Colonial Punjab Research Articles

Managing Sex, Safeguarding the Soldier: Gender, Race, and Regulationism in Nineteenth Century Colonial Punjab

Managing sex was an important part of Britain’s imperial project in the colonies. Using a wide range of archival materials and examining the political debates and medical discourse from the nineteenth century, this study delves into the colonial military enterprise of regulating sexual recreation for British troops, and the processes through which the sexualised native woman was configured in colonial Punjab. I argue that paradoxical attempts to make sex available, while simultaneously emphasising imperial social mores of sexual respectability, led to the casting of the ‘prostitute’ as a colonial bogeyman; a vulgar but necessary evil, and a vector of disease.

Music in Colonial Punjab by Radha Kapuria

'Music in Colonial Punjab' is one of the first social histories of musical life in undivided Punjab. It reveals the unrecognised power of female performers in shaping the music of the region, besides sheding light on the impact of colonialism on the cultural politics of performance in Punjab.

Women Education in Colonial Punjab: Significance of Women Teachers and Training Institutions

This paper documents and analyzes the dynamics of women’s education chronologically, with a focus on women teachers and training institution in Punjab, before its annexation in 1849 by the British and during its colonial phase. Prior to 1849 Punjab had a vibrant and thriving indigenous educational system. There are evidences that women received education through the existing mechanisms, a fact appreciated by William Adam in his famous reports. The change in the medium of instruction from ‘Persian’- the official language of the state, to ‘Urdu’ after annexation, proved detrimental not only to the women’s education but overall education too. The unavailability of women teachers added to the despair as the simple idea of a ‘woman teacher’ was widely challenged by several old schools. The male opposition fearing competition from lesser paid women colleagues, and existing stereotypes regarding the responsibilities of women, restrained the efforts for women teacher training. Allender admits that not only in India but also in Britain, women teaching professionals had to struggle for acceptance. The training schools advanced the cause of women education through native women; it was agreed that only native women could help extend women’s education; hence they must be trained for this cause. As a result of this historic phenomenon, we now have the National Council for Teacher Education training men and women teachers. As we embark on this research, data collected from various Regional and National Archives and libraries related to women’s education in colonial Punjab has been reoriented to develop arguments according to the theme of this paper. This research shall enrich our understanding about decisive constituents of women’s education in Punjab from a historical perspective; and reflect on the contemporary need to create a women inclusive system and functionaries working at the grassroots to reduce inequality of opportunities and recognition.

Economic Transformations in British Colonial Punjab and the Feudal Identity of District Jhang

Jhang a historic city of Punjab is situated at the junction of two rivers Jehlum and Chenab. Its fertile lands have always been a big source of prosperity. During British rule, colonial authorities in Punjab made many reforms in this region. They not only reformed the agriculture sector but also improved infrastructure. Construction of a road network, railway line, postal and telegraph system as well as supply of electricity had positive impacts on the social and economic life of Jhang. Although all these developments were made for colonial interests ultimately these benefitted the peoples of Jhang. Among British reforms, the most important were agricultural reforms. These reforms had a deep impact on the future and socio-economic and political setup of Jhang. After agricultural reforms and establishing canal colonies, Jhang was neglected in terms of establishing agro-based and other industrial units and new agricultural research and science and technology institutions. As a result, the Jhang was denied the chances for advancement and growth that could have driven and propelled it to become a more prosperous and progressed region. Here the question arises of whether the actual purpose of agricultural reforms in district Jhang was only to create certain classes to protect colonial interests and reward them for their loyalties? Did the British Colonial agrarian reforms lay the foundation for the Feudal system in Jhang?

Agrarian transformations in British India: A case study of colonial Punjab

ABSTRACT The agrarian transformation in Punjab under British rule had significant implications for understanding the fundamental principles behind these agricultural developments. The British government aimed to transform agricultural practices in Punjab for strategic, military, geostrategic, and geopolitical reasons. The integration of railways, highways, telecommunications, farming techniques, and canal settlements transformed the arid terrain into a prosperous region in British India. However, the transformation significantly impacted the local residents by advancing the British government's agenda. Against this background, the major focus of this paper is to analyze the agricultural transformation during British rule regarding the complex interactions between social, cultural, and political factors that shaped the region's history.

