Lahore Shooting Case: CMG March 18, 1886

An account of a shooting case. A British soldier (Higgins) pulls out a pistol when a sugar cane seller asks for payment. A sepoy attempts to subdue him, but is shot. This transcripton of the trial includes three Indian witnesses, the sugar-cane seller, a man identified as "Dhoondu," and a man identified as Abdul Rahman.

CMG March 17, 1886: Sat Sabha meeting (scrap poss. by Rudyard Kipling

Quite a number of the "Week in Lahore" scraps in the Civil & Military Gazette in this time period could be authored by Kipling. This one in particular, on the meeting of the Sat Sabha group in Lahore, seems a likely candidate. Kipling's native informant may be Nikka Singh, an assistant at the CMG whose names crops up from time to time in its pages (Nikka Singh was also known as Bhai Nikka Singh -- a supporter of the Singh Sabha movement).

The CMG (Kipling?) writes:

"The chronicler gives no account of the prayers or the speeches but he is great on the poetry. One of the Sabha lecturers quoted it all of a sudden and before the Sabha could stop him. Lalla Behari Lal, Manager of the Sabha, died last year--hence the verses, which run as follows: 

Sat Sabha only founded by you
And worked with success for years
Is left behind, since months a few
To nought--sigh and to shed tears
You were of great men of time
Your Gurmukhi works all remind us,
And a pious saint of the clime.
We see you on a turn behind us.
[...] 

"Properly expanded, there is material for two good verses in the last breathless rush of rhyme. 'A pious saint on a turn' is a new and striking simile, evidently borrowed from some account of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, who, as every one knows was a pious saint done to a turn. The pity of it is that Lalla Behari Lall was the author of some really excellent vernacular hymns for the use of the Sat Sabha, and in some places evidently inspired if not suggested by the Psalms of David. 

The commentary on the poem makes me think this must have been authored by Kipling. (Kipling's boss, the editor Stephen Wheeler, had little interest in poetry. Also, since this poem would have been delivered in Punjabi, the rhyming couplets in the translation given above may have been assembled by Kipling.

* * *
The Sat Sabha movement was connected to the Brahmo Samaj movement, but had a distinctively Punjabi emphasis and focus:

Led by Behari Lal, the secretary of the Sabha, they debated and argued in favour of Punajbi. Behari Lal`s reputation as a poet and composer of popular bhajans strengthened his advocacy of the Punjabi language.Behari Lal wrote hymns with two goals in mind : first to create devotional songs in praise of a theistic God and secondly to provide alternatives to those traditional songs of Punjabi women which he and other reformers considered immoral. 

Under the leadership of Behari Lal, the Sat Sabha opened a small school in 1882. This school taught in Punjabi using the Gurmukhi script. The Sabha also presented a memorandum to the Hunter Educational Commission in which they argued their standpoint on language and education.The Sat Sabha`s advocacy of Punjabi made it one of the few groups outside of the Sikh community to espouse this language in the debates of the late nineteenth century. 

The second major leader of the Sat Sabha was Pandit Bhanu Datta Basant Ram, the Acharya of the society. Bhanu Datta took a prominent role in the religious debates among Punjabi Hindus. He clashed with the great orthodox leader Pandit Shraddha Ram Phillauri and later opposed the Arya Samaj when Swami Dayanand came to Lahore in 1877. Pandit Bhanu Datta provided leadership for the Sat Sabha after the death of Behari Lal in 1885.Even though the Sabha did not become a mass movement like the Arya Samaj and remained confined to Lahore, it provided a centre for discussion and debate during the latter years of the nineteenth century. Numerous prominent individuals spoke at the Sabha hall including Novin Chandra Rai, Pandit Ganesh Datt, Yogi Shiv Nath, and S.P. Bhattacharjee. 

