History-1

Module 1
There are 5 categories under which legal history of India can be studied:
Vedic age
Hindu period
Muslim period
British period
History of independent India
Further, according to period of time, entire history of India can be put under 3 heads:
1. Ancient India (2500 BC - 1206 AD)
• Indus Valley Civilization (2500 BC – 1500 BC)
• Vedic Age (1500 BC – 600 BC)
• Hindu Period (600 BC- 1206 AD)
2. Medieval India:
Starts from 1206 AD with the establishment of Slave dynasty by Qutubud-din Aibak and continued
till. During this time, they had their own Koranic laws based on. This era is called as Muslim
period.
3. Modern India:
• History before Independent India (Pre-1947): Certain important laws have been legislated:
1. IPC, 1860
2. CRPC, 1973
3. Indian Evidence Act, 1872
4. Indian Contract Act
5. Civil Procedure Code, 1908
6. Transfer of Property Act
• History of Independent India is important from the viewpoint of training and enforcement
of the Indian constitution. In any law, there is made a second provision in the Constitution
that any law can be declared unconstitutional.
Ancient India customs have been codified in Independent India in the form of certain
legislations keeping in conformity with the origins of the Constitution. Examples:
1. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955Hindu Succession Act
 2. Hindu Minority & Guardianship Act
3. Hindu Adoption & ________ Act
4. Competition Act, 2002
5. Right to Information Act, 2005

Indus Valley System 2500-1800BC

• Town planning
• Equalitarian System (Modern, Prosperous)
• Underground Drainage
• Peace loving people
• Urban civilization
• Nature Worshippers
• Trade practice
• Destroyed by Aryan invasion (Mass Grave in Mohenjo-Daro)
• Changes in course of rivers
• Either priests or traders were Rulers
Vedic Period 1500-1600 BC
• Aryans - came from elsewhere - proof when civilization was followed by rural civilization
• Rural Civilization (Not equalization) – Cow herding
• Anthropomorphism
Vedas: - The Vedas reflects the religious beliefs, practices, and points of view of the
Brahmanical tradition. These texts gather the information of the 2nd and 1st Millenia BCE about
the life of North-Western and Northern India. A number of supplementary texts known as the
Vedangas were written. The texts include phonetic (Shiksha), meter (Chhanda), grammar
(Vyakarana), etymology (Nirukta), ritual (Kalpa), and astronomy (Jyotisha). There are four
Vedas
• Rig Veda- It is the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text. It contained Hymns (Mostly of lord
Indra)
• Yajur Veda- It is a compilation of ritual offering formulas (Math, Geometry) that were said
by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions (Yagya).
 • Sam Veda- Sam Veda focused on Music, Charms and spells.
• Atharva Veda- Sometimes it was also called “Veda of magical formulas”. It likely
represents magico-religious rites; spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by
demons (Black Magic and Tantra) and it also contains herbs and nature derived potions
(also called as Ayurveda)
Mahajanpadas 6th century BC
• The sixth century BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history. It
is an era associated with early states, cities, the growing use of iron, the development of
coinage, etc. It also witnessed the growth of diverse systems of thought, including
Buddhism and Jainism. Early Buddhist and Jaina texts (see also Chapter 4) mention,
amongst other things, sixteen states known as Mahajanpadas.
• 16 Republics
• 1st Republic in the world – Vaishali (also called Lichhavi)
Magadha
• Buddha, Mahavir
• Bimbisara, Ajatshatru
Nandas
Maha Padma Nanda------------------------Dhana nand
Mauryans 4th century AD – 2nd century BC
• Highly centralised state system
• Largest network of bureaucracy
• Spreading Indian culture across the world
• Spread till Mysore
Kanishka – Kushans – Controlled the silk route - purest form of gold was found here (gold
coins)
Guptas 400-600 AD
• Sri Gupta – Chandragupta I – Founder
• Vikram Aditya was Chandragupta II
• Kalidas emerged during this period (Nature Poet)
• Nalanda University was established in this era in the reign of Kumara Gupta. It had
10000 students and 2000 teachers. It was visited by Chinese scholar Xuan Zang.
 • Largest no of gold coins issued (also called golden age)
• Samudra Gupta was called Napoleon of India
• Skanda Gupta battled with huna
Vardhan Dynasty
• Harshvardhan was last great Hindu ruler – defeated by Chalukyan Ruler Pulakshin II
• Had small kingdoms

Early Medieval Period 11th century

Slave Dynasty
• Qutub-ud-din Aibak
• Iltutmish
• Razia
• Balban
Khilji Dynasty
• Jalal-ud-din-khilji – Founder
• Allah-ud-din – Market Revolution (No corruption)
Tughlaq Dynasty 13th Century
• Mohammed bin Tughlaq (was called a fool – Capital Transfer policy, currency reforms)
Sayyid Dynasty
Lodhi Dynasty
• Ibrahim Lodhi
• 1526 Battle of Panipat I
Mughal Dynasty
• Area mainly Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and parts of Myanmar
• Also known for great architecture
• Aurangzeb – last ruler

Sources Of law
Sources of law means the origin from which rules of human conduct come into existence and
derive legal force or binding characters. It also refers to the sovereign or the state from which the
law derives its force or validity. The sources of law can be classified into:
1. Literary Sources
Source of law
2. Foreign traveler accounts
3. Archaeological Foreign Traveller Archaelogical
Literary Sources Local Chronicles Dramas
Accounts Sources
Sources
4. Local Chronicles
5. Dramas
Literary Sources
a) Vedas: - The Vedas reflects the religious beliefs, practices, and points of view of the
Brahmanical tradition. These texts gather the information of the 2nd and 1st Millenia BCE
about the life of North-Western and Northern India. A number of supplementary texts known
as the Vedangas were written. The texts include phonetic (Shiksha), meter (Chhanda),
grammar (Vyakarana), etymology (Nirukta), ritual (Kalpa), and astronomy (Jyotisha). There
are four Vedas:
• Rig Veda- It is the oldest known vedic Sanskrit text. It contained Hymns (Mostly of
lord Indra)
• Yajur Veda- It is a compilation of ritual offering formulas (Maths, Geometry) that were
said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions (Yagya).
• Sam Veda- Sam Veda focused on Music, Charms and spells.
• Atharva Veda- Sometimes it was also called “Veda of magical formulas”. It likely
represents magico-religious rites; spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by
demons (Black Magic and Tantra) and it also contains herbs and nature derived potions
(also called as Ayurveda)
b) There are Two great epics which played an important role – These two tells us about
mythological practices of that era
Mahabharat written by Veda Vyas & Ramayana written by Valmiki
c) Arthashashtra by Chanakya/Kautilya traditionally believed to be the minister of
Chandragupta. (Talks about 7 Elements)
 d) Puranas written by Veda Vyas are Related to Mythology. These are 18 in number and
contain narratives about history of universe.
e) Upnishads are also important. These are 108 in number. It Talks about spiritual ideas of
ancient India. It shows that people were curious about the meaning of life, the possibility of
life after death, and rebirth.
f) Prithviraj Raso (Biography) – by Chandra Bhandari
g) Harsh Charita is the biography of Indian emperor Harshvardhan, the ruler of Kanauj,
composed in Sanskrit by his court poet, Ban Bhatta
Foreign Travellers’ accounts: From very ancient times, foreigners visited India. Some of them
left valuable accounts of their travels or visits. Ancient Greek and Roman historians also wrote
about India from their knowledge and information. All these foreign accounts prove useful in
understanding India history. Some of these are:
a) Megasthanese is an account of Mauryan India by the Greek writer by Indica (No slavery)
b) Kitab-ul-Hind is a famous Arabic text by Al Beruni wherein he comments on Indian
Sciences, Hindu religious beliefs, customs and Social organization. Generally (though not
always), Al-Beruni adopted a distinctive structure in each chapter, beginning with a question,
following this up with a description based on Sanskritic traditions, and concluding with a
comparison with other cultures. Some present-day scholars have argued that this almost
geometric structure, remarkable for its precision and predictability, owed much to his
mathematical orientation.
Al-Beruni, who wrote in Arabic, probably intended his work for peoples living along the
frontiers of the subcontinent. He was familiar with translations and adaptations of Sanskrit,
Pali and Prakrit texts into Arabic – these ranged from fables to works on astronomy and
medicine. However, he was also critical about the ways in which these texts were written,
and clearly wanted to improve on them.
c) Rihla by Ibn Battuta. Ibn Battuta’s book of travels, called Rihla, written in Arabic, provides
extremely rich and interesting details about the social and cultural life in the subcontinent in
the fourteenth century. This Moroccan traveller was born in Tangier into one of the most
respectable and educated families known for their expertise in Islamic religious law or sharia.
True to the tradition of his family, Ibn Battuta received literary and scholastic education when
he was quite young.
 d) History of Mughal Empire by Francis Bernier. Bernier travelled to several parts of the
country, and wrote accounts of what he saw, frequently comparing what he saw in India with
the situation in Europe. He dedicated his major writing to Louis XIV, the king of France, and
many of his other works were written in the form of letters to influential officials and
ministers. In virtually every instance Bernier described what he saw in India as a bleak
situation in comparison to developments in Europe. As we will see, this assessment was not
always accurate. However, when his works were published, Bernier’s writings became
extremely popular.
e) Ptolemy on Geography and Climate
f) Accounts of Fa Hien – about Gupta Reign (Chandra Gupta, II Vikram Aditya) and Huen
Tsang – about Harshvardhan
Archaeological Sources: Ancient ruins, remains and monuments recovered as a result of
excavation and exploration are archaeological sources of history.
• Inscriptions (Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions)
o Inscriptions are writings engraved on hard surfaces such as stone, metal or pottery. They
usually record the achievements, activities or ideas of those who commissioned them and
include the exploits of kings, or donations made by women and men to religious
institutions. Inscriptions are virtually permanent records, some of which carry dates.
Others are dated on the basis of palaeography or styles of writing, with a fair amount of
precision.
o Some of the most momentous developments in Indian epigraphy took place in the 1830s.
This was when James Prinsep, an officer in the mint of the East India Company, deciphered
Brahmi and Kharosthi, two scripts used in the earliest inscriptions and coins. He found that
most of these mentioned a king referred to as Piyadassi – meaning “pleasant to behold”;
there were a few inscriptions which also referred to the king as Asoka, one of the most
famous rulers known from Buddhist texts.
o Maximum Inscription were written by Ashoka (4 Languages) mainly in Brahmi script &
Prakrit script
o Prayag Prashasti – Belongs to Samudra Gupta and was composed by Harisena. It also gives
an account of Allahabad Pillar Inscriptions
o Gwalior Prashasti – Belongs to king Bhoj of Madhya Pradesh
 o Aihole Prashasti – Belongs to Pulkesin II
o Boghazkoi Inscription – only inscription which talks about the movement of Aryans from
Central Asia to the Indian Sub-Continent
• Numismatics is called Study of coins. Numismatic materials are important in analysing the
economic history of a society, because they can be used to trace the ebb and flow of coinage,
a change in the weight system, and the introduction of different metals into circulation.
o It is important because it tells us the economic conditions, religious tolerance, methods
descriptions about the kings of that era
o Punch marked coins – Earliest coins in India in 4th – 5th Century BC
o Gupta reign has the Largest number of gold coins issued in India
o During Akbar Period Laxmi and Ganesh coins were issued
• Monuments A historical monument is a rich source of History. It gives us a sense of wonder
and makes us curious to know more about the past connected with it. The study of
a monument helps the students construct History through observation. The activity generates
interest in historical buildings and develops observation skills.
o Temple of Angkor vat in Cambodia and Boro Budur in Java
o Taj Mahal & paintings
o Used to know about the art & culture, architecture, Sculpture & techniques of that time.
o Excavations of places like Taxila is also an imp source of history
Local Chronicles –
o Chronicles are an indispensable source for any scholar wishing to write a history of the
Mughals. At one level they were a repository of factual information about the institutions
of the state, painstakingly collected and classified by individuals closely connected with
the court. At the same time these texts were intended as conveyors of meanings that the
Mughal rulers sought to impose on their domain. They therefore give us a glimpse into
how imperial ideologies were created and disseminated.
o Rajtarangini written by kalhana (History of Kashmir)
o One of the most important chronicles was the Ain-i Akbari authored by Akbar’s court
historian Abu’l Fazl. This text meticulously recorded the arrangements made by the state
to ensure cultivation, to enable the collection of revenue by the agencies of the state and to
regulate the relationship between the state and rural magnates, the zamindars.
Drama
o Raghuvansham, Malvika & Agnimitra, Ritusanghar by Kalidasa

Legal Literature
• Dharamsutras (Earliest Smriti)
• Dharmashastras (Latest Smriti)
• Mimansa
• Nibandhas
Dharamsutras (Earliest Smriti):
1. Gautam – it is considered to be the Oldest among all
• Gautam Sutras Talks about different types of marriages (8 types). the first four were
considered as “good” while the remaining were condemned. It is possible that these were
practised by those who did not accept Brahmanical norms. They also talked about
inheritance & Partition of property.
• Also talked about Stridhan (literally, a woman’s wealth).
2. Baudhayan
• Baudhayan Sutras Talks about trade & commerce
3. Apasthamba (it was called Manu of South India)
• It Condemned the practice of Polyandry
• Niyog Got a lot criticism (Vishnu, Pandu)
4. Vishnu
• Talks about Civil & Criminal Laws
Dharmashastras:
1) Manusmriti:
1. It wasn’t written by Manu it was compiled by Bhrigu
2. Bhrigu – learned men who wrote the laws of their time. Therefore, it contained the laws of
400 years. 200 BC – 200 AD
3. Laws were too harsh for women & Shudras
4. It was 1st codified law in India, and was considered most authoritative law in India.
5. Compared to dharamsutras, these laws are clearer because of simple language used and it
had 12 chapters.
 6. There are 2 commentaries of Manusmriti:
i) Manubhashya – Medhatithi
ii) Manutika – Govindaraj
7. The Manusmriti laid down the “duties” of the chandalas. They had to live outside the
village, use discarded utensils, and wear clothes of the dead and ornaments of iron. They
could not walk about in villages and cities at night. They had to dispose of the bodies of
those who had no relatives and serve as executioners. Much later, the Chinese Buddhist
monk Fa Xian (c. fifth century CE) wrote that “untouchables” had to sound a clapper in
the streets so that people could avoid seeing them. Another Chinese pilgrim, Xuan Zang
(c. seventh century), observed that executioners and scavengers were forced to live outside
the city.
8. According to the Manusmriti, the paternal estate was to be divided equally amongst sons
after the death of the parents, with a special share for the eldest. Women could not claim a
share of these resources. However, women were allowed to retain the gifts they received
on the occasion of their marriage as stridhan (literally, a woman’s wealth). This could be
inherited by their children, without the husband having any claim on it. At the same time,
the Manusmriti warned women against hoarding family property, or even their own
valuables, without the husband’s permission.
9. For men, the Manusmriti declares, there are seven means of acquiring wealth: inheritance,
finding, purchase, conquest, investment, work, and acceptance of gifts from good people.
For women, there are six means of acquiring wealth: what was given in front of the fire
(marriage) or the bridal procession, or as a token of affection, and what she got from her
brother, mother or father. She could also acquire wealth through any subsequent gift and
whatever her “affectionate” husband might give her.

2) Yajnavalkya Smriti:
1. It is even simpler than Manusmriti.
2. It is written in verses (Shlokas/Proses) of which there are different interpretations.
3. It covers Achaar (Eclestical law), Vyavhaar(Civil & Criminal law) and
Prayaschitta(Regret)
3) Narad Smriti:
a) It is the origin of forensic laws in India
b) It dealt with courts and judicial procedures of that period
Mimansa:
a) These are sought to interpret laws so they can be implemented in the society
There are two interpretations:
o Purva Mimansa written by Jaimini
o Tantra Vartika Written by Kumavila Bhatt
Nibandhas:
a) These were more elaborate and lucid than Mimansas.
b) These were commentaries, essay or, digest.
c) In this, laws were explained with a lot of examples.
o Mitakshara – Vigyaneshwar
Most of the Hindu Personal laws are derived from Mitakshara. It is the more
detailed elaboration of Manusmriti with examples and illustrations.
o Dayabhog – Jimutvahan
Firstly, there were applicable in Bengal, now are applicable in the whole India.

Meaning of Law & Legal System

Stages of administration of justice in ancient India:
1. Courts and Constitution of Courts: King was the fountainhead of justice. His court was
the highest court, having both original and appellate jurisdictions. For assisting him the king,
there was also Court of Chief Justice and his court consisted of board of judges.
In villages, there were Village Councils similar to modern times’ Panchayats. They consisted
of 5 villagers as members to dispense justice among them. These councils used to deal with
small civil & criminal cases.
Types of Courts in India
The courts in ancient India were divided into two categories:
Court System: People’s Court and King’s Court
People’s Court:
a) Kula Court
o Lowest court was Kula Court. It was a family court.
o Impartial local People used to adjudicate the matter which were usually peasants.
o These courts used to resolve intra caste disputes not inter caste disputes.
o For Different caste different courts were present. A person could only appeal court
which was meant for his caste.
o Sanskrit texts use the term kula to designate families and ‘jati’ for the larger network
of kinfolk. The term ‘vansha’ is used for lineage.
b) Court
o It was the guild court, and the laws were called the guild Laws. (Guild is association
of people of same profession)
o Guild laws formed the basis of company law in India.
o This court was a kind of trade association.
o These courts used to resolve Intra guild disputes.
For e.g., if a person of gold making guild have disputes with another person of same
guild
o These were so powerful that even kings could not interfere.

c) Gana Court
o It used to resolve inter caste disputes and inter guild disputes.
o It acted as the appellate court for inter caste disputes
These courts were mobile courts as well and were called Aprahista courts
King’s Court:
• Only serious issues went to king’s court
• It was considered that god have conferred the right to rule to the kings.
• King was considered the fountain head of the Justice.
• Kings court will always be in capital city.
• Only king’s court could announce capital punishments.
• If there was a case involving serious punishment then people’s court used to pass the
matters in the king’s court.
Composition of King’s Court:
 1. Adhikrita Court: Chief justice of empire used to adjudicate the matter here.
2. Sasita Court: King himself sat here and decided on the matters.

2. Judicial Procedure: In ancient times, judicial procedure was very elaborate. According to
Brihaspati, suit on trial consisted of 4 stages
o Filing of plaint
o Reply to the plaint
o Trial & investigation
o Verdict and decision
In relation to evidence, it was based on all or any of the three sources, i.e., documents,
witnesses or possession. Further, during the course of trial, each party to the case was
required to prove one’s content with the support of certain evidence.
Officials in the kings’ court were of two type:
Judicial Officers:
• King was the highest authority followed by chief justice and then the judge (King>Chief
Justice>Judges)
• Judges job was to act as investing officers
• Judges used to submit the investigation report to the chief justice.
• Chief justice could announce the verdict but he had to seek permission of the king.
• Chief justice formed his opinion of the case to which king gave the final authority.
Non-Judicial Officers:
There were three Non-judicial Officers:
i. Accountant (Ganaka): Accountant’s job was to calculate the amount and carry out the
inventory and was also called Ganaka.
ii. Bailiff (Swapurush): Bailiff’s job was to ensure parties to dispute and witnesses were
present in the court. He used to make the parties and witnesses swear over fire or gold.
And he was also called Swapurush
iii. Scribe (Lekhak): Scribe’s job was to record the court proceedings. And he was also
called lekhak.
There was no institution of lawyers. People used to narrate their cases themselves.
3. Institution of lawyers: We don’t have direct reference from any ancient text that whether
any institution of lawyers was present or not.
4. Appointment of judges and judicial standards: Caste system played a very important role
in the appointment of judges. Mostly, judges were appointed amongst Brahmins. However,
the standard for judges and magistrates were very high. Judges were required to take oath of
impartiality whenever deciding any dispute between the citizens. They were also expected
to follow utmost integrity in the course of their dealings.
Qualification of a Judge: As civilization advanced, the king’s functions became more
numerous and he had less and less time to hear suits in person, and was compelled to delegate
more and more of his judicial function to professional judges. The qualifications prescribed
for a judge were very high. Qualifications of a judge were:
o A judge should be austere and restrained, impartial in temperament, steadfast, God-
fearing, assiduous in his duties, free from anger, leading a righteous life, and belong to a
good family.
o To qualify for a judge a person should be well versed with the 18 titles of law.
o To qualify for a judge a person should be proficient in logic and interpretation.
o To qualify for a judge a person should be well versed with Vedas and smritis.
o To qualify for a judge a person should have the capacity to extract truth from different
problems and situations.
o To qualify for a judge a person should be unbiased and even minded and does not favour
any party.
o To qualify for a judge a person should be free from greed and corruption.
o To qualify for a judge a person should be fearless enough to give a free opinion; what he
thinks to be the truth.
o Only a Brahmin, Kshatriya or Vaishya could be appointed as a judge. Shudras were not
allowed to be a judge.
o Amicus curie were also appointed sometimes for the proceedings by judges or kings.
Pros and Cons of Judicial System:
Pros:
• It has developed judicial system; unlike today, which has separate family courts and
civil courts. At that time only one court used to handle all the subject matters.
 • Also, hierarchy was followed in the ancient time i.e., if one is not satisfied with the
judgement, they can appeal to the king court.
• Judicial system at time focused on rehabilitation and reformation of accused rather
than straightaway punishing them.
• Civilization was progressive as contract had provision of undue influence.
Cons:
• Punishment was also given on the basis of caste system. So, if brahmin committed a
mistake, then he was given lesser punishment as compared to the shudras for
committing the same mistake.
• There were courts specifically for a particular caste but no courts for those who didn’t
knew their caste.
• Appointment of judges was based upon certain principles; such as being of upper
caste, which means that shudras were not eligible to become judges. Women were
also not allowed to become judge.
5. Trial by jury: Jurors were called as 'sabhasada' or councillors who acted as assessors or
adviser of the King. It was very much prevalent in ancient India.
6. Basis of judgement for a crime: On the conclusion of the trial, judgment known as Nirnaya
was pronounced.
Classification of judgement:
i) Oral – When Judgement was given through words of the witnesses and the parties to the
matter.
ii) Documentary - When Judgement was given on the basis of the documents provided or
the written form of facts.
iii) Possession – If the stolen material was found in someone’s possession i.e., house he was
held guilty of the offence.
iv) Logical - When Judgement was given through proper logic and inferences to win the
case.
v) Usage - When Judgement was given on the basis of customs and traditions.
vi) Trial by ordeal: In ancient India, Punishment signified ‘Danda’. Punishment was given
on the basis of the system of oath and ordeal. According to Narad Smriti and
 Yajnavalkya Smriti, Ordeal shall be used only when right arguments fail in the
investigation of cases. Punishment for crime was inflicted by divine judgements.
Ordeal was the method of determining the guilt or innocence of the person. Under this
system the person accused of any crime was subjected to certain tests with the belief
that the process is under supernatural control. These were practiced when judge
couldn’t decide the case.
Types of ordeals:
(1) Fire ordeal - A test of guilt or innocence in which a person is subjected to trial by
fire. Fire was spread on the ground and the accused was made to walk over it. If he
got burnt, he was declared guilty otherwise not.
(2) Water ordeal – A practice in which an accused person is subjected to a trial by water.
Accused was made to swim under water certain distance in one breadth, if he come
over surface or drowned, he was considered guilty. If not, then not guilty.
(3) Lot Ordeal – A test of guilt or innocence in which a person is subjected to trial by lot.
There was a pot in which two balls were present black and white. Accused was
blindfolded was asked to take out one ball. If the colour of the ball is white then
person is not guilty. If black, then guilty.
(4) Balance ordeal - A test of guilt or innocence in which a person is subjected to trial by
balance ordeal. Weight equal to person’s weight was kept on one side and the person
was made to sit on the other. If the side on which person sits, goes up, then he is not
guilty. If the other side goes up, he is declared guilty.

7. Penalty (Punishment): Punishment was sort of expiation which removed impurities from
a man of sinful promptness and reformed his character. According to Manu, Brihaspati and
Yajnavalkya. Arthashashtra mentioned 64 types of punishment. There were 4 stages of
punishment:
o Gentle admonition – if the commits crime that isn’t serious, then the person is warned
and advised.
o Severe reprove or rebuke – if the person repeats the crime then he was harshly scolded
o Fine – Monetary punishment was also levied if the accused repeats crime. It was also
called ‘dhan dand’.
o Corporeal punishment – capital punishment was given for heinous crimes; Hands or
legs were cut, or the person was hanged till death.
The intentions were to reform the offender.
The decree of people’s court – Nirnay Patra
The decree of king’s court – Jaya Patra
There was an ideal rule of law.
Cases:
Case: A contract law case from Rajtarangini, A person was living away from home in
Kashmir for years. He used to earn a living and when he was returning home with his salary
of gold coins of last 2 years. He was tired and felt thirsty and went near a well. He looked
inside the well and, in the process, he lost his bag of coins. Another man approached him,
who proposed to get his bag back from inside the well on one condition that he will take
all the coin and the owner will get only two coins. The man agreed but later refused give
any coin to the other person. The matter went to kings’ court. King rules in favour of the
owner of the gold coins that the owner would keep the coins and the finder will get only
two coins.
Note: this decision was made by the king because the contract wasn’t made in sound state
of mind.
Case: Narayan Rao V. Raghunath Rao 1774
o This case gave the idea of independent judiciary
o This case is related to Maratha period
Narayan Rao was murdered by his uncle Raghunath Rao and he took his throne.
When the case went to the court chief justice gave the verdict that Raghunath Rao is
the murderer. When king, came to know about this verdict, he expelled Chief justice
Ramashashtri. When public became aware of it, they dethroned the king and chief
justice was reinstated.
Quantum of punishment: The quantum of punishment was required to be proportionate
to the gravity of the charges. The king was required to impose penalty having due regard
to the aggravating or extenuating circumstances. Following were kept in mind before
punishing:
o Motive – most important factor was the motive for determining the punishment.
 o Place of occurrence – the place of occurrence of crime played an important role. Alarm
theory; how much alarm is caused because of punishment also determines the quantum
of punishment. For e.g., if a beggar was murdered, it got unnoticed. But if a person of
high class was murdered chaos was created.
o Age - Children below 16 year of age were to be given half punishments and for below
5 years no punishments were given irrespective of the quantum of punishment.
o Caste – a person of lower caste was given higher quantum of punishment.

Nature of Ancient Polity

▪ Republican form of government
▪ Monarchial form was more prevalent

Dharma: Dharma or law constituted the blue print or master plan for all the round development
of the individual and different sections of the society. Dharma is Mostly misunderstood as religion,
but the fact remains that it is a word of the widest impact, having no corresponding word in any
other language.
In India, we have several sects, and each sect defines the concept of Dharma according to their
own parameters.
• In Hindi, the word dharma means ‘Law’. It meant order
• In Hindus, the concept of Dharma has been taken from Sanskrit term, ‘dharm’ which signifies
certain order by which society must function for the welfare of human beings and make the
functioning of society possible.
• Buddhists refer to Dharma as ‘Dhamma’, based on the preaching and sayings of Lord Buddha
Jains refer to Dharma on the basis of the teachings of their Tirthankaras.
• In Islam, there are two important concepts dealing with Dharma:
o Concept of universal brotherhood which dictates that all Muslims are brothers.
o Dogma of Touhid which says that the Lord is one and only one and Prophet Muhammad
was his messenger.
 • In Mahabharata Bhishm said, ‘Dharma is that which helps in the upliftment of human being,
Dharma is which sustains’. Dharma is something which is above parochialism
(narrowmindedness).
• Madhav Acharya explained that ‘That which is acceptable is Dharma’.
• In Manusmriti it is written as ‘Dharayati iti Dharma’ means that which is acceptable is
dharma; something which created harmony.
• Those who protect Dharma, Dharma protects them & those who tend to destroy dharma,
Dharma destroy them.
• APJ Abdul kalam said “Righteousness is Dharma”. Dharma means to bring balance to the
cosmic order. ‘Rit’ means cosmic order. It is a Non-Religious / Secular concept.

Under the ancient Indian System of Government great importance was given to Rajdharma which
declared that it was the personal responsibility of king himself. His duties were manifold.
Rajdharma – the law that a ruler should follow. Example, Mahabharata; Nitisashtra etc.
Saptang theory also known as seven limbs of state. It was mentioned in Arthashashtra. Currently,
there are 4 limbs of the state which were also a part of seven limbs of state while studying theory
of state.

