Tathagata Sarkar

MA Modern India

St Stephen’s College

Q. What is the social composition and intellectual complexities of the late

nineteenth century intellectuals?

A. The establishment of British political hegemony over India brought with

it the influence of Western education. Many scholars have argued that it
was the coming of Western education in India that gave rise of the Indian
intellectual classes in the nineteenth century. A unique feature of this
emerging intelligentsia was its social composition and the intellectual
complexities associated with it.

Western form of education was brought to India, not for any mental or
moral upliftment of the indigenous population, but for the pure
commercial reason that Western educated Indians was cheaper to employ
in the administration than the European recruits. Not many classes in
India were initially eager to accept Western education and the English
language. Many continued their education in the vernacular or in Urdu and
Persian, the official language of the Mughals. As the lower ranks of the
administration began to prefer Western educated Indians to employ, some
classes of Indian society lunged at the opportunity of social and economic
advantage to be gained from Western education. The two major classes
that embraced English education was the Maratha Brahmins and the
Bengali middle-class. By the middle of the nineteenth century, most of the
English educated Indians were from upper-caste Hindu classes.

The acceptance of English education by these classes opened new

opportunities for them in the British administration. These new intellectual
classes began to fill up the administrative posts offered by the British
administration and increased their economic, political and social status in
society. But many Indian classes remained conservative and even
suspicious of English education. Most of the classes did not take to this
new form of education and the most opposed to it were the Muslims, of
whom only a hand few took to it. The result of this was that the new
emerging intellectuals were mostly upper-caste Hindus from Maharashtra
and Bengal. Muslims were a minority among these intellectuals.

The social composition of the new emerging Indian intellectuals resulted

in social tension. The acceptance of English education by specific classes
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meant that employment opportunities in front of them were in plenty.
Other classes began to feel left out in the matter of employment in the
British administration which were politically and economically significant.
The British administration had created a parallel social hierarchy in Indian
society alongside the traditional one. Those lower down in the traditional
hierarchy could achieve a higher position in the new social hierarchy
through employment in the British administration. The Muslims also felt
left out, especially after the revolt of 1857, when they were consciously
discriminated against. But the new intellectuals also faced discrimination
at the hands of the British throughout the century. This discrimination had
many repercussions and was responsible to a great extent in giving rise to
Indian nationalism.

Educated Indians were not trusted by the British government in India as they
believed that the educated Brahmins of Maharashtra and the babus of Bengal
were bent on creating mischief and were not to be trusted. They devised every
means to keep them away from the bureaucracy. This policy was bolstered by
Lord Lytton who instituted the Statutory Service which was below the
Covenanted Service and above the Uncovenanted Service. Candidates were
nominated to this service from among the Indian feudal and aristocratic families.
This was a sure means of keeping away the educated Marathi Brahmins and
Bengalis. But this step displeased both the educated and the aristocratic classes.
The service did not have equal status as the Covenanted service and were
looked down upon and not many aristocratic families were interested in joining
them. The educated classes also felt left out. The Arms Act and the Vernacular
Press Act also discriminated against the Indians. No Indian was allowed to
possess arms whereas the Europeans were exempt from it and an attempt was
made to muzzle the vernacular presses from criticizing the government in India.

An attempt at change was made during the Viceroyalty of Lord Rippon. He

realised the importance of the rising educated classes in India and the
advantage British rule was to get by collaborating with them instead of sidelining
them. His first attempt at change was through the Ilbert Bill of 1883. The Ilbert
Bill stated that unlike what was prevalent, Europeans could now be taken in front
of an Indian judge who was given the power to judge his case. An attempt was
also made to annul the Arms Act. The Bill backfired into the Viceroy’s face as stiff
resistance was mounted by the Europeans throughout India. They organised
themselves into very effective bodies of resistance and their pressure, along with
pressure from Britain forced Lord Rippon to withdraw the Ilbert Bill. The effect of
this European uprising had a massive impact on the growth of Indian
Nationalism. Educated Indians all over India realised that there still existed a
racial divide and the British government in India was not ready to treat Indians at
par with their European counterparts. They also silently learnt the art of efficient
organisation to oppose the government from the example set by the Europeans
during their agitation. Other attempts by Lord Rippon to make the government
sympathetic to Indian needs were vetoed by the India Office and this also sent a
strong signal to the educated Indians who now came together at an all-India
level to criticise and opposed the British policies which they found detrimental to
the Indian National movement.

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The intellectuals brought up in the tradition of Western education also saw many
social evils that were plaguing the Indian society at the time. They felt the need
to reform the society and especially Hinduism, which they believed had declined.
There was a major intellectual divide among the intellectuals regarding the
strategies to be followed to remove the evils from the society and from
Hinduism. One section who called themselves reformers, looked outwards
towards the Western civilisations for inspiration. They believed that the whole
system needed to be overhauled and changed into a forward looking society.
The other section, who called themselves revivalists, looked inwards towards the
golden era of Hinduism when the Vedas ruled the society. They believed that the
society should be brought back and old traditions restored. Basically both
sections of the intellectuals wanted to remove evil practices from the society but
differed on how this was to be done. Many reformist and revivalist societies
came up at this time to deal with social issues like the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya
Samaj and the Sanatan Dharma Sabha. Some intellectuals also believed that the
only way to reform society was by first to reform religion and called for a revival
of Hinduism. There were heated debates between reformists and revivalists and
even among themselves, while little was done to address social issues. Many
intellectuals could not follow in their own lives what they wanted others to follow.

The formation of the Congress and the rise of nationalist sentiments also led to a
dampening of effort on addressing social issues. The intellectuals realised the ill
effects of a foreign government and also realised the importance of mobilising
the masses. Social reform or revival seemed to stand in the way of consolidating
the spirit of nationalism. An attempt at uprooting social evils gave rise to
tensions in society which hampered the work of spreading political awareness
and mass mobilisation. The failure of many intellectuals at fighting social issues
also forced them to concentrate on the political arena, but mass mobilisation in
its true form was to emerge only with the coming of Gandhi. The intellectuals in
the Congress were also divided on the grounds of strategy into moderates and
extremists. Many social evils in society like the sati pratha, child marriage and
widow remarriage were addressed by the work of the intellectuals which forced
the British government to legislate on these issues. Nationalism also received a
major boost under their unrelenting effort.

The social composition of the emerging intellectuals remained more or less the
same, with the Brahmins of Marathas and the babus of Bengal dominating,
throughout the nineteenth century. The Muslims remained on the margins of the
intellectual class though many of them tried hard to improve the standing of the
Muslims. There was also a lot of intellectual complexities that prevailed during
this time and most of it was to do with the strategies to be followed to reach a
common end.