Things that make you go hmmm...
Lord McCauley, heralded in Indian textbooks as being responsible for the 'updating' of the Indian education system under British rule, in a speech to British Parliment in 1835.
'I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such high caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation'
comments?
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'I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such high caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation'
comments?
post below...
4 Comments:
Tarun,
Thanks for the interesting quote. Surprised me to hear that those old colonial Brits would talk publicly amongst themselves in this way. So I did a little checking.
From my reading I don't know if McCauley really had such high regard for the Indian people, who he considered to be uneducated and whose culture he claimed was impoverished. Here's a link to a version of the Minute that he wrote:
http://www.languageinindia.com/april2003/macaulay.html#minute
He sounds like a patronizing Englishman, "with no particular admiration for anything Indian", and so in his mind he was probably trying not to dominate a nation by destroying its culture, but to bring it out of its ignorance by giving its people access to the works of a culture much greater than its. Perhaps this old saying fits better: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Alex
hey taruni,
this is muneera posting.
i just discovered this comment thing. i was thinking to myself how this blog thing is a bit monologue-ish when someone told me that i could put my two bits in too. hee hee.
i studied history for about 12 years in india, and we were consistently fed the following perspective. the english came and saw the wealth of india, and felt that the only way to obtain it was by dividing the unified people (and thereby gaining control). the majority of englishmen who were sent over with this goal in mind had not the least respect or appreciation for indians and indian culture. however, there were many englishmen who came to realize the richness of knowledge in their time there but did not stray from their original motives of achieving complete political and economic power, and in fact laboured to destroy the structure that sustained such a knowledge. (like the quote you posted indicates).
over the years i have stopped believing firmly in any of the so-called "facts" that were ingrained in me through my high school system, and would be just as curious as anyone else to know how the story actually unravelled.
waiting to hear more...
xox
hmmm
so I'm confused. I wonder if someone misquoted him?
i hear you, muni, on not being sure what to believe. My understanding was/ is similar to yours.
Do you think Hindustan would have been better off without the brits? It's kind of like the Americans in Iraq. Feels really bad when it's happening, but it may have some long term benefits. Though they destroyed much, the Brits also brought India into a position where it really could unite its countless kingdoms, let go of the past, and start establishing itself as a modern nation...
Wow...I mean, hmmmm....it seems as though people have so many contrasting feelings about India, some travellers I know are disturbed by the things they see, yet others can't stop raving about the "spirituality"...hmmm...how can a nation be viewed so differently? I wonder how I would feel if I travelled there...perhaps a nation that is non-secular is hard for a person from a secular nation to comprehend...ramblings, not related to the above...T
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