Will Durant on India

“Nearly every kind of manufacture or product known to the civilised world—nearly every kind of 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 jewellery and her precious stones cut in every lovely form; so were her pottery, porcelains, 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 known civilised countries. Such was the India which the British found when they came.”

That’s a quotation from a little-known but ought-to-be-widely-known book written 84 years ago: ' The Case for India '  by Will Durant (of the 11-volume The Story of Civilisation fame). 

“Made in India” was the natural slogan of the past. 

Today we have to plead to “make in India”. 

What explains the wholesale collapse? 

Will Durant put the blame squarely on British exploitation of India? 

Separating the English from the British, he says, 

“The English are the best gentlemen on earth, the British are the worst of all imperialists.” 

His book marshals evidence to show how extensive was the destruction wrought by the imperialist Britain.

Durant has a way of digging out nuggets of information from extensive research and presenting them with a suddenness that surprises the reader. 

Casually as it were, he tells us that there were 7,000 opium shops in India operated by the British government, that two to four hundred thousand acres of India’s soil were given away to the growing of opium. 

On Gandhi: 

“In his first year in England, he read 80 books on Christianity.”

His account of the levels of poverty that prevailed in India is perhaps the most disturbing. 

While Britain stole enough wealth from India to make the Industrial Revolution possible, the percentage of taxes as related to the gross produce was more in India than in any other country. 

Famine became a feature of Indian life. 

As many as 15 million people died in the famines of 1877, 1889, 1897 and 1900. 

(A bigger one was to come after Durant’s visit when the British took away all the foodgrains they could get from India as supplies to World War II.)

There is a doomsday echo to Durant’s words: 

“The British ownership of India has been a calamity and a crime. This is quite unlike the Mohammedan domination: those invaders came to stay; what they took in taxes and tribute they spent in India, developing its industries and resources, adorning its literature and art... (Under British rule) I saw a people—one-fifth of the human race—suffering poverty and oppression bitterer than any to be found elsewhere on the earth. I was horrified. I had not thought it possible that any government could allow its subjects to sink to such misery”. 

That last point seems applicable to successive governments after Independence as well. 

The misery of vast sections of people in the slums, on the banks of polluted water bodies, in unplanned urban beehives ever waiting for catastrophes would horrify Durant if he were to visit us again.

An oddity in the narrative provides an ironic link to today’s ultra-nationalists who say that all Indians are Hindus. 

They are, of course, in a geographic sense—as inheritors of the Sindhu (Indus) valley civilisation. 

The word has since become wholly religious, as distinct from geographical, so much so that Durant sounds outdated or eccentric when he talks of Hindu industries vs British industries, there being not one Hindu on the Railway Board of those days, third-class passengers in trains being Hindus and Gandhi being the leader of 320 million Hindus. 

Narendra Modi would never claim to be, or want to be, the leader of 1.2 billion Hindus. 

He wants to be the leader of 1.2 billion Indians. 

Which underlines why the two words are not interchangeable.

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AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK :

" The Case for India "

Will Durant

" As early as 1783 Edmund Burke predicted that the annual drain of Indian resources to England without equivalent return would eventually destroy India. 

From Plassey to Waterloo, fifty-seven years, the drain of India's wealth to England is computed by Brooke Adams at 2.5 to 5 Billion Dollars. 

He adds, what Macaulay suggested long ago, that it was the stolen wealth from India which supplied England with the free capital for the development of mechanical inventions, and so made possible the Industrial Revolution.

In 1901 Dutt estimated that one half of the net revenues of India flowed annually out of the country, never to return.

In 1906 Mr. Hyndman reckoned the drain at

$ 40,000,00 a year.

A.J. Walson valued it at one-tenth of the total annual production of India.

Montgomery Martin, estimating the drain at

$15,000,00 a year in 1838, calculated that that these annual sums, retained and gathering interest in India, would amount in half century to $40,000,000,000.

Though it may seem merely spectacular to juggle such figures, it is highly probable that the total wealth drained from India since 1757, if it all had been left and invested in India, would now amount, at a low interest, to$400,000,000,000.

Allow for money reinvested in India, and a sum remains easily equivalent to the difference between the poorest and the richest Nations of the world.

The same high rate of taxation which had bled India to perhaps a mortal weakness, might have done her no permanent injury if the wealth so taken had all been returned into the economy and circulation of the country; but bodily withdrawn from her as so much of it was, it has acted like a long continued transfusion of vital blood.