The Duty of Water: Land, Labour, and the Racialisation of Waste in Colonial and Contemporary Punjab

AbstractIn our present changing climate, water governance is fast becoming a matter of concern everywhere, but especially in the Global South, which has long been the object of (mis)understandings of state failure and dysfunction. A common characterisation of “bad” water governance calls attention to the waste of water. In this article I show how contemporary development discourse and practice around the waste of water articulate conceptions of bureaucratic labour, farmer capability, and the suitability of irrigation practices, recalling a prior moment in colonial water governance. Examining the development of the “duty of water” in the context of canal irrigation infrastructure in colonial Punjab, I argue that seemingly “technical” measures and metrics of water governance are rooted in a colonial grammar, and show how the duty of water articulated racialised classifications of natives as wasteful, their places as waste, and of their labour, both agricultural and bureaucratic. While the tendency has been to view colonial irrigation as a battle with nature, I emphasise it instead as a battle of British with native labour to contribute to conceptualisations of environment and bureaucracy inseparable from, and incomplete without, an understanding of racialised labour. Today, figurations of labour have changed, but the underlying view of labour impeding, not enabling, governance, continues.

Book review: K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab

K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab, Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Primus Books, 2021, pp. 372+xi, ₹1,250.

Unravelling the Dynamics of Christian Missionary Evangelical Activities in Colonial Punjab (1849-1947)

The article focused on the evangelical activities of Christian missionaries to convert the natives to Christianity in colonial Punjab, with particular reference to Lahore and Sialkot districts. With the annexation of Punjab in 1849, the cultural and social ethos took a surprising turn, and a new community of converted Christians started to form progressively. This new societal drive was unique because it attracted individuals from affluent backgrounds and triggered mass conversion in socially and economically side-lined communities of Punjab. After annexation, missionaries flocked to Punjab from all parts of India. Most missionaries, who moved to Punjab, were either associated with the American Presbyterian Church or the Church Missionary Society of England (CMS) and the Church of Scotland. Nonetheless, along with these two mission societies, other established missions in India also contributed to converting natives to Christianity, though to a lesser extent. In the conversion process, missionaries used institutions, e.g., schools, colleges, and medical centres, but they also employed different conversion techniques already being deployed in other parts of India. The primary aim of the missionaries was to convert a large part of Punjabi society to Christianity by employing various techniques of evangelicalism. The conversion among lower caste degraded the image of Christianity and further handicapped further activities of missionaries.

The Vernacular Literary Resistance in Colonial Punjab and Colonial Balochistan 1880-1925: A Comparative and Historical Analysis

This study explores the Balochi-Brahui vernacular literary resistance in comparison with the Punjabi language from a historical perspective, which has never been highlighted before. Vernacular literary resistance during British colonial rule triggered numerous physical resistance movements in different parts of the Raj, from British Balochistan in the west to the colonized Punjab in the east. The movement in Punjab was designed to protect the Punjabi language against the forceful imposition of Urdu along with English, while in Balochistan the literary movement had its agenda to protect local Baloch people from the Christian missionaries who were busy propagating Christianity by using both Balochi and Brahui languages. The present study is based on a mixed method of analytical and explanatory methods, and it has endeavored that all the sources are critically analyzed. The Vernacular Literary resistance of both regions powerfully affected British colonial state formation with its full zeal and enthusiasm.

Technologies of transportation: road, bridge and boat construction in colonial Punjab

The road and river transport have laid the foundations of human settlements since ancient times. After annexing Punjab in 1849, the British brought western technologies in road and river transportation for better movement of people and material for consolidation of their rule. The measures included building of roads, bridges and navigation through steam vessels. This paper gives a brief description of the technologies employed by the British in Colonial Punjab for construction of metalled roads, permanent and temporary bridges, native boats and introduction of steam vessels for river transportation. The technologies for road and bridge construction were western and modified as per local requirements. The best example of road construction was in the form of Grand Trunk road which traversed the region from Delhi to Peshawar. Permanent bridges were made using iron and masonry arched techniques. Steam vessels were brought to the rivers of Punjab after being constructed elsewhere. But owing to lack of depth in the rivers, the steam vessels did not succeed and were discontinued. Due to western technologies, the road and river transportation became quick and efficient and also generated employment, thereby impacting the local population.

Defining Modernity through Education: Women’s Responses from Colonial Punjab

Late-19th and early-20th centuries in Punjab were times of ferment and formation of new class, caste, gender, and religious identities. The quest for a localized modernity at this historical juncture was spear-headed by reform movements of Arya Samaj, Singh Sabha, and Ahmaddiya reform movement, that predicated their quest on the construction of ‘modern womanhood’. The new technology of print was used effectively by reform patriarchies to disseminate these representations of modern womanhood. While much has been written about these patriarchal reform movements that projected their own modernity through ‘liberal improvements’ in the condition of their women and by opening up to ideas of education and companionate marriages, the presence of women in this history has been elided over. This essay examines the print spheres in late-19th and early-20th century Punjab, especially the periodical press, to trace women’s responses to reform prescriptions about their education and deportment. It is in this interplay between dominant discursive formations and alternative modes of articulation by women that multiple cultural meanings emerge.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Politics of Non-violence: A Perspective of Passive Resilience, 1920-1930

