Forerunners of Dadabhai Naoroji's Drain Theory

Author(s): J. V. Naik
Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Nov. 24-30, 2001, Vol. 36, No. 46/47 (Nov. 24-30,
2001), pp. 4428-4432
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4411389

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 Forerunners of Dadabhai Naoroji's
Drain Theory
Much before Dadabhai Naoroji wrote his famous work attributing India's abysmal poverty
to sustained drain of its wealth to Britain and even decades before the Indian National
Congress placed it on its agenda for change, a small band of Maharashtrian
intellectuals, wrote several hard-hitting articles in the English and the Marathi language
press all through the decade of the 1840s that were harshly critical of British
government policies that had led to India's impoverishment. But their tirade was equally
sharp against age-old Indian traditions and social evils like the caste system that
had abetted in India's long slide towards servitude.
J V NAIK

adabhai Naoroji, the acknow- in 1843 a remarkable book, 'Thoughts on

of individual's right to resist the state".
ledged theoretician of drain theory, India's Past, Its Present Condition, and And his apparent knowledge of 18th cen-
in his opening lecture on the sub-Their Impact on the Future',3 to similar tury European Enlightenment notwith-
ject of economic drain entitled 'England's effect. standing, he did not elaborate on the
Duties to India' delivered before the East It was not merely the exploitative nature political aspects of liberalism, define the
IndiaAssociation, London, on May 2,1867, of British rule that came under the lash of limits of laissez-faire and protectionism,
made the following disclosure:1 their bitter attack but also the fossilised or "categorically recognise the exploit-
More than 20 years earlier a small band Indian religious and social tradition which ative character of the British rule".7 A
of Hindu students and thoughtful gentle- was primarily responsible for alien politi- great admirer of Mountstuart Elphinstone,
men used to meet secretly to discuss thecal domination and consequent economic he seems to have been favourably im-
effects of British rule upon India. The
ruination of the country. In this they ini-pressed by the new rulers. In social field,
home charges and the transfer of capital
tially owed a considerable intellectual and too, he, "our first social reformer" (in
from India to England in various shapes,
Maharashtra) as N G Chandavarkar de-
inspirational debt to their teacher, Bal
and the exclusion of the children of the
Gangadhar
country from any share or voice in the Shastri Jambhekar (1812-46),
scribed him,8 wanted reform to grow from
the first brilliant product of liberal educa-within, on evolutionary lines, conforming
administration of their own country, formed
the chief burden of their complaint. tion in western India. Jambhekar's mani- as far as possible to the best in the Hindu
This paper seeks to identify the leaders fold achievements as a scholar, education-Shastras and tradition. In fine, Jambhekar
of the aforesaid 'small band...', and exam- ist, journalist and social reformer are toocould not completely breakaway from his
ine their critique of British rule, withwell a known to be repeated here.4 But a feworthodox brahmanical moorings, and there-
view to establishing that they were the salient features of his political and socialfore, sought religious sanction for reform.9
forerunners of Dadabhai Naoroji's Drain ideas relevant to the present discussion Not satisfied with the kind of mild reform
Theory. may be mentioned. advocated by the Shastri School, a few
Although ideological ancestry of the In 1832, Jambhekar started the first rebels in the newly educated camp formed
drain theory can be traced back to Raja Anglo-Marathi newspaper 'The Bombay in the early 1840s secret society to discuss
Rammohan Roy who first voiced his Durpun' expressely with a view to openingthe evil effects of British rule and also to
complaint against 'tribute' to England2 it "a field of inquiry for public discussionfight social obscuratism on revolutionary
was a small band of Maharashtrian intel- on points connected with the prosperity oflines. Their perception of the Indian situ-
lectuals who first made the economic drain,the country and the happiness of its inhab-ation under British rule significantly dif-
itants.5 During the eight years of its ex-fered from their better known contempo-
in all its implications, the principal target
of their bitter attack on British colonial istence, the paper, as stated in its 'Lastraries in the sense that they found that the
rule in the early 1840s. Prominent among Farewell' issue of June 20, 1840, endeav-destructive side of British rule far out-
them were the three seniors of Dadabhai
oured "to spread liberal sentiments in weighed its much boasted 'regenerative'
Naoroji at the Elphinstone Institution:matters of religion and politics that mightrole. It was this 'small band of Hindu
Bhaskar Pandurang Tarkhadkar (1 816-47), promote the improvement of our country-students...' that made a penetrative analy-
Govind Vitthal Kunte alias Bhau Mahajan men".6 This marked the beginning of thesis of British rule in all its aspects and
(1815-90) and Ramkrishna Vishwanathmodern religious dissent and social protestarrived at a conclusion that it was not
in Maharashtra. Though committed to"Divine Providence", but "the most bitter
(?). While the first two between them made
'Native Improvement', Jambhekar wascurse India has ever been visited with".10
a severe critique, albeit journalistic, of
basically a conservative a la Burke. He
British rule in all its aspects, especially BhaskarTarkhadkar, Bhau Mahajan and
strongly advocated the rule of law, but didRamkrishna Vishwanath were the chief
with regard to "draining India of its wealth
not "positively express himself in favourspokesmen of this radical group. It seems
and reducing it to poverty", the third wrote

