This course material is designed and developed by Indira Gandhi National Open

University (IGNOU), New Delhi. OSOU has been permitted to use the material.
 BACHELOR OF ARTS (HONOURS) IN
ENGLISH (BAEG)

BEG-4
Indian Writing in English

BLOCK-1
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF INDIAN
ENGLISH WRITING
UNIT 1 ENGLISH IN INDIA - ITS HISTORY, STATUS AND
FUNCTIONS
UNIT 2 EAST INDIA COMPANY’S ARRIVAL IN INDIA,
ESTABLISHMENT OF COLLEGES TO PROMOTE
WESTERN EDUCATION
UNIT 3 INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
UNIT 4 THE EVOLUTION OF INDIAN WRITING IN
ENGLISH IN 20TH CENTURY
BLOCK-1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF INDIAN
ENGLISH WRITING

OBJECTIVES
After going through this block, you will be able to examine the Educational system
in India during the British Rule. The British were held responsible for spreading
English all over India and hence, in the present day scenario, we find English spread
far and wide all across the nation. This unit will help you analyse the different
situations in which the western education took over Indian education and also how
British English became an integral part of every syllabus

INTRODUCTION
British rule is said to have been responsible for the modernization witnessed in the
Indian civilization. The impact of this process was quiet evident from the changes
adopted by the Indians in their life style, thinking processes, attires, food and
education. Besides the advancements made in the spheres of roads, transports, postal
services etc, their rule acted as a significant period of transition from the indigenous
style of education to western education. The foundations were laid by the East India
Company and the Christian Missionaries to employ Indians for administrative tasks
as well as to serve their political, economical and colonial interests. Originally the
access to education was limited to the royal families, as the British were of the
opinion that Indians could become aware of their rights and positions and protest
against their Raj posing a threat to the British establishment in India. Lord Curzon’s
efforts in the 20th century gave way to spread of higher education within the masses
and channelized Indian education system. However the rulers of the Princely States
in of India who were granted autonomy by the British to manage their own kingdoms
acted as major agents to undertake the social and educational reforms within their
territories. With the spread of education from elementary to higher levels, many new
schools, universities and other institutions were developed during this period which
are symbols of educational advancement as well as hold high architectural merit.
Patiala, aprime princely state is a well known academic centre also important for its
rich culture since the British Raj. Education in Patiala originated under the Maharajas
with the opening of the school of languages in 1860A.D. With the introduction of
Mahindra College (the first Degree College in a city) in 1870, became came an
important educational centre. It was the only college between Delhi and Lahore for a
long time that promoted contemporary higher learning in Northern India. The
historic college building represents an aesthetic mix of regional interpretation of
Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. Later on many educational institutes catering to
medical facilities, sports education etc. was set up in this princely state. This paper is
thus an attempt to explore the education reforms during the British Raj, the changes
that happened and their triggers. It also brings out reforms initiated in Princely States
specifically Patiala as a seat of learning and a detailed study of the Mohindra
College, Patiala, that represents an excellent example of educational institutions
developed during the 19th century
UNIT 1 : ENGLISH IN INDIA - ITS HISTORY, STATUS
AND FUNCTIONS
Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Historical Overview
1.3 Uses and Functions of English
1.3.1 Education
1.3.2 Business and administration
1.3.3 The Judiciary
1.3.4 Media and publishing
1.3.5 Inter-regional communication
1.3.6 Intra-regional communication
1.4 Indianization of English – I
1.4.1 Structural Pressure of Indian Languages on English
1.4.2 The Teaching-learning Situation
1.4.3 Socio-cultural Contexts of Use of English
1.5 Indianization of English - II
1.5.1 Sound System of "Indian English": Vowels and Consonants
1.5.2 Stress Pattern
1.5.3 Sounds of "Indian English": Vowels and Consonants
1.6 Lexis of Indian English
1.7 Syntactic and Stylistic Features of Indian English
1.8 Impact of Colonialism on Education In India
1.9 Indigenous Education
1.10 Debate over Education Policy
1.11 Let Us Sum Up

1.0 OBJECTIVES
During this period the British gradually introduced the English language and
western education in order to create a class of Indians who could serve the imperial
rulers as officials or functionaries, as well as, function as a communicative link
between the rulers and the masses. The earliest attempts to introduce English in India
were made by the missionaries who came primarily for the purpose of religious and
moral preaching rather than for spreading English.

1
1.1 INTRODUCTION
In order to understand the present status and functions of English, it is necessary to
go back in time and take a quick look at the history of English in India. This has
already been discussed in Course 1, but it is necessary to recapitulate it here.
Beginning with the establishment in India of the East India Company, the British
came to India as traders in the second half of the eighteenth century, and stayed on as
rulers for nearly two centuries.

1.2 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

The laudable goal with which the missionaries came to this sub- continent was "the
introduction of useful knowledge, and of religious and moral improvement", these
efforts can be seen as the first exposure that people in India (and South Asia in
general) had to the English people and their language. The missionary effort
culminated in the setting up of Christian institutions in different parts of the Indian
sub-continent.
The second phase of the presence and spread of English in India is identified with
two names, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and T.B. Macaulay. Raja Ram Mohan Roy led a
group of 1ndian’s demanding English education for Indians. This group was
convinced that English would be more useful for Indians than Indian languages for
academic, socio-economic, scientific and internal purposes. The efforts of this group
considerably strengthened the hands of Lord Macaulay whose famous Minute was
passed in 1835. The clearly stated aim of the Minute was to form "a class who may
be interpreters between us and the millions we govern -- a class of persons, Indian in
blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in, morals and in
intellect."(Selection from Educational Records. 1781-1839: 116). The official
approval of the Minute began a process that was to produce an ever-increasing
number of English-knowing bilingual Indians. As English developed stronger roots
in the educational system in India, the whole sub-continent witnessed more and more
Indians being taken in ' by the lure of English, native Indian languages suffering a
great setback in the process. By, the end of the nineteenth century five universities
had been set up (Madras, Calcutta, Bombay, Allahabad and Lahore). With the spread
of English and increase in the number of English-knowing Indians, this language
came to be established as the official and academic language of India. It also
acquired great prestige and replaced Persian and the Indian languages from several
areas of education, administration, trade and business.
The twentieth century witnessed further strengthening of the roots of English in India
as an influential English press grew. As Kachru states "after World War I, there was
a significant increase in educational institutions, and schools and colleges spread to
the interior of India. This naturally helped in spreading bilingualism in India further
among the middle and lower classes of Indian society" (Kachru, 1983:23). The
period since then has seen tremendous increase in English-knowing Indians and,

2
even after the British formally left India in 1947, English has continued to gain
ground and has become more and more firmly entrenched in the Indian soil. As a
matter of fact, since independence, several committees and commissions have, on
different occasions, stressed the need to learn English. The government, on its own
part, has consistently lent support to English and encouraged the teaching and
learning of English. Government policies have also given official recognition to
English as associate official language. The situation, as it obtains today, is that
English is recognised "officially as the Associate National Official Language, and as
inter-regional link-language; educationally it is recognised as an essential component
of education and as the preferred medium of learning, with specialised education in
science and technology available through the medium of English only; socially it is
recognised and upheld as a mark of education, culture and prestige." (Gupta and
Kapoor, 1991:19). A stage his now been reached where English is considered an
integral part of the socio-cultural, educational and administrative domains of Indian
life. This spread of English has been accompanied by a general perception that
English is the language of opportunity, social advancement, prestige and power.

1.3 USES AND FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH

The spread of English outlined above has been accompanied by its increased
functionality and use in different domains and spheres of Indian life. What began in
the early days as a foreign language learnt and used by a handful of Indians, has now
become a wide-spread and powerful presence in India. We shall now take a brief
look at some of the domains of life and see how English has come, to occupy an
important place in these domains.

1.3.1 Education
Even a casual glance at the way our education system is organised and structured
will show that English plays a crucial, central role in education. Whether a child goes
to an English medium school or an Indian language medium school, she has to learn
English for a period ranging from six to twelve years. The Three Language Formula
despite its uneven implementation in different parts of India, ensures that no student
can pass out of school and go on to vocational or higher education without having
learnt English as a subject. The English medium schools not only impart training in
English from class I, but also teach all subjects through the medium of ' English. At
the level of higher education, the functional load of English gradually increases with
English being the preferred medium of instruction and examination. Specialised
education in pure and applied sciences, technology, medicine, law, business
management, etc. is available only through the medium of English. What this means
in effect is that education, especially higher and technical education, means knowing
English, using English and being proficient in English.

3
1.3.2 Business and administration
Business and administration which are the "receiving systems" that provide gainful
employment to educated young men and women, insist on formal training and
proficiency in English. Most of the competitive examinations require the candidates
to pass a compulsory or qualifying paper in English; big and middle-level business
establishments require aspiring candidates to be fluent in spoken English and
proficient in written English; multinational companies insist on qualifications which
can only be acquired by those who are proficient in English. This means that, as far
as employment opportunities are concerned, most white-collar jobs in the
government and industry (both production industry and services industry) are
available to those who know English. So if one wants to become an official in the
'government of India, a manager in some industry, an officer in the armed forces, a
doctor or surgeon, an air-hostess or a sales executive, one has to be proficient in
English. This, in turn, puts greater pressure on the education system to teach English
to more and more pupils.

