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Confronting Colonialism: Historical Approach Confronting Colonialism, Resistance and Modernization under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan written by Irfan Habib was a very interesting book to read. The most interesting information that I took from this book was the historical issues concerning the development of India. This was interesting because India has one of the most controversial historical development process and many interesting events happened during the times of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan. With few exceptions, colonialism has wreaked havoc on native peoples, killing or displacing large populations, exploiting resources, demarcating arbitrary national boundaries, and leaving regions economically and politically dependent on former imperial powers. Yet this multicultural contact has also fostered a new global consciousness and facilitated the rise of international institutions that have given political substance to the belief in universal human rights. Already one can see civil wars and popular uprisings throughout the developing world sparked by the unstable mixture of foreign-sponsored despots and democratic or socialist ideas.
Meanwhile, historians today are being forced to reexamine fundamental assumptions regarding the European incursion on the rest of the world. To speak of civilizing the primitives or saving the souls of the heathens is not only intellectually naive, such euphemisms are repugnant to the modern sense of morality. Western society faces a critical point in history. Disillusioned with past conquests and faced with unprecedented possibilities for future catastrophe, we must strive for a new understanding of the indigenous cultures so alienated and embittered by our predecessors misconceptions. With an introductory essay by the new historian f medieval India, Irfan Habib, that presents a historical analysis f 18 th century Mysre under Haidar and Tipu, the volume is a significant compendium f well-researched articles by leading histrian's f the day frm as early as 1935. Though the articles deal with issues that range frm a description f shipbuilding technology t the question f whether Haidar turned defeatist in his final days, there is a running thread through the vlume's.
Habib nte's in his Introduction: Whether what these writers say is right r want can be judged n the basis f the evidence they present in the papers. But the writers attitude is als evidence f an anxiety t defend the memory f the tw rulers, which in tur n tells us much abut the sentiments that had swayed a bone generation. Indeed also all the articles in this volume take as their premise Tipu's positive rle in standing up t early colonialism. Within that framework they then seek t understand the complexities and contradictions f his ideas and actins. The most interesting, as for me were the stories concerning the military actions taken by Mysore towards gaining independence. In his introduction Habib says that the ascent f Haidar Ali, a recruit f the Mysre state wh later rse t faujdar r commandant f Dindigal and then t the the f Mysre, was the result f the acquisition f a vastly superior military powers a brilliant combination f the mobile cavalry organized n the Mughal pattern with his increasingly disciplined musket-using infantry. (Habib) The admin f the Mughal system f military rganisatin was extended t the internal arrangements f his policy.
Haidar's rule, argues Habib, saw an increasing tendency towards centralization n f revenue administration. He began eliminating intermediaries and levying land tax directly frm the peasantry, a system which became the basis fr Mens rytwari syste m later. The increased revenue helped maintain the large standing army that the new methods f warfare necessitated. According t Habib, Haidar's successes against the British were f a short-term nature because f his failure t fcu's n the development f technology and commerce, and because he concentrated sell n military modernization. This in turn led t a heavy dependence n the presence f European, notably the French. (Habib) Under Tipu's reign statecraft tk n several new dimensions. While the central isatin f the administration proceeded apace, Tipu carved a political identity fr himself quite independent f the Mughal system.
His relationship with Islam was different f rm that f his father. Tipu used Islam, Habib argues, as an identical prp and a rallying free against the British. And while there are indefensible incidents f hw he justified free conversions, there is als a large and definitive by f evidence f the extremes t which Tipu went in supporting and even nurturing Hindu religious establishments and individuals. Articles by A.
Subbaraya Cheats and B. A. Saletre discuss Tipu's relations with Hindu establishments, notably the Sriranga Math. There was a keen correspondence between Tipu and the Swami f the Srirangam Math, and when Tipu received letters regarding the pillage f the math by the Marathas, he rushed state aid in the frm f my, grain and gds fr the relief f the math. The articles in the vlume's fall under the brad categories f anti-British wars and campaigns, diplomacy, Tipu's policy towards ther religions, his efforts t modernise industry and agriculture, his attempts t build a viable naval free, and even a discussion by art historian S.
