If an injury has to be done, it should be so severe that vengeance should not be feared. - Niccolo Machiavelli. I have no doubt that colonial Brits achieved what they set out to. So much so the gullible naive victims of hate called desis or Indians , still continue to admire the white skin as something noble and wonderful without regard to history or facts.
England is credited in our history text books with the contemporary Industrial revolution of the 1800s. We are taught how British revolutionised the world through cotton spinning, by introduction of steam engines, iron making and invention of machine tools including the printing press.
I place here some points that have long been suppressed from text books and history primarily because it spoke about the glory of India and her past achievements in science. The effect is that colonial British strike awe and wonder in the numbed Indians and white skin has become adorable. Even after independence, the Britished leaders of Congress believed in the glory of the British and refused to look into the erased roots of the land. Just a tokenism of desi dress and a cap were enough for them to claim the legacy of heritage while systematically annihilating traditions for power. Mahatma Gandhi understood the paradox in the congress party so demanded its unwinding on India receiving independence.
What was India when the British arrived? Sunderland wrote on that rich India which attracted European pirates (now hailed by distorians as reformers, path breakers and similar nonsense):
“ This wealth was created by the Hindus’ vast and varied industries. Nearly every kind of manufacture or product known to the civilised world, nearly every creation of Man’s brain and hand, existing anywhere, and prized either for its utility or beauty, had long long been produced in India. India was a far greater industrial and manufacturing nation than any in Europe or than any other in Asia. Her textile goods, the fine products of her looms, in cotton, wool, linen and silk were famous over the civilised world. So were her exquisite jewlry and precious stones, cut in every lovely form. So were her lovely pottery, porcelain, ceramics of every kind, quality, colour and beautiful shape. So were her fine works in metal, iron, steel, silver and gold. She had great architecture equal in beauty to any in the world. She had great engineering works. She had great merchants, great businessmen, great bankers and 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 civilised countries. Such was the India which British found when they came.”
Am sure that these words would be called canards by many Indians thanks to the modern English education that cut off indianess from Indian education. Pl read here an earlier article on this topic. But why did many Europeans set sails to reach India? Columbus to Vasco da Gama. If one thought they planned charity voyages, one need to see proof. We shall talk on the high standards of material India specifically now.
Will Durant in his Story of civilisation wrote on India:
"Something has been said about the chemical excellence of cast iron in ancient India, and about the high industrial development of the Guptatimes, when India was looked to, even by Imperial Rome, as the most skilled of the nations in such chemical industries as dyeing,
It’s a fact that the Great East Indians were impoverished and their achievements were snuffed out because of the greed on Britishers. Have taken up metallurgy, cotton industry and ship building as a token to study colonial impact in Indian industry.
Wootz Steel
The iron pillar in Delhi is well known. For its pureness and anticorroding nature despite centuries having passed by. The longer 42 feet iron pillar of Dhar near Indore in Madyapradesh is lesser known but spell bounds science historians as till today technology of such finesse is yet to be invented. But
have you ever heard of this marvel of technology called Wootz steel ? Was this ever taught in any text book in India?
This Tamil method of crucible steel production was invented by Cheras in the sixth century BC or earlier. Wootz came from the tamil word Urukku. This pioneering steel alloy was also known as Ukku, Hindvi steel, Hinduwani steel, Teling steel and Seric Iron. Exported throughout the world, this was known as the World’s Finest Steel.
These high carbon steel which was used to make the famous Damascus swords was responsible for the famed Damascus steel industry and the swords of the Sikhs. The mystery to the Damascus swords were found in 1980s. Check
Proof of wootz steel factories in Kodumanal in Tamilnadu, Golconda in Telangana, Karnataka and SriLanka are now available. The 12th century Arab traveller Edrisi mentions that Hinduwani steel as the best in the world. Cyril Stanley Smith in his History of Metallography says that the use of high carbon alloys were not known to the west earlier and Wootz steel played a major part in the development of English, French and Russian metallurgy.
Despite the attempts of Europeans to understand this secret steel making process, they failed. Even scientist Michael Faraday tried to unravel the mystery, failed but came to wrong conclusions.