1.3.3 The Judiciary

The way our judiciary is structured, it is possible to use local Indian languages at the
lowest level of Panchayats and local courts. However, the moment we move on to
the high court and Supreme Court, we find that English has to be used by the lawyers
and the judges. In the high courts and the Supreme Court all litigations are in
English, all briefs are in English, representation and arguments are in English and the
judgements are in English. To this one must add the fact that most law books and
journals are available in English.

1.3.4 Media and publishing

The media in India, both print media and electronic media, gives pride of place to
English. Music programmes, interviews, talks, discussions, news bulletins are
regularly telecast or broadcast in English. The English press, with a large number of
dailies and periodicals caters to the needs of the people for news, information and
entertainment. The publishing world devotes considerable resources to the
production of books in English -- books on a variety of subjects, both specialised
subjects, as well as, subjects of general day-to-day interest. As a matter of fact, one
gets the impression that among the educated English-knowing Indians, there is a
marked preference for printed material in English.

1.3.5 Inter-regional communication

The fact that India is a multilingual country with a large number of mutually
unintelligible, prestigious and developed languages, tends to encourage people to use
English in inter-regional communicative contexts. This is true not only of
government and business where all inter-regional communication is in English, but
also of personal interactions wherein people from different regions prefer to use
English since they perceive it as a common link language shared by educated persons

4
all over India. In typical official and informal personal interactions, people from
Bengal and Tamil Nadu, from Mizoram and Punjab, from Karnataka and Bihar, etc.
tend to make use of English. This is done not because of animosity or hostility
towards any language or region but simply because English has come to be viewed
as the common linguistic bond between linguistically diverse people.

1.3.6 Intra-regional communication

The use of English in education, administration, business, media and in inter-regional
contexts, as well as, the fact that English has come to be associated with
"educatedness", sophistication, culture and prestige, encourages people to use
English even in situations where a common Indian language is available. One Hindi
speaker uses English with another Hindi speaker in several formal and informal
situations, for talking about a variety of topics; one Bangla speaker writes a personal
letter to another Bangla speaker in English; children who share a common Indian
language, often use English with one another as well as with their parents;
neighbours who share a common Indian language, often use English with each other.
For approaching or negotiating with officials, businessmen, traders and others we
often use English, not because we belong to different linguistic backgrounds, but
because of other social and psychological reasons.

To round off this part of the, unit, we call say that English has become such a
pervasive presence in the social matrix of India, that an increasing number of
educated, English-knowing Indians use it in almost all domains of life, in all kinds of
situations and for any number of topics. Sometimes they feel constrained to use it
because of linguistic barriers or demands of a particular situation. On other occasions
they use it as a matter of personal choice. All in all, what it means is that in the
present day context in India the use and functions of English are on the increase, and
that English has become an integral part of English-knowing Indians' socio-cultural
reality.
To round off this part of the, unit, we call say that English has become such a
pervasive presence in the social matrix of India, that an increasing number of
educated, English-knowing Indians use it in almost all domains of life, in all kinds of
situations and for any number of topics. Sometimes they feel constrained to use it
because of linguistic barriers or demands of a particular situation. On other occasions
they use it as a matter of personal choice. All in all, what it means is that in the
present day context in India the use and functions of English are on the increase, and
that English has become an integral part of English-knowing Indians' socio-cultural
reality.

1.4 INDIANISATION OF ENGLISH – I

The foregoing section outlines one dimension of the Indianisation of English i.e. the
coming of English to India, its spread and consolidation in India and the acceptance,
use and functionality of English in India. All these stages of the arrival, spread,

5
consolidation and widespread use are, however, only one part of the story. The other
dimension of the Indianisation of English refers to 'what' has happened to the English
language as a consequence. When a language is learnt and used by a large number of
people in non-native contexts (as is the case with English in India) it is inevitable that
certain very obvious and other not too obvious changes take place in the structure of
that language. These changes in the form and structure of the language occur
primarily because of three factors:
1. The structural impact of the other (indigenous) languages present in the given
context;
2. The learning-teaching situations that obtain in that context, and
3. The socio-cultural context in which the language is used in the new setting.

1.4.1 Structural Pressure of Indian Languages on English

In the previous unit we have already pointed out that when English is learnt and used
by non-native communities of speakers, their own native language or first language
(L1) often leaves traces on the English (L2) that they acquire. In the Indian context
too this phenomenon of interference and transfer leaves its traces on the structure of
English -- on the sounds, vocabulary and syntax of English. In the Indian context, the
picture is not at all simple because the Indian learners and users of English hail from
different regions and have different mother-tongues. When we talk about the
Indianisation of English, we first have to recognise the fact that this Indianisation
takes place in different parts of India where different languages are spoken and used.
A Bengali's English carries influences of Bangla, a Tamilian's English has several
features of Tamil and a Panjabi's English has several features of Panjabi. So much so
that at one level it is possible to talk about Banglaisation or Tamilisation or
Panjabisation of English. These influences (interference or transfer) operate at all
levels on the structure of English but are most noticeable at the level of sounds. This
is the level at which most of us are able to recognise Bengali English, Tamil English,
Panjabi English and so on. The different Indian languages, also have a considerable
impact on the grammar and lexicon (vocabulary) of English and one can find certain
typically Bangla or, Tamil or Panjabi grammatical features that have crept into
English. However, it is not within the scope of this unit to go into features of
interference and transfer from different Indian languages. What is more important is
the fact that as Indians belonging to different ' linguistic backgrounds move up on the
educational ladder, and as they interact more and more with other Indians belonging
to different linguistic backgrounds, they tend to drop certain regional features which
mark their English, and move towards a form of English which is acceptable as
standard, educated Indian English. We shall go into the whole issue of Standard
Indian English in the next unit. At this point, suffice it to say, that a sort of double
denativisation of English takes place. First an English is learn1 which is denativised
in the sense that it is not really British or American or any other native English, but a
regionally marked Indian English. Then certain regional features are consciously
dropped in order to move closer to some form of educated, pan-Indian English that is

6
understood, used and accepted universally. We shall give below just one example to
illustrate our point. Let us take the English word "mother". In Standard British
English it would be pronounced as /m^. A Bangla speaker would perhaps first learn
it as /ma$ ar/ wherein the first vowel is changed due to the influence of the Bangla
vowel-system. Later on, through training and interaction with other educated Indians,
she might change it to '/ma4 arl. The third form wPdld represent educated Indian
English or Indianised English. What happens i** most cases, however, is that Indian
users of English tend to move towards a pan-lndAan English in terms of grammar
but continue to retain, to a greater or lesser degree, the phonetic features of their
respective mother tongues or dominant regional Indian languages.

1.4.2 The Teaching-learning Situation

What is perhaps equally important to remember while discussing the Indiainisation
of English is that the millions of Indians who lean1 and use English do so in the
typical Indian school system or classroom situation. The teachers who teach English
are Indians (Bengalis, Tamilians, Punjabis, Kashmiris, etc.) just as the students are.
In addition, the other subject teachers are also Indians (Bengalis, Tamilians,
Punjabis, Kashmiris, etc.). The students are thus exposed to models (teachers) who
themselves use some form of Indian English. The learners find themselves in a
situation where most of the exposure they get is to Indian English (except in cases
where they have to read or consult books or articles written by native British or
American writers or when they get exposure to native British or American speakers
of English on the T.V. or the radio). The other students use Indian English, their
parents at home use Indian English, people in the market place or government offices
use Indian English. The Indian learners of English get rare, if any, exposure to
models of native standard English. As a matter of fact, even the written texts (most of
them, in any case) are by Indian authors. All this has the inevitable effect that the
learners have access to and opportunity for learning Indian forms of English.

1.4.3 Socio-cultural Contexts of Use of English

What is true of the learning and the teaching situation, is equally true of the various
contexts in which English is used in India. The Indian users of English have to live,
interact and communicate in the Indian socio-cultural settings. They have to
communicate with other Indian users of English, and they have to deal with aspects
of Indian reality. Thus a trader has to sell "sarees, shirtings and suitings", a garment
manufacturer has to market "exquisite Lucknavi kurta-pajama suits", a caterer has to
set up "shamianas" and "multi-coloured pandals" and provide "vegetarian, non-
vegetarian, mughlai and tandoori cuisine"; a journalist has to report on what
transpires in the "Lok Sabha" or about "dharnas, walk-outs, bandhs" and "atrocities
on Dalits"; an art critic has to discuss "vigorous jugalbandi" and "thekas" and
"thumris" or "styles of gayaki" and "gharanas" or renderings of the "mahabharata in
Odissi". The Indian police has "hawaldars and thanedars" who maintain
"panchnamas" and "sipahis" who have to report for duty at the "chowki" or "thana";

7
the rich English-speaking businessman goes on "Vaishno Devi yatra" or offers
"prasadam", throws lavish parties on the occasion of the "mundan sanskar" of his
grandson or advertises for a "very fair, homely convented girl, expert in household
affairs" for his "foreign-returned, tall, handsome son earning six figures annually".
The politicians have to re~ni~iisce about the teachings of "bapu" or invoke the
principles of "panchsheel" or exhort the masses to vote for their party through
"rathyatras" or "padyatras". These are only a few instances of English Language
being used to talk about, describe and cope with the I~idian reality. Little children
refer to the man I from the neighbourhood as "Sharma uncle" and his wife as "Sumi
auntie" or report on the antics of a visiting "cousin-sister". Asurgeon has to be
addressed as "Doctor Saheb", a professor as "Professor Saheb" and a superior in
office as "saab" or "Saheb". The point is that the Indian reality, Indian subjects and
Indian contexts and norms of behaviour reshape and reform English in India. It is this
reshaping and reforming of English that leads lo what we call the Indianisation of
English. As pointed out earlier, it manifests itself at all levels of the structure of
English -- sounds, words, word-combinations and grammatical constructions. In the
section that follows we shall give examples of each of these. To end ' this section we
give below a quote from Raja Rao who, in his inimitable style, is talking 1 about the
lndianisation of English. ... One has to convey in a language that is not one's own the
spirit that is one's own. One has to convey various shades and omissions of a certain
thought-movement that looks maltreated in an alien language. I use the word "alien",
yet English is not really an alien language to us. It is the language of our intellectual
make-up ... but not of our elnotiorla1 make-up. We are instinctively bilingual, many
of us writing in our own language and in English. We cannot write like the English.
We should not.... Our method of expression therefore, has to be a dialect which will
someday prove to be as distinctive and colourful as the Irish or the American. Time
alone will justify it ... the tempo of Indian life must be infused into our English
expression, even as the tempo of American or Irish life has gone into theirs.

