Contrasts between Indian Countries

Sir Henry Maine, referring to the ignorance regarding India which prevails even among educated men in England, has declared his conviction that for one who desires to unveil the stores of interest which India contains, the first necessity is that he should not shrink from speaking on matters which appear to him too elementary to deserve discussion, that he should sympathise with an ignorance which few felicitous efforts have yet been made to dispel, and that he should remember that the language of administration and government in India has become so highly specialised and technical that it forms an imperfect medium for the communication of ideas to Englishmen. Believing this, make no apology for beginning these lectures with some very elementary matters, and ask at starting this elementary question, What is India What does this name India really signify The answer that has more than once been given sounds paradoxical, but it is true. There is no such country, and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned.

India is name which we give to great region including multitude of different countries. There is no general Indian term that corresponds to it. The name Hindustan is never applied in India, as we apply it, to the whole of the Indian continent it signifies the country north of the Narbada River, and especially the northern portion of the basins of the Ganges and Jumna.

I have been told by intelligent Natives of India who have visited Europe that they could see little difference between the European countries through which they had travelled the languages being equally unintelligible offered to them no marks of distinction the cities, the costumes, the habits of life, the manners and customs of the people, so far as passing oriental traveller could judge, seemed much the same in England, in France, and in Italy. The differences between the countries of India, between, for instance, Bengal and the Punjab, or between Madras and Rajputana, seemed to them, on the other hand, immense, and beyond comparison greater than those existing between the countries of Europe. Englishmen have often similar impressions in visiting India they cannot see the real diversities that exist. As to persons who know nothing of geology or botany or agriculture, rocks and trees and crops present comparatively few distinctive features, so it is Sir Henry Maine, referring to the ignorance regarding India which prevails even among educated men in England, has declared his conviction that for one who desires to unveil the stores of interest which India contains, the first necessity is that he should not shrink from speaking on matters which appear to him too elementary to deserve discussion, that he should sympathise with those who look with uninformed minds on conditions of life and society to which they have not been accustomed.

The differences between the countries of Europe are undoubtedly smaller than those between the countries of India. Scotland is more like Spain than Bengal is like the Punjab. European civilisation has grown up under conditions which have produced larger measure of uniformity than has been reached in the countries of the Indian continent, often separated from each other by greater distances, by greater obstacles to communication, and by greater differences of climate. The diversities of language, religion, and race are as wide in India as in Europe, and political catastrophes have been as frequent and as violent. There are no countries in civilised Europe in which the people differ so much as the Bengali differs from the Sikh, and the language of Bengal is as unintelligible in Lahore as it would be in London. An educated Mohammedan gentleman of Northern India has more in common with Englishmen than with the Bengali graduates of the University of Calcutta. Such facts often explain much that is unintelligible to Englishmen. Again, people complain that Indian authorities differ so greatly among themselves that you can never be sure that you have learned the truth. These apparent contradictions have frequently no real existence, but arise from false generalisations.

Propagandhi711 wrote:I want your job where you can fulltime search for obscure bullshit on the web that shits on anything remotely offending your weird sensibilities. are you a bodyshoppereddy?

confuzzled dude wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:I want your job where you can fulltime search for obscure bullshit on the web that shits on anything remotely offending your weird sensibilities. are you a bodyshoppereddy?

I realize, these days, it is difficult to make ends meat with minimum wage job(s) let alone owning a computer & broadband connection. Why don't you setup a charity website I will cover the monthly bill.

Hellsangel wrote:Do you make ends meat , Comrade?

Propagandhi711 wrote:

confuzzled dude wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:I want your job where you can fulltime search for obscure bullshit on the web that shits on anything remotely offending your weird sensibilities. are you a bodyshoppereddy?

I realize, these days, it is difficult to make ends meat with minimum wage job(s) let alone owning a computer & broadband connection. Why don't you setup a charity website I will cover the monthly bill.