The school was well maintained and the annual anniversary celebrations of the Sat Sabha remained an event of importance in the life of Lahore. Throughout its history it continued to be seen as a "Brahmic institution, whose object is to inculcate pure Theistic worship." The Sat Sabha remains in Punjab history as an early example of social and religious reform stemming directly from the cultural influence of the Brahmo Samaj, but in a particularly Punjabi form tied to the advancement of the Punjabi language. (Source)

Kipling Interactive Timeline: Under Construction

This is something I'm working on this summer. Posting here as a test to see if it works in Blogger (Wordpress.com disallows iframe embeds)

Lahore Government College 25 November 1877

Here is an account from Lockwood Kipling of a prize ceremony that took place at Government College (now known as "Government College University") in November 1877. The principal of Government College at the time was G.W. Leitner, who is mentioned in biographies of Rudyard Kipling as a kind of rival of Lockwood's -- an "Orientalist" of the old school (i.e., someone to be contrasted to a more Macaulayan intellectual like Lockwood Kipling). As I understand it, the Government College was first established in 1864, and moved to an independent site around 1871. By 1877 it is evidently in a growth phase. 

In the second half of the account below there is some surprise at the presence of many "native" Indian scholars, as well as at the emerging South Asian university culture. Some of the disdainful tone towards "native" learning will also be picked up later by Rudyard in his various short stories and "Departmental Ditties": 

In emulation, I suppose, of the variously coloured hoods and gowns of English colleges, the students of some of the classes wear a kind of uniform, the most prominent feature of which is a loose collar worn round the neck, something like a chuprassy's belt--red, bordered with yellow, by pundits; and with green, by moulvies; and red and mauve by engineering students. I believe this is a novelty in Oriental schools. A mere European, occupied with modern work and modern ideas, has not often an opportunity of seeing professors of Eastern tongues learned in metaphysics and poetry. So it was with some degree of pride in Lahore that the presentation of the President of "a distinguished mathematician," "a very distinguished author," "a distinguished Sanscrit scholar," "a very learned professor of Vedantic philosophy," and a "poet laureate" in Sanscrit, were witnessed."

Lockwood Kipling on Caste/ June 1877

I have a pretty substantial backlog of topics to cover, many of them connected to my brief research trip to Sussex back in June. For a variety of reasons, I haven't been able to follow up on that work much, though I'm hoping to now make a dent in it.

We'll start small, with some clippings from Lockwood Kipling. Rudyard's father was a journalist in his own right for years in Bombay and then Lahore -- a very well-established columnist by the time his son began to write for the CMG. At Sussex, there are several scrapbook of Lockwood Kipling's own columns from several different newspapers.

Here is one scrap that caught my eye, on caste. In it, Lockwood Kipling raises an eyebrow at the growing British missionary interest in attacking the Hindu caste system. He suggests that what he sees as a somewhat crude hostility to caste might be the zealotry of new arrivants on the Indian scene.

The article begins on a somewhat smug note, noting that when Missionaries talk about caste, "although we get a great deal of sound and fury, it is seldom that we find much philosophical breadth of view, or sound reasoning, in either Dr. Duff or Dr. Duffer, who will persist in regarding it as a separate and distinct part of the system of Oriental life--a detached hydra-head, rather more important than the rest, which only needs to be lopped off by a few well-directed blows."  Lockwood Kipling then moves to suggest that a deeper understanding of the "system of Oriental life" will reveal that one cannot simply "lop off the head" of caste. In the second paragraph he then suggests that a version of caste is very much alive at home:

And yet caste, which is to be destroyed off hand in India, is in England and in the rest of Europe the bulwark of the church. We gloss this fact, but it is none the less true. To take but one instance merely, is it not an unwritten law that members of an aristocracy shall conform either to what is actually the State-Church, or to what has been the State-Church at some former period of the national history? Although England is a Protestant country, an English gentleman does not lose caste when he joins the Roman Catholic communion; but he distinctly loses caste when he becomes a Dissenter. Ask Dr. Douglas if he does not.

Edwin Arnold Remembers the Mutiny: March 4, 1886

In March of 1886, Edwin Arnold was visiting India for the first time in many years. He had been the principal of the Government Sanskrit College at Poona (Pune) during 1856-61, then gone back to England to work at the Daily Telegraph. He became famous for a book of poems he published called The Light of Asia (1879), narrating the life of the Buddha.

Here he is giving an account of the history of Delhi in the Mutiny, with an emphasis on the locations where the fighting too place -- many of them eminently visitable spots for tourist visits nearly 30 years later.

It might be interesting to compare Edwin Arnold (who was passionate about Buddhism, but evidently quite patriotic and an unrepentant Imperilaist) to others we have been discussing, such as M.A. MacAuliffe (passionate about Sikhism), or Annie Besant (the famous theosophist).

