Police Brutality in Old Madras: The Torture Commission and what it revealed in1856

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The notorious Head and Foot stock

Documents that reached the Commission

The recent insstance of police brutality in Tuthukodi, in which a father and son, Jebraj and Bennix were brutally tortured by the Tamil Nadu police leading to their death has rightly drawn widespread condemnation and the President ot the State Unit of the BJP rightly stated that such crimes cannot be tolerated. Coming as it did within days of the killing of George Flyod in USA which led to widespread loting and rioting in which around 20 Black lives were lost dd lead to a lot of questioning by the public. Is this the only case of Police brutality. No. Is this a unique case. No. Will such crimes be repeated. Yes. I am reminded of the classic line in the film Casablanca in which the Police Officer, Renault, on the orders of the Germans closes down the Cafe Rick's saying. "I am shocked, shocked that gambling in going on here" even as he pockets his daily bribe. Liberal posturing will not really help. And History shows that brutality is built into the very system.

Policing in Madras has its roots in the pre conquest era when vilages appointed talaiyari from the dominant caste to function as watch and ward of the village, urnattam. He ensured that there was no theft in his village as he had to compensate the victim in case of theft. After the East India Company took control it added its own flavour to this ancient office by appointing the peddanaik, to function as the head of a rudimentary police force with around 50 peons under him. His methods were crude as we know from the Vestiges of Old Madras. Beating, Mutilations, burning and Scarring were the general practices and since the Company Gowdown was under his charge the Governors generally turned a Nelson's eye to his many inquities. And these practices continued after the introduction of the Ryotwai settlement when the Police and Revenue functions were combined and the revenue officials at the local level like the shretidar, the amildar, the karnum were vested with power to collect the land tax or kisht.

Complaints about the use of torture to extract the land tax began reaching London, the headoffice of the East India Company and trouble was kicked up by two MPs from the House of Commons: Hon,ble Blackett and Hon.ble Donby Seymour. Though the Mutiny of 1857 had not broken out yet, Britain was going though a phase when it was wallowing in Moral Righteousness. Slavery had been abolished and the Bittons celebrated it as a gret moral achievement forgetting the fact that they practice Slave Trade and got rich by that trade for 300 years. Similarly these two Liberal MPs started a campaign in London, and the as now, Human Rights abuses, real or imagined made good copy. "Torture in Madras is universal, systematic and habitual" they thundered in the House of Commons forcing the Government of the day to institute what historians now call the Torture Commission which gave its Report in 1856 to Lord Harris,  the Governor of Madras Presidency. Donby Seymour was an earnest member f the India Reform Society, a whig outfit that beleived that British rule was necessay to uplift the benighted heathns to a state of tolerable civility.

The Composition of the Torture Commission was rather strange' It included J B Norton, the Correspondent of an influential English periodical published from Madras, the Atheneaum. He was a vigorous and animated critic of the Madras Government and Hon ble Seymour collected all the information about police excesses from him when he visited India.

The Chief Magistrate of Madras E F Elliot and H Stokes, a Civil Servant were the other two members. As per the termes of reference it was free to call records, investigate revenue and police records, call witness and take statements on oath and after 2 years they presented their findings in a Report of nearly 469 pages. Ufortunately this valuable piece of documentation exists only in the madras Archives. As theu themselves stated, the "records of every Court and public office was thrown opento them". The Commission did a superb job in documenting the various types of excesses that were committed by the police and Tamil nadu Police of today is in good company. Most of the complaints were based on cases heard by the Foujdari Adalat, the Criminal Court set up as part of the judicial reforms carried out by the Pitts India Bill.

Wide publicity was given about the Torture Commission and within a mere three months 1959 complaints were received by the Commission in Madras. Some were in the venacular language and Elliot was well versed in both Tamil and Telugu and so could provide ready translations of the petitions. The published Report has reproduced some of the petitions and it will be ectasy for the post colonial woke liberal subaltern "historian" to read them. Oppression, Torture, Racism, Indian Lives Dont Matter ect ect can all be read into that Report, But that would be disingenous as we cannot read our politics into the past. Though the Torture Commission was not a judicial commission empowered to punish or redress the complaint, it went about its job in a highly professional and unbiased manner.