Whatever happened now to this famed steel? The liberal British killed the industry by banning its production as they felt their steel industries back in UK can not stand up to the standards of wootz steel. The artisans whom we can address as technologists in today’s parlance were all either murdered or sentenced to prison. Hundreds of industries were brought down in India so the pride of Indian Industries will be vaporised from history and the British will be known as pioneers in modern steel production and also the British industrial revolution can claim credit as base for the modern industrial civilisation. Such a social subterfuge was never seen before or after this. No trace of the wootz steel technology exists now except some vestiges in museums and so does the silent brutal suppression of an industry that rocked the world for over ages. So much for the hatred of British rulers over native Indians they even ordered the destruction of Wootz steel swords in toto after the 1857 rebellion against them.
Not just in steel making, India was a master class in all forms of metallurgy. Silver, copper, gold, brass and zinc skills attracted the world to India. Through tha arms act of 1878, colonialists restricted India’s ability to mine. Later after the 1857 rebellion, closed down all the mines. But didn’t forget to take back to England the best works not just of metals but of precious stones most of which are now part of British crown jewellery and the British museums.
Cotton
Recent excavations in Mehrgarh date earliest cotton cultivation in India and its use to 5000 BC. The Indus Valley civilisation of 3000 BC has proof of its existence, cultivation and use. Hindu poetry of 1500 BC has references to cotton. Herodotus a Greek historian defines Indian cotton in 5000 BC as a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of a sheep. Marco Polo, Vasco da gama, Strabo , Arrian and many Chinese travellers have too spoken on the Indian cotton fabric as a superior product. Alexander the Great and his troops were believed to have worn cotton during their invasion of India as they were extremely comfortable. No wonder Indian cotton was exported since ancient times.
During the early 16th century through the 18th century, the largest manufacturing industry in the sub continent was cotton. Production of piece goods, calicos and muslins were in vogue. India’s share of world cotton trade was 25% of world trade. India’s cotton textiles were the most important manufactured goods in world trade in the 18th century, consumed from the Americas to Japan. Indian textiles dominated the Indian Ocean trade for centuries, were sold in the Atlantic Ocean trade and had a 38% trade in Western Africa trade, while Indian calicos were a major force in Europe and Indian textiles accounted for 20% of British trade with Southern Europe in early 18th century.
The East India company was importing a quarter of a million pieces into Britain from India by 1664. Same company introduced cotton prints in Britain in 1690s. Imported fabrics of Calicoes, manufactured in Kozhikode then called Calicut were popular with the British poor. In 1721 these calicoes because of their superior quality and cheapness threatened the British manufacturers. So in 1721, British Parliament passed the Calico Act that banned the product for clothing and domestic uses. Britain started the policy of protectionist measures like bans and tariffs to restrict imports from India . Broadberry and Gupta in
amplified how the East India Company deindustrialised India so India can become a market for capital goods. British by crookish means forcibly opened the Indian market for British goods by selling them in India without tariffs and duties while Indian products were heavily taxed. Raw cotton was imported into Britain without any tax while finished products were thrust on Indians with heavy import duty which poor Indians were forced to buy as local manufacturing has been strangled to death. A tariff of 70-80% was slammed on Indian textiles imported into free trade England while English textiles were almost duty free in India.
“Cotton A History”, published by New Internalists in 2007 concluded that high tariff against Indian textile workshops, British power through the East India company and British restrictions on Indian cotton imports transformed India from the source for textiles to a mere source for raw cotton.
In 1920s, Mahatma Gandhi launched the Khadi movement. Demanded a boycott of British cotton goods and asked people to wear simple Home spun clothes. India rose to the occasion and produced 16 million yards of Khadi in nine months, during the world war. The British declared Khadi as subversive. As was usual, British turned violent by confiscation and burning of stocks, jailing of workers.
Sven Beckert in Empire of Cotton proudly claims that wages in Lancashire were six times than those in India while productivity was three times higher. Read again. This means Indians produced the double for wages received. Kids were employed in those Lancashire factories under pitiable conditions and writers like DH Lawrence and Karl Marx were infuriated at the British claim of an industrial revolution. British had abolished slavery only in 1833 but yet they pat themselves as liberals for the calamity that wrecked on their own poor and on India.
Ship Building
The prowess of Indians especially those in her southern tip on ship building and sailing were unbelievably unmatched. King RajanRaja Chozhan was said to have matched with around 800-1000 ships during his conquest of South Asia. Vasco Da Gama writes that when he reached the Malabar coast he found many ships many times larger than his ship, then considered as the largest ship on all Europe.
