'The wisdom of the Barbarian': Rebellion, incarceration, and the Santal body politic

South Asia: Journal of South Asia Studies

Volumn 31, Issue 2, 2008, Pages 223-240

  Anderson, Clare ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COLONIALISM; HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; POLITICAL VIOLENCE;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDIA; SOUTH ASIA;

EID: 50449105594     PISSN: 00856401     EISSN: 14790270     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00856400802192895     Document Type: Article

References (117)

1. K.S. Singh, People of India, Vol. III: The Scheduled Tribes (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994), p.1041.
2. Ranajit Guha, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp.26, 138, 140.
3. See also C.A. Bayly, Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p.174.
4. Guha, Elementary Aspects, pp.142-3.
5. Ibid., pp.97-8.
6. Prathama Banerjee, 'Historic Acts? Santal Rebellion and the Temporality of Practice', in Studies in History, Vol.15, no.2 (1999), pp.209-46.
7. Akyab is now Sittwe in Rakhine State.
8. Fred. J. Mouat, Report on the Jails of the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency for 1855-6 (Calcutta: John Gray, Calcutta Gazette O.ce, 1856), p.14., Br. Lib., IOR V/24/2062.
9. Banerjee, 'Historic Acts?', p.211.
10. Kaushik Ghosh, 'A Market for Aboriginality: Primitivism and Race Classi.cation in the Indentured Labour Market of Colonial India', in Gautam Bhadra, Gyan Prakash and Susie Tharu (eds), Subaltern Studies X: Writings on South Asian History and Society (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999), p.13.
11. Gautam Bhadra, 'Four Rebels of Eighteen-Fifty-Seven', in Ranajit Guha (ed.), Subaltern Studies IV: Writings on South Asian History and Society (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp.256-63.
12. W. Grey, Secretary to Government Bengal, to W. Bell, Session Judge Bhagalpur, 21 Aug. 1855, Bengal Judicial Consultations (henceforth Ben JC) 6 Sept. 1855, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.17.
13. Inspector-General of Prisons F.J. Mouat's memo on Bhagalpur Jail, 9 Feb. 1856, Ben JC, 28 Feb. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.33.
14. 'Weekly sanitary report on the state of the prisoners in Beerbhum Jail, week ending 10 Feb. 1856', Ben JC, 20 March 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.35.
15. Inspector-General of Prisons F.J. Mouat's memo on Beerbhum Jail, 18 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 17 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.30.
16. 'Weekly sanitary report of Civil Surgeon A.J. Sheridan on the state of health of the prisoners in the Beerbhum Jail for the week ending 10 Nov. 1855', Ben JC, 20 Dec. 1855, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.26. See also Guha, Elementary Aspects, pp.131-2.
17. For instance, 'Weekly sanitary report on the state of the prisoners in Beerbhum Jail, week ending 22 Dec. 1855', 2 Feb. 1856, Ben JC, 3 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.33.
18. 'Weekly sanitary report Beerbhum Jail, 18 Mar. 1856', Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
19. Mouat to Grey, 29 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 24 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.31.
20. Ghosh, 'A Market', p.17.
21. 'Second and Concluding Report of the Committee of Convict Labour, 28 Jan. 1837', Ben JC, 14 Mar. 1837, Br. Lib., IOR P.141.9.
22. David Arnold, Colonizing the Body: State Medicine and Epidemic Disease in Nineteenth-Century India (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp.103-4.
23. For a fascinating account of the campaign, see Felix Padel, The Sacrifice of Human Being: British Rule and the Konds of Orissa (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995), ch. 2.
24. H.G.A. Taylor, Commander Northern Division, to H. Chamier, Secretary to government, Madras, 26 Jan. 1836, TNSA Madras Judicial Proceedings (MJP), Vol.304B.
25. Padel, The Sacri.ce, pp.51, 60-1, 334 (n.52).
26. Ibid., p.334 (n.52).
27. David Arnold, 'The Colonial Prison: Power, Knowledge, and Penology in 19th-Century India', in David Arnold and David Hardiman (eds), Subaltern Studies VIII; Essays in Honour of Ranajit Guha (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994), p.168.