The Commission was not without humour. At one place, writing about the Nattanmakkaran-s, the Commission observed that they carry the instruments of torture as "insignia of their office" and they go on to document the various kinds of torture routinely practiced by the police in the mid nineteenth Century adras Presidency and we can say that with the advent of Democracy nothing has changed except the person involeved. Sir Thomas Munro who introduced the Ryotwari Settlement was aware that many "irregularities are used". The Fort St George authorities chose to ignore the compalints as their masters i London were only interested in the Revenue.

Torture was routinely aplied to extract revenuse, the Land tax and the corrupt local official,with impunity could use torture to extract bribes as well. The commission found that "personal violence (is) practiced by the native revene official and police officials throughout the Presidency. Of the ABC Districts or Ceded Districts--Ananthapur, Bellary and Cuddapah--the last provided the maximum number of complaints. But we cannot infer that things were better in the other two districts. In Bellary,the entire local administration and police was in the hands of Deshasta Marattas who perhaps managed their areas with less gratuitous violence. As a policy measure the Commission recommended the separation of Revenue and Police functions. What were the tortures used that were documented by the Commission. I give a few examples:

Raghava Ayyangar complained that kittee was applied on his thighs and fingers till bood started oozing. This was a thumb screw appied to delicate parts of the body.

Thambi Mudali from Arcot a ryot was tortured by making him stand in the hot sun for several hours with a huge stone on his back. This was the most common form of torture,

Venkaiah another ryot was flogged till his back was red with blood and the "switches" frayed.

Venkata Chella Raju and his son were tortured for a bribe of Rs 10. The father died as a result of his torture.

Sabhapathi Pillai complained that his heads and legs were died together and he was made to stand in the hot sun

Nallandi Naik, his wife and son were arrested on suspicion of being "thieves" as they belonged to a nomadic community. They were tied to a tamrind tree and beaten till the woman died of her injuries.

The Report makes depressing reading. But read we must as it provides insight into the mind of the Englisg elite of the time. Interestingly the official English attidude is clear. These uncivilized practices were handed down from the "less civilized government" the preceded us and like a true born liberal conclude that "under s (meaning the civilized whites) torture is steadily declining in "extent and severity"/

THE MADRAS ARMY IN REVOLT: THE 1809 REVOLT AND ITS SUPPRESSION PART III

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

PART III

The "collective memorial"signed by the 28 Officers was in direct violation of Company rules of business and ought to have been ignored. But the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Hay Macdowall who was smarting under the humiliation of being excluded from the "Cabinet" of the Madras Governor, the Council decided to act on the Petition thereby triggering a chain of events that brought the Company rule alomost to an ignomious end. Unfortunately none of the Indian states or rulers had the sagacity to take advantge of the situation and Wellsly's Subsidiary Alliance held fast. Col. John Munro was acting in his official capacity on directions from Sir John Craddock when he prepared the Report on the Tent Contract. Ignoring this fact, General Macdowall ordered the arrest of Munro and had him goaled pending Court Martial. High handed and arbitray, the hapless Officer had no alternative but to petition the Govenor about the injustice done to him. Sir George Barlow ordered his release and forced the reluctant Commande in Chief to release Col Munro from confinement. 

The release of Col Munro infuriated the Officers,particularly the 28 Commanding Officers who had signed the demand for Col Munro be Court Martialed. Given the composition of the Presidency Army, Sir George Barlow hit on the right strategy to bring the malcontents to heel. He sent out feelers to the Native Troops both Infantry and Cavalry requesting them to support the Government and in this he was remarkable successful. Had the Native troops decided to follow the example of their fellow soldiers in Vellore, set just three years back, the entire edifice would have crumbled. And he used the King' Army to shore up his defences. As a measure of abundant caution, Sir George Barlow decided to move his Office/Headquarters from the Fort to the Choultry Plain and he set up Camp in the place where the Guindy Race Course now stands and the troops quartered at St. Thomas Mount were brought in to defend the outer perimeter. The news trickling in from the other Cantonments was disconcerting: Masulipattinam, Hyderabad, Travancore and Jalna were caught in the the grip of what appeared to all observers, a Mutiny. The Officers who spear headed the Mutiny did not relent.

