The Heritage of Modern India

   Though the beginning of British rule in India can be considered to be after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 AD, but the main impact of the Western culture started in 1835 AD with the beginning of English education. After this, within 50 years, the ideologies of Western culture brought a change in India which had not taken place probably in the past 1000 years. India came in contact with Western culture at a time when the French revolution had begun in France and the European school of thought had accepted the greatness of reason and individualism. By then, the Western civilization had accepted reason in place of belief and person in place of outside power as great and better which gave new validities and values to social justice and political rights. India was severely influenced by this ideology.
   The British rule influenced India in many ways and its impact was felt on almost all the fields of life, but its main impact was the feeling reason and individualism. It led the Indians from the path of faith to the path of reason and logic. It was this feeling that motivated them to realize that before accepting any thought or ideology, one must decide whether it is appropriate or inappropriate. To oppose the ruling power on the basis of the thoughts and ideologies logically established in the mind is a symbol of free thoughts and feelings and these are the main base of social, economic, religious, cultural and political progress. The Indians received this free intellect, thought and logic from the Western culture which broke away the old barriers of their beliefs and they started thinking about all the questions, thoughts, traditions, etc with a big question mark. As a result, the old beliefs, concepts, traditions, either came to end or some changes were brought in them on the basis of logic and in this way a new awakening came about in all the fields of life like social, economic, religious, political fields, etc. and there was progress in all these fields.
   It was but natural that the first contact with Western culture should have made the Indians believe in the greatness of Western culture. The first impact of this new culture on the educated Indians was to ape or copy the Western culture. The educated Indians started accepting the Western culture, dress, behavior and even religion quickly and it seemed as if the whole of India would accept the Western culture, but this did not happen. As things calmed down after the initial storm, the Indians brought about changes in their religion, society and culture with new ideologies and thoughts and modernized the Indian culture. They tried to prove that Indian culture was not in comparison, but even better and greater than the Western culture. These efforts brought about not only changes but also progress in all the fields.

Religion

   The most significant impact of the Western culture was the beginning of the religious and social movements in the 19th century, the most prominent among them being the Hindu religious and social movements. Raja Ram Mohan Roy initiated this movement. After this, the feeling of religious and social reforms became stronger. Devendra Nath Tagore, Keshav Chandra Sen, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda and in the modern age, people like Shri Aurobindo and Mahatma Gandhi gave a new awakening, a new feeling and a new turn to the Hindu society and religion day by day and established the greatness of Hindu culture and society. Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the first to introduce the Vedas to the Indians. Swami Dayananda established the greatness of the Vedas and Swami Vivekananda spread the greatness of Indian spiritualism not only in India but in foreign countries also. During Mahatma Gandhi’s time, Hindu religion became a practical activity of life. Raja Ram Mohan Roy taught the people to leave the ritualism and idol worship and believe in the worship of one God. Swami Dayananda established the aggressive Hindu religion and Swami Vivekananda gave the ideology of visualizing God in every human being. Now, there was no need for the Hindus to accept Christianity nor was there any reason for them to feel themselves as inferior. The slumbering Hindu religion was awakened once again and clearing the dust the time, once again stood in front of all the religions with dignity. The Muslims, Parsis etc also did not remain unaffected by this feeling and they also tried to bring about reforms in their religions and were successful to a satisfactory extent.

Society

   Religious reforms did not stay aloof from the social reforms. The logic which gave the feeling of religious reforms to the Indians made the need for eradicating the social evils seem far more important. Child-marriage, pardah system, custom of sati, devadasi, polygamy, etc came to an end, or are in the process of coming to an end. Widow remarriage, inter-caste marriage and eating with other castes have started. The impact of the Western culture is clearly evident on the dress, food habits, behavior and thinking also. Caste system and the joint family system is also becoming weak. The condition of the untouchables is much better than what it was earlier and women have equal rights in the society. The modern Indian society is free from many social evils. The feeling of equality is clearly evident in all the classes and the feeling of social ethics is rising in India. no doubt there is some disturbance in the Indian society due to these changes and some disorder can be seen, but still if the status of the society is viewed from all perspectives, then there is no doubt that the Indian society has made a lot of progress and will continue to progress further.
   The religious, social and educational reforms in the Muslims were started by the Aligarh movement. Sir Syyed Ahmad Khan was the initiator of this movement. He not only improved the relations between the British and the Muslims, he also drew the attention of the Muslims towards modern education. Among the establishment of various other communities, his major work was the establishment of the Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh which later became the Aligarh Muslim University. This university became the main centre of the educational, social, religious and political progress and changes of the Muslims. The credit of developing the modern ideologies in the Muslims also goes to this university. This university also did significant work in developing Western thoughts, girl education, social reforms and Western culture among the Muslims. Thus, under the British rule, modernization started among the Muslims also and the Indian Muslims made changes in their dress, thoughts, life style, etc.

