Society, Education, Art and Culture on the Eve of British Rule

At a Glance

• What it is Education, social structure, women, slavery, art and culture on the eve of British rule
• Education Traditional: pathshalas, maktabs, tols and madrasahs; no science or geography
• Society Caste divided Hindus; Muslims also divided into sharif and ajlaf
• Culture Courts of Hyderabad, Lucknow and Jaipur; Urdu poetry; Kangra and Rajputana painting
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: India on the Eve of British Conquest

Where Does It Fit?

This is the tenth and last topic of the category on India on the eve of British conquest. The earlier topics covered politics and the economy. This topic covers society and culture. The next category begins the story of the British conquest, starting with the conquest of Bengal. Previous topic: Agriculture, Trade and Industry in Eighteenth-Century India. See also Purdah, sati, child marriage, dowry Courts…">Social and Cultural Life in the 18th Century Regional Kingdoms.

How Was Education Organised?

The education imparted in eighteenth-century India was traditional and could not match the rapid developments in the West. Knowledge was limited to literature, law, religion, philosophy and logic, and left out the study of physical and natural sciences, technology and geography. Heavy reliance on ancient learning discouraged original thought.

Elementary education among Hindus and Muslims was widespread. The Hindu and Muslim elementary schools were called pathshalas and maktabs. Teaching was confined to reading, writing and arithmetic. Children of the lower castes sometimes attended, but girls were rarely present.

Persian was the court language and was learnt by Muslims and Hindus alike. People who wanted to study the Quran and Muslim theology had to learn Arabic.

How Was Society Organised?

Society in eighteenth-century India was marked by a traditional outlook and stagnation. There was a broad cultural unity, but people were divided by caste, religion, region, tribe and language. The family was mainly patriarchal, and caste was the central feature of Hindu social life. Apart from the four varnas, Hindus were divided into many sub-castes that fixed their places in the social scale. The choice of profession was mainly decided by caste, but exceptions were common, so caste status was fluid in some parts. Caste councils and panchayats enforced caste norms.

Although Islam enjoined social equality, Muslims too were divided by caste, race, tribe and status. Religious considerations kept Sunni and Shia nobles apart, and also separated Irani, Afghan, Turani and Hindustani Muslim nobles and officials. The sharif Muslims, comprising nobles, scholars, priests and army men, often looked down on the ajlaf, or lower-class, Muslims in the way higher-caste Hindus treated lower-caste Hindus. Caste proved a major divisive force in the century.

What Was the Position of Women?

In the patriarchal family system (except in some social groups in Kerala), women had little individuality. Upper-class women stayed at home, while lower-class women worked in fields and outside the home to add to family income. Outdated and exploitative customs such as purdah, sati, child marriage and polygamy hindered women’s progress. The plight of the Hindu widow was usually miserable.

The evil of dowry was especially widespread in Bengal and Rajputana. Sensitive Indians were often touched by the harsh life of widows. Raja Sawai Jai Singh of Amber and the Maratha general Parshuram Bhau tried to promote widow remarriage but failed.

Was Slavery Present?

European travellers and administrators who came in the seventeenth century reported that slaves were widely found in India. Some people were reportedly compelled to sell their children because of economic distress, famines, natural calamities and extreme poverty. Higher classes of Rajputs, Khatris and Kayasthas generally kept women slaves for domestic work. Slaves were usually treated as hereditary servants and not as menials. Marriages took place among slaves, and the children of such marriages were considered free.

The coming of the Europeans increased slavery and the slave trade in India. European trading companies bought slaves from the markets of Bengal, Assam and Bihar and took them to European and American markets. Abyssinian slaves were sold at Surat, Madras and Calcutta.

What Happened in Art, Architecture and Culture?

The decline of the imperial Mughals forced talented people to seek the patronage of the newly established state courts, such as those of Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Murshidabad, Patna and Kashmir.

• Lucknow Asaf-ud-Daula built the Bada Imambara in 1784
• Jaipur In the first half of the eighteenth century Sawai Jai Singh built the pink city of Jaipur and five astronomical observatories at Delhi, Jaipur, Benares, Mathura and Ujjain. He also prepared a set of astronomical tables called the Zij Muhammad Shahi
• Kerala The Padmanabhapuram Palace, famous for its architecture and mural paintings, was built
• Painting The Rajputana and Kangra schools became prominent and showed new vitality and taste
• Urdu The Urdu language and poetry grew, with poets such as Mir, Sauda and Nazir (and Mirza Ghalib in the nineteenth century)
• Other languages Malayalam literature flourished under Travancore patronage, with Kanchan Nambiar; the Tamil language was enriched by sittar poetry, with Tayumanavar (1706-44) protesting against the abuses of temple rule and caste; Warris Shah composed the Punjabi romantic epic Heer Ranjha; Shah Abdul Latif composed the Sindhi collection Risalo

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Social baseline The reform movements of the nineteenth century respond to the problems listed here
• Direct facts Pathshalas, maktabs, sharif and ajlaf, and the works of Urdu and regional poets are common Prelims items
• Cultural continuity It shows that arts flourished even as the empire declined

What Came Next?

The next category begins the British conquest of Bengal, with the debate on whether the conquest was accidental, the causes of British success and Plassey. Next topic: The British Imperial History Debate: Accidental or Intentional Conquest?.

Key People and Terms

• Pathshala A Hindu elementary school
• Maktab A Muslim elementary school
• Tol or Chatuspathi A centre of higher Sanskrit education in Bengal and Bihar
• Madrasah A centre of higher learning for Persian and Arabic
• Sharif and ajlaf The higher and lower classes among Muslims
• Sittar poetry A Tamil poetic tradition, an example of which was Tayumanavar

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about the social and cultural condition of India in the eighteenth century. These points add depth.

• Stagnation Education and society were traditional, without science and open to caste divisions
• Women and the poor Customs like sati and dowry, and slavery, show social ills
• Cultural vitality New courts and regional languages produced notable art and literature