The Muslim Period: Judicial System in Medieval India

Muslim period marks the beginning of a new era in the legal history of India. Arabs were the first
Muslims to come to India. They arrived in the18th century.
The judicial officers below the Chief Provincial Qazi were transferred after every two or three
years During the Mughal period, Akbar introduced many reforms in the administration of justice.
He created common citizenship and a unanimous system of justice for all. Besides, he prohibited
slavery, repealed the death penalty clause for criticizing Islam or Prophet Mohammad, and
prohibited the forcible practice of sati. Jahangir abolished the cruel and barbarous punishments
and decentralised the power of the courts. Shahjahan established the regular system of appeal
Aurangzeb entrusted the preparation of a comprehensive digest of Muslim criminal law to eminent
Muslim theologians.
Akbar’s quest for religious knowledge led to interfaith debates in the ibadat khana at Fatehpur
Sikri between learned Muslims, Hindus, Jainas, Parsis and Christians. Akbar’s religious views
matured as he queried scholars of different religions and sects and gathered knowledge about their
doctrines. Increasingly, he moved away from the orthodox Islamic ways of understanding religions
towards a self-conceived eclectic form of divine worship focused on light and the sun. Akbar and
Abu’l Fazl created a philosophy of light and used it to shape the image of the king and ideology
of the state. In this, a divinely inspired individual has supreme sovereignty over his people and
complete control over his enemies.
When the Sultans ruled most of the parts of India from Delhi, a few Hindu kingdoms also existed
in some parts of the country. Among these, the Vijayanagar empire, from A.D. 1336 to 1646, was
the most famous. Krishnadevaraya was the greatest of the rulers of this dynasty. He reigned from
1509 to 1529.The example of Vijayanagar and their system of adjudication of the criminal justice
indicates the functioning of full-fledged judicial system. But during the medieval period of Indian
history the criminal justice system of India was highly influenced by the Muslim rulers and
therefore, the period is generally known as the Muslim period.
• Beginning of medieval India; 8th century AD
• First Muslim to attack India was Mohmmad Bin Qasim. Sanatan Dharma was followed in
India at that time. It was the old name of ‘Hinduism’.
Concept of Islamic Law:
During the Muslim rule in India, Islamic law or Sharia was followed by all the Sultans and Mughal
Emperors. Muslim criminal law as applied in India, was supposed to have been defined once for
all in the Quran as revealed to the Arabian Prophet and his traditional sayings (Hadis). The
Muslims followed the principle of equality for men and they had no faith in the graded or sanctified
inequality of caste system. Muslim religion places every man on an equal footing before God,
overriding distinctions of class, nationality, race and colour. However, this concept of equality was
applicable only to the Muslims. Under the Muslim law, non-Muslims did not enjoy all the rights
and privileges which the Muslims did. They were not treated as equal to Muslims in law and were
called “Zimmi”. Their evidence was inadmissible in the courts against the Muslims. They had to
pay an additional tax called „jizya‟ and as regards other normal taxes also they had to pay at double
the rate than what a Muslim paid. Special feature of the Muslim law was that the Muslim criminal
jurisprudence treated criminal law as a branch of private law rather than of public law. The
principle governing the law was more in the nature of providing relief to the person injured in civil
matters rather than to impose Penalty for the offence committed. It was for the private persons to
move the State machinery against such offences and the State would not Suo-moto take cognizance
of the same.

Sources Islamic Law:

The main source of Muslim law, i.e., Sharia is Quran and Sunnah or Hadis, which means the
practices and traditions of the Prophet who, is considered to be the best interpreter of Quran. On
all matters on which Quran was silent, Sunnah or Hadis was regarded as paramount authority. In
addition to these the other two sources which developed inevitably in order to meet the needs of
expanding Muslim society were: Ijma— consensus of opinion of the learned in Quran; and
Qiyas—analogical reasoning having due regard to the teachings of Mohammad.
Islamic theory of state:
(i) Holy Book Quran
(ii) Sovereign Caliph
(iii)Nation initially Baghdad later Iraq
Sources of law
Quran: It was central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God
(Allah). It was regarded as the words of god by Gabriel angel.
Hadis: Hadis in Islam refers to what Muslims believe to be a record of the words, sayings,
actions, and the silent approval of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Ijma: Ijma is the consensus or agreement of Islamic scholars on a point of Islamic law.
Basically, Islamic jurisprudence or case Laws.
The Sharia is the law governing the Muslim community. It is based on the Qur’an and the Hadis,
traditions of the Prophet including a record of his remembered words and deeds. With the
expansion of Islamic rule outside Arabia, in areas where customs and traditions were different,
qiyas (reasoning by analogy) and ijma (consensus of the community) were recognised as two other
sources of legislation. Thus, the sharia evolved from the Quran, Hadis, qiyas and ijma.
• Islamic rulers were authoritative in nature.
• Sultan used to be on the top as a judge.
• Then came chief Qazi (Qazi-ul-Quzul)
• At district level, there was a district judge called Qazi.
 • Muhtesib (Master of Sensors) – Muhtesib used to look after the followers of the Shariyat
law. He was a judicial officer.
• Shariyat law was applicable to the Muslims only.
• Delhi sultanate and Islamists followed the Sunni sect. Sunni were Conservative whereas Shia
were liberal.
• Hindus who didn’t convert to Islam were forced to pay Tax. This tax was called Jizya Tax.
Those who paid Jizya were ‘protected people’ and they were under the status Zimmi.
• Islamic justice system was very harsh. Big punishments were given even for small crimes.
• Islamic law applied to all religions – Hindus, Christian, Parsis.
• Mughal Emperor Jahangir was well known for his innovative policy of the 'Chain of
Justice'. Jahangir had placed a long golden chain with bells in his court. Anyone who had
been subjected to injustice could come to the court, pull the chain and make his or her
complaint heard for redressal
Note: Rule of Law- Law is supreme, no one is above it.
Rule by Law- When legislature tries to mould the law according to him.
King:
The administration of justice was one of the primary functions of the King. The monarch was the
head of the judicial organization. According to Islamic jurisprudence, as was the position under
the Hindu jurisprudence, the ruler constituted the highest court of justice. To maintain and enforce
the criminal code was one of the important functions of the King. Being head of the state, he was
the supreme authority to administer justice in his kingdom.
Courts:
Different courts were established to deal with different kinds of cases. Courts were constituted at
central capital and at the headquarters of a province, district and pargana. During the Sultanate
period the Court of Diwan-e-mulzim was the highest court of criminal appeal. To deal with the
cases of criminal prosecutions of rebels and those charged with high treason, a separate court
Diwan-e-siyasat was constituted. The judiciary and police were placed under the Chief Sadr and
Chief Qazi, both offices being held usually by the same person. In due course a hierarchy of Qazis
was established to dispose of cases of civil disputes and criminal complaints. At each provincial
headquarters, Adalat Qazi-e-subah was empowered to try civil and criminal cases of any
description and to hear appeals from the district courts. Similarly, there were courts at the district
and Parganah headquarters. Appeals were filed before the district court from the judgements of the
Parganah Qazis, Kotwals and village Panchayats. Petty criminal cases were filed before the Kotwal
who was the principal executive officer in towns. Constitution of courts during Muslim Period
There were 6 types of courts during Muslim period:
1. Court of Sultan: Presided over by Sultan and had both original as well as appellate
jurisdiction in all matters.
2. Diwan-e-Muzalim: Situated in capital city, was the highest court of criminal appeal when
presided over by Sultan.
3. Diwan-e-Risalat: Highest court of civil appeal if court was presided over by Sultan.
4. Qazi-ul-Quzat & Sadre Jahan’s Court: Qazi-ul-Quzat was the highest judicial officer after
the Sultan. In the absence of Sultan, Qazi-ul-Quzat presided over these courts.
5. Diwan-e-Siyasat: Established by Mohammed Bin Tughlaq to deal with the cases of rebellion
and high treason. High treason was to make the effort to overthrow the king, or to help enemies
of the state.
In medieval India, the king was known as Sultan, and being the head of the state, he had supreme
authority to administer justice in his kingdom. During this period, King’s Court or Court of Sultan
used to administer justice in 3 different capacities:
• Diwan-e-Qaza (Arbitrator)
• Diwan-e-Muzalim (Head of Bureaucracy)
• Diwan-e-Siyasat (Commander-in-Chief)
The courts were required to take prior approval from Sultan before awarding the death sentence.
Hierarchy of court system
SULTAN (Judge)

CHIEF QAZI - QAZI-UL-QUZUK (Chief Justice)

QAZI (District Judge)

MUTASIB (Master of censor; ensured that Islamic law was followed)

KOTWAL (Not a judicial officer; a police officer)

Judicial officers:
Qazi- He was judge at the District Level.
Mufti- if there was any confusion regarding any law then mufti would interpret the law.
Maulvi- he was like a priest or Hindu pandit. He performed rituals like marriage and funeral.

Iqtadars- The empire was divided into several 'Iqtas' or provinces or spheres of influence and put
them under the charge of officers called 'Iqtadars'; They were like governors of the areas. Iqtadari
system later converted into mansabdari system.

Judicial reforms under Sher Shah

Sher Shah established the Sur dynasty after defeating Humayun, son of Babur. They ruled only for
few years (1540-1555) but, during this time, they introduced some remarkable changes in the
administrative and judicial structure of their kingdom.
These reforms are:
• Separate courts of first instance for civil and criminal cases at pargana (district) level.
• At each pargana, a civil judge called ‘munsiff’ was posted to deal with civil disputes. They
were also assigned to take control of revenue matters and during his tenure, amils and
muqaddams were appointed for collection of revenue.
• Shiquahdars (Station House Officers) were given magisterial powers to deal with criminal
matters at pargana level.
• Muqaddams were Village Council heads who were given the task to prevent theft and
robbery. In case of such cases, they were made liable for compensation.
• Police regulations were prepared for the first time during this time.
• When a shiquahdar or a munsiff was appointed, their duties were specifically assigned.
• The judicial officer below the post of chief provincial Qazi was transferred after every two
or three years. This system is applied till date.
• The duties of governors and their deputies regarding preservation of law and order were
also emphasized.
 • Qazi-ul-Quzat was made directly answerable to the Sultan. He was authorised to report the
conduct of governor to Sultan when the governor overwrites any provision of law.
THE MUGHAL PERIOD: JUDICIAL SYSTEM
A. ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS:
IMPERIAL CAPITAL – PROVINCES (SUBAHS) – DISTRICTS (SARKARS) –
PARGANAS – VILLAGES.
B. CONSTITUTION OF COURTS:
• Emperor considered as the “fountain of justice”
• Created a separate dept. if justice – Mahukma-e-Adalat – to regulate and see whether
justice was administered properly.
a) THE IMPERIAL CAPITAL: 3 courts established
1. The Emperor’s court:
• Jurisdiction- original civil and criminal cases
• Highest court of the empire
• Assistants – Darogha-e-Adalat, Mufti and Mir Adl., Mohtasib-e-Mumalik (in
criminal cases).
• Bench- Emperor, Chief Justice (Qazi-ul-Quzat) and Qazis.
• Allowed public to make appeal and representations.
2. The Chief Court:
• Presided by Chief Justice (Qazi-ul-Quzat)
• Jurisdiction: Org. civil and criminal and appeals from provincial courts
• Assistants: Darogha-e-Adalat, Mufti and Mir Adl. And Mohtasib
• Supervise the working of provincial courts.
3. The Chief Revenue Court:
• Highest court in revenue matters
• Presided by Diwan-e-Ala.
b) THE PROVINCES (SUBAHS): 3 courts
1. The Governor’s Court (Adalat-e-Nazim-e-Subah)
• Presided by Governor himself ( Nazim-e-Subah)
• Original jurisdiction in the cases arising in a province
 2. The Provincial Chief Appellate Court:
• Presided by Qazi-e-Subah
• Original civil and criminal jurisdiction
3. Provincial Chief Revenue Court:
• Presided by Diwan-e-Subah.
• Original and appellate jurisdiction in revenue cases.
c) DISTRICTS (SARKARS): 4 COURTS
1. The Chief Civil and Criminal Court of the District:
• Presided by Qazi-e-Sarkar
• Org. and appellate jurisdiction in all civil and criminal cases and in religious
matters.
• Qazi-e-Surkar- principal judicial officer also known as Shariyat Panah
• Officers: Darogha-e-Adalat, Mir Adl., Mufti, Pandit/Shastri. Mohtasib and Vakil-
e-Sharayat.
• Appeals – Qazi-e-Subah
2. Faujdari Adalat:
• Presided by Faujdar
• Riots and state security
• Appeal – Governor’s Court
3. Kotwali Court:
• Similar to those cases in the modern police act
• Presided by Kotwal-e-Shahar.
• Appeal – District Qazi.
4. The Amalguzari Kachehri:
• Revenue cases
• Presided by Amalguzar.
• Appeal – provincial diwan.
d) PARGANAS: 3 COURTS
1. Adalat-e-Pargana:
• Presided by Qazi-e-Pargana
 • Original jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases.
• All villages under the pargana
• Officers – Mufti, Mohtasib-e-Pargana, Darogha-e-Adalat and Vakil-e-Shara.
2. Court of Kotwali:
• Presided by Kotwal-e-Pargana
• Modern police act
• Appeal District Qazi
3. Kachehri:
• Presided by Amin
• Revenue cases
• Appeal – District Amalguzar.
e) VILLAGES:
• Smallest administrative units
• Panchayats authorised to administer justice in petty civil and criminal cases
• Meetings held in public
• 5 panchs – Sarpanch or the village headman president
• No appeal allowed
• Governed by customary laws
C. JUDICIAL PROCEDURE:
1. CIVIL CASES:
• Plaintiff or his agent filed the plaint in the court having jurisdiction
• The defendant called – accept or deny the claim
• If denied proceedings began – plaintiff required to produce evidences
• Defendant was allowed to produce witnesses and witnesses were cross-examined
• Presiding officer gave judgement.
2. CRIMINAL CASES:
• Complaint personally or representative
• Mohtasib (Public Prosecutor) instituted prosecutions against the accused
• Court could call the accused immediately
• Preferred to hear the complaint of the complainant before calling
 • Ordinarily judgement in open court
Exceptions: state interest or dangerously influential accused.
D. CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS:
1. HADD: It provided punishment laid down in sharia.
• Fixed punishments for – theft, robbery, whoredom, apostasy, defamation, and
drunkenness.
• Equally applicable to Muslims and non-Muslims
• No compensation
2. TAZIR: It was another form of punishment which meant prohibition and it was applicable
to all the crimes which were not classified under Hadd.
• Prohibition – applicable to all crimes not under HADD
• Crimes like – counterfeiting coins, gambling, causing injury, minor theft etc.
• Punishments on the discretion of the courts
• Free to invent new methods of punishments (cutting the tongue, impalement etc.)
3. QISAS:
• Blood-fine – in the cases of homicide
• Blood money paid by the man who is convicted but not sentenced to death
• “the right of the god’s creatures should prevail”
• Court intervenes at the desire of the aggrieved party
• Discretion to compound the homicide cases
• Similar to WERGILD of the contemporary English period
• Injured party could waive his private claim to compensation or redress
Treason was considered to be a crime against the god and religion- death.
Contempt of court was seriously punished.

Module 2
Development of Legislative Institutions
Beginning of Legislative Authority of EIC
• On 31st December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted charter to the company to incorporate
London EIC to carry on trade & commerce into certain other parts of the world.
• Initially this charter was granted only for 15 years, subject to the provision of termination,
by giving two years notice in advance, if the activity of the company was found
unprofitable.
• With the effect of this charter, the company became juristic person with exclusive privilege
to carry out trade and business through other parts of the world.
• The same charter further granted legislative power to the company to make rules, by-laws
and ordinances for its good governance and to punish for offences against company or its
servants by fine or imprisonment according to the law, statutes or customs of the time.
Charter: Written grant issued by legislative authority or sovereign by which an institution is
created and their powers and functions are assigned and defined. Charter was a type of ordinance
issued by the crown which consisted of legislative powers equal to the laws passed by the
parliament. During British times, a lot of charters were issued, in the years
• Charter of 1600:
o It was passed by queen Elizabeth I and the laws were known as the Charter Laws.
o In the year 1601, first Royal Commission was created. Purpose behind this commission
was to confer power to the company so that in cases of murder and/or mutiny, the
offenders will be punished by a jury trial which will be conducted with 12 members of
the company acting as members of the jury.
o East India Company (EIC) was formed with a power to trade/work in the east.
Legislative powers:
o To govern the East India Company by itself.
o All laws of governing were based on pure British rules.
o There was no provision of death sentence. However, fine & imprisonment could be
imposed.
o EIC was formed for mercantilism. Feudal system ended & this became the new method
of revenue. The state emerged as merchant.
o Mercantilism – where trade was followed by a national flag. 3G’s or mercantilism
were: Gold, God & Glory.
 Gold - The idea was that there is only so much wealth in the world, and that to make
your kingdom strong you must have more gold and wealth than the other kingdoms.
God - With Europe Christianized, people wanted to spread the Gospel to the rest of the
world, because Europeans had always seen spreading Christianity as a good
thing. Colonization would later become a race to convert indigenous people to a
particular brand of Christianity. Religion was also an excuse for enslaving or
exploiting non-Christians which allowed kingdoms to participate in the slave trade.
Glory - Glory was a relatively new idea in Europe. In fact, it came out of the
Renaissance ideal of Humanism, and the focus on individual achievement. Kings and
queens wanted glory for their kingdom, plus with the invention of the printing press, it
became more possible for one to gain fame for their actions.
These were the three motives of trading. Mercantilism is an economic policy to
maximize exports and minimize imports for an enemy. Earlier European to trade were
Portuguese.
Charters weren’t confine to India; different charters were issued for Asia, America,
Africa etc.
o British believed that if they converted people to Christianity, they would be able to
control them better.
o Free flow of bullions (Silver & Gold) was ensured by mercantilism through monopoly.
o Charter of 1600 did not focus on territorial acquisition and EIC came to India only for
trading.
o It gave them bye laws making power to make their own laws. This charter was the germ
through which Anglo-Indian jurisprudence emerged.
o Problem was that, there wasn’t any punishment for serious crimes. Queen Elizabeth I
formed kings’ commission in 1601 which ruled that for every ship there will be a
commander in chief for high sea voyages and this person could grant punishments for
serious crimes. This marked the beginning of martial laws in India.
o 1st Martial law trial in India was Trial of Gregory Lillington. Death sentence was given
here. In 1615, jury system was established in India. Commander in chief formed jury
and jury comprised 12 members. Jury system abolished in India in the year 1960s.
o When British set up a factory, it has to governed by President and 24 directors.
• 1609: This charter was granted by James I, the then King of England. This charter was a
replica of the charter of 1600. Charter of 1600 granted authority to EIC for limited period
of 15 years, unlike this charter, which granted the said authority for an indefinite period of
time. Further, 2 years prior notice for termination of company was extended to 3 years. For
maintaining discipline amongst the servants of the company, provision was made through
this charter by the Royal Commission. For trial of offenders, similar provision was made.
The Royal Commission under the charter of 1609 conducted the first jury trial on Indian
soil by EIC which was the trial of Gregory Lillington.
Trial of Gregory Lillington: Gregory Lillington killed Henry Barton, another
Englishman, near Surat. The trial was conducted on the basis of confession of Gregory
Lillington. Finally, he was sentenced to death by the jury.
• British established their 1st factory in Surat in 1612. Now agreement was to be obtained
from Jahangir. Jahangir’s Farman (Royal Order) had to be obtained.
For conducting Lillington trial, certain members of the jury came to India from London
and tried to make contact with the Mughal emperor, Jahangir. The purpose was to get some
power from Jahangir. To facilitate this, they started negotiating with Jahangir and contacted
him several times. Finally, in the year 1618, Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador of James I,
succeeded in this effort by treating Jahangir of his illness and the EIC entered into a treaty
with Jahangir. As per the treaty, Jahangir issued a Farman which entrusted judicial
functions in the hands of the EIC.
There are 4 components of this Farman:
1. The disputes amongst the company servants will be regulated by their own tribunals
(EIC).
2. The English people will enjoy their own religion and laws in the administration of the
EIC.
3. Local native authorities will settle such disputes in which both Englishmen and
Hindus/Muslims are parties according to justice, equity and good conscience.
4. The Mughal governor (Qazi) of the relevant place was entrusted the duty to protect
English people from all sorts of injury.
• 1635
• 1657
• Charter of 1661:
o After the year 1660, the company entered into the phase of unprecedented prosperity.
The company was making huge profits and after that started acquiring territory. In order
to regulate these affairs of the company, Charles II issued this charter of 1661. The
purpose of this charter was to regulate the increasing territorial powers of the company.
o This charter was issued on the basis of joint stock principle. As per this principle, the
member of the company who was having share capital of £500 or more was given
voting rights in the constitution of company’s code.
o Further, the company was authorised to appoint governors and other officers for the
proper administration of the company. This charter further authorised the company to
empower the Governor-Generals and Councils of each one of their factories and trading
centres at their Indian settlements to administer civil and criminal justice according to
English law.
o In the absence of Governor, Chief Director was authorised to administer justice at their
respective settlements. Development of Legislative and Judicial Authority: Charter of
1600 authorised the company to maintain discipline amongst its servants and
punishment must be in conformity with statutory or customary law. But, through the
charter of 1661, role of customary laws was totally ignored and English law was made
applicable on Indian territory.
o As per the charter of 1600, the laws made by company were applicable on EIC’s
servants. Charter of 1661 authorised EIC to make laws for its factories, trading centres,
Indian settlements and certain Indian territories as well.
o This Charter introduced provision of death penalty. Unlike Charter of 1600, this charter
aims to create judicial body for territories where they are settled. In order to maximize
their profit, they started the plan of territorial acquisition or territorial jurisdiction.
o All the laws made till the charter of 1661 put the English people in upper hand and put
the Indians at a most disadvantageous position.
o There was no demarcation between Executive & Judiciary.
• 1668: Charles II transferred the island of Bombay to EIC which he got as dowry from
Portugal for an annual rent of £10. This charter authorised EIC to make laws, ordinances
and constitution for governance of island of Bombay. Such law-making power was subject
 to certain restrictions that the laws made by the EIC for the governance of island of Bombay
must be in conformity with English law and under no circumstances can they be
contradictory. The same charter authorised the company to establish the Court of Judicature
similar to those established in England for proper administration of justice.
• 1683: Admiralty Court in Bombay
• 1686: Admiralty Court in Calcutta
• 1698
• 1726
• 1753
Charter of 1661
22nd July, 1639: An Englishman named Francis Day acquired a piece of land from the Hindu raja
of Chandragiri. This piece of land was known as Madraspatnam. Francis Day, after acquiring this
land, built a fort named St. George for the residents of the EIC and the employees of the factory.
Later on, this fort was known as White Town and a place nearby Madraspatnam, comprising of
villages, was known as Black Town.
Constitution of Courts
After Madras Settlement in 1639, 3 courts were working under the settlement of Madras and
nearby areas:
1. Court of Agent & Council
2. Court of Local Nayak
3. Choultry Courts (for Black Town)
Here in relation to abovementioned courts, there approach on similar subjects was conflicting and
there was a lot of discrimination in trials and verdicts against Indians.
As per the charter of 1661: Mr. Foxcroft was appointed as 1st Governor of Madras. He
appointed William Dawes as Magistrate, who exercised the judicial functions. However, he also
declared that if someone disagrees with Dawes’s judgment, he would personally hear the case and
make changes, if required.
Trial of Ascentia Dawes: This was the first jury trial in Madras settlement and during the
governorship of Foxcroft.
It was held in the year 1665/69. In this case, Ascentia Dawes was charged with the murder of an
Indian girl slave. Primarily the accusation was made up in the form and manner prescribed by the
EIC. But the members of the jury were summoned to reverse the indictment. Indictment was given
again but this time it wasn’t in proper form and manner. The jury found her guilty of murder but
not in the manner and terms stated by the prosecution. Finally, the most surprising part of this trial
was that the foreman of the jury, Mr. Reade, gave a verdict contrary to all expectations. He
expressed the opinion that each member of the jury
is free and they can give their opinion without giving any reason. Ultimately, he declared Ascentia
Dawes as not guilty of murder, which resulted in Ascentia Dawes being acquitted of all charges.
To sum up Charter of 1661:
• Judicial functions were entrusted in the hands of the Governor & Council and matters were
required to be disposed of according to English law.
• It clearly mentioned that EIC was not merely a trading company, it also had territorial
ambitions.
• This charter abolished the Court of Local Nayak in Madras because entire Madras came
under the jurisdiction of Court of Governor & Council and Choultry Courts.
British had 3 important settlements: Madras, Bombay & Calcutta.
o 1st British settlement was in Madras in 1639. Francis dey was the founder of modern
Madras.
o Bombay came into existence in 1668 and Gerald Aungier was the founder.
o Calcutta was founded in 1690 (by fort Williams establishment) and was founded by Job
Charnok in 1690.
o Madras was earlier known as Madraspatnam. British took this village on lease and
established a factory and expanded it and later founded Madras.
o Bombay was earlier fisherman village. It was under Portuguese. Portuguese princess
married British Prince Charles II and gave him Bombay as dowry. Later crown transferred
it to EIC.
Town Settlement:
1. Factory
2. Settlement
3. Agency
4. Presidency
1
5. Empire 2
3
4
5
British Paramountcy
Anglo – French Rivalry
• This Anglo – French wars were called Carnatic Wars. Three Carnatic wars were fought. It was
mainly fought in South India.
1) 1746 – 48 (First War)
2) 1749 – 54 (Second War)
3) 1756 – 63 (Third War) – Finally French lost and remained in India only as subordinate
to British.
• At that time French headquarter was at Pondicherry and British headquarter was at Madras.

