General Survey
Many British authors on pre-independent India propagated the view that India was always a purely agricultural coun- try. There is nothing farther from the truth. The over- whelming evidence is that "pre-British India was not only the richest agricultural country in the world but also the greatest industrial and commercial power on earth.' India's manufacturers and fertile land, "supplied foodgrains to other parts of Asia and cloth and silk and luxury goods to every part of the civilized world, and directed to herself the entire world current of gold and silver.
The British converted India into a purely agricultural country by destroying her varied industries, and trade and commerce which had earned India the well-deserved repu- tation of being the industrial workshop and commercial hub of the whole world. Even the agricultural prosperity of India was given a death blow by the British, so much so that by the time they left India, the 'agricultural mother of Asia' could not even feed herself.
A Frenchman, Francois Pyrard, visited India at the commencement of the 17th century. Accounts of his voyages were first published in 1611 in French. After describing many varied manufacturing industries, he wrote "In short, I could never make an end of telling such a variety of manufactures, as well as in gold, silver, iron, steel, cop- per, and other metals, as in precious stones, choice woods, and other valued and rare materials. He observed that 'all their manufactures are both of good workmanship and cheap.'
The most important industry found in every part of India-a birthplace of cotton manufacturing-was the tex- tile industry, famous throughout the world from the remotest times of the Indus Valley Civilization (circa 3,000 B.C.) to the beginning of the 19th Century; although, 'nearly every kind of manufacture or product known to the civilized world-nearly every kind of creation of Man's brain and hand, existing anywhere, and priced either for its utility or beauty-had long, long been produced in India. "
The same idea is expressed by M. Martin, The gos- samer muslins of Dacca beautiful shawls of Cashmere and the brocaded silks of Delhi adorned the proudest beauties at the courts of the Caesars, when the barbarians of Britain were painted savages. Embossed and filigree metals, elabo- rate carvings in ivory, ebony and sandalwood; brilliant dyed chintzes, diamonds, uniquely set pearls and precious stones, embroidered velvets and carpets, highly wrought steel, excel- lent porcelain, and perfect naval architecture-were for ages the admiration of civilized mankind, and before London was known in history India was the richest trading mart of the earth."
A French traveller and merchant, Tavernier, who visited India in the middle of the 17th century described some calicoes as 'made so fine, you can hardly feel them in your hand, and the thread, when spun, is scarce discerni- ble." He goes on to say that "there is made at Seconge (in the province of Malwa) a sort of Calicut (calicoes, or rather muslins, so called from the great commercial city of Calicut, whence the Portuguese and Dutch first brought them-Sir E. Baines) so fine that when a man puts it on, his skin shall appear as plainly throughout it, as if he was quite naked."
Rev. William Ward, a missionary in Bengal, in the 19th century when Indian industries, because of the British, were rapidly declining, states that 'the ingenuity of the Hindoos in this (muslin) branch of manufacture is wonderful. When this muslin is laid on the grass, and the dew has fallen upon it, it is no longer discernible.
A couple of examples can be given to appreciate the delicately made, exquisitely fine textile products. In the words of an American author, muslin 'was made of counts above 400 and that a Sari (normally 6 yards) long enough for a full-grown woman could be drawn through an ordi- nary finger ring. In the time of Jehangir (1605-27), we are told, Ducca Muslin could be manufactured fifteen yards. long and one broad, weighing only 900 grains. Various poetical names, such as the "Nightingale's eyes" "Peacock's necks', "Moon and Stars" "Woven air', "Running water' and "Evening Dew' were given by the British and other European writers to such fine muslins, Calicoes and silks, at the time when England did not even know how to manu- facture them. (England started to produce Calicoes and muslins in 1772 and 1781 respectively.)"
Europeans tried unsuccessfully to imitate the Indian muslin and other textile products. Thomas Munro, who served the British company for most of his life, and who was Governor of Madras, had used an Indian shawl for 7 years, and found very little difference in it after that long use. About imitation shawls produced in Europe, he said before the Committee of the House of Commons in 1813 "I have never seen an European shawl that I would use, even if it were given to me as a present. No wonder Sir Edward Baines as late as 1835 wrote "The Indians have in all ages maintained an unapproached and almost incredible per- fection in their fabrics of cotton. Some of their muslins might be thought the work of fairies or insects rather than of men.