1.5 INDIANISATION OF ENGLISH - II

So far we-have tried to outline for you the history of English in India, the uses and
functions of English in India and the factors that lead to the Indianisation of English.
In this section we shall give a brief account of the ways in which the forms and
structures of English have changed and how the resultant variety is a distinctively
Indianised variety of English. By now it must have become quite clear that two kinds
of pressures are at work in this process of Indianisation: first the structural pressure
of Indian languages which are L1 for the Indian users of English, and second, the
typical Indian socio-cultural contexts and behavioural norms that lead to forms that
appear different, deviant or even odd when one compares them to native standard
varieties of English.

8
1.5.1 Sound System of "Indian English": Vowels and Consonants
As stated earlier, the most easily noticeable features of a language variety are
phonetic features. As a result of the fact that English in India is used by speakers of a
large number of Indian languages, the sound-patterns of Indian English are markedly
different from those of native varieties of English. Phonetic features can be
considered under two heads: (a) features of stress-placement (b) sounds of English
i.e. consonants and vowels.
As you go through this part of the unit, you will come across certain technical terms.
Please refer to Block 4 of this course to understand these terms.

1.5.2 Stress Pattern

Indianisation of English has led to the emergence of a variety that is easily
recognisable due to its stress-patterns which are distinct from the stress-patterns of
native varieties of English. The reason given for this phenomenon is that most of the
Indian languages are syllable-timed, whereas English is a stress-timed language, with
a rather complex system of primary stress, secondary stress and absence of stress.
Native varieties of English also have a system of distinguishing grammatical
categories to which words belong (e.g. nouns and verbs) through different stress
placement. Moreover, vowels in unstressed syllables are reduced or weakened. In
Indianised English, however, what we find is
i) a general tendency not to distinguish between primary auld secondary
stress;
ii) an even stress-pattern for words with analogous syllable-structures,
irrespective of the grammatical category to which they belong e.g. nouns,
adjectives, verbs;
iii) a tendency to place stress on the suffix itself;
iv) non-reduction or full realisation of vowels in unstressed syllables or
syllables with a weak stress.
v) a tendency to break up grammatical units within sentences arbitrarily,
leading to the placement of stress on words other than those that should
carry "sense-stress".

We give below a few examples to illustrate the points given above. NE stands for
native I standard English and IE for Indianised English. We shall use these
abbreviations throughout this section.

The word "conduct" for instance, is used both as noun and verb in English. In NE the
Sirs1 syllable is stressed when it is used as noun ['kmd~kt] while the second syllable
is stressed when it is a verb thus giving us [kan'dfikt]. You will also notice that in the
second instance, I the vowel in the first syllable is reduced from [I] to [a 1. In IE, the
general tendency is to pronounce the word without any shift of stress, as well as the
consequent reduction of the vowel. Consider another example "gentleman" where the

9
primary stress is on "gentle" and the secondary or weak stress on "man". Thus in NE
we get /'d3~ntlmard with a reduction of vowel in "man". In IE, on the other hand we
get /d3entl'md

Finally, the sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables which is marked by a rising
-falling rhythm in NE, is generally absent in IE, giving it what has been called a
"monotone" or "sing-song' ' quality.

1.5.3 Sounds of "Indian English": Vowels and Consonants

Regional features apart, "Indian English" shows quite a few divergences from
standard native varieties. It is well-known that even highly educated Indian users of
English often have regional peculiarities in their pronunciation e.g. many Bengalis or
Odias fail to maintain the distinction between /s/ and /sh/ in such words as 'sip' and
'ship', the Bengalis tending to pronounce both as "ship" or even "sheep". However,
there are certain pan-Indian features which characterise Indian English. We give
below a list of the vowels and consonants of IE.

Vowels (Pure) I /i:/ as in "teak"

I /i/ as in "tick"
I /e/ as in "take"
/E/ as in "trek" ,.
i /&I as in "tack" /a/ as in "task"
/Q/ as in "talk"
lo:/ as in "told"
/U / as in "took"
/u:/ as in "tool"
/a 1 as in "tuck"
Vowel glides (diphthongs)
/ai/asin "sky"
/au/ as in "cow"
/si/ as in "boil''
/ea/ as in "hair"
/ia/ as in "here"
/ua/ as in "cruel"

As compared to standard British English pronuncation (RP), the following features

characterise "Indian English". Whereas RP has 12 pure vowels and 9 diphthongs
glides, IE has 11 pure vowels and 6 glides. Whereas RP has M and [3j as two distinct
sounds, IE uses only ''a" with its own way of distinguishing such words as "caught"
and "cot" by vowel length or such words as "shot" and "short" by the presence or
absence of "r". Further, IE has pure vowels 'e' '0' in place of RP diphthongs "ei", "au"
in such words as "day" and "go". Finally weak forms of vowels are not used in
unstressed syllables in IE.
10
1.6 LEXIS OF INDIAN ENGLISH

While phonetic features are the most easily noticeable characteristics of Indianised
English (as, in fact, they are of all native and non-native varieties), lexis which
includes words, word-formations and word-combinations, is not less a distinguishing
feature of 'IE'. We shall discuss lexis of IE under two broad categories (a) preference
for certain kinds of words in LE, and @) presence of words of Indian origin in
English. We shall also add a note on the use of certain words to denote meanings
other than those associated with them in NE varieties.

Preferred words (lexical items) in 'IE': While discussing these we have to remember
that most Indians learn their English in formal, classroom settings. This has, in effect,
given 'IE' a formal and bookish quality which several scholars have noticed.
Moreover, Indian leaners also have mostly been exposed to formal discourse on
different subjects as well as to classics of English literature written in earlier times.
This perhaps accounts for a marked presence of words and phrases in 'IE', which may
appear outdated, obsolete or archaic to many. Formal learning, dependence on books
and lack of emphasis on spoken English has also tended to make 'IE' formal rather
than spontaneous, colloquial and conversational. In addition, there is also the fact
that English is used in India more in formal administrative, commercial, judicial and
educational contexts, whereas the more informal interactions are taken care of by
some India11 lauguage (Ll) or by a mixture of IE and L1. It is not surprising
therefore to find scholars listing the following features of IE:

a) Latinity: preference for such words as "demise" over "death", "bosom" over
"chest" "extend" over "give", etc.
b) Polite diction: a marked feature of IE is a preponderance of polite forms.
This is partly due to the politeness code that operates in Indian society, and
partly due to the fact that English, as mentioned earlier, is used mostly in
formal contexts such as administration and law, which places a premium on
polite forms. As a result one gets such forms as "Respected Sir", "Thanking
you", and an abundance of words and phrases for expressing respect,
politeness and gratitude.
c) Excessive use of cliches and phrases: 'IE' is marked by the presence of
phrases such as "Himalayan blunder", "nation-building", "change of heart",
"teeming millions", etc. as well as, such cliches as "at your earliest
convenience", "receipt gratefully L acknowledged" , "do the needful", "better
imagined than described", "leave severely alone", "each and every", etc.
d) Certain nominal groups of NE such as "bunch of keys", "address of
welcome", "member of the family", etc' are changed in 'IE' to "key bunch",
"welcome address" and "family member". Another common example of such
IE usage is "box of matches" being realised as "match-box".

11
 e) Words of Indian origin in 'IE'
Right from the time when the English first came to India, a large number of
words from Indian languages gradually found their way into the English
language. Even in the early days of the British Raj, the native English
speakers found it useful to employ certain Indian words in dealing with
Indians in matters pertaining to law, administration and agriculture, etc.
Words such as "rajah" "rani", "pankhawala", "diwan", "cot", "sepoy",
"taluka" are legacies of that period. As the contact between English and
India11 lauguages continued, more and more Indian words found their way
into English. 'IE' today has a large body of lexical items from different Indian
languages. We can only give a few examples here: "almirah", "bandh",
"satyagrah", "tiffin", "hartal", "Harijan", "dak", "panchayat", "mullah", "khud'
', "chaprassi", etc. The phenomenon is so salient that we have dictionaries of
Indian words in English (for reference see list of books at the end of this
unit).