" So great an economic drain out of the resources of the land ", says Dutt, " would impoverish the most prosperous countries on earth; it has reduced India to a land of famines more frequent, more widespread and more fatal, than any known before in the history of India, or of the world ".   (pp- 29,30)

WILL DURANT AND INDIA

THE SAINT WHO DOCUMENTED FACTS AND IDEAS
Documenting facts as they are without any parochial, personal, social, cultural, religious or ideological prejudice for posterity is one of the greatest services 
Facts are god’s way of telling the truth and make it understandable for everyone
In that WILL DURANT is a great saint who documented history, philosophical ideas and biographies of great minds and god blessed him with a great and cooperative wife in ARIEL DURANT. He spent more than 50 years to write his books after serious documentation and compiling in an age when the computers were not there.
Book Review: The Case For India - Will Durant - 1930

source: http://reflectionsvvk.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-revew-case-for-india-will-durant.html

The Case For India written by a famed American Historian, Will Durant scores


"This was not the destruction of a minor civilization produced by an inferior people. It ranks with the highest civilizations of history, and some would place it at the head and summit of all - like Keyserling.... when the British cannons attacked.... the Hindus surrendered at once lest one of the most beautiful creations of mankind be destroyed. Who, then, were the civilized people? (The Hindus or The English?) The British conquest of India was the destruction of a high civilization by a trading company utterly without scruple or principal, overrunning with fire, sword, bribery, murder a country temporarily disordered and helpless"

"India was a far greater industrial and manufacturing nation than any in Europe or Asia, producing textile, Metal works, Jewelry, Precious Stones, Pottery, Architecture. She had great merchants, businessmen, ship building - nearly every kind of manufacture known to the civilized world was already in India"

The book describes in graphic detail the atrocities of the so-called "civilized" Britishers (refer definition below!!!!!) in the chapter "The rape of a continent". The difference is that he has quoted numbers and figures; unassailable facts and laws that graphically illustrate the systematic destruction of all kinds of local enterprise. For example, produce was taxed at 50%; the documented fact that tax rates were the highest in India across the world; Sample this:

"The fundamental principle of the British has been to make the whole Indian nation subservient... they have been taxed to the utmost limit; the Indians have been denied every honor, dignity or office".... F J Shore testifying to the house of commons in 1857

"Under their dependence on the British - Oudh and Karnatic, 2 of the noblest provinces in India, were plunged into a state of wretchedness with which no part of the Earth has anything to compare" - Lt Col Brigs, 1830

"The Governments' assessment does not even leave enough food for the cultivator to feed his family" - Sir William Hunter, 1875

"The Rajahs had taxed the people much less severely than the British.... "

"The national debt of India rose from $35,000,000 in 1792 to $3,500,000,000 in 1929. These figures tell the tale"

The book is littered with such graphic details - all taken from western and primarily British sources. It examines how the economic fabric of the country was destroyed, how for example its textile trade was wrecked; its impact on the prosperity of the nation. It also examines the specious claims of education improvement - there were more schools in India before the advent of the civilized British; how the number of schools diminished and were discouraged; It looks at the now-famous example of the British gift of railways - in the USA, railways were used largely for goods transport, whereas in India their function was for the imperial class travels; It examines how every activity of the British - right down to the bullets used to suppress revolts were exacted from Indians; It looks at the wages paid to Indians; It details tariffs of 80% on Indian products as opposed to zero tariffs on British imports; "The result was that Manchester and Paisley flourished and Indian industries declined. India was transformed into a purely agricultural country, and her mineral wealth was not explored; artisans etc were forced to live off the land; no competition was to be allowed to English industries- Kohn". The book looks at the balance of trade, which was heavily against India and gives numbers - hard core numbers of the draining of wealth from what was one of the richest and most civilized regions of Earth. It looks at how local schools were destroyed by the British; it looks at British salaries and how the wealth from India went to England through salaries and pensions - quoting hard core numbers

So far, the book has dealt with what is largely unknown to us. From here, the book moves into familiar territory, and examines the powers of the so-called democratic institutions - the limited vote-bank; the powers of the British viceroy / governors etc to overrule the local bodies; how the local "elected" bodies had no powers; It looks at the divide and rule policy of the British, with separate voting for each community -issues which have been beautifully examined by Jaswant Singh, Bipin Chandra in their books, so I shall not dwell much on that point.

