Summary
Title: The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj 1600-1947
Author: Denis Judd
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192803581
Pro:
• Easy to read and a good introduction to non-students
Con:
• Relatively short, so doesn't have as much depth as other books on the subject
Description:
• Introduction to the history of the British Raj - British rule in India
• Covers over four hundred years of conflicts and contradictory history
• Asks whether British rule was more of a benefit or a burden to India
Book Review
It was not without reason that many called India the "jewel" in the British crown - but was India a region to be subjugated and exploited, or a partner to be helped and advanced? Herein lies the contradiction of the British Raj explored in The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj 1600-1947 by Denis Judd, professor of British Imperial, Commonwealth, and Indian History at the London Metropolitan University
Judd's goal is not simply to provide a brief historical overview of the period of Indian history during which the subcontinent was dominated by Britain, but also to explain some of the serious consequences that ensued for both countries and which linger even today.
One might well wonder how Britain ever even gained control of the Indian subcontinent in the first place. It certainly wasn't a largely empty land like the North American continent, readily colonized. Filled with large numbers of people who held their own ancient culture and religion, how could British forces manage to incorporate India into the Empire? In a word: statecraft.
- "It was often far more effective to negotiate deals with the Mughals or with local potentates than to rush in with guns blazing and swords flashing. Statecraft, and the patient playing-off of one group against another, was often an excellent and economical way forward. So was the encouragement of collaboration between a variety of Indian elites and groups with the English authorities. Indeed, it is arguable that, even at its hight of its power, the Raj relied upon the collaboration of the ruled with the rulers just as much as upon military strength."
Unfortunately for India, that "playing-off of one group against another" served to exacerbate religious differences which continue to plague them to this day. Because of it, British domination of India was not done in spite of Indians but rather because of them - and only lasted as long as enough people in India found British rule to be more beneficial than not. It wasn't just the elites, either - military power in India relied heavily upon tens of thousands of Indian volunteers. Once they started to decide that it brought too many problems, British rule was effectively over, even if they didn't realize it.
Was there any advantage to British rule? Absolutely. It is true that the British East India Company may have seemed very conservative to people in Britain at the time and to people everywhere today, but at the same time it was regarded as a force for radical reforms to Indian traditionalists. The British aggressively attacked traditional practices like female infanticide, suttee, and Thugee cults while at the same time introducing things like railroads which threatened to force people of different castes into closer and unacceptable levels of personal contact.
Thus, whether British rule was progressive or reactionary depends a lot upon one's perspective. Despite leading to many reforms, though, British rule also served to strengthen many conservative elements and helped lead to the development of a nationalistic form of Hinduism. Many saw these as necessary in order to combat the encroachment of foreign influences from Britain and Christianity.
So, was the British Raj ultimately a benefit or a burden to India? That's not an easy question to address and there may not be a final answer to it. Judd certainly doesn't try to offer one, but he does offer an expansive look at what the Raj was like, how it came about, and how both British and Indians perceived it.
Britain had longer and deeper contacts with India than just about any other Imperial possession - a fact which means that Judd's book is necessarily lacking in a lot of information, yet he does manage to cover a great deal in a relatively short book. This is a subject that most people aren't familiar with, but with this book they would have a very good introduction.