Masala + movies, Khadi + Clad,

Panchayat + Office, Kumkum + Mark, Lathi + Charge,
Steel + Almirah, Taxi + Wala
The incidence of words from Indian languages in IE is on the increase. At present the
tendency is to feel free to use ally word from Indian languages in 'IE' discourse.
These I words need not necessarily have to deal with administration, law, commerce,
or sports. They could very well refer to dance and music, food and cuisine, dress and
fashion, or any other topic. Users of English, in fact, feel that it makes their English
more colourful; gives it an Indian flavour and, at the same time, enables them to talk
about 111dian reality more effectively. Creative writers, art critics, journalists and
those associated with the electronic media are IIOW increasingly using Indian words
in 'IE'.
At this point we would like to make a certain wages in 'IE' where the lexical items do
not exactly mean the same thing as they do in NE varieties. An interesting example is
the word "uncle" which is used only as a kinship term in NE, both as term of address
as well as term of reference. I11 'IE', on the other hand, though "uncle" is used as a
term of reference while sigm~lling kinship, as a term of address it is almost
invariably used as a non-kinship, polite term. Thus we have children addressing
eiders (neighbours, shopkeepers, friends of the family, bus drivers as "uncle". The
same is true of the word "aunt" which in IE becomes "auntie": The following
examples illustrate the point:

Sharma+uncle, Ram+uncle, uncle+ji

Veena+auntie, Venna+auntie, auntie+ji, etc

12
Where terms of address are to be used in situations where actual kinship is involved,
IE users tend to use the terms that there has. Several other of this type of usage can
be cited, not only from the domain of kinship, but from several other areas.

1.7 SYNTACTIC AND STYLISTIC FEATURES OF INDIAN

ENGLISH
'IE' has syntactic features that distinguish it from NE varieties. In this unit we shall
not go into the question whether these features are "mistakes", "deviations" or
"differences". Our concern here, primarily, is to list certain feature which are said to
characterise IE.
The Indian languages, as a rule, do not have a system of articles parallel to that of
English. The three English articles: 'a', 'an' and 'the' perform functions which in
Indian languages are performed by the numeral "one" or the demonstrative "that" or
pronoun "he". As a consequence, a marked feature of IE is a rather unpredictable use
of the articles. Typical manifestations of the unpredictability are in the use of no
article where NE typically uses 'the'. The other, less frequent manifestation is the use
of the definite article where has "110 article" and the use of 'a' where 'an' is to be
used as per NE usage.
Certain other syntactic features, as listed by Kachru (1983) are as follows:
a) The reflexive verbs (e.g. enjoy, exert) are sometimes not followed by the
reflexive pronoun. Thus instead of "he enjoyed himself ', '' exerted myself"
we have simply '(he enjoyed" and "I exerted".
b) In constructions such as verb particle (e.g. dispose of), the particle is often
added even to verbs that do not normally take the particle (e.g. comprises of,
eat off).
c) Use of constructions like "I am doing" and ''1 was doing" for "I do" and "I
did".
d) Use of simple past tense (I did) for the perfective (I have done).
e) Use of present continuous (I am doing) for repetitive or durative (I have been
doing).
f) "When I will come" and "If I will come" instead of "When I come" and "If I
come".
g) "For doing" instead of "to do" expressing purpose or object (e.g. award
punishment to improve his character). There are several stylistic-features that
have become the distinguishing characteristic of IE. We briefly list some of
these below:
i) Tag questions: IE generally uses only one form of tag question "isn't it" whereas
in NE one finds different manifestations of the tag question depending on the form of
the verb in the main sentence.

13
ii) Contracted forms: IE generally does not have as many contracted forms,
especially such forms as didn't, shan't, aren't, mightn't, etc.
iii) Complex and Compound sentences: IE is marked by a general preference for
complex and compound sentences where one would find simple sentences in NE
varieties. The use of several coordinate and subordinate clauses often makes the
sentences rather lengthy and difficult to process for meaning.
iv) Passive constructions: Another feature of IE is an excessive use of passive
constructions. This is perhaps a legacy of the earlier days when civil servants used to
write reports/summaries for their officers. It has also been suggested that it is due to
the typical Indian attitude of detachment.
v) Indirect expressions: 'IE' users generally prefer to use indirect and roundabout
expressions rather than direct or specific ones, especially when asking for a favour. It
has been suggested that this is due to the cultural differences between Indians and
native speakers of English in Britain or the USA. Indians generally do not like to ask
for favours in direct terms, whereas "in English speaking countries ... most polite is
usually most specific".
vi) Expressions of politeness: 'IE' users, as remarked earlier also, show a marked
preference for overt markers of politeness. Words and phrases, such as "kind
attention", "kind notice", "respectfully submit", "with due respect", "have the honour
to ...." are frequently found in 'IE'. Several other features, lexical, syntactic and
stylistic, may be listed. It is not within the scope of this unit to give an exhaustive
description of Indianised English. We hope, however, that we have been able to
provide a useful description of the process of Indianisation as well as its effects on
the form of IE
Several other features, lexical, syntactic and stylistic, may be listed. It is not within
the scope of this unit to give an exhaustive description of Indianised English. We
hope, however, that we have been able to provide a useful description of the process
of Indianisation as well as its effects on the form of IE.

1.8 IMPACT OF COLONIALISM ON EDUCATION IN INDIA

It is essential to understand the dynamics of relationship between education and
colonialism in order to understand the development of education under colonial rule.
Authors like Martin Carnoy and others have argued that education in a colonial
country is designed by the colonial rulers to legitimize their domination and to serve
their own economic needs.
Economic and political control over the colonial country is essential for the survival
of colonial rule and education is used to achieve this goal. Attempt is made to
develop through education a new set of values and justification of the colonial rule.
Thus education loses its independent identity and becomes subordinate to political
power. Colonial education no doubt brings changes and cultural transformation in a

14
colonial country. New ideas and experiments undoubtedly enrich the existing
knowledge. But the colonial country has to pay a heavy price for it. The real
beneficiaries of colonial education are a selected few who had a specific role
assigned by the colonial rulers in the continuation of the colonial rule. Colonial
education is meant for better control of the colonial country rather than its
development. The ultimate outcome of this policy might be different but the desired
objective is to ‘control’ not to ‘change’ the colonial country.
In the background of this view regarding the dynamics of relationship between
colonial rule and education we shall look at the development of English education in
India. However, before we come to the beginnings of English education, let us take a
look at the indigenous system of education in the early 19th century.

1.9 INDIGENOUS EDUCATION

The information that we gather from early British records gives us a very rough idea
about indigenous system of education in late 18th and early 19th century India.
There were ‘Madrasas’ and ‘Maktabs’ for the Muslims and ‘Tols’ and ‘Patshalas’ for
the Hindus. These ranged from the centres for higher learning in Arabic and Sanskrit
to lower levels of institution for schooling people in Persian and Vernacular
languages. Lack of scientific and secular learning was one of the major limitations of
the centres for higher learning in those days. However, many Hindus attended
Persian schools because Persian was then the court language and there were also
Hindu teachers in Persian Schools. Whether it was a ‘Tol’ or a ‘Madrasa’ there were
certain common features in the indigenous system of education.

 Schools were generally run with the help of contribution from Zamindars or
from local rich men.
 In the curriculum the main emphasis was on classical language like Sanskrit,
Arabic or Persian and subjects of classical Hindu or Islamic tradition like
Grammar, Logic, Law, Metaphysics, Medicines, etc.
 Though Sanskrit learning was the exclusive domain of the Brahmans, from
the reports available of the early 19th century we find that the non-upper
castes and the scheduled castes had also representation in the lower level
schools.
 Women were generally debarred from the formal education system. l In the
absence of printing press till 19th century oral tradition and memory of the
teachers formed the basis of knowledge and information, supplemented with
handwritten manuscripts.
 The state had little or no role in school education though kings would
patronise people famous for their learning.

Besides the centres for higher learning which were basically the domain of upper
castes there was a large number of elementary schools. Most of the villages in India
had this kind of elementary schools. These were each run by an individual teacher

15
with the monetary help of the village Zamindars or local elite. These schools used to
teach the students elementary arithmetic and basic literacy to meet the needs of day-
to-day life. Students from different sections of society, except the very backward
disprivileged castes, attended these schools.

The Arabic madrasas was a much more unified entity, intact when the British came
but not much more enquiry-based and perhaps also more religious in the orientation
of the learning or methods. In terms of Social extraction, while the Sanskrit Scholar
was by definition a Brahmin male, the Arabic Scholar was perhaps a little less
exclusive in his social origin or location. In both Sanskrit and Arabic higher
learning, much Secular and Scientific learning on law, medicine, mathematics,
astronomy etc. was cultivated besides literature, philosophy and theology with the
help of books and discussion but chiefly through memorization. The creation of new
knowledge based on imagination, free thinking or intense observation was not so
much in demand in those feudal monarchical societies as conformity and ability to
reproduce long texts purely from memory.
This tradition did not continue to grand as such the causes of its decline could
possibly be:

 the Indian Caste System leading to segregation of knowledge of Brahmins

from or manual skills of the “others” caste and status of practical arts or
perhaps,
 the related failure of an Indian Industrial Revolution and Nation State to
emerge for which the times and technology were not yet ripe or
 the dogmatic, authoritarian intellectual tendencies set on motion by
traditional Hindu orthodoxy. These were the main causes of the decline of
the tradition. Most scholars tend to concentrate on some cities such as
Varanasi, Pune, Tanjore, Madurai, Nadia etc. mostly by encouragement of
local rules.
Thus, the education system that existed in India in the early 19th century had its own
merits and demerits. The elementary schools provided the opportunity for basic
education to rural people and its curriculum was secular in approach and responsive
to practical needs. Probably in the higher centres of learning (Tols and Madrasas)
too much emphasis on niceties of grammar, philosophy and religion narrowed down
the scope of expansion of secular and scientific knowledge. The colonial rulers
discarded the indigenous system and replaced it by a system of education of their
own. The potential that the indigenous system had as a means of mass education was
destroyed. In the following section we would see how controversies started among
different groups about what should be the role of the East India Company in the
development of education in India.