An organization called "correspondence committee" was set up to co ordinate the entire efforts f all the mutinous officers and they drew up a Memorial that they planned to submit directly to Lord Minto, the Governor General, detailing their grievances and practically suggesting that Sir George Barlow be "recalled". The Madras Governor, like all good statesmen had an extremley well oiled espionage network and he somehow managed to get a copy of the Memorial even before it had been sent to the Governor General. Now he decided to strike. It cannot be dnied that had Barlow dithered in his response, the Military wing of the Company would have superceded the Civilian and Sir George Barlow rose to high office from the ranks of the Bengal Civil Service. He ordered the dismissal of 14 Officers who were asked to separate themselves from their regiment and take residence on the coast anywhere from Sadras to Nagapattinam. Lord Minto did not intervene and allowed Sir George Barlow a free hand. The troops fom what in now Sri Lanka were recalled and they had gone there to intervene in the Kandyan War.

The troops at Srirangapattinam, Travancore, Hyderabad and Masulipattinam were under the command of the most notorious of the rign leaders and Col. Arthur St. Leger is perhaps the most notorious. It wouls be an over simplification to say that he organized the whole revolt as he was not in India when musch of the planning took place. Howeve, he is certainly an early incarnation of the rotten breed of "petition writers" who in today.s India can be easily recognized as RTI activists r Trade Union Leaders. Clearly, this Officer who had won a resounding victory over Velu Thambi and his Nair hordes in Travancore, was the author of the Memorial to Lord Minto. All the ring leadrs including Col. Leger were suspended. And this action only turned the glowing embers into a huge flame.

Sir George Barlow was a seasoned administrator who had spent long years of service in India in the Administrative side of the Company. He felt tha an attempt at negotiations will help buy time and so sent Sir John Malcolm to masulipattinam where the new Comandant Col Innes was almost a prisoner of the mutinous officers. At the ame time he despatched Barry Close from Poona where he was the Residnt to Secondrabad. In Srirangapattinam the Mutiny took a very serious turn and in the skirmishes nearly 1000 native troops were kiled and only a handful of Europeans. Col. John Bell had by some expedient bought the support of the Native Troops. The 25th Dragoons were sent to intecept them after they had loted the Treasury and more than 500 lives were lost.

Finally the Government decided to compel all the Officeres o sign a Declaration of Loyalty which brought the crisis to a halt even as the Movement lost steam because its leadership had been suspended. The cause of all this, General Hay Macdowall soon met his nemesis. The ship, an Indiaman. Jane Dundas, was lost at sea off the coast of Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope.

The Revolt of 1809 like the Vellore Mutiny of  1806 represnted a major crisis and Sir George Barlow rose to the challenge.

THE MADRAS ARMY IN REVOLT: THE 1809 REVOLT AND ITS SUPPRESSION PART II

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Sir George Barlow and General Hay Macdowall

The Revolt of 1809 is a neglected episode in the history of India and since the Governor Sir George Barlow did not write either his memoirs nor commission an "authorised" biography, he has been represented only by his opponents in their writing. Chief amon whom was the famous Soldier Historian Sir John Malcolm who wrote a book in 1822 excoriating the Governor for the way in which he handled the Revolt. In truth however, Sir John Malcolm was sent by the Governor to negotiate with the rebellious Officers in Masulipattinam but failed miserably yo carry out his brief. Years later he penned his Observations on the Disturbance in the Madras Army in which he shifts the blame on the shoulders of Sir George Barlow. However the events of 1809 were far more complex than a mere clash between a vengeful Governor and a petulant Commander in Chief of the Madras Army, General Hay Macdowall,

