08-09-2008, 07:06 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Muslim State had no legislative machinery, and when for the first
time India was united under the British and the entire Hindu com-
munity lived under a common administration., the authorities of the East
India Company after a first effort at social reform withdrew, under the
pretext of religious neutrality, from activities which they thought might
cause popular upheaval. Perhaps it was a wise step, as the motive force of
large-scale social reforms must come from the people themselves and
legislation can only give statutory sanction to principles which have
already gained wide acceptance. The reformation of the Hindu religion
was therefore an essential prerequisite of social legislation.
It was only after the Great War that the legislating State came into
existence in India. Under the scheme of partial self-government intro-
duced in 1921, there was established a central legislative authority with a
majority of non-official elected Indians, which was both competent to
change the laws of Hindu society and to enforce obedience to such laws
through the length and breadth of India. In the provinces the direction of
government passed in a large measure to elected legislatures. The
legislative achievements of the Central and Provincial Governments in
the field of social reform have been fundamental, though they did not go
anywhere as far as the public demanded. The Civil Marriage Act and the
Age of Consent Act (raising the marriageable age of girls to 14) were
among the more important pieces of legislation which the Central Indian
Legislative Assembly enacted. The Civil Marriage Act validates mar-
riages between men and women of different castes of Hinduism. It strikes
at the very root of the orthodox Brahminical conception of caste, and
annuls the laws of Manu and the other orthodox codes of Hinduism.
'The immutable law 5 , prohibiting Varna-Samkara or the mixture of
castes, ceased by this single piece of legislation to operate through the
length and breadth of India. The Age of Consent Act was equally
revolutionary. It was the custom for over two thousand years at least for
large sections of people to have girls married before the age of puberty.
There was not only long tradition behind the custom, but it was con-
sidered compulsory at least for Brahmins in the light of certain authori-
tative texts. The Indian legislature made this custom illegal, though
it had so much religious authority behind it, and the performance of
such marriages became a penal offence.
Thus by the end of the third decade, the Hindu reformation had made
enough progress to enable the new society to direct its social forces
towards general betterment.
The reformation of Hinduism has been treated in some detail, because
without an appreciation of its consequences the effects of Western
education on Indian society will not be fully clear. The first educational
attempts of the East India Company were, it should be remembered, in
the direction of reviving Sanskrit and Arabic studies. The study of
English had for some time been a voluntary pursuit, and a few mission
colleges, notably the college at Serampore, had helped to popularize
Western knowledge. But it was only in 1835 that, under the inspiration
of Macaulay, the decision was taken to promote English education in
India as a Government policy. Macaulay laid down a few propositions
which he considered as axiomatic. He held 'we ought to employ them
(our funds) in teaching what is best worth knowing; that English is better
worth knowing than Sanskrit or Arabic; that it is possible to make
natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars and to this end
our efforts ought to be directed 5 . Accepting this view, the Government
of India laid down that the object of the British Government ought to be
the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of
India. This had long been demanded by the progressive Indian thinkers
of the time, and it is necessary to emphasize a fact which has often been
forgotten in recent criticism, that the demand for Western education had
come primarily from Indian leaders themselves.
Following the decision of the Government, schools and colleges began
springing up in provincial capitals, but a co-ordinated system on an all-
India basis was put into effect only in 1854. The broad objective of this
policy was enunciated in a memorable dispatch in the following words:
c lt is neither our aim nor our desire to substitute the English language
for the vernacular dialects of the country It is indispensable, there-
fore, that in any general system of education, the study of them should
be assiduously attended to, and any acquaintance with improved Euro-
pean knowledge which is to be communicated to the great mass of people
can only be conveyed to them through one or other of these languages.*
Following this, the universities were started in the major capitals of
Indian provinces, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Allahabad and a vast
field was opened for missionary effort.
The Macaulayan system, under which a systematic effort was made
by a powerful government to educate in a foreign language the upper
classes of a vast country, has now continued for over a hundred years.
India even after her independence, has not radically altered the system,
for in most universities and colleges English still continues to { be the
medium of instruction.
<span style='color:red'>
The weaknesses of the system are many and can easily be summarized.
It created an impassable chasm between the English educated cksses and
others, including those educated in the traditional way. The wastage of
effort involved not only in acquiring mastery in a different language but
in studying all other subjects through it was immense. A wholly dispro-
portionate emphasis was placed on literary studies. Also the attempted
transplantation on Indian soil of what was an altogether alien culture
took many decades to get acclimatized, and at least in the case of the first
two generations there was a noticeable tendency to create a class of men,
no doubt with competent knowledge of English, but uncertain of their
values, barren in their thought and unadapted to their surroundings. </span>
But when all this and more has been said and the truth of the criticism
accepted, the credit balance of this unique experiment still remains
substantial and impressive.
In the first place, the system of higher education in English provided
India with a class imbued with social purposes foreign to Hindu
thought. The continuity and persistence of those purposes achieved the
socio-religious revolution on which the life of modern India is based.
<b>While British administration did little, if anything, to emancipate the
spirit, to extinguish the prejudices, to eradicate the ravages of ignorant
custom and pernicious superstition, to encourage and stimulate thought,
the New Learning which came to India through its introduction to the
English language on a nation-wide scale undoubtedly did all this.</b> In-
deed, it may be argued that the essential contradiction of the British rule
in India lay in this: the constituted government upheld the validity of
customs, maintained and administered laws which denied the principles
of social justice, refused to legislate for changes urgently called for by
society, watched with suspicion the movement of liberal ideas, while the
officially sponsored and subsidized educational system was undermining
everything that the Government sought to uphold. The schools and
colleges taught young men the idea of liberty while the Government did
everything to suppress It. In the educational system the Government
created and maintained an opposition to itself on a plane where its own
methods were ineffective.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
time India was united under the British and the entire Hindu com-
munity lived under a common administration., the authorities of the East
India Company after a first effort at social reform withdrew, under the
pretext of religious neutrality, from activities which they thought might
cause popular upheaval. Perhaps it was a wise step, as the motive force of
large-scale social reforms must come from the people themselves and
legislation can only give statutory sanction to principles which have
already gained wide acceptance. The reformation of the Hindu religion
was therefore an essential prerequisite of social legislation.