16
1.10 DEBATE OVER EDUCATION POLICY
Till the second half of 18th century the English East India Company did not face any
dilemma about its role in the promotion of education in India. It was basically a
commercial corporation, so its basic objectives were trade and profit. Before
acquisition of territorial power the Company had no role in education, however, there
were attempts by the missionaries to establish charity schools and to promote
learning. But things began to change with the British occupation of Eastern India in
the second-half of 18th century. Within the official circle as well as outside of it
there was growing debate about what should be the role of the company in the
promotion of learning in India.
Immediately after the acquisition of political power in India the company officials
wanted to maintain neutrality or non-intervention in the sphere of religion and
culture of the indigenous society. The reason behind it was partly the fear of adverse
reaction and opposition to their role by the local people. However, constant pressure
from different quarters, the Missionaries, the Liberals, the Orientalists, the
Utilitarians compelled the company to give up its policy of neutrality and to take the
responsibility of promotion of learning.
The second important point around which the opinions were sharply divided was
whether the company should promote western or oriental learning. In the initial
stage the company officials patronized oriental learning. It cannot be denied that
some of the Englishmen had a genuine desire to acquire and promote oriental
learning.
In this context we may mention the establishment of the ‘Calcutta Madrasa’ by
Warren Hastings (1781), ‘Benares Sanskrit College’ by Jonathan Duncan (1791) and
the ‘Asiatic Society of Bengal’ by William Jones (1784). Those who were in favour
of continuation of the existing institutions of oriental learning and promotion of
Indian classical tradition were called “Orientalists”. The argument put forward by
the Orientalists was that generally there was a prejudice among Indians against
European knowledge and science, so there might be complete rejection of western
knowledge. Some of them were also interested to explore the classical tradition and
culture of this ancient civilization. But even if we acknowledge the genuine desire of
some of the Englishmen for the promotion of oriental culture, there is no doubt that
the Orientalists were guided by some practical considerations. They wanted to teach
the British officials the local language and culture so that they would be better at
their job.

There was a strong opposition to this Orientalist approach by different groups in

England – the Evangelicals, the Liberals and the Utilitarians. The new cultural ethos
that developed in England with the Industrial Revolution was highly critical of the
company’s monopoly trade. Post-industrial Revolution saw little of value beyond
modern western culture. The Evangelicals had a firm conviction in the superiority of

17
Christian ideas and western institutions. Two great exponents of the Evangelical
view were Charles Grant and William Wilberforce.
Others who did not share Evangelical faith also were convinced of the superiority of
western knowledge and one of the chief promoters of this idea was Thomas
Babington Macaulay. He recommended that western learning should be promoted in
India through English language and this should be the objective of education policy
in India. James Mill, the chief advocate of Utilitarianism in India, was highly critical
of Indian religion and culture. But he believed that education alone was not sufficient
to bring desired transformation in India; legislative and administrative reforms were
also essentials for this purpose.
In brief, all of these groups who may be called ‘Anglicists’, in general believed that
Indians were in a backward stage and Western education given through English
language alone was the remedy. But education was expensive. Therefore it was
better to educate a group of people who would gradually educate the rest of the
society. Education would filter down from the elites to the masses. In this way it
would help to develop new cultural values and knowledge in India. This was after
called the ‘filtration’ theory.
The missionaries had a completely different logic for supporting the introduction of
English education in India. The motive of the missionaries was to get access to the
indigenous society through education and to propagate new cultural values which
would help them in conversion of people to Christianity.
The response of Indians to this debate over education policy was a mixed one. Ram
Mohan Roy and others favoured introduction of Western education with the belief
that it would help Indians to assimilate the knowledge of western science,
rationalism, new ideas and literature. This would help in the regeneration of the
country. Some other people believed that knowledge of Western education, specially
the knowledge of English, would help them in getting jobs and coming close to the
ruling elite. So they were in support of Western education. In opposition to this there
were many conservatives who were staunch supporters of Indian classical language
and culture.
They had the apprehension that introduction of Western education would lead to the
collapse of indigenous society and culture.

Thus, there were different shades of opinion among the Europeans as well as Indians
about the role of the company in the development of education in India. Let us see in
the next section what major developments took place in Indian education during
1757-1857. The Anglicists wanted to promote western education because they
wanted to modernize India.

18
1.11 LET’S SUM UP
The earliest attempts to introduce English in India were made by the missionaries
who came primarily for the purpose of religious and moral preaching rather than for
spreading English. The second phase of the presence and spread of English in India
is identified with two names, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and T.B. Macaulay. Raja Ram
Mohan Roy led a group of Indian’s demanding English education for Indians. This
group was convinced that English would be more useful for Indians than Indian
languages for academic, socio-economic, scientific and internal purposes. English
has continued to gain ground and has become more and more firmly entrenched in
the Indian soil. As a matter of fact, since independence, several committees and
commissions have, on different occasions, stressed the need to learn English. The
government, on its own part, has consistently lent support to English and encouraged
the teaching and learning of English. Government policies have also given official
recognition to English as associate official language. The situation, as it obtains
today, is that English is recognised "officially as the Associate National Official
Language, and as inter-regional link-language; educationally it is recognised as an
essential component of education and as the preferred medium of learning, with
specialised education in science and technology available through the medium of
English only; socially it is recognised and upheld as a mark of education, culture and
prestige." (Gupta and Kapoor, 1991:19)

1.12 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) English as language of prestige and currency to job market. Elucidate

…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
2) Write a short note on Education Policy?
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………

19
UNIT 2 : EAST INDIA COMPANY’S ARRIVAL IN
INDIA, ESTABLISHMENT OF COLLEGES
TO PROMOTE WESTERN EDUCATION
Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Development of English Education
2.3 Impact of Colonialism on Education in India
2.4 Let us Sum up
2.5 Check Your Progress

2.0 OBJECTIVES
The pioneering contribution in modern education. These missionary activities and the
mounting pressure by some Englishmen like Charles Grant and William Wilberforce
compelled the Company to give up its policy of non-intervention in education.

2.1 INTRODUCTION
As we have seen in the earlier section, the beginning of English education can be
traced only to the early 19th century. Before that the efforts made by the missionaries
or by individuals were very limited in nature. We may mention in this connection
Schwartzs schools in Tanjore, Ramnad and Shivganga, the Baptist Missionaries in
Serampore, the London Mission Society, the American Methodists in Bombay, etc.

2.2 DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH EDUCATION

For the first time the British Parliament included in the Company’s charter a clause
that the Governor-General in Council is bound to keep a sum of not less than one
lakh of rupees per year for education. But the company used this fund mainly to
promote and encourage Indian language and literature. The importance of the Charter
Act of 1813 was that the Company for the first time acknowledged state
responsibility for the promotion of education in India.
In 1823 a General Committee of Public Institution was set up to look after the
development of education in India. Most of the members of this committee belonged
to the Orientalist group and they strongly advocated the promotion of oriental
learning rather than the promotion of Western education. However, as we have
discussed in the earlier section, different sections both in England and in India
created mounting.

20
2.3 IMPACT OF COLONIALISM ON EDUCATION IN INDIA
Pressure on the Company to encourage Western education. Macaulay, the President
of the General Committee of Public Instruction and Lord Bentinck, the Governor
General, took the side of the Anglicists and Bentinck gave his ruling that “the great
object of the British Government in India was henceforth to be the promotion of
European literature and science among the natives of India; and that all the funds
appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English
education alone”
Some of the important points of the resolution that Bentinck announced in 1835 were
as follows:

 Persian was abolished as the court language and was substituted by English.
 Printing and publication of English books was made free and available at a
comparatively low price.
 more fund provided to support the English education, while there was
curtailment in the fund for the promotion of oriental learning.
Auckland who came after Bentinck as the Governor-General also believed in the
need for the promotion of English education in India. He recommended the opening
of more English colleges in Dacca, Patna, Benares, Allahabad, Agra, Delhi and
Bareilly.
The General Committee of Public Instruction was abolished in 1841 and its place
was taken by a Council of Education. The next major landmark in the development
of English education in this period was the Wood’s Despatch of 1854. Sir Charles
Wood, the president of the Board of Control, in 1854 laid down the policy which
became the guiding principle of the education programme of the government of
India.

The Despatch categorically declared.

“The education that we desire to see extended in India is that which has for its
Object the diffusion of the improved arts, science, philosophy and literature of
Europe, in short of European knowledge”.