28. Mouat to Rivers Thompson, Junior Secretary to government, Bengal, 26 Dec. 1860, Bengal Judicial Proceedings (henceforth Ben JP) (Jails), March 1861, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.38.
29. Mouat's memo on Beerbhum Jail, 18 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 17 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.30.
30. Mouat to Grey, 19 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 18 Sept. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.47.
31. Fred. J. Mouat, Reports on Jails Visited and Inspected in Bengal, Behar, and Arracan (Calcutta: Military Orphan Press, 1856), p.172.
32. For the original manuscript, see Mouat's memo on Akyab Jail, 26 Mar. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
33. Cecil Beadon, Secretary to government, Bengal, to G. Powden, Officiating Secretary to Government of India, 19 July 1853, Ben JC, 21 July 1853, Br. Lib., IOR P.144.43.
34. Crispin Bates and Marina Carter, 'Tribal and Indentured Migrants in Colonial India: Modes of Recruitment and Forms of Incorporation', in Peter Robb (ed.), Dalit Movements and the Meanings of Labour in India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993), p.167.
35. Grey to Thompson, 29 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 3 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.35.
36. Mouat to C.J. Buckland, Junior Secretary to government, Bengal, 25 Apr. 1856, enclosing district reports on the withdrawal of tobacco (Beerbhum Jail), Ben JC, 15 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.39.
37. 'Sanitary report, week ending 8 March 1856', A.W. Russell, Under-Secretary to government, Bengal, to R.J. Wigram, Officiating Magistrate, Beerbhum, 25 Mar. 1856, Ben JC, 20 Mar. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.35.
38. Mouat to Buckland, 28 Apr. 1856, Ben JC 12 June 1856
39. Mouat to Buckland, 25 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
40. Wigram to Mouat, 18 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 12 June 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
41. 'Weekly sanitary report of the Civil Surgeon on the state of the prisoners in the Beerbhum Jail for the week ending 12 Jan. 1856', Ben JC, 24 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.31.
42. Note of Officiating Magistrate Rivers Thompson, n.d., Ben JC, 24 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.31.
43. For instance 'Weekly sanitary report Beerbhum Jail, 16 Feb. 1856', Ben JC, 20 Mar. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.35.
44. Wigram to Russell, 22 Feb. 1856, Ben JC, 20 Mar. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.35.
45. Wigram to Grey, 7 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
46. Ibid.
47. Mouat's memo on Beerbhum Jail, 18 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 17 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.30.
48. See for instance in Mare Hapram Ko Reak Katha (The Traditions and Institutions of the Santals), which had been dictated to a missionary by Santal Kolean Haram in 1871. The only other written Santal account of the hool, Chotrae Desmanjhi's, made no mention of it at all.
49. See W.G. Archer, 'The Santal Rebellion', in Man in India, Vol.25, no.4 (1945), pp.223-39.
50. Wigram to Grey, 28 Mar. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37. The British later recaptured 75 of them.
51. Wigram to Grey, 28 Mar., 1 Apr. 1856
52. Wigram to Russell, 7 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
53. Note of C.J.J. Jackson, Medical Officer, Alipur Jail, 3 Dec. 1884
54. note of G.D. Harris, Surgeon-Major and member of Transportation Committee, 5 Dec. 1884, NAI Home (Port Blair), A Proceedings, May 1885, pp.129-33.
55. Mouat's circular, 26 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 17 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.30.