There was trouble brewing in the Madras Army for at least a decade before the Revolt following the recoganization of the Company Forces in 1796. We have already alluded to earlier of some of the main grievances: (1) Equality of Pay between Bengal and Madras Armies (2) Continuance of the Tent Contract and (3) disparity in Command postings between Kings'Army and the Company Regiments. In normal circumstances these issues my have been resolved. But a series of miss steps involving the Governor and his Commander in Chief triggered what was essentially a conflict of supremacy between the Civilian Administration and the Military. Sir John Craddock who was the immediate predecessor of General Macdowall had instructed, Col John Munro to investigate the "Tent Contract" and offer suggestions. Acting on the directions of his superior, Col John Munro submitted a Report in which he recommended the abolition of the Tent Contract. The Report was a Confidential one and was marked only to the Commander in Chief. Perhaps the Madras Army too suffered from the same malaise of the Ministry of Defence under the Congress Regime. Interested parties would find the contents of official files before they were seen by the superiors and action taken. Munro wrote in his Report: "the grant of the same allowances in peace and war placed the interests and duties of commanding officers at variance with each other". What he stated so baldly was true and it was widelt known that the superior officers were taking a cut from the contracts handed down to native suppliers, perhaps for a consideration. The direct imputation of dishonesty added fuel to an already enraged Officer Corps. Within days this Repor was leaked. Any surprises here. None at all and a strrm of protest started brewing.

Twenty eight Officers of the Company, excluding the Kings' Officers signed a "collective memorial" demanding Col John Munro be tried before a Court Martial for impugning the "honour of the Officers"

Continued in Part III

THE MADRAS ARMY IN REVOLT: THE 1809 REVOLT AND ITS SUPPRESSION

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

PART I

Sir George Barlow

1809 should have been an easy year for the Madras Presidency. The struggle against the Mysore usurper had ended with his death in 1799. Tipu Sultan's sons and the rest of the family despatched to Calcutta after the Vellore Mutiny of 1806. The Maharatas were quiet after a long time and the Nizam and the State of Travancore safely bound to the Company by the Subsidiary Alliance. With the death of Lord Cornwallis in Gazipur, Sir George Barlow was appointed as the Governor General as he was the senior most member of the Governor General's Council,an appointment turned down by the Court of Directors in London in favor of Lord Minto who reached Calcutta in 1807 and as a sop Sir George Barlow was sent to Madras as the Governor of the Presidency. But things turned out different. Madras Presidency, mere three years after the Vellore Mutiny was torn by a military revolt in which the Indian soldiers did not participate and yet more than 1000 sepoys died in the fighting and skirmishes. And not a single White Officer was punished for Mutiny under the Army Act which carried the death senstence. We may recall that Col. Rolo Gillespie had massacred more than 800 soldiers soon after he retook the Fort of Vellore. Perhaps for this reason William Dalrymple does not mention the Army Revolt in his catalogue of corporate violence and pillage in India.

The Company maintained three separate Armies in the Presidencies of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta and all of them under the Governor who was assisted in his function by a Council. This system known as Governor in Council was subordinate to the Governor General but given the distance and the divergining aims of the Company Administration--Commericial Profit to the Court of Directors and a Military and Diplomatic organization to the Government of UK--each Governor was essentially independent. The Army itself was largely composed of Sepoy Regiments which were commanded by Company Officers and the Regiments from the Kings' Army seconded for service in India by the Government. Thus the very structure of the Army contained seeds of the deadly conflict that erupted in 1809. Competition and conflict between the Company Officers and the Kings' Army Officers over pay, allowances, postings and duties both military and diplomatic were common. Even Fortescue in his celebrated History of the British Army conceded the fact that the Company Officers were better trained and intellectually well equipped due to their long years of serivice but when it came to command postiings, the Kings' Officers were preferred. Another prime ara of concern related to the disparities in pay and allowances between the Bengal Army Officers and the Madras Army Officers. Only after the Mutiny of 1857 that the differences were removed. Though Cornwallis had supported the uniformity of pay an early mnifstation of "one rank one pay" the Headquarters had turned it down on the specious ground that the Officers were aware of the differences and yet signed up. It is against this background of simmering tension that the 1809 Revolt erupted.