First Carnatic War

• French HQ were at Pondicherry.
• Lord Dupleix was the founder of the French India.
• Robert Clive had no role in the first Carnatic war:
Reasons of 1st Carnatic War:
o This was the result of the global war between England & France.
o French tried to capture Madras which was at that time British Headquarters.
o This Anglo-French rivalry led to their trading companies in India vying with each other
for supremacy.
o The real cause of the war was the beginning of the war of Austrian succession in 1740
in Europe in which England and France found themselves in opposite camps.
o Battle of St Thorne fought between the French and the Indian forces of Anwar-ud-din,
nawab of Carnatic, at the bank of river Adyar.
Result of 1st Carnatic War:
o Britain and France signed the treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1748 and therefore, peace
was restored in India as well.
o By the treaty, Madras was handed over to the English in exchange of Lubar in America
to France much against the wishes of Dupleix. Thus, ended the first Carnatic war
between the English and the French.
o It was neither a decisive war nor it brought about any change in the territorial
possessions of either party. Yet it was important in some other respects.
 o The English and the French came to know the geographical features of the territories
extending over nearly one hundred miles around the centres of their power.
o It also exposed to them the military weakness of the Indian rulers.
o It brought into focus the importance of the Navy as an effective instrument of war
o This Carnatic war also aroused the cupidity of the English and the French companies
for territorial expansion in India.
Second Carnatic War
Reason of 2nd Carnatic War:
o Interference of the English and the French in politics of the native rulers with a
view to enhancing their political power and area of influence.
Carnatic Region Hyderabad Region
Head: Dost Ali → Head: Nizam-ul-Mulk
British → Anwar-ud-din Ali (son) → Nasir Jang (son)
French →Chanda Sahib (son) → Muzaffar Jang (Cousin)
▪ Battle of Ambar was fought near Vellore in 1749. Nasir Jang was killed. Another
son of Anwar-ud-din was Mohammad Ali. Muzaffar Jang & Chanda Sahib &
armies of French defeated and killed Anwar-ud-din in the Battle of Ambar.
Thereafter Chanda Sahib became the nawab of Carnatic. Mohammad Ali proposed
that a surprise attack on Arcot, capital of Carnatic in a bid to divert pressure on
Trichinopoly (Mohammad ali was hiding in the fort of Trichinopoly).
▪ The French force surrendered to the English in June, 1752.
▪ Godheau replaced the Dupleix as the governor general of French possessions in
India and Mohammad ali became new nawab of Carnatic. This was also the
beginning of French failure in India.
Third Carnatic War
o It was the result of the seven-year war between British and French in Europe. French was
defeated and British emerged victorious. The Seven Years’ War ended in 1763 and the
Peace of Paris was signed. By this treaty, the French were given back some of their cities
in India, like Chandranagar and Pondicherry. But they were not allowed to raise any
fortifications there. Thus, the third Carnatic War Sealed the fate of the French in India for
 ever and, among European powers, Britain alone was left to contest the native rulers of the
sovereignty of India.
Reasons of the Failure of The French
1. French Continental Preoccupations – France attempted simultaneously the task of
continental expansion & colonial acquisitions. It divided its resources. England on the other
hand did not cover any European territory. England’s main ambition was mainly colonial.
2. Navy – Till the Beginning of World War 1, Britain remained unquestioned power of war.
Superior maritime strength made English win whereas facing the defeat during Austrian
war of succession, French maritime strength was greatly reduced such that there were no
warships left.
3. Nature of ‘State’ in the two countries – Oligarchy was practiced in Britain at that time.
Decision making was done by the entire parliament and the process was really fast and
didn’t depend on the intelligence of a single person, France followed monarchy. Decision
making was restricted to one/two people only. If the ruler wasn’t competent enough to sit
on the throne, the whole nation would suffer.
4. Nature of two Companies – French company had no autonomy at all and had to wait for
the Monarchial orders even for trifle matters. As a result, the process slowed down. British
company was an autonomous body and didn’t have to wait for decisions. They carried out
their role in a much faster way and had more decision-making power as compared to the
French.
5. Leadership - “Second line of Leadership” i.e., British also created second in line charges
of every position. In French occupations there was a ‘Leadership Crisis’. Dupleix mislead
the financial authority of French to home authority. Dupleix was recalled in France after
Carnatic defeats and he was shocked with the decision of returning Madras to British. He
wasn’t incompetent as he could not enthuse the French with their own spirit. Also, his
successors were incompetent.
6. Bengal – Britain had already captured Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Financial
gains from Bengal helped them to finance the other Anglo wars. Marriott said that the
French made a blunder by trying to capture Southern India and Gangetic resources, while
the British tried to have a strong hold in Bengal.
 7. Lack of Enthusiasm - The Industrial Revolu-tion which was taking place in England in
the eighteenth century created a great enthusiasm among the English merchants to collect
raw materials for the latter. This created a great enthusiasm among the English to exploit
the Indian markets for purchase of raw mate-rials and marketing of finished goods. But the
French did not demonstrate that kind of enthusiasm in trade and naturally they did not find
trading profitable, which realization in its turn made them more indolent and less
enterprising in matters of trade.
Battle of Plassey (1757), Kolkata, West Bengal
• Battle of Plassey was considered as beginning of the modern India.
• At that time Robert Clive was the Governor General of West Bengal and Siraj-ud-Daulah
was the nawab of the Bengal.
Reasons for the battle are as follows:
1. Fortification of the ‘Fort William’ – Nawab of Bengal ordered to dismantle the cannons
from the fort to which British refused.
2. Misuse of Dastak system – When British brought their goods to India, no tax duty was
imposed. This privilege was granted by Nawab Ali Vardi Khan, Grandfather of Siraj-ud-
Daulah. In order to boost the Trade, they were given this privilege. Then the British
started misusing their liberty and started selling their goods at a much cheaper rate than
that of Indian traders. They could easily manage the low costs as they didn’t have to pay
the tax duty. As a result, the market of Indian traders got completely shattered. This
created discontent in the minds of the Indian. Nawab wanted to end this system.
3. Shaukat Jang Issue – Shaukat Jang was the step Brother of Siraj-ud-Daulah. He was
considered to be the enemy of the state and was given shelter by the British in Fort
Williams.
4. Weak Position of the Nawab – Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah was a weak nawab. British
understood this and took an advantage of the situation. As a result of Shaukat Jang issue,
Nawab attacked Fort William and captured it.
Course of The Battle
o On 15th June, 1756 ‘Fort William’ was captured
o Black Hole Incident: 146 Britishers were captivated in a small room where only 23
survived and 123 died out of suffocation. Historian question the authenticity of this
 incident as no evidence was found to support the authenticity of this incident. There is
no mention of this incident in any chronicle or newspaper. This was reported by a sole
survivor Holwell and no other person mentioned about this incident. It is also said that
this was just a rumour to malign the reputation of nawab.
o Robert Clive was the commander of Madras Regiment. He was sent with the navy and
was able to defeat the nawab. The treaty of Alinaga was signed in January, 1757. Terms
of the treaty were:
1. The right to mint coins was to be given to the British challenging the sovereignty
of Nawabs & Economy.
2. Damages to be compensated by the nawab to the company. Nawabs have to pay
British the losses in war.
3. The right to fortification was to be given to the British.
o Sovereignty was no longer with nawab.
o Mir Zafar, commander in chief of the army promised that he would be made the nawab.
o In June, 1757 battle was fought, nawab was captured and hanged by the British.
o Britishers used policy of divide and rule; all important person of army was bought by
British.
Significance of Battle of Plassey
o The Battle of Plassey resulted at the end of the French Forces.
o Mir Zafar was crowned as the Nawab of Bengal
o Mir Zafar was unhappy with the position and instigated the Dutch to attack the British in
order to consolidate his foundation.
o Mir Zafar was crowned as the Nawab of Bengal
o Mir Zafar was unhappy with the position and instigated the Dutch to attack the British in
order to consolidate his foundation.
o The British appointed Mir Qasim as the Nawab of Bengal.
o The Battle made the British de facto masters of Bengal.
o The British got the key to India. The entire North India failed to them and the British
became the largest rulers of the north. Mir Zafar was crowned as the Nawab of Bengal
o Mir Zafar was unhappy with the position and instigated the Dutch to attack the British in
order to consolidate his foundation.
 o Bengal was the richest regional province. With the financial gains plundered from
Bengal.
o Britishers funded their deccan wars. (Carnatic wars were against French armies in south)
o The battle of Plassey marks the beginning of the British rule in India.
o After his victory at Plassey, Clive was appointed Governor of Bengal. In 1765 he secured
the 'Diwani', the right to collect the tax and customs revenue of Bengal, from Emperor
Shah Alam II for the Company.
o Till the Battle, East India Company was just merely a trading company. Then it became
a threat to the existence of Princes of India.
Battle of Buxar 1764, (Buxar is located between Patna and Bihar)
o Mir Zafar was removed as he failed to accept the terms & conditions of the British. Mir
Qasim was made the king. He was a better administrator and decided to get rid of the
British.
o He made alliance with Oudh (Suja-ud-Daulah), Shah Alam (Mughal) also called triple
alliance.
o Oudh had a problem with the British because it was annexed & Shah Alam had a problem
because he was a titular king only and he feared that the British would take his crown.
o The Battle was fought at Buxar, Bihar. British defeated the alliance and sealed the fate of
India. From then, none could question the authority of the British.
o After the battle, Britishers emerged as De Jure Powers. The battle came to an end with
signing of Treaty of Allahabad between Shah Alam and Robert Clive.
o Nizam-ud-Daulah was made Nawab of Bengal after battle of Buxar.
Dual System of Government
o The rights of the company after the Battle of Buxar were obtained through Robert Clive.
o Nizam-ud-Daulah was made Nawab of Bengal after battle of Buxar.
o Robert Clive left after Plassey and he was called back. Now he came as a governor.
o He came and carried on the administration of Bengal which was called the dual system of
government from 1765.
o East India Company was plundering the wealth of the People. The EIC took entire judicial
control over India but did not interfere with the criminal justice system to ensure law and
 order situation doesn’t go out of hand. Thus, criminal justice system was left in the hands
of the Nawab.
However, civil jurisdiction and collection of revenue was taken under the control of
company directly. Robert Clive appointed 2 prominent natives for the collection of
revenue. This type of government, i.e., the criminal justice system is in the jurisdiction of
Nawab and civil and revenue collection jurisdiction is with the EIC, became popular by
the name of dual government.
Nizamat – Administrator of Criminal Justice
Diwani – Administrator of Civil & Revenue Justice
o These rights were bought from the Nawab of Bengal.
o He brought Diwani rights from Shah Alam at 26 lac/Annum. Buying Diwani right meant
now revenue was collected by British.
o Two Diwans were appointed for collecting the revenue.
o Administration was to be run by the Nawab and no money was to be paid to the Nawab for
this. This System was called the dual system of government. Dual form of government
meant power without responsibility.
o British – Power without responsibility
Nawab of Bengal – Responsibility without power.
This dual government system of Robert Clive is not reported to be successful. He had to
leave India 2 years after implementing dual government system, in 1767.
Justifications of Robert Clive
Clive was fully conscious of the fact that all power had passed into the hands of the company and
nothing was left to the nawab except the name and shadow of authority. “this name”, wrote Clive
to select committee. “this shadow, it is indispensably necessary we should seem to venerate”. Clive
gave his reasons for the new set up:
1. If the British had captured the power directly then the other princes would have made alliance
& posed a challenge.
2. British were not sure that the other powers living in Bengal will accept the rule/Government
of British.
3. British feared that the diplomatic relations with other colonies/powers will get worsened. Open
assumption of political power could create complications in England’s diplomatic relations
 with France, Holland, Portugal or Sweden and might urge those powers to join in an anti-
British front the like of which Europe saw later during 1778-80 (American War of
Independence)
4. It may jeopardize the relation of British with other countries like French, Portugal, Portugal
Etc.
5. At that time, Britishers didn’t have trained officials to run the administration.
6. Court of directors/highest governing body of the British were opposed of direct capture of
power.
7. Clive well understood that open assumption of political power of Bengal might move the
British parliament into interfering with the affairs of the company.
Consequences of Dual Government
1. Administrative Breakdown was there in Bengal because of responsibility without power.
Traders feared due to an increase in account of Dacoity and Robberies. Rebellions also took
place such as Sanyasi rebellion (a book was also written; Anand math).
British scholar named Cornwell said:
“No civilised government ever existed right on this part of the earth which is more corrupt,
more perfidious and more rapacious than the government of East India Government from
1765 to 1784.”
2. Agricultural declined due to over assessment and harsh method of revenue collection.
Britishers were only concerned with tax collection & not with improvement reforms in
irrigation and agriculture methods.
3. Destruction of trade and commerce due to Dastak System. Dastak System created unfair
trade practices. It not only resulted in loss of taxes but also jeopardised the commerce field.
Traders were reduced to beggars.
4. Moral degradation – there was no incentive for work and people understood that more work
would mean submission of more revenue. So, they started producing only that much which
was necessary for survival. Subsistence economy was created.
5. Destruction of skill – Bengal was home for silk industries. Industrial enterprise jolted. Silk
Weavers previously enjoyed certain privileges but now they were also oppressed of their
own territories. People had to cut their hands in order to save themselves from labour
exploitation.
 o Robert Clive Proved to be the most corrupt officer that India had ever seen. He looted India
of her wealth. This dual government system of Robert Clive is not reported to be successful.
He had to leave India 2 years after implementing dual government system, in 1767. The dual
government of Robert Clive was not only unsuccessful; it also created complete anarchy in
Bihar, Bengal and Orissa.
o After his departure in 1767, the directors of EIC blamed Indian officers appointed by Robert
Clive for the anarchy caused by him. The directors reported charges of corruption against the
Indian officers and finally in the year 1771, the company changed its policy and took direct
control over collection and management of revenue. Order to execute its objectives the
company transferred Warren Hastings from Madras to Bengal, making him Governor
General of Bengal.
o When he went to England, he challenged his contemporary for a duel and died thereby.
o Then Lord Wellesley created a concept of Subsidiary Alliance.

Subsidiary Alliance System

This system was introduced by Lord Wellesley. The pioneer of the subsidiary alliance system was
French Governor Dupleix, who in the late 1740s established treaties with the Nizam of Hyderabad,
and Carnatic. It was also called trojan horse strategy of deceit. The methodology was subsequently
adopted by the East India Company, with Robert Clive imposing a series of conditions on Mir
Jaffar of Bengal, following the 1757 Battle of Plassey, and subsequently those in the 1765 Treaty
of Allahabad, as a result of the Company's success in the 1764 Battle of Buxar. A successor of
Clive, Wellesley initially took a non-interventionist policy towards the Native states but later
adopted, and refined the policy of forming subsidiary alliances.

In a Subsidiary Alliance, princely rulers were not allowed to make any negotiations and treaty with
any other ruler. They were also not allowed to have an independent armed force. They were to be
protected by the East India Company but had to pay for the subsidiary forces that the company
was to maintain for protection. If Indian rulers failed to make the payment, part of their territory
was taken away as penalty. For example, the Nawab (ruler) of Awadh was forced to give over half
of his territory to the company in 1801, reason provided by British officer was Maladministration.
Hyderabad was also forced to cede territories on similar grounds.
Motives
1. Empire Building – There was lust for more and more land. They wanted to expand their
Territory. They wanted all the states in India to be dependent on the company.
2. At the same time Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to conquer India. So, the motive was to keep
a check on French menace.
3. Policies –
The policy of Non- Interference/Peaceful policy was not profitable to the British. So, they
followed the policy of intervention.
Policy of Splendid Isolation – Not to interfere in the world issues like USA after 1st World
War. Therefore, Forward policy of the British means to keep interfering in the world
issues/matters of the world otherwise the other powers might rise to the rebellion.
Forward policy meant Active Policy. This means to actively involve into the world. After
WW-1, America followed a policy of isolation under which they remained aloof, but
adopted the forward policy after WW-2. This policy was supported by the British War
Ministries in England, as it gives consent that company can go ahead with it.
Conditions:
• Only those states were called to form an alliance which were facing ill Government.
• The states entering this alliance would have to forego its relations with the foreign
countries. Only the Company would act on behalf of the State.
• There has to be standing army and the army will be controlled by the British, but the cost
will be borne by the state.
• The larger states will pass 1/3rd of their territory. If small, then it would have to be give
some revenue to maintain the army.
• A British representative would always be there in the Court of the State and it would be
permanent. This was also known as Resident. All the states entering the alliance will be
represented by the resident in the durbar of the king.
• The state will not employ any European without consent of the British. This provision
aimed at keeping the French away. The reason of them doing so was the Nizam of Mysore
Hiring French Soldiers.
 • Company will not interfere in day-to-day affairs of the state. State managed their domestic
affairs and will have certain autonomy.
• Company will protect the states from internal threats such as coup as well as external
aggression.
Advantages to the Company
▪ Economic Advancement – they gained all the wealth.
▪ They got a standing army which they could use at times of war All the states entering into
the alliance became Protectorate States. This meant that they dissolved their own army as
maintaining 2 armies would put a lot of constraints on revenue. So, these states, in a sense,
became disarmed. States became protectorate.
▪ The Company got advantage by bringing strategic points under its control A lot of
strategic locations in the state, such as forts, mines, gold mines came under the control of
the British. They controlled princely states.
▪ It effectively checked the French menace. The state will not employ any European
without consent of the British. This provision aimed at keeping the French away. The
reason of them doing so was the Nizam of Mysore Hiring French Soldiers.
▪ The Company emerged as the supreme arbitrator.
▪ The Company was able to get day to day news of the state with the help of the resident.
They acted as spies of the company. This ensured that the state remained in control and
do not rebel. Nothing remained secret no more.
Disadvantages to the States
▪ States lost full power. Their foreign relations and sovereignty were affected.
▪ There was drain of power and wealth. There was such economic decay that it reached to
bankruptcy.
▪ Company disarmed the states and made them the protected estate of the British. They
purchased the security at the cost of the sovereignty.
▪ The British interfered in the day-to-day activities.
▪ Right to Rebellion – if a state is not able to provide good governance, liberty, equality
people have right to rebel against the state; The right of rebellion was taken from the
people.
▪ The Burden of the taxes kept on increasing. People crushed due to extra taxes.
States that joined the Alliance:
1. Nizam of Hyderabad- 1st to join.
2. State of Mysore- After 4th Anglo-Mysore war, when Tipu Sultan died. Puppet of the
British agreed.
3. Maratha- Baji Rao II after Anglo-Maratha war.
4. States of Rajasthan like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Boondi.
5. Certain states in Rajasthan like Chittor(Maharana Pratap Singh) who resisted Mughal
system joined this alliance.
Half of India came under the British. Had it been done by way of war, Britishers would have been
exhausted and their resources drained away.
Despite being so disadvantageous, states agreed to it because either rulers were incompetent or
weak, or were so involved in their luxurious personal life that it hardly mattered to them what went
on in their state. Also, some states owing to personal rivalry agreed to join it.

Module 3
Colonialism
Colonialism is the philosophy of political and economic dominance which entails:
- There is inequality of power and administration
- This inequality is along ethnic lines
There is an element of rational bias (Creating divide on the basis of different nationalities,
language)

Ways to establish Colonialism

1. Merchant or Trade Enclaves – Setting up of factories for trade. It is the most popular way of
establishing trade rule. They establish mercantilism.
2. Military annexation (Conquest) – French followed this method
3. Treaty – Portuguese were in control of Bombay; the entire land of Bombay was transferred to
the British by way of treaty. Subsidiary alliance is also an example
4. Mass Immigration – Kalinga war fought by Ashoka in which almost thousands of prisoners of
war settled in other colonised settlement. America, Australia, New Zealand followed the same.
Characteristics of Colonial Administration
1. Non-representation – the natives or the indigenous were not represented in the administration
or poorly represented. British thought Indians were incompetent to be in administration.
William Bentick was liberal against this thought but lord Cornwallis supported this thought.
2. Subordinated interest – the interest of the indigenous people was completely
subordinated/controlled as they were not represented. Their interest was subordinate to
colonial power.
3. Superimposition of natural borders – It can be understood that most pf the boundary dispute
we have today is the creation of colonial powers only. it merged the boundaries and created
unnatural boundaries. Colonial powers left behind conflicting borers for E.g., 1905 Bengal
partition was bone breaking step (administrative efficiency), 1947 partition of India,
Macmohan Line, Radcliffe line, Durand line.
4. Metropolitan State V. Satellite State – Colonists are the metropolitan states and the colonies
are the satellite states. There is an unequal transfer of resource in satellite and metropolitan
state. Satellite state is converted into raw material producing state from where these are
exported to metropolitan state which converts them into finished goods due to the presence of
machines and then sells them back to the colonies.
a. Channelling of resources at throwaway prices.
b. Satellite states having to obtain finished goods at throwaway prices.
This phenomenon is Unequal transfer of resources. Double exploitation of colonies; colonies are
just for market. Unequal exchanges take place and double exploitation is done to the traders.
5. Civilizing Mission – the British in order to justify illegal stay in India, formed this mission.
The theory was that Indians are barbarians and in order to make them civilized, the British
created Civilizing mission.
It is seen in context of that colonial powers treat or brings out theories due to their power. Some
theories are Oriental Despotism, Theory of Guardianship & White Man's Burden. They justify
their illegal rule using them.
• Oriental Despotism: Oriental means east. This means orients or east are always ruled by
tyrants, authoritarian and fit to be ruled by iron hands.
 • Theory of Guardianship: They assume the role of guardian to civilize these uncivilised
people.
• White Man's Burden: All black men are burden on white and whites have a responsibility
to make them civilized.
They treat colony people as liars, barbarians, uncivilised and thus who need change. Some
proponents are James Hill, JS Mill, Macaulay, etc.
White Colony – where Europeans settled down E.g., Australia, USA
Black Colony – most of Asia and Africa
Crown Colony – India converted from black colony to crown colony by GOI 1858 as it
was handed over to royal crown by EIC
6. Asymmetrical Cultural Exchange - Asymmetry is when there is no balance. Beginning of
Indian civilization, lots of foreigners came from different parts who contributed and took
something from us. It was a 2-way process. But with the British, it changed. It was a unique
feature of the British that they didn't accept the Indian culture but ridiculed it. T. B. Macaulay
said, "A single shelf of European library is sufficient to replace Oriental learning." In this,
Indians were considered inferior and uncivilised and Britishers had to give and not take.
E.g., India learnt silk culture from China, and in return, China learnt cotton culture from India.
Means by which they maintained Authority
1. Divide and Rule
2. Military Force
3. Population Transfer Policy – They developed Anglo-Indian Community in India. Suppose a
region becomes rebellious, then, they change its demographic conditions by transferring more
loyal people to them. It was mainly done in tribal areas. For example, Santhal region. They
bifurcate those people and replace them with some loyal people to break their dominance in a
particular region.
4. Legal system wasn’t that much
Outcome of Colonization
1. Colony is integrated into colonial state
2. The process of decolonization takes place
Feudalism → Mercantilism → Colonialism
Models of Colonialism
 1) Traditional Model
2) Transitional Model
3) Dualistic Model
4) Arrested Growth Model
Traditional Model: Colonial society was a traditional society. Due to colonialism, society
remains traditional or what it has been in pre-colonial period. It is stated that colonialization hardly
has any change in a country. Traditional values remain same.
Critics of Traditional Model – If the change couldn’t have happened then India wouldn’t witness
such famines. Though, these changes are negative in nature. There is intense exploitation of
masses.
Transitional Model: Due to coming of colonization, society undergone metamorphosis or
complete change in human structure, social structure, change in social relation. It is anthesis to
traditional method. There is a complete change in traditions, values, and structures is brought when
a nation is colonized.
Critics of Transitional Model – It exaggerates when it says that it completely changes a colony.
There was exploitation and development are from the colonizers’ point of view. Whatever
development is there. It only acts as a means of exploitation.
Dualistic Model: It is a combination of the first two models. Due to colonialism, society remains
traditional but it also brings/witnesses change like in social structures. Colonialism partially
changes the nation. Of all Earlier features, some remain intact, some change.
Critics of Dualistic Model – Amalgamation of both models so it cannot be apt.
Arrested Growth Model: Also known as Partisan modernity model. It was brought up by Marxist
school of thought. Marxists are known as critics of colonization. It said colonialism brings some
modernity, but the feudal structure remains intact and colonialism preserves the feudal form of
exploitation. Colonialism make it look that transition is happening, growth is happening but it
actually arrests the growth of the nation. And the nation goes backwards. British rule in India is an
e.g., of arrested growth.
Difference Between Growth and Development:
Growth Development
Can be both positive and negative Only positive
Humblest Statistics oriented
 Less inclusive More inclusive
Physical change Physical, Social and Psychological

Difference Between Colonialism and Capitalism:

Colonialism Capitalism
It is confined to colonies only. Colonialism is
state controlled where state has complete It is a global system. Every country/region in
control over everything like economy, social every part of the world has adopted capitalism
structure etc. but free trade is concerned with in some way or other
less government insight
There is growth and development. Growth is
It has no development, capitalism minus
statistical data. Development is social status
development
of the people
Retardation of social productive forces,
It involves social productive forces in terms
because colonialists take wealth to their home
of capital, land, labour
country without investing in labour

Flaw of capitalism: During a pandemic, all those who are part of these industries are thrown out
of work. Job insecurity is there but government employees have comparatively more secured job.
Due to LPG reforms labour laws have become more liberal
Pre-British Economy:
• Before British came to India, India had autarchic system. Autarchic is self-sufficient
economy and has not to depend on other nations. A Self-sufficient village economy system
existed. Local produce was prepared by local laborers and consumed locally this is known
as Jajmani System.
• Jajmani System, where a person offering service to a family and his generation continues
to provide service to the generation of the company. Jajman is holder and he required
certain services so people will provide him services like goldsmith providing jewellery,
potter – earthen pots etc.
• No concept of market, no exchange from outer world. Local products were made and sold
during that time without any other interaction.
 • Even after so many reigns this system of economy did not change until the arrival of the
British.
• Most of the looters came from Central Asia which had a nomadic society. Therefore, they
could not change this feudal system and basic structure which is self-sufficient economy.
• Feudalism was a global phenomenon in medieval India.

Town Structure
1) Factory
2) Settlement
3) Agency
4) Presidency
1
5) Empire
2
3
4
5

When India got Independence, 90% of the population was dependent on agriculture. Only 3-4%
had urban economy. There were three types of towns. Tows of:
1. Political Importance –
• These areas were mainly capital of the kingdom
• It included places like Agra, Madras, Bengal etc.
• Aristocratic luxury goods were sold here because aristocrats lived here
• Bangle and jewellery making were prevalent
• These areas had large armies and centres for ammunition in these places to cater at
times of war
2. Economic Importance –
• Important centres for trade and commerce were present. These were either part of trade
routes or trade routes itself.
• Most of the coastal regions like Surat, Masulipatnam, Ujjain.
• Included industries which could cater to the needs of traders.
3. Religious Importance –
 • Towns of pilgrimage, religious temples and tourism industries were present – Tirupati,
Varanasi, Prayag Raj
• Eateries and staying houses were present
• Worshippers came to the towns of Varanasi, Allahabad, & Rameswaram in the state.

Land Revenue System:

Various land revenue systems were brought by the British in India. There was no difference
between Indian And European feudalism.
In Indian feudalism, private ownership of land was absent. This idea was brought by Britishers.
So, Before Britishers, village community was the owner of the land collectively and they
appropriated this land to different individuals. So, entire community has collective right over the
land. This type of communal ownership was converted to private ownership by Britishers. This
meant that the appropriated land cannot be used as mortgage by individuals.
European feudalism was also known as Manor system. Manor was like a castle in which feudal
lord resided and large tracks of land around castle was owned by feudal lords. This land was
cultivated by feuds. This land was cultivated by Serf. These serfs are like bonded labour. Serf has
certain rights as compared to slaves who can be bought and sold like commodities. Feudal lords
tend to exploit masses.
Indian Feudalism is a feudal structure where land is owned by village community.
Four Economies –
a) Feudalism
b) Capitalism
c) Socialism
d) Mercantilism
Feudalism is worst because rich becomes richer and poor becomes poorer. There is restricted
growth and development. There is tendency of nepotism like heir of lord will a lord. This is also
wrong because maximum gains/riches are owned by minimum people. There is lack of scientific
temper and development and without it capitalism cannot be developed. There is lack of
entrepreneurial risk. Scientific temper is for the intention to discover the new things. Capitalism
has some feature like growth, development, profit etc. which is lacking in feudal structure. Also,
there is very little work culture because people tend to feel that if they work more, the more they
get exploited; so, they have no motivation to work. Exploitation is inherent to feudalism.

Land Revenue System (1793-1954)

LANS REVENUE SYSTEM
Land revenue system in India was of
Mahalwari
three types: System
1. Zamindari System 30%

2. Mahalwari System Ryotwari

system
3. Ryotwari System 51%

Zamindari
System
1. Zamindari System 19%
• Lord Cornwallis introduced this system in 1793. Cornwallis surrendered before
Washington DC. His policy was successful from Britishers perspective. He was also called
father of civil services in India.
• Village community was the owner of the land in closed economy system.
• Due to Zamindari system village community ownership converted to private ownership.
• It was also called “Permanent Settlement of Land”. It is called permanent because rate of
tax on land revenue was fixed. Though feudalism was present all over the world there was
differences between ‘Indian Feudalism and Western Feudalism’.
o Indian Feudalism – Village community were the owners of the land. Communal
ownership was present at that time
o Western Feudalism – Manor was the Castle/Palace of the feudal lords. Lands
surrounding around the manor were owned by feudal lords. These lands were of
thousands of hectares acre.
• Zamindari System was introduced by British in – Eastern UP, Northern Carnatic, Bihar,
Orissa and Bengal
Why this system was introduced?
▪ Support Class – In situation of crisis, these zamindars can act as a support class or
intermediary of British. Zamindars will act as support class for the entire community and
can control crores of peasants
▪ Administrative Convenience – Britishers didn’t have capable officers moreover it will be
easy to collect revenue from few thousands zamindars than crores of Indian peasants.
▪ Legal Convenience – By this time, British laws cropped in India therefore if some system
as in British were present in India, it will be easy to rule and administer.
▪ Fixed Revenue – Government was ensured that in spite all condition no matter flood,
famine, draught, etc. fixed revenue will reach British crown.
What was the Zamindari System?
▪ Ownership – Zamindars were the influential people of society and were given rights to
sell, buy, mortgage, etc. their land with others.
▪ 89% to 11% - 89% of the total revenue went to the British and the remaining 11% to the
Zamindars.
▪ Sunset Law – Revenue has to be deposited to the Britishers before ‘Sunset’ of a particular
date otherwise their land and zamindari rights would be confiscated.
▪ Quality – British got to know about the quality of lads hence tag them as average, good
etc.
Places where zamindari system was established – Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Benares, & North
Carnatic.
▪ The peasants suffered from high rents, illegal levies, arbitrary evictions and unpaid labour
in zamindari areas
Advantages to the Company
▪ a fixed income was there no matter if there was drought or flood because Zamindars' status
would be confiscated otherwise. In this way, they had secure financial resources. They will
get fixed revenues no matter what the conditions & circumstance were.
▪ They will get support class of these zamindars in the time of crisis such as rebellions, wars
etc.
▪ Less Expenses - Officers earlier employed in revenue were now free and therefore can be
used in other ways could engage in other administrative and judicial functions. Thus, in a
way, their financial burden was reduced.
▪ Revenue was increased and there was no possibility of revenue evasion.
Disadvantages of Zamindari System
 ▪ No Extra Yield – there were fixed rates of revenue. From the perspective of the East India
Company no extra yield was produced. The company brought in the new areas of
cultivation but all its revenue was pocketed by the zamindars and officers. Grazing lands
& other such lands were brought under cultivation by the zamindars. He did not give the
revenue of those lands to the company.
▪ Absentee Landlordism – Zamindars introduced extra taxes to the peasants. They had to
pay twice the actual revenue to the zamindars. British thought that these zamindars will
live care and enrich the lands allotted to them but these zamindars lived far away in the
cities enjoying luxurious lives. Therefore, a large number of intermediaries emerge hence
more exploitation & corruption.
▪ Inequality of Income – All of zamindars became rich and highly influential while common
people were exploited and harassed as the result of which people became poorer. It had
brought disparity of income. At the cost of the State, or we can say at the cost of peasant
class, Zamindars were enjoying a luxurious life.
So, grains were available but Purchasing Power Parity(PPP) of peasants was so low that
they barely purchased anything which led to human-made famines.
▪ Harsh method of collection – In the situation of calamity and drought, peasants were not
able to produce enough, hence were forced under harsh methods to pay the taxes.
▪ Power & influence of zamindars increased. Quality of land deteriorated, no irrigation
was possible, produce decreased and all this led to Bengal Famines.
Naxalism was the aftermath of zamindari system. intense exploitation of peasants by
zamindars led to Naxalism.
▪ Legacy – “Naxalism”; Red flag terrorism because of zamindari system. Mostly in the parts
of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar. Started from Naxalgarh, West Bengal
In Bengal primarily, Naxalism emerged as a legacy of Zamindari system. There were 2
classes- exploited and exploiters. So, a sense of dissatisfaction among the exploited class
led to the violent outbreak.

2. Mahalwari System
• Mahalwari system was introduced in the North West Provinces, the Punjab, Delhi, Parts of
Central India and Uttar Pradesh.
• In this system, the land was not owned by an individual be it zamindar or any cultivator
but by a group of estates or villages called Mahal. The Mahal was collectively known as
the landlord and revenue was collected from the head of the Mahal, also known as
Talukdar.
• This was introduced to counter permanent settlement system where benefits of new area
cultivated went to zamindars. Also, companies couldn’t take advantages of the increased
productivity.
• Mahal refers to an estate with many cultivators. The term Mahal referred to the fiscal
revenue division into which the whole land was divided by Akbar.
Why this system was introduced?
• Village community was against zamindari system. they wanted another system for
themselves.
• When new land was brought under cultivation, no extra yield could be extracted by the
government.
• Unlike what the British thought the loyalty of zamindars was questionable. Zamindars and
village community were opposed to East India Company. Some zamindars rose in rebellion
of the company.
• Charter of 1813 was introduced which further introduced a new doctrine which replaced
mercantilism with free trade. They decided to directly converse with the masses in order to
sell their product.
Laissez Faire – Hence no monopoly of one company. More companies can trade.
Therefore, ‘EIC’ monopoly officially ended hence they thought of communicating to
village community directly so as to prepare them as their primary consumers. Hence, they
introduced this new system of revenue.

What was this System?