Not only was the textile industry of India famous practically in the whole world, it employed millions of people throughout the country. Orme, a high official of the British East India Company and whose History is 'one of the most authentic works", wrote in the later half of the Eighteenth Century. "On the coast of Coromandel and in the province of Bengal, when at some distance from the high road, or a principal town, it is difficult to find a village in which every man, woman, and child is not employed in making a piece of cloth .much the greatest part of the whole pro- vinces are employed in this single manufacture
.the pro- gress of the linen (cotton) manufacture includes no less than a description of the lives of half the inhabitants of Indostan
.
The jute industry was another cottage industry employ- ing thousands of people although it was confined to Bengal. As late as 1855, Forbes Royle wrote about it "This indus- try forms the grand domestic manufacture of all the populous eastern districts of Lower Bengal. .It pervades all classes and penetrates every household; men, women and children find occupation therein. Boatmen in their spare moments husbandmen, palanquin carriers, domestic servants, every one in fact, being Hindus or Musulmans who spin cotton only, pass their leisure moment, distaff in hand, spinning gunny twist.
The shipping industry of India was also as old as her history. As late as 1811, F. Baltazar Solvyns, a French- man, recorded the following: "In ancient times, the Indians excelled in the art of constructing vessels, and the present Hindus can in this respect still offer models to Europe-so much so that the English, attentive to everything which re- lates to naval architecture, have borrowed from the Hindus many improvements which they have adapted with success to their own shipping... The Indian vessels unite elegance and utility, and are models of fine workmanship.
Lieut.-Col. A. Walker wrote in 1811 "It is calculated that every ship in the navy of Great Britain is renewed every twelve years. It is well known that teak-wood built ships last fifty years and upwards. Many ships, Bombay-built, after running fourteen or fifteen years have been bro ight into the navy and were considered as strong as ever. The Sir Edward Huges performed, I believe, eight voyages as an Indiaman before she was purchased for the Navy. No Europe-built Indiaman is capable of going more than six voyages with safety.'
Ships built at Bombay were not only superior to those built elsewhere in point of durability but also inexpensive. Walker observed "Ships built at Bombay also are executed by one-fourth cheaper than in the docks of England renewed every twelve years, the expense is quadruple. In Bengal, excellent ships may be constructed, and the number may be increased to a much greater extent than the above estimate. No wonder 'the Sultan of Constantinople found it cheaper to have his vessels built there than in Alexandria; even the (British) East India Company had many of its ships built in Bengal docks.
Iron and steel was also one of the pride industries of India. In 1842 when the industries of India, due to British policy, were well on their way to destruction, Captain* J. Campbell, Assistant Surveyor General of Madras Estab- lishment, wrote "From what I have seen of Indian iron, I consider the worst I have ever seen to be as good as the best English iron.
Captain Presgrave of the Sagar Mint is quoted by Major James Franklin (circa 1829) as saying that Indian bar iron was of 'most excellent quality" which 'cannot be surpassed by the best Swedish iron'-the best in Europe at that time. Franklin questioned 'whether any other furnace would compete with" the Indian furnace. It was only in 1825 that a British manufacturer "took out a patent for converting iron into steel" before that England was entirely dependent on imports. In 1794 Dr. Scott, M.D. sent to the President of the London Royal Society a speci- men of wootz steel (alongwith many other things) which 'appears to admit of a harder temper than anything we are acquainted with.
*British subjugation of India began in 1757 and took 98 years to com- plete. The British ruled India from 1757 to 1857 through their East India Compan During the compan 's rule, military titles vere given ever to its civilian officers.
The sample went through a thorough examination and analysis by several experts in England. One such expert was an "ingenious artist' Mr Stodart. According to Stodart, Indian wootz steel "promises to be of importance to the manufacturers of" Britain and is 'excel- lently adapted for the purpose of fine cutlery, and parti- cularly for all edge instruments used for surgical purposes. After its being sent as a sample in 1794, Indian wootz steel began to be much in demand; and some 18 years later Stodart stated, "If a better stecl is offered to me, I will gladly attend to it; but the steel of India is decidedly the best I have yet met with.