The bearded " prophet" called Karl Marx called the East India Company a "Writing Machine" and he was right. There is a huge collection of documents lying in India Office Library about the Revolt but no one since Sir John Malcolm has doe serious work. The Commander in Chief of the Madras Army, Sir John Craddock, decided to look into the finances of the Army in order to trim the flab and appointed Col John Munro (no relative of Sir Thomas Munro) to prepare a Report and make suggestions.

To be continued in PART II

Thomas de Hallivand and the Churches of Old Madras: St Georges'Cathedral and St. Andrew's Kirk

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

James Gibbs designed St Martins of the Fields
London

The Floor Plan of St Georges Cathdral, Madras

The East India Company,a  truly multi national corporation was English in Capital, Scottish in Manpower and Irish in Firepower. Putting it so baldly highlights the central theme of the Company Administrtion in Madras. Reconciling different religious and parochial loyalties while simultaneously carrying on trade, commerce, terretorial and military expansion and carrying out diplomacy with the "country government". There is a tendency to ovelook the fact that the Company was mandated by the Regulating Act of 1773 and the Pitts India Act to bring the message of Christ to the "benighted heathens"and this was least palatable to the Governors of the Presidency who felt that ecclesiastical affais interfered with their other responsibilities and also the Jacobin Uprising in Scotland in 1745 and the French support to the Jacobins complicated inter religious relations in Madras as the local Governors resented the attempt on the part of France to interefere in Capuchin matters and also the Scots who constituted a large part of the Company work force were mostly adherents of the Scottish Reformed Church which rejected the liturgy and the hierachy of the English Anglican Church. Historians usually ignore the inter faith controversies and differences and regars the Company Rule as one undifferentiated monolith'                               

An early painting perhpas of Gantz?

Reconstructing the religious policies and practices of the early Company in the Madras region is a daunting task for te historian particularly as all the Records are located in London. However we can try to piece together the history of two structures built by the military engineer, Major Thomas de Hallivand (1775-1866). As his very name indicates he belonged to a distinguished line of Scots descended from the Normans and was born in Scotland and after he returned to his Homeland served as a Member of the Legislature of Guernsey. He was appointed as Civil Engineer in the Madras Army, a post he held until 1825. He worked on a number of military fortifications including Srirangapattinam, the Saint Andrew's Bridhe over the Cooum in Madras the breakwaters of the Madras Coast and several small irrigation projects.       

Thomas de Hallivand was a Civil Engineer trairoponed in Military fortification and seige works. Constructing a monumental edifice such as the grand Cathedral of St George was well beyond his professional skill as a designer, though not as a builder. de Hallivand was an enthusiastic peoponent of chunaam and stone lime mixture which was the staple of Indian building material and he used these materials in the consruction of the Cathedral


As I mentioned he was not a designer. So where did the plan for this grand monument to Protestant Faith in its Anglican Avatar come from. I have given the plan of St Martins of the field designed by James Gibbs at the very top of this Essay. Compare the floor plan of the two. It is identical. James Gibbs studied Architecture under the famous Italian Master Builder, Carlo Fontana and was deeply influence by the Neo Classical trend of impressive Palladian elements combined with Ionic pillars with a distince air of classical revival acting as a metaphor. Gibbs is hardly remembered today when the likes of Corbusier and Lyod Frank Wright are the main inspirations. But in his day he was the most influential. His book on Achtitecture contains the entire drawings plans and elevaion of the St Martins of the Field Church and they are all replicated here in Madras on the Great Choultry Plain on which the Cathedral stands'

