India at the Time of Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, born in the United Kingdom in 1800, was a famous politician and historian in England. After completing his education and making a career choice, it was during the early 1830s that he first came to India. He carefully studied the social and political conditions prevalent in India.
Subsequently, due to the influential position that Macaulay held in intellectual British circles, he was able to bring about some radical changes in India. The introduction of the English education system and the Indian Penal Code were due to the efforts of Macaulay. Also, the origin of Indian Civil Services, as we know them today, is attributed to him.
This article will briefly elaborate on the socio-political situation of India, at the time of Macaulay. These circumstances were such that the job of Macaulay in initiating the big changes became much easier.
The liberal approach of Britishers – The initial phase
During the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century, The East India Company had a fairly liberal approach toward India. This is in the sense that the Company chose not to interfere in the religious and traditional matters of Indians. But following the Industrial Revolution and French Revolution, there was a drastic change in the outlook of the Britishers.
They initiated efforts to both gradually make India a British colony and replace Indian cultural aspects with Western ideologies. In this context, intellectuals and politicians like Macaulay helped the empire in achieving its goal, in no uncertain terms.
No powerful ruler and change in mindset of East India Company to India
After the downfall of the Maratha empire due to the weak leadership of , there were hardly any rulers in India powerful enough to fight against the Britishers. The last peshwa of Maratha empire Baji Rao II was the son of the former Peshwa Raghunathrao and his wife Anandibai. Previously, his father Peshwa Raghunandath Rao had defected to British side. The weak leadership of father and son destroyed the Maratha Empire leading to its full and final defeat in the 3rd Ango-Maratha war
The few small kings that attempted to offer resistance were easily overpowered by the British army. Later on, the Britishers had no hassles in gradually gaining political control over India.
Almost all the nawabs, rajahs, and landlords surrendered to the Britishers and preferred to function as their allies. As a result of that, the British were in a position to introduce any new laws or policies. Macaulay had no hindrances in making the empire come up with the new educational system and penal code.
Lack of unity
One more perturbing fact was that there was no unity among the Indians, in those times. No one wanted to identify themselves as a part of one country. People gave more importance to their respective religions, castes, and regions. They were unable to understand the significance of combining into a single force, to combat British rule. Owing to the above differences, the Britishers were highly successful in projecting themselves as superior people, before the masses.
Even the rulers and landlords were more interested in serving as British loyalists and obtaining benefits from the empire. The lack of unity among the people was only helping these small-time rulers and zamindars. Along with them, the affluent section of Indian society was focused on carrying out business with British companies and prospering, too. Questioning the supremacy of the British empire was detrimental to their objectives.
In light of all that, it is in no way surprising that Thomas Macaulay decided that the English Education System and the new Penal Code could be brought out with practically no opposition. And, that precisely was what happened!