The Anglicist-Orientalist controversy; a good cop/bad cop strategy? The Good cop/bad cop is a team strategy of negotiation where one person assumes a more threatening role of a bully while the other plays a compassionate and sympathetic part. http://negotiationboard.com/definitions/good-copbad-cop/ as accessed on 11 June 2012. Through such apparently divergent means, the goal of convincing the third party is usually achieved with ease. In the following sections, I will explore the argument that the Anglicists and Orientalists were two seemingly conflicting approaches that came together and contributed to the colonial project in distinct but related ways. I will also explore the effects of the imperial ideologies that underlined their specific aims in the field of education. Moreover, these attempts were not isolated but took place through active collaboration between the colonisers and colonised. Specifically, the native elites also played a pivotal role in influencing colonial policies on education through interaction with the Anglicists and Orientalists. Acharya, Poromesh (1995), pp. 670-673 Building an ‘Empire-of-Opinion’ The initial period of British rule was one of unsure footing and they knew they could not afford to be too rash in consolidating such a vast empire in terms of geography, culture and heritage. The philosophy of compromise and understanding was also motivated by economic interests of gaining loyalty among natives who could then be used to keep the cost of labour down. The political goal involved less friction with the natives which would also enable better administration and rule. The natural recourse that came about was a close collaboration with the native elites, Brahmins and munshis who were to act as intermediaries and guide the British administrators through the murky waters of Indian society. The influence of this collaboration is evident in the idea of ‘Indianising British Rule’. Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (1999) p. 3. In this vision of the empire, the British saw themselves adhering to traditions, customs and rules followed by the South Asian rulers before them as that is what the Indian subjects expected them to do. Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of British India embraced the Orientalist Orientalism conventionally refers to the studies of Middle Eastern and East Asian culture, history and language by the Europeans and Americans. British orientalists in India took great interest in Indo-Islamic culture, history and language as means to understand the vast empire they had come to rule. However, critics later accused the Orientalists of an intellectual fascination led to the means becoming an end in itself; A romanticism with Indian knowledge that sidelined British motive of ‘improving the intellectual and moral standards’ of the natives. culture of encouraging Arabic and Sanskrit culture and later on helped found the Calcutta Madrassa in 1780. These were not simply benevolent acts but had a clear underlined motive of gaining a firm support from the rich and powerful people among natives who could assist them in administration. Somewhere in the backdrop was the idea that the traditionally educated scholars would gradually see the superiority of western learning and themselves take up key positions in disseminating new knowledge. This was known as the policy of engraftment. However, while western science continued to remain an elusive component of education, Orientalist philosophy gained popularity and a group comprising of high officials such Thomas Munro, John Malcolm and Mounstuart Elphinstone began advocating the imperialist ideology of ‘empire of opinion’. Ibid. p.9 Their shared belief was that the British Empire could stand on firm ground only till they were not challenged by the Indian subjects. To secure their good opinion, they thought it would be beneficial to work closely with the munshis and rejuvenate the ancient great civilisation which had come to fall on bad times in the recent past. Bringing in the ‘Moral Light of the West’ Kumar, Krishna (2005), pp: 49-72. From the beginning of British rule, a different vision of the empire didn’t seem to fit in with the Orientalist view. This view was to gain importance in the early nineteenth century and was based on Christian notions along with ideas on liberty and utilitarianism. Proponents of this vision were the Anglicists or Occidents Originally referred to Western countries comprising of Greco-roman civilisation. who believed they had a lot to teach and could not waste their efforts and money trying to placate superstitious backward natives. This reform movement came to the fore through 18th century evangelical Charles Grant who accused the Orientalists of being ‘passive spectators’ to Indian misery brought about by inhuman and irrational Hindu practices. Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (1999). p.5 Thus, the pressure to introduce western learning and English as mode of spread of knowledge came into being. It should be noted that Grant’s confidence about English being accepted by the natives and its significance in providing ‘direct access to superior ideas of western literature and science’ came from the Orientalist studies about the rise of Persian language in India. During the earlier Mughal reign, Hindus had not only learnt but also spread Persian language far and wide. Grant was sure that English would gain similar popularity if given priority. The differences in opinion between the Orientalist and Anglicist educational views found their way to the 1813 Charter Act in section 43 to set apart atleast one lakh rupees of its revenue and apply these funds ‘to the revival and improvement of literature, and the encouragement of the learned natives of India, and for the introduction and promotion of a knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India.’ Ibid. p.7 This ambiguous statement would soon become the point of contention and debate in 1835. Grant’s notions gained weightage with the founding of Hindu College in 1816 by a group of wealthy Hindus with an aim to introduce the Calcutta youth to western learning with emphasis on English along with Bengali. Ibid. p.14 One can observe that forces within the society were also moulding policies and decisions of the colonisers rather than being passive onlookers. Figures like Rammohun Roy had their own reasons to promote western education, which ironically went against the thoughts of people like Radhakant Deb and Ram Camul Sen who were strong advocates of Hindu orthodoxy and English education at the same time. Ibid. p.15 Matters come to a head: Arguments put forth by T.B Macaulay and H.H Wilson T.B Macaulay still evokes extremes of emotions and debates from historians for his famous minute of 1835, which thrashed the Orientalist sentiments in favour of Anglicist policies in no uncertain terms. However, an analysis of his arguments and the rebuttal by prominent Orientalist H. H Wilson requires understanding the background of the debate. Prior to 1830s the Orientalists dominated the General Committee of Public Instruction (CGPI) which had been created in 1823 to administer the Government’s education program in Bengal. Sirkin,Natalie Robinson and Sirkin, Gerald(1971) pp. 407-428 With the appointment of Charles Trevelyan in CGPI, resistance against the Orientalist policies grew and reached an impasse regarding allocation of lakh of rupees mentioned in the 1813 Act. Macaulay, the future brother-in-law of Trevelyan was then appointed to break the stalemate. To engage in the debate, one might compare the viewpoints from which the individual arguments were placed- The idea of ‘Intellectual improvement’ of the natives: The solution lay in exposing them to Western knowledge via English or their own traditional knowledge in Sanskrit and Arabic? The patriarchal notions of doing what was ‘best for the progress of the natives’: Macaulay’s idea of exposure to European sciences vs Wilson’s idea of reviving native culture and knowledge to make the natives more receptive to British culture and ethics. Economic considerations: printing English books which were in demand, or printing Western Knowledge in Oriental languages which had a better chance of being more easily accepted and understood. Perspective of liberty: Macaulay’s liberal ideas allowed to him to argue that enabling access of superior knowledge to the Indians would free them from the shackles of irrationality, backward ideas and superstitions. Wilson, on the other hand argued that introduction of European sciences at the cost of withdrawing scholarships for native knowledge did not uphold the principles of justice and liberty so dear to the British. There is evidence to suggest that Macaulay’s arguments were mainly an extension of Trevelyan’s thoughts and constructed as follows: Macaulay, T. B. (1999), pp: 161-173. The lakhs of rupees were supposed to be used not only for ‘reviving literature in India’ but also for ‘introduction and promotion of a knowledge of sciences among inhabitants of the British Territories’. The latter initiative was suffering due to excessive importance to former. The Government’s main aim of ‘intellectual improvement’ of the natives who were ‘barbarous, superstitious and irrational’ could not be attained by vernacular languages which according to him had little intrinsic value, and translation of the works from English into so many dialects was next to impossible. The same argument was out forth for Sanskrit and Arabic, thus making English a supposedly natural choice which had ‘ready access to vast intellectual wealth’. Ibid, p. 166 The next argument attacked the Orientalist ideology of seeking co-operation of native public by teaching Sanskrit and Arabic. Macaluay held the view that this was hardly a reason since the natives themselves were keen on learning English. He substantiated his argument by citing the fact that while the natives were ready to pay to learn English, they had to be provided scholarships to engage in traditional learning. He further appealed to the economic value of western learning which was sure to provide employment to the natives while Sanskrit and Arabic did not have the power to remunerate individuals who took the trouble of acquiring proficiency in it. In this light, he accused the orientalist policy of misleading students by encouraging them to study subjects which were of no practical value cited the case of petition presented by students of Sanskrit college. Their grievance was about the futility of the education they received in terms of job prospects. Finally, he concluded that English should be made the language of knowledge dissemination. Scholarship for traditional languages was to be removed. The best the government could aim was to create a class of intermediaries between the rest of the population and British who would become the flag-bearers of English knowledge, virtue and ideals. H.H Wilson, an influential Orientalist, had served as secretary of CGPI till 1833 after which he resigned to become the chair of Sanskrit at Oxford. Macaulay’s minute evoked a strong rebuttal from him, the essence of it being based on the ideology of ‘empire-of-opinion’. More specifically, he countered Macaulay’s arguments along the following point of view: Wilson, H. H. (1999), pp: 205-22 Withdrawal of funding of scholarships from colleges teaching native knowledge was paramount of breach of trust that the British had carefully developed with the Indians. It would in Wilson’s terms ‘defeat the very purpose in view… the intellectual, moral and religious improvement of people of India’ by ‘impressing upon the minds of the natives that they and their rulers had conflicting feelings and interest.’ Ibid p. 206 It was an Anglicist assumption that the natives had no interest in their own language. According to Wilson, this was proven wrong when Macaulay’s minute provoked a petition signed by 8000 Mohemmedans stating their plea for continuance of the Madressa. Wilson argued that they were aware that withdrawing scholarship amounted to closing an institution because the students were heavily dependent on it. Stipends were a common norm even in Britain and Wilson saw even greater need to provide scholarships in India where these were often the only means of livelihood for the students. His next point was regarding the language of instruction. English, according to him, was too foreign a language to engage the natives in the knowledge of the west and the same had to be done in forms familiar to them. His belief was that the learned natives would gradually come to see the error in their practices and look up to western culture and learning. From a more practical aspect, he argued that the natives had a right to demand funding for the studies they deemed fit when they were the ones providing revenue to the British. His main argument was that the Indians would voluntarily and willingly accept the soundness of English culture via the ‘able pundits and maulvis, who should add English to Sankrit and Arabic, who should expose the absurdities of their own systems and advocate adoption of European knowledge.’ Ibid p. 216This would lead to a more fundamental change rather than a rudimentary grasp of English language which would not lead to inculcation of any values that they intended to spread. Conclusion One can observe that The Anglicists and Orientalists were not divided on that opinion of ‘downward-filtration’ theory wherein a select handful would go on to spread education throughout the society. Neither did they disagree on the superiority of English culture and knowledge. In fact as seen from Grant’s time, the vast data collected through oriental studies had provided the British with the understanding of Indian mentality and culture which allowed them to form policies in collusion with the native elite who had their own vested interests. Thus to conclude, dynamics of the society and economy were a greater force than individual Anglicist and Orientalist philosophy in the 1830s, both of which were based on the inherent superiority of western culture and attempts to socialise the Indian population to their code of conduct and belief. Also, common in their thought was the idea that mass education would be a futile attempt and the only recourse was to educate a handful of people who would disseminate the knowledge to the rest. However, the forces of the market and increased globalisation created a demand for English education by the lower strata of the society who saw economic value of knowing the language without absorbing the content of Western knowledge. The complexity continued in the neglect of vernacular languages as medium of instruction and introduction of subjects far removed from the realities of everyday life under the quest of improving the ‘moral intellect’ of natives. Evans, Stephen, (2002), pp. 260-81 Sticking my neck out, I would say that the efforts which were supposed to realise the ‘emergence of enlightened India from turmoil and darkness as English culture spread’ Zastoupil and Moir (1999), p. 53 instead created gaps in education still visible today. It would thus be justified to view Anglicism and Orientalism as two faces of colonial rule rather than forces in conflict. Kumar, Krishna (2005), p. 71 Indeed, the imperial dream shared by both was the same; While the Indians shaped and consolidated their ideas, the British had with them the important power of interpretation. Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (1999), p.53 Bibliography Acharya, Poromesh. Bengali 'Bhadralok' and Educational Development in 19th Century Bengal, Economic and Political Weekly , Vol. 30, No. 13 (Apr. 1, 1995), pp. 670-673 Evans, Stephen, Macaulay’s Minute revisited: Colonial language policy in nineteenth-century India, Journal of multilingual and multicultural development, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2002 Kumar, Krishna (2005), ‘Chapter 3, Appropriate Knowledge’, in Political Agenda of Education: A Study of Colonialist and Nationalist Ideas. Second Edition. New Delhi: Sage, pp: 49-72. Macaulay, T. B. (1999). 'Minute Recorded in the General Department by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Law Member of the Governopr-General's Council', Dated 2 February 1835', in Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (Ed.) The Great Indian Education Debate: Documents Relating to the Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy, 1781-1843. Surrey: Curzon Press, pp: 161-173. Sirkin,Natalie Robinson and Sirkin, Gerald. The Battle of Indian Education: Macaulay's Opening Salvo Newly Discovered, Victorian Studies , Vol. 14, No. 4 (Jun., 1971), pp. 407-428 Wilson, H. H. (1999). 'Letter from H. H. Wilson to the Editor of The Asiatic Journal Concerning the 'Education of the Natives of India', Dated 5 December 1835', in Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (Ed.) The Great Indian Education Debate: Documents Relating to the Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy, 1781-1843. Surrey: Curzon Press, pp: 205-22 Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (1999). 'Introduction', in Zastoupil, Lynn and Moir, Martin (Ed.) The Great Indian Education Debate: Documents Relating to the Orientalist-Anglicist Controversy, 1781-1843. Surrey: Curzon Press pp. 1-72