The end of the long decades of war with Mysore which was under the usurper Sultan, Tipu, was now over and the East India Company wanted a religious edifie to symbolize its presence.The Church was 101 feet long and 54 feet wide with a tall spire.There were still some legal issues to be sorted out. The land on which the Church stands was part of the Choultry Plain which the Company claimed was given by the Nawab of Carnatic. However, the Company Officials, particularly the Board of Control did not want the direct control of the Church to be in the hands of the Company. It is ironic that the Company had no hesitation in seizing Temple Lands and Poperties but bulked at the prospect of Governmental control over the Church. A legal fiction was intoduced by making the trutees who were six senior officers of the Company to purchase the land from the Company and a title deed dran up. This implies that the rese of the land which is today taken by the uS Consulate and the Oxford University press belong to the Government.

After the construction of the High Anglican Cathedral, Major Thomas de Hallivand was to take up  a project closer to his heart, the St. Andrews' Kirk. This was a Scotting Reformed Protestant Church and its construction was a signal that the Company was beginning to follow a more inclusive policy with regard to sectarian differences. There were enough Scots to desire a religious sanctuary dedicated to their own faith. Thomas de Hallivand wanted his New Church to have a domed roof which constitutd a technical challenge. Once again the inspiration for the Plan was drawn from Gibbs who in the preface of his book writes that he hoped that people would be inspied by his 'pattern book".He said, "he hoped that his book would be useful in remote parts where little or no assistance for designs can be procured". A telling admission that he saw his remarkable book as a Template for European Architecture in the expanding empire.

Before trying his dome on the St Andrews' Church, Thomas de Havilland constructed a small model in his Garden House on Mount Road. That model was standing as late as the first decade of the twentieth century. i hope some young hisorian takes it upon himself to trace the building.

The similarity between the St Andrews' Kirk and St. Geogres Cathedral is due to the common plan. The ametuerish immitation from a copy book was the style of early European Architecture in India. Civil Engineers with a military background dominated the building space and hence E B Havell dismissed such attempts as. "the stage architecture of the European dilettante", a harsh judgement to say the very least. Thomas de Hallivand in his only published book,Descriptions and Delineations of Some of the Public and Other Edifices of Madras has described ssome of the difficulties that he encountered while constructing the Kirk, Given the high water table along the Ponamalee Plain, de Hallivand had to sink wells to act as foundation and in this he was following a native technique.The dome is 52 feet in diameter.

The essay has drawn attention to the historcal context of early nineteenth century ecclesiastical architecture in Madras and we have tried to situate the buidings in the broad historical context.








                      

Corruption and Scandal in Old Madras: The James Macrae Saga (1723-1727)

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

William Dalrymple in his best selling The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence and the Pllage of an Empire had prodided a narrative of the rise of the East India Company as it faught, intrigued and bludegeoned its way to hegemony even acquiring the Diwani rights over Bengal which gave the Company an income wich was more than the National Income of Engalns at that time. Even before the grant of the Diwani of Bengal, Madras was seen as the "Pagoda Tree" which had to be shaken in order to garner wealth which the "nabobs" invested in Parliamentary seats, estates, faux castles and follies and general upgradation of social and political class. Scotland, after the Union of 1707 was uniquely palced for social and political experiment as the East India Company largely due to the patronge of Henry Dundas provided ample opportunities for young men, rarely women of Scotland, employment in India. the East is a Carreer as Disraeli famously remarked and indeed it was for James Macrae (1677-1744) about whom the History of the County of Ayr vol II records rather inelegantly, "After amassing a huge fortune in India, he came home" and this Macrae was related to th Darlymple Clan through marriage.

Pirate Edward England, James' Ship in the picture

Equestrian Statue of King William III presented by Macrae

James Macrae was a social zero but his 40 long years in India had equipped him with both the means and the ability to rise up the social ladder and in that his life in India is instructive. Eventually his family married into the Campbell Clan becoming powerful both in Scotland and in West Indies. The Records of the Slave Compensation Commission show at least three Macrae names among the beneficiaries. James'mother was not rich and a "fiddler" of unknown origin took an interest in Macrae and got him educated. James Macrae joined the Navy and served as a Captain of the ship that ran into the most notorious pirate of the day, Edward England off the coast of Madagascar. Arriving in Madras, James Macrae joined the lower ranks of the East India Company and became the Deputy Governor of Fort St. David at Cuddalore.