4428 Economic and Political Weekly November 24, 2001

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surprising that, as early as the 1840s, their beneficient imperialism and that therewonderfully great...a country very lately
writings should contain studied references cannot be anything altruistic about colo-glittering in all the splendour of richness
to such western thinkers as Gibbon, Volney, nial rule. and variety should within a few years (24)
Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Edmund be reduced to the last extremity of poverty,
Burke, Junius and even Bacon, Locke and Economic Drain that is, be hurled down from the highest
Newton. But their knowledge of the cur- pinnacle of affluence to the lowest grade
rent western political and economic ideas Though his severe critique covered of indigence." The reason for this, he said,
the
as well as the past history of their own is that "the English want to enrich their
whole range of British misrule, Bhaskar's
ountry is unmistakable. Great Britain to an extent unparalelled in
principal object in writing to the Bombay
Until 1841, they had no forum to make Gazette was "to show how rigoroushistory
the at the expense of India". He then
their anti-British views public.. Such an indignantly
present policy of the British has been in remarked: "You talk of the
opportunity came from the most unex- abolition
operation in regard to draining India of its of slave trade, and boast of many
pected quarter. On July 1, 1841, the short wealth and reducing it to poverty".15 other
His acts of kindness and humanity; but
lived pro-Indian editor of the Bombay other fellow-writers on the subject, at too,
the same time you forget, Mr Editor, to
Gazette, a English daily, invited his en- had the same object. Being journalistic, think that the destiny of the hundred
lightened readers, who were interested in their account of India's growing impov- millions of inhabitants of Hindoostan is
the welfare of the country, to come forth erishment under British rule, is not as and that they are now no more or
sealed,
with their grievances against British rule. i I less than your slaves". He wondered how
systematic as that of the later drain theo-
The response was as daring as it was rists. Nevertheless, it contained all the a "few merchants of Great Britain...should
revealing. Several letters extremely criti- component elements that constituted the rule the destinies of the myriads of Indian's
cal of British policies and their ruinous drain: decline of indigenous industry, trans- inhabitants with the uncontrolled author-
effects on the country, appeared under the fer of wealth, excessive taxation, over- ity"; and indignantly remarked: '"The object
various pen names - 'A Philanthropy', 'A assessment of land, non-employment of of a dealer is nothing but gain, and it is
Fairheart', 'A Hindoo', 'A Second the Indians in important civil and military therefore not be wondered at that body of
Hindoo', 'A Thrid Hindoo'. They were positions and excessively costly character merchants should screw out by every means
of British administration.
forthright in exposing the 'tyrannical.sway in their power from:India its remaining
of Great Britain'. It was 'Philanthropy', who in his letter wealth..."17
Bhaskar Tarkhadkar was the doyen ofof July 5, 1841 first spoke of the economic It has been estimated that "between the
this small band of early nationalist writers.ruin of India that Britain wrought. He gave battle of Plassey in 1757 and the battle of
A series of eight long letters which he an eyewitness account of the pitiable Waterloo in 1815 about, 1,000 million
wrote to the Bombay Gazette, under the condition of "the once flourishing inhab- pounds were transferred from Indian boards
pseudonym of 'A Hindoo', have beenitants of the Deccan and the Konkan". The to English Banks.18 This has been admit-
described as "the eloquent epistles of amain cause of this misery, he said, was the ted even by British statesmen and scholars.
Second Junius".12 Through his well rea-destruction of the indigenous industry H H Wilson in 1813 attributed this drain
soned, hard hitting letters, Bhaskar struckowing to imports from Great Britain ofmainly to the fact that the "British goods
at the very root of the myth that British"almost all the necessaries and luxuries of were forced upon her (India) without paying
rule was 'Divine Providence' so fondly life entirely superseding these produced in any duty and the manufacturer employed
entertained by some of his better knownthe country". Especially lamenting over the arm of political injustice to keep down
compatriots. He squarely demolished thethe sad fate of the "celebrated weavers of and ultimately strangle the competitor with
notion of 'civilising role' of the British sothe Konkan," he observed that the people whom he could not have competed on
sedulously fostered by the British histo- are "reduced to the last ebb of penury, equal terms".19 And in the very year, 1841,
rians like James Mill. The odious nature owing to there being no employment left the anti-British letters started appearing in
of the East India Company's rule, their to them for acquiring means of livelihood the Bombay Gazette, Labouchere, the
policy of divide et impera their political except cultivation and tillage". What he British chancellor of the Exchequer him-
treachery in dealing with the Indian princes said of these regions was equally true of self stated: "The British have utterly de-
- all came in for ruthless attack. The much the rest of the country. 'Philanthropy' ended stroyed the manufacturers of India by their
vaunted British rule of law and their sense his letter on an interesting, though bitter, manufacturers".20
Bhaskar Tarkhadkar brought out the
of justice, their educational policy, their note: "It is the priest craft of the brahmins
policy of so-called 'religious neutrality' that have so far lowered the national various aspects of the drain-in his own
characteristic manner. Addressing the
were all severely criticised with irrefutable character of the Hindoos as to be easily
evidence. The home government - the governed and even tyrannised over British by a rulers, he wrote:21
court of directors and the board of control handful of foreigners (English) which...You
is take away millions of rupees from
and even the British parliament - was greatly to be lamented, but it is the political
here in your capacities both as sharehold-
exposed and stood condemned in its 'cal- craft of the latter that has now empoverished
ers in the East India Stock, and as civil and
lous and cruel' attitude towards the princes them, which is still more to be lamented.16
military functionaries of the Company, but
and people of India.13 Writing to the same effect, 'A Fairheart',
above all nothing has drained India so
Significantly, Bhaskar devoted two of in his letter of July 16, 1841, observed;much of its wealth as by your trade. If you
his letters to condemn the Wanton British "No more than 24 years have elapsed since
were half so honest as you say you are,
imperialism in China and Afghanistan.14 the extinction of the Maratha power, but or had you a 10th part of the regard which
He was perhaps the first in the country to within so short a period the change in you
the vauntingly say you have for the welfare
declare that there is no such thing as British policy has wrought in India isof India, you would not have persuaded

