An historical sketch of the native states of India/Introductory chapter
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By Col. G. B. Malleson, Publisher: Longmans, Green & Co. London (1875)
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The affairs of India command at present an interest far greater than was bestowed upon them at any previous time. This is as true of that not inconsiderable portion of the country which still remains under native rulers as of the larger portion which has come under the direct sway of the British Government. The country has passed through various stages of its political history, and these afford useful subjects of study to the historian and to the statesman. The first stage comprised the long and comparatively peaceful period when, prior to the invasion of Mahmud of Ghizni, the nation owned the sway of sovereigns of its own race and faith. This would undoubtedly be the most interesting portion of its history for the study of the character and the institutions of the people in their native integrity. But though there are abundant traces of the country having then attained a high degree of prosperity and civilisation, so little is known in regard to the details of the principles of the government, or the condition of the people during this time, and so completely have all traditions connected with them been effaced by the long period of foreign rule which followed, that a study of the history of this epoch
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seems of value to the investigator of antiquarian researches rather than to the practical statesman. That the energies belonging to this purely native progress long ago exhausted themselves, was seen conspicuously in the manner in which all the once powerful Native States succumbed to the inroads of the Mahomedan invader.
The invasion of India by Mahmud of Ghizni, in the early part of the eleventh century, introduces us to the second, or Mahomedan, period of Indian history. The Mahomedan Empire properly commences from the establishment of the seat of government at Delhi, by Kutb-ud-din, in the year 1206 ; and from that date to the decline of the empire in 1707 is one of the longest periods of foreign rule which any country has ever witnessed. This fact is in itself a most instructive subject for study, as bearing on the character of the conquered and conquering races and their institutions. The Mahomedan rule soon, attained the status of a great empire ; and during a considerable portion of the Mogul period, from Akbar to Aurangzib, as well as in some of the preceding reigns, the Courts of Agra and Delhi, alike in their magnificence and in the largeness of their public measures, did not merely rival, but surpass, the best European Governments of the day. The institutions of Akbar in particular, the very advanced principles of toleration and justice to the conquered race which he introduced into his government — the influence of which was felt in several succeeding reigns — are worthy of imitation by the most enlightened Governments of any period. This great warrior, though belonging to an age which had but scarcely emerged from barbarism, recognised the sound principle that a Government must rest on the affections of the people. The measures which he adopted with this view for breaking down the barriers between the conquering and the conquered races are worthy of all praise. With the noble race of Rajputs, in particular, he entered into intimate relations. He so far
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overcame their prejudices that their principal families gave their daughters in marriage to himself, and to his children; while their sons led his armies to the field, achieved his conquests, and filled the principal offices in his administration. The Hindu States of Rajputana were under his rule more powerful, more prosperous and more influential, that they are at the present day ; and when we are further told that this enlightened ruler authorised Hindu widows to marry, mitigated the horrors of Sati, and forbade marriages before the age of puberty— measures the re-introduction of some of which have been laurels to the ablest administrators of our own day — it is impossible not to admire the wisdom and large-heartedness of his policy.
But the Mahomedan rule, like all other despotisms, contained within itself the seeds of decay. A Government which owes its success entirely to the personal character of the ruler affords no guarantee for continued progress. Akbar was a great ruler, but it was impossible even for Akbar to provide that he should be succeeded by another Akbar. To this defect, inherent in all personal governments, was added another of even greater magnitude in the unsettled rules of succession among children by several wives. The bloody contests and the unfeeling murders resulting from this cause distracted, and still continue to distract, the best of Mahomedan rules, as is painfully witnessed even at the present day, in the troubles which surround our ally of Afghanistan. The latter part of almost every reign of the successors of Akbar was clouded and unsettled by these contests, and when finally the bigoted Aurangzib departed from the wise principles of toleration introduced by his great ancestor, and by cruelties, persecutions, and repeated acts of faithlessness alienated the affections of his allies and subjects, the Mogul empire began rapidly to decline. After a long and brilliant reign, during which he extended the limits of his empire farther than any of his prede-
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cessors, lived to see the death of Sivaji, the founder of the power that was to supplant his own ; even to wreak vengeance on his successor — this great potentate, amidst all his triumphs, felt and felt keenly, before he descended into his grave, that the sceptre was departing from the Mogul. 'His last letters,' says Elphinstone, ' showed the failure of his hopes in this world, his dread of that to come.'
Upon the ruin of the Mogul rose the power of the Marhatas, whose predatory career forms the third stage in Indian history. For more than a century these active, restless, lawless warriors undoubtedly exercised a predominant sway over Indian affairs, holding a considerable extent of territory under their own direct rule, and extorting contributions from most of the other Governments in the country. But their career, which was one of rapine and plunder, has scarcely any claim to the attributes of a settled government, much less to those of a great empire.