Many Indian products like wootz steel, "Caute'—a kind of cement used for 'uniting animal parts', ink, dam- mar, hemp, etc. were sent to England as gifts by the servants of the Company. Dr. Helenus Scott, an employee of the British East India Company, who had long experience of living in India, wrote in 1790 that the arts of the Indians 'improved by the practice of so many years might afford matter of entertainment and instruction to the most enlight- ened philosopher of Europe.'
The Pre-British India was not only industrially more advanced than the West, it was also well ahead in science and technology. Even according to British and other European writers, not more than two hundred years ago from the present, India excelled in most fields like astrono- my, mathematics, medicine, surgery, metallurgy, ice manu- facture, mortar-making and advanced agricultural practices. In agriculture, drill plough-‘one of the most beautiful and useful inventions in agriculture'-was first used in Austria in 1662 and in England in 1730, although it took perhaps another 50 years before it was used on any great scale. On the other hand, in India, Major-General Sir Alexander Walker (circa 1820) reported, "this instrument has been in use from the remotest times' or from 'time immemorial" according to Captain Thomas Halcott who wrote to the Board of Agriculture in London in 1797. Halcott sent a set of three drill ploughs to the Board of Agriculture in London to copy because it was more effective and cheaper in comparison with the English plough. The drill plough was only one such instrument. Indians "have a variety of im- plements for husbandry purposes, some of which have only been introduced into England in the course of our recent improvements' wrote Sir Alexander Walker. He also wrote that in India 'there are more kinds of grain cultivated perhaps, than in any other parts of the world. She has also avast variety of nutritive roots' Walker was "at a loss to know what essential present we can make to India. She has all the grains that we have and many kinds more of her own.
The trade and commerce of India has also played a very significant role in the history of the world. India ex- ported to the West, not only goods of luxury like jewels, perfumes, spices, silk and other textile products; but also goods of daily consumption like sugar, (discovered in India, the Greek name for sugar is "sukhara' derived from Sanskrit), ghee, i.e. purified butter, drugs, oil and rice.
Since Indian products were so elegant, beautiful and cheap, they "forced their own sale in the remotest regions of the globe; which caused such treasures to stream from all quarters into those countries that produce them, as kept Hindostan enriched, beyond comparative example in the records of time.
Ninety-five varieties of cotton. silk, and mixed piece- goods, Milburn noted, were exported from the Bengal presi- dency alone to various parts of the world, besides other kinds of fabrics consumed locally in the early nineteenth century.'
The demand for Indian products like textiles, indigo (the name derived from India), spices, saltpetre, etc. was so great in Europe that this trade became an important politi- cal issue in almost all the countries of Europe. In England and most other European countries the "webs of woven wind" descended as a "plague', because by the middle of the 17th century all classes of people "from the greatest gallants to the meanest cook-maids' began to give up the English broadcloth, 'the glory of England", in favour of the cheap, light, gaudy and elegant apparel of India. In 1695, and in 1696, as many as 50,000 pieces of chintz or betteloe of all kinds were sent from India by the British East India Company. The Dutch and the French were also exporting large quantities of cloth goods from India. Daniel Defoe in 1708 complained "The general fansie of the people runs upon East India goods to that degree that even the Queen herself at this time was pleased to appear in China silks and (Indian) calicoe. Nor was this all, but it crept into our houses, our closets, and bedchambers; curtains, cushions, chairs and at last beds themselves, were nothing but calicoes or Indian stuffs; and in short, almost everything that used to be made of wool or silk, relating either to the dress of the women or the furniture of our houses, was supplied by the Indian trade.
Defoe's complaint was not of the year 1708, but one of a few years earlier since William III of England in 1700 prohibited the entry of Indian textile products by threaten- ing to impose a very heavy penalty of £200 on the wearer or the seller of Indian silks and calicoes. This prohibition, Defoe wrote, 'averted the ruin of our manufactures, and revived their prosperity. In spite of this heavy penalty, William III's Act of 1700 "did not prevent the continued use of the goods, which were probably smuggled from the continent of Europe, other Acts for the same purpose were passed at a later date. Such a prohibition was not im- posed in England alone as the author of "A Plan of the English Commerce' tells us. "The calicoes are sent from the Indies by land and inland seas into Muscovy and Tar- tary, and about by long-sea into Europe and America, till in general they are become a grievance, and almost all the European nations but the Dutch restrain and prohibit them."