Economic and Political Weekly November 24, 2001 4429

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 yourself that all the raw materials produced Non-inclusion of the Indians in law-mak- of Satara; (xi) unethical w.: against Af-
in the country should be sent to England' ing bodies, he said, has resulted in passing ghanistan; (xii) unwarranted expedition
for manufacturing them into articles and "many impolitic and treacherous acts of against China; and (xiii) falsification of
be brought back again here for sale. Were oppression - such as the stamp paper fee Indian history by the British historians like
cotton cloth manufactured here, how much
and the newly established heavy duty on James Mill.29
cheaper we could get it than we now do,
salt." Similarly he said that "the present On the testimony of Bhaskar's elder
and how much India had been relieved
little donations", which the government brother Dadoba Pandurang, who himself
from its present reduced state? - Nay not
was making, "out of the immense revenues was a first rate intellectual, best known as
only this but you have, in order that your
of India", for the education of the natives, "Panini of Marathi Grammar' and the
cloth may meet with an extensive sale
founder of the Paramahansa Sabha with
throughout India established a very high were "ridiculously trifling".25
duty on the country cloth, and made your Bhaskar's passion and anger against the the object of demolishing caste system, we
free of all charge. Is this honesty?...Woeeconomic ruin of India under British rule learn that "the Englishmen and civil ser-
be to you and your government...We can- is reflected in the following passage:26 vants of the day, were simply wonderstruck
not look on your government in other light Oh! unhappy fate, India has been got hold at the frank and provocative anti-British
than that of the most bitter curse India has rule letters, solely motivated by national
of by a race of demons who would never
ever been visited with. The whole wealth
be satisfied until they have despoiled her consideration and people's welfare, writ-
of India has now been transported to Great of all her precious things and reduced her ten in a brilliant style. Students and En-
Britain and we have no employment left sons and daughters to total beggary. I have glish-educated men read them with won-
with us.
heard the most pious of you say, that a bare der and eagerness...Even the founder of
He was perfectly right in making this clothing and a coarse fare is all that we Durpan, the erudite Bal Gangadhar Shastri
charge, for the Select Committee of the require for our maintenance in this world. was amazed by the thought-content and
House of Lords itself had observed in If such be your notions of our wants, excuse
style of these letters.30
1831: "The chief manufacturers of IndiaMr Editor, if my modesty gives way to For publishing such anti-British mate-
resentment, - could I not say with an equal
having been supplanted to a great extent rial, the entire Anglo-Indian community
degree of truth and sincerity that a piece
by the manufacturers of England, not only rose against the Bombay Gazette forcing
of leather upon your shoulders and a carcase
in the market of this country but that of its pro-Indian editor to resign, the news of
of hog or bullock for your food would be
India itself, it has become an object of the
quite sufficient to answer your necessary which was received with 'the greatest
deepest interest to improve the produc- calls? The days are past when the natives regret' by "many impartial men" who
tions of the soil".22 And in 1834-45, the were rolling in all the splendour of eastern angrily wrote to the Prabhakar, a Marathi