Mappila Murders (Southern India), March 2 1886

This is a case being tried in the Madras High Court. A family of "Moplahs" (Mappilas) are described as having been murdered -- four out of five children, and their mother and father, were all cut to pieces and then burned by a mob. British soldiers then shot down most of the killers, leaving three men to be tried for the murders. Here the defendants are trying various legal mechanisms and denials to protect themselves. 

The family in question is described as having converted to Islam, and then un-converted. It's also complicated by the sense of caste. I do not know a lot about the kind of violence during this period, though it does appear to  be generally part of the build-up to what would be called the Malabar Rebellion of 1921. 

Civil & Military Gazette

March 2, 1886

  

Arya Samaj meeting in Lahore March 2, 1886

Report of an Arya Samaj meeting in Lahore, March 2, 1886. Alongside the Singh Sabha movement in the Sikh community, the Arya Samaj was a major reform movement within Hinduism. Since Kipling, in his accounts of life at the Civil & Military Gazette, never mentions any Indian correspondents working for the paper, one wonders who actually attended and observed the proceedings. 

Watch Out for Bombay Oysters January 18, 1886

Murderous oysters, a riding accident, and a military fracas (as far as I can tell, entirely involving British / European soldiers, albeit from different parts of England.

January 18, 1886, Civil & Military Gazette: 

Madhava Rao on Flattery January 18 1886

From the Civil & Military Gazette of Lahore, January 18, 1886

The more I see of Madhava Rao, the less I like him. There's a whole architecture of power and social relations entailed in this little scrap. It appears to be intended for fellow "natives," though my guess is that it had far more British readers than native readers. Madhava Rao called himself "Native Thinker," but "native informant" might seem to be more salient given that dynamic.

Obituary for Baboo Harbans Sahay of Bihar 3 2 1886

Following is a long obituary for Baboo Harbans Sahay of Bihar in the Civil & Military Gazette of Lahore. The obit. sells him as a social reformer and friend of the poor, but in fact he was a major Zemindar (landlord)-- apparently the second largest landholder in the state of Bihar at the time of his death.

He's mentioned in this book as a major proponent of the Bengal Tenancy act of 1885.

A few lines from the below seem worth quoting: "It was a special triumph in India that a man of humble origin should have succeeded in becoming the trusted friend and adviser of the wealthy, and if he had done nothing more than demonstrate that there was a higher law than caste law, his life would have conveyed an important lesson. But that he should have clung to the memory of his own humble starting point in life, and should have striven earnestly to improve the lot of the masses, bespoke a noble element in the man, and a mind superior to the temptations that come with prosperity."

But others have a different perspective on Babu Harbans Sahay. According to a contemporary quoted in Sachidananda's Elite and Development, the Tenancy Act favored by Sahay "carried many amendments favourable to the zamindari cause though the Act is still more favourable--partially and unjustly more fvourable--to the tenants and 'peasant proprietors', and requires some necessary, just, and useful amendments. . . "

Maharajah Dalip Singh Leaves for Bombay: March 2 1886

Maharjah Dalip Singh, son of Ranjit Singh, lived most of his life in exile in England after the age of 13. 

In 1886 he tried to visit India via steamer after a more than 35 year gap. Here is a scrap announcing he is on his way, and speculating on his motives. According to Wikipedia (take w/grain of salt), Dalip Singh's real interest was in reconverting to Sikhism after having been raised away from any Sikh community. (Will try to verify this.) 

As the CMG speculates, the British authorities were nervous about the symbolism of an exiled king returning. The authorities would in fact bar him from proceeding any further than Aden. He would go through a symbolic re-conversion there, but then be returned to England. Dalip Singh's estate in England, Elveden Hall, still stands; it was used, in 2004, as one of the "Indian" sets in Mira Nair's Vanity Fair. 

Eloping with a Parsee Girl. February 24, 1886

Civil & Military Gazette, February 24, 1886.

Goan man wanted for kidnapping a 15 year old Parsee girl. He persuaded her to elope with him, but his father suspects the man only wanted her because of the jewelry she was wearing (or took from her parents' house?). The neighborhood Mazagon is mentioned, which makes me think this episode started in Bombay:

A Daring Escape Attempt February 18 1886

Setta Rao of Mysore attempts to escape from police custody by swapping clothes with his servant, who physically resembles him. Caught anyway. 

Civil & Military Gazette: February 18, 1886. 