He ascribes the consumption of Indian manufactures in England and Europe to the women's "passion for their fashion'. This passion for style was so strong that in spite of legislative prohibition and a heavy penalty, the consump-tion of the Indian products could not altogether be pre- vented. It was not a mere coincidence of history that the same type of complaint against the European women was made much earlier in Roman times, also inviting legislative prohibition when Roman women decked in seven folds of Indian muslin, (called ‘nubula' by the Romans) paraded the streets and became such a menace to the city's morals that the Roman Senate intervened and laid an embargo on the import of that fine stuff from India. Silk, at about the first century A.D. "derived alone from India, was sought for eagerly by the wealthiest Roman ladies, and so late as the time of Aurelian, in the later half of the third century of our Era was valued at its weight in gold.' As a result this trade constituted a very serious drain on Rome's supply of gold and silver, which 'was an important cause of the financial difficulties in the Roman empire from the reign of Nero onwards' as "the West had nothing to offer the East in exchange for its products other than metallic cur- rency, an enormous quantity of which was thus absorbed by trade with India." Pliny, a Roman writer of early second century A.D. complained that in no year does India drain our empire of less than five hundred and fifty millions of sesterces" which was computed in about the middle of the 19th century 'at about £1,400,000" a year. Pliny woefully complained that 'so dear do pleasures and women cost us. It is not surprising at all that in the public laws of the empire collected by the Roman Emperor, Justinian, in the 6th century A.D "we find amongst the rest of the Indian commodities charged with duties all sorts of silk and cotton manufactures, which they brought, as we do, from those countries, and probably for the same reason, because they found that method cheaper than bringing the commodity and working it up at home."
Coming back to the pre-British era, the European companies, which supplied Indian products to satisfy Euro- pean passions, were making huge profits. For example, at the commencement of the British East India Company's commercial operations in India, it was not uncommon to make 100 per cent profit on their capital; and in some cases it even exceeded that percentage. That is why Peter the Great of Russia (1682-1725) considered the commerce of India as "the commerce of the world, and. . he who can exclusively control it is the dictator of Europe.
In return Europe had almost nothing to sell to India. To meet a deficit in trade, Europe had to send bullion, as was the case in Roman times. For example, the British East India Company, chartered in 1600 to carry the manu- factures and commodities of India to Europe, used to send to India between £400,000 and £500,000 a year to buy Indian goods for export, before 1757.5
Edward Terry, who travelled in India from 1616 to 1619, observed that 'what quantities of monies comes out of Europe by other means into India, I cannot answer; this I am sure of, that many silver streams runne thither, as all rivers to the sea.
In short, all the available evidence clearly shows that up to the British rule, in the words of an eminent Indian historian, "for full thirty centuries India stood out as the very heart of the commercial world" and she "throughout had the balance of trade clearly in her favour, a balance which could only be settled by the export of treasure from European and other countries that were commercially in- debted to her. Sir George Birdwood observed that "the whole world has been ceaselessly pouring its bullion for 3,000 years into India to buy the products of her indus- tries.""
The British imperialists would like to argue that pre- British Indian economy was a stagnant economy and could not develop further. The fact is that pre-British Indian eco- nomy was emerging, "from a closed medieval system into a nascent factory capitalism. Rural artisans were coming to the cities to work in factories, and laying the foundations for an industrial development which could raise the national income and living standards ever higher .It was the inter- vention of the English with their insatiably greedy traders that violently cut short India's economic revolution and forc- ed the country bck to a medieval economy and into a per- manent starvation.
A few examples may be given of 'nascent factory capi- talism' cut short by the British. A French traveller, Taver- nier, referred above, describing a diamond mine in Kolher near Golconda (south India), says. .there were close upon 60,000 persons who worked there' Another French traveller, Bernier, visiting India in the later half of the 17th century gives a description of the factories at work in the Mughal capital, which grew up throughout India. "Large halls are seen in many places, called Karkanays or work- shops for the artisans. In one hall embroiderers are busily employed, superintended by a master. In another, you see the goldsmiths; in a third, painters; in a fourth, varnishers in lacquer-work; in a fifth, joiners, turners, tailors, and shoe makers; in a sixth, manufacturers of silk, brocade and those fine muslins of which are made turbans, girdles with golden flowers, and drawers worn by females, . beautifully em- broidered with needle-work. The artisans repair every morn- ing to their respective Karkanays, where they remain em- ployed the whole day; and in the evening return to their homes.