governor-general reported to London:23 grandeur which to this day has been pro- weekly condemning the behaviour of
The misery hardly finds a parallel in theverbial among you, and the days too are Englishmen in India.31 It was for this and
history of commerce. The bones of the past when you could boast of nothing but such other similar acts that Bhau Maiajan
a skin for your clothing and a few animals openly accused Englishmen in India of
cotton-weavers are bleaching the plains of
India. for your food. 'freemasonry' .32
It was, therefore not unnatural for Calling the British "ungrateful wretches",
he told them, "you are powerful from India,
Bhaskarto decry the British claim that they Bhau Mahajan
and India you have ruined". Indeed, some
gave India her peace and tranquility:24
modern scholars have argued that the Undeterred by the turn of events, the
If I were to give you credit for your having
industrial revolution which made Britain critics continued their educative work for
exempted us from Pindharrees and
a great power was essentially at the ex-'Deshkalyan' or 'welfare of the country'
Ramoosees, your trading system stands in
the way which has indeed more effectually
pense of India. In this connection, Brooksthrough the Marathi press. On October 24,
Adams wrote: "Before the influx of the 1841 Bhau Mahajan, started his own
emptied our purses in a few years than the
newspaper, Prabhakar and made it a
Indian treasure and the expansion of credit
predatory excursions of these tribes could
which followed, no force sufficient for this
do in some five or six hundred years...You vehicle of the new Marathi intelligentsia
concerned with the deplorable state of
purpose (industrial revolution) existed; and
may perhaps say that peace and tranquility
being the boon you have conferred upon had Watt lived 50 years earlier, he and his
their ignorance-ridden, poverty-stricken
India which, in fact, is far being the case,
invention must have perished together."28 enslaved country.
all people are now most anxious and In conclusion, BhaskarTarkhadkar, fullyIn May 1843, Mahajan also published
solicitous about the daily bread and dread in his Prabhakar Press, Ramkrishna
supported by his 'Hindoo' friends, chal-
very much the effects of the approaching Vishwanath's book Hindustanachi... which
lenged the authorities to prove him wrong
poverty which now makes rapid strides
of any of the following charges he accused is the first independent book on Indian
towards them. How could pease and tran-
history and political economy to be at-
them of: (i) treachery in politics; (ii) deceit
quility reign when such anxiety of mind
in trade; (iii) undue extortion from ryots; tempted in Marathi. They were collabora-
and fear exist in every breast. However,
I admit that you have done some acts (iv) of ruining indigenous industry; (v) drain- tors and they both ascribed India's grow-
kindness to India, such as the abolition ing
of India of its wealth and thus 'reducing ing impoverishment to two interrelated
it to poverty and wretchedness'; (vi) with-
suttee and infanticide..., etc, but all these factors; economic drain and Hindu social
acts .of common humanity vanish awayholdingin high appointment from the Indi- obscurantism. The present article does not
ans;
(vii) racial discrimination; (viii)
the mighty vortex of your political cruelty. permit a detailed analysis of their critique
Bhaskar bitterly complained against the
partiality in the distribution of justice; (ix) of the social slavery of the caste-ridden
exclusion of the children of the soil fromutter disregard to the education of the Hindu society. But it needs to be men-
any share or voice in the administration.
natives; (x) unjust deposition of the raja tioned that they were perhaps first in

