Debt, time and extravagance: Money and the making of 'primitives' in colonial Bengal

Indian Economic and Social History Review

Volumn 37, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 423-445

  Banerjee, Prathama ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 25844490982     PISSN: 00194646     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (115)

1. Sugata Bose, 'The Peasantry in Debt: The Working and Rupture of Systems of Rural Credit Relations', in idem, ed., Credit, Markets and the Agrarian Economy of Colonial India, Delhi, 1994, p. 248.
2. I use the term 'colonial modernity' to primarily indicate the ideas and experiences of modernity that the colonised acquired through the mediation of colonial rule. However, the term also functions as a convenient shorthand to remind us that modernity, taken either as a period in European history or a set of ideas and practices with a claim to universality, cannot be talked about without reference to colonialism, even though some theorists of modernity and modernism would have us believe so. However, this is not to say that symbols and values of modernity cannot become discrete objects of analysis and even of avowal. This is just to say that such an avowal of the modern can no longer remain innocent of the experience of colonialism.
3. Georg Simmel, The Philosophy of Money, 1900, 2nd edition, 1907, reprint, London, 1990, p. 82. Georg Simmel (1858-1918) was a German sociologist who developed his theory of money primarily in opposition to Karl Marx's labour theory of value. He is important in our context in three ways. One, because of his positioning vis-à-vis Marx, who, in turn, inspires this enquiry into the work of money. Two, because he argued against the kind of realism which claimed that every 'form' was a representation/copy of another 'real' object out there. He argued that each form - like that of the thing called money - operated in a different and incommensurable world of its own. That is, he claimed that money was able to trace an autonomous representational space in modernity.
4. See his Essays on Interpretation in Social Sciences (ed. & tr. by Guy Oakes), Manchester, 1980. And three, because Simmel's entire analysis of money as a modern phenomenon depended on a constant opposition of money to a so-called 'primitive' miscomprehension of money. I feel that it is not accidental that the shadow of Marx and the shadow of the 'primitive' fall so strongly on to Simmel's text. It will also become clear from the article itself how much Simmel shared in what we are familiar with as colonial discourses, without apparently intending to do so. And through this apparently far-fetched connection - between Simmel and the colonial official working in nineteenth-century south Bihar and Bengal - we can read much more than what is apparent in the truly discrete and contingent experiments being carried out with money and with 'primitives' in the colonial context.
5. Anon., 'The Santal Rebellion', The Calcutta Review, Vol. 26(51), 1856, p. 263.
6. Dipesh Chakravarty shows how D.D. Kosambi conceptualised many 'tribal' and women's customs as 'survivals' of the past in the present. Dipesh Chakravarty, 'Bharatvarshe Adhunikatar Itihas o Samay Kalpana', Aitihasik, Vol. 7(2), 1996, pp. 121-28.
7. For cultural variations in perceptions and uses of money, see J. Parry and M. Bloch, eds, Money and the Morality of Exchange, Cambridge, 1995;
8. and Arjun Appadurai, ed., The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, Cambridge, 1986.
9. It was through capitalism and nationalism that the state and the market emerged as coterminous, both of which came to represent universal and rational time. Mercantilist and capitalist traditions, therefore, miss historical instances where trade and the state represented distinct and non-overlapping political formations. See Steven Feierman, 'Africa in History: The End of Universal Narratives', in Gyan Prakash, ed., After Colonialism, Princeton, 1995, p. 48.
10. Christopher Herbert, Culture and Anomie: Ethnographic Imagination in the Nineteenth Century, London, 1991.
11. Kaushik Ghosh, 'A Market for Aboriginality: Primitivism and Race Classification in the Indentured Labour Market of Colonial India', in Gautam Bhadra, Gyan Prakash and Susie Tharu, eds, Subaltern Studies, Vol. X, Delhi, 1999, pp. 8-48.
12. Morning Chronicle, 1792, quoted in W.W. Hunter, The Annals of Rural Bengal, Calcutta, 1868, p. 219.
13. S.C. Dutt, The Wild Tribes of India, reprint, Delhi, 1984, p. 68. This was written sometime between 1875 and 1885.
14. James Browne, India Tracts Containing a Description of the Jungle Terry Districts, London, 1788, pp. 15-21. Also, Fombelle to Tucker, Sub-Secretary to Govt of Bengal, 22 October 1796, Bhagalpur Judicial Records (hereafter BHJR), Bhagalpur Records Room (hereafter BRR). In this description of a 'pre-modern' lack of money in this area, it was not admitted that much of the liquidity was being put out of circulation by the colonial government itself. By the turn of the century, the Company had soaked up enormous amounts of money as revenue and reinvested it in its war with Tipu Sultan. And, once Cornwallis decided that pre-colonial coins were all debased and were to be accepted only after appropriate devaluation, there was a complete loss of purchasing power in the area.
