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Manu S Pillai

29 Sep, 12 tweets, 3 min read

Writing in the 1870s, Tukoji Rao Holkar II of Indore declared that India had been 'a vast heap of stones' till the British put each piece 'in the right place''. On the face of it this was slavish language, and yet..

in internal correspondence, Raj officials described Holkar as a man of 'notorious' disloyalty who 'in every possible manner' gave them 'persistent opposition'. Some of this stemmed from his air of grandeur: a newspaper wrote of how he 'swagger(ed)' about..

was 'lost in his own greatness', and was full of 'pride & self appreciation'. During the 1857 rebellion he pledged loyalty officially but was suspected of having secretly urged his troops to attack--apparently he had lost control over them.

Not only was he in touch with nationalists like Dadabhai Naoroji, but when making a donation of 25,000 rupees to Naoroji's East Indian Association in London, he praised it for its 'patriotic exertions' in protecting the 'true interests' of India and..

in highlighting the 'true state of' things to make British rule more 'just and beneficent'--a broadside against the Raj. When he imported a prominent Indian administrator to restructure his government, the British Resident at his court remarked..

that in reality the man was being brought in to 'fight' with Indore's white overlords. In the 1860s, not only did Holkar help the rulers of Dhar win back their state (confiscated for disloyalty during the 1857 rebellion) by tying up with lobbyists in London..

he got involved in Baroda and Mysore also to preserve the autonomy of these states. Considering that revenues grew during his reign, that he built a railway line & started cotton factories, & otherwise ran a strong govt (even if not entirely 'modern' or on the British pattern)..

it was difficult to attack him. It also gave him the confidence to test Raj officials. Once, a white man was lecturing the maharajah on a certain measure, saying 'I know something of these matters, Highness--I am a Jack-of-all-trades.'

Without missing a beat, Holkar muttered '..and master of none'. The matter went up to the viceroy but the maharajah got away--he claimed he was only showing off his knowledge of English proverbs! #FalseAllies

Holkar is only a footnote in my new book but I do wish I could have written more about him.

But do read for all the other fascinating characters and 'native statesmen' who pushed back against the Raj in their own ways.
amazon.in/FALSE-ALLIES-I…

This summarises the general argument of the book:
bbc.com/news/world-asi…

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Manu S Pillai

@UnamPillai

22 Sep

Ram Singh II (1833-80) of Jaipur gets only a page in #FalseAllies but what a shrewd little person he was. Generally discussed these days for his love of photography (which included taking naughty pictures), what we don't discuss enough is how shrewd a political figure he was..

Early in his career, he made use of the British to cut to size certain overpowerful nobles (who had armies and their own territorial units) and assert his own authority over Jaipur. He also strategically decided where to allow 'progress' and where he would rather not..

For example, setting up a college, a girls' school, library, hospital etc. were all welcome. So too roads and railways, so long as they strengthened his hold over the state, were sanctioned. But revenue management was *not* modernised and made transparent for a simple reason..

Read 10 tweets

Manu S Pillai

@UnamPillai

21 Sep

This man with the fancy moustache is Krishnaraja Wadiyar III (1794-1868) of Mysore. His story, as related in my new book #FalseAllies, encapsulates the complicated internal politics of a princely state, where the British & ruler were not the only factors..

Parked on the throne at 5, his govt was first run by an able minister called Purniah. But when the rajah grew up, Purniah hesitated to let him rule, calling him a 'foolish child'. Krishnaraja's first challenge, then, was to rid himself of the minister..

Then there was the British agent who felt he should be consulted on all things great and small, which the ruler refused. The third element was the bureaucracy: Mysore had a powerful class of Marathi Brahmins who dominated the civil service, and..

Read 11 tweets

Manu S Pillai

@UnamPillai

20 Sep

This glum looking man is Ayilyam Tirunal, maharajah of Travancore (1860-80). In my new book #FalseAllies I make the case for looking more seriously at the Indian princely states and their histories during the Raj. Ayilyam Tirunal, for example, was no meek ally of the British..

..nor did he spend his time counting jewels & riding elephants. He was, on the contrary, a *political* figure capable of creatively fighting the pressures of colonialism. He knew, for eg, that bad financial management would invite British interference; so..

..together with his minister, he took his government treasury to a surplus. He knew the Raj would ask questions when he spent large sums on traditional temple rites and ceremonies; so he pre-empted them by spending even larger sums building schools, roads, and bridges.

Read 9 tweets

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