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Maharashtra, if not in the whole country,
to attempt an analysis of Hindu society
from the economic point of view.
Through the columns of Prabhakar,33
Mahajan relentlessly hammered at the
British economic exploitation of India.
His sound knowledge of economic and
financial problems of India is evident from
his writings. Analysing the ill-effects of
the British imperialist policies on Indian
economy, he wrote in the Prabhakar of
May 8, 1842: "Having emptied the Indian
treasury on ill-conceived wars, the govern-
ment issued bonds worth more than rupees
75 crore at 5 per cent interest.
The people will, wherefore, be naturally
tempted to invest their money in govern-
ment bonds, rather than lending it to pri-
vate enterprise at lower rate of interest,
which would eventually ruin business and
spell doom to ryots. And if in 1853, the
crown takes over the government of India,
it will be obliged to pay the company's
debts. The queen's government will ulti-
mately recover that debt from the people
of India. If such a thing happens then the
people of India will inevitably recollect the
Aesop's fable, 'Fox and the Porcupine.34
He lost no opportunity to show how
England was prospering all the time at
India's expense. He reported the naming
ceremony of queen Victoria's son in March
1842 and gave a vivid account of the
wealth displayed and the huge expenditure
incurred on that occasion. This, he bitterly
complained, was possible because of the
regular drain of India's wealth in various
shapes to England.35
Heavy taxation and the British mode of
revenue collection which placed the peas-
ants totally at the mercy of rapacious
Marwari moneylenders came in for sharp
criticism at the hands of Mahajan. He
showed a genuine concern for the impov-
erished rural economy'involving endless
suffering, and hardships of poor peasants
and landless labourers.36 He published a
'heart-rending' eyewitness account of the
miserable existence of the tenants under
by the British stand the scrutiny of modern
the khoti-zamindars, and said that this 'true
research very well.
account' should receive the immediate
in its analysis of India's impoverishment
attention of the people in authority.37 Such
and similar ideas are found scattered despite her abundant natural resources doned.
throughout the pages of the Prabhakar
manpower.Though Ramkrishna Viswanath
which lasted from 1841 to 1862.
Ramkrishna Vishwanath
his criticism of her own social weaknesses a single thing is static. In fact universe is
The third major critic of British which
rule brought the country to such a pass. based on the principle of continuous change
especially with regard to the drain,He
wassaid that no one in India has ever
written a book on political economy
Ramkrishna Vishwanath. There is practi-
cally no biographical information on the
him,Wealth of Nations of Adam Smith. He
but that he was a man of wide learning exhorted
is the people to know that 'labour
is wealth'.42 He was apparently well ac-
evident from his book (Thoughts on India's
Past...) written in 1843. The idea of writ-
quainted with current western economic
ing the book occurred to him afterand hispolitical thought. The language he has
reading Gibbon and Volney both of whom,used in his book shows also that he was
especially the latter, have tried to show
a good student of mathematics and phys-
ics. He gives a fair account of the natural
how powerful empires, seemingly destined
to last forever, succumbed to the universal
resources of the country and indicates the
location of the sites of the mineral wealth
law of change and destruction.38 His prin-
on the west coast and elsewhere in the
cipal aim in writing the book, was to present
historical truth about the country in country
such with the expertise of an able
a manner as to help Indians learn frommetallurgist
the and surveyor and narrates
difficulties personally reaching some of
past and to create an urge in them to make
these sites.43
their country strong and prosperous.
In his book, Ramkrishna Vishwanath
Written with a deep sense of patriotism,
the book is dedicated to 'the people of to the reports of the Bombay Cham-
refers
India.'39 ber of Commerce and such other sources
Ramkrishna is very critical of British to show how there was a regular flow of
historians and missionaries who, he says, wealth from India to England mainly
wrote histories of India with selfish and through adverse balance of trade. He is
ulterior motives. He had a didactic con- extremely critical of the rulers for export-
ception of history. He wanted history to ing all the raw material produced in the
be both objective and instructive. Writing country to England and bringing back
objective history, he admits, is a difficult manufactured goods to India for sale at
task.40 His own book is quite balanced in exorbitant rates. He gives some interesting
details, with facts and figures, about the
its appraisal of British rule and in its rational
yearly export of cotton and other material
criticism of the rotten state of Hindu society.
with a view to proving how India was
The book sketches history of India from
the invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni (997- being continuously drained of her life-
1030 A D) to the year 1842 when he began blood.44
writing the book. He regretted that thereIf India is to serve her own interests, if
were no reliable sources for writing an- she wants to attain self-sufficiency and
independence, he writes, she must adopt
cient Indian history. Though there are some
the same methods which made Great Britain
factual errors in his narrative, his account
does not suffer from religious and any
rich and strong.45 In this, he sees immense
other kind of prejudice. For instance, he difficulties, for India lacked both the
necessary capital and technical expertise.
is categorical in his assertion - that Mahmud
of Ghazni's invasions were wholly guided Nevertheless, he said that these difficulties
by economic motives and not by any could be overcome, if people of India show
religious zeal or consideration.41 This the necessary will and take to hard work.
historical fact is now well established by He suggests the ways and means for rais-
Mohammad Habib in his classic mono- ing share capital for starting modern in-
graph on Mahmud of Ghazni. Ram-
dustry.
krishna's observations of contemporary The only way to rescue India from her
political events like the "totally unethical
miserable plight, Ramkrishna writes, is to
create an industrial and scientific culture.
and disastrous" Afghan war, and the unjust
disposition of raja Pratapsingh of Satara
But the real impediment in the creation of
such a culture, he regrets, was the Hindu
belief that certain type of work can be done
The real merit of the book, however, bylaymen belonging to certain castes. Such
stupid beliefs and traditions must be aban-
and For achieving social efficiency and
progress, he wanted India to renovate and
revitalise
ascribed India's present poverty mainly to her social institutions. He writes:
"A static state is obtainable only in math-
the economic drain as a result of the foreign
political domination, he was unsparing ematics.
in But in this mobile universe not
as a matter of course.46 The message is
likeHe, thus took a comprehensive view
clear.

