Asian trade also. They bought textiles from India, sold it in the emporiums of Southeast Asia and China and bought spices and silk for taking it to Europe. Trading with many partners brought in many uncertainties which they answered with invasion and piracy. It is a tempting conjecture that if there was balance in trade between the East and the West, probably the impetus to establish colonies and control the markets would have been weak or non-existent. More research is needed on this line of thought. The author however does not mention this and goes on to examine the spread of British power for a century starting from 1730. The Mughal power had faded by then and it is clearly seen that the British wrestled the bulk of northern India from the Marathas.

The book includes a good coverage of the Revolt of 1857 which marked a turning point in the colonial administration. Expelling the English East India Company from the rule of India, Queen Victoria took over the country as a subject part of her empire. The revolt was bitterly fought but there is a perception that the Punjab and southern provinces did not participate in it. Farooqui claims that contrary to colonial historiography, sepoys in Punjab also mutinied. Dispelling the notion of the ‘loyal Sikh’, he cites examples of leaders belonging to that community getting executed for rioting. Sporadic incidents of violence in the Madras army are also listed. Over a thousand sepoys were court-martialed. What is noteworthy is that the flame kindled at Meerut in 1857 elicited a response thousands of miles away in the south of the country when communication facilities were poor. But substantial sections of princely rulers, feudal elites and landed aristocracy sided with the British along with commercial classes that had benefitted from colonial rule. Contrary to popular perception that there was no military intervention or annexation over native states after 1857, Farooqui points out that such cases did occur, though rarely. The armed intervention in Manipur and cession of Berar from Hyderabad are two such examples.

A very good initiative shown by the author is to describe the constitutional, administrative and military developments taking place in the colonial state. A string of constitutional reforms and military restructuring took place after the revolt of 1857. The Bengal army was practically disbanded and the concept of martial races was introduced. The Sikhs, Pathans, Dogras, Rajputs and Gorkhas were the martial races. The irony that all these martial races were defeated on the battlefield by the supposedly non-martial Bengal army, mainly constituted by sepoys from present-day Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Bihar went unnoticed. Military recruitment became concentrated in Punjab. Bombay and Madras armies, which had sizeable lower caste soldiers, were also scaled down. This move coincided with the advent of ideas of racial superiority and eugenics in Europe.

The local population in India was subjected to 200 years of British rule which followed another 800 years of Islamic occupation of the subcontinent. However, the author uses selective emphasis of events to glorify the reign of Mughals and other Muslim dynasties in India as the last bastion of India’s fight against colonialism. This is not true. Qualitatively, the fight between the British and the Mughals was no different from the Indian point of view than that between the British and the French in India for retaining their own colonies. In this vein, the author almost sheds tears on Siraj ud-Daula’s defeat at Plassey and accuses it on the nexus between the East India Company, rebel nobles and Hindu businessmen of Murshidabad, Siraj’s capital city. Similarly, Tipu Sultan of Mysore is elevated to the status of a saint. This bloodthirsty tyrant who massacred and forcibly converted his opponents to his religion is portrayed to have possessed a great vision on international polity and to have modernized the Mysore state. Tipu’s overtures to the Ottomans and France for an alliance against the British was nothing more than a coming together of colonial forces against another colonial power. Tipu was as much a pawn of French colonialism as his successor Wodeyar was of the British. Farooqui laments at the plunder of Seringapatam in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in which Tipu fell in battle. The pillage is artfully described to cause outrage in the minds of readers. However, this was nothing compared to the plunder of Delhi made by Nadir Shah Afzar half a century earlier. That pillage was perhaps the greatest of its kind which emptied the Mughal treasury and was one of the reasons for the collapse of the Mughals. The author is silent on this episode. This book also employs a sanitized reference to Mughal sultans in the eighteenth century to project them as respectable sovereigns. Muhammad Shah is depicted as solemn, without disclosing his disparaging sobriquet of ‘Rangeela’ that reveals the delinquency of the man.