Then there is the chapter of Mahatma Gandhi, which first gives a biography of his life till 1930; But even here you find priceless tit-bits: "the British connection has made India more helpless... politically and economically... no jugglery of figures can explain away the evidence of the skeletons in many villages... I have no doubt that England and the towns of India will have to answer ... if there is a God above, for this crime against humanity which is perhaps unparalleled in history - Mahatma Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi"

Then it goes on to detail in horrific stomach-turning detail the atrocities: "Hindus to crawl on their bellies in the street"; school-boys flogged in public; prisoners bound with ropes and kept in open trucks for 15 hours; poured lime on naked bodies; cut off electric supplies to Hindu houses; airplanes to drop bombs on laborers; The perpetrator of this very civilized, decent, morally consistent, gentle behavior was retired on a pension; exonerated; public supporters- all civilized, no doubt - raised $150000 as support... "There was not one bullet wound in the back - each bullet had struck home in the chest; not one Indian ran; there was passive submission in the highest forms of non-violence"... The brutal, inhuman retaliation of the British, for which they would very likely have been hanged in their own country, made the passive resistance movement one of the bravest, most active forms of struggle - a struggle unlike any other anywhere on Earth.

"I felt my skin creep and my hair stand on end as I saw those brave men... testicles crushed... body battered and broken... chest battered... every one whom I talked to gave the same stories of fiendish beating, torturing, thrusting lathi in anus, dragging.... what has become of the English Honour... English Justice - Miss Madeline Slade"

A book that is a must read for all Indians...

(Just to remind ourselves as to what being civilized means:)
civ•i•lized (sv-lzd)
Having a highly developed society and culture.; Showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement; humane, ethical, and reasonable; Marked by refinement in taste and manners; cultured; polished.


civilization
Pronunciation: /ˌsɪvɪlʌɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/
(also civilisation)
the stage of human social development and organization which is considered most advanced;
the process by which a society or place reaches an advanced stage of social development and organization.;

This book systematically de-constructs all arguments in favor of colonial rule and its advantages. First, India was formed by the British: let us qualify that statement - India was formed as a response to the brutality of the British (in fact, a cursory glance at Indian history - and world history - will reveal that India has been under one rule at least 4-6 times for long periods, and has flourished); Education: there was better educational set-up before the British - and modern education would have come anyway (it should be remembered that India was a massive power with trade links to the entire world - hence simple logic dictates that eventually, modern techniques and methods would have come to our borders!) just as smelting, musket making, and various other techniques found their way to our nation. It similarly destroys all supposed advantages and exposes the morally corrupt nature of the Raj, which in its nature was the very antithesis of the claims to civilization that were professed by its practitioners.

And lastly, this book brings home the fact that among all the ancient civilizations, the Indian civilization stands as the only civilization to have survived all through history - virtually unchanged. We were there during Babylon, we were there during the time of the Greeks, we were there when Rome was at its height, we were there when Europe was rising... and today, we are still present... with the same culture, same ethos, worshipping the same Gods as we used to 3500 - 5000 years ago, eating virtually the same kind of food... virtually unchanged. We are indebted to the pain of our forefathers, the tortures they bore, the indignities they went through - just so we, their children, could breathe free and with pride, justifiable pride in order that a new, modern India can be built. We owe it to them to make India truly modern, forward looking and progressive, strong - economically, socially and militarily. It is a book that will shake you to the core, brings tears to your eyes and leave you speechless. No wonder, then, that this book had been banned in the UK!

11th February
An internet interaction with a gentleman of opposite views has just made me realize how bad our history education has been... people- Indians - just do not realize what British rule meant; and actually regard it as a boon! I wonder what they will say to the sacrifices of Gandhiji, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak etc! Not only that, they are laying all the blame on Indian shoulders - and pointing to the current rampant corruption as evidence, totally ignoring the advances we have made since Independence in every sphere of life - take the example of Famines - all they have to do is compare famines before and after Independence! I am heartened by one fact, though - I have met a large number of Indians with views similar to mine, and with knowledge of our past that is much better than mine. Sometimes I wish we could make the British return the Koh-i-noor, ask them to apologize for their deeds (which they have never done - and some nations have done for their misdeeds) and so on and so forth. Then I remember my teachings - forgive and move on. But forgive does not mean forget!