It was only after the Great War that the legislating State came into
existence in India. Under the scheme of partial self-government intro-
duced in 1921, there was established a central legislative authority with a
majority of non-official elected Indians, which was both competent to
change the laws of Hindu society and to enforce obedience to such laws
through the length and breadth of India. In the provinces the direction of
government passed in a large measure to elected legislatures. The
legislative achievements of the Central and Provincial Governments in
the field of social reform have been fundamental, though they did not go
anywhere as far as the public demanded. The Civil Marriage Act and the
Age of Consent Act (raising the marriageable age of girls to 14) were
among the more important pieces of legislation which the Central Indian
Legislative Assembly enacted. The Civil Marriage Act validates mar-
riages between men and women of different castes of Hinduism. It strikes
at the very root of the orthodox Brahminical conception of caste, and
annuls the laws of Manu and the other orthodox codes of Hinduism.
'The immutable law 5 , prohibiting Varna-Samkara or the mixture of
castes, ceased by this single piece of legislation to operate through the
length and breadth of India. The Age of Consent Act was equally
revolutionary. It was the custom for over two thousand years at least for
large sections of people to have girls married before the age of puberty.
There was not only long tradition behind the custom, but it was con-
sidered compulsory at least for Brahmins in the light of certain authori-
tative texts. The Indian legislature made this custom illegal, though
it had so much religious authority behind it, and the performance of
such marriages became a penal offence.
Thus by the end of the third decade, the Hindu reformation had made
enough progress to enable the new society to direct its social forces
towards general betterment.
The reformation of Hinduism has been treated in some detail, because
without an appreciation of its consequences the effects of Western
education on Indian society will not be fully clear. The first educational
attempts of the East India Company were, it should be remembered, in
the direction of reviving Sanskrit and Arabic studies. The study of
English had for some time been a voluntary pursuit, and a few mission
colleges, notably the college at Serampore, had helped to popularize
Western knowledge. But it was only in 1835 that, under the inspiration
of Macaulay, the decision was taken to promote English education in
India as a Government policy. Macaulay laid down a few propositions
which he considered as axiomatic. He held 'we ought to employ them
(our funds) in teaching what is best worth knowing; that English is better
worth knowing than Sanskrit or Arabic; that it is possible to make
natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars and to this end
our efforts ought to be directed 5 . Accepting this view, the Government
of India laid down that the object of the British Government ought to be
the promotion of European literature and science among the natives of
India. This had long been demanded by the progressive Indian thinkers
of the time, and it is necessary to emphasize a fact which has often been
forgotten in recent criticism, that the demand for Western education had
come primarily from Indian leaders themselves.
Following the decision of the Government, schools and colleges began
springing up in provincial capitals, but a co-ordinated system on an all-
India basis was put into effect only in 1854. The broad objective of this
policy was enunciated in a memorable dispatch in the following words:
c lt is neither our aim nor our desire to substitute the English language
for the vernacular dialects of the country It is indispensable, there-
fore, that in any general system of education, the study of them should
be assiduously attended to, and any acquaintance with improved Euro-
pean knowledge which is to be communicated to the great mass of people
can only be conveyed to them through one or other of these languages.*
Following this, the universities were started in the major capitals of
Indian provinces, Calcutta, Bombay, Madras and Allahabad and a vast
field was opened for missionary effort.
The Macaulayan system, under which a systematic effort was made
by a powerful government to educate in a foreign language the upper
classes of a vast country, has now continued for over a hundred years.
India even after her independence, has not radically altered the system,
for in most universities and colleges English still continues to { be the
medium of instruction.
<span style='color:red'>
The weaknesses of the system are many and can easily be summarized.
It created an impassable chasm between the English educated cksses and
others, including those educated in the traditional way. The wastage of
effort involved not only in acquiring mastery in a different language but
in studying all other subjects through it was immense. A wholly dispro-
portionate emphasis was placed on literary studies. Also the attempted
transplantation on Indian soil of what was an altogether alien culture
took many decades to get acclimatized, and at least in the case of the first
two generations there was a noticeable tendency to create a class of men,
no doubt with competent knowledge of English, but uncertain of their
values, barren in their thought and unadapted to their surroundings. </span>
But when all this and more has been said and the truth of the criticism
accepted, the credit balance of this unique experiment still remains
substantial and impressive.
In the first place, the system of higher education in English provided
India with a class imbued with social purposes foreign to Hindu
thought. The continuity and persistence of those purposes achieved the
socio-religious revolution on which the life of modern India is based.
<b>While British administration did little, if anything, to emancipate the
spirit, to extinguish the prejudices, to eradicate the ravages of ignorant
custom and pernicious superstition, to encourage and stimulate thought,
the New Learning which came to India through its introduction to the
English language on a nation-wide scale undoubtedly did all this.</b> In-
deed, it may be argued that the essential contradiction of the British rule
in India lay in this: the constituted government upheld the validity of
customs, maintained and administered laws which denied the principles
of social justice, refused to legislate for changes urgently called for by
society, watched with suspicion the movement of liberal ideas, while the
officially sponsored and subsidized educational system was undermining
everything that the Government sought to uphold. The schools and
colleges taught young men the idea of liberty while the Government did
everything to suppress It. In the educational system the Government
created and maintained an opposition to itself on a plane where its own
methods were ineffective.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->