From the final breaking down of the Marhata confederacy, in 1817, commences the absolute sovereignty of the great power which is yet destined to play an important part in the future history of this ancient nation. The territorial acquisitions and the influence of the English Government commenced from the middle of the eighteenth century, but its undisputed supremacy and claim to empire can properly reckon only from the complete crippling of the Marhatas in 1817. The time which has elapsed from that event to the present day is indeed but short, but the rapid changes which have taken place, even in this short interval, and the great strides in material and mental progress which have been made, cannot fail to convince the thoughtful native that his country has now entered upon a career which has no parallel in its previous history, whilst the stable character of the government, and the settled principles of its action, give the guarantee that the career thus com-
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menced is destined to progress without material interruption. Comparisons have often been challenged and made between the Mogul and the British rule in India, but such comparisons between a power which was still enveloped to a certain degree in barbarism, and one which is wielding all the resources, the knowledge, and the enlightened principles of a civilisation entirely modern and very recent, can only be regarded as ostentatious.
There are, however, as already noticed, favourable features in the Mahomedan rule which the English Government cannot lay claim to, and which it would be profitable for the English statesman to lay to heart. The Mahomedan Government was one which in every sense of the term lived in the country, acting upon the people and reacted upon by them in the most direct manner. The splendour of their Courts and the wealth of their aristocracy redounded to the benefit of the people, amongst whom all their acquisitions were spent in a manner calculated to stimulate and encourage native art, whilst the administration of public affairs was to a great extent, if not entirely, in the hands of the natives who held the principal offices in the civil administration, and enjoyed no small share in the command of the armies.These advantages, which touch the mainspring of national life and prosperity, are necessarily wanting in the British system, and it must be admitted that, in the opinion of the natives, this detracts somewhat from the benefits which that system otherwise confers. The superior science and resources of the British nation have annihilated whatever native arts or manufactures had been in existence, and have introduced nothing in their stead, whilst the exclusiveness of their national character and the still more exclusive nature of the administrative machinery adopted in India, have shut out the people from all share in the political administration of their afiairs. The British Government, in fact, professes to ad- minister the vast vital interests of an extensive nation by
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means of a foreign agency fluctuating and uncertain in character, and without availing itself to any considerable extent of the aid and counsels of the people whose interests are mainly affected by its legislation.
In making these remarks I am simply asserting a fact to which it is necessary to allude in marking the striking differences between the system of the British rule and of that which preceded it : they are advanced for that purpose only. Sure I am that the distinguished statesmen by whom the government of British India has been, and continues to be administered, had and have no object more at heart than the improvement of the country and the advancement of its people. If there should be any doubt upon that subject, the noble despatch of the Duke of Argyll, transmitted to India in 1871, would be sufficient to dissipate it. That despatch contained within it the germs of a system by which the natives of India will be gradually brought more largely into the administrative machinery.
Meanwhile it is a satisfaction to reflect that, owing to the more recent policy of the British Government, there still survive many native States independent as to their internal action, which afford now, and for years to come will continue to afford, some opening for native talent and native ambition, some opportunities for solving the great question of native advancement. These States, containing nearly 600,000 square miles, and inhabited by forty-eight millions of people, are scattered over the different parts of India. They are peopled by almost all the nationalities into which the country is divided. They thus form so many centres where the Sikh, the Mahomedan, the Rdjput, the Marhata, and the Dravidian can each bring out to the best advantage whatever may be peculiar and excellent in his national character and national institutions, under the generalising influence of English principles and English civilisation. Their opportunities for this lie essentially in the future. Deprived centuries ago
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of their independence, ground down by the Marhatas, restored to ease and safety by the British in 1817, they had not till within the last sixteen years shaken off the mistrust engendered partly by a retrospect of the past, but more even by the sight of the absorbing process occasionally put into action around them. But the Royal Proclamation transmitted to India by the present Earl of Derby in 1859, and the unmistakable manner in which the spirit of that proclamation has been carried out, have dissipated all alarms. Never were loyalty and good feeling more widely spread amongst the native princes of India than at the present moment. The moral influence thus gained gives the paramount power opportunities for urging the feudatory chiefs to adopt measures of progress and liberality. It is to be hoped that in the course of time there will be cemented between that power and its feudatories a confidence and affection such as can be born only of a complete comprehension of the native modes of thought on the one side, and an appreciation of the great moral ends aimed at by modem civilisation on the other. An understanding of that description would be the certain prelude to the grounding of a system compared to which that even of Akbar was ' the baseless fabric of a vision.' When not only the higher governing classes — who already appreciate the truth — but the great mass of Englishmen employed in India shall have schooled themselves to behave that real predominance consists alone, not in belonging to a mis-called dominant race, but in predominance in learning, in ability, in the higher mental qualities and moral powers of a man, irrespective of his colour, his nationality, and his creed ; when, too, the native shall have completely learned, as he is fast learning, that to take part in the affairs of the present age it will be necessary to abandon prejudices which restrict his progress, then only may we feel confident that India is entering upon a path which will tend to her advancement in greatness, and open out careers for her sons.
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Judging from the increasing numbers of thoughtful minds who now-a-days devote themselves to the consideration of these important questions, the subject will, it is certain, sooner or later attract earnest attention, and be treated in a manner which its importance demands. Meanwhile it is possible that the task may be facilitated by a sketch giving an insight into the past career and history of the Native States. That career, it must be owned, displays little of the action of the people, but, like the history of all Governments of the past, consists simply in the wars, the exploits, and the successions of their rulers. But the story is by no means wanting in events of interest, or in indications of life and vitality calculated in many instances to excite the pride of the rulers and the ruled of these States in their past. And pride in the past, I need hardly say, affords the best guarantee for development and improvement in the future.