Economic and Political Weekly November 24, 2001 4431

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of the Indian situation under British rule, 3 The Marathi title of the book is, 'Hindu- London (nd), p 183.
sthanachi Prachin Va Sampratachi Sthiti Va23 Quoted by Ramkrishna Mukherjee op cit, p
and did not simply harp on the drain. In
Pudhen Kai Tyacha Parinam Honar Hyavishayi 174 (Source: Karl Marx, 'Capital: A Critical
this, and many other respects, he antici- Vichar'. This work is republished in Char Analysis of Capitalist Production', George
pated justice M G Ranade. June Arthashastriya Grantha (1843-1853), D Alien and Unwin, Vol I, p 432).
24 A Hindoo's Letter, I, BG, July 30, 1841, Vol
K Bedekar (ed), Gokhale Arthashastra Samstha,
Conclusion Pune, 1966 (hereinafter Bedekar). LIII, p 103.
25 A Hindoo's Letter, IV, loc cit (15).
4 See Memoirs and Writings of Acharya Bal
Shastri Jambhekar, Vols I-III, G G Jambhekar26 Ibid.
It may be recalled that Dadabhai Naoroji
(ed), Pune, 1950 (hereinafter fMemoirs). 27 A Hindoo's Letter, VII, BG, October 9, 1841,
was a favourite pupil of Bal Shastri
5 See Prospectus of the Durpun, in Memoirs II, Vol LIII, p 334.
Jambhekar,47 and a classmate of Bhaupp 1-2. 28 Quoted in Ramkrishna Mukherjee, op cit,
6 Memoirs
Mahajan at the Elphinstone College, and II, p 142. p 230, (Source: Brooks Adam, The Law of
7 N R Inamdar, 'Political Thought of Balshastri
also a close associate of Dadoba Pandurang Civilisation and Decay).
Jambhekar (1812-1846), Pioneer of Renais- 29 A Hindoo's Letter, VII and VIII, BG, October 9
in the Dnyan Prasarak Sabha, of branch sance in Maharashtra', Indian Journal of and October 27, 1841, Vol LIII, pp 334 and
of the students' literary and scientific
Political Science, Vol XXI, No 4, (October- 394, respectively.
society (1848), all of whom were great
December 1960). 30 Raobahadur Dadoba Pandurang: Atma-
8 Speeches and Writings of Sir Narayan
admirers of Bhaskar Tarkhadkar's patri- charitra Va Charitra, (ed and written) A K
G Chandavarkar, L K Kaikini (ed), Priolkar, Bhikaji Keshav Dhavle, Bombay,
otic writings. Dadabhai may have also
Manoranjak Granth Prasarak Mandali,1947, pp 198-99.
personally known Bhaskar. The strikingBombay, 1911, p 93. 31 Prabhakar (PR), December 12, 1841, Vol I,
similarity of the expressions like 'the 9
most
V G Dighe (1964): 'The Renaissance inpp 60-61.
bitter curse' used by the both to condemn Maharashtra: First Phase (1818-1870)', 32 PR January 4, 1845, Vol 5, pp 1750-51.
the British economic exploitation of IndiaJournal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay (N33 For biographical sketch of Bhau Mahajan see
