The Raj in Fiction - A Study of Nineteenth-Century British Attitudes Towards India

The attitudes of the British towards India and its people were part of the ideology of the empire. As the Industrial Revolution in England began to have its impact on the way of life of the people this ideology itself assumed different forms. This book attempts an in-depth study of the different British attitudes towards India as they were reflected in some of the major representative works of fiction written in the period from 1820 to 1870, the 'Era of Reform'. All these books were written by Anglo Indians, Englishmen who resided in India but were not finally settled in this country and who had a direct, first-hand knowledge of the country and its people. The author has looked at these works as representative of attitudes of the writers and not just strong individual responses towards the country and its people. He has given a penetrative analysis of the intellectual cross-currents of nineteenth century England which helped to shape Britain's colonial policy towards India. They are important as sociological commentaries on the British-India connection. Taking a few representative works of the period for study, the author succeeds in bringing out the undercurrents of hostility or sympathy prevailing during the times towards India and its people. The book is well written. The author's style is expressive and well integrated. All those interested in works on India especially by foreign writers must read this book.

Udayon Misra (b.1945) did his MA in English Literature from the Gauhati University and his Ph.D. from Dibrugarh University. Currently, he is a Reader in the Department of English, Dibrugarh University. He writes on socio-political developments for the Economic and Political Weekly and the Sunday Observer. He has also authored several books like the Nationality Question in India, and North East Region: Problems and Prospects of Development.

There have been several illuminating works dealing with the literature of imperialism in relation to India but most of these studies on Anglo-Indian fiction deal with the latter half of the nineteenth century. The lack of critical writing on the fiction of the first half of the nineteenth century, especially of the period broadly termed as the 'Era of Reform', tempted me to carry out a study of British attitudes towards India as reflected in the Anglo-Indian fiction spanning the period 1820-1870. While the various British attitudes towards India were part of the ideology of the empire, yet it is interesting to note that as we moved into the nineteenth century, India became the battleground of several apparently conflicting thought-trends which had grown in the course of the Industrial Revolution in England and which, in many senses, overlapped. The analysis of nineteenth-century British attitudes has been based on an in-depth study of the representative works of fiction which tried to explore. the Indian sensibility through a portrayal of Indian life and manners. For this purpose, the works of W.B. Hockley, Philip Meadows Taylor, W.D. Arnold and Prichard have been taken up for detailed discussion. Apart from the novels, the journals, diaries, accounts, etc. on India written by Englishmen during the period under review have also been examined. us to ilges An analysis of these works of fiction reveals that these, far from being the isolated writings of some English men on India, were part of the emerging British attitudes towards this country during the early and middle part of the nineteenth century. While it is true that each of these works was the result of a strong individual res ponse to the Indian situation, yet the underlying pattern that emerges in these works is in their reflection of the prevailing ideas and attitudes which helped to shape Britain's policy towards India. Most of these attitudes were the outcome of changes in the content of British colonialism and came to be applied to India during the various phases of British rule in this country. Once we succeed in penetrating beyond the purely individual response which seemed to characterize most of the Anglo Indian fiction of the period under study and discover in them the reflection of the intellectual cross-currents of nineteenth-century England-cross-currents which were of immense importance in the shaping of British colonial policy towards India- then the value of these works not merely as fiction but also as important socio logical documents will be realized. As expressions of the British mind abroad during a period of great intellectual flux in England, these works help us to understand in a broader perspective the story of the British presence in India and the British-India connection. The period chosen for study is relevant and exciting not only because not much work has been done on it but also because it was one of the most exciting periods in the history of the British-India encounter when many a British intellectual current was sought to be tested on Indian soil. While the one major unifying theme of the works taken up for study is naturally India and the Englishman's experience of a strange and alien country, yet it is the re action to the intellectual cross-currents in England which may be seen as the connecting thread running through the entire range of Anglo-Indian fiction of the nineteenth century. I take this opportunity to record my gratitude to my supervisor. Dr Amaresh Datta, 'formerly Head of the Department of English, Gauhati and Dibrugarh Universities and currently Chief Editor, Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. I am also grateful to D.K. Barua,, currently. Professor of English of Burdwan University, for the help he rendered me during the initial stages of my work, and to Prof. M.K. Naik for his constructive suggestions on the choice of my topic. A special word of thanks must go to Dr M.S. Prabhakar, formerly Reader in English, Gauhati University, and presently Special Correspondent of the Hindu based in Gauhati, for the interest he has shown in my work and the helpful comments he has offered from time to time. I am especially thankful to the staff of the National Library, Calcutta, for the ungrudging. assistance rendered to me during the course of my work. I would also like to thank the staff of the British Council Library, Calcutta, and the Dibrugarh University Library. Lastly, my thanks to Dr Tilottoma Misra, Lecturer, Department of English, Dibrugarh University, for her constant encouragement and advice.

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