• Mahal Means owner of the land i.e., village community. They will only collect the revenue
and submit it to the government.
• In Mahalwari system, all the proprieties of a Mahal were jointly and severally responsible,
in their persons and property, for the sum assessed by the government on that Mahal. If
the number of the proprietors was large, some of them were made representatives of
 all. The ownership and occupancy rights were reserved for individual peasants. Even
cultivation was to be done individually. But for the payment of the land revenue, the
peasants were jointly responsible. Usually the village as a whole would be designated a
Mahal and it paid the revenue via its headman called Lambardar. Thus, Lambardars worked
as a link between the individual tillers and the government, but they were not given rights
like those of Zamindars.
• The revenue was fixed as 60% of the rental value
Actual production – cost of production
It proved to be exploitative because 60% was charged not on the actual production but on
potential production. Hardly anything was left with the peasantry class.
• Mass flogging was practiced
The issues with the Mahalwari system were as follows:
▪ In actual practice, only some big families could take the land rights not all villagers.
▪ The stable revenue dream of the government could not be fulfilled.
▪ Problem arose was that, revenue was not collected on actual production but on potential
production. Hardly anything was left with the peasantry class and villages were left to
survive.
▪ In case the collection as demanded were not deposited, harsh methods such as burning
the whole villages etc. were exercised.
▪ Mahalwari was a limited reform in area as well as duration. It was a temporary
settlement.
Ryotwari System
• Ryot means Farmers. It was started by Thomas Munro in 1792.
• It was initially introduced in small patch “Madras Regiment”, but after 1834 it was
introduced in other regions as well.
• Bombay, Madras, Assam presidency were the main region where this system was
introduced.
• Ryotwari system in agriculture was introduced to transform traditional agrarian structure
into a capitalist one. Britishers wanted to reach directly to the peasant class in wake of
competition Peasants were made the owner of the land. He could sell, mortgage or transfer
the land. On the due date he had to deposit the revenue.
 • 1/3rd of the produce was the revenue leaving no motivation for cultivation. It had to be
submitted in cash and not in kind. If he failed, he suffered atrocities such as confiscation
of land.
• Therefore, this system also exploited and harassed the innocent peasants and labour class.
• In Ryotwari areas, the government itself levied heavy land revenue. The overburdened
farmer, fearing loss of his only source of livelihood, often approached the local
moneylender who made full use of the former’s difficulties by extracting high rates of
interests on the money lent. Often, the farmer had to mortgage his land and cattle.
Sometimes, the moneylender seized the mortgaged belongings. Gradually, over large areas,
the actual cultivators were reduced to the status of tenants-at-will, share croppers and
landless laborers.
• In peak seasons, buyers are less, produce is more so the prices fell and therefore submitting
1/3rd of such a small amount was highly exploitative.
• The Ryots of Deccan region of western India suffered heavy taxation under the Ryotwari
system. Here again the peasants found themselves trapped in a vicious network with the
moneylender as the exploiter and the main beneficiary. These moneylenders were mostly
outsiders—Marwaris or Gujaratis.

Deindustrialization
▪ Industrialization in England began in last part of 18th century and its peak was in first decade
on 19th century. At the same time, India’s industries were destroyed and declined such as
handicraft, textiles, etc.
▪ British did not bring any new industries to India. Whatever industries were in India were also
destroyed due to the British policies.
Reason/Causes of Industrialization
1. Charter of 1813
It changed the nature of trade in entire Europe and its colonies. It ended the monopoly of
East India Company and market was opened to all hence more and more competition was
there which destroyed Indian industries. British policies destroyed Indigenous industries.
In 19th century Britisher (rather entire Europe) witnessed industrial revolution.
2. Machine Made Goods
 Because of cheaper machine-made products, hand-made products lost its market. They
were made cheaper and in bulk as compared to handicrafts goods which required labour.
Also, machine-made goods were cheaper because they were less time consuming, better
in quality, and less labour was required.
Process of Deindustrialisation
a) Patronage
Arts, skills etc. were promoted and artists were patronised by the rulers & kings but
because of East India Company aggressively policy the patronization was declined hence
the market also declined
b) Educated Middle Class
It is English middle class, lord Macaulay introduced English in India. Educated Indian
middle class developed the flavour of English goods and products hence they became
better in quality, less labour required.
c) Unfair Taxes
This policy has to be greatly cursed. Western market heavily glutted or demanded Indian
products. Indian products lost its international market because of several unfair taxes,
excise customs duty was imposed on Indian goods. Moreover, English people were
penalised if found buying Indian products.
d) Privileges
For British traders East India Company provided several special privileges like
subsidisation of Indian goods.
e) IPR Violation
Indian traders were forced to divulge their trade secrets they inherited from their Fore-
fathers. Britishers forcefully obtained them forcefully. They were violating IPR and had
to be sued.
f) Raw Materials
Raw material from India was exported at lower prices to England and the finished
machine-made products at high prices were imported to India hence double exploitation
was done.
g) Railways
 When railways were not present, remote areas remained untouched by the British goods.
So, the Indian Industries were flourishing there. With the introduction of railways, even
the remotest areas of the country were exposed to British goods and exploitation. Thus, it
exaggerated the plight of Indian industries
h) Exhibitions
Idea of exhibition was brought by British in India. It gave the option and choices to the
buyers hence more sale. Moreover, its reach was deepened to the masses
i) ‘Colin Clark’
In the year 1881 – 35% labour depended on industrialisation; while in the year 1911 –
17%. Labour dependence decreased which shows destruction of Indian Industries.
j) ‘William Bentick’
Bones of cotton weavers are bleaching the plains of India. Those who were involved in
the cotton weaving are losing jobs and hence they die.
Commercialisation of agriculture
It means that the crops were not only produced for the local market or consumption but also for
the purpose of International markets/consumptions through export in order to earn profit unlike
the Indian agriculture system before British.
Plantation crops – Tea, Coffee, Rubber, Indigo, Fruits, Sugarcane etc.
Other Crops – Cotton, Jute, Groundnut, Oil seeds etc.
Causes
1) Money Economy – Before British, barter system was prevalent in India. Currency system
was prevalent in major towns only. With the arrival of British, State of money economy
was escalated that helped in commercialisation. Barter system could not do that.
2) Competition & Contract – Customs and traditions were replaced by competition and
contract. Traders started competing with each other and entered into contract.
Earlier, all were working to fulfil their local demands, with the emergence of markets;
profit maximisation started and thus competition was destroyed.
3) Internal & External Trade – Anarchy gave way to Internal & external trade. Internal
trade is basically inside the country. External trade is with the outer world. Without trade
development, commercialisation is not possible.
 4) Market – there was earlier, village market and now there is a growth of unified national
market. Vegetables, which are perishable face price fluctuation is a common phenomenon.
5) Transportation – Roadways & Railways enhanced the process of commercialisation by
helping in external trade and internal trade. Earlier, bullock carts were used to transport
goods but the advent of railways and other means of transport, internal & external trade
flourished which is supporting factor.
6) British Finance capital – lot of traders came to India and withdrew this finance capital for
investing in India. Bourgeoise started investing in agriculture market which provided an
incentive to commercialisation of agriculture. Maximum finance came into India after 1857
when nature of regime changed from black colony to crown colony. Also, when free trade
regime was introduced. Indian witnessed a huge amount of finance from Britishers. This
was done to exploit Indians.
Consequences
1) Exploitation of peasants/forced process – Commercialisation was a forced process; this
was so because farmers were forced to grow such crops which after a few rotations will
destroy the cultivable land and leave it infertile.
2) High revenue demand – because the revenue was so high and that too in cash, even the
whole crop couldn’t satisfy the revenue collectors.
3) In order to meet land revenue and high rate of interest, they have to sell their products
immediately (i.e., in crop season) at very low prices compared to that in lean season. Thus,
the ultimate beneficiary here is the intermediary.
4) Global/International Fluctuations – linking of Indian markets with the global economy.
In 1860, a cotton boom was there in Europe, which would have impacted Indians and the
benefit of which was to go to the Indian farmers, but it did not go & the farmers were
completely destroyed and the disadvantage of slump was borne by the peasants.
5) Production – Britishers didn’t introduce any new techniques, methods, and irrigation to
peasants. Therefore, the production remained stagnant or declined.
6) Famines, indebtness which lead to rebellion. Productivity was also not increasing because
state was only concerned with collection of revenue and peasants on the methods of paying
them. There was no one to increase the fertility of land, improve irrigation facility.
Ruralisation of agriculture
▪ The increase in labour force in agriculture due to Deindustrialisation is called Ruralisation
of agriculture.
▪ People lost their jobs due to British goods being sold in the markets.
▪ Coming of peasants to agriculture took place. This was also called peasantisation of
agriculture.
Causes:
1) Deindustrialisation – As there was deindustrialisation of heritage, skill & culture.
According to a British scholar, Daniel Thorne – In 1861 labour in agriculture employed
was 61% whereas in 1921 it reached to 73%.
2) Agriculture Farm – British wanted India as an agriculture farm and wanted to grow
raw materials and export it to Britain. India was mainly a raw material producer.
Industries were not allowed to develop in India.
Effects
1) Fragmentation of Land – Most of the land was wasted in created boundaries & bunds.
Cost of production was increased. Punjab had the largest portions of land & Mahalwari
system was followed there. This land so wasted could have been used for agriculture.
Increased pressure on land lead to fragmentation. So, the same land which was to be
divided in two parts will now divide into four.
For e.g. suppose earlier two brothers worked on a piece of land and due to
deindustrialisation two more brothers working in industries came to work on same
piece of land.
2) Impoverishment – Output remained same but the labour increased. Lots of land was
wasted due to boundaries. The produce was not sufficient enough to meet the needs of
the people. Waste land created lesser produce of the crop. Due to these factors, rural
masses remained impoverished and famines reoccurred. Because same income is to be
shared by more no of people now. Also, Indian agriculture remained backward and
stagnant.
3) Litigation – Mutual conflicts arose because members who had gone for industrial
purposes came back & claimed their property back.
4) Stagnation – Due to decreased fertility of land, agriculture became stagnant & also
resulted in poverty.
Drain of Wealth Theory
• Drain of wealth is described as ‘the constant flow of bullions & wealth from India to
England for which India did not receive any material, phenomenal or commercial return
is called Drain of wealth theory’.
• To find out the real cause of poverty in India, more hundred years ago, Dadabhai Naoroji
in his book 'Poverty and Un-British in India' (1876) developed explicitly a 'drain theory'
and according to this 'economic drain' by the alien ruler was a 'bleeding drain' inherent the
built-in-mechanism that extracted a large part of revenue in the form of an export surplus
from India and transferred it to England and European countries.
• The East India Company's commercial policy was based on the principle that they had to
purchase Indian goods in exchange for bullion as there was little demand for European
consumer goods in India. By selling, on the other hand, Indian silk, drugs, spices, etc., in
the European market at a much higher price, the Company earned a considerable profit.
• The danger of a drain of treasure from the west became a nightmare and India became the
'sink of precious metals'. Lord Clive mentioned in that "silver of the west and the gold of
the east have for many years been pouring into that country (especially Bengal) and goods
only have been sent out in return."
• All the purchases in Bengal and other parts of India were made out of the surplus of the
territorial revenue of Bengal. The part of revenue devoted to such purchases was known as
'investment’.
• The remittances from Bengal included the private fortunes of the Company's servants and
free traders, a portion of emoluments of the Company's servants and transfer of resources
to other presidencies.
• Philip Francis (in 1776) divided the flow of drain into four streams:
 Constituents of
Drain
(1) Home (2) Foreign Direct (3) Foreign (4) Raw Materials
Charges Investment Services
1(a) Dividend

2(b) Public Debt

3(c) Civil & Military Charges

4(d) Stores

1. Home Charges
- Home charges were the expenditure incurred by the secretary of state in England on behalf
of India.
- By 1900, home charges were 13% but by 1921 it was 40%. It was proved to be a very big
drain on the wealth of India.
- The elements of drain also involved items like remittances to England by European
employees the support of their families and for the education of their children, remittances
of savings and that for the purchase of British goods for their own consumption.
a) Dividend – East India Company was a Stock Company and had a number of shareholders.
It means that the dividend paid by the shareholders of the company. It was to be paid from
Indian wealth even though shareholders weren’t even Indians. Initially, the dividend rates
were 10% by which 6.3 million pounds were drained, then dividend rate was increased to
100%.
b) Public Debt – East India Company borrowed money from international market. The charges
in England included interest on public debt held in India and loss in exchange and excluded
interest on railway debt and debt incurred for productive works. The money drained by this
method was almost 224 million pounds.
c) Civil & Military Charges – It was pointed out that military expenditure was a bottomless
pit to be filled with Indian Revenue. British officers in India (Serving or Retired) received a
 pension from Indian revenue. Many wars were fought from during the British reign in India.
The entire expenses of the war were to be paid from the Indian purse.
d) Stores – There was no effort in India to develop industry and if an initiative was found, it
was suppressed by the rich and all-powerful British merchants with the help of state power.
Extravagance was the basic rule of public expenditure in India. British officers in India
brought stores from England. Therefore, wealth took a direct flight to England and the drain
was expensive.
2. Foreign Direct Investment
- In order to generate Foreign Direct Investment British had brought out a guarantee system
that who all are investing in India, they will get a return or compensation if they suffered a
loss. Compensation rate was fixed at 5%.
- Some companies posed themselves as loss making to obtain this guarantee. Indian revenue
was used for paying this compensation.
3. Foreign Services
- In order to run empire in a good way, England has hired foreign services like banking
services, insurance services, shipping etc. All this was to be paid from Indian revenue.
4. Raw Materials
- Another important reason for drain of wealth was transfer of raw materials. Raw materials
were exported very cheaply & imported in the form of finesse goods. Therefore, firstly
drain of raw materials and then import of finesse goods drained wealth from India and
double exploitation was done.
Also, famines were caused when Robert Clive took millions of wealth form India. Purchasing
power parity went so low that 3 lac people died when food grains weren’t available.
Estimates of Drain
1. William Digby: 1715-1815 → 1000 million pounds
2. Nationalists: 1757-1865 → 1500 million pounds
3. V. Paulav: 1930s → 140 million pounds
Consequences of Drain of Wealth
▪ Constant Plunder – Earlier, Invaders came to India looted it of its wealth and left after
sometime. But the Britishers were constantly India of its wealth. Dadabhai Naoroji
considered this drain as ‘evils of evil’. He considered it as constant plunder.
 ▪ Surplus Transfer – There were no savings left with Indians. Due to which agricultural
industry became backward.
▪ Industrial Revolution in England – Money from India boosted industrial revolution in
England.
▪ Retarded industrialisation in India – “Entire British system acted as a sponge which
soaked every nutrient from Ganges and poured it on Thames”.
“Moisture which was taken from Indian soil it formed the cloud but fertilising rain is not
in India but in Britain” – R C Dutta
▪ Moral Drain – Drain of Wealth lead to degradation of morale, skill and labour. It left no
incentive for work.
▪ Capital Formation could not take place. No Reinvestments and no development were
there which means that no reinvestment can be made and there was retardation of growth.
▪ Drain of wealth theory was used by nationalists. It had a serious impact on Indian freedom
struggle. Nationalists used the data to arose people against the British. It acted as a catalyst.
British Imperial Railways in Nineteenth Century South Asia
▪ Lord Dalhousie, governor general of India introduced railway from Bombay to thane in
1853. The political condition and economic trend of the 19th century induced the British
to construct railways all over India. Though introduced to further the economic exploitation
of British, it had positive impact on Indian economy, society and administration.
▪ Private British companies with the strong backing of the government of India not only built
railways but also owned them. This was the single largest investment in the British empire.
▪ The government of India became the guarantor to the railway shareholders who were
mostly British.
▪ The entire profit went to the railway companies and their English shareholders while the
loss was borne by the Indian people.
Impacts of railways in India
Positive Impacts:
(Social Impact)
- Modernisation: It connected people from hitherto unknown lands and they mixed with one
another irrespective of caste and race. Railways played role of virus for modernisation.
- Movement of people was facilitated. Women and Dalits were benefited majorly as they could
travel without any constraints. Railways helped in removing orthodox because people of all
caste had to sit together. It gave a jolt to the caste system.
- Slave emancipation: slaves could now go to other places to for earning.
- It helped in the development of new labour class who were instrumental in times like Non-
cooperation movement.
- It only took a journey by train to remind the hostile treatment of Indians by the British as 2nd
or 3rd class citizens in their own countries. This brought a feeling of fraternity among
Indians.
- National Integration: It helped in mobilization of national leaders. With this, they were able
to exchange their ideas and discussed the problems and shaped popular public opinion against
foreign rule.
- e.g. Dadabhai Naoroji pinpointed the misuse of railways to justify his economic drain theory
by British.
- It was used by Indian national congress to connect Indian intelligentsia(intellectuals) from
different parts of India.
- Gandhiji used railways to travel all over India and familiarize Indians on ideas of swaraj and
satyagraha.
- Helped Vernacular press: which with the help of Indian railways could penetrate the interiors
of subcontinent. Now, their ideas and critique of British could be read by common people as
the circulation of newspapers and journals increased.
- Education: railways helped in the spread of literature from one part to another. Downward
filtration theory, means that the education was provided to a small portion of the people, and
through them, education was conveyed to the masses. Hence, through this theory, the minute
let the education percolate to the masses. In railway coach, people may mingle together, share
grievances and common cause (Idea formation & exchange)
(Economic Impacts)
- Railways united the entire Indian economy as one part of India depended on movement of
goods and services of other parts.
- It helped in movement of Indian goods and provided market for Indian producers. It
integrated the markets and increased the trade.
- It facilitated the investment in different industries as now the movement of finished goods
became easy. Jute, Cotton, Iron and steel industries were established in times to come.
- It provided employment and helped several subsectors like mining, construction and so on.
- Price equalisation: because same products were sold at similar rates throughout the country,
it unified the economy of the country. Ideas of uniform market emerged
- It led to the development of urban centres due to which new townships developed. Tourism
became popular and it promoted tourism as an industry. But tourism was only limited to
pilgrimage in India because most of the people in India were of lower class and could not
afford to spend money for fun, luxuries.
Negative Impacts:
- It became another front for the humiliation of Indians by the British who used it to further
their racial superiority.
- It helped for the easy mobilization of force by British which was used to suppress any popular
uprising. People rebelling against British were sent to far off places.
- Railways ruined the India’s traditional handicrafts industry which became uncompetitive
compared to British goods whose outreach of market increased by the railways.
- Deforestation: Trees were extensively cut for making railway sleepers and also for making
tunnel and tracks. Also, for shipping industries larges amount of wood was required. British
cut the flora & fauna of the place and only grew variety of wood that was used in shipping.
- Railways caused famines in India. British used to take away the produce thus causing famine.
However, they also helped through railways in famines.
- Railways, though helped in increasing the food security it ruined Indian peasants who
suffered due to surplus of food grains because of easy movement provided by the railways.
- The very nature of railways was to increase economic exploitation and policies of British
helped it. E.g.
o Capital investment in railways was restricted to British alone which increased the drain of
wealth in the form of interest payment.
o Indian goods faced high fright charges compared to British goods which made Indian
products more uncompetitive.
- Railway led to the mass movement from rural to urban areas and due to lack of space people
were forced to live in slums.
- In the long run, railways under British rule did not alter the basic structure of Indian economy.
It only facilitated swift movement of British resources which was useful in maintaining their
imperial hegemony.
British introduced railways with ulterior motive of economic exploitation. Though railways had
its drawbacks, with the Advent of railways – regional specialization began to occur and trade (both
domestic and foreign) flourished. Railways made possible the establishment of a well-knit market
and as Karl marks observed “Indian railways in India truly became the forerunner of modern
industry”.
Economic Nationalism
▪ Economic nationalism has been conventionally understood as the economic ideology which
favours domestic control of economy, labour and capital formation. It has been viewed as
favouring some sort of autarchy in opposition to globalisation which visualises
interdependence among all nations.
▪ Economic nationalism was a crucial part of Indian nationalism, particularly in the late
nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth century. It was rooted in the comprehensive
economic critique of the colonial rule which the early nationalist leaders undertook in their
publications, speeches and public campaigns.
▪ Their writings and speeches created the framework in which both the unity of India and the
foreignness of the British rule could be situated.
- Dadabhai Naoroji – earliest economic nationalist
- Gopalkrishna Gokhale – another economic nationalist
Attitude of Economic Nationalists towards British rule
▪ Earlier they were in support of British rule, because they thought British rule would lead to
development. But seeing impoverishment, they turned against the rule.
▪ They set up an enquiry to find the truth: -
i. Industrialisation was opening up the globe in unprecedented and unforeseen ways,
leading to tremendous rise in international trade which was basically unequal in nature
consisting of flow of manufactured commodities. India became a supplier of raw
materials & importer of finish goods instead of getting industrialists so no
developments took place.
 ii. Subordination: British imperialism’s essence was in subordinating Indian economy.
British imperialism cannot survive without this subordination. Indian economy was
subservient to it. It was an eye opener.
iii. Investment: Financial capital & industrial capital were the main sources of
exploitation. It may be in the form of industrial infrastructure.
iv. Poverty: India was becoming poorer day by day.
v. Railways: The abolition of tariffs thereby imposing free trade on India and the
construction of railways for cheap and rapid access to the remote Indian markets
created conditions for easy spread of British industrial dominance over Indian markets.
▪ They also probed about impact of British currency in India and other such policies and came
to know that British rule is exploiting India and not leading to any sort of development.

Regulating Act of 1773

Two changes were affected by this Act of Parliament, firstly, in England, and secondly in India. In
both cases the aim was to control the company’s commercial as well as growing administrative
activities. It was also necessary to curb the company’s military involvement with Indian princes
unless it was necessary for the company’s well-being.

Circumstances leading to the passing of the Act

There were many circumstances that made it necessary for the enactment of the act. It was the first
direct interference of the British Government in the regulation of the affairs of the East India
Company.
• Firstly, the concept of the dual form of administration instituted by Robert Clive was
complicated and brought trouble to the people of India. Under this system, the company
had Diwani rights in Bengal and the Nawab had Nizamat rights (judicial and policing
rights). Behind the curtains, Nizamat rights were also in the hands of Company as the
Nawab acted as an agent of the company. This all only laid to the suffering of the people
as they were being exploited by both the Nawabs and the Company.
 • Secondly, the plight of the people was when there was a terrible famine in Bengal where a
huge population perished.
• Thirdly, a major reason for the enactment of this Act was the financial crisis that arose in
the company by 1773 and the company had asked for a loan of one million pounds from
the British Government in the year 1772, which declared all acquisitions made by the
company to belong to the Crown (describing these as having formerly been vested in or
exercised by the company in trust for the Queen).
• Fourthly, the company through earlier charter had only been given trading rights by the
British Parliament. But, slowly and slowly, as it started acquiring more and more territory
it started acting like a ruling body. And, there in England, the British Parliament couldn’t
swallow this situation. And, to put end to this tendency of company i.e. using the political
powers in the name of trading rights, the company thought it was necessary that these
territories should be brought under the control of Crown.
• At, that time there existed three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay in the
country. But, all these three towns were independent of each other and there no centralized
authority in India to control them. Thus, it became necessary to bring uniformity in the
administration of these three towns. The policy thus wisely enunciated by the great
administrator was solemnly reaffirmed by the first legislative enactment which was passed
by the Governor-General in Council under the authority of a British Act of Parliament,
commonly known as the Regulating Act of 1773.
These all circumstances forced the British government to pass the Regulating Act of 1773 in order
to regulate the affairs of British East India Company.
And, accordingly, Lord North(Prime Minister of England at that time) decided to revamp the
affairs of the East India Company with the Regulating Act. And, Lord North presented a bill in the
British Parliament which when passed was known as ‘Regulating Act of 1773’. An interesting
point to note here is that by this act the, British Parliament only ‘regulated’ the affairs of the
company but, didn’t take all power completely to itself.

The Aim of the Act

The basic objectives of implementing the Regulating Act of 1773 are listed below.
• To control and regulate the affairs of East India Company
 • To remove the political power from the hands of the Trading Company
• To recognize the political and administrative power of the Company
• To provide new administrative reforms which were to provide a Central Administration
System
• To improve the despotic state of affairs (situation) of the company
• To sort out the chaos created by the introduction of the system of dual government
• To bring anti-corruption practices via the medium of the act by prohibiting the servants of
the company, from engaging in any form of private trade and from accepting bribes, gifts,
and presents from the people
• Lord North's Regulating Act of 1773 was the First of the Parliamentary Acts that sought to
impose restraints on the Company's authority in India and make it accountable to the British
state. The primary goal of the Regulating Act was to create institutional barriers against
the exercise of arbitrary power by the governor and the rampant corruption of the
Company's servants by introducing a system of checks and balances in the Company's
administration and establishing a proper mode of administering justice in India.

Provision of the Act

This was the first step taken by the British Parliament to interfere in the administration of the
company, directly. The key features of the have described in the following paragraphs.
• Introduction of the office of the Governor-General of Bengal - The office of
the Governor of Bengal was redesignated as the Office of the Governor of the Presidency
of Fort William, also known as Governor-General of Bengal. Lord Warren Hastings was
the first person to hold this designation. He had a council of four of which three were
handpicked by Parliament and were not servants of the company. The fourth was a
covenanted servant of the company. The councillors had a five-year term but could be
removed by the Crown on representation by the directors of the company. All legislation
for Bengal—civil and military was passed by the Governor-General in Council by a
majority vote. Hastings had a casting vote in case of a tie.
• Creation of Executive Council to Assist the Governor-General – Also, the Executive
Council of four members was created to assist the Governor-General.
• Governors of Bombay and Madras presidencies subordinate to the Governor-general
of Bengal – The Governors of Bombay and Madras were made subordinate to the Governor
General of Bengal, thereby making the Governor General of Bengal as the ultimate
authority.
• It empowered the Governor-General and Council of Bengal to make rules, ordinances, and
regulations for the good order and civil government of the settlement at Fort William
(Calcutta) and other factories and places subordinate thereto, and in 1780 the Government
of Bengal exercised this power by issuing a code of regulations for the administration of
justice, which contained a section embodying the provisions and exact words of Warren
Hastings' regulation.
• Establishment of the Supreme Court at Judicature at Fort William – In the year 1774,
Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William was established at Calcutta with one Chief
Justice and three other judges. The jurisdiction of this court extended to all areas lying
under the Bombay, Madras and Bengal Presidency. It was a Court of Record and its power
extended to try both Civil, Criminal cases (only over the British subjects not on natives) as
well as it had jurisdiction over admiralty cases. Judges were to come from England. The
first Chief Justice of the court was Sir Elijah Impey.
• The Supreme Court instituted by the Regulating Act of 1773 tried to remedy the
fundamental injustice of the situation by introducing procedural principles of equality,
making it possible for Indians to bring cases against the British.
• Reforms to curb corruptions – This act brought prohibition on the servants of the
company from engaging in any private trade or accepting bribes and gift from the local
people.
• The directors of the company were to be elected for a period of five years and one-fourth
of them used to retire every year. There was no procedure for re-election available.
• Section 36 of the Regulating Act of 1773 which provided its hall and may be lawful for the
governor-general and council of the said united company's settlement at Fort William in
Bengal, from time to time, to make and issue such rules, ordinances, and regulations, for
the good order and civil government of the said united company's settlement at Fort
William aforesaid, and other factories and places subordinate, or to be subordinate thereto,
as shall be deemed just and reasonable (such rules, ordinances, and regulations, not being
 repugnant to the laws of the realm) and to set, impose, inflict and levy, reasonableness and
forfeitures for the breach or non-observance of such rules, ordinances, and regulations; but
nevertheless the same, or any of them, shall not be valid, or of any force or effect, until the
same shall be duly registered and published in the said supreme court of judicature, which
shall be, by the said new charter, established, with the consent and approbation of the said
court.
• In point of fact very little use was made of the legislative authority conferred by the
Regulating Act of 1773 and the whole vast body of Bengal Regulations was based on the
power conferred by the Act of 1781 and whilst this power was the least appropriate for any
attempt by the Governor General of Bengal to legislate for the Straits Settlements it was
the power which was used for this purpose.
• It is enacted that the Governor-General and Council are hereby directed and required to,
pay due obedience to all such orders as they shall receive from the Court of Directors.
• In all suits regarding marriage, inheritance and caste and other religious institutions, the
laws of the Quran with respect to Mohammedans and those of the Shastras with respect to
Hindus shall be invariably adhered to
Impact to Indian Legal System
1) This enactment is considered to be a landmark enactment as it brought a lot of dynamic
and significant changes in the structure of judiciary in the country.
2) The act brought changes some important changes in the Constitution of Court of Directors
(COD)
3) For the first time, the political and administrative functions of the company were
recognized.
4) This act also laid down the foundation of the Central Administration in the country.
5) This act created for the first time the Supreme Court at Calcutta thereby, making a proper
judicial system and Judiciary got regulated to an extent and for the first time learned judges
from England were made part of the Supreme Court in India.
Limitations
Though the act is considered to be a very significant one in the Indian legal history, still there was
a lacuna left behind as the act failed to resolve the issues prevailing at that time in the legal system.
The major drawbacks of the Act are listed below.
1. The situation was a paradoxical situation for the Governor-General had no veto power and
the Governor-General was made answerable to the Directors and was held responsible for
all the acts related to the administration in India. But the Governor-General had no free
hand to give an independent decision as he was bound by the decision of the majority
decision of the council. Because of this situation, the council used the Governor-General
as the puppet to make their decision.
2. Though the Governors were subordinate to the GG in actual practice, led to the ultimate
power in the hands of the Governor and his subordinates resulting in widespread corruption
and weakening of the administration at lower levels.
3. There was a lot of confusion regarding the powers and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Also, there was ambiguity between the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and that of the
Council of the Governor-General.
4. Also, the Act failed to address the concerns of the Indian natives who were the actual
sufferers.
5. The Regulating Act, 1773 failed to achieve the aim of controlling the company’s activities
in India. For example, the intended control of the Governor-General over the Governors of
the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay was not properly spelled out. They were given the
power to take military decisions (in an emergency) without the knowledge of the Governor-
General. This had led to the first Anglo-Maratha War in 1782–1783, which had to be
supported by the Governor-General to save face.
6. The Act failed to give Parliament the necessary control over the company’s financial and
administrative activities in India. After all, the directors only placed an annual report of
activities before it after the events had taken place. The revenues from the Indian
possessions had become of paramount interest to the English. The Industrial Revolution
had been dependent on the raw materials and markets provided by England’s 13 colonies
in America. In 1774, as a result of mercantile policy detrimental to the colonies and the
taxes imposed by the “mother country”, the American war of Independence began. It ended
with the loss of the colonies for England in 1783. The establishment of a nascent empire in
India was a godsend. The company had managed to acquire full control over the revenues
of Bengal, as we have seen above. It was now up to the English Parliament to pass another
law, giving it real control over the company’s commercial and other activities in India.
This enactment brought many great changes to the system of administration and justice.it
can also be concluded that the Regulating Act of 1773 laid the foundation of the Central
Administration and Parliamentary Control. But there were also some drawbacks to both the
acts which can’t be ignored.
Supreme Court
• Supreme Court of Calcutta was established in 1772.
• It had 1 chief Justice and 4 punitive Judges.
• Impey was appointed as the Chief Justice according to the Charter.
• Regulating act of 1773 gave the Supreme Court “full power and authority to exercise and
perform all civil, criminal, admiralty and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and to do all such other
things as shall be found necessary for the administration of justice, and the due execution
of all or any of the powers which, by the said Charter, shall or may be granted and
committed to the said Court.”
Power & Functions
1) Court of record – Everyday proceedings of the court will be recorded.
2) Civil Jurisdiction – East India Company and Calcutta corporation falls under this
jurisdiction. His majesty subjects residing in Bengal, Bihar & Odisha can also be tried
under this. ‘His majesty subjects’ are colonial subjects. Administrators of these subjects
could also be tried under this. Any native / resident of Calcutta residency, if decides with
an outsider in a written agreement that in case of conflict, supreme court will decide the
matter then it comes under this jurisdiction.
3) Criminal Jurisdiction – Oyer, terminer and gaol delivery were the functions of this.
Oyer means hearing of a criminal case
Terminer means determination of quantum of punishment
Gaol delivery means sending the convict to the jail.
His majesty subjects were also tried here.
4) Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction – Matters related to personal rights came under this. It could
issue a letter of probate in case a person dies without a proper will regarding transfer of
property. It could also issue testamentary succession in case a person dies after making a
 will. The property had to be transferred to the rightful owner. In case of a minor / insane
the court could appoint a guardian for them.
5) Court of admiralty – Maritime cases such as rebellion. Theft, commercial law cases, trade
law cases were discussed in Supreme Court.
6) This Court, which comprised a Chief Justice and three puisne judges, had a jurisdiction
that extended to all inhabitants of the states of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.
Appellate Jurisdiction
1) Privy council
- If the value of the suit crosses 1000 pagoda [1 pagoda = 3 Rs] only then it can come here
- Civil cases could also be tried here
- Six months of limitation period is there between decision & Privy councils’ appeal.
2) Advocates
- There were the representatives of the people
- A batch of advocates and attorneys had emerged at that time
3) Writ Jurisdiction
- Five writ were present at that time namely, Mandamus, Certiorari, Habeas Corpus and
prohibition were present along with copius writ. Using this writ, arrest warrant could be
issued
- There was Governor General, 4 counsellors, and judges
Merits of Supreme Court
1. It was the with all the professional lawyers. They were law men & not laymen.
2. Judiciary & executive worked on parallel lines. Rule of law was laid down.
3. This was first court where decisions were made according to equity and common law
system.
4. Through this Supreme court, company servants were effectively controlled.
Defects of Supreme Court
1. Terminology – there was lack of clarity between subjects of his majesty, and subject of
Great Britain. Clarity came later on.
2. It caused a lot of harassment to the natives. Supreme court was not for the native. But in
case someone filed a suit against a native, that person had to travel to Calcutta for the suit.
They also had to prove that they are not under the jurisdiction of this supreme court.
 3. It was not clear whether or not a person dissatisfied with the decision of Governor General
and his council could legally appeal to the supreme court.
4. The field of jurisdiction was not clear.