Fort Saint David Cuddalore

The Records of the Fort Saint George published by Talboys Wheeler contain interesting materials  on James Macrae and we have culled details of his Administration fromVolume II. The chronicler of Old Madras was so ipressed or struck by the egresious scale of corruption that flourished under this Governor that he had the history of his Adminstration issued as a separate Volume. The Company, at this point in time was still a commercial enterprise and the buying and slling of cloth was its main task. The Company signed contracts with weavers who were setted within the "Bound Hedges" denoting the limits of the territorial limits of the Company and the Company Officials were tasked with certifying the quality of the ware. Bribes were routinely collected for such certificates and weavers had to pay the Company officials to have their cloth accepted by the Company. If Broad Cloth was rejected by the officials the weavers had to endure considerable hardship. Weaver settlements like Mutialpet and Chindradipettai were targets of particular interest as they were literally at ghe mercy of the Company. Extortion was the chief occupation of the Company Officials and in this nefarious task they used "Natives" The "Dubash" employed by James Macrae called Guda Anacona,obviously a Beri Chetty, was the instrument used for extrotion and we have a Petition signed by Sunkah Chetty, Tambi Chetty  Nina Chetty, Rajappa Chetty,Nina Kumara Chetty,and Mummudi Chetty (names modernised) detaiing several instances of corruption indulged in by Guda Anacona who enjoyed the protection of his Master as the Petionin was admitted only after the removal of the Governor when Pitt took charge as the Governor of Madras. Immediately after the removal of the Governor, Anacona was placed under arrest s it was feared that he would escape and seek refuge with the "Country Government" the several contending indigenous principalties and chieftains.

Anacona is stated to have forced merchants like Muta Chetty, Muttappa Chinnan, Annada Chetty to sell goodgrain to him at the rate of 40 pagodas when the going rate for the same quantity was 90 pagodas. Another merchant complained that the Dubash extorted Rs 12,000 form him in the form of Arcot ruppees and forced the same merchants to buy the silve rcoins back at the rate of Rs 310. The arbitrage on Silver coins of the East India Company and Arcot Ruppee was the cause of many speculative ventures and the Dubash engaged in this practice perhaps under the protection of James Macrae, the Governor. The Dubash took a cut from the silver that was brought to Madras for being minted into coins and from the records it appears that Macrae himself forced the merchants to buy a stock of gold taht he held. Often these extra legal or illegal extortions were accompanied by threat of cutting off the ear and lashing at the Market by peons specially appointed for this purpose. Petty despotism seems to have been the rule, the norm during the early days of the Company. Diamond merchants were deprived of their stones and were released only after the payment of a ransom of 8000 pagodas. The list goes on and in the end the Dubash had to pay 20,000 pagodas to the merchants who had brought the charges against him.

As for James Macrae he left India with 100,000 pagodas and arrived in Scotland back after 40 year absence. He used his huge fortune to set himself as a respectable burgess by presenting an equestrian statue of William III which still stands in Glasgow. During his last days inOffice, Macrae met Colim Campbell one of the promoters of the South Sea Company, a Stock Holding Company which traded in Slaves along with the Royal African Company. Excessive inflation of its stock value led to the collapse of the South Sea Bubble and Colin Campbell as stated in the record. "came to Madras to retrive his fortune".

The immense fortunes made in India, and in this case we have seen 100,000 pagodas in just four years goes to prove that even before the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the English East India Company had started despoiling India. Such studies are important as they expose the hollowness of post colonial approaches to Imperial History which is structured on Ideas, Ideologies and Identity.