The major recommendations of the Despatch were as follows:

The creation of a department of public instruction in each of the five provinces of the
company’s territory,

 The establishment of university at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras,

 The establishment of network of graded schools-high schools, middle schools
and the elementary schools,
 The establishment of teachers training institutions,
 The promotion of vernacular schools,

21
  The introduction of a system of grants-in-aid for financial help to the schools,
etc.
In 1857 three universities were established in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. The
establishment of universities and the opening of education departments in the
provinces provided a basic structure to modern education in India, in fact Wood’s
Despatch provided the model for the further development in education in India.
Along with this official initiative to promote western learning in India, there was
initiative by the missionaries and some individuals to promote Western education. In
Bengal some of the important colleges were established by the Christian
missionaries. These missionary institutions did play a role in spreading western
knowledge, though their basic object was to attract people to Christianity. Besides
the missionaries some individuals played a significant role to promote English
education in Calcutta. The establishment of Hindu College (later Presidency College)
in Calcutta by David Hare and a group of local Hindu notables facilitated the
promotion of secular education among Indians. David Hare was against the teaching
of religious ideas and Sanskrit and Arabic languages. J.E.D. Bethune who was an
ardent advocate of women’s education founded a girls’ school in Calcutta. Among
the Bengalis, Vidyasagar

Historical Background supported the promotion of women’s education. All these

institutions obtained a positive response from the local people who strongly pleaded
to the British for further expansion of educational opportunities.

2.4 LET’S SUM UP

Pressure on the Company to encourage Western education. Macaulay, the President
of the General Committee of Public Instruction and Lord Bentinck, the Governor
General, took the side of the Anglicists and Bentinck gave his ruling that “the great
object of the British Government in India was henceforth to be the promotion of
European literature and science among the natives of India; and that all the funds
appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English
education alone”. In 1857 three universities were established in Calcutta, Bombay
and Madras. The establishment of universities and the opening of education
departments in the provinces provided a basic structure to modern education in India,
in fact Wood’s Despatch provided the model for the further development in
education in India

2.5 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) Impact of Colonialism on Education in India
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………........................................................

22
2) State the Establishment of Colleges to promote Western Education.
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………...............................
3) Write a short note on Wood’s Despatch?

…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………….......................................

23
UNIT 3 : INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 India’s First War of Independence
3.3 Causes of India’s First War of Independence
3.4 Reasons of Failure of the War
3.5 Let’s Sum Up
3.6 Check Your Progress

3.0 OBJECTIVES

The rebellion of 1857 is considered the first blow that came to shatter the British rule
in India. Some of the other rebellions and leaders included Rani Lakshmibai, Kunwar
Singh, Bahadur Shah, Nana Saheb, Tatia Tope and Begum Hazrat Mahal.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

India's first war of independence, better known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857,
began on this day, May 10 in the year 1857. The first martyr of the revolt was
Mangal Pandey and the war was the result of accumulation of many factors over
time.

3.2 INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in
India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which
functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began
on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in
the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi (now Old Delhi). It
then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic
plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and
east. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region, and
was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1
November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder,
though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859.
Its name is contested, variously described as the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny,
the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection, and the First
War of Independence.

24
The Indian rebellion was fed by resentments born of diverse perceptions, including
invasive British-style social reforms, harsh land taxes, summary treatment of some
rich landowners and princes, as well as scepticism about the improvements brought
about by British rule. Many Indians rose against the British; however, many also
fought for the British, and the majority remained seemingly compliant to British
rule. Violence, which sometimes betrayed exceptional cruelty, was inflicted on both
sides, on British officers, and civilians, including women and children, by the rebels,
and on the rebels, and their supporters, including sometimes entire villages, by
British reprisals; the cities of Delhi and Lucknow were laid waste in the fighting and
the British retaliation.
After the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the rebels very quickly reached Delhi,
whose 81-year-old Mughal ruler, Bahadur Shah Zafar, they declared the Emperor
of Hindustan. Soon, the rebels had also captured large tracts of the North-Western
Provinces and Awadh (Oudh). The East India Company's response came rapidly as
well. With help from reinforcements, Kanpur was retaken by mid-July 1857, and
Delhi by the end of September. However, it then took the remainder of 1857 and the
better part of 1858 for the rebellion to be suppressed in Jhansi, Lucknow, and
especially the Awadh countryside. Other regions of Company controlled India—
Bengal province, the Bombay Presidency, and the Madras Presidency—remained
largely calm. In the Punjab, the Sikh princes crucially helped the British by providing
both soldiers and support. The large princely states, Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore,
and Kashmir, as well as the smaller ones of Rajputana, did not join the rebellion,
serving the British, in the Governor-General Lord Canning's words, as "breakwaters
in a storm."

In some regions, most notably in Awadh, the rebellion took on the attributes of a
patriotic revolt against European oppression. However, the rebel leaders proclaimed
no articles of faith that presaged a new political system. Even so, the rebellion
proved to be an important watershed in Indian- and British Empire history. It led to
the dissolution of the East India Company, and forced the British to reorganize the
army, the financial system, and the administration in India, through passage of
the Government of India Act 1858. India was thereafter administered directly by the
British government in the new British Raj. On 1 November 1858, Queen
Victoria issued a proclamation to Indians, which while lacking the authority of a
constitutional provision, promised rights similar to those of other British subjects. In
the following decades, when admission to these rights was not always forthcoming,
Indians were to pointedly refer to the Queen's proclamation in growing avowals of a
new nationalism. (https://en.wikipediam.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857)

25
3.3 CAUSES OF INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
 There was discrimination among the British and Indian soldiers. It has been
believed that the behavior of British soldiers towards Indian soldiers was quite
rude
 By January 1857, rumours had been taking rounds that the English cartridges
were greased with animal fat. This was further sparked when during a fight, a
low-caste sepoy taunted a high caste sepoy for 'losing his caste' after biting the
cartridge as they were greased with the fat of pigs and cows
 There had also been rumours that the British were trying to destroy the religions
of the Indian people
 One of the other reasons was the introduction of a new land revenue system which
snatched the land from cultivators.

3.4 REASONS OF FAILURE OF THE WAR

 Some epicentres of the revolt were- Kanpur, Lucknow, Aligarh, Agra, Arrah,
Delhi, and Jhansi
 Due to all the epicentres being far from each other, there was a communication
gap between the leaders of different parts of India
 Due to the rebellion having no central leadership, it got limited to some parts of
India only
 Rebels did not have enough weapons and finance whereas British people had
advanced weapons and enough finance.

26
Impact of the revolt:

 In August 1850, the British Parliament passed an act for Better Government of
India
 The act ended the rule of the Company in India
 The control of the British government in India was transferred to the British
Crown
 After the revolt, the British pursued the policy of divide and rule
 Total expense of the suppression of the Revolt was borne by the Indians.

3.5 LET’S SUM UP

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in
India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which
functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began
on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the
garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi (now Old Delhi). It then
erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain
and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The
rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region, and was
contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November
1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they
did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859. Its name is
contested, variously described as the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great
Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection, and the First War of
Independence.

27
3.6 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
1) Write a short note on the Uprising of Revolt of 1857?
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
……........................................................................................................

2) Impact of Revolt of 1857 in future freedom movement.

………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………
………....................................................................................................

28
UNIT 4 : THE EVOLUTION OF INDIAN WRITING IN
ENGLISH IN 20TH CENTURY
Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 History of Indian English Literature
4.2.1 Issues
4.2.2 Beginnings
4.3 Macaulay’s “Minute” and the Indian Renaissance
4.3.1 Early Twentieth Century
4.3.2 Post-Independence Period
4.3.3 Indiannesss in Context: “The Gandhian Whirlwind”
4.4 Let us Sum Up
4.5 Check Your Progress
4.6 Suggested Readings

4.0 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit the learner will be able to:

 address the raging debate on ‘Indianness’

 read the history of colonial encounter with the British
 address the historical as well as theoretical questions of using an alien
language to express the essence of Indian sensibility
 read critically the history of Indian Writing in English.

4.1 INTRODUCTION
The attempt to read or write the history of ‘Indian Writing in English’ is critically
embroiled in the problematic of using the proper terminology (Indian English
literature or Indo-Anglian) as evident in the continuous debate on the ‘Indianness’.
Having experienced the history of colonial encounter with the British, the historical,
ideological as well as theoretical questions of using an alien language to express the
essence of Indian sensibility form the core of the problem of interpretation. The
history of colonial encounter with the British is categorically important for any
reading of the history of ‘Indian Writing in English’. To illustrate, the influential
impact of the 1813 Charter Act and the ensuing 1835 English Education Act of
William Bentinck are noteworthy contribution to the wide circulation of English
language and literature thereby contributing to a cultural archive borrowed and
mediated in nature. The history of Indian writing in English is therefore viewed
through the prism of cultural translation and consequent assimilation. However, the

29
early twentieth century witnesses the surge of ‘Indianness’ in terms of form, content,
style of writing which parallels the simultaneous process of the rise of nationalism.
The idea of national awakening in terms of a unified national imaginary has been
subject to various debates and interpretations with the progress of Indian history.
Hence, the realm is a dynamic terrain with constantly changing cultural and
ideological dynamics. This module dealing with the history of ‘Indian Writing in
English’ therefore aims not to be rigidly conclusive in terms of offering a simplistic
thematisation of the historical situation and its impact on the literary configurations
and vice versa in the attempt to address the larger historical and cultural dynamics.
The attempt is to offer perspectives on the reading of history by opening a dialogic
terrain where social, political, and economic conditions influence, reconfigure,
interact, reconceptualise the imaginative and intellectual processes and the ensuing 3
literary representations of history as well as historical representation of literature
elude any simplistic conclusive categorization in the context of the larger issues of
historiography, nation/nationalism, the intricate relation between
imagining/fashioning the self in the context of nation-state, the process of
acculturation etc. The other modules designed to read the literature produced during
these years adumbrate such interpretative perspective. Each module deals with
illustrative analysis of representative texts from all relevant genres- prose, poetry,
drama, novel and an attempt has been made to proceed in a chronological order to
offer a coherent perspective. This module “Situating ‘Indian English Writing’” is an
attempt to address the fraught context of the emergence of the literary writing in
English and deals with the context of the self-fashioning of historical, social and
cultural and literary imaginary of the term ‘Indian’.