The Act of Settlement, 1781

The Act of Settlement was an Amending Act of 1781, which was passed by British Parliament on
5th July 1781 to remove the defects of the Regulating Act 1773. It is also known as Declaratory
Act, 1781.
Circumstances that led to the passing of Act of Settlement
Though the Regulating Act of 1773, brought a great level of change both in the regulation of affairs
and judiciary, there were some significant loopholes which this act failed to resolve. Basically, to
remove the defects of the Regulating act of 1773, the Act of Settlement 1781 was enacted.
Firstly, some serious issues with the administration of the Warren Hastings were there. The
relevant examples of such issues are Patna case, Cossijurah Case and particularly the Nand Kumar
case where (Nand Kumar was hanged). These all issues led to a lot of criticisms of administration
of Warren Hastings.
Secondly, there was a big tussle between the Supreme Court and Governor-General in Council
which disturbed the balance of administration to a great extent.
Also, there was interference in the personal laws of the communities which had agitated the people.
Also, in the year 1777, a complaint was made by the directors of the company against the Supreme
Court as for them it was difficult to run the administration. To address this complaint, the House
of Commons, appointed a committee known as Touchet Committee to a do an inquiry about the
administration of Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha.
The report of this committee led to the enactment of the Act of Settlement of 1781.
The Aim of the Act
The main objectives of the enactment of this Act were:
1) To remove ambiguity regarding the few provisions of the Regulating Act and the Charter
which had created the division between the court and the government.
2) To support the lawful government of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, so that revenue could be
collected smoothly.
3) To maintain and protect the laws and customs of the native people.
Key Provisions (features) of the Act
The Act had the following features :
• Change in the powers of the Supreme Court – The servants of the company which earlier
came within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court were now exempted from the
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
By the enactment of this Act, the court’s geographical jurisdiction became limited to only
Calcutta.
• Non-interference in Revenue matters – The court now had no jurisdiction in the revenue
matters concerning revenue, or any act was done in the collection thereof, the government
now became independent of the control of the court in the matter of revenue.
• The Shift of Appellate Jurisdiction from Court to the Governor-General and Council
– The Appellate jurisdiction shifted in the hands of the Governor-General and Council.
Now, the appeals went from Provincial Courts to the Governor-General in council.
• The Assertion on the application of the personal laws – This act asserted that
Mohammedan law should be applied on the Mohammedan cases and similarly, the Hindu
law must be applied to Hindu cases.
Impacts of the Act of the Settlement
The major impacts of this act were:
• The act gave superior authority to the council over the court and favoured the council.
• This act made the position of the council very strong so that it could continue to have a
good control over the Indian empire.
• It was the first attempt to separate the executive from the judiciary by defining the
respective areas of jurisdiction.
Still, the Act failed to give a vibrant impact and to remove all the flaws of the Regulating Act
of 1773.

Cases:
1) Nand Kumar Case, 1775
In the famous Nandakumar case, it was stated that these Supreme Courts did not have power over
cases that dealt with revenue. Its jurisdiction was clearly mapped out as well as the jurisdiction of
the Companies and the Sadar Nizamat Adalat courts.
The case of Nand Kumar stands in a class by itself. It brings out the conflict between Warren
Hastings and the majority in the council and between the court and the majority. Nand Kumar was
the protégé of the majority in the council and his trial before the Supreme Court thus became in a
way a trial of strength between the court and the majority.
This case illustrates forcefully the anomalous character of the first impact of the English law on
the Indians and depicts what kind of difficulties arise when a foreign system of law is transplanted
suddenly in a society and is enforced with all its rigours.
The Supreme Court of Calcutta though established, by the charter of 1774, with the avowed object
of protecting the Indians against the oppressive activities of the servants of the Company, was not,
however, an unmixed blessing to those Indians who came within its purview. The Court’s
constitution, jurisdiction, powers, law and language were all foreign and unknown to the Indians
and were completely out of harmony with their customs and traditions. All these aspects of the
matter are dramatically brought out by the Nand Kumar Case. With the insistence of judges on the
independence of judiciary, in spite of interference of the Council, began a new era in the
administration of justice in India. The trial gained great historical importance as it formed an
integral part of the charge on which Warren Hastings and Impey were impeached by the House of
Commons after their return to England.
Facts of the case:
Nand Kumar accused Hastings of having accepted bribes from the nawab and others, a charge that
may have had some basis. However, Nand Kumar was in turn accused by Hastings of conspiring
to coerce a third party to make the bribery accusation against Hastings. This charge against Nand
Kumar was soon dismissed, but in an unrelated case an accusation of forgery was then brought
against him. Although the accuser was Indian, Nand Kumar was tried in a British court newly
established at Calcutta (Kolkata), where he was convicted and (because forgery was a capital crime
in Britain) sentenced to death. Hastings denied that he had played any part in the proceedings, but
his long-time friend, Sir Elijah Impey, was the presiding judge who imposed the death sentence.
Nand Kumar’s execution shocked Indians and provoked strong protests from Hastings’s critics
and rivals, both in India and in England. The corruption charges against Hastings subsequently
were dropped.

Whether Nand Kumar was under the jurisdiction of the court?

Objection regarding the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court over Raja Nand Kumar was based on
the ground that before the advent of the Supreme Court, the Indians in Bengal were tried by their
own men in their own criminal local courts, the faujdari adalats. In this case the offence was
committed in 1770, i.e. before the formation of the Supreme Court, thus Nand Kumar could be
tried only by Faujdari Adalat and not by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had committed
an odious crime by convicting Raja Nand Kumar. Thus the role of Supreme Court did not exhibit
a very healthy tendency conducive to the protection of interests of Indians against the oppression
of servants of the Company. It showed an anomalous character of the Supreme Court in so far as
it exercised jurisdiction over Indians.
➢ His execution was questionable because this acts was not functional in India.
➢ Applicability of this ac in Calcutta was justified because England, at that time faced Industrial
revolution. Therefore, this harsh punishment was justified.
➢ Also, when this act wasn’t promulgated in any other colony then why in India.
➢ Right to appeal in Privy council was not allowed. Francis, Borewell & Manson instigated Nand
Kumar to file a case against Hastings.
➢ Many witnesses came in support of Nand Kumar but they were so severely cross examined &
tough legal language was used. Eventually, they failed in giving their testimony.
➢ This case played an important role in impeaching Justice Impey & Warren Hastings by the
British Parliament
Certain Peculiar Features of the trial
• Every judge of the Supreme Court cross-examined the defence witnesses due to which the
whole defence of Raja Nand Kumar collapsed. Judges took the unusual course themselves in
cross-examining the witnesses and that somewhat severely Indian witnesses were not
conversant with the English law and procedure and this shattered the whole defence of Nand
Kumar. Criticizing the attitude of the judges H.E. Busteed wrote, “ The desire of the judges
was to break down Nand Kumar’s witnesses, in particular the Chief Justice’s manner was bad
throughout and that the summing up was unfavourable.
• After the trial when Nand Kumar was held guilty by the court he filed an application before
the Supreme Court for granting leave to appeal to the King-in-Council but the court rejected
this application without giving due consideration. Under its charter the court had the power to
reprieve and suspend the execution of a capital sentence and recommend the case for mercy to
 His Majesty. The court did not exercise this powering favour of Nand Kumar though there
could not perhaps be a strong case deserving exercise of the court’s power. Denial of
permission to appeal to the King in Council to Nand Kumar was in a nutshell, a blatant
disregard of justice, Supreme court ought to have exercised this jurisdiction in order to prove
its impartiality in the eye of law.
• Neither under Hindu law nor under Muslim law was forgery considered to be a capital crime.
To sentence an Indian to death under these circumstances by applying literally an obscure
English law was nothing short of miscarriage of justice. It appears that the attitude of the court
was conditioned by the hostility which the majority of the council had shown to the court from
the very beginning of Nand Kumar’s trial. “The sentence in any event, as a matter of plain
duty, have been respited by the court, but Hastings private secretary intervened to prevent such
action, and the councillors did nothing.”
• It was doubtful whether Supreme Court had jurisdiction over Nand Kumar, who was not a
resident of Calcutta and that too in a case to a pre-determined plan.
Raja Nand Kumar was by an insult on everything which India holds respectable and sacred,
hanged in the face of all his nation, by the judges sent to protect that people hanged for a
pretended crime, upon an ex post facto Act of the British Parliament in the midst of his
evidence against Lord Hastings.

1. The judges and jury as well as the counsels were Englishmen and did not know Bengali.
2. Even the interpreter through whom the trial was conducted was not proficient in Bengali. The
defence lawyer was not a barrister.
3. The judges badgered and frightened the witnesses, turning the whole procedure into an
inquisition. No wonder the defence failed. Indians had no idea of procedures in an English
court of law. The Calcutta Supreme Court had been established only a year earlier.
4. The Act of 1728 making forgery a capital offence had been passed in England for a specific
purpose. Commerce was booming in port towns like Plymouth and in these circumstances,
forgery was definitely a serious offence. But Nand Kumar’s alleged forgery was dated 1770
when Bengal was in the throes of a severe famine. There was hardly any commercial activity
taking place. The 1728 Act was applicable to the commercial activities in the ports. How could
 the Calcutta Supreme Court invoke this Act in Nand Kumar case? Besides, the said Act had
not been formally made applicable in India.
5. Under the Hindu Law, (that should have been taken into consideration) forgery was not a
capital offence. Nand Kumar was a Brahmin and members of his caste were not given the death
sentence.
6. The Supreme Court had no valid reasons for refusing Nand Kumar’s mercy petition to the
Privy Council and carrying out the sentence in haste.
Critics of this judgment have alleged that Warren Hastings took revenge on Nand Kumar through
the offices of his friend Sir Elijah Impey. Nand Kumar had dared to accuse Warren Hastings of
bribery and corruption in the Supreme Council. This may have encouraged Hastings to instigate
Mohan Pershad to file a case against Nand Kumar.
In general this judgment was perceived as unjust. As a result the Nand Kumar case featured as a
part of the investigation when both Hastings and Impey faced impeachment proceedings in
England. For lack of conclusive evidence both were acquitted.
The trial emphasises two facts:
1. The majority of Warren Hastings’ council members were against him. They encouraged Nand
Kumar to bring charges against him.
2. The case also illustrates the difficulty faced when English Law and procedures were used
against Indians. Such a law literally transplanted into a society that had different traditions,
was bound to be seen as subversive and unjust.
The Supreme Court had been set up in Calcutta with the aim of giving justice to Indians and saving
them from the company’s oppressive officials. This aim was far from served in Nand Kumar case.
However, it was the only case which the Governor-General and the Supreme Court were not
opposed to each other.
The next two cases illustrate the growing conflict between the Supreme Court and the Supreme
Council.

2) Patna Case:
The Patna case exposed the judicial administration of the Company. In fact the Patna case is an
illustration of various defects and weaknesses in the Adalat system in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.
Facts of the case: Shahbaz Beg Khan, an Afghan native of Kabul, retired from the company’s
service as a soldier and died intestate. He had no issue. He had called his nephew Bahadur Beg
from Kabul to live with him. Shahbaz Beg Khan’s widow, Nadrah Begum claimed all her deceased
husband’s considerable property. Bahadur Beg claimed the same as an adopted son of the
deceased. Since they were residents of the town of Patna, Bahadur Beg filed a suit against Nadrah
Begum in the Patna provincial council. (The latter was a Diwani Court under Warren Hastings’
Plan of 1774.)
Patna council’s procedure
The judges asked the native law officers, the Qazi and Mufti to investigate the case. This involved
making an inventory of the deceased man’s assets and sealing them. They were also to ascertain
all facts connected with the case and report to the council giving the shares of the two claimants
according to Muslim Law. Nadrah Begum was given no notice, and her property was sealed.
She claimed her deceased husband’s property by inheritance, mahr(dower), hiba (gift)
and iqarar (acknowledgement). She appointed her husband’s sister’s son Kojah Zchariah, as her
agent. To substantiate these claims, documents were produced.
The documents that she gave as proof were declared to be invalid. Since Muslim Law did not
recognise adoption Bahadur Beg’s claim on that count was not tenable. According to the Hanafi
School of Muslim Law regarding intestate succession they recommended that ¼th of the property
would go to Nadrah. Shahbaz Beg Khan’s brother Alum Beg in Kabul would get ¾th of the
property. As his father’s representative Bahadur Beg would look after the property in India. This
was the gist of the report furnished by the native law officers to the Patna court.

Patna council’s verdict

The Patna Council accepted the report of the native law officers. Nadrah Begum refused to accept
her ¼th share and fearing for her safety proceeded to a dargah along with her movable assets and
servants. For one month a guard was placed at the dargah to prevent her from any contacts. After
this guard was removed, she stayed on for another three months.

Begum’s action
During this period the Begum appealed against the Provincial Council’s verdict to Warren
Hastings who was the Governor-General and headed to the Sadr Diwani Adalat. Beyond privately
asking for an explanation from the Provincial Council, Warren Hastings did not pay any attention
to the Begum.
Ultimately the Begum filed an action against the native law officers and Bahadur Beg for assault
and battery, wrongful forced entry in her house to take away her property and the wrongful
confinement in the dargah in the Calcutta Supreme Court. She claimed ₹ 6,00,000 as damages.
Supreme Court procedure
According to its usual procedure the court issued a writ of capias against the defendants. This
amounted to a bailable warrant for arrest. The three defendants were duly arrested. The bail amount
of ₹ 4,00,000 was too much for them to furnish.
The Supreme Court found the Begum’s documents supporting her claim to be genuine. The court
faulted the Patna Provincial Council for handing over

3) Cossijurah Case:
It is important because it shows the tussle between judiciary and executive which tells us about the
judiciary system of that time. the investigation to the native law officers whose duty was only to
expound the Muslim Law. The court also slapped damages of ₹ 3,00,000 against the Qazi, Mufti
and Bahadur Beg for personal injuries to the Begum and taking away her property.
The Qazi had died on the way to jail. The Mufti and Bahadur Beg who were incarcerated for want
of the bail money were released after the 1781 Act came into being.
Facts
The zamindar (Raja) of Cossijurah had taken a large sum of money as a loan from Cossinaut
Baboo. The repayment of the said loan was long overdue. Cossinaut Baboo had complained to the
government at Calcutta but he got no relief. He filed a suit in the Calcutta Supreme Court for
recovery of the loan. He clarified that the loan document was made at Calcutta and the money too
was transferred to the zamindar in Calcutta

The Supreme Court’s procedure

The court issued a writ of capias amounting to a warrant for arrest of the zamindar. A sum of ₹
3,00,000 was laid down as bail. The zamindar had no intentions of taking the court’s orders and
went into hiding. As a result the writ could not be executed. Since, the zamindari of Cossijurah
fell in the district of Midnapur, the collector apprised the government of the developments.

The government’s reaction

After consulting the Advocate General the government took the next step. The Advocate General
had interpreted the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction as given in its Charter of 1774. According to him,
a zamindar could not be ordered to appear before the said court. Therefore, the raja of Cossijurah
need not pay any attention to the Supreme Court’s moves.
The government let all zamindars in Bengal know that they were not in the jurisdiction of the
Supreme Court and need have no fear of it. A zamindar was in the jurisdiction only if he had signed
a contract with any of His Majesty’s subjects involving a sum of over ₹ 500.
The court issued a writ of sequestration of the zamindar’s property in an attempt to force him to
appear in court. The sheriff went with a small force to execute the writ. The matter did not end
there. The government advised the collector to send a force to prevent the sheriff from serving the
warrant on the zamindar. The sheriff and his men were duly arrested, taken to Calcutta and later
released.
Cossinaut Baboo proceeded to bring action against the Governor-General and his council
members in the Supreme Court. At the outset the latter agreed to appear before the court. However,
the company’s attorney, Mr Naylor advised them against it. They were acting in their official
capacity, he said and so the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction over them.
The stand off between the Supreme Court and the Supreme Council had reached its nadir. Ever
since the establishment of the royal court, there had been conflicts. Most of them
concerned zamindars and affected the collection of revenue. Complaints had been flying from the
Calcutta government to the directors of the company in England. Revenue collection was a major
part of the company’s activities in Bengal.
In 1781, the government in England passed an Act amending the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
Revenue matters were placed beyond its jurisdiction and zamindars too were declared to be out of
the court’s reach. The company thus won a victory. But Naylor was punished for giving wrong
advice to the company. He languished in jail till he died.
Pitts India Act, 1784
- To remove the drawbacks of the Regulating act and to make the administration of the
company’s Indian territories efficient and responsible, a series of enquiries were made and
measures were taken by the British parliament during the next decade.
- Of these the most important one was the Pitt’s India Act of 1784, named after William Pitt
the Younger Prime Minister of Britain at that time. This act set up a board of control in
Britain through which the British government could fully control the company’s civil, military
and revenue affairs in India.
- British Government claimed ownership over the territories owned by the Company in India by
calling those territories “The British Possessions in India.” Commercial and Political functions
of the Company were distinguished by appointing separate Committees for the same. British
Government placed direct control over Indian affairs. Councils of Governor were established
in Bombay and Madras.

- The company, however, continued to have the monopoly of trade and the right to appoint and
dismiss its own officials. Thus a system of dual government of British India by the British
government and the company was set up.
- Governor-General was given the power to overrule his council on important matters.
Presidencies of Bombay and Madras were brought under his authority and he was made the
commander-in-chief of all the British troops in India, both of the company and of the British
government.
- The principles laid down by the act of 1784 formed the base of the British administration in
India. The agencies through which the governor-general exercised his power and responsibility
were the army, the police, the civil service and the judiciary. The Indian Sepoys formed the
bulk of the company’s army. Its size grew along with the British expansion. By the time the
conquest of India was completed, the number of Sepoys had risen to about 200,000. They were
regularly paid and thoroughly trained in the use of the latest arms.
- The soldiers engaged by the Indian rulers did not usually have these facilities. Moreover, one
success after another had won the company’s army considerable amount of prestige which
attracted many recruits to it. But all the officers of this army were Europeans. Besides the
company’s army, British troops were also stationed in India.
- Though the company’s Indian soldiers earned the reputation of being very efficient, they were
just mercenary soldiers of a colonial power. They did not have the pride that enthuse the
soldiers of a national army nor were there many avenues of promotion open to them. These
factors sometimes provoked them to revolt. The greatest of these revolts took place in 1857.
- One of the provisions of the Pitt’s India act to forbade the policy of conquest. But this provision
was seldom observed. Fresh conquests were necessary to serve the economic interests of
Britain, i.e. wider market for the finished goods coming out of factories and finding new
sources for collecting raw materials. Establishing law and order in the conquered territories as
early as possible was also necessary for this purpose. So a regular police force had to be
organized for maintaining law and order.
- During the time of Lord Cornwallis, this force was given a regular shape. In 1791, a
superintendent of police for Calcutta was appointed and soon other cities were placed in the
charge of Kotwals. The districts were divided into Thanas, each of which was put under the
charge of a Daroga. The hereditary village policeman became Chowkidars. Later the post of a
District superintendent of police was created.
- Though the police played a vital role in maintaining law and order, it never became popular. It
earned much notoriety for its corruption and harassment of common people. Though it became
the symbol of the Government authority all over the country, its lower ranks were very poorly
paid. As in the army, here also, only the Europeans were eligible for higher posts.

Its main features and their effects were as follows:

1. The Crown appointed six commissioners to form a body and constitute the Board of
Control. They were members of the House of Lords and included the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. The seniormost was to be the president of the Board.
2. The directors of the East India Company were required to work with the Board and were
in effect, bound by its orders.
4. In this way, the British Parliament got full control over the company’s administration in
India.
5. The directors retained the power of patronage but for all practical purposes could make no
policies that would not be approved by the Board.
 6. The Act also brought the Governors and their councils of Bombay and Madras under the
supervision of the Governor-General in Council in Bengal. The conflicts between the
Calcutta Supreme Court and the Sadr Diwani Adalat had already been taken care of by the
amendment to the Supreme Court’s Charter in 1781. We will read about these conflicts in
detail in the theme covering legal institutions.
7. The British Parliament, using the directors as a conduit for its orders virtually began to rule
the company’s Indian territories. With the periodic renewal of the company’s charter that
took place every 20 years, more and more powers were taken over by the home
government. From 1813 to 1853 two charters sounded the death knell of the company as a
commercial organisation and the final blow was given by the Revolt of 1857.

Conclusion
Hence, the acts contain very important significance that British Government has been given the
supreme control over company’s affairs and its administration. It was the first when company’s
possessions were called British possession.

A GENERAL EVALUATION OF THE SYSTEM SO FAR

There is no doubt that Lord Cornwallis’ system brought into the administration of justice in
Bengal, some of the most basic features of the English legal culture. He even introduced Indians
in the lower rungs of the judiciary. But he did ensure that they did not have positions of
responsibility. He could think of getting higher emoluments from the directors of the company for
English covenanted servants to minimise corruption, but was unable to apply the same rule to
Indians. He overlooked the fact that if the latter were well-paid, recruited carefully and trained,
they would become able and effective administrators. In fact, the directors of the company had
mentioned as early as 1786 that flooding the administration with Englishmen was not cost-
effective nor did it ensure good governance. Respectable natives would be better suited to the
climate and their duties. Cornwallis disregarded this advice. However, the schemes of 1790 and
1793 were endorsed by the company as well as by the British Parliament.
Further evolution of legal institutions towards the close of the 18th century:
 1. Lord Cornwallis’ successor was Sir John Shore. In order to discourage petty cases from being
filed he reintroduced court fees. The use of special court fee stamp paper became
compulsory. The control of the Sadr Diwani Adalat over the lower courts was strengthened.
2. In 1797, an important Act was passed by the British Parliament introducing reforms in the
administration of justice in India.
(a) The number of judges of the Supreme Courts was reduced to three, i.e. one Chief Justice
and two puisne judges.
(b) The Act reconfirmed sanction regarding the exercise of the local power of legislation to
the Governor-General in Council.
(c) Regulations made by the latter, that affected the rights of persons or property of natives
or of other individuals who were amenable to the provincial courts of justice had to be
registered in the judicial department, formed into a regular code and printed.
(d) The Provincial Councils were bound by these regulations.
(e) The copies of the regulations had to be sent to the Court of Directors and the Board of
control in England.

At the close of the 18th century in Bengal there were parallel judicial institutions. On the one hand,
there was the Supreme Court, which was a royal court at Calcutta, and on the other, Sadr Adalats
of the Company. The former had trained barristers and advocates while the adalats were headed
by covenanted servants of the company who had opted for the judicial cadre in the civil service.
Both the systems of courts were characterised by domination of Englishmen at the higher levels.
Appeals from both the courts went to the Privy Council in England.
The concept of rule of law was introduced into the system. To some extent the separation of the
executive from the judiciary was achieved.
In India, an entirely new aspect of legal culture was established in the form of a nascent legal
profession.

Judicial Reforms of Cornwallis

The Governor Generalship of Lord Cornwallis constitutes an important epoch in the history of
modern India. It may be rightly called the period of reforms. His real and important work lay in
“the status of the covenanted civil service, the collection of the land revenues and the organisation
of the judicature”. In the legal history in particular his period marks “a highly creative period”. He
introduced a judicial system based on the principle of equity and justice, set up a gradation of civil
courts, reformed criminal law, proclaimed the sovereignty of law and brought out the new code of
regulations called the Cornwallis Code of Civil Procedure, thus completing the work begun under
Warren Hastings.
Judicial reforms: Cornwallis came to India in 1786 with definite instructions from the
Directors, who had enjoined economy and simplification, to reunite the functions of a revenue
collector, civil judge and Magistrate in one and the same person. In obedience to the instructions,
without expressing his views, Cornwallis brought about changes in the existing system in 1787.
Accordingly, the European Collectors were empowered to deal with revenue disputes and were
also made judges of the Diwani Adalats enjoying full magisterial powers. However, he was
enjoined not to mix revenue matters with other civil suits. He tried revenue disputes in maal
adalat (revenue court). Appeal against the decision first lay to the Board of Revenue at Calcutta
and then to the Governor General and Council.
As the sole judge of the Diwani Adalat, the Collector dealt with all types of civil disputes. Appeals
over the value of Rs. 1,000 lay from the Diwani Adalat to Sadr Diwani Adalat and if the value
exceeded £5,000 to the King-in-Council. In the discharge of his judicial functions, the Collector
was assisted by an officer called Registrar who was empowered to try suits up to the value of Rs.
200. The decree passed by the Registrar became valid only when countersigned by the judge of
the Diwani Adalat.
As Magistrate, the Collector dealt with minor offences, and inflicted corporal punishment “not
exceeding fifteen rattans, or imprisonment not exceeding fifteen days”. The Collector was also
empowered to arrest British subjects if sufficient grounds were adduced and commit them to the
Supreme Court. No distinctions were made between the non-British subjects and the natives.
Though Cornwallis brought about these changes as a loyal servant, he was not certainly happy
over the combination of the judicial and the revenue functions. “The civil courts presided over by
the revenue officers had been converted into instruments of oppression and the inhabitants of the
provinces were groaning under the wrongs which had been inflicted upon them by officers, in
whom the fiscal and judicial powers had been so unwisely combined and who consummated in
one capacity, the injuries which they originated in the other.” Cornwallis was not for prolonging
this system and even informed the Directors: “Your possessions in this country cannot be said to
be well-governed, nor the lives and property of your subjects to be secure, Until the shocking
abuses and the wretched administration of justice in the faujdari department can be corrected.” In
order to improve the administration of justice he consulted with the judges and officials for three
years, and on 3 December 1790, Cornwallis came out with the new Regulations, “which were to
be the basis of criminal administration for the next forty years”.