I wouldnt be making minimum wage if I knew how to java or html or whatever they use to setup websites now would I? I'd be slaving for a bodyshoppereddy such as yourself and picking up your drycleaning while you surf the internet for articles with a certain slant and chant death to america. why dont you get one of your slaves whose bodies you're shopping for $40/hr to setup a website and then contribute?

Kayalvizhi wrote:There was never a national identity or country identity or regional identity or cultural identity before the British artificially created a country identity  at the barrels of guns.

confuzzled dude wrote:An excerpt from "India" by Sir John Strachey.

Sir Henry Maine, referring to the ignorance regarding India which prevails even among educated men in England, has declared his conviction that for one who desires to unveil the stores of interest which India contains, the first necessity is that he should not shrink from speaking on matters which appear to him too elementary to deserve discussion, that he should sympathise with an ignorance which few felicitous efforts have yet been made to dispel, and that he should remember that the language of administration and government in India has become so highly specialised and technical that it forms an imperfect medium for the communication of ideas to Englishmen. Believing this, make no apology for beginning these lectures with some very elementary matters, and ask at starting this elementary question, What is India What does this name India really signify The answer that has more than once been given sounds paradoxical, but it is true. There is no such country, and this is the first and most essential fact about India that can be learned.

India is name which we give to great region including multitude of different countries. There is no general Indian term that corresponds to it. The name Hindustan is never applied in India, as we apply it, to the whole of the Indian continent it signifies the country north of the Narbada River, and especially the northern portion of the basins of the Ganges and Jumna.

I have been told by intelligent Natives of India who have visited Europe that they could see little difference between the European countries through which they had travelled the languages being equally unintelligible offered to them no marks of distinction the cities, the costumes, the habits of life, the manners and customs of the people, so far as passing oriental traveller could judge, seemed much the same in England, in France, and in Italy. The differences between the countries of India, between, for instance, Bengal and the Punjab, or between Madras and Rajputana, seemed to them, on the other hand, immense, and beyond comparison greater than those existing between the countries of Europe. Englishmen have often similar impressions in visiting India they cannot see the real diversities that exist. As to persons who know nothing of geology or botany or agriculture, rocks and trees and crops present comparatively few distinctive features, so it is Sir Henry Maine, referring to the ignorance regarding India which prevails even among educated men in England, has declared his conviction that for one who desires to unveil the stores of interest which India contains, the first necessity is that he should not shrink from speaking on matters which appear to him too elementary to deserve discussion, that he should sympathise with those who look with uninformed minds on conditions of life and society to which they have not been accustomed.

The differences between the countries of Europe are undoubtedly smaller than those between the countries of India. Scotland is more like Spain than Bengal is like the Punjab. European civilisation has grown up under conditions which have produced larger measure of uniformity than has been reached in the countries of the Indian continent, often separated from each other by greater distances, by greater obstacles to communication, and by greater differences of climate. The diversities of language, religion, and race are as wide in India as in Europe, and political catastrophes have been as frequent and as violent. There are no countries in civilised Europe in which the people differ so much as the Bengali differs from the Sikh, and the language of Bengal is as unintelligible in Lahore as it would be in London. An educated Mohammedan gentleman of Northern India has more in common with Englishmen than with the Bengali graduates of the University of Calcutta. Such facts often explain much that is unintelligible to Englishmen. Again, people complain that Indian authorities differ so greatly among themselves that you can never be sure that you have learned the truth. These apparent contradictions have frequently no real existence, but arise from false generalisations.

Dear Nationalists, please take a note.

Kris wrote:
>>Who are Strachey and Maine again?

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:
>>Who are Strachey and Maine again?

Well, they have seen both cultures (European & Indian) up, close and personal. In Telugu texts, Bengal is referred as Vanga desam, so they weren't hallucinating after all.

confuzzled dude wrote:

Kris wrote:
>>Who are Strachey and Maine again?

Well, they have seen both cultures (European & Indian) up, close and personal. In Telugu texts, Bengal is referred as Vanga desam, so they weren't hallucinating after all.