Politics

   The British rule had an impact on the political thoughts of India also to a very great extent. The social and religious movement of India also influenced the Indian politics. Dr. Majumdar has written – “It is not possible to understand the Indian political feelings and works isolated from the nation’s spiritual feelings of the truth, justice and love because they are the outer form their impact”. The cooperation of Swami Dayananda and Swami Vivekananda in building the national feelings is very clear. Mahatma Gandhi’s politics also was dependent upon religion and spirituality. Apart from this, India received the thoughts and ideologies of equality, freedom, democracy, nationality, etc from the British rule only. The modern Indian democracy is the contribution of the British civilization and rule.
   The beginning of communalism in Indian politics is also the contribution of the British rule only. Mainly, during the British rule, communalism started with the Sikhs, and more than the Sikhs, from the Muslims. In 1906, the Muslim League was established due to the encouragement of the British and from 1909, the communal election system was started in the Council Act and thus communalism was clearly included in the Indian politics. Its final outcome was the partition of India and making of Pakistan. Not only this, the politics of differentiation among the Sikhs was also started during the British rule. Today we are seeing its extreme and aggressive form in Indian politics.

Education

   One of the major contributions of the British is the education and teaching of English, but this was merely a beginning. The modern Indian education system, subjects of study, science and industrial education, etc. all are the contributions of the British. In the medieval age, the main base of education for both Hindus and Muslims were the religious books. There is no doubt that the Indians have done exemplary works in the field of various fine arts and in scientific field also to some extent, but this knowledge was restricted to a few people only and most of these jobs were done from the point of view of hereditary occupation. For example, a craftsman son became a craftsman and a doctor’s son became a doctor. Attempts of general education in various subjects started during the British rule only. The study of Arts, Science, Engineering, medicine, etc and their various branches started on a public level during the British rule whereby no education was limited to any specific person or family and the possibility of people’s gaining interest and enhancing their capability in a large number increased. The organization of education from the Primary to the University level took place during the British rule. No doubt there are many short comings in this education system in the modern age and changes are being made in them and there is demand for many more changes, but the education system established by the British and its study has benefitted the Indians to a very great extent. Because of this system, not only did the Indians come into contact with the Western countries and the other countries of the world, this system revealed the complete knowledge about the Western culture in front of the Indians which made progress possible in all the fields of life. But now English being a part of this system and English having become the official language, the India is at a loss. That is why, there is need to bring about a change in this method and to give Hindi the practical form of our National Language at the earliest.

Origin of the middle class

   As an outcome of the British rule and education, a new class was born in India which consists of people in government and non government service, teachers, doctors, engineers, middle class businessmen, etc. This class has its own separate characteristic. On one hand, this class is responsive and on the other hand, it has contributed to a great extent in the building of Modern India. This class is the main reason behind the progress in education, politics, fine arts, etc of India. It is this class that has led people in education and politics, rule and judiciary are in the hands of this class, it has contributed in a significant way in the building of culture and the progress of occupations and industries also depends to a large extent on the intelligence of this class. But now this class is proving to be responsive due to which it has become necessary that leadership should be taken away from it.

Development of the literature of various Indian languages

   The Indians came into contact with the Western literature through English language which gave encouragement to many regional languages. Establishment of printing press and newspapers further helped in the process. The thoughts of nationalism, freedom, equality, democracy, etc influenced the Indian literature immensely. The writing of Indian prose actually began with the translation of English books. The impact of English plays is clearly evident on Indian plays. One act plays and social plays based on the problems of the people are an outcome of this influence. The impact of the Western literature can be clearly seen on short stories and novels also. In poetry also, following the pattern of sonnets and odes, fourteen lined poems and odes were written. The Indians also followed the English lyrics. The construction of Grammar in various regional languages was mostly started by the propagators of Christianity due to which the development of the literature could become possible. Actually, the development and progress of literature in Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, etc. took place during the British rule only. In the beginning, the Indians copied the English literature but later the Indians expressed the Indian thoughts and concepts under the influence of the English literature and finally, Indian literature developed the potential to create original works and compositions and thus pure Indian literature was created.

Feeling of scientific investigation

   The Indians learnt the utility of science by coming into contact with the British culture. The Indians realized that the main reason for the progress of the West is victory over nature which it had gained by progress in physical science. If India has to stand at par with the other countries of the world and achieve industrial, materialistic and economic progress, then it is important that India should progress in the field of science. The British also established many educational centers in various places for the progress of science and research. Now after independence, many such research centers have been established and efforts have been for the progress of almost all the science centers.
   After independence, India has made appreciable progress in this field also. New industries in India have been possible because of the progress in science and technology. Not only are latest machines, rail engines and coaches, airplanes, etc being manufactured in India, but rather India is a leading nation in the development of atomic power also. Not only this, India is also establishing various industries in many foreign countries. Many of these countries are grateful to India for education, industry and modernization. In a way, this is also a contribution of the British rule to India because the background for this progress was created by the education system of the British rule.