Judicial Plan of 1787: refer to CA2 answer sheet

Judicial Plan of 1790: The preamble to the Regulation explained that the changes were
necessitated by “the numerous robberies, murders and other enormities which have been daily
committed throughout the country”. The District Faujdari Adalats were swept away and in their
places four Circuit Courts, three for Bengal and one for Bihar, presided over by two judges chosen
from the covenanted civil service were set up. The judges of these courts decided cases with the
help of Qazis and Muftis. These courts toured every district twice a year to try persons charge-
sheeted by the city magistrates. The Sadr Nizamat Adalat was transferred from Murshidabad to
Calcutta where the Governor General and Council who sat as judges continued to be assisted by
the Chief Qazi and two Muftis. With this, the criminal jurisdiction of the native Deputy Nawab
was thus finally abolished.
Judicial Plan of 1793: It was in the last year of his tenure in 1793, the judicial reforms of
Cornwallis took final shape. The Judicial Plan of 1793: “forms the high watermark in the whole
of Indian Legal History, as it was based on certain postulates which are regarded as essential and
fundamental for the organization of the judicature in any civilised country”. The scheme was based
on the principle of separation of powers and accordingly the revenue and judicial functions were
entrusted to separate hands, though this principle was afterwards departed from in the Governor
Generalship of Lord Hastings. The Collectors were divested of all judicial powers including the

trial of revenue cases and were left only with the power of collecting the land revenue. The
 158  District civil court came to be presided over by a class of new officer called the District Judge.
An ascending hierarchy of civil courts was set up. At the lowest level were the Munsiffs’ Courts
presided over by Indian commissioners who dealt with petty disputes involving amount up to the
value of Rs. 50. Next came the Court of the Registrar presided over by the covenanted servant of
the Company. He tried cases up to the value of Rs. 200. Appeals from both these courts lay to the
District or city courts. Then came the zillah or District Court under a British judge who decided
civil disputes with the help of Indian assessors. Above them were the four Provincial Courts of
Appeals, each under three European judges with Indian assessors, at Patna, Dacca, Murshidabad,
and Calcutta, These judges were also Judges of Circuit; the old Courts of Circuit were done away
with. It heard cases referred to it by the government or the Sadr Diwani Adalat and entertained
cases refused by a Mofussil Diwani Adalat. It had original jurisdiction in certain cases. It dealt
with appeals involving a sum of Rs. 1,000. The highest court of appeal was Sadr Diwani Adalat
consisting of the Governor General and members of Council in Calcutta. It heard appeals involving
over Rs. 1,000. An appeal against the decisions of this Court lay to the King-in-Council in disputes
exceeding £5,000.
The British subjects in the districts were made amenable to Diwani Adalat. All those who lived
away from Calcutta were refused licences till they agreed to submit themselves to the jurisdiction
of the district civil courts. The Government servants “were made answerable before the civil courts
for the acts done by them in their official capacity. Thus Cornwallis proclaimed the principle of
Sovereignty of Law in India”.
The Muslim Law was still administered. Accordingly to Islamic Law, no Muslim could be
capitally convicted on the evidence of an infidel. But this was modified. Cornwallis maintained:
“In order the Hindus and the classes of people not of the Mahommedan persuasion (who form at
least nine-tenths of the inhabitants of your territories) may enjoy equal security of person and
property with the Mahommedans, we have thought proper to abolish a distinction, the absurdity
of which is too glaring to require a comment.” Regulation IX of 1793 modified the law of evidence
by providing that “the religious persuasions of witnesses shall not be considered as a bar to the
conviction or condemnation of a prisoner”. This Regulation enabled the Non-Muslims to give
testimony against Muslims in criminal cases. Further changes were effected in the Islamic criminal
law. Now restrictions were placed upon the right of the heir of a slain man to pardon the murderer
or, and imprisonment was substituted for mutilation. All these Regulations were embodied in the
famous Cornwallis Code.
The Judges were given good salaries so that they should be free from the temptation of accepting
bribes. The court-fee which was to be paid at the time of institution of cases at the rate of two to
five per cent was abolished to make justice cheap. Regulation VII provided for the appointment of
pleaders with some legal training by the Sadr Diwani Adalat. The Court could dismiss or suspend
pleaders if found guilty of corruption, gross-misconduct or fraud.
The judicial reforms of Cornwallis were not free from defects. The abolition of court-fees
increased litigation and the provision for appeals in civil cases caused arrears of work before the
appellate courts. The exclusion of Indians from any share in the judicial administration, excepting
in the lower Moffusil courts, meant he suspected the bona fides of Indians, though the servants of
the Company were corrupt to the core. Cornwallis was quite aware of this, yet this discrimination,
which became the cause for the bitter resentment by the Indians. In short: “Cornwallis’ reforms in
civil and criminal law were effective in checking the tyranny of the revenue collectors and
preventing violence, but that they encouraged the more subtle oppression of the moneylender and
the lawyer; and from their insistence upon formal evidence they increased the difficulty of
suppressing organised dacoity.”
In 1793, the Recorders Courts were set up at Bombay and Madras in place of the Mayor Courts.
In course of time, the Governor General and Council who were more burdened with executive
work found it difficult to cope up with increasing appeals to the Sadr Adalats. Therefore, in 1801
separate judges were appointed for these courts.
The period of Lord William Bentinck marks another important milestone in the growth of Indian
judiciary. Bentinck was devoted to the liberal and humanising policy. Undoubtedly, he was the
first Governor General openly to act on the theory that the welfare of the subjects (the people) was
a main, perhaps the primary, duty of the British India. Fired, as he was, with the same ambition as
Cornwallis to improve the administration of justice, he introduced reforms that were original and
the institutions he created “form the basis of our present judicial system”.

Privy Council
▪ The British Parliament and the Privy Council are the two great institutions which the Anglo-
Saxon race has given to mankind. The Privy Council during the last few centuries not only laid
down law but co-ordinated the concept of right and obligations throughout all the Dominos
and colonies in the British commonwealth. So far as India is concerned, the role of the privy
council has been aa great unifying force and the instrument and embodiment of the rule of law,
a concept on which alone we have based the democratic institutions which we have set up in
our constitution.
▪ King in Council or later called the Privy Council or the Judicial Committee od the Privy
Council became the court of last resort against the decision of courts in British possession
overseas.
▪ The Norman Conquest in 1066 played a very important role in shaping the English law and the
constitution of Courts of Justice in England.
▪ Three divisions – In the reign of Henry II, as a result of reforms introduced by the king, the
judicial work of the Curia greatly increased. Its result was that the justices became a separate
professional body.
▪ In the Eighteenth century with the growth of the British empire the work of the committee of
the Privy Council greatly increased. But it was realised that the Councillors, who presided over
it, were mostly laymen. This was severely criticised.
▪ Acts establishing Judicial Committee of the Privy Council – the statute of the 1833
established a statutory permanent committee of legal experts to hear appeals from the British
Colonies and to dispose of ither matters as referred to them by His Majesty according to this
Provisions of the Act. This statutory committee was known as “The Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council”
▪ As monarchy was present in almost all places, therefore, the divine right theory was prevalent.
Which was the reason for emergence of Privy council. King was considered as fountain head
of the justice.
▪ This was also called as the court of last resort because if any person is aggrieved by the decision
of lower courts had the right to approach to the crown and keeping back the Idea of King’s-in
Council in existence. They had every right to approach king for justice, this was the main idea
behind it.
▪ The king was the judge of the last resort in ancient and medieval India. Colonial subjects also
got linked to Privy council. In 1945, 50-60 countries became independent & got linked to the
king in council
Category of Appeal
1) Appeal as a matter of right
2) Appeal as a matter of Special Leave Petition

There were three conditions how a matter would naturally go to the king in council
 (1) Limitation Amount – Laws involving certain threshold value could go to the king in council.
(2) Limitation Period – Within a particular period, it has to go to King in council.
(3) Civil Cases – Since they were similar to British Common law system, civil cases could go to
king in council. If there is an SLP from apex court, then criminal cases could also move to the
King in council.

- Charters of 1726 and 1753 – For the first time in the legal history of India, George I by the
Charter of 1726 provided for appeals to the Privy Council from India. The Charter of 1726
established three Mayor's Courts at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay respectively. It provided
that from the decisions of the Mayor's Courts first appeal will lie to the Governor-in-Council
in the respective provinces. The second appeal from order of the Governor-in-Council would
now lie to the Privy Council in England. The Charter of 1753 re-established the Mayor's Courts
at the three Presidency towns of Calcutta. Madras and Bombay. As regards the provision
relating to appeals, the Charter of 1753 followed the Charter of 1726. These provisions
continued up to the passing of the Regulating Act, 1773.
- Appeals before 1773 – Though the Charters of 1726 and 1753 provided for appeals to the
Privy Council, there was not a single case involving an Indian up to 1790 in which an appeal
was filed before the Privy Council.21 However the old records of the Privy Council point out
that before the Regulating Act, 1773 came into force, there were four appeals" filed by
Englishmen before the Privy Council from India. These disputes were amongst English people
and therefore, cannot be considered as Indian cases, in appeal to the Privy Council.
- The first court was the Mayor’s Court. A matter from mayor’s court could go to King in
council. If it was a civil case, involving 1000 pagodas and within 14 days.
- A matter would go to the king in council from Supreme Court in Calcutta (set up in 1774 by
regulating act of 1773). The conditions were that it should be a civil case, limitation period
was 6 months, and the case should involve limitation amount of 1000 pagodas.
- The 1st case from India that went to the king in council was William Mitchell v. Nathaniel
Turner 1731, in which judgement was given against William
- The Regulating Act and subsequent Charters.—The Regulating Act, 1773 empowered the
Crown to issue a Charter establishing a Supreme Court at Calcutta. The Charter of 1774 was
accordingly issued by the Crown which established the Supreme Court at Fort William,
 Calcutta and the Mayor's Court was abolished, Section 30 of the Charter granted the right to
appeal from the judgment of the Supreme Court to the King-in-Council in civil cases where
the amount involved exceeded 1,000 Pagodas. Such an appeal was allowed within six months'
period after the date of the Supreme Court's decision. Thus appeals were directly filed before
the Judicial Committee from the Calcutta Supreme Court. By the Crown's Charter under an
Act of 1797 the Recorder's Courts replaced the Mayor's Courts at Madras and Bombay
respectively. The Charter provided for direct appeals from the Recorder's Court to the King-
in-Council. These appeals were allowed on the same basis as from the Calcutta Supreme Court
to the King-in-Council.
Nature of Earlier cases
1. Torts
2. Testamentory & Interstate (dies without a will)
3. Cases of promissory bonds
4. Insurance Cases
▪ Procedure – The Judicial committee is not a court of law but it is only an advisory board
whose duty is to report to His Majesty their opinion, as a body, and humbly advise him as to
the action he should take on appeals submitted to him. Every appeal is addressed to “the king’s
most excellent majesty in council” and is sent to the judicial committee for their advice under
a general order passed in 1909.
▪ There has to be general reading of the case in the King in council to make them aware of the
facts.
▪ Then the matter went to the Privy council (select body within king in council) which acted as
the court of law.
▪ After privy council investigates and forms evidences, report is again submitted to the King in
council. Only the King could pronounce the judgement. The report has to be approved by the
general council of the king in council.
▪ The general council can amend, send it back or leave it as it is.
▪ The final judgement under the seal of the king is pronounced by the order in council. This is
the final verdict.
Reading → Privy Council → King’s court → Order in council → Verdict
- In Madras, the Recorder's Court was replaced by the Supreme Court in 1801 under the Act of
1800 passed by the Parliament. Similarly the Recorder's Court at Bombay was replaced by the
Supreme Court in 1823 by the Crown's Charter under an Act of 1823 passed by the British
Parliament. The right of appeal at Bombay and Madras was given just like that of Calcutta with
one difference regarding the valuation of the suit. A period of six months was provided for
filing an appeal to the King-in-Council
- Apart from the Supreme Courts, which were considered as King's Courts, there were also
Company's courts in Moffussil areas under the English Company. The Act of Settlement, 1781
provided that an appeal will lie from Sadar Diwani Adalat at Calcutta to His Majesty, in Civil
suits valuing £ 5,000 (equivalent to Rs. 50,000) or more
- In 1818 it was provided that an appeal from the Sadar Diwani Adalat at Madras will directly
lie to His Majesty. The monetary condition regarding minimum valuation of a suit, was also
removed and appeals were allowed in all cases,
- The right of appeal to His Majesty from the Sadar Diwani Adalat at Bombay was allowed in
1812.
- In 1818 it was found that during the last sixty years only fifty appeals were filed to the Privy
Council. It was considered that the appeals were not filed due to the fixed limit on the valuation
of the suit. In order to encourage appeals to the Privy Council, it was decided in 1818 to remove
the condition regarding the valuation of the suit in appeal. Appeals in all cases were, therefore,
allowed to the Privy Council from the decisions of the Sadar Diwani Adalats of Bombay and
Madras. Its reaction was very favourable and the later records of the Privy Council showed a
great increase in the number of appeals. No doubt it was also realised in such appeals that there
was a lot of inconvenience to the parties as well as invoking huge expenditures.
Case of Andrews Hunter – It is a matter of interest to note that before 1833 only 14 appeals were
filed to the king in council, 11 from Calcutta, 1 from madras and 2 from Bombay. Andrews Hunter
v. Raja of Burdwan was the earliest case that went before privy council.
Facts of the case are:
Hunter filed a suit against the raja for recovery of money advanced to his grandmother. Mofussil
diwani Adalat at Burdwan dismissed it holding that the Raja was not answerable to the debts
incurred by his grandmother. Sadar Diwani Adalat reversed the above finding and remanded the
case for trial on facts. It was again dismissed. The judgement was confirmed in appeal by sadar
Diwani Adalat. The privy council affirmed the case and it took 8 years to finalise the case. At last
raja was held not guilty.
This decision was given due to Doctrine of Pious Obligation which explains about four types of
rinas.
Doctrine of pious obligation states that debt taken by male ancestors has to be paid by male
descendants and debt taken by the female ancestors has to be repaid by female descendants. Hindu
customary law was respected by courts as well.

Reorganisation of the Privy Council

▪ After this act King in council came to be known as Privy Council. In order to regulate the
system of appeals to the Privy Council and to define the constitution, composition and
jurisdiction of the Privy Council, William the Fourth passed the Judicial Committee Act of
1833.
▪ Under it a permanent body of the Judicial Committee was appointed to dispose of appeals and
other matters of the Colonies. It would be comprised of 1 lord president, 1 high chancellor &
2 members. These will form the judicial committee.
▪ The Act provided for the appointment of two retired Indian judges as assessors to the Judicial
Committee They were to attend the sittings of the Privy Council but they were not authorised
to give any vote.
▪ This provision helped the Privy Council judges in having full knowledge about Indian
peculiarities and legal position in detail from the Indian assessors. Under this provision
appointments were made from the retired judges of the Supreme Courts.
▪ No retired judge of the Sadar Diwani Adalat was ever appointed on this post. Thus the
condition of valuation of the suit was again imposed. It also reduced the number of appeals
from the courts in India to the Privy Council.
▪ Along with these members, 2 assessors will also be included to help in the proceedings of the
court. They just assisted the court in forming a rational judgement.
▪ To resolve the dispute, the quorum was of 4. Assessors were also called colonial judges. All
these appointments were made by the crown itself.

The reasons for reorganisation were:

(1) Increased Litigation – Could not handle the increased number of cases. Present structure was
not enough
(2) Experts in law – Till now, judges of Privy council were not supposed to be expert in law. But
then the need arose that judges should be experts in law because of the complexity of cases
coming to King in council.
(3) Check Adhorcism – to check hasty decision-making process, reorganisation of the privy
council was imposed.
Nature of privy council:
(1) It was a statutory body as it was formed by a statute. However, in practise it was a court of law
(2) Even if the judges had dissenting opinions, it would be made into one unanimous decision and
then sent to the crown.
- It was only in 1966 that judges were given a right to present the dissenting opinions as well.
(3) Doctrine of precedent was not applicable to the privy council, because it was an advisory body.
its opinion is not a judgement. It only became a verdict after passing from the royal seal.
(4) Section 208 of GOI act, 1935 said that appeals from federal court (SC) would go to the Privy
council. On 3 Conditions – civil cases, limitation period-6 months & limitation amount of Rs
1000.
- Abolition of Privy council jurisdiction act, 1949 severed the privy council from the Indian
legal system
Contributions
(1) It enriched Indian Jurisprudence because its jurisdiction was very wide. Institution of Privy
Council was Unparallel, unique and range of jurisdiction was expanded trying all matters on
all the subjects.
(2) It laid down principles of rule of law. It had judges who are political, legal & professional
competent. Thus, quality of judgement improved as they can make decision on evry subject.
(3) Privy Council dig out the Hindu Shashtric law – law of Damdupant, which laid down that
interest cannot be more than the debt.
(4) Common law system was laid down. It acted as a forum for common law system of British
was dismissed in all colonies.
(5) Principles of impartial justice were also enunciated which is the cornerstone of Indian legal
system.
(6) Privy council also introduced the concept of rights & obligations. They thoroughly interpreted
it like Indian constitution; introduced Fundamental rights along with fundamental duties.
(7) By its masterly decisions, privy council has enriched the Hindu as well as Islamic
Jurisprudence.
(8) When there was no uniformity in the court system of India, this came as an authority to check
and unify the courts of India. Sometimes Sadar Diwani Adalat provided an interpretation but
for some laws Supreme court provided an interpretation

Limitations:
The law declared by the Privy Council in the pre-Constitution period is still binding on the High
Courts except in those cases where the Supreme Court of India has declared law in its judgments.
It shows the amount of respect which the Indian High Courts still have for the Privy Council
judgments. In the fields of Hindu law and Mohammedan law, though at times defective law was
laid down, the contribution of the Privy Council is remarkable.
No doubt there were certain defects in the constitution of the Privy Council
i. For long it was staffed by English Judges only. All the judges being British was very unfair.
ii. Its location was England. its appellate jurisdiction was considered a symbol of slavery.
iii. Absence of local knowledge of the Court and the counsel engaged in England was a great
hinderance and disadvantage to the litigant
iv. Consequently the Indian points of view could not be appreciated.
v. it put the poor at a great disadvantage.
vi. and in certain cases its view was not impartial. Fingers were raised against the privy council
for not practicing principles of impartial justice.
Still, the Privy Council commanded great respect amongst lawyers, Judges and the Indian public
as the highest judicial institution. Its contribution to statute law, personal law, commercial law and
criminal law, was of great importance. Even in Independent India up to 1949, the Privy Council
decided many important cases. The principles of integrity, impartiality, independence and the rule
of law, which were laid down by the Privy Council are still followed by the Supreme Court of
India. Till the Supreme Court of India takes a different view, the view taken by the Privy Council
is binding.
KM Munshi said, “The British Parliament and the Privy Council are the two great institutions
which the Anglo-Saxon race has given to mankind. The Privy Council during the last few centuries
has not only laid down law, but co-ordinated the concept of right and obligations throughout all
the Dominions and the Colonies in the British Commonwealth. So far as India is concerned the
role of the Privy Council has been one of the most important one. It has been a great unifying force
and for us Indians it became the instrument and embodiment of the rule of law, a concept on which
alone we have based the democratic institutions which we have set up in our Constitution.”
As noted by Rama Jois, its contribution and model are of eternal value, and a source of inspiration
to all those concerned with the administration of India.

INDIAN SOCIETY: BEGINNINGS OF CHANGE AND MODERNISATION

▪ Indian society at the dawn of the modern period had reached the cross roads. There was
polarisation and the society, divided definitely on communal basis into Hindu and Muslim,
had come to stay. Though the two communities lived together for over five centuries yet they
remained “as two separate communities with distinct cultures and different physical, mental
and moral characteristics”.
▪ Their literary and intellectual traditions ran on almost entirely different lines. In spite of the
fundamental and basic differences between the two communities, the “loss of political power
and prestige made the Muslims less arrogant towards the Hindus, and considerably curtailed
their anti-Hindu activities inspired by religious bigotry.
▪ Above all, the common subjection to an alien rule awakened a sort of fellow-feeling which
adversity shared together seldom fails to develop. All these factors brought about a more
harmonious and friendly relation, removed many of the angularities, and to a large degree
blunted the edge of ill-feeling or hostility between the two communities”.
▪ The Hindu society exhibited the same characteristics as it did in A.D. 1200. It was passing
through “a period of depression” and the “most important characteristic that marked the
decadence of Hindu society was the gradual but steady degradation in the position of women
and the lower castes, specially the untouchables. Both these features were eating into the
vitality of the society and contributed not a little to the general degradation of the body-
politic”.
▪ The impact of Western education, thought and culture caused significant social and
intellectual changes in the pattern of Hindu life. It led to all important “Hindu revival or
recovery” which expressed itself in the socio-religious reform movements that arose shortly
after the first decade of the 19th century. If they achieved a measure of success in rationalising
and modernising Indian life, it was in no small measure due to the sympathetic attitude of the
administrators of the East India Company. Later, the Indian National Congress, founded in
1881, after side lining the social reforms initially, began to concentrate on the eradication of
pernicious evils in the society. It was, as will be shown presently, through persuasion, through
education and legislation, and through the laudable efforts of the organisations and well-
meaning individuals that many of the social abuses were removed and the society was set on
the progressive path.

Class and Caste

The Hindu society clung on to iron-cased beliefs and traditions, and the long established rituals
and ceremonies. The orthodoxy which fell on the defence at the very approach of Islam thought it
wise to respond to the new challenges by imposing greater restrictions in matters of marriage,
inter-dining and so forth.
The sentiment of fraternity came to be restricted to a narrower group and these were regulated
by smritikaras by scriptural support. The result was that the caste assumed virtually the same form
as it stands today. The people of Varnasankaraswere assigned a place in the new caste system.
What was more, no varnaremained a single unit and groups among them based on the differences
in diet, religious beliefs, geographical positions and the like came to be formed. For instance, the
Brahmanas who were designated as Sharmas were distinguished among them on the basis
of gotra; now they came to be divided into narrow groups of Misra, Shukla, Dikshit, Bhattacharya
and so forth with no reference to gotra. There were also sub-groups among these resulting in further
restriction to the freedom of marriage and inter-dining. The same was true in respect of
the Ksatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras and the Chandalas. Anuloma marriages became a thing of the past
and only the members of a caste formed the brotherhood. The humane and all-embracing concept
of the children of different castes belonging to a common Father in heaven or constituent limbs
of Virata Purusha and hence equal was accepted as true only on the spiritual plane. But they could
not claim equality in the social sphere because of the accretion of prarabdha and Sancit karma. In
consequence, “sympathy, affection, solidarity and a sense of fraternal community” came to be
posited within a small group called the caste with its own distinct social customs, traditions and
beliefs.
The developments like these were not conducive for the promotion of harmony, understanding and
amity in the society. The lack of internal cohesion led to the decadence of Hindu society, and this
was accelerated by the inferior position accorded to women and untouchables. The emergence of
sub-groups within a varna restricted the sphere of marriage and the society had to reckon with the
attendant problems like child marriage, child widows, etc. Another development was the creation
of “an almost insuperable barrier between the caste-Hindus and the untouchables”. They were kept
outside the pale of civilisation and the rest of the community treated them as distinctly inferior in
every respect. In some parts of the country their very appearance or sight was considered as
inauspicious or unclean. There was no social intercourse with them and though they were Hindus
they were denied entry into the temples as also the service of the Brahmana priests. They formed
1/5 of the total Hindu population, described as “the largest subordinate racial group in the world”.
They were regarded as the menials, did the dirty and degrading tasks, being the scavengers, the
tanners, washers of dirty clothes, and handlers of dead carcasses. John Gunther has defined
untouchability as “Jim Crowism on a fantastic scale”. They lived in abject poverty with a bare
subsistence living as they were paid pitifully low wages.
Caste, like all other human institutions, served a positive function originally in assimilating
numerous racial groups with various levels of culture and enabling them to live together. In a
similar situation in Western countries either the backward people were exterminated or enslaved.
Speaking about the utility of caste mechanism a writer points out: “Caste moderates personal
ambition and checks the bitterness of competition. It gives a man, whatever his station in life, a
society in which he can be at home even when he is among strangers. For the poor man, it serves
as a club, as a trade union, and a mutual benevolent society, all rolled into one. It ensures
continuing and a certain inherited skill in the arts and crafts. And in the moral sphere it means that
every man lives content with that place which destiny has allotted to him, and uncomplainingly
does his best.” But these remained mere pious wishes and the actual working of the system was
utterly inconsistent with the basic ideals. In this system there was no place for the principle of
equality; it made differentiation between man and man, and man and woman and brought into
existence two undesirable groups in society: the superior or higher caste and inferior or lower caste
groups. The cumulative effect of all this was that the caste system became “a clog in the wheel of
national progress and the greatest hindrance to all social reforms”. The purging of the baneful
effects of the caste system became the object of concern of the social reform movements.
When the Indians were exhibiting little creative thought, contending themselves with a culture that
had become both stagnant and esoteric, there came to be created a new class, called the English-
educated class. The vehicle of the English language enabled the Indians to go abroad and to live
among the Englishmen and other Western nations. This provided them an opportunity to see for
themselves the way in which free nations in the world lived and acquaint themselves with the
working of democratic political institutions.
One Englishman wrote: “Familiarly acquainted with us by means of our literature, the Indian youth
almost cease to regard us as foreigners. They speak of our great men with the same enthusiasm as
we do. Educated in the same way, interested in the same subjects, engaged in the same pursuits as
ourselves, they become more English than Hindus, just as the Roman provincials became more
Roman than Gauls or Italians”. When these young men returned to India, the life here was simply
suffocating and revolting to them. It was these Western-educated Indians, though their number
was none too large trained in liberal and rationalist thought, who realised the urgent necessity of
uplifting the masses.
Raja Rammohan Roy who led the crusade against social evils was the best early example of the
product of Western education. Thus, the liberal ideas and the liberal socio-political institutions of
the West gave the needed stimulus to the process of social renovation.

Social Reformation Movement

The social reform movements which began in the 19th century to transform the “social life by
purging of accumulated ills and anomalies” hastened in the 20th century. In addition to contact
with the West, the social revolution was brought about by the introduction of rapid means of
communication, like the railways, telegraph, postal system, etc. This broke down the caste barriers
to a great extent. People now began to ponder over the antiquated traditions which they were
following. They felt that the time had come to modernise their social institutions. The very
religious organisations that inspired nationalism in the country led the crusades against the
prevailing social ills and made the renovation of the Indian society possible.
The Brahmo Samaj:
Among the modern reform movements an important place must be given to the Brahmo Samaj.
The founder and the moving spirit behind the Brahmo Samaj was Raja Rammohan Roy (1772–
1833) who has been variously described as the “Herald of the New Age”, the “Father of Indian
Renaissance” and the “Prophet of Indian Nationalism”. Born in an orthodox and well-to-do
Brahmana family, Roy broke up with his parents over the spectacle of his sister-in-law’s torture
on the funeral pyre of her husband. He then travelled widely in India, entered the service of the
British government and gained mastery over Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew and
English. Earlier in life he had made a deep study of Hindu and Islamic laws, literature and
philosophy, which prepared him wonderfully well for the role of the first prophet of progressive
reform in religion and society during the first quarter of the 19th century.9
As a great religious reformer Rammohun opposed polytheism and image worship. In defence of
his rational views he published a Persian work, Tulfat-ul-Muwahhindin (A Gift to Deists), where
he questioned the usefulness of worshipping images and proclaimed the unity of the godhead. His
idea was to establish an institution based on Upanishadic ideals. This led to the foundation on 20
August 1828, of the Brahmo Sabha, “the One God Society”. The Samaj was based on the
“Monotheism of Islam, the ethics of Christianity and the philosophy of the Upanishads”. It was
“Hindu in its orientation” and also “contained Christian and humanistic elements. It was open to
all people regardless of creed or race, and was strongly reminiscent of the creed of the European
deists of the eighteenth century”.10 In spite of the opposition from the orthodox section of the
Hindu community, the Samaj became a popular institution. It had widespread influence among the
middle-class intelligentsia, but it is difficult to say whether the society reached the masses.
Raja was a rationalist and through Brahmo Samaj he sought to purge Hinduism of such practices
as child marriage, enforced widowhood, polygamy, purdah, concubinage and the barbarous and
the horribly superstitious practice of sati. He advocated widow remarriage, divorce, civil
marriages, education of women and their equal rights with men. He showed, by citing the smritis of
Manu, Yajnavalkya and Katyayana, that daughters were entitled to one-fourth of the portion which
a son could inherit. “The Hindu code framed by the Sovereign Republic of India is the logical
fulfilment of the work commenced by Rammohun Roy.”
Roy was again the first great social thinker to suggest inter-caste marriage as the only remedy for
breaking down the barriers of caste system. He pointed out that the sacred texts do not prohibit
such marriages. He cited Mahanirvana Tantra where the Saiva form of marriage is described thus,
“There is no discrimination of age or caste or race in the Saiva marriage. As enjoined by Siva, one
should marry a woman who has no husband and one who is not sapinda, i.e. who is not within the
prohibited degree of marriage”. The Raja advocated the practice of this form of marriage widely
in Hindu society. “Had his plan been acceptable to the people, widow marriage, intercaste and
interracial marriages would have probably become valid without any fresh legislation.” Roy
favoured the abolition of sati “quietly and unobservedly”, but was not for stopping it altogether.
Nevertheless he was not found wanting in wholeheartedly supporting Lord William Bentinck when
he took the initiative to abolish sati in 1829. He also raised his powerful voice against the evil of
untouchability as observed by the caste Hindus.
Although a conservative section revolted against his progressive ideas, Roy was successful to an
extent in rousing the public opinion against many inhuman practices. It is worthy of note here that
though he championed reform and admired European thought, the Raja was interested in
preserving the best in Hindu culture.
After the death of Rammohun Roy the mantle of the Samaj fell on Debendranath Tagore and the
Samaj now entered on useful activity. It attracted many young men notable among whom was
Keshab Chandra Sen. But when Debendranath gave prominence to the Doctrine of “Infallibility of
the Vedas”, a section of the members resented and this led to a split in the Party. Keshab came out
from the parent body and formed a new organisation in 1866 called “the Brahmo Samaj of India”.
Keshab Chandra Sen did not evince any interest in politics and concentrated more on social
reforms like inter-caste marriage, widow remarriage, female education, removal of purdah and so
forth. He denounced intemperance, polygamy, caste distinctions and other social evils. He was
greatly responsible for the passing of the Native Marriage Act in 1872, fixing the minimum age
for the bridegroom and the bride at 18 and 14 years respectively. Keshab played an active part in
raising the marriageable age for girls. Hence the passing of the Act was a personal triumph to him.
But contrary to his own public position he married his daughter off at a very young age to the
Maharaja of Cooch Behar. Also the marriage was performed as per the orthodox Hindu custom.
This was resented by the younger men of his Samaj. The Brahmo Samaj was split for a second
time. The longings for social reforms led to splits in the Samaj in quick succession. “These splits
within its own rank and the consequent secession from the Hindu society made the Samaj a less
effective instrument of reforms among the Hindus.”
Arya Samaj:
The Arya Samaj, like the Prarthana Samaj, was inspired by the Brahmo Samaj movement. The
founder of the Samaj was Swami Dayananda Saraswati styled as “Reforming Luther of Hinduism”.
The Arya Samaj movement “was revivalist in form though not in content,” and it “sought to revive
the ancient religion of the Aryans”.
Dayananda was born in 1824 in an orthodox Brahmana family in Gujarat. At the age of 14, he
went to a Shiva temple with his father to worship and keep vigil on a Shivaratri day. While he was
keeping vigil, he found a mouse eating the offerings made to Shiva. He now thought that if the
deity could not protect himself, he could not be Shiva. He therefore broke the fast and the vigil.
Traditional religion did not appeal to him. He left his house and embraced the life of an ascetic.
He wandered as an ascetic for fifteen years (1845–1860), studied under Swami Birajananda and
after the completion of studies, he entered upon his career as a preacher. He founded the Arya
Samaj at Bombay in 1875 and at Lahore in 1877.
Dayananda began his movement with the cry “Back to the vedas”. The vedaswere considered as
the real source of inspiration for national regeneration. He wrote commentaries on the vedas,
engaged in controversies, and condemned the rigidity of the caste system. In his polemic
work, Satyartha Prakash, he has severely criticised Islam and Christianity. He was a great
exponent of the method of bringing out reforms in society on the basis of the Hindu sacred works.
He led a ceaseless crusade against the caste system, and stood for the revival of the ancient vedic
society based on the four-fold division of the society. He refused to accept caste based on birth.
He severely criticised the numerous sub-divisions of the Hindu society. According to the Arya
Samaj “men, animals and birds are the three jatis”, and caste “should be determined according to
the qualifications”, of males and females. Dayananda stood for the prohibition of child marriage
and polygamy. He was in favour of girls marrying at the age of 16 and boys at the age of 25. He
raised his voice against the practice of untouchability. He pleaded for the eradication of this
practice. In fact, “the Arya Samaj has invested lakhs of untouchables with the sacred thread and
thus made them honourable members of the Hindu society”. Arya Samaj also reclaimed a Hindu
lost to Islam or Christianity by a purificatory ceremony called Shuddhi. The Shuddhi movement
“was looked upon by the Arya Samaj as a potent instrument for effecting that religious, social and
political unity of India which came to be cherished as its great ideal by the Arya Samaj”.13 Among
other social services rendered by the Arya Samaj, mention may be made of famine relief and the
spread of English education. A chain of Dayananda Anglo-Vedic colleges and schools, both for
boys and girls, that came to be established all over the country after the death of Dayananda “made
education available to the poorest sections of the Hindu society and imparted education in religious
and patriotic settings”. It should not surprise us therefore if these educational institutions were
suspected by the British government “as centers of sedition and breeding grounds for patriots and
revolutionaries”.
Dayananda refused to accept as authorities the later Hindu scriptures like the Puranas and
described them “as the work of lesser men and responsible for the evil practices of idol worship
and other superstitious beliefs in Hindu religion”. He condemned idol worship and believed in one
God. Dayananda cleared “a straight path that was meant to lead the Hindus to a simple and rational
life of devotion to God and service of Man.” The Arya Samaj became very influential in Punjab.