56. 'Weekly sanitary reports Beerbhum Jail, 29 Mar., 6 Apr. 1856', Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
57. 'Weekly sanitary report Beerbhum Jail, 6 Apr. 1856', Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
58. Grey to Wigram, 5 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
59. Wigram to Russell, 7 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
60. 'Weekly sanitary report Beerbhum Jail, 6 Apr. 1856-Wigram's remarks', n.d., Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
61. Buckland to Wigram, Mouat and Sheridan, 18 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
62. 'Weekly sanitary report Beerbhum Jail, 20 Apr. 1856', Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
63. Wigram to Buckland, 23 Apr. 1856; and Mouat to Buckland, 30 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
64. Remarks by Sessions Judge O.W. Malet, 13 June 1856, Ben JC, 4 Sept. 1856, Br. Lib. IOR P.145.46.
65. Memo on Bhagalpur Jail, 27 Jan. 1857, Ben JC, 9 July 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.66.
66. Ghosh, 'A Market', pp.20-1.
67. Mouat's memo on Beerbhum Jail, 18 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 17 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.30
68. and Mouat to Grey, 29 Dec. 1855, Ben JC, 24 Jan. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.31.
69. Mouat to Wigram, 5 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 12 June 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
70. J.W. Mountjoy, Civil Asst. Surgeon, Akyab, to C. Mackinnon, Superintending Surgeon, Barrackpur, 27 Sept. 1856, Ben JC, 11 Dec 1856, Br. Lib. IOR P.145.52.
71. Buckland to Wigram, 23 Apr. 1856, Ben JC, 8 May 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.37.
72. Clare Anderson, Legible Bodies: Race, Criminality and Colonialism in South Asia (Oxford: Berg, 2004), pp.28-30.
73. A. Fergusson, Magistrate, 24-Parganas, to Russell, 17 Mar. 1856, Ben JC, 5 June 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.44.
74. On the Santals' work chosen for the exhibition, see also Mouat to Buckland, 21 Mar. 1857, Ben JC, 30 Apr. 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.61.
75. Clare Anderson, The Indian Uprising of 1857-8: Prisons, Prisoners and Resistance (London: Anthem, 2007), Chs. 2 & 3.
76. Mouat to Buckland, 24 Mar. 1857, Ben JC, 2 July 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.65.
77. Buckland to Fergusson, 29 May 1856, Ben JC, 5 June 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.44.
78. 'Statement containing the particulars respecting the families of the Santal Prisoners confined in Alipur Jail, 4 Apr. 1856', Ben JC, 5 June 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.44. An interesting aside in relation to the Santals' supposed attachment to their families was the preference for tribal migrants among Mauritian sugar planters, on the grounds that they had fewer concerns about migrating in family groups and thus were more likely to form a population of permanent settlers. It has been estimated that about 17 percent of the total migration to Mauritius (by far the largest recipient of indentured labour in the British Empire) during the period 1842-70 were dhangars, the colonial term for adivasi migrants. The history of indentured immigration also shows that the devastating mortality suffered by the Santals in prison was not unique. Death rates amongst tribal migrants were ten times that of others signing contracts of indenture. In the Mauritian case, this eventually led to the favouring of non-tribal groups in indentured recruitment, notably those from South India.
79. See Marina Carter, Sirdars, Servants and Settlers: Indians in Mauritius, 1834-1874 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995), pp.104-5
80. Ghosh, 'A Market', pp.21-2.
81. Anderson, The Indian Uprising, Ch. 2.
82. W.H. Henderson, Magistrate, Chittagong, to Mouat, 2 June 1856, Ben JC, 18 Sept. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.47.
83. Fergusson to Buckland, 21 June 1856, Ben JC, 18 Sept. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.47.
84. Wigram to Buckland, 5 July 1856, Ben JC, 18 Sept. 1856, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.47.
85. In April, cholera broke out amongst the transferred men and 21 of them died. With the exception of three men who were too ill to move, the remainder asked to be re-admitted to jail rather than face certain death in the jungles.
86. Fergusson to E.H. Lushington, in charge of the o.ce of the Secretary to government, Bengal, 14 Apr. 1857, Ben JC, 30 July 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.68.
87. G.U. Yule, Commissioner Santal Parganas, to Lushington, 16 June 1857, Ben JC, 30 July 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.68.
88. E.T. Dalton, O.ciating Commissioner, Chota Nagpur, to A.R. Young, Secretary to government, Bengal, 14 Sept. 1857, Ben JC, 1 Oct. 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.75.