Fine Arts

   The Indians discovered the path for the progress in fine arts also from the British. The Indians had forgotten the ancient glory and prestige of their fine arts. All the symbols and marks of these arts belonged to the Muslim era. The Indians had no idea of the status of these arts in the Hindu era. The British scholars and Archeological Department searched, investigated and discovered these marks of prestige. The discovery of the culture of Indus River, Ashoka’s pillars and rock inscriptions, the wall paintings of Ajanta, discovery of Buddhist caves and stupas, and the discovery of many temples of Ellora, and North and South India was done by the British scholars. Many British scholars like Hawell, Ferguson, Cunningham, Percy Brown, Smith, etc. discovered these remains of Indian glory which are priceless treasures of Indian culture. After this many Indian scholars also did noteworthy work in this field and in this way, not only was the glory of ancient India discovered, but also, Indian history was also built and motivation for future progress was also provided. Apart from this, the impact of Western culture was also felt on Indian architecture, sculpture, painting and music and the progress made in these fields in the modern days is the contribution of the Western culture to a large extent.

Sanskrit literature

   The British scholars searched and discovered the ancient Indian religious books. The Indians had either lost or forgotten about their Vedas, Upnishads and Buddhist texts. British scholars like Max Muller and William Jones collected and compiled these ancient books, acquired them various other countries and then these books were translated into many languages. We are grateful for to the British for our ancient religion, culture, knowledge and religious books also.
   In the present day India, the number of Sanskrit institutions in India has increased where research is being carried out. Efforts are being made to establish the past glory of India through these researched.

Economic life of India

   The British rule had a very serious and deep impact on the economic life of India. due to the Industrial Revolution and beginning of the age of machines in England, India became a large market for the British to sell raw material and buy the finished products. As a result, India’s wealth started flowing out of India into England. Indian industries and occupations were destroyed and the burden on agriculture increased. If the British have exploited India in any way, it is in the field of economy. India became a poor country because of this exploitation policy of the British. The British never made any efforts towards the industrialization of India and whatever little development took place was because of unavoidable circumstances.
   But it was not possible to stop the industrialization of India for a long time. The Indians got a good opportunity in this direction during the First World War and later, the industrialization of Japan, Germany and America motivated and encouraged India. Slowly, new industries were established. India moved towards economic progress. Along with this, industrialization and modernization of Agriculture was also done. Great and vigorous steps were taken in this direction after independence. At the same time, along with industrialization, the ideologies socialism and communism emerged in India and many problems related to these ideologies also emerged. In this way, though efforts were made during the British times towards the economic development of India, yet, India could remain unaffected from the spirit and efforst of industrialization.
   In this way, the British rule influenced Indian life and culture in many ways. Many people are of the opinion that the British rule has proven to be harmful for the Indians from all points of view. Mutual discord, decline in morality, poverty, mistrust in the goals of the life of Indian culture has been handed down to us by the British rule. No doubt, slavery to the British rule has been the main reason for India’s downfall.
   The above thoughts might work to satisfy the spirit of extreme or aggressive nationalism, but it cannot be accepted as right. No doubt, had India been independent and had it not accepted the slavery of the British, it would have progressed and had been influenced by the modern progress and concepts of the world, but the credit of India’s political unity, coming into contact with Western culture, discovery of India’s ancient culture and glory, religion and social reforms, modern education and progress in science etc goes to the British. The British certainly exploited India economically, but the influence of the British rule was beneficial in almost all the other fields of life. What would have happened had the British rule not been here? This question is merely a statement to be considered. Whether it would have been good or bad can only be thought about. Nothing can be said with certainty in this matter. The fact is that there was British rule in India and though India faced a lot of harm, it gained a lot of benefits also from the British rule. The 19th century divides the Medieval Age and the Modern Age and there is no doubt that the changes that took place in India after the beginning of the Modern Age had never taken place in the past 1000 years. This is enough to visualize the impact of the British rule on India. As far as the faults or short comings of the British rule are concerned, we must accept the truth that every imperialist power establishes its empire form its own benefit and profit. As a result, it is but natural for many faults and short comings to arise in the country which is under the power. But even after 73 years of independence, the Indians have not been able to free themselves from those faults and short comings. This is a proof of the immorality and intellectual bankruptcy of the ruling class of India. It is wrong and unpractical to blame the British rule for this.