Ramakrishna Mission
A more significant movement was led by Ramakrishna Paramahansa and his disciple, Swami
Vivekananda. Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya, who later came to be known as Ramakrishna
Paramahansa, was born in 1836 at Kamarpukur, a small village in West Bengal, in a humble
Brahmana family. He had his elementary education at a village school; but he evinced no interest
in studies and spent most of his time in the company of ascetics who happened to pass through his
village. He lost his father at the age of seven and thereafter he grew intensely religious. He used
to fall into trances even at the age of six. He moved to Calcutta at the age of seventeen and became
the priest of the Kali temple at Dakshineswar in 1856. He yearned to talk to and share his joys and
sorrows with the Goddess. He lost himself whenever he was in deep prayer and some people took
him for a mad man. He was relieved of his duties as a priest. He returned to his village at the age
of 24, and married Sharada Devi, a girl of five years. Soon he returned to Dakshineswar and
continued his ascetic exercises. He practised Islam and Christianity. Sharada Devi came to
Dakshineswar and lived there practising the love of God. He went on a pilgrimage and visited
places like Varanasi, Prayag, Brindavan and other holy places. Now his name and fame spread in
all directions and he gave regular religious discourses in a simple language through parables. He
preached that God is one and he can be realised by anyone irrespective of caste, creed or colour.
In doing so he established the equality of man with man. He laid more emphasis on leading a pure
life and dedication of one’s life to the service of the people. Sri Ramakrishna proclaimed the unity
of the godhead and declared that “God is one, but his aspects are different … so one God is
described and called in various ways according to the particular aspect in which He appears to His
particular worshipper. In a potter’s shop there are vessels of different shapes and forms — pots,
jars dishes, plates, etc. — but all are made of one clay. So God is one, but is worshipped in different
ages and countries under different names and aspects”. Clearly the saint was proclaiming the
harmony of all religions and it was an honest attempt to purge the evils of religious discord that
prevailed in Indian society.
Sri Ramakrishna died in 1886 at Cossipore. Before his death he had entrusted the responsibility of
tending his disciples to his illustrious pupil, Swami Vivekananda.

Swami Vivekananda:
Swami Vivekananda was “the apostle of the superiority and self-sufficiency of Hindu culture”, of
whom it has been said, “the call to reform, restore and revive India, to help India in every way
possible for human efforts, was essentially Vivekananda’s call, and of all the makers of modern
India, his was the most classless and purely patriotic voice”. Born into a Kayastha family at
Calcutta in 1863, he had his English education and took his degree from Calcutta University. He
was unconventional in his manners, but becoming interested in spiritual problems, he turned to Sri
Ramakrishna in 1886 and became his trusted disciple. The guru “transmitted all his spiritual
powers to Vivekananda”. After the death of Sri Ramakrishna, he set up a monastery at Baranagar
near Cossipore. People began to flock to the monastery. In 1887 the formal inauguration of the
Ramakrishna Order took place; Narendra assumed the new name of Vivekananda and was “tacitly
acknowledged to be the head of the small band of monks”.
Vivekananda carried out various pilgrimages over North, West and South India and was struck
with the prevalent poverty in India. “And as a common feature of India as a whole, he found
poverty, squalor, loss of mental vigour and no hope for the future, disintegration of age-old
institutions, conservatism trying to hold its own under the guise of spirituality and pseudo-reforms,
lack of organised effort, and the waves of Western science and culture as well as Christianity
beating furiously against her shores; in short, he found the glorious India of yore fallen and
prostrate, the only hope being that she still held on to the one source of her life — her religion.”16 He
thought of receiving help from the West in exchange for Indian spirituality.
Vivekananda was a great karmayogi and Vedantist and he longed to spread the message of his
Master all over the world. An occasion presented itself when a Parliament of Religions was held
at Chicago in 1893. “How this penniless, lonely monk succeeded in reaching the shores of the
strange land and without being a delegate of any recognised body secured admission into the World
Congregation of 1893 as a representative of Hinduism, reads more like a romance than historical
fact”. He won the love and respect of the Americans when in his opening address he greeted the
audience as “sisters and brothers of America”. He addressed the assemblage five times and the
most important was his Paper on Hinduism. He made a few remarks before presenting the paper
which was made much of by the American Press. His remarks, as reported in the Chicago Daily
Tribune (20 October 1893), run thus, “We who come from the East have sat here on the platform
day after day and have been told in a patronising way that we ought to accept Christianity because
Christian nations are most prosperous. We look about us and we see England, the most prosperous
Christian nation in the world, with her foot on the neck of 250,000,000 Asiatics. We look back
into history and see that the prosperity of Christian Europe began with Spain. Spain’s prosperity
began with the invasion of Mexico. Christianity wins its prosperity by cutting the throats of its
fellow men. At such a price the Hindu will not have prosperity. I have sat here today and I have
heard the height of intolerance. I have heard the creeds of the Moslems applauded, when today the
Moslem sword is carrying destruction into India. Blood and sword are not for the Hindu, whose
religion is based on the laws of love.”
In his paper on Hinduism, Vivekananda declared that he was speaking for “the Mother of
Religions, a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance”. Without
exhibiting any narrow denominationalism, however, he went on to proclaim the basic oneness and
universality of all religions, using as his text these lines from an ancient vedic hymn: “As the
different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O
Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear,
crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”
He not only became a world figure but also “raised the prestige of India and Hinduism very high”.
He visited London and Paris. He returned to India in 1897.
His success in the world conference brought him spontaneous veneration and respect from his
countrymen to whom he gave this message: “Once more the world must be conquered by India.
This is the great ideal before us. Let them come and flood the land with their armies, never mind.
Up, India and conquer the world with your spirituality: Spirituality must conquer the West. Where
are the men ready to go out to every country in the world with the messages of the great sages of
India? There is no other alternative, we must do it or die. The only condition of national life, once
more vigorous national life, is the conquest of the world by Indian thought.”
Again he visited America in 1899. During this visit he organised the Vedanta Society of New York
on a permanent basis. He was invited to participate in the Congress of the History of Religions at
Paris where he defended Hinduism. After his European tour he returned to India in 1900. The
second European tour was a strenuous one and his health broke down. He went to Varanasi for a
change where he founded the Ramakrishna Mission Home service. He passed away in 1902
leaving countless Indians as orphans.
Vivekananda was also a great social reformer. He added a section for social service to the
monastery he established and this did yeoman service in the famine-relief work in Murshidabad
and other places as also for the plague relief at Calcutta. He denounced the existing caste system
and advocated the founding of caste based on the “Quality of head and heart and not on mere
accidental birth”. He was equally sore about the low status accorded to women in society. He
opined: “That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great nor
will ever be in future. The principal reason why your race is so degraded is that you have no respect
for these living images of Shakti. If you do not raise the women, who are the living embodiment
of the Divine Mother, do not think that you have any other way to rise.” He was struck with the
poverty of the masses and the oppression by the rich. He said: “I consider that the great national
sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes for the downfall. They pay for our
education, they build our temples, but in return they get kicks. They are practically our slaves. If
we want to regenerate India, we must work for them”. And again, “so long as the millions live in
hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays
not the least heed to them”. Thus, Swami made the privileged classes to realise the duty they owe
to the masses. In all these social reforms the Swami advocated caution and introduction of changes
in slow degrees, lest it might yield place to revolution.
Thus, Vivekananda, hailed by the West as the “Cyclonic Monk of India”, and by his own
countrymen as the “Patriot Saint of India”, “the Lion of Vedanta”, has left a deep impression on
the social history of modern India. The Mission he founded in the name of his Guru, Sri
Ramakrishna Mission, has been doing tremendous work in uplifting the weaker sections of the
society.

Theosophical Society:
The Theosophical movement had been founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky, a Russian, and
Colonel H.S. Olcott, an American. Originally it was coined from two Greek words Theos — God;
and Sophia — wisdom. Theosophy means Brahmavidya in Sanskrit. The society had three main
objects, namely:
(a) To form a universal brotherhood of man.
(b) To promote the study of ancient religions, philosophies and sciences.
(c) To investigate the laws of nature and develop the divine powers latent in man.
The Brahmanical and Buddhist literature supplied the terminology of the doctrines which were
greatly influenced by occultist, Indian, and modern spiritualistic ideas and formulas.
The Theosophy movement aimed at a synthesis of all religions. The movement in India gained
momentum with the arrival of Mrs Annie Besant. She had already established her reputation in
Britain. She had been a fighter for Irish freedom and women’s right in England. On arrival in India,
she chose Varanasi and Adyar, a suburb of Madras, as the centres of the movement, and guided
the Theosophical Society for nearly half a century. Through her remarkable and dynamic
personality and genius for organisation she roused Indians to the greatness of their heritage and
was successful in removing the “inferiority complex” from the minds of the educated Indians. She
adopted India as her motherland and worked for the moral and social regeneration of India. She
wrote thus in her autobiography: “The Indian work is, first of all, the revival, strengthening, and
uplifting of the ancient religions. This act brought with it a new self-respect, a pride in the past, a
belief in the future, and, as an inevitable result, a great wave of patriotic life, the beginning of the
rebuilding of a nation.”
Though she concentrated more on politics, she did not neglect social reform. She advocated reform
in education and fine arts. The most significant achievement of the Theosophical movement lies
“in the moral reclamation of many of these educated Hindus who readily accepted the somewhat
rigid disciplines of the new cult that demanded of its votaries complete abstinence from
intoxicating drinks and absolute social purity for the attainment of that high level of psychic and
spiritual power which it promised”

The attitude of the East India Company administration towards prevalent practices:
It is truism to say that when in 1818, the sun of glory of the Marathas set at Poona in the west, the
glimmering rays of the dawn of renaissance became visible in Calcutta in the east. The East India
Company which entered India to compete with the Portuguese in the flourishing eastern trade had
no inkling that it would one day be held responsible for the material and moral progress of India.
It is no doubt a fact that in the early days of the Company the men of the Company like Thomas
Roe evinced keen interest in Indian life. But it was only after the Company secured from the
Mughal Emperor the diwani or the right of collecting revenue in Bengal in 1765 and became in
effect a sovereign power on the main land of India that the administration of the Company began
to view sympathetically the agitations that were going on for purging the society and the political
agents tried their utmost to put down this crime in native states. Strachey got a bill passed against
this inhuman practice at the session of the Supreme Council in 1870. The Act “enabled the
authorities to enforce “compulsory” registration of births, and regular verification of the existence
of female children for some years after birth, within the areas where infanticide once prevailed”.
It is doubtful whether this practice was stopped altogether. K.K. Dutta has recorded that an enquiry
into 62 out of 308 villages in Varanasi District revealed that there was not a single girl below six
years of age. This is further reinforced by the census report of 1911 which informs us that in a
certain village no marriage of a daughter had taken place for more than 200 years. The Social
Reform Conference does not appear to have said a word on the practice. Since the crime was
practised in utmost privacy it was very difficult to detect it. Due to the exertions of the British
government and the native rulers the crime began to decline steadily in the second half of the 19th
century.
Akin to this was another inhuman practice, prevalent in Bengal, of throwing little children (both
male and female) in the confluence of the sacred river Ganga with the hope that the children born
subsequently would enjoy longevity. The first to raise voice against the custom and plead for social
legislation was William Carey, the illustrious missionary of Serampore. This barbarous practice
was prohibited in British India by Lord Wellesley with the passing of Regulation VI of
August 1802.

Sati
Another practice at which human nature shudders and which needed to be abolished was sati.
Since 1772 Christian missionaries had been repeatedly submitting petitions to the government for
abolishing sati without any tangible effect. In 1789 the English district officers sought the
permission of the Supreme Government to prevent the practice of sati. Lt. Henry Pottinger,
Collector of Ahmadnagar requested Elphinstone in 1818 to permit him to dissuade widows from
becoming satis. He was permitted and pension was granted to the widows. This, as well as the
Regulations made by Lord Hastings in 1813, 1815 and 1817 failed to check the practice of sati.
The government wanted to go slow in the matter as it feared that the legislation for its abolition
might create more disaffection. This becomes clear from a letter which Lord Amherst wrote to the
Court of Directors in 1824: “Nothing but the apprehension of evils infinitely greater than those
arising from the existence of the practice should induce us to tolerate it for a day”. Even
Rammohun Roy, an outspoken critic of the practice, and H.H. Wilson did not favour any
legislation to prohibit the practice of sati. The Raja desired that “the practice might be suppressed
quietly and unobservedly by increasing the difficulties and by indirect agency of the police,” and
not stopping it altogether immediately.
When Lord William Bentinck landed in India as Governor-General, he had with him a brief from
the Court of Directors “to consider definite measures for the immediate or gradual abolition
of sati”. He was “a reformer by temperament,” and by a thorough study of the situation and from
enquiries he was satisfied that the abolition of sati would not cause civil commotions or general
dissatisfaction. He now brought to the notice of the Council “the expediency and safety of the
abolition”. The Council approved the proposal and unanimously recorded: “We are decidedly in
favour of an open, avowed and general prohibition, resting altogether upon the goodness of the act
and our power to enforce it.”
Regulation No. XVII of 4 December 1829, declared the practice of sati or of burning or burying
alive of widows to be illegal and punishable by the criminal courts as culpable homicide. The
Preamble of the Regulation states: “The practice of sati is revolting to human nature; it is nowhere
enjoined by the religion of the Hindus as an imperative duty; on the contrary, a life of purity and
retirement on the part of widows more specially and preferably inculcated; actuated by these
considerations, the Governor General-in-Council, without intending to depart from one of the first
and most important principles of the British Government in India, that all classes of the people be
secured in the observance of their religious usages, as long as that system can be adhered to without
violation of the paramount dictates of justice and humanity, has deemed it right to establish the
following rules.”
The preamble suggests that the government had long been moving in the direction of abolishing
this social evil which was repugnant to Hindu Shastric injunctions. The government was however
cautious and only after eliciting the opinion of the judges of Nizamat Adalat and finding that it
was rarely practised in many areas, came up with this humane and well-meaning Regulation. In
the first place, the Regulation of 1829 was made applicable to the Bengal Presidency alone. It was
extended to Madras in February 1830 and to Bombay in April 1830 by repealing the clause which
declared “assistance at the rites of self-immolation” not to be murder. Baroda, Indore and Satara
abolished sati between the years 1839 and 1841 and Rajputana in 1846.
The Orthodox party made appeals against the Regulation of 1829 to the Privy Council. This was
followed by a counter-petition by Rammohun Roy. The Privy Council rejected the appeal against
sati on 11 July 1832. No public disorders followed the enactment and all the threats of grave
consequences proved hollow and groundless. On the other hand Lord William Bentinck was
thanked for what he had done.

Remarriage of Widows
The abolition of sati gave a fillip to the movement that was going on from pre-British days for the
introduction of remarriage of Hindu widows. The Brahmo Samaj stood for the remarriage of
widows and introduced it in their societies. In 1840, Dalloba Pandurang established a society called
Paramhans Mandal with the object of:
(a) abolishing caste system;
(b) introducing widow-remarriage; and
(c) renunciation of idol worship.
It is very difficult to say whether the Mandal produced any direct effect on the society. In Bengal,
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a renowned Sanskrit Scholar and Principal of the Calcutta Sanskrit
College, sent petitions to the Government of India urging to pass legislation enabling widows to
remarry. As in the case of sati, the orthodox party opposed the enactment of any law in this regard.
But Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar got the necessary law passed on 26 July 1856. The Hindu
Widow’s Remarriage Act (Act 15 of 1856) legalised “the marriages of widows notwithstanding
any custom or interpretation of the Hindu Law to the contrary, and declared that the children of
such marriages are legitimate”.
In spite of all these there was no substantial progress in the social reform as far as widow
remarriage is concerned. Leading personalities in the country made organised efforts to ameliorate
the conditions of the Hindu widows. In 1866, a Widow Remarriage Association started functioning
in Bombay. In 1896, D.K. Karve established the Widow’s Home in Pune. This example was
followed by Veeresalingam Pantulu and he founded a similar Home in Madras in 1898. Yet the
number of widows remarried remained insignificant. From 1856 to the end of the century, Bengal
reported only 117 cases of widow remarriage while the Bombay Presidency, a little more than 100.
While presiding over the First Bombay Provincial Social Conference held at Satara in May 1900,
Ranade reported: “In the nineteenth century the Punjab and the North-Western Frontier Province
show a total of more than 30, and Madras presents nearby the same figure. The total marriages
would, therefore, be about 300 throughout India in the several provinces in the higher castes.” It
follows from this, the higher castes did not react kindly to this measure. Pandita Ramabai was of
view that “widow marriage among the high-caste people will not, for a long time, become an
approved custom”. Though the widow marriages were not taking place on an expected scale, the
measure had created an awareness among a large section of the Hindus. Sir William Lee-Warner
has pointed out: “It must be admitted that even the most ignorant and apathetic Hindu was brought
into more conscious touch with the spirit of the West during the eight years preceding 1857 than
at any other period in the history of India.”

Caste Disabilities
The attempts of the Christian missionaries to make converts gave rise to social problems. It related
particularly to the inheritance of property and the government had to introduce legislation to
protect their interests. The first in the series was the Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850. This
was contained in a single section, which runs thus, “So much of any law or usage now in force
within the territories subject to the government of the East India Company, as inflicts upon any
person forfeiture of rights or property, or may be held in any way to impair or affect any right of
inheritance, by reason of his or her renouncing, or having been excluded from, the communion of
any religion, or being deprived of caste, shall cease to be enforced as law in the courts of the East
India Company, and in the courts established by Royal Charter in the said territories.”
The Act protected the converts from Hinduism to Christianity. The Converts’ Remarriage Bill of
4 November 1864, enabled the converts to Christianity to obtain divorce from the spouse and
marry again. The Act did not make any provision for the maintenance of the Hindu wife. This
serious lacuna was partially removed by the Native Converts’ Marriage Dissolution Act, 1886.
The Act vested power in the court to direct the husband to give maintenance to his wife during the
rest of her life or so long as she did not remarry.

Slavery:
Slavery was an ancient institution and a lot of abuses had crept into this institution in the modern
period. Slaves in North India were mostly domestic servants while in South India they were
agricultural labourers. There was no demand from the public for the abolition of slavery. The
government itself took initiative and passed India Act 5 of 1843 which permitted slaves to claim
their freedom. But the Act did not make immediate emancipation compulsory nor it made any
provision for payment of compensation to the owners. The Indian Penal Code enacted in 1860
prohibited all trade in or keeping of slaves. “This is an eloquent testimony to the moral sense
evoked by legislation in India.”

Polygamy:
The practice of polygamy and the resultant evils that followed did not escape the attention of the
social reformers. Just two years before the Mutiny, a memorial setting forth the serious abuses this
practice led to, was presented to the Legislative Council by the Maharaja of Burdwan.
Simultaneously, the Bandhu Varga Samavaya Sabha also sent a “numerously signed petition”.
Before the outbreak of the Mutiny, Ram Prasad Roy, son of Rammohun Roy, submitted a petition
in 1857 appealing to the good sense of the government for abolishing polygamy. Being satisfied
with the merits of the memorials and petitions Sir J.P. Grant promised to introduce a Bill. But the
outbreak of the Mutiny came in the way of initiating all further action.
After the dust of the Mutinyhad settled down, agitations for passing of legislation against the
practice of polygamy began in right earnest. The Maharaja of Varanasi, Raja Deo Narain Singh
Bahadur, made a sincere attempt to introduce a Bill in the reformed Supreme Council in 1862. But
his attempts bore no fruits as he failed to secure the necessary permission before he completed two
years’ term in office. This shows that after the Mutiny, the British government was reluctant to
interfere with socio-religious customs and usages of the country. The attitude of the government
did not dampen the spirit of the agitators for reform; for, in 1863 the Government of Bengal was
flooded with petitions. Now the cause was championed by the Indian newspapers who came out
with trenchant censure of the evil custom. The Government of Bengal could no more remain
insensitive to the well-meaning agitation and on 5 April 1866, it sought the permission of the
Governor General “for introducing into the Bengal Council a Bill for the prevention of polygamy
among the Hindus in Bengal”. The latter desired the Governor of Bengal to act only after
consulting the Hindus. The Hindus were strongly divided and the government left the issue at that.
It is indeed heartening to note that polygamy practically ceased “before the enactment of legislation
against the taking of the plurality of wives in the Indian Republic”.
It is seen from the above account that what the social reform movements accomplished during the
19th century “by legislation as well as silent process of evolution” can by no stretch of imagination
be regarded as “inadequate or unsatisfactory”. It certainly woke up the traditional society from
deep slumber so as to seize the spirit of the times. Even the Indian States did not remain untouched
by the spirit. The Princely State of Mysore passed a law “to put down marriages of girls under 12
and prevent unequal marriages between men over 45 and girls below 14”.24 The State of Baroda
passed an Act fixing the minimum age of marriage at 12 for girls and 16 for boys.25 Associations
came to be established all over the country for the promotion of social reform. The reformers made
a conscious effort for reform by following the method of tradition, i.e. of basic reform on the
reinterpretation of the sacred texts of the Hindus and by appealing to the conscience of the people.

Social Content and policy of the Indian National Congress:

The rise of Indian nationalism in the last quarter of the 19th century accelerated social changes in
all important spheres. Nationalism knows no caste, creed, colour or sex. The wave of nationalism
that swept over the country welded India into one unit. It brought about unity among the people
speaking different languages and people forgot their status in society and joined together for a
common purpose. The purpose was to drive out the British and free the motherland from the yoke
of servitude. The common platform provided by the Indian National Congress brought the different
sections of the community closer to one another. All these went a long way in diminishing class
consciousness, a predominant feature of the Indian society, which discriminated man against man.
After the formation of the Indian National Congress, a section of its members desired to transform
it as a forum for discussing not only political but also social problems. This section included M.G.
Ranade who believed that political advancement was not possible without social progress. But the
Congress decided to restrict its sphere of work to politics only since a section of the Congress
subscribed to the view that political reforms must precede social reforms. This prompted Ranade
to found a separate organisation, the Indian National Social Conference in 1887 to elevate the
social reform movement to a national plane. It had limited objectives and achieved limited success.
To put the records straight, it must be admitted that the Indian National Congress was not averse
to social reforms. It’s declared goal was the establishment of a democratic state. The conception
of a democratic state presupposes social equality as well. The avowed object of the Indians was to
fight against imperialism to secure freedom for the country. People belonging to different castes,
creeds and sex joined together to achieve this sacred object. As a result, common national
consciousness came to prevail over caste obligations and prejudices, thereby, weakening caste
consciousness. Later, as will be shown, the Indian National Congress and its leading light,
Gandhiji, along with the Indian National Social Conference fought for uprooting social evils.
It is truism to say that social changes during the 20th century centred around women and the
depressed classes. This was “partly because of the dynamic leadership of Gandhiji and partly due
to the political overtones of the problem of depressed classes”. India justly realised that “the
woman’s cause is man’s; they rise or sink together, dwarfed or godlike, bonded or free”. Above
all, there developed a new trend in the social reform movement, in that the movement “lost its
exclusive male and upper caste orientation; women themselves crusaded for an equal status in
society and organised the first All India Women’s Conference in 1926 while the lower castes,
founded the All India Depressed Classes Association and All India Depressed Classes Federation”.
The progress of the struggle for independence gave equal opportunities to both men and women.
The Indian National Congress made room for women to play their part. Leaders like Sarojini Naidu
cast their lot with men in the freedom struggle. Much of the concentration was fixed on the
education of women. The Indian National Congress gave great stimulus to women’s education by
according recognition to the position of women in all respects. Extension of female education was
forcefully advocated by the Indian National Social Conference. It adopted the following resolution
in its Session held at Calcutta in 1896: “That in the opinion of the Conference the permanent
progress of our society is not possible without a further spread of female education and that the
best way is:
(a) to proceed on national lines by employing in female schools, female teachers of good
character and descended from respectable Hindu families;
(b) to establish training schools to secure a sufficient number of qualified female teachers;
(c) to open home classes for grown-up ladies who cannot attend regular schools, with extra
female teachers to visit and help, at regular intervals, such ladies as read at their homes;
(d) to employ a Pandita versed in Sanskrit to read passages from the Puranas, and impart
religious and moral instruction to ladies;
(e) to take steps to publish textbooks suited to the requirements of female schools; and
(f) to impart instruction in needlework, hygiene, culinary art, domestic economy, and training
of children in secondary schools.”
Institutions and organisations like the Servants of India Society, Ramakrishna Mission and
Visvabharati have done much for the spread of education and culture among women.

Purdah:
The most potent factor that helped women to tear off the veil of seclusion has been the force of
Indian nationalism which had as its programme the inner purification of Indian social life. Gandhiji
denounced the purdah and said: “The sight of the screen made me sad. It pained and humiliated
me deeply … . Let us not live with one limb completely or partially paralysed … . Let us tear down
the purdah with one mighty effort”.28 He began his attack on this practice during his Champaran
Mission (Bihar) in 1917. He said: “It is not my desire that our women should adopt the Western
mode of living; but we must realise what harm this pernicious system does to their health and in
how many ways they are deprived of the privilege of helping their husbands”. In Darbhanga, he
dwelt on the same theme and said: “Chastity is not a hothouse growth. It cannot be superimposed.
It cannot be protected by the surrounding wall of purdah. It must grow from within and to be worth
anything, it must be capable of withdrawing every unsought temptation … . By seeking today to
interfere with the free growth of the womanhood of India, we are interfering with the free and
independent spirited women. What we are doing to our women … recoils upon our heads with a
force thousand times multiplied. It partly accounts for our own weakness, indecision, narrowness
and helplessness. Let us tear down the purdah with one mighty effort.”
The call which Gandhiji gave, did not go in vain. The anti-purdah campaign began in Bihar with
the blessings of Gandhiji. Gandhiji deputed Radhabahen and Durga Devi. One significant outcome
of the movement was the establishment of an Ashram, called the Magan Ashram, at Majhoulia in
the Darbhanga district to work for the abolition of purdah. The All India Women’s Conference
took the lead in this matter. At the conference held in 1927, Her Highness the Maharani of Jaipur
observed: “If women are to take their part in the raising of the tone of social life, if they are to
understand the duties and responsibilities for which their sons must be trained, the purdah must
go”. Gandhiji appealed to women to come out of the purdah and participate in the nationalist
struggle by picketing and spinning. In the Civil Disobedience Movement launched by Gandhiji in
1930 women participated and courted arrests in large numbers to evoke a comment from a foreign
observer that if the Civil Disobedience Movement accomplished nothing else but the emancipation
of women in India, it would have fully justified itself. Due to the spread of education and liberal
ideas and influence of other forces, the purdah has almost disappeared.

