What if India was never Colonised by the British

How India would have looked today if the British had not Colonised it

India was a group of kingdoms and empires ruled by rulers of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths. The British East India Company, slowly and steadily interfered in local politics, gained influence, and gradually took over regions and completed India’s colonisation. India gained her independence in 1947 and emerged as a modern democracy. Now the whole narrative is drawn that India being a unified modern nation with democracy is a product of British colonisation, and without the British, India still would have stuck as a group of socially backward kingdoms. But history does not work that way.

British Indian Empire (1909)

 

Assumptions

Let us first identify things in India attributed to the British – a modern educated population, democratic setup, religion and caste equality, railways and other important infrastructure, and modern military force.

To understand the reality of this, we need to understand the political situation in India before the British.

India pre-British Colonisation: Trigger Points, Causes and Effects

When the British East India Company was getting stronger in India, India was at a point of disintegration. The Mughal Empire had fallen, making its governors emerge as autonomous Nawabdoms, while the new Maratha Empire was trying to replace the Suzerain, but not in name. Marathas accepted the Mughal emperor as sovereign and kept him as a puppet to extract taxes, and tributes in his name, in return for protection.

However, the Marathas themselves became fragmented after the Third Battle of Panipat. The Shindes/Scindias in Ujjain and later in Gwalior, Holkars in Indore & Ujjain, Bhosales in Nagpur, Gaikwads in Baroda, and other smaller principalities and governorates had become autonomous. The central government of the Peshwa was going in decline due to infighting within the family - Raghunathrao Vs Madhavrao I, then Vs Narayanrao (leading to his murder), then the regency of Sawai Madhavrao under Nana Phadnavis against Raghunathrao, and then against his son Bajirao II. Brothers, cousins, uncle-nephew - they all were fighting for the throne. This has already been the case in the imperial house of Chhatrapati generations ago, eventually becoming ceremonial chiefs.

There was infighting within Holkars, Shindes, and other Maratha chieftains. What's worse, there has been infighting within these clans. Holkars vs Holkars, Shindes Vs Shinde, and Bhosales Vs Bhosales.

Meanwhile, the same was the case with the Nawabs of Carnatic, and Nizams of Hyderabad, with one side supported by the British and the other side supported by the French.

In Bengal too, there were internal conflicts within the Nawabdom. Siraj-ud-Daula, Jagat Seth, Mir Jafar and others had their conflicts going on. It was disunity within these kingdoms and empires that led to their decline and subjugation.

Ringfencing and Subsidiary Alliance

The British offered military support during this infighting, entered the local politics, made these princes dependent on the British army, and then demanded high fees. As a result, these princes became more dependent on the Company. They lost their wealth, foreign policy, defence policy, financial policy, internal policy, and eventually their independence to the British.

 

World where India evaded British colonisation

So, if Indian rulers had got their act together, it would have been impossible for a trading company to dominate India's politics like that. In such a world, some things would have been different, but not all.

 

India could not have been a Colony of other European Powers

Other European powers were never that lucky in India. The Dutch and French gave up their colonial dream in India and let the British take the lead. The Portuguese power was limited to Goa and other enclaves by the Dutch a long time ago. Therefore, there was no chance of them becoming a colonial empire in the subcontinent.

The British situation without India as part of its Empire

If India had not become the 'jewel in the crown' of the British Empire, they wouldn't have become so a dominant force. But they still would have had their colonies in Southeast Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa and still would have traded with Indians, and recruited cheap Indian Sepoys (soldiers), Lascars (sailors), and Coolie (indentured labourers) for their imperial expansions outside India. They still would have been a prosperous empire, but not as much as they did with India.

The Indian situation without the British East India Company

All the British East India Company wanted was profit at all costs. For that, they made Indians invest in cash crops with higher yields like - cotton, tea, and sugar. They introduced high plantations of poppy to sell Opium to the Chinese. This resulted in Bengal giving up their millet crops entirely and planting poppies which made poppy seeds part of their cuisine.

