Friday, April 13, 2018

William Dalrymple traces the East India Company’s takeover of Hindustan


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April 13, 2018 | Quartz india
 
In the 1760s, the young, charismatic son of the recently assassinated Mughal emperor, Alamgir II, made a decision that would completely transform India’s fate. Determined to restore his dynasty’s glory, Ali Gauhar, known as Shah Alam II, went to war with the British East India Company (EIC).

But the Battle of Buxar ended in a humiliating defeat and the consequences were more damaging than anyone imagined at the time: Shah Alam was captured by the company’s forces and made to sign an order that replaced Mughal revenue officials with British traders selected by the EIC. From then on, supported by a growing army of tens of thousands of sepoys, the company would be in charge of collecting taxes across the Mughal empire.

It was a decisive turning point that paved the way for the EIC’s sweeping control over the region, eventually giving way to the British Raj.

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It’s this moment in history that William Dalrymple focuses on in his upcoming book, The Anarchy, which analyses how a trading firm completely displaced a once-powerful empire. The historian says that while schools continue to teach that the British conquered India, the reality was that it wasn’t the British government at first but a private company.

“The Mughals were not an insignificant force…They were vastly rich, it was a magnificent empire. And yet it fell not to another wave of invaders from the Steppes or the Ottomans or the Persians, it fell to a bunch of merchants,” Dalrymple told Quartz. “It’s one of the most extraordinary and unlikely stories, and a very contemporary story because it shows how corporations have an extraordinary ability to take over the state.”

For Dalrymple, the story is particularly relevant today, given the power enjoyed by businesses and businessmen, not just in India but around the world. At a time when the US president is Donald Trump, he argues, rediscovering the corporate nature of 18th century Indian history is an important thing to do.

While doing research for the book, Dalrymple travelled across India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, following in the footsteps of Shah Alam and looking out for vestiges of that tumultuous time. The photographs the author took during his travels are now on display in Mumbai at an exhibition titled The Historian’s Eye, presented by Tasveer and the art platform Dauble.

The melancholic images highlight what little remains to remind the curious traveller of the might of the Mughals or the cunning of the company. But the elegiac approach does remind you of how much of India’s cultural heritage is disappearing for good.

“India has an embarrassment of riches, every little town in this country has the most extraordinary past,” Dalrymple said. “(But) there’s no realisation of how important these things are, how fragile they are.”

Here’s a selection of the historian’s photographs from the exhibition:


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© William Dalrymple, Dawn over Skardu, Pakistan. (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

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 © William Dalrymple, Shalimar Bagh, Lahore. (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

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 © William Dalrymple, At the Marble Palace, Calcutta, (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

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 © William Dalrymple, Jama Masjid, Old Delhi. (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

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© William Dalrymple, Ali Vardi Khan Masjid, Murshidabad. (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

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 © William Dalrymple, Bahmani tombs, Ashtur. (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

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 © William Dalrymple, After the monsoon, Chamba. (Archival pigment print courtesy Tasveer)

Source: qz

Friday, March 23, 2018

The family of Dravidian languages is 4,500 years old, finds new study

Origin of a language

Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam are the most-spoken languages in the family.

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The family of Dravidian languages originated about 4,500 years ago, an international study has found. The study used new linguistic analyses and advanced statistical methods to trace the origins of almost 80 languages and dialects spoken by about 22 crore people.

The study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday, used data collected from native speakers of the languages. Dravidian languages are mainly spoken in south and central India and Sri Lanka. Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam are the most-spoken languages in the family.

“The history of these languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, because despite their current restricted range, these languages played a significant role in influencing other language groups,” the study said. The research found that the Dravidian languages were probably much more widespread in the west in the past than they are now.

Researchers from universities in Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and Sweden were involved in the study. A researcher from the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun was also part of the team.

The study is based on a phylogenetic analysis – phylogenetics is the study of the evolutionary history of people. The conclusion is in line with previous linguistic and archaeological studies, the researchers said.

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Source: scrollin