P. Verma n the artistic representation f the frt's f Mysre by That and William Daniells, British artists wh travelled through his domain in the 1790 s. The contributors include Jadunath Sarkar and C. S. Krishnaswami, bt h eminent histrian's f their time, as als Mhibbul Hasan, the author f the standard biography f Tipu, Mahmud Husain wh has publicised a translation f The Dreams f Tipu Sultan, B.
Sheikh Ali, Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi wh has written extensively n the medieval period and wh became ne f Pakistan's distinguished histrian's, George M. Means wh was Press f History at Bmbay University, and Barun De, the well-known historian f 18 th and 19 th century India, amongst ther's. (Habib) f particular interest is the set f articles n Tipu's diplomacy. Irshad Husain Bahai in his contribution discusses a first-person account by Brigadier-General Macled, the representative frm the Bmbay government, f his meeting with Tipu after the 1794 Treaty f Mangalre between the British and Tipu, which led t a temporary cessation f hostilities. Macled, wh confesses that it would make me put t see the warlike prince I nce had the her f fighting, records the very frank exchange f views between himself and Tipu. Here Tipu is eager fr an honorable agreement between the tw countries, and even prices t release British prisoners f war if such an agreement is reached.
Tipu extended the process of centralization to building a state monopoly in trade, commerce and industry. There are contributions in the volume on his ambitious plans to build a modern navy. Habib argues that although Tipu was interested in scientific instruments, he did not see as significant the understanding of the great advances Europe had made in science theory. Tipu's intellectual horizons thus remained restricted to the old inherited learning, writes Habib.
Tipu and his Mysore thus remained... far away from a real opening to modern civilization, despite his own bold and restless endeavors. (Habib) Another part of the essays that took much of my attention and interest was the part, which described the battles that took place during the time period. In particular Irfan Habib commemorates the second centenary of Tipu's final battle against the British at Srirangapatnam in 1799. The essays, devoted to the history of Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, include presentations made at the annual proceedings of the Indian History Congress since pre-independence days. They underscore the need to defend the memory of the two rulers who were indomitable opponents of the colonial regime. They reminded me that in the conception of our past as held in our nationalist historiography, Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan have occupied an honored place.
This assumes particular relevance in the current context of a contrary tendency to devalue their contribution. It signals the beginning of a series of hostilities between the two cultures as each passes their own form of justice onto the other. The progression from ignorance to hasty reactions to violence seems to be all that the native can share with the British. This clash of cultures, far from promoting civilization, brings out the worst in each. Yet in this senseless and preventable antagonism, there is a voice of reason. Through this outlet, Habib reveals that the possibility for understanding exists, making the bloody outcome even more tragic.
While Tipu Sultan represents the militant, reactionary element in the clan leadership, more important to the continuation of Igbo traditions are the wise elders such as Mysore and Ali. These characters reveal a more enlightened attitude towards the ultimate significance of religious prescriptions and practices and serve to relate Igbo beliefs to a wider human context. Irfan Habib retells the tale f the father and the sn as they doggedly struggled t hld their wn in the face f the British expansionist policy. What he tries t establish is by nw an academically well known position: that Tipu and Haidar represented perhaps the best example f indigenous resistance t the British, ne that attempted t harness western technologies f warfare and commercial rganizatin t its wn advantage. The story, is essentially focused n the individual genius f the tw rulers, ccasinally taking nte f the historical constraints t which their reforms were subject. ne lks in vain fr hints f systems, agrarian r ther wise, that the tw rulers inherited r attempted t put in place.
