Hist 4053: Class and Caste in British India
(October 30, 2003)
Desmond King, “Why America is NOT an Empire: And Why this Matters”
Mon, Nov 3, 5pm at Old Main
Class in Britain
• Peers: hereditary nobility [Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron]
• Baronets: hereditary knights
• Landed Gentry: social status, hereditary estates, lifestyle of leisure
• Commoners
• Decline of British Aristocracy: 1880s onward
--changing role of agriculture
--Reform Act of 1884-85: widened franchise
--WWI: disproportionate aristocratic losses
• Primogeniture
--younger sons in search of a place
Hierarchy in Anglo-India
• Most Anglo-Indians middle class
• Protocol and precedence
• David Cannadine, Ornamentalism: “individual social ordering often took precedence over collective racial othering” (Cannadine 10)
• British India replicated a hierarchy fading in Britain itself
• honors:
--Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George: CMG, KCMG, GCMG
--Most Exalted Order of Star of India (est. 1861)
--Most Eminent Order of Indian Empire (est. 1878)
--Imperial Order of Crown of India (est. 1878)
--Most Excellent Order of Br Empire (est. 1917)
“Rustrum Beg of Kolazai—slightly backward Native State—
Lusted for a CSI—so began to sanitate
Built a Gaol and Hospital—nearby built a City drain
Till his faithful subjects all thought their ruler was insane . . .
. . . Then the birthday honours came. Sad to state and sad to see
Stood against the Rajah’s name nothing more than CIE.” (Kipling)
George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925)
“My name is George Nathaniel Curzon,
I am a most superior person,
My cheek is pink, my hair is sleek,
I dine at Blenheim once a week.”
• Viceroy of India 1899-1905
• 1905 partition of Bengal
Imperial Durbars (assemblages)
• 1877: Victoria crowned Empress of India
• 1903: King-Emperor Edward VII
• 1911 Coronation Durbar: King-Emperor George V and Queen Mary
Hierarchy in Indian Society: Caste
• 4 varnas
--Brahmins (priestly caste)
--Kshatriyas (warriors)
--Vaishya (cultivators)
--Shudras
--untouchables (outside caste system)
• jati: kin networks within varna
• from traditional fluidity to inflexibility
--1871 census