Gujarati Intellectuals and History Writing in the Colonial Period Author(s): Riho Isaka Reviewed work(s): Source: Economic

and Political Weekly, Vol. 37, No. 48 (Nov. 30 - Dec. 6, 2002), pp. 4867-4872 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4412910 . Accessed: 01/11/2012 20:50
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Gujarati Wrting

Intellectuals and in the Colonial

History Period

narrated their regional history and in that process presented a specific notion of Gujarat and the Gujaratis. In the 19th century, Indian elites in general began to reformlulate caste
and religious identities and articulate regional identity and Indian nationalism by

The aim of this paper is to examine how the Gujarati intellectuals in the colonial period

appropriatingand modifying certain ideas and idioms introducedunder British rule and
others existing in the local society. This paper analyses some representative narratives of

regional history by the late-19th century Gujarati literati and considers how they were
linked with the identity-formation of the people in this region in the long term.
RI1o ISAKA of the Gujarat Vernacular Society [Maganlal 1851(1977)]. Mahipatram RupramNilkanth (1829-1891),3 a famous Nagar brahmaneducator, wrote a book on the historyof Gujarat for students[Nilkanth 1878]. While several books such as these were written on a comprehensive history of Gujaratwith the encouragement of the colonial government, the Gujarati literati began to formulate their perception of history through various social and literary activities. Gujaratischolars of this period largely depended on 19th-century British works on the history of Indiaand of Gujaratwhen studying their own regional history. Examples of British works they often referred to includedA K Forbes'sRasMala: Hindoo Annals of the Province of Gooserat in WesternIndia(1856),4 JamesTod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (1829, 1832) and English translations of the Persian chronicles, Mirat-i-Ahmadi and Mirat-iSikanllari by James Bird and E C Bayley.5 Edalji Dosabhai, in his first book on the history of Gujarat.referredto GrantDuff's A History of the Mahrattas (1826), James of Mirat-i-Alhadi (rather Bird's translation than the original), and the East India Gazetteer. When he rewrote the book in 1894, this time in English, his range of references was naturally broader, but almost all of the works newly included were by Europeans. They included Ras Mala, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, BiUhler's research, E C Bayley's Local Dnasties of Gujarat(transMuihanImadan n Mirat-ilation of ir-i-l i ad Mirat-i-i Sikandari), J W Watson's History of Gujarat (which was included in the Gazetteerof the Bombay Presidency in 18966 ), James Forbes's Oriental Memoirs ( 1813), H G Briggs' s Cities ofGujarashtra (1849), F A H El ot's TheRulersof Baroda (1 879),

of History Writings
n the words of Sudipta Kaviraj,history is 'a way of talking about the collective self, and bringing it into existence' [Kaviraj 1995: 108]. It seems that Edaiji Dosabhai, a Parsi who wrote one of the earliest publications on the history of Gujarat,was aware of this role of history writing.1 In the preface of his Gljaratno Itihas (History of Gujarat), published in 1850, he stressed the necessity of knowing the history of one's own country (desh). He further added that no comprehensive work had been written in Gujarati on the history of this region [Edalji 1850: 2-3]. Edalji Dosabhai was not the only person to recognisea new importancein the writing of history. In fact, contemporaryIndia saw the emergence of widespread active discussion on history among the urban elite educated under the colonial system. The British gave an impetus to this process through their writings of history, editing of school textbooks, and interaction with Indianintellectuals. For instance, Edalji Dosabhai's Gujaratno Itihas was originally a prize essay selected by the Gujarat Vernacular Society, the literary association established in 1848 by a Britishj udge, AlexanderKinlochForbes(18211865). Forbes further suggested Edalji's book be published and adopted as a school textbook [Edalji 1894: i]. Similarly, (1830-1868), aJain MaganlalVakhatchand intellectual, wrote Gujarat Deslhno Itihas (published in 1860) as a school textbook [Maganlal1860].2 This book seems to have been widely used in schools and its sixth edition was already published in 1870. He also wrote Amdavadno ltihas (History of Ahmedabad, 1851), which was again originally a prize essay in the essay contest