4.2 HISTORY OF INDIAN ENGLISH LITERATURE

4.2.1 Issues
This section unfolds the complex history of ‘Indianness’ or ‘being Indian’ in the
context of colonial encounter and the ensuing emergence of a cultural space where
British cultural codes got embedded in Indian English writing. Our aim is to situate
the question of cultural politics and history in the context of literary representations
as literary representations are embroiled in historical and cultural thought. As stated
earlier, the educational reforms initiated by British thrive on the enlightenment idea
of progressive liberalization and our aim is to trace the politics and context of the
imitative aspect of the beginning years, the emergence of a nationalist rhetoric in the
twentieth century and the consequent restructuring and reshaping of the concepts
‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ in the subsequent years. Hence, the first two sub-sections
set the ground for the further exploration of the evolution of various genres
contributing to the history of ‘Indian 4 Writing in English’ as we learn the intricate
relation existing between the discourses of colonialism and nationalism in the context
of India’s history of colonialism. The third subsection focuses on the poetics and
politics of ‘Language’ thereby going beyond the question of linguistic shift in the

30
context of English Studies in India as English has become Indianised during the post-
Independence years. Hence the desire to read the history of colonial encounter in
terms of the exploration of an authentic Indian self though the question of
authenticity of the Indian self-mediated through the prism of an alien language is
channelized in a different way to make it a common affair. Though the impact of
English Studies in India on the collective cultural imaginary remains crucial to the
question of ‘Indianness’ and will be addressed in subsequent modules, we cannot
deny the fact that it is impossible to conceptualise Indian imaginary without English.

4.2.2 Beginnings
The temptation to view English literary study as the extension of the spread of
English education in India is blinding to the fact that English literary study was a
potent tool for the consolidating of colonial authority. In India English Literary Study
was playing a different role contrary to its secular humanist concerns as visible in the
missionary activities. The earliest instance of Indian writing in English is The
Travels of Din Mahomet (1794) written by Din Muhammad who migrated in
England in 1784. The English language came to Indian soil twenty years before the
East India Company came into existence when a Roman Catholic, Father Thomas
Stephens came to India to escape persecution in Elizabethan England around 1578.
India was an enchanting place for traders and merchants- John Newberry, Ralph
Fitch, William Leeds, James Story. Some of them were writers as we see in Ralph
Fitch whose account appeared in Richard Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations
(1599).The influence of such representative cases of missionary and merchant
activities can hardly be negated in the flourishing of Indian English literature.
English came to India around 1660 when the factories of East India Company along
the Malabar and Coromandel coasts began to prosper. In 1660, England witnessed
the restoration of monarchy with Charles II and Charles II sanctioned the company
with various powers thus enabling it to exercise jurisdiction over all English subjects
in factories. They were also granted 5 the power to declare war or peace on native
Indians. Henceforth, during seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the gradual
interaction between the British and the Indian especially in the employment zone led
to the creation of a class of dubashis, bilingual familiar with French, English, Dutch,
and Portuguese. The Indians employed by the Europeans and the Europeans working
for Indian rulers together initiated the first stage of linguistic transmission.
Gradually, the company which initially came for trade slowly became the virtual
ruler and administrator of the country and started to train a category of people to
work for them in offices as clerks and mediators. By 1757, the company was
established as the virtual ruler of Bengal and the establishment of schools and
colleges was a strategic part in consolidation of power leading to the Orientalist
phase of colonial rule. To elaborate, the Charter Act of 1813 imposed an official
responsibility upon the company to educate the Indian natives. Gauri Viswanathan in
The Masks of Conquest traces the history of the last quarter of eighteenth century
when the Parliament worried with the growing power of a commercial company
undertook “a serious and active interest in Indian politics” (27). The greatest concern
31
of the Parliament was the moral depravity of the officials and in the context of saving
the native Indians “against the wrongs and oppressions of British subjects resident in
Bengal”, the politics got a new dimension. As Viswanathan argues, “Orientalism was
adopted as an official policy partly out of expediency and caution and partly out of
an emergent political sense that an efficient Indian administration rested on an
understanding of “Indian culture” (28). With Orientalism “the worlds of scholarship
and politics” (Viswanathan 29) merged into a poetics of representation. ‘Anglicism’,
the policy of regarding the promotion of indigenous Indian languages and literatures
in native education instrumental to the undesirable and chaotic consequences was
contrary to Orientalism. Warren Hastings was succeeded by Lord Cornwallis (1786-
1793) as governor-general who thought that “the official indulgence toward Oriental
forms of social organization, especially government, was directly responsible for the
lax morals of the Company servants …. To Cornwallis, the abuse of power was the
most serious of evils afflicting the East India Company, not only jeopardizing the
British hold over India but, worse still, dividing the English nation on the legitimacy
of the colonial enterprise.”(Viswanathan 30). The Anglicist Orientalist controversy
paved the way for close involvement of Englishmen like James Harington, J.P
Larkins, W.W.Martin, John C. Sutherland, Henry Shakespeare, Holt Mackenzie, 6
Horace Wilson, Andrew Stirling, William B. Bayley, Henry Prinsep, Nathaniel
Halhed, and John Tytler, with Indian and political cultural life during the period from
1805 to 1820.Horace Wilson, secretary to the Committee of Public Instruction
advocated various reforms in the Indian curriculum to bring in the teaching of
European science and English literature along with the Oriental languages.The other
prominent voices were Macaulay, Charles Trevelyan and Alexander Duff. The
controversy itself was triggered off by the General Council of Public Instruction in
Calcutta proposing to withdraw financial support to Oriental learning in favour of
promoting the study of English and literature. (Viswanathan, 101) Subsequent
conflicts related to the support for Orientalism or Anglicism were negotiated on the
ground of British consolidation of authority and the Charter Act of 1813 was
basically a result of diverse terrains. The Charter Act of 1813 is instrumental in
introducing missionary activity to Indian as it granted the missionaries with required
power and scope to carry out the reforms. Ironically the reformist activities were
related to the improvement of native morals. Hence English education was intricately
linked with the British government’s policies of exerting and reinforcing its power
and domination over India. According to the Charter Act of 1813, a sum of not less
than one lakh rupees was kept for the improvement of native education. But there
were no definite instructions in the Act regarding the ways the amount of one lakh
should be spent. As Viswanathan rightly points out, “The policy in the years
immediately following the Charter Act was to establish institutions devoted to the
teaching of Oriental languages and literature” (37). The impact of the Charter Act of
1813 on English education in India is immense as gradually the introduction of
English literature in India came as the solution to the existing tension between two
spheres- spread of Indian education and the issue of interference in religion. A clause
within the Charter Act aimed for the “revival and improvement of literature” but the

32
term was not properly defined and was kept vague till Thomas Babington Macaulay
interpreted it as Western literature in his famous Minute (1835).

4.3 MACAULAY’S “MINUTE” AND THE INDIAN

RENAISSANCE
(From M.K. Naik’s A History of Indian English Literature)
The turn of events from Macaulay’s ‘Minute’ to Sir Charles Wood’s despatches its
after-effects is described thus: to begin by quoting from Macaulay – “The question
now before us is simply whether, when it is in our power to teach this language, we
shall teach languages in which by 7 universal confession there are no books on any
subject which deserve to be compared to our own; whether we teach European
science, we shall teach systems which by universal confession, whenever they differ
from those of Europe, differ for the worse, and whether, when we can patronize
sound philosophy and true history, we shall countenance at public expense medical
doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier, astronomy which would move
laughter in girls at an English boarding school, history abounding with kings thirty
feet high and reigns 30,000 years long and geography made up of seas of treacle and
seas of butter… The logical outcome of Wood’s Despatch was the establishment of
the three first Indian universities- those of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras- in 1857.
These universities soon became the nurseries of the resurgent Indian genius, which
within hardly a generation thereafter ushered in a renaissance in the political, social,
cultural and literary spheres of Indian life.” [Naik, 12-13] As a consequence of
Macaulay’s ‘Minute’ of 1835, William Bentinck, the Governor-general, adopted the
English Education Act under which the teaching of English was removed from“the
Sanskrit College and the Madrassa and confined to institutions devoted to studies
entirely conducted in English.” (Viswanathan, 41). On 7March 1835, William
Bentinck declared that “the great object of the British Government ought to be the
promotion of European literature and science among the natives of India, and all
funds appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English
education alone.” A period of ‘Anglicization’ distinguished by the promise of
renewed aspiration and national consciousness in terms of knowledge production
resurfaced 1835 onwards. It triggered tremendous support among native Indians. In
1854, Sir Charles Wood’s (a member of the Select Committee of the British
Parliament in 1852-53) Despatch to Lord Dalhousie (then Governor-general)
negotiated the problems arising out of this situation and Sir Charles Wood is
remembered for the spread of English education in India. During the twenty years
between 1835 and 1855—the period of Macaulay’s ‘Minute’, the English Education
Act of Bentinck and Wood’s Dispensations—the number of English-speaking
persons increased thereby contributing to the emergence, promotion and growth of
Indian English Literature. To quote Iyengar: “It is said that even in 1834-5, 32,000
English books sold in India as against 13,000 in Hindi, 8 Hindustani and Bengali,
and 1,500 in Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic. The vogue for English books increased,

33
and the demand came even more from the Indian than the Englishmen in India (28)
K.R.S. Iyengar calls the years from 1835 to 1855 the “phoenix-hour that bred Indo-
Anglian literature” (29). The imposition of English-centred education in India led to
“the literary renaissance in India as seen in Raja Rammohan Roy’s “A Defense of
Hindu Theism” (1817) which is regarded as the first significant piece of writing in
English by an Indian.