Farooqui tries to pass on a clever argument regarding the accession of Kashmir to the Hindu Dogra dynasty as a ‘devious’ one. It is not clear what he intends to achieve by flagging an event which was quite normal in history as an act amounting to injustice. The First Punjab War between the British and post-Ranjit Singh Sikh kingdom ended with the Treaty of Lahore (1846). The British were to be indemnified with 1.5 crore rupees for the expenses of the war. The Lahore durbar was not in a position to pay such a huge sum. The author claims that a ‘devious’ stipulation was made in the treaty for ceding all hill countries between Beas and Indus including Kashmir and Hazara. Thus these territories came under British possession. What is devious in this transaction? Several examples of ceding provinces against arrears in tribute could be pointed out. The real target of Farooqui lies elsewhere. If Kashmir had stayed with Punjab or kept intact by the British, it would have automatically gone over to Pakistan as a Muslim-majority province. But it was not to be. The British themselves were in urgent need of money. They entered into a separate treaty with Gulab Singh, the leader of the Dogras, by which Kashmir was given to him in return for rupees 75 lakhs. Farooqui again accuses the article in the treaty which recognized Gulab Singh as the sovereign of Kashmir as ‘devious’. This also was fairly common in history. Gulab Singh was rewarded for the services rendered by him for ‘restoring the relations of amity between Lahore and British governments’ (p.123). One of the successors of Gulab Singh then chose in 1947 to accede to India and Kashmir became an integral part of India. By alleging these articles and actions as ‘devious’, Farooqui is, knowingly or unknowingly, buttressing the Pakistani claim on Kashmir.

The book includes a short history of the development of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and the efforts to appoint Indians to this elite cadre. At first, the exams were conducted only in England which severely curtailed the chances of Indian aspirants. In 1892, the House of Commons passed a resolution in support of simultaneous exams for the ICS in India too. This took thirty years to implement as the colonial officialdom was strongly opposed to it. Besides, sections of Indian society also opposed this on the grounds that candidates from Bengal, especially those belonging to upper castes, would be the major beneficiaries of the simultaneous exams. The British exploited and deepened every fault line in Indian society to divide the people. They then played upon the fears of one section, projecting themselves as guardians of these interests.

Another aspect of the narrative is that the author tries to wear his leftist credentials on the sleeve. There are several references to Marx’s writings which are either irrelevant or at most marginally related to the topic under discussion. The higher echelons of Indian academia are still colonized by the Leftists who openly flaunt their political orientation by such tricks. It is obvious to a student of history that the 1919 Mont-Ford reforms was a logical corollary to the 1909 Morley-Minto reforms. But Farooqui claims that the latter package was prompted by the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. He arduously finds a left connection for the 1935 reforms as well. The brotherhood of the leftists extends across national borders and even chronological separation. He claims that Stafford Cripps was the only British politician who was sincere and sympathetic to India. And what was the reason for this sympathy? He belonged to the left-wing of the Labour party! The Quit India movement of 1942 was the final popular uprising against the British. After the War, the destiny of India was decided across the negotiating tables of Delhi and Shimla. But the author credits the subversive movements of Tebhaga in Bengal, Telangana and Punnapra-Vayalar in Travancore as popular movements for independence that forced the British hand. This is also in line with the policy of Indian communists. Their significance to Indian freedom is so vanishingly negligible that even this author also contents with just one sentence about these movements which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of volunteers.

The first part of the book resembles a high school history text book and deals with the political history of the subcontinent. It shows how the stage was being set by interconnected events that eventually led to the colonial takeover of a vast country by a foreign commercial trading house. This part is rather drab as the author uses his sources uncritically and nothing new is seen. But the latter half examining the nature and development of the imperial state after the 1857 revolt is noteworthy and neatly written in which various aspects such as constitutional reforms and indigenization of bureaucracy are discussed. Farooqui makes a short survey of the books and other writings about the Revolt of 1857 including both colonial and Indian accounts of the upheaval. He acknowledges Savarkar’s contribution to this literature and remarks that it provided a fresh interpretation of the uprising but warns that he presented no new evidence and had wanted only to put forward a political manifesto to the nation.

The book is recommended.

Rating: 2 Star