Artisans working on their own or in factories, big or small, under master-artisans or entrepreneurs, dealers and financiers produced, in the words of an eminent Indian eco- nomist, 'a considerable variety of arts and handicrafts which indeed, exhibited a more advanced economic and financial organization than the crafts in contemporary Europe.
There were rich merchants, financiers, agents, brokers, jobbers and other middlemen in pre-British India. Mughal emperor Jahangir, ruler from 1605-27, was noted by Pyrard to have many peoples who are exceedingly rich and culti- vated. According to a European, Mandelslo, there were 80 caravan series with very noble lodgings, storehouses, vaults and stables in Delhi for foreign merchants. Manri- que, another European (1629-43) estimated that at the town of Patna there were as many as 600 brokers and middlemen most of whom were wealthy. In Agra, Manrique found 12 British The Magnificent Exploiters of India merchants of immense wealth, and referred to vast sums of money piled up like heaps of grain in their houses. Similar- ly in Dacca, money was heaped up in such large quantities that being difficult to count it was commonly weighed."
These merchants traded with far-off countries, including Europe. Their bills of exchange were accepted without hesitation almost throughout the world. One such banking house of Jagat Seth of Bengal was compared by Burke to the Bank of England. Virji Vora (1619-70), who controlled the entire trade of Surat and a large portion of the coastal trade to Malabar, had his establishments in such distant cen- tres as Agra, Burhanpur, and Golconda, and traded with the Persian Gulf and the Indian Archipelago. He was regarded then as the richest man in the world."
The following observation summarizes the discussion so far "India was a far greater industrial and manufactur- ing nation than any in Europe or than any in Asia. Her textile goods--the fine products of her looms, in cotton, wool, linen, and silk-were famous over the civilized world; so were her exquisite jewellery and her precious stones cut in every lovely form; so were her pottery, porcelains, ceramics of every kind, quality, color and beautiful shape; so were her fine works in metal-iron, steel, silver and gold. She had great engineering works. She had great financiers. Not only was she the greatest ship-building nation, but she had great commerce and trade by land and sea which extended to all known civilized countries. Such was the India which the British found when they came.
In these circumstances, where there was plenty of land, labour, capital and entrepreneurs (all the four factors need- ed for economic development), India, or any other coun- try could have easily become the greatest modern industrial country in its natural course of evolution. It was the British who not only halted, but pushed back this natural industrial growth of India, into a full-blooded medieval feudalism.
The Survey of Particular Parts of India
"Tipu was the last ruler of Mysore who met a brave death in 1799 at the hands of the British. The following
is the substance of Moor's estimate of Tipu's administra- tion "When a person, travelling through a strange coun- try, finds it well cultivated, populous with industrious habi- tants, cities newly founded, commerce extending, towns increasing, and everything flourishing so as to indicate happiness, he naturally concludes the form of Government congenial to the people. This is a picture of Tipu's gov- ernment we have reason to suppose his subjects to be happy as those of any other sovereign.
·
Below is the testimony of Mr. Petrie before the British Committee of Secrecy in 1782 regarding the State of Tan- jore in South India. This State was recognized by the British as an ally of theirs in 1769, and was annexed by them in 1773. "Before I speak of the present state of Tan- jore country, it will be necessary to inform the Committee that not many years ago that province was considered as one of the most flourishing, best cultivated, populous districts in Hindustan. I first saw this country in 1768, when it presented a very different picture from its present situation. Tanjore was formerly a place of great foreign and inland trade; The exports of Tanjore were muslins, chintz, handkerchiefs, ginghams, various sorts of long cloths, and a coarse printed cloth, which last constitutes a material article in the investments of the Dutch and the Danes, being in great demand for the African, West Indian, and South American markets. Few countries have more natural advantages than Tanjore; it possesses a rich and fertile soil, singularly well supplied with water from the two great rivers Cavery and Coleroon, which, by means of reservoirs, sluices, and canals, are made to disperse their waters through almost every field in the country; to this later cause we may chiefly attribute the uncommon fertility of Tanjore .. Such was Tanjore not many years ago, but its decline has been so rapid that in many districts it would be difficult to trace the remains of its former opulence.