4.3.1 Early Twentieth Century

As we see in the earlier section, the introduction of English literature was crucial to
the survival of the colonial enterprise. To elaborate, English Literary Studies is
introduced in India much before their inclusion in educational curriculum in England
as schools in Britain began to teach English literature only in 1871 whereas in India
we witness the demand for the adoption of English literary study as early as 1816
exemplified in the setting up of the Hindu College. Literature can hardly be
ideologically neutral and the British officials consider it to be the best medium to
impart moral education to the native Indians as they felt that moral education of
Indians was important for sustaining the political and material control. Charles
Grant’s idea of reinforcing the colonial authority and redressing religious and
cultural difference through educational aspects materialized in the case of the
committee comprising Alexander Duff (missionary), Charles Trevelyan
(administrator), and W.H. Pearce who undertook the task of selecting and prescribing
literary texts suitable for Indian libraries and schools. But the real challenge for the
colonial administration was to separate the religious and the secular aspects of the
British presence in the country as it was found that the English literary texts
(Shakespeare, Addison, Bacon, Locke) were replete with moral and religious
elements. Hence, Grant’s proposal to invest on the moral education of Indian was
materialized through the adoption of the study of English literary texts. Seen in this
context, English Literary Study was instrumental in the teaching of the tenets of
Christianity in India as well as in the moral and cultural training of the officials.
Interestingly, Lord Hardinge, governor-general from 1844-1848, declared that
Indians with an expertise in European literature would be preferred for working in
public office run by the British. 9 The early twentieth century was distinguished by
the great Revolt of 1857, also referred to as the First War of Indian Independence; an
ambivalent Indian attitude towards the presence of the British and the English
language thereby leading to a synthesis between socio-political circumstances and
aesthetic and creative sensibility. Vivek Dhareswar addresses the complex
negotiations in relation to the context of historical production. According to him, the
reason of this complex process lies in the relation of literature to its context of
production and users. The end of the great Revolt of 1857 and the declaration of
peace on 8th Henceforth, the Indian nation was on the verge of a period of renewed
hope and expectation which eventually led to the emergence of national
consciousness translated in the form of a strategic articulation of myriad possibilities
in various contexts, literature being the most prominent amongst all. The age is
marked by the exploration of the exclusivity of the ‘Indian’ identity in the context of
34
the emergence and evolution of Indian Nationalism. As we proceed to offer an
insight into the various historical processes influencing literary writing, it is found
that literary creations participated in the creation of a national imaginary in terms of
the discourse of imperialism and nationalism.The strategic evolution of such
ideological and cultural July, 1858, brought an end to the activities of the East India
Company in India. During the period from 1857 to 1947, the Indian spirit was
marked by radical transformations from all quarters.It was a phoenix hour when
India was able to transcend the sense of inferiority and frustration and rediscovered
her identity. The sense of self-confidence and self-awareness marks this period of
renewed self-assessment and exploration of opportunities .The East India Company
was formally dissolved in January 1847 corresponding to a period of religious,
social, and political reform. The reformist era was similar to 1828 when Raja
Rammohun Roy had first established the Brahmo Samaj. After his death, this
movement was further propagated by Keshab Chunder Sen while similar
organizations like the Prarthana Samaj were set up by M.G. Ranade and R.G.
Bhandarkar in 1867 in Bombay. Swami Dayanand Saraswati set up the Arya Samaj
in 1875 in the cultural turn towards an earlier, purer form of Hinduism. Another kind
of support to this wave of revivalism came from the Theosophical Society founded in
New York by Madame H.P. Blavatsky, Col. H.S. Olcott, W.O. Judge besides others.
Moreover, the Indian National Congress came into existence in 1885 thereby paving
the way towards political unity. The outbreak of World War I challenged the core of
British imperialism and gradually we witness the rise of the new Indian intelligentsia.
10 formations in terms of articulating Indian national identity is explored in the
plethora of writings imbued with nationalist rhetoric by Aurobindo Ghosh,
Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nirad C. Chaudhuri etc. which draw
attention to the process of identity formation.

4.3.2 Post-Independence Period

The post-Independence period is marked by rapid and overwhelming changes in
economic, political, social, cultural spheres. In the economic sphere, it was an era of
developments in the form of the implementation of Five-year-Plans, the emergence
of large industrial projects in the public sector, community development projects and
the nationalization of Life Insurance and the banks, multi-purpose river projects,
agrarian reforms etc. 1956 was an important year when the boundaries of states were
re-drawn on a linguistic basis. In the social sphere, efforts to eradicate traditional
social inequalities and superstition were translated in the adoption of progressive
measures such as the Untouchability Offences Act of 1955, the Hindu Code Bill, etc.
Several schemes were launched to address the persistent issues related to social
development. Consequently, the country witnessed a rise in national literacy rates by
75% between 1951 and 1971. The growing number of readership along with the
increasing literacy rate gave an impetus to the continuity of Indian English literature.
Various reasons contributed to such growth. To elaborate, now we find the English
journals like The Illustrated Weekly of India and Quest encouraging the publication
of Indian English verse and prose. Moreover, the prestigious Sahitya Akademi
35
Award started covering Indian English Literature from the year 1960. It gave
tremendous impetus by acting as a source of inspiration for the writers of Indian
English literature. The gradual awakening of a national identity in the Post-
Independence period infused the Indian writings with a renewed sense of self-
confidence and assertion. The fact of gaining political independence from colonial
rule in 1947 was the harbinger of a new era in literature as well as culture. The
historic moment not only helped the Indian English writer to affirm the sense of
identity, it also led to an era of intense self-scrutiny thereby widening their vision.
We witness the increasing growth in the readership. Although initially the role of
English was viewed through the prism of borrowed perspective, gradually the
language was ‘Indianised’ and became a part of the soil. It paved the way for the
strategic negation of “British” in terms of representation of themes and techniques
specific to the articulation of Indian national identity. 11 The aim was also to make
the reader aware of the ruptures inherent in such processes of selfarticulation as the
question of identity, therefore also focuses on the strategic exclusion of the subaltern
groups, essentially situated at the margins of colonial and nationalist discourse of
difference.

4.3.3 Indiannesss in Context: “The Gandhian Whirlwind”

Again, we must take note of what Menakshi Mukherjee points out: “No discussion of
IndoAnglian fiction dealing with the independence movement would be complete
without an assessment of the function of Mahatma Gandhi in these novels. The most
potent force behind the whole movement, the Mahatma is a recurring presence in
these novels, and he is used in different ways to suit the design of each writer. He has
been treated variously as an idea, a myth, a symbol, a tangible reality, and a
benevolent human being. In a few novels he appears in person, in most others his is
an invisible presence.”[The Twice Born Fiction, p.66]

4.4 LET US SUM UP

The problematic of Indian English literature mediated through the aesthetics of
translating one’s self into the coloniser’s tongue as the question of dominance and
hegemony is intricately related to the evolution of English literary studies in India.
Having said so, the module deals with the derivative as well as creative aspect of
‘Indian Writing in English’ as the presence of the colonial context is unique to the
creation of a canon of ‘Indian Writing in English’. An attempt has been made to
incorporate the representative documents (not necessarily literary) like Lord
Macaulay’s Minute to enhance our understanding of the creation of cultural archive
deeply embedded in postcolonial discourse of difference.

36
4.5 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) Historical as well as Theoretical questions of using an alien language to

express the essence of Indian sensibility. Justify
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………....
2) The History of Colonial encounter with the British. Explain
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………...

4.6 SUGGESTED READINGS

 Name Affiliation- Principal Investigator Prof. Tutun Mukherjee University of

Hyderabad
 Paper Coordinator- Prof. Asha Kuthari Chaudhuri, Guwahati University
 Content Writer/Author (CW) - Dr. Sanghamitra Dey, Arya Vidyapeeth
College, Guwahati
 Content Reviewer (CR) - Dr. Lalan Kishore Singh Dept. of English, Gauhati
University Language
 Editor (LE) - Dr. Dolikajyoti Sharma, Assistant Professor, Gauhati University

37