Alterations like these changed the food patterns in India, eventually leading to farmer's distress. To make matters worse, they changed the tax policies, and the loan systems that existed between local sahukars or moneylenders and the farmers. Such policies altered the socio-economic situation in India and led to a Peasant Riot in Maharashtra.

Without British rule, India would have witnessed fewer famines, lesser farmer distress, and geographically suitable food consumption.

The British had also introduced cheap machine-made copies of Indian textiles which led to the deindustrialisation of Indian textile enterprises. While that still could have happened without the Company rule, Indian merchants and traders would have adapted to the changing technology and the impact would have been slower and controlled in the absence of harsh policies of the Company. Indian businessmen would have industrialised earlier without the Company's monopoly like they did after the Company was disbanded and India came under the Crown. Indian merchants were very wealthy even back then.

Railways and Transport System

It is believed that only the British could have built railways. Many countries without British rule had railways. In fact, one of the earliest railways in India was the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, which was initiated by Indian business tycoons like Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Jagannath Shankarseth, and David Sassoon in British collaboration.

Military Advancement and Innovation

Indian rulers were employing European adventurers and mercenaries to upgrade their military. These soldiers were not only upgrading their military but were also keen on India's culture. They acted as researchers, historians, archaeologists, and numismatics. Western medicines, inventions, and ideas were making their way to India. India would have progressed in time without foreign rule.

 

Printing Press & Official Languages

Printing Press was introduced in India by the Portuguese way back in the 1550s. Indian rulers like Serfoji II of the Tanjore Maratha kingdom introduced the printing press in Sanskrit, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil in the 19th century. The printing press became the first mass media to spread not only religious texts but also new ideas, and information and bring people together.

Persian, the official court language in the north would have faded with time due to its irrelevance. Marathi, Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Punjabi, Bengali and other dominant regional languages would have become mainstream. Like in Europe, the printing press would have brought people speaking the same language closer creating a strong nation-state identity. This would have eventually resulted in social and political reformation, leading to democracy.

 

Issues of caste and religion still haunt the Indian subcontinent and would have been an issue even in this alternate world. But things would not have remained so rigid as it is to be believed. This topic deserves a separate blog.

Political Union in India in Absence of British Power

There are three possibilities for political boundaries in India in the absence of British rule. First - a fragmented polity; Second - regional empires; and Third - unified India. Fragmented polity has always been the case due to feudalism, but with rising industrialisation, and socio-political reformation, these principalities would have joined to form nation-states, or even the entire subcontinent would have been unified.

Why do I consider a unified India? Well, because India has always been a nation in development before the British. When the Marathas ruled the subcontinent under the name of the Mughal emperor, almost every kingdom acknowledged the Mughal emperor as their nominal overlord. When Shah Alam II conferred the title of Raja to Khem Sawant II of Sawantwadi, he sent letters to almost every ruler in India including Tipu of Mysore informing them of his update. Therefore, there was a sense of political continuity even if every Indian ruler acted independently.

Modern Dress Code in India

Wearing of western clothes in India is often attributed to colonialism. But that is untrue in the case of Thailand and Japan. Modern clothes like jeans and T-shirts are linked to industrialisation and not foreign culture. Japanese workforce switched from their montsuki and kimono to shirts and pants because traditional wear was not suitable for working in an industrial environment, and modern clothes were easier to wear. India also would have started using these western-inspired shirts, pants, jeans and t-shirts with changing times.

Independent India during the World War Period

Germany still would have been unified as one nation causing an arms race in Europe, and with other emerging nations like Italy and Russia, there would have been expansion of colonial empires throughout the world. This conflict still would have resulted in two great wars, and India would have become part of the alliances to safeguard their trade interests.

Conclusion

By the 21st century, India nonetheless would have a modern educated population, democratic setup, religious and caste equality, railways, roadways and other important infrastructure, and a modern military force. 

Something similar happened in my novel based on Alternate History: Expedition to an Alternate Swarajya – Where the subcontinentremained uncolonized. The book is available on various platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Kindle, KOBO, Apple Books, and Google Play.