Deccan and Other Maratha Territory
A European Anquetil du Perron, visited the Maratha sometimes spelled as Mahratta territory in 1758. He wrote "I thought myself in the midst of the simplicity and happiness of the golden age where nature was yet un- changed, and war and misery were unknown. The people were cheerful, vigorous, and in high health, and unbounded hospitality was a universal virtue; every door was open, and friends, neighbours, and strangers, were alike welcome to whatever they found.
Sir John Malcolm describes the condition of the Maratha country under the Peshwah, which he visited in 1803, as follows "It has not happened to me ever to see countries better cultivated, and more abounding in all pro- duce of the soil, as well as in commercial wealth, than the southern Mahratta districts .Poonah, the capital of the 'Peshwah, was a very wealthy and a thriving commercial town, and there was as much cultivation in the Deccan as it was possible an arid and unfruitful country would admit.
Regarding another large tract of Maratha territory, Malwa, which was under the sovereignty of the Holkar, the same writer says, "With respect to Malwa, I saw it in a state of ruin, caused by the occupancy. of the predatory hordes of India. Yet, even at that period, I was surprised to find that dealings in money to large amounts had continually taken place between cities, where bankers were in a flourishing state, and goods to a great extent continu- ally passed through the province, the insurance offices which exist through all parts of India, .had never stopped their operations . Their system of administration is, on the whole, mild and paternal. I refer their prosperity to be due to the knowledge and almost devotion of the Hindus to agricultural pursuit; to their better understanding, or better practice than us. in raising towns and villages to prosperity, from the encouragement given to moneyed men, and the introduction of capital. . but above all causes which promote prosperity, is the invariable support given to the village and other native institutions, and to the employ- ment, far beyond what our system permits, of all classes of population.
Equally favourable are the testimonies of the European eye-witnesses in 1789 to the conditions of the dominions of the Raja of Berar, another member of the great Maratha Confederacy. Here are a few quotes "The thriving con- dition of the province (says a European traveller). demands from me a tribute of praise to the ancient Princes of the country. a numerous people tilled a fertile coun- try, and still preserve in the neatness of their homes, in the number and magnificence of their temples, their ponds and other public works in the size of their towns, and in fre- quency of their plantations, the undoubted signs of enviable prosperity.'
"We now', says another traveller in Berar, 'continued our journey through a fine champaign country, abundantly watered with rivulets that issue from the neighbouring moun- tains. It was entirely free from jungle, full of villages, and beautifully varied with tufts of trees and pools of water. The Mahratta Government being well established in this part of the route, we experienced very civil and hospitable treatment, and found plenty of every kind of grain, which this highly-cultivated country produced at a very cheap rate .
Bengal
Lord Macaulay writes about Bengal of 1757 before the British conquest in the same year: "Of the provinces which had been subject to the House of Tamerlane, the wealthiest was Bengal. No part of India possessed such natural advan- tages, both for agriculture and for commerce . In spite of the Mussulman despot and of the Mahratta freebooter Bengal was known through the East as the Garden of Eden. Its population multiplied exceedingly. Distant provinces were nourished from the overflowing of its granaries; and the noble ladies of London and Paris were clothed in the delicate produce of its looms.
Clive, who was one of the persons responsible for reducing Bengal into misery and poverty, visited Murshida- bad in 1757-the very year the loot and plunder of Bengal started after the battle of Plassey in 1757. He found that ancient capital of Bengal as equal in extent, population and wealth to the London of his time, with palaces far greater than those of Europe, and men richer than any individual in London. India, said Clive, was 'a country of inexhaustible riches, capable of making its masters the richest corporation of the world.' "The Country of Bengal, Clive said, 'is called by way of distinction, the paradise of the earth. It not only abounds with the neces- saries of life to such a degree, as to furnish a great part of India with its superfluity, but it abounds in very curious and valuable manufactures, sufficient not only for its own use, but for the use of the whole globe.
