"The Anarchy" by William Dalrymple

A history of the destruction of the Mughal Empire at the hands of the East India Company, an act which led to the foundation of the British Raj. It is a story of repeated crimes against humanity committed by the British (and others).

The book seems to have as its thesis the concept, formulated by the first Baron Thurlow, the Lord Chancellor during the impeachment of Warren Hastings, and quoted in the frontispiece of this book, that "Corporations have neither bodies to be punished, nor souls to be condemned, they therefore do as they like." But it is a difficult argument to make. Certainly most Companymen sought to enrich themselves as fast as possible, without any concern for ethics or from the poor people they were stealing or plundering from, sometimes even killing people to get what they wanted. As Dalrymple points out in the Introduction, “One of the very first Indian words to enter the English language was the Hindustani slang for plunder: loot.” Even Warren Hastings, who was one of the best leaders of the company and a Hindophile, presided during the Bengal famine when a previously fertile and prosperous country starved, during which profiteering was rife; Hastings also refused to abide by the Treaty obligation of funding the Mughal Emperor, arguing that such money shouldn't be exported to Bengal, while conniving at the export of much more money to England by Companymen. However, the behaviour of the absolute monarchs in the little principalities, was perhaps as greedy and frequently bordered on the psychopathic. It is difficult to see anyone emerging from this history with credit, except the powerless. So the idea that corporate governance is uniquely rotten seems to fail the test of the evidence adduced.

Nevertheless, the book clearly demonstrates that the acquisition of India by the British involved dreadful crimes: looting and thievery (see above), creating famine (see above), the introduction of racist legislation so that the children of mixed Anglo-Indian marriages became virtually unemployable, massacring defeated troops and the even-in-its-day notorious climax to the siege of Srirangapatnam by troops commanded by the man who would later become the first Duke of Wellington: “That night the city of Srirangapatnam, home to 100,000 people; was given over to an unrestrained orgy of rape, looting and kidding.” This infamous looting inspired the scene at the start of The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. In the novel, the Moonstone is eventually returned to India “something that has yet to happen with the real loot of Srirangapatnam.” (353)

I was surprised and disappointed to discover that, following the battle for Srirangapatnam, a medal was issued as well as prize money. There is no mention of war crimes in the wikipedia biography of the Duke of Wellington, not in the wikipedia article on the battle which doesn't mention the looting except under 'depictions in literature'.

I'm not one who believes that we should apologise for the crimes of our ancestors but I think we should stop honouring them. Perhaps we should tear down the statues of the Duke of Wellington and rename those places named after him, or at least remember that he would now be judged guilty of terrible war crimes. As for Clive of India, he should be infamous as a thug and a bully, a gangster and a thief.

The book also resonates with our present concerns in other ways:

• “As with all such corporations, then as now, the EIC was answerable only to its shareholders. With no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term well-being, the Company's rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of Bengal.” (Introduction)
• England going Protestant and establishing the Church of England is made to sound a little like Brexit: “In the course of this, in what seemed to many of its widest minds an act of wilful self-harm, the English had unilaterally cut themselves off from the most powerful institution in Europe, so turning themselves in the eyes of many Europeans into something of a pariah nation. As a result ... the English were forced to scour the globe for new Markets.” (Ch 1) This is an avowed aim of the Brexiteers; let us hope that this modern trade-seeking does not lead to rape, looting and wholesale murder.
• "Tax collectors and farmers of revenue plundered the peasantry to raise funds from the land, and no one felt in the least bit responsible for the well-being of the ordinary cultivator. Merchants and weavers were forced to work for the Company at far below market rates.” (Ch 5)

Much of the book was a powerful indictment of undemocratic rule. But there were times when it became boring. There is only so much repetition of battlers and lootings and negotiations and treaties that one can take. Sometimes it seemed that a large part of the narrative consisted of yet another casus belli, yet another battle, yet more looting, yet another puppet government. These were moments when I started to lose interest and I found it difficult to pay attention. The names and titles of the Indian monarchs and viziers seemed to merge into one another. I drifted away.

The book is also, in part, a family history. Dalrymple repeatedly tells us of the exploits (or sufferings, one died in the Black Hole of Calcutta) of other Dalrymples, presumable his ancestors, although he never makes this explicit.

But let me celebrate some stylisticl issues with the book that made it easier to read. There are some very useful maps at the front and also a great Cast List. There is a glossary of (most of) the Indian words used in the text. The page numbers are easy to find and the chapter is identified at the top of every odd-numbered page. Why can't all books be helpful to the reader like this?

Selected quotes:

• “The strappado - the Inquisition's answer to bungee jumping" (Ch 1)
• “Not for nothing are so many English words connected with weaving - chintz, calico, shawl, pyjamas, khaki, dungarees, cummerbund, taffeta - of Indian origin.” (Ch 1)
• “Meekness, benevolence and patience remained qualities which eluded Clive throughout his life. Instead, soon after hitting puberty, he had turned village delinquent. running protection rackets around Market Drayton.” (Ch 2)

August 2022; 397 pages

William Dalrymple has written a number of other brilliant books. 

• From the Holy Mountain is reviewed in this blog.
• I have also read (pre blog)
• In Xanadu, a great travel book
• City of Djinns: A Year in Delhi: a quirky collection of stories which mix the present and past of Delhi

This review was written by the author of Motherdarling  and The Kids of God