89. Dalton to H. Bell, Under-Secretary to government, Bengal, 19 Aug. 1861, Ben JP (Jails) Oct. 1861, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.44.
90. Fred. J. Mouat, Report on the Jails of the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency for 1858-9 (Calcutta: John Gray, General Printing Department - Report and Appendices; Special Reports of Jails, Alipur Jail Press, 1859) (henceforth Mouat's Report, 1858-9), p.31, Br. Lib., IOR V/24/2063. Alipur was designed to hold a maximum of 1307 prisoners, but at this time its daily average rose to 1895.
91. Mouat's Report, 1858-9, p.34. As these were controlled by the Bengal Presidency, strictly speaking the prisoners were subject to prison transfer, not transportation. This avoided any potential difficulties in changing the terms of their original sentence.
92. Mouat's Report, 1858-9: App. I, 'Special Reports of the Jails in the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency for the Year 1858-59', p.74.
93. Mouat's Report, 1858-9, p.34.
94. This was a common feature of local policy in relation to transportation. For the case of Mauritius, see Clare Anderson, Convicts in the Indian Ocean: Transportation from South Asia to Mauritius, 1815-53 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000), pp.23-5.
95. Mouat's Report, 1858-9, p.28.
96. Mountjoy to R. Shepherd, Second Principal Assistant Commissioner, Arakan, 11 Sept. 1857, Mouat-s Report, 1857-8, App. I.
97. Ibid.
98. Fred. J. Mouat, Report on the Jails of the Lower Provinces of the Bengal Presidency for 1859-60 (Calcutta: Savielle and Cranenburgh Printers, Bengal Printing Co. Ltd., 1860) (henceforth Mouat's Report, 1859-60), App. I (Special Reports), p.38, Br. Lib., IOR V/24/2063.
99. Thompson to Mouat, 29 Dec. 1859; and Mouat's memo, 30 Apr. 1860, Ben JP, June 1860, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.28.
100. Mouat's Report, 1859-60, App. I, p.118.
101. Anderson, The Indian Uprising, ch. 2.
102. Mouat's Report, 1859-60, App. I, p.119.
103. Ibid., App. I, p.114.
104. Mountjoy's annual report of Akyab jail hospital, 1858, Mouat's Report, 1857-8, App. I, pp.111-13.
105. Mountjoy to Shepherd, 11 Sept. 1857, Annual report Akyab jail hospital, Mouat's Report, 1858-9 (n.p.g.).
106. Mouat's Report, 1859-60, App. I, p.119.
107. Ibid., p.115.
108. 'Statement of the nineteen sontal [Santal] prisoners who were in con.nement in the Alipore [Alipur] Jail on the 23rd November 1859', Ben JP (Jails), Aug. 1860, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.30.
109. 'Statement of Santal prisoners confined in the jails of the Lower Provinces except Alipur', 9 Aug. 1861, Ben JP (Jails), Oct. 1861, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.44.
110. Thompson to Commissioner, Santal Parganas, 19 Oct. 1859, Ben JP, 20 Oct. 1859, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.21.
111. J. Munro, Officiating Under-Secretary to government, Bengal, to W. Le F. Robinson, Officiating Commissioner Santal Parganas (Bhagulpur Division), 9 Oct. 1861, Ben JP (Jails), Oct. 1861, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.44.
112. On the Kols, see Bhadra, 'Four Rebels', pp.256-63.
113. See also K.S. Singh, 'The "Tribals" and the 1857 Uprising', in Social Scientist, Vol.296-9 (1998), pp.76-85.
114. S. Grey, Assistant Magistrate, Govindpur, to Young, 8 Aug. 1857, Ben JC, 10 Sept. 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.145.72
115. and Dalton to Young, 25 Oct. 1857, Ben JC, 12 Nov. 1857, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.3.
116. 'Statement of Santal prisoners con.ned in the jails of the Lower Provinces except Alipur', 9 Aug. 1861, Ben JP (Jails), Oct. 1861, Br. Lib., IOR P.146.44.
117. Dalton to H. Bell, Under-Secretary to government, Bengal, 19 Aug. 1861, ibid.