suggests that Dadabhai was acquainted S), Vols 36-37, p 26. Memoirs, op cit III, Appendix II, pp 1-20; and
10 Letter IV of 'A Hindoo', Bombay Gazette for a detailed account of his work see J V Naik,
with the writings of Bhaskar Tarkhadkar. (hereinafter BG) August 20, 1841, Vol LIII, 'Bhau Mahajan and his Prabhakar, Dhumketu
And later as the editor of the Rast Goftar(NS), pp 174-75. For detailed analysis of the and Dnyan Darshan: A Study of Maharashtrian
(1851), he might have also seen the files
rise and fall of the concept of British rule as Response to British Rule', Indian Historical
the providence' see J V Naik, 'Perceptions Review, Vol XIII, Nos 1 and 2 (July 1986-
of the Bombay Gazette which carried 'divine
of British Rule-in Maharashtra: A Selective January 1987) ICHR, New Delhi, 1986-87, pp
letters of 'A Hindoo'. All this evidene
Study' in A J Qaisar and Som Prakash Verma 135-152.
suggests that 'Hindu students and thought- (eds), Art and Culture: Endeavours in 34 PR, May 8, 1842, Vol II, pp 230-31.
ful gentlemen' referred to by Dadabhai are Interpretation, Abhinav Publications, New 35 PR, March 30, 1842, Vol II, pp 174-75.
no other than Bhaskar Tarkhadkar and the Delhi, 1996, pp 107-118. 36 PR, March 23, April 27, May 25, 1845, Vol 4,
othernationalist writers of his student days. 11 BG July 1, 1841, Vol LIII, p 3. pp 1417-18, 1493.
12 Letter of 'A Third Hindoo', BG, November 6,
37 PR, July 4, 1847, Vol VI, pp 2365-67.
Bipan Chandra in his brilliant study on
38 Bedekar, op cit, p 3; Volney, Constantin-
1841, Vol LIII, p 432, Junius: Pseudonym of
economic nationalism in India, has pointed Francois de Chasseboeuf, Comte de (1757-
the unknown writer of a series of public letters
out that, "As the years went by his (1768-1772) criticising the policies of the 1820), French Philosophe and historian-author
(Dadabhai's) passion and anger increased. British ministry. For Letters of Junius see of several books. His most famous work is Les
Unrighteous, despotic, plundering, unnatu- J V Naik, 'Influence of Junius on the Anti- Ruins, Ou Meditations Sur Les revolutions
British Statements of Bhaskar Tarkhadkar and des empires (1791): It was read in English
ral, destructive, were some of the adjec-
Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar: Towards Militant under the title The Ruins of Empires (1792).
tives he applied to the British policy which, Nationalism' in A R Kulkarni et al (ed), This appears to be the book to have been read
in his opinion, was leading to the draining (Dr P M Joshi Commemoration Volume), by Ramkrishna Vishwanath.
of the 'life-blood' of India"48 This was the Medieval Deccan History, Popular Prakashan, 39 Ibid.