Raya: Krshnadevaraya of Vijayanagara

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Raya:Krishnadevaraya of Vjayanagara
Srinivas Reddy
New Delhi: Jaggernaut, 2020

Raya Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara

Srinivasa Reddy, a scholar of South Asian Literature trained in USA has tried his hand at writing history after a fairly successful run as a trasnslator. His earlier work Giver of Worn Garlands was an excellent translation of the putative work attributed to the Tuluva ruler Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara. The present work presents itself as a historically informed biography of the ruler but in reality it is a readable but badly researched work mixing legend, popular tradition and even cinematic renditions to create a pastice of historical narrative. Of course he has come with the proper credentials displayed prominently on the dusk jacket. It is certainly "engaging" but is it "exemplary" is a differnt question altogether.

Vijayangara history is complex in that it self consciously procalimed a template of Statecraft that was predicated upon the negation of the disruptions wrought by the onset or invasions of the turushka. In fact the trope of destroying the turushka appears even in the inscriptions of Krishnadeva Raya and to ignore the underlying political ideology animating Vijayanagara statecraft is merely a surrender to the kind of identity politics India has seen in the years follwing Independence. Turushka meant Turk and did not imply a religious identity at all and to shy away from this issue on the grounds that it may be offensive to present day sensibilities of political correctness is not merely being anachronistic by historically inaccurate.When Vijayanagara began its slow but steady march toward Empire it projected its raison d'tre as the Restoration of Worship in temples destroyed by the turushka. The raids of Kafur and the Tughlaqs had resulted in a virtual collapse of the moral order. The language of Apoclypse is deployed in an early Copper Plate Inscription: "When the sun. Prataparudra set, the world was enveloped in the turushka darkness".

Srinivasa Reddy begins his narrative biography of Krishnadevaraya with the famous Hampe Inscription which was trasnlated by Eugene Hultzsch in Epigraphia Indica Vol I. Generally recognised as a danasasana, issued on the occasion of his coronation the Inscription states in its 11th verse that Krishnadeva Raya connquered the Chera, Chola, the proud Pandyas, the brave Turushka, the Gajapathi king and others. This claim of conquest of the Gajapathi or for that matter even victory over the Turushka is merely rhetorical, a statement of intent rather than of accomplishemt an Krishdevaraya took control over the Empire upon the death of his half brother, Vira Narashimha in 1509 and there is no evidence that he had participated in any major campaign with his fater Narasa Nayaka. Again there is no hstorical evidence to suggest that Gandikota, Vinnukonda and Nagarajakonda were suggested as likely targets of Vijayanagar acquisition by Narasa Nayaka. Srinivas Reddy cannot resist the temptation of including an intersting myth, story fable even cinema  dialogues. Thus he accepts the story of Vidyaranya ad his association with Harihara and Bukka even though there is compelling evidence that this myth came to the fore only in the decades after 1565 as shown by Hermann Kulke. A historian will not allow an intersting story to structure his narrative.

The most impressive part of the book are the chapters dealing with the conflict with the Gajapathi rulers of Orissa. Reddy keeps harping on the "low caste" status of Krishnadevaraya. He calls him "dasi putra". There is absolutely no historical evidence to show that caste perceptions in any way influeced the conflict. Gajapathi, Narapathi and Ashwapathi remained the trypych around which the polity of the medieval South Indian empire revolved. And the Gajpathi king himself came fom a dynasty of usurpers and so would not have thow such caste laden invective against Krishnadevaraya. It appears tht identity politics of today and caste laden social sciences inflused with identity politics makes such outlandish interpretations not only possible but academically rspectable. The fact is that such labels were unknown in the Vijayanagara period.

Krishnadevara raya presided over an Empire that was linguistically diverse, complex in terms of religious and sectarian composition and the social structure of the Vijayanagara polity was certainly stratified. However caste was still not the deciding factor as the very diversity of the Great Captains, the amaranayankara-s. demonstrates. Only one Historian has attempted a prosopographical study of Nayakas. Krishnadevaraya bore the biruda, Hindu raya Sutrranna or Sultan of HinduKings a title which underscores the tremendous influence of the Islamic political formations of the Deccan.

The book under review is certainly interesting. But its claim to be History can be contested.