15. See Hunter, Annals, pp. 289-90, 311-21.
16. W. Hodges, Travels in India during the Years 1780, 1781, 1782 & 1783, London, 1793, pp. 88, 92-93
17. ; Bishop Heber quoted in L.S.S. O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: Santal Parganas, Calcutta, 1910, p. 35.
18. Gov-Gen. to Mr Wheeler, in passing through Bhagalpur by the Ganga, 16 Feb 1781, Bengal Revenue Proceedings (hereafter BRP), P/50/32, Oriental and India Office Collections (hereafter OIOC), London.
19. John Briggs, 'Two Lectures on the Aboriginal Races of India, as Distinguished from the Sanskritic or Hindu Race', Journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 13, 1852, pp. 275-309.
20. Browne to Warren Hastings, 21 December 1777, BRP, P/50/7, OIOC.
21. Fombelle, Magistrate, Bhagalpur to Tucker, Sub-Secretary, Govt of Bengal, 27 September 1797, BHJR, BRR.
22. Browne, India Tracts, pp. 81-84.
23. India Tracts, Ibid., pp. 73-74, 85.
24. Quoted in O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers, p. 39.
25. Cleveland, Collector, Bhagalpur to Secy., Govt of Bengal, 19 September 1780, BRP, P/50/ 30, OIOC.
26. Cleveland to Secy., Govt of Bengal, 21 April 1780, BRP, P/50/24, OIOC.
27. Fombelle to Tucker, Sub-Secretary, Govt of Bengal, 22 October 1796, BHJR, BRR.
28. Simmel, The Philosophy of Money, 1900, p. 97.
29. O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers, p. 38.
30. Browne to Hastings, 29 July 1777, BRP, P/50/1, OIOC.
31. Fombelle to John Shore, Gov-Gen., 11 January 1793, BHJR, BRR.
32. Fombelle to Sub-Secretary, Govt of India, January 1802, Board Collections (hereafter BC) F/4/943, OIOC.
33. Fombelle to Shore, 21 February 1794, BHJR, BRR.
34. Fombelle to Secy, Govt of Bengal, 4 July 1794, BHJR, BRR.
35. Fombelle to Tucker, Sub-Secretary, Govt of Bengal, 22 October 1796, BHJR, BRR.
36. J.P. Ward, Commissioner, Bhagalpur to Secretary, Board of Revenue of Lower Province, 17 August 1827, Dumka Record Room (hereafter DRR).
37. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 2 July 1839, DRR.
38. Report by Sutherland to Board of Revenue, 8 June 1819, BC (1827-28), F/4/953, OIOC.
39. Thomas Shaw, 'On the Inhabitants of the Hills near Rajmahall', Journal of Asiatic Research, Vol. 4, 1792, p. 107.
40. R.B. Bainbridge, 'The Saorias of the Rajmahal Hills', Memoirs of Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. 2, 1907-10, pp. 43-44.
41. Shaw, 'On the Inhabitants', pp. 46-47.
42. W.B. Oldham, Some Historical and Ethnical Aspects of the Burdwan District, Calcutta, 1894, pp. 23-24.
43. Some Historical and Ethnical Aspects of the Burdwan District, Ibid., pp. 10-12.
44. Bainbridge, 'The Saorias', pp. 48-49.
45. Hunter, Annals, pp. 216-27.
46. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 20 July 1842, 4 June 1847, DRR.
47. Asst Collector to Collector, Bhagalpur, 13 April 1830, DRR.
48. Collector, Bhagalpur to Pontet, 31 March 1853, DRR.
49. Ibid.
50. Collector to Brown, Commissioner of Revenue, Bhagalpur, 6 July 1853, DRR.
51. Collector to Brown, 19 May, 6 August, 14 August 1853, DRR.
52. Sudder Board of Revenue to Secretary, Govt of Bengal, 21 November 1836, DRR.
53. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, Annual Report, 1844-45, DRR.
54. S.C. Mukherjee, Bihar District Gazetteer: Santal Parganas, Patna, 1938, p. 215.
55. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 22 August 1846, DRR.
56. Pontet, Annual Report, 1848-49, DRR.; Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 30 May 1851 DRR.
57. Collector, Bhagalpur to Pontet, 20 October 1854, DRR.
58. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 22 May 1852, DRR. Of course, travelling merchants could not be taxed as systematically as settled markets could be.
59. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 28 June 1845, DRR.
60. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 20 July 1846, DRR.
61. Simmel, The Philosophy of Money, p. 147.
62. S. Herbert Frankel, Money: Two Philosophies, The Conflict of Trust and Authority, Oxford, 1977.
63. Ward's Report, August 1827, DRR.
64. Kolean and Juggi Haram (L.O. Skrefsrud, ed.), Horkoren Mare Hapramko Reak Katha, 1887, reprint, Oslo, 1942, p. 121.
65. 'Beginning of Things', in C.H. Bompas, ed., Folklore of the Santal Parganas, reprint, 1981, Delhi, pp. 401-2.
