Was Idea of India a result of the British Rule
Ever heard of the argument that India was never a nation before the British? Is it true or a false perception? Let’s find out.
The idea of
India has been part of the global vocabulary and is defined by many names –
Bharat, Jambudvipa, Hind, Hindustan, Yindu, Tenjiku, Indies or India. The East
India Company were named after India and the Native Americans were named Red
Indians because they thought they had discovered a new route to India. So, the
concept of India has existed for centuries before British rule.
Now, was this geography of India a sovereign governmental structure?
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| Mauryan Empire at its greatest extent |
Most of
India was unified throughout history during the time of the Mauryan Empire,
Gupta Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire and Maratha Empire. Even in epics
like Ramayana and Mahabharata, there are mentions of the Rajasuya ritual that
made a monarch overlord of the entire subcontinent and receiver of tributes.
When
Europeans were slowly colonizing the subcontinent, India was ruled by multiple
rajas, maharajas, nawabs and nizams. But most of them nominally pledged their
allegiance to the titular Mughal emperor. Those who didn’t were tributary states
paying tributes to a larger political entity around them.
The Nizam
of Deccan and the Nawabs of Awadh, Rohillkhand, Bengal, Bhopal, Arcot and others
were all Mughal governors. The Rajput states barring the kingdom of Mewar were
all nominally under the Mughal throne. Chikkadeva I of the Wodeyar dynasty of
Mysore is believed to have accepted Mughal subordination during the reign of Aurangzeb becoming a tributary state (need to confirm this), and the
Marathas since the time of Chhatrapati Shahuji I and Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath,
had accepted nominal suzerainty of the Mughal emperor in return for Queen
Mother Yesubai’s release from captivity.
Thus, most
of all corners of India had nominally come under a common crown though not in
practice. Throughout history, most of India was united under a common dynasty
for some period which made it similar to a modern equivalent of nation. But
like most nations, disintegration and reintegration were a continuous process
in pre-modern societies.
India would
have taken one of many different routes if it wasn’t for the British Raj. Either as a unified federation, or localized
nations, or somewhere in between. Something similar happens in my novel –
Expedition to an Alternate Swarajya. Now available on Amazon, Flipkart, NotionPress, in India. Available as Ebook on Kindle, KOBO, IBooks, and Google Play. Internationally, it is available on Amazon.com in the US, and Amazon.UK in Britain, and on Ingram.
Kindle India | Kindle US | Kindle UK | Google Play | GoodReads | AppleBooks | KOBO
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