Lama Imam

Chapter 4 response:

In the history book that I read throughout my scholarly career when I studied history has

mainly regarded the revolt of 1857-1858 as the dividing point which marks the inception of

Modern India. And its always referred to and emphasized in those books that this revolt for

an Indian mutiny and that too a very uncoordinated and insignificant and a failure of an

attempt by the Indians to overthrow the British. That viewpoint doesn’t surprise me much

as recent history books taught in school do portray a colonial perspective. Chapter 4 of

Metcalf allows a deeper analysis and offers another perspective of the same revolt that

exists, it being the perspective of the nationalists who saw this revolt as the first war of

independence. Like many instances I have already come across in this course this chapter

also offers a truer, more unbiased view of south Asian history as to how the revolt was not

insignifasnt, it mobilized all classes of people to come together and generated a wake of

awareness for the Indian people to collaborate as never before to get the rights they

deserved. Uncoordinated it was and many internal differences in agendas made the revolt

weak enough to be overcome by the British but in no way was it random people acting out

with no real provocation or agenda. Another aspect of this reading that calls out to me is

how it debunks the traditional view that the British progressed first and the modernity that

happened was later transported to India, these events happened in close relation with each

other. Essential changes in modern state system such as unification of sovereignity,

constructions of institutions to implement educations for the citizens, surveillance of

populations, technological developments such as canals and railway systems came to India

just as they came to Europe. These developments didn’t pre exist in Europe and Europe
didn’t bestow development onto the Indian savage nation. Many modern advancements

either originated in or came into being via Indian experience itself and no so much from

British influence.