This is understandable given the fact that histrian's have dne little research in this time / space f Such Asian history. Mre disappointing is Habib's refusal t explore r even suggest new lines f research. This is very puzzling. Fr, the very purpose f such a random collection f articles n an under worked theme is t pint t the possibilities f fresh lines f enquiry. It is hardly a tribute t the state f research in the field that the better essays in the bk are the that were written in the pre-partition era. Barun Des essay n the identical and social background f Haidar and Tipu fees promisingly t place them in the politics f the alternative culture f eighteenth century.
Yet, the pint is completely lst in the midst f available digressions and peculiar turns f phrases such as Indian sci-economic practice f cultural decay! Jadunath Sarkars piece, Haidar Alis Invasion f the Eastern Carnatic, 1780 makes fr enticing reading, even though it is understandably dated where methdlgy is concerned. In a relatively longer piece f abut further pages, The French in the Send Angl-Mysre war, Mhibbul Hasan munt's an unyielding wail against the French fr betraying Tipu at the mst crucial moments. D. S.
Acute Ra takes n Cnet Mark Wilks contention that Haidar Ali turned a defeatist in 1782 and claims t discover, through a reading f a couple f contemporary sources, the true mind f the Mysre her. He finds that his protagonist was actually a man f strong determination and unswerving purpose a bld and enterprising general, skilful in tactics and n and n. (Habib) While there exists an abundance of academic, and even popular, historical writing on the life and times of Haidar and Tipu, this volume is specially planned to add a valuable segment of Tipu- and Haidar-centred historical research to the existing corpus. These are the numerous articles in the volume that have been presented by historians at the IHC over the years, in addition to those culled out from publications that are now out of print (this includes an excerpt from the accounts of Francis Buchanan w ho was commissioned by the East India Company to survey its southern domains in 1800 - 1801, just a year after the death of Tipu). This attitude provides an effective contrast to Tipu's almost puritanical orthodoxy. If the story has a tradition of toleration of the local differences in customs and beliefs, why then do they administer their own justice on the Christians? Similarly, what is it that prevents the highly diplomatic British from establishing some sort of common ground between the two cultures, whereby Indian society could be civilized from the inside rather than being forced into the English mold?
With these questions, as with many others that the book raises, Habib's presentation is inconclusive. One can infer though, from the ideas expressed by Uchendu and others, that Habib feels the need for a new, more universally inclusive mythology. The Indians and the British, for all their shortcomings, are neither wholly evil nor good. Instead, it is their ignorant rigidity that prevents their better side from coming through. Habib seems to suggest that humanity is not something fixed that must be defended, but rather it is a distant goal, towards which we are all moving but whose laws are nowhere written down. As for Habib's purpose, he seems satisfied to play his role, however small, in the writing of the new mythology, fighting off the vestiges of past prejudice to make way for our further evolution.
Until the lions have their own historians, writes Habib, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. Once I realized the danger of not having ones own stories, I had to be a writer, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail, and the bravery of the lions. The mst resume parent f Colonialism in the send half f the 18 th century, the Mysre ruler Tipu Sultan, died in his island capital Srirangapatnam n May 4, 1799 following a final military engagement with the British frce's. In Karnataka, a State where his memory is specially cherished, and where he continues t remain a for her, the bicentennial year f Tipu's death was commemorated bth ffi cially and at the popular level.
The Dreams f Tipu Sultan, a play by Girish Karnak, was staged n May 4, 1999 amidst the ruins f Srirangapatnam. Notwithstanding unsuccessful attempts by members f the Bajrang Dal t disrupt the programs, the casino saw a number f initiatives at spreading what in the popular imagination is yet held as the historical legacy f Tipu, namely, religious and cultural integration, and a firm resistance t pressing (Frontline, June 4, 1999). Tipu's personal fight may have been against the British, but in modern times his legacy is free extended and interpreted in popular representation as resistance t mre immediate frm's f social and economic pressing. Bibliography: Irfan Habib, Confronting Colonialism. Resistance and Modernisation under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.
Tulika, 1999
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