official publications such as gazetteer volumes and administration reports, and works by W W Hunter and Mountstuart Elphinstone[Edalji1894:i-iii, 210-11]. The only book in his bibliography written by an Indian author was Romesh Chandra Dutt's History of Ancient Civilisation. Other historians such as Maganlal Vakhatchand and Govindbh:li Hathibhai Desai7used similar materizals.Thus, we can clearly see that local historians such as Edalji and Maganlal, who were educated under the colonial system, depended on European sources in order to understand local history; this was a quite common phenomenon in colonial India. It should be stressed, however, that this fact did not prevent them from adopting these accounts rather selectively, according to their own views and the way in which they wanted to project their history. We should also remember that these British sources, in turn, drew heavily on existing local accounts of history. As C A Bayly has argued, 'indigenous understandings' of local society, though distorted, continued to inform the British understandingof that society [Bayly 1996: 369]. The way in which Gujarati literati selectively adopted British writings of history is evident in theirstyleofperiodisation. As ParthaChatterjee has already explored with regard to Bengal, the style of periodisation according to the religious affinity of rulers (such as the periods of Hindu rule and of Muslim rule) used in the Britishaccounts left a significant impact on the Indian intellectuals' perception of history [Chatterjee 1993, 1994]. In the case of Gujarat, too, the literati began to see the partitions in history in a similar way. Under the influence of British writings, for instance, EdaljiDosabhai changed his original style of periodisation in the

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revised English version of his book, A History of Gujarat: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time (published in 1894). In his original version, 'Gujaratno Itihas', Edalji divided the book into two sections. The first section includes a small portion on the Hindu dynasties and a more detailed account of the Muslim dynasty of Gujarat. The second section begins with the time when Gujaratwas integrated into the Mughal empire and further covers Maratharule and British rule. By contrast, in the revised book, the first part was not simply entitled 'Early History' as in the previous book, but 'Early History: Hindu Period'. This was followed by three parts: (2) 'MuhammadanPeriod: From 1297 to 1572 A.D.' (3) 'From the conquest of Gujarat by the emperor Akbar till its occupation by the Marathas: From 1573 to 1753 A D', and (4) 'From the conquest of Gujaratby the Marathasto the present time: From 1757 to 1893 A D' [Edalji 1894]. We should note here that A K Forbes's influential work, Ras Mala, published in 1856, consists of four parts: (1) the Hindu dynasties, (2) the Muslim rulers,and (3) the Marathasand the British period, while the final section describes the population and customs of Gujarat [Forbes1856].The gazetteerof the Bombay Presidency published in 1896 under the government of Bombay also followed this style of four periods, dedicating a section each to 'Early History of Gujarat', 'MusalmanPeriod(1297-1760)', 'Maratha Period (1760-1819)', and 'GujaratDisturbances (1857-1859)' [Gazetteer 1896]. Interestingly, while using the terms such as the 'Hindu Period' and the 'MuhammadanPeriod', Edalji still kept thedivision between the period of the Gujarat sultans and thatof the Mughal empire. This means that while partly adopting the British style of periodisation according to the religious identity of the rulers, Edalji still found it difficult to ignore the difference between the Gujarat Sultanate and the Mughal empire. In other words, his adoption of the British framework of periodisation remained partial. Before we move on to discussion of how these periods, that is, the 'Hindu period', the 'Muslim period', the 'Marathaperiod' and the 'British period' were each narrated in the representativeaccounts by the British and Gujaratiwriters, we should take note of the geographical area covered in these history books. These intellectuals, in their writings of Gujaratihistory, in fact mainly focused on the rulers based in Patan and Ahmedabad. When a narrativefocused on kathiawad, it was no longer considered to be a 'History of Gujarat' but instead presented as a 'History of Kathiawad'. Although the late-19th century literati at the

same time tried to project kathiawad and south Gujarat as part of Gujarat, in their writings of the history of Gujarat, it was mostly the region around Ahmedabad which occupied a central place.

II of the History Descriptions of Gujarat

Edalji Dosabhai, in his short review of the 'Hindu period', openly quoted the text of Forbes's Ras Mala and concluded that Hindu kings converted the country from 'a waste' to a land 'flowing with milk and honey' [Edalji 1894: 51 ]. In many contemporary writings, the description