Caste and Formation of inter-caste marriages:

Gandhiji denounced caste system and other social evils. In respect of caste there was a subtle
change in the position he held in the twenties as compared to his views in the thirties. It was
believed by one and all that caste system hindered all social progress. But Gandhiji
favoured varanasramadharma and opposed inter-dining and inter-caste marriages. In Young
India of 6 October 1921, he wrote: “Hinduism does most emphatically discourage inter-dining and
inter-marriage between divisions. Prohibition against inter-marriage and inter-dining is essential
for the rapid evolution of the soul”. He considered “the four divisions alone to be fundamental,
natural and essential”. In his view “innumerable sub-castes are sometimes a convenience, often a
hindrance. The sooner there is fusion, the better”. Some eleven years later he reversed this position.
He said: “Restrictions on inter-caste dining and inter-caste marriage is no part of Hindu religion.
It crept into Hinduism when perhaps it was in its decline, and was then probably meant to be a
temporary protection against the disintegration of Hindu society. Today these two  prohibitions are
weakening Hindu society”. In Hindustan Standardon 5 January 1946, he declared, “I therefore tell
boys and girls who want to marry that they cannot be married at Sewagram Ashram unless one of
the parties is a Harijan”. Gandhiji did not approve of the artificial caste barriers. He even refused
to attend a marriage unless it was an inter-caste marriage.31 He “advised guardians, who were hard-
pressed by economic wants, to solve the problem of their daughters’ marriage by extending the
field of choice”.
Gandhiji was equally forceful in his attack on child marriage. He strongly favoured raising the age
of consent not merely to 14, but even to 16. He favoured enlisting support of the public to the age
of consent.

Removal of Untouchability:
Another sphere in which nationalism effected social change was the removal of untouchability. Of
the total Hindu population merely one fifth were regarded as untouchables and they practically
remained outside the pale of Hindu society. Some well-meaning caste Hindus sympathised with
the lot of the untouchables and the leaders of the 19th century social reform movements led a
crusade against this social evil. But all these failed to root out this heinous practice. The Indian
National Congress, though did not approve of this practice, did not list the problem high on its
agenda during the first thirty-two years of its existence. The Congress began to take cognizance of
this serious problem only when the Muslim League began agitation for a separate electorate. The
Muslim leaders rightly questioned the numerical strength of the Hindus which had kept a large
section of people outside its society. When the Muslim League succeeded in obtaining separate
electorates and taunted the Hindus that the untouchables were as much a part of the Hindu
community and hence deserved representation in their own rights, the political ambition of the
suppressed classes was touched and they realised their bargaining potential in the fast changing
political scene. All these made the national leaders to focus their attention on this important
problem, which had both political and social overtones. Since then, it became an important
programme of the Indian National movement. In its thirty-second session held at Calcutta
(December, 1917) the Indian National Congress considered the gravity of the problem and passed
the following Resolution: “This Congress urges upon the people of India, the necessity, justice and
righteousness of removing all disabilities imposed by custom upon the depressed classes”. The
Resolution passed at the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress (1920) emphatically
asserted that “the removal of untouchability was necessary for the attainment of freedom”.
The upliftment of the untouchables was dear to the heart of Gandhiji. After he returned from South
Africa, in 1915, he toured South India and felt miserable when he saw the plight of the
untouchables. At Mayavaram he made a sensational speech in the course of which he said, “In so
far as I have been able to study Hinduism outside India, I have felt that it is no part of Hinduism
to have in its fold a mass of people whom I would call untouchables”. He founded a Satyagraha
Ashram at Kochrab near Ahmedabad and admitted Thakkar Bapa and his family belonging to the
depressed classes into the Ashram.
From then onwards Gandhiji made the amelioration of the condition of the untouchables a mission
of his life. In his Presidential speech at the Suppressed Classes Conference held at Ahmedabad
(April, 1921) he said: “I regard untouchability as the greatest blot on Hinduism … . Untouchability
must be extinct in this very year. Two of the strongest desires that keep me in flesh and bone are
the emancipation of the untouchables and the protection of the cow. When these two desires are
fulfilled, there is Swaraj, and therein lies my moksha.” Presiding over the Belgaum session of the
Indian National Congress (1924) he observed: “Untouchability is another hindrance to Swaraj. Its
removal is just as essential for Swaraj as the attainment of Hindu-Muslim unity.” For Gandhiji the
untouchability was a “deeply religious and moral issue”. In 1927, he appealed to the caste Hindus
in the following soul-stirring words: “Untouchability poisons Hinduism and this poison must be
destroyed, if Hinduism is to survive.”
The Working Committee of the Indian National Congress which met at Delhi (1929) appointed an
Anti-Untouchability sub-Committee for the amelioration of the disabilities of the depressed
classes. The Committee had the following programme of work:
(i) getting temples, schools and wells, freely open to untouchables; and
(ii) instructing them in sanitary living. A favourable atmosphere was created by effectively
carrying on anti-untouchability propaganda.
On 16 August 1932, was announced the Macdonald Award reserving seats for Harijans and
Gandhiji undertook the “Epic Fast” in Yerawada prison against the Award. He said that fast “is
aimed at a statutory separate electorate, in any shape or form, for depressed classes. Immediately
that threat is removed once and for all, my fast will end”. With this fast he intended to sting Hindu
conscience into righteous action. He regarded, “The Hindu-Harijan division as politically
disastrous and religiously suicidal.” Gandhi could not countenance the widening of the Hindu-
Harijan gulf. Gandhiji broke his fast with the conclusion of the Poona Pact which recommended
joint electorates for the Scheduled Castes along with caste Hindus. As Louis Fischer remarks: “The
conservative traditionalist and the radical iconoclast merged in Gandhi into a tantalising
unpredictable mixture. The Mahatma’s successful assault on untouchability produced the most
revolutionary change in Hinduism millennial existence.”
To Gandhiji the whole problem was “a deeply religious and moral issue”. He organised on
October, 1932, Harijan Sevak Sangh with B.R. Ambedkar on the Committee. Untouchability Week
was observed from 27 September to 2 October, 1932. The Sangh did some useful work; but
Ambedkar was unhappy with “these half-hearted moves and blamed the Harijan Sevak Sangh as
a wing of the Congress with the real aim of ensuring the untouchables and to make them camp-
followers of the Hindus and the Congress”. He resigned from the Committee and the All-India
Depressed Classes Association, and the All-India Depressed Classes Federation founded in 1926
began to fight actively for special political rights. Ambedkar criticised Gandhiji in his well-known
book What Congress and Gandhi Have Done To The Untouchables and in 1945 advised
untouchables to embrace Buddhism.
The Republican Constitution of India has abolished untouchability and according to Article 17:
“Untouchability is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any
disability arising out of untouchability shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law.”
Thus, nationalism accelerated social change. With the progress of the political struggle, the
enthusiasm for social reform waned considerably with the result that it was deliberately dissociated
from the political movement.

Role of women:
The progress of the struggle for independence, as has been noted already, provided equal
opportunity to women. The Indian National Congress provided a common platform for men and
women to play their role. This exposure enabled them to develop their own individualities and
crusade for their upliftment. The social reform movement lost its exclusive male basis and
orientation and women themselves founded an exclusively female association: the “All India
Women’s Conference,” in 1926. This became the forerunner of the women’s associations that
came to be established subsequently in different parts of the country. They crusaded for an equal
status in the society, extension of female education, abolition of purdah, child marriage and such
other social abuses that prevailed in the society.
Extension of female education
Reference has been made to the excellent work done by the Arya Samaj for female education by
starting institutions like the Mahakanya Vidyalaya. This work was continued by other
organisations and a number of secondary and primary schools sprang up in different parts of the
country. Organisations like the Sevasadan, Bharat Stri Mandal (1910) and Women’s Indian
Association (1917) did commendable work in the spread of education among women by
establishing Night Schools, Adult Classes, Home Classes, and Domestic Art Classes. These efforts
were crowned by the starting of a Women’s University by D.K. Karve in 1916. Within fifteen
years some twenty-four institutions, mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra, had been affiliated to this
University. These included Arts Colleges, Training Colleges, High Schools, and Middle Schools.
More than 2500 girls were studying in High Schools and Middle Schools.
The All India Women’s Conference which met at Pune in 1927 took note of the quantitative
advance in female education and urged the government to make primary education compulsory
for the girls. It further urged the government to provide suitable physical training and medical
inspection for the girls. “With State and society becoming more conscious of their duties in relation
to female education, equal facilities are provided for the education of women as a result of which
women in large numbers are participating in varied cultural activities aiming at the harmonious
development of our national life.”

Purdah and child marriage

Leading women of India raised a strong voice against purdah and child marriage. In the All India
Women’s Conference held in 1927, the Maharani of Jaipur condemned the purdah practice and
advised women to give up the practice. Ramananda Misra and his wife as also Radhabahen,
Durgadevi and others did much for the disappearance of purdah to a large extent.
During the 19th century, social reform movements carried on a vigorous agitation against child
marriage. In 1891 the famous Age of Consent Act was passed, which raised the age of
consummation from 10 to 12 in the teeth of opposition from the conservative section of the people.
The Act failed to prevent child marriages. The Census Report of 1911 records that in the whole of
India there were “2 million wives under 10, and 9 million under 15 years of age”. This meant that
“something like half the girls of India were married before the completion of their 15th year”.
A determined effort was made to counter this serious problem by the promotion of legislation.
Accordingly, an age of Consent Bill was introduced in the Legislative Assembly in 1925. The
objective of the Bill was to raise the age of consent to least at 14. Gandhiji favoured raising it to
16. The All India Social Conference which met at Calcutta (1925) under the Presidentship of Sri
Sarala Devi Chandhurani urged for “further raising the age both for boys and girls in view of
physical degeneration and other evils resulting from early marriage”. The first All India
Conference of Women held at Pune (1927) said in its Resolution: “This Conference deplores the
effect of early marriage on education and urges the government to pass legislation to make
marriage below the age of 16 a penal offence. It demands that the age of consent be raised to 16.”
The cumulative effect of all these was the passing of the famous Sri Harbilas Sarda’s Child
Marriage Act in 1929. The object of the Act was to discourage the solemnisation of marriages
between boys under 18 and girls under 14 years. The Act remained binding in statute on account
of the opposition of the Hindus and the apathy of the government.
It was increasingly realised that more than legislation what was necessary to create a right climate
was the cultivation of public opinion. The progress of modern education, the impact of rational,
humanitarian and scientific approach to life coupled with complex economic factors “have
automatically raised the marriageable age of girls beyond the expectations of legislators and
reformers”. The heavy expenses of marriage have compelled the hard-pressed average middle class
to defer marriages of their daughters. Thus, child marriage has now become a fact of history.
The new awareness among women led them to demand for the codification of law governing
Hindus, relating to marriage, divorce, succession to property and so forth. In 1937, the Hindu
Women’s Rights to Property Act was enacted. The Act greatly improved the position of the
widows. It conferred on Hindu widows, for the first time, the right to claim a share in the property
of the husband and demand partition. The Hindu Married Women’s Right to Separate Residence
and Maintenance Act, 1946 conferred on Hindu married women the right to claim separate
residence and maintenance without dissolving her marriage, when the husband took a second wife
or kept a concubine or became an apostate, or was guilty of cruelty or desertion, or suffered from
a loathsome disease. The Hindu Marriage Validating Act, 1949 removed the inter-caste barriers
from the sphere of marriages. The four Acts — the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; the Hindu
Succession Act, 1956; the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 and the Hindu Adoptions
and Maintenance Act, 1956 — that have been passed constitute a part of the process of the
codification of Hindu Law. In substance they constitute the Hindu Code.38 The Hindu Succession
Act of June, 1956 has declared “property of a Hindu female to be her absolute property”, and has
laid down general rules of succession in the case of female Hindus. The Marriage Laws
(Amendment) Act, 1976 which amended the Hindu Marriage Act is a progressive and far-reaching
measure in that it provides for divorce by mutual consent and a wife has been given the “option of
puberty”, i.e. she can repudiate, on attaining the age of 15 years, her marriage solemnised earlier
than that age whether the marriage was consummated or not.
The progress of education and the tremendous impetus that Indian nationalism gave to women by
recognising their position emboldened them to launch an organised struggle for an equal status in
society which they now enjoy. They also played an important role in India’s struggle for freedom.
The social movements, the rise of nationalism and the social philosophy of Gandhiji were
successful in rousing the conscience of the Indians and making them realise the futility of the
antiquated beliefs, customs and practices. That the relentless attacks of the orthodoxy becomes
evident from the observations of the Manchester Guardian Weekly (December, 1936): “The
champions of caste privilege are already in retreat and the retreat looks like becoming a rout. If
untouchability is doomed, can caste distinction survive? The Hindu joint family, the chief bulwark
of caste, is being undermined by the education of women and the facilities for travel and contact
with the outside world.” Foundations were laid for an era of liberalism. Caste disabilities are fast
crumbling under the new democratic set-up and economic pressures and opportunities created for
all to play their due role in the national life.

Revolt of 1857

➢ With the expansion and consolidation of British power her political stranglehold on India was
complete. This coupled with economic exploitation and introduction of administrative
innovations “had adversely affected the position of all-rulers of Indian states, sepoys,
zamindars, peasants, traders, pundits, moulvis, etc., except, of course, the Western educated
class in towns who owed their “position” to the Company’s government”.
➢ There were numerous uprisings against the British in various parts of the country. Among
such outbreaks mention may be made of Mutiny at Vellore (1806); at Barrackpore (1824); at
Ferozepur (1842) and many more.
➢ These were but a few instances of the numerous violent outbursts caused by dissatisfaction
and hostility towards the British rule in India. The simmering discontent culminated in the
great upsurge of 1857 which shook the British empire in India to its very foundation. In this
biggest uprising against the alien rule nearly one-third of India rose in armed resistance
against the British authority.

General Nature of 1857 movement

➢ There is no unanimity of opinion among the historians about the nature of the upsurge of
1857. Many British historians have dubbed the movement as a mere “Mutiny of the Sepoys”,
by the mercenary Indian soldiers in the British army.
➢ British historians have subscribed to the view that it was an organized campaign to drive away
the British from India. On the other hand, many contemporary Indians held the view that it
was primarily and essentially a mutiny of the sepoys, though in certain areas it drifted into a
revolt of the people.
➢ Some have thought it as a “religious war against the Christians” or “a racial struggle for
supremacy between the Black and the White”.
➢ A fourth group of scholars treat it as “a struggle between Oriental and Occidental civilizations
and culture”.
➢ The contemporary Englishmen regarded it as “a handiwork of the Muslims”. A few have
painted it as the result of “Hindu-Muslim conspiracy to overthrow the British rule”.
➢ There are quite a few scholars who seem to think that any fight by any group of Indians against
the British must be regarded as a struggle for independence. They recognize the movement of
1857 a national character. As for instance V.D. Savarkar, an eminent Indian patriot, who
played a significant part in India’s struggle for independence, in his book The Indian War of
Independence, published in London in 1909, described it “a planned war of national
independence”. In his book he stated that the “national minded leaders and thinkers have
regarded it as a planned and organised political and military rising aimed at destroying the
 British power in India”. Savarkar has further tried to show that these uprisings “were
rehearsals of the great drama played in 1857”
➢ R.C. Majumdar is of the view that “the outbreak of 1857 has, therefore, little claim to be
hailed as the first war of independence”. However, he maintains that its national importance
was indirect and posterior. As he puts it: “It has been said that Julius Ceasar, dead, was more
powerful than when he was alive. The same thing may be said about the Mutiny of 1857.
Whatever might have been its original character, it soon became a symbol of challenge to the
mighty British power in India. It remained a shining example before nascent nationalism in
India, in its struggle for freedom from the British yoke, and was invested with the full glory
of the first national war of independence against the British.”
➢ The Mutiny became a revolt and assumed a political character when the mutineers of Meerut
placed themselves under the King of Delhi and a section of the landed aristocracy and civil
population declared in his favor. What began as a fight for religion ended as a war of
independence for there is not the slightest doubt that the rebels wanted to get rid of the alien
government and restore the old order of which the King of Delhi was the rightful
representative.
➢ The outbreak was a war of national independence. It could be bifurcated into two sub-
divisions, mutiny and rebellion and the upsurge of 1857 was the coming together of two series
of disturbances, the military and civil, each provoked by independent grievances. the
movement was essentially elitist in character.
➢  Thus, divergent views have been held by the historians regarding the great upsurge of 1857.
Whatever the causes which had inspired the participants, there cannot be any doubt that the
common goal was delivering India from the clutches of the alien rulers.

Was it National in Character?

➢ National means every individual should take part in the revolt. It is said that it was not
National because the spread of the movement involved only 33% of the total Indian
population.
➢ Second thing is that the sense of leadership was absent. The Rani of Jhansi became the leader
of the revolt for personal motive i.e., she was not allowed to succeed to the throne as she had
 no child of her own. Also, she said “Main Mera Jhansi Nahi Dungi” which showed that no
nationalism was there.
Same way Nanasaheb Peshwa, whose pension had been discontinued (as he was the adopted
son of Baji Rao II), joined this movement because of personal reasons and Emperor Bahadur
Shah of Delhi, who had been forced to vacate his traditional palace, became leaders of the
movement.

Causes

Political:
➢ Lord Wellesley’s subsidiary Alliance System was designed to establish “effective control” of
the East India Company and to destroy gradually the Indian native states. “Its logical
culmination was reached under Dalhousie who threw all codes of morality and political
conduct to the winds and perfected the infamous Doctrine of Lapse.”
➢ The expansion of the British dominion dispossessed many princes of their Kingdoms.
Naturally it was resented by the princely rulers and their subjects. The application of the
Doctrine of Lapse by Dalhousie produced grave discontent among the annexed states and a
sense of alarm among other ruling princes.

Administrative:
➢ The introduction of the British system of administration was resented by the privileged classes
of the old regime. They now feared that all their privileges and rights would be gradually
taken away by the British.
➢ Cornwallis sought to make everything as English as possible in a country which resembles
England in nothing, though he did not favor the introduction in India, of the English ideas of
civil liberty and social equality.
➢ The anglicization of Indian administration, the introduction of British principles, the planting
of British institutions in India and the complicated administrative procedures distanced the
weaker sections in the society.
➢ The language of administration was not intelligible to the people in general. The English law
was not understood by the common man.
➢ The officials were not accessible to the people and the administrative machinery operated
mechanically. The new administration could neither invoke love nor become popular as a
result.
➢ By Europeanizing the higher services in India, Indians were excluded from all high posts,
civil and military. Even in salaries, there prevailed discrimination between the Whites and the
Indians. In the military services, the Indian subedar was paid a salary of rupees sixty or rupees
seventy, while in civil services a Sadr Amin was paid a salary of rupees five hundred per
month.
➢ The promotion chances were few and far between. It should not surprise us therefore if the
Indians thought that the British were out to reduce them to “hewers of wood and drawers of
water”.
➢ The British officials behaved arrogantly towards their Indian subordinators and the general
public. Some of the British administrators in India could not tolerate the injustice that was
meted out to the Indians. They were sympathetic to the discomfiture to which the Indians were
subjected to and even pleaded for their employment in the services.
➢ It is true that the Charter Act, 1833 provided that “no Indian or natural-born subject of the
Crown resident in India should be by reason only of his religion, place of birth, descent, color
or any of them, be disqualified for any place of office or employment under the Company”.
Unfortunately, this remained a pious provision and all the Governor Generals after Cornwallis
followed more or less the same policy till the British rule in India lasted.

Economic:
➢ People suffered great hardships due to the oppressive exactions of the British revenue system.
In the newly acquired territories they introduced land settlement by which they came into
direct contact with the peasants thereby depriving the talukdars, the hereditary landlords (and
government tax-collectors) of their positions and gains.
The Inam Commission appointed by Dalhousie led to the confiscation of 20,000 Inams in
the Deccan alone. This turned zamindars against british and join revolt.
➢ Large estates were confiscated and sold by public auction to the highest bidders. Such estates
were usually purchased by speculators who did not understand the tenants and fully exploited
them.
➢ The expropriated landlords and Princes dropped much of their paraphernalia. Many a retainer
lost his job which gave rise to grave economic distress and social unrest. The high rates of
revenue impoverished Indian agriculture. The commercial privileges enjoyed by the British
aroused the hostility of the trading classes. India’s age-old handicrafts were ruined in
competition with machine-made goods from England.
➢ Karl Marx remarked: “It was the British intruder who broke up the Indian handloom and
destroyed the spinning wheel. England began with depriving the Indian cottons from the
European market; it then introduced twist to Hindustan and in the end inundated the very
mother country of cottons with cottons.”
➢ The British economic policy reduced India to a colony producing raw materials and was thus
economically exploited. A large section of the people had been hard hit by the economic
policies of the British. The general standard of living fell steeply and the population of Bengal
registered a steady fall.

Social and religious:

➢ Social cause comprised caste system. If any brahmin crosses seas, they will lose their caste.
Britishers took soldiers to wars in foreign lands which outcasted them of their caste. Mangal
Pandey was himself a Brahmin.
In army also they were not treated at par with British Soldiers. Also cartridge containing meat
of cow & pig were used for harassing Indians.
➢ The Hindus and the Muslims alike disliked the new Christian rulers, and looked upon them
with suspicion. The rapid spread of Western education, the insults heaped upon the Hindus
by the British who looked upon them as idolators and the activities of the Christian
missionaries, all created mistrust in the minds of the people.
➢ The Chairman of the Directors of the East India Company said: “Providence has entrusted the
extensive empire of Hindustan to England in order that the banner of Christ should wave
triumphant from one end of India to the other. Everyone must exert all his strength so that
there may be no idolatoriness on any account in continuing in the country the grand work of
making all Indians Christians.”
➢ The social legislation for prevention of Sati (1829), for widow remarriage (1856) and removal
of religious disabilities (1850) were all interpreted as moves to interfere with Indian society
 and tradition. Indians considered the telegraph as “the accursed string” and the rebels even
said once that “it was this accursed string that strangled them”. They dubbed the “education
offices” set up by the British as shaitani daftars. The Wahabi sent inflamed anti-British
feelings among the Muslims. They declared the country under British occupation to be dar-
ul-harb (enemy territory), where Friday and festive prayers need not be held.
➢ The object of the movement was to wage a holy war against the British. The leaders of the
movement recommended to the people (Muslims) “to resist passively and refrain from all
intercourse with their Kafir rulers, to form as it were a power within the government and
totally opposed to it”.

Military:
➢ The mercenary sepoy in the British army did not remain friendly to the British. The sepoys
also resented the prolonged engagement in distant lands like Burma. After the annexation of
the Punjab the British began recruiting sepoys.
➢ At the time of recruitment, the government had promised both the Sikhs and Muslims that
they would not be asked to remove their beard or hair. This promise was broken and orders
were issued for removing them and those who refused to do so were dismissed. The salary
paid to the Indian soldiers were low and they were not paid extra bhattawhen they were
required to serve in areas away from their homes. In 1844, four Bengal regiments had refused
to move to Sind till extra bhatta was sanctioned. There had been revolts in various divisions
of the army because of discontent over promotion, food and salary. A part of the low salary
collected by the sepoy went to gratify the officials.
➢ The missionary activity in the army, who preached against the purdah, early marriage,
circumcision, etc., wounded the religious susceptibilities of the sepoys, both Hindu and
Muslim. The sensitiveness of the sepoys to their religious beliefs and practices and the dread
of conversion to Christianity worked as a nightmare upon their mind.
➢ It was at this delicate moment where introduced the new cartridges for the Enfield guns which
had been greased with the fat of cow and pig. The loading process of the rifle involved
bringing the cartridge to the mouth and biting off the top with mouth. This was considered a
deliberate effort aiming at the wholesale conversion of sepoys to Christianity. It was argued
 that the East India Company was playing the part of Aurangzeb and it was but natural that
sepoys should play the part of Shivaji.
➢ Personal gain or satisfaction of personal ambition impelled people to revolt. Also at work
possibly were less selfish motives. The general discontent and dissatisfaction against the
British made some persons anxious to put an end to their rule, and they seized the god-sent
opportunity to drive away the hated (feringhees), now that they had lost the only prop of their
rule in India, namely, the allegiance of the sepoys.

The Course:
➢ The troops at Dumdum near Calcutta on 25 January 1857 openly expressed their
unwillingness to use the greased cartridges. On 29 March 1857 the sepoys stationed at
Barrackpore, 15 miles from Calcutta refused to use the greased cartridges and one Mangal
Pandey attacked and killed the Adjutant. The other sepoys did not come to the rescue of the
officer. The sepoys vented their rage by setting fire to public buildings and their officers’
bungalows. The sepoys at Meerut refused to use cartridges, and 85 of them were court-
martialled and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. On May 10, the cavalry and infantry
together rose in revolt and broke open prisons to release their jailed colleagues. They burnt
the houses of officers and killed every European at sight. Maro Phirangi ko (kill the
European) was their popular slogan.
➢ From Meerut the insurgents marched on to Delhi. They captured the ancient capital on 12
May 1857. Lieutenant Willoughby did offer some resistance, but was overcome. Some
European inhabitants of Delhi were shot dead. Bahadur Shah II was proclaimed the Emperor
of India. The loss of Delhi was a serious blow to the prestige of the British government. Before
any effort could be made to capture Delhi, fresh insurrection broke out in the first week of
June in the upper Gangetic plain and Central India. Nasirabad in Rajaputana, Gangetic Plain,
Jhansi in Bundelkhand; and Jagadishpur and Arrah in Bihar, were all up in arms against the
British. European officials were killed and the government offices were burnt. At Kanpur,
under the direction of Nana Saheb, the sepoys took the small British garrison captive. At
Lucknow, Sir Henry Lawrence and his contingent were encircled from July till November.
Delhi, Kanpur and Lucknow were the main centres of insurgency. At Allahabad, General
Wheeler was forced to surrender on 29 June. South of the Narmada was rather quiet, excepting
 the Mutiny of the Indian regiment at Kolhapur, and the revolt of Babasaheb, the Prince of
Nargund and Bheema Rao (a former official in British service) at Koppal.
➢ Punjab and Bombay remained comparatively peaceful. Gwalior, Kashmir and Hyderabad,
too, remained loyal to the British.
➢ The British now began the concerted attempt to stem the revolt. Attempts to occupy Delhi
began in June itself, but the whole city could be recovered only on September 14. The city
was sacked, innocent people were slaughtered, Bahadur Shah was arrested and his sons and
grandsons, who had surrendered, were mercilessly shot in the streets by the British army.
Lucknow was captured on 21 March (1858) and Bareilly in May. Meanwhile, in Central India,
Tantia Topey, a lieutenant of Nana Saheb with 20,000 Gwalior men, crossed the Yamuna, and
joined the followers of Nana Saheb and Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. The British defeated this large
army of the revolutionaries at Kalpi on 22 May. Rani Lakshmi Bai, described as “the best and
the bravest military leader of the rebels” died fighting on 17 June. Tantia Topey was captured
in April 1858.
➢ Lord Canning proclaimed peace in 1858 and arranged for the trial of those who were really
guilty. The revolt failed, but only after it had given a rude shock to the British regime in India.
It was indeed an event which neither the British Masters nor their subjects, the people of India,
could ever afford to forget. It “constituted a grave peril for the British dominion in India”.

Causes of the failure:

➢ The first and the foremost cause of the failure of the 1857 movement was the fact that it was
“localised” and “restricted”. The whole of India did not take part in the movement. It was
restricted to a part of Punjab, U.P., Rohilkhand, the territory between the Narmada and the
Chambal and the Western part of Bihar and Bengal. India south of the Narmada, Rajaputana,
Central and Eastern Bengal and Sind remained undisturbed.
➢ The armies of Bombay and Madras remained loyal and by diplomacy, rewards and threats,
the Sikhs were not only won over by the English but were made to render assistance against
the rebels. The British also saw to it that Nepal and Afghanistan remained friendly. A large
section of the civil population which included the intellectuals remained aloof.
➢ The Movement of 1857 was poorly organised; there was no general plan of action or any
rapport between different groups. The equipment of the insurgents was poor. While the
 insurgents used the muzzle-loader guns the British used the latest weapons of war like breach-
loaders.
➢ Nana Saheb admitted: “The blue cap kills before they fire.” The English could fully make use
of the means of communication like telegraph and postal system. The sepoys never understood
the significance of these. This made possible quicker delivery of messages and better
coordination in the British army.
➢ The correspondent of The Times of London, Russell, thus summed up the advantages of the
electric telegraph: “Never since its discovery has the electric telegraph played so important
and daring a role as it now does in India; without it the commander-in-chief would lose the
effect of half his force. It has served him better than his right arm.”
➢ The rebels had no able army leaders. Generals like Tantia and Lakshmi Bai were rare while
the English had trained and experienced commanders like Lawrence Brothers, Outram,
Havelock, Edwards, Nicholson, etc. They were not only great generals and greater organisers
and planners but also the fighters of toughest battles and could control the situation till
reinforcements arrived. The rebels lacked common ideal save the anti-foreign sentiments.
They had no leader capable of coordinating their movements and commanding their loyalty.
The disorder and confusion that followed the revolt made the masses lose their sympathy for
the insurgents. Loot and arson were resorted to by anti-social elements, and there was no law
and order in many a freed territory.
➢ In a way “luck smiled on the British and the victory kissed their feet while it frowned on the
Indians”. Lawrence in his Minute dated 19 April 1858, wrote about the element of chance in
the British campaign thus, “Many thoughtful and experienced men now in India believe that
it has only been a series of miracles that we have been saved from utter ruin.”
Effects
➢ The Mutiny became a dividing line of Indian history, not only because the Crown assumed
direct sovereignty and responsibilities for the Government of India, but because from the
Indian point of view the ancient regime died with it”. The movement of 1857, it is true,
unnerved the British. As Lord Cromer remarked: “I wish the young generation of the English
would read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the history of the Indian Mutiny: it abounds in
lessons and warnings.
➢ The first notable result of the movement was that the Government of India was assumed by
the British Crown, despite protests from the East India Company. The format of the British
Government in India remained the same with the same set of military and civil service. The
British Parliament passed the Act for a better government for India in 1858. The
administration of India was to be looked after Secretary of State assisted by fifteen members.
The Governor General became the Viceroy of India to represent the Crown.
➢ British realized that if they had to survive in India, they had to do Divide and Rule. Now, it
became on official.