GemsOfINDOLOGY Profile picture
Oct 17, 2022 18 tweets 11 min read Read on X
1/
#Thread on British plan to 'CIVILIZE' 'Uncivilized-Indians'
Src:Richard Hey 1811 ImageImage
2/
Britishers carried out research on Indian people, literature, scripture behaviour and presented their report to 'The House of Commons, UK' in 1813 April.

We will see how conversion to #CHRISTIANITY is akin to CIVILISING in following thread. Image
3/
The two gentlemen John Malcolm and Dr Buchanan speaks high of #hindus moralities, modalities and vividities. Malcolm calls Hindustan as Great World In Miniature. Image
4/
For Britishers, CIVILIZATION means obedient to one GOD. However, to them Indian multivariate culture was UNCIVILISED. They called Indians as Barbarians who should be turned CIVIL theough 'EDUCATION' i.e. Image
5/
Robertson agreed that Indians were very civilised till 15th Century when portugese first arrived. However, tyrannical and intolerant reign of #Moghuls and British conquests rendered all Public Institutions neglected and discontinued.
Leading to 'UNCIVILISATION' Image
6/
Their research found faultlines in the form of few #Hindus favourably disposed towards #Britain. Image
7/
To 'CIVILIZE' uncivilised Children (Hindus in this case). They devised 4 GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1️⃣To make Hindus feel IMPOTENT and incapable of making decisions.
2️⃣ Don't interfere with #Hindus existing state of happiness while educating them

7/n ImageImage
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3️⃣ rd principle was to Administer 'Instructions' to unlearnt Child. He should not feel an individual but a part of some WHOLE.
4️⃣Child(Hindu) should be trained with 'GOOD HABITS' ImageImage
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To apply principles of civilization, Britishers focussed on issues of SATI pratha and Infanticides although, not convinced with degree of its prevalence.
They applied 2nd principle of civilization to those who have 'FORFEITED' their cast to convert easily Image
10/
3rd Principle of administering INSTRUCTION was applied on Hindu literature.

W. Jones himself said "Wherever we direct our attention to HINDU LITERATURE, the notion of INFINITY presents itself. Let us not be discouraged" Image
11/
They were able to find few communicative Hindus open for scrutiny of Hindu literature.

Children were targeted for 'Christian Civilization' ImageImage
12/
4th Principle of Civilization was applied to industrialise ample land in Bihar, Benaras, Bengal and make 'UNCIVILIZED' develope good habit. Image
13/
The Britishers' focussed on letting in Hindus in to the churches out of curiosity and that was seen as a big step towards Conversion.
The pastors were assigned duties to find SICK and INFIRM for consolation and relief (a potential for convert) ImageImage
14/
Narrations were drawn to deal with possible situation of inconsistencies in Bible and Vedas.

for EG. Question of Jesus incarnation while Christianity doesn;t promote re-birth should be answered that God never became MAN except to check the disorders existing in our society. Image
15/
Since #Sanskrit and #persian were not commonly spoken, hence local translation (e.g. Bengalee, Hindi, etc.) of NEW Testaments were preferred to be administered.

Few chosen ones were intended to send to EUROPE to view their advancement in Christianity than being #Hindu ImageImage
16/
Addressals to possible situations were summarised.
EG.
1. Question the ORIGIN of Vedas
2. If #VEDAS are infinite, How #Vyasa was able to reduced them in finite numbers that too unadultered, unperverted. ImageImageImageImage
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3. Challenge Hindus for their system of punishment with mere fine for kiIIing while capital punishment for theft in some cases. ImageImageImageImage
18/
From the reading, It appears to me, that Euro-Indologists studied our holy scriptures to suit their policies of colonization.

They translated VEDAS with literal and wrong connotation to convince not so educated. They targeted Children and uneducated ones first.

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More from @GemsOfINDOLOGY

Jan 22
1/10
Meet Bhagirathi — the river that dragged Ganga from Shiva's hair to earth.

Rigveda calls her "the one who flows with the speed of thought."

Today? A trickle dying before Gangotri even starts.

From cosmic torrent to seasonal sewer. Thread 🧵 Image
2/10
Bhagirathi begins at Gaumukh — "cow's mouth" glacier.

1935: 300-meter ice wall, roaring.
2025: Snout retreated 3+ km uphill. Glacier lost 25% volume since the 1960s.

Your Himalayan trek selfie is on her corpse. 📸❄️ Image
3/10
Vedic seers saw her as divine:
नदीं न संनादतीं दमूनसम् (RV 10.75.4)
"The river that roars like a bull in rut."

