Viswanathan K's Thoughts

Did the British create a united India? Shashi Tharoor takes a stab at that in An Era of Darkness . Even at first glance, that “claim” runs into trouble – wasn’t British rule openly a policy of divide and rule? Both in India and other colonies?   If they were so into uniting India, why did they allow for multiple rulers across so many “princely states” (never to be called kingdoms because the only monarch was, of course, in Britain)? Why was there an elaborate hierarchy amongst them, if not to foster rivalry and enmity?   The codification of the caste system started with Warren Hastings who hired eleven pandits to help frame laws for the country based on some kind of continuation of the shastras . Even if the intent was sincere (continuity, sensitivity to local practices), the mode of defining the laws (via the eleven pandits) led to major flaws. First , the pandits made (genuine) mistakes in their interpretation of parts of the shastras . Second , they took advantage o...

Back in 2016, Shashi Tharoor wrote this book, An Era of Darkness , on the impact of British rule of India. He starts off with a few important disclaimers: (1) The fact that successive Indian governments since independence have made their share of mistakes, been corrupt etc does not impact the truth value of the damage done by the British; (2) It is impossible to put a number value of the amount lost/stolen from India, so the intent is not to seek specific reparations from Britain (who’d enforce it anyway?); (3) The point is not about the return of specific items like the famous Kohinoor diamond.   He starts by pointing out India’s share of the world economy before and after British rule – it fell from 23% to 3%. The one-line reason? “India was governed for the benefit of Britain.” After all: “Unlike every other foreign overlord who stayed on to rule, the British had no intention of becoming one with the land.”   Some argue that the decline was mostly due to...