66. Ward's Report, August 1827, DRR.
67. Karl Marx, Grundrisse, London, 1973, p. 105.
68. Rev. J.A. MacPhail, The Story of the Santal, Calcutta, 1922, pp. 68-69, 75.
69. S.C. Dutt, The Works of S.C. Dutt, Vol. I, London, 1884, p. 183.
70. Simmel, The Philosophy of Money, p. 142.
71. Pontet, Annual Report to Collector, Bhagalpur, 1845-46, DRR.
72. M.C. McAlpin, Report on the Condition of Sonthals in the Districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Midnapore and Balasore, Calcutta, 1909, p. 25.
73. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 8 March 1840, DRR.
74. Karl Marx, Theories of Surplus Value, Moscow, 1971, pp. 279-80.
75. Simmel, The Philosophy of Money, p. 97.
76. The Philosophy of Money, Ibid., pp. 140-42.
77. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 16 August 1839, DRR.
78. Asst Commissioner, Deoghar to Secretary, Board of Revenue, 19 May 1865, DRR.
79. Pontet to Collector, Bhagalpur, 20 July 1842, DRR.
80. McAlpin, Report, pp. 25-26.
81. Kolean and Juggi Haram, Horkoren, p. 129.
82. Ibid., p. 102.
83. H. McPherson, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Santal Parganas, 1898-1907, Calcutta, 1909.
84. Samar Kumar Mallick, Transformation of Santal Society: Prelude to Jharkhand, Calcutta, 1993;
85. Suchibrata Sen, The Santals of Jungle Mahals: An Agrarian History. 1793-1861, Calcutta, 1984.
86. Kolean and Juggi Haram, Horkoren, p. 13.
87. Ibid., p. 10.
88. This point was suggested by Dipesh Chakravarty.
89. Statement of Runjit Manjhi of Sarmi to Brown, Commanding Officer, 13 Regiment NI, 23 November 1855, Vol. 303(52), Judicial Proceedings, West Bengal State Archives, Calcutta.
90. Marx, Surplus Value, pp. 454-56, 466.
91. S.C. Dutt, Works, Vol. 1, p. 186.
92. Balaknath Ray, Arthavyavaharer Prasnottar, Hugli, 1871, p. 5.
93. Rajkrishna Raychaudhuri, Arthavyavahar or Money Matters, 7th edition, Calcutta, 1870, pp. 8-9.
94. Arthavyavahar or Money Matters, 7th edition, Ibid., pp. 22-23.
95. Jogodish Tarkalankar, A Treatise on Commerce, Krishnanagar, 1866, pp. 21, 30-35, 57, 145.
96. Avinash Chandra Das, Aranyabas, Calcutta, 1913, pp. 352-67.
97. Aranyabas, Ibid., pp. 210-11.
98. Aranyabas, Ibid., pp. 413-14.
99. Aranyabas, Ibid., p. 150.
100. R.C. Dutt, 'The Aboriginal Element in the Population of Bengal', Calcutta Review, CL, 1882, pp. 245-46.
101. Hunter, Annals, pp. 113-14.
102. Annals, Ibid., p. 210.
103. Rev. F.T. Cole, 'Santal Idea of the Future', Indian Antiquary, Vol. 7, 1878, pp. 273-74;
104. Bompas, Folklore, p. 410.
105. Hunter, Annals, pp. 124-25.
106. Ernst Droese, Introduction to the Malto Language and the Malto Vocabulary, Agra, 1884, pp. 50-51.
107. B.H. Hodgson, 'A Brief Note on Indian Ethnology', Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, March 1849, pp. 238-43.
108. H. Beverly, 'Knotted Ropes used by the Santals in Taking the Census of 1872', Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1872, p. 192.
109. S.C. Mitra, Further Notes on the Primitive Method of Computing Time and Distance, Calcutta, 1920, pp. 85-86.
110. Eric Alliez (George Van Den Abbeele, tr.), Capital Times: Tales from the Conquest of Time, London/Minneapolis, 1996, p. 8.
111. Simmel, The Philosophy of Money, pp. 70-71.
112. The Philosophy of Money, Ibid., pp. 204-5, 211-13.
113. Hunter, Annals, p. 124.
114. For an analysis of the mediating intentions of the Bengali middle classes, see Partha Chatterjee, 'A Religion of Urban Domesticity: Sri Ramkrishna and the Calcutta Middle Class', in Ranajit Guha, ed., Subaltern Studies, Vol. VII, Delhi, 1992.
115. Arcydae [R.C. Dutt], 'Literature of Bengal', Calcutta Review, March 1874, p. 337.