Holwell, who was the long resident of the country and who writes from an intimate acquaintance with his subject, says about Bengal under its native ruler "In truth, it would be almost cruelty to molest this happy people. Here the property, as well as the liberty of the people, are inviolate. Here no robberies are heard of either public or private By the prudent administration of a system of sound policy and humanity, the rich province of Dacca was cultivated in every part, and abounded in everything requisite for the comfort and gratification of its inhabitants. Justice was administered with impartiality,
Another writer. Luke Scrafton, a member of Clive's Council, in his book 'Reflections of the Government of Hindostan' (printed in 1770) writes "That the laws of Hindostan were wisely instituted as barriers against oppres- sion, and continued in force till the invasion of Nader Shah (1739) till when there was scarce a better administered gov- ernment in the world. The manufactures, commerce and agriculture flourished exceedingly; and none felt the hand of oppression, but those who were dangerous by their wealth or power. For, till within these very few years merchants were nowhere better protected, nor more at ease than under this government nor is there a part of the world where arts and agriculture have been more cultivated, of which the vast plenty and variety of manu- factures, and the rich merchants were proofs sufficient.
Another contemporary, William Bolts, wrote in 1772: "Hindostan is in many places greatly favoured by nature for commercial advantages; and the province of Bengal; which are the more immediate objects of our considerations, above all others. This Subah of the empire, which was emphatically styled by the Emperor Aurengzeb, "The Para- dise of Nations' spontaneously produces in great abundance, almost everything requisite for the support and even high enjoyment of mankind. Bolts then goes on to describe the causes of its misery and poverty.
North-West Provinces (present Uttar Pradesh)
A report from British Commissions upon the North- West provinces, 1808. is cited below. "In passing through the Rampore territory, we could not fail to notice the high state of cultivation to which it has attained. If the com- parison for the same territory be made between the manage- ment of the Rohilas and that of our own government, it is painful to think that the balance of advantage is clearly in favour of the former.
The British government in India launched all sorts of baseless propaganda against the Nawab of Avadh for many years with a view to grab the territory of the Nawab, which they finally and formally did in 1856. Here is the testi- mony of Bishop Heber, who toured the country in 1823-24. "I was pleased, however, and surprised, after all which I had heard of Oude, to find the country so completely under the plough, since were the oppression so great as is some- times stated, I cannot think that we should witness so con- siderable a population and so much industry."
After the British took over Avadh, what happened to 'one of the most fertile, and, one of the most flourishing provinces in all India' is stated by A.J. Wilson. "Just before the Mutiny (1857) it became ours, and in little more than twenty years we have reduced it to such a state of poverty that its inhabitants are all in the grasp of the usurer, ("a harpy largely of our breeding") its estates encumbered, and its land owners so hopelessly ruined.
Bishop Heber testifies to the prosperous condition of the State of Bhurtpore under the native Sovereigns notwithstanding that the soil is sandy, and only irrigated from wells, it is one of the best-cultivated and watered tracts which I have seen in India . What is a sure proof of wealth, I saw several sugar mills, and large pieces of ground whence the cane had just been cleared; . The population did not seem great, but the few villages which we saw were appa- rently in good condition and repair, and the whole afforded so pleasing a picture of industry, and was so much superior to anything which I had been led to expect in Rajpootana, or which I had seen in the company's territories since leav- ing the southern parts of Rohilcund"
To the high character of the ruler of another state, Sattara, and to the prosperous condition of his territory, we have the testimony of the British government itself expressed in a letter to the ruler in 1843. This territory was also annexed illegally just five years later "A course of conduct so suitable to your Highness's exalted station, and so well calculated to promote the prosperity of your dominions, and the happiness of your people, as that which you have wisely and uniformly pursued, while it reflects the highest honour on your own character, has imparted to our minds the feelings of unqualified satisfaction and pleasure. The liberality also which you have displayed in executing, at your own cost, various public works of great utility, and which has greatly raised your reputation in the eyes of the princes and people of India; gives you an additional claim to our approbation, respect, and applause.
Needless to say that richness and poverty are compara- tive terms. India was the richest country in Pre-British days as compared to Europe or any other country at that time. It is also true that in India, as anywhere else, the inequality of incomes was quite great; although probably less so than in Europe. The concept of equality of income is only a 20th century idea. Nevertheless, as pointed out by India's first Prime Minister, "the general condition of the masses in Europe was very backward and deplorable and compared unfavourably with the conditions prevailing in India.'