This article examines the emergence of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) among rural middle and lower middle-class Sikhs with the objectives of reforms in gurdwaras management along with to preserve separate Sikh identity, stop Sikhs conversion and popular representation of Sikhs through non-violent means during 1920-1930. SAD avoided to merge into national level Non-Cooperation movement and remained successful to achieve its initial goals. This article, based on revealing the fresh sources drawn from the Punjab Archives Lahore and Lahore Museum Library argues that initially a pure religious reformist movement emerged with popular support continued the strategy of nonviolence even after the acceptance of major demands in the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. SAD’s nonviolence strategy was also influenced by other Sikh organizations like Khalsa Diwan, Central Sikh League and external forces, like Indian National Congress (INC), All India Muslim League (AIML), the Unionist Party, Non-Cooperation movement and Khilafat movement at different scale. The British Indian government initially tried to handle the Sikh resistance through Sikh elites, gurdwara mahatns and colonial Punjab administration but SAD’s nonviolent response forced the government to mend their ways and finally introduced the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925.

Technological modifications in the tanning and leather industry from pre-British to colonial Punjab

Hereditary artisans have been an important segment of Punjabi society since the medieval times. Pre-colonial Punjab was an agricultural province, where industrial production was largely confined to village industries, which catered to meet the demands of the local population. Tanning and leather making was one of the professions that was a traditional village industry in which the methods of production were old, and technology had not changed much from the medieval period. The onset of colonial rule introduced modified and new technologies in all industries, which invariably impacted traditional industries. The tanning and leather industry was among the village industries in which modified and new processing and production technologies were introduced. The scope of this paper is to study how the new technology in the tanning and leather industry modified the old, whether it improved the processing time, quality and quantity of products and what was the nature of its impact on the traditional artisans connected with tanning and leather in colonial Punjab.

PATTERNS OF EVERYDAY TECHNOLOGY: SMALL MACHINES IMPACTING LIFE IN COLONIAL PUNJAB

Colonial Punjab in the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century was characterized by considerable socio-economic changes brought up by mostly due to the introduction and adoption of new everyday life technologies which impacted the life of the average person in both urban and rural areas. This research article elaborates the impact of novel technology of electricity and associated items like the electric fan and bulb and everyday machines of bicycle, sewing-machine and typewriter on the colonial Punjabi society. The article reveals that within a short span of time, electricity and everyday machines successfully perforated all sections and made life easier and comfortable for the general public in colonial Punjab. The bicycle and sewing machine and typewriter empowered people in general and women in particular, making them move freely and also helping them to earn livelihood. The Indian reform organizations started advocating sewing machine for Indian women’s upliftment. The successful assimilation of everyday western technologies was perhaps one of the best positive outcomes of colonialism which gives credibility to the fact that technology when used for welfare is always progressive.

Book history studies: Some interventions from colonial Punjab

This essay seeks to study print cultures, history of book publishing, and language formations in colonial Punjab in the context of debates in the new historical fields of Book History Studies and Print Culture Studies. Historical studies of late-19th and early-20th centuries in Punjab have focused on the formation of communal public and print spheres and the rigidification of religious identities that culminated in Partition in 1947. Rather than assume the formation of fixed and homogenized religious and linguistic identities, this essay seeks to understand the complexity of language formations, traffic between languages, hierarchies of language systems implicated in State support and pedagogy, and other factors that inflected the world of publication in colonial Punjab.

Book review: Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab

K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab. Delhi: Indian Institute of Advanced Study and Primus Books, 2021, 386 pp., ₹1,250, ISBN: 9789390737857 (Hardback).

Book review: K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab

K. L. Tuteja, Religion, Community and Nation: Hindu Consciousness and Nationalism in Colonial Punjab (New Delhi: Primus Books), 2021, 372 pp., ₹1,250 (Hb).

Patriarchy and Medicine: A Woman Medical Missionary in the Colonial Punjab

Patriarchy and Medicine: A Woman Medical Missionary in the Colonial Punjab

Blessing in Disguise: Recommendations of Indian Education Commission (1882) and Christian Missionaries’ Educational Policy in the Colonial Punjab

Blessing in Disguise: Recommendations of Indian Education Commission (1882) and Christian Missionaries’ Educational Policy in the Colonial Punjab

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.

(2021) Volume 2, Issue 4 Cultural Implications of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC Authors: Dr. Unsa Jamshed Amar Jahangir Anbrin Khawaja Abstract: This study is an attempt to highlight the cultural implication of CPEC on Pak-China relations, how it will align two nations culturally, and what steps were taken by the governments of two states to bring the people closer.