vindication of the stand taken by the early Bombay, 1996. 40 Ibid, p 4.

nationalist critics. Many others like M G 13 For a biographical sketch of Bhaskar

41 Ibid, p 12.
Tarkhadkar and for a detailed account of his 42 Ibid, p 9.
Ranade, G V Joshi, Bholanath Chandra,
letters, see J V Naik, 'An Early Appraisal of 43 Ibid, pp 39-40.
R C Dutt and G K Gokhalejoined Dadabhai the British Colonial Policy', Journal of the44 Ibid, pp 37-38.
in pointing out the evils of the drain. At University of Bombay, Arts No Vols XLIV and45 Ibid, p 7.
its Calcutta Session of 1896, the Indian XLV Nos 80-81, 1975-76, pp 243-70. 46 Ibid, p 41.

National Congress officially adopted the 14 BG September 16, 1841, and October 9, 1841, 47 See Dadabhai Naoroji's letter in Memoirs III,
Vol LIII, pp 262 and 334, respectively. op cit, pp 332-33.
drain theory, and thereafter it became a 15 A Hindoo's Letter IV, BG, August 20, 1841,
48 Bipan Chandra, op cit, p 640.
main plank in the organised nationalist Vol LIII, pp 174-75, Emphasis added.
agitation. But the original credit for raising 16 BG, July 7, 1841, Vol LIII, pp 22-23.
the problem of drain so brilliantly as early 17 BG, July 19, 1841, Vol LIII, pp 62-63.
18 K M Munshi (1946): The Ruin that Britain
as 1841 must go to Bhaskar Tarkhadkar Subscription Numbers
Wrought, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay,
and his associates. lU3
1946, p 4.
19 Quoted by Ramkrishna Mukherjee, The Rise Subscribers are requested to
Notes and Fall of the East India Company, Vib Dent note their Subscription Numbers
Scher..., Berlin, 1955, p 236 (Source: Wilson Mentioned on the wrappers and
1 Dadabhai Naoroji, Essays, Speeches and (ed), The History of British India by James
Writings, C L Parekh (ed), Bombay, 1887, pp Mill). quote these numbers when cor-
32-33. 20 K M Munshi, op cit, (15). responding with the circulation
2 See Bipan Chandra, The Rise and Growth of 21 A Hindoo's Letter IV loc cit, (15). department.
Economic Nationalism in India, PPH, New 22 Quoted by Radhakamal Mukherjee, The
Delhi, 1977 reprint, p 637n. Economic History of India, Longmans Green,

4432 Economic and Political Weekly November 24, 2001

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