Now? Summer discharge down 40% since 1990.
Sometimes she doesn't reach Devprayag to become "Ganga."

Literal identity crisis. 🏔️💧 Image
Read 10 tweets
Jan 22
You already know that for over 2,000 years, Indian smiths forged steel so sharp it cut European swords in half. So resilient it became legend across continents.

By 1900, those same smiths were classified as backward. Primitive. Incapable of innovation.

What happened between? 🧠⚔️ You don't know!!

A 5-step manual for erasure. READ On 👇

#decolonisation #UncropTheTruth

1/7Image
Step 1: Extract the technique

Indian wootz steel arrived in British laboratories in 1795. Samples were analysed, chemical compositions documented, papers published in the Royal Society. The steel was credited to "Eastern origin." The smiths who forged it? Unnamed. Untraced. Irrelevant.

The technique was extracted. The technician was erased.

2/7Image
Step 2: Disrupt the ecosystem

Wootz steel required specific forests for charcoal, particular ores, seasonal smelting cycles. Colonial forest laws between 1855–1878 criminalized wood collection, turned smelting zones into "reserved land," cut access to raw materials.

The furnaces went cold. Not because knowledge disappeared, but because resources were locked behind permits the smiths couldn't obtain.

3/7Image
Read 7 tweets
Jan 9
#GemsOfASI #14
Theft, loss, and inventory failure

1/
When artefacts disappear from protected monuments, the response is usually administrative.
Files are opened, reports are written, and records are updated.
By the time this happens, the loss has already occurred much earlier. Image
2/
Many antiquities under protection are still incompletely catalogued, irregularly verified, or stored without consistent physical security.
In such cases, legal custody exists on paper, but effective control on the ground is weak or absent. Image
3/
Once local community presence was removed from many sites, informal and continuous surveillance disappeared with it.
As a result, losses are often discovered only years later, during audits or inspections, when recovery is no longer realistic.
(3/5) Image
Read 5 tweets
Jan 7
#GemsofASI #13

1/ Community custodianship removed. Decay accelerated.

For centuries, India's monuments survived not because of departments.

They survived because of communities.

Priests. Caretakers. Villagers. Guilds.
Daily acts of maintenance kept stone alive.

Then we professionalized protection—and removed the protectors.Image
2/ What did daily custodianship look like?

• Cleaning debris
• Clearing drainage
• Minor repairs before they became major
• Ritual upkeep
• Constant presence

This wasn't "informal."
It was a functioning system.

Colonial archaeology called it a liability. Image
3/ British ASI reframed custodians:

• Untrained ❌
• Intrusive ❌
• Encroachers ❌

Control replaced continuity.

Post-Independence? We kept the same framework.

Protection became professionalised.
Also **detached**.

Local custodianship: removed.
On-ground substitute: none. Image
Read 8 tweets
Jan 7
1/ When did you last hear about a 2000 years old hotel style South Indian site with Roman silver and Chinese coins?

Never.

Because we were taught ancient India was isolated. Insular. Self-contained.

That was a lie.

Here's what they found underground in Karnataka — and why nobody talks about it. 🪙🌏
#GemsOfASI #MNI938Image
2/ Chandravalli. Moon-shaped valley. Chitradurga district, Karnataka.

The site: Ankalagi Caves.

Inhabited since 1000 BCE.

Layers stack like civilizations:
Megalithic burials → Satavahana coins → Kadamba inscriptions → medieval cave shrines.

No single empire. Just continuous occupation for 3,000 years.Image
3/ 1909: B.L. Rice arrives.
1929–30: M.H. Krishna digs deeper.
1947: R.E.M. Wheeler, Archaeological Survey of India.

They weren't looking for artifacts.

They found an entire underground economy.

Trade routes. Religious centers. Water systems.

This wasn't a cave. It was infrastructure.Image
Read 12 tweets
Jan 6
#GemsOfASI #12
Ritual bans, policing faith, and administrative overreach.

1/
Across India, ritual bans at protected monuments are often justified as “conservation measures”.
Their effects, however, go far beyond conservation. Image
2/
Rituals in temples are not ornamental additions.
They are structured practices embedded into architecture, time cycles, and spatial design.

Banning them alters how a site functions — not just how it is used. Image
3/
Colonial-era conservation frameworks treated ritual activity as an external stressor.

This assumption migrated into post-Independence administration, where regulation slowly turned into prohibition. Image
Read 10 tweets

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