This three-part series looks at British imperialism in India, and specifically the Indian Uprising of 1857, partly through the lens of William Dalrymple's book The Last Mughal, which follows the downfall of the last Indian emperor, and draws some parallels to current events. Read parts one and two.
The word "innocent" is often reflexively linked with "women and children." But when it comes to the sipahis and jehadis and their massacres of "innocent" English women and children during the Indian Uprising of 1857, while I think even very spoiled children should be regarded as innocent, in the unfolding system of apartheid, women could not have been considered innocent. Their presence as breeders and their habitual assertions of superiority were absolutely necessary for its implementation, a circumstance they were aware of and happy to act upon.
For example, if, as quoted in William Dalrymple's book The Last Mughal, which follows the downfall of the last Indian emperor to sit on the throne at Delhi, some ignorant colonial slut was able to address the deposed emperor not only in proudly broken Hindustani, but as rudely as she righteously claimed to have done, she must have had quite a bit of practice ahead of time and elsewhere. This revelation sent me to to my bookshelf to take another look at a strange volume I bought years ago called The Golden Calm. It's still in print and a lot of it must be read with a magnifying glass because of the low contrast between the faithfully reproduced yellowed pages and faded ink.
The Golden Calm centers on the same crowd in Delhi as The Last Mughal, and makes available Thomas Metcalfe's commissioned paintings of the city and his eldest daughter Emily's diary, interspersed with a rambling commentary from the insufferable busybody and late 20th century colonial memoirist, M.M. Kaye.
Careful inspection reveals much about Emily Metcalfe's style and circumstances — an unselfconscious charm, to be sure; the mild trials of being farmed out to relatives in England in order to stay English; the collaborative efforts of colonial families in support of the Empire; slightly simpering racism about mixed blood within colonial ranks; complete ignorance of Indian people and society other than servants; a tendency to conflate quotidian familiarity with England with an education; and a warped sense of scale.
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