CMG February 16 1886: Singh Sabha meeting

The first reference I've found in the Civil & Military Gazette to the Singh Sabha movement. Is the Bhai Nikka Singh the same Nikka Singh who works as an accountant for the Civil & Military Gazette?

Also interesting to see a report of another murder of an Indian person in Lahore, the third in a week. Admittedly, Mian Mir is a couple of miles away from the "white city" (British part of Lahore)... 

Tulsi Dass Arrested in England February 13 1886

A curious account of a Punjabi known as Tulsi Dass [sic], described as being arrested in West Ham, England, while attempting to address a crowd. The CMG seems to understand his grievance to be that he wants his property restored to him, and he's in England demanding a letter from the Queen Empress verifying that his property will in fact be restored.

A Google search doesn't confirm who this guy was, nor have I been able to find out more about his story. The image of a destitute Indian man being repeatedly arrested for disturbing the peace in England -- while addressing British crowds in his own language! -- is really thought provoking. Let's just say it makes for a fantastic metaphor.            

Double Murder in Lahore! February 12 1886

An Indian woman and her servant are found strangled in Lahore. February 12, 1886. The CMG surmises a link between an uptick in robberies in Lahore with the expulsion of criminals from nearby Amritsar.

Madhava Rao Defends Annexation of Burma

T. Madhava Rao, the "Pet Native" intellectual of the Anglo-Indian papers, is quoted in the Civil & Military Gazette on February 10, 1886, supporting the annexation of Burma.

T. Madhava Rao's career is summarized in detail at Wikipedia. He would join the Indian National Congress in 1887, but resign in 1889. He seems to have been one of the "native" intellectuals who knew how to say exactly what the authorities wanted to hear.

Departmental Ditties in the CMG, February 1886

The CMG publishes several of Kipling's poems in the spring of 1886, always as "Departmental Ditties."

1. Kipling's poem "Army Head Quarters" appears in the February 9 1886 edition of Civil & Military Gazette. Annotations here, the full poem is here.

Kipling's use of Hindi words is always intriguing to me. This particular poem has Khitmutgar (butler), references to deodar trees, "warbled like a bul-bul," and the Doaba region of Punjab (the Doaba is here). All of these are principally employed to suggest Anglo-Indian authenticity. His audience is always presumed to be fellow Anglo-Indians (never Indians themselves), here specifically with military or government connections. Interestingly, Kipling himself was never in the military, and is only secondarily a government employee (i.e., because the CMG is also an official government organ).

2. Kipling's poem "The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal'vin" appears in the January 30, 1886 edition of the CMG. 
David Page's notes on the poem at Kipling.org are here; the poem itself is here. The "Rupaiyat of Omar Kal'vin" uses very little Hindustani vocabulary, but what is interesting about it is the way it links expansion into the Northwest Frontier Provinces and Afghanistan with the British Raj's increased demand for revenue.

3. Kipling's poem, "Studies of an Elevation" appears in the February 16, 1886 edition of CMG. Kipling.org's notes are here (they incorrectly mark the first date of publication as February 9). The poem itself is here. Interestingly, the 'dialect' words here are all from Hebrew -- not Hindustani. The theme is not a surprising one -- a "Gubbins" has risen through the ranks of English India ahead of the poem's speaker, and his rhetorical question is how and why.

4. Kipling's "A Legend of the Foreign Office" (first printed as "A Legend of the F.O.") appears in the February 23, 1886 issue of CMG. Kipling.org's notes for the poem are here; the poem itself is here. This poem, like "Army Head Quarters," liberally uses Hindustani and Anglo-Indian words: dasturi, bakshi, thana, zenana, simpkin, peg. (The particular usage of "dasturi" to mean "bribery" here is a little questionable...)

Indian Representatives in Parliament? Feb 8 1886

Another interesting bit here -- a discussion (not taken particularly seriously by the British) of having a certain number of Indian representatives in British parliament.

Civil & Military Gazette, February 8, 1886.

The article excerpted by the CMG below is by Y.N. Ranade, who is known as the editor of a monthly journal called English Opinion on India (see this footnote in Antoinette Burton's book, Empire in Question). Also mentioned in the article by Ranade is Lalmohan Ghosh (spelled as Lalmohan Ghose below),. who would later serve as president of the Indian National Congress): see Wikipedia