In the book Foreign trade and commerce in ancient India, Prakash Charan Prasad writes on the indian shipbuilding expertise : Big ships were built. They could carry anywhere upwards of 500 in high seas. The Rajavalliya says that King Sinhaba of Bengal in 6th century BCE sent Prince Vijaya in a ship that accommodated 700 passengers. We also learn that Vijaya Pandian’s bride to Srilanka had 800 passengers on board. The Samuddha Vanija Jakarta claims a hindu ship with 1000 carpenters. There were 700 merchants in the ship that travelled from Broach to Srilanka carrying an incarnation of Buddha, Supparaka Bodhisat claim texts. All these were achieved long ago, very long ago.
India had the most advanced maritime network in the world even thousands of years ago. Many harbours on the coast line, maritime compasses, planked ships, trained navigators, ambitious traders were proof of a huge ship building industry. The Yuktialpataru is a classic book on ships and its technicalities that classified ships on different parameters. Stephen Knapp’s contribution in India’s maritime history is revealing. He refers to Rig Veda which approximately belonged to 3000 BCE as mentioning the sailing capacity of Vedic Indians across the globe. Even Atharva Veda mentions on sailing by Indians.
Almost all our epics and puranas refer to ships and sailing. The Ramayana refers to merchants returning from far off lands with gifts for their kings. In the Máhabharatha, Sahadeva is found conquering islands by travelling in ships. These were not one off the cuff references. The epics were replete with references to marine endeavours and enterprises of people. There are many references in Sangam literature of Tamils such as Silapadhikaram, Manimekalai, Maduraikanji, pattinapali, Ahananooru, Purananooru too. Shipping and ship building were intertwined with the cultural and economic life of people.
Returning to pre British and British era of ship making it is relevant to recollect the words of French writer in his book Le Hindu in 1811 : “Hindus were forefront of ship building and even today they can teach a thing or two lessons to the Europeans. The British learnt a lot of things on ship buildings from the Hindus. There is a blend of unity and beauty in Indian ships and they are examples of handicrafts of Hindus and their patience”. Yet the British back in England wanted to stop using Indian ships for reasons of ego and began to prevail on East India company not to use Indian ships despite the fact they were sturdy and cheaper wrote Col Walker. It was said that when Indian ships reached English shores they will create a panic amongst the British as if they have seen a fleet of enemy ships had arrived for an attack. It is this peevishness that forced British act nasty on ship building industry.
The Indian ship building industry was huge. Not just the ships. During 1736 and 1863, around 300 ships were built in Mumbai alone. In Hoogly about 275 ships were raised. Other ship building centres were Sihat, Chittagong, Dacca, etc. Many joined the royal fleet. The East India company had an India made ship named Dariya Daulat which worked for 87 years with any repairs compared to the lifetime of a British or an European ship which was around 12 years. Thousands were employed in this industry that set a benchmark of excellence at that point of time.
Despite India’s maritime contribution to the world and specifically to British economy, on the recommendations of a committee led by one Robert Peel, the British set about to dismantle India’s ship building business. A law was passed in 1814 by British parliament by which Indians lost right to become British sailors and it became compulsory to employ Brits as three fourths of a crew , a ship without a British master was not permitted into the country and only British ships made in England were allowed in. Initially high taxes were forced on Indian ships and later Indian ships were discriminated for trade. This way the Queen of the western world killed the Queen of the eastern seas said Sir William Digby.
As British began monopolising commerce on sea it can be concluded that British extinguished the famed Indian ship building industry. The Hindus were not permitted to organise merchant marines of their own, all Indian goods must be compulsorily carried by British bottoms and building of ships which gave thousands employment for centuries was banned. Some may have heard of freedom fighter VO Chidambaranar who worked to revive Indian maritime but was arrested and ruthlessly punished by the Brits. Despite these gruesome actions, it’s to the success of British creative subterfuge, some Indians today give credit to colonial British for positives in Indian economic story.
British rule was the gravest criminal exploitation of one nation on another. But for this criminality, Britain would not have become an economic super power. But to claim moral high ground and then blame India’s grievances on her ignorance and superstition is nothing but artful strategy to cover up the art of sinning and greed for gain British practiced on India.
(To be continued)
Adding to this is that introduction of Modern so called Scientific medicine to India lead to the demolition of the existing health care system and pharma industry based on Ayurveda using multiple herbal crops and herbo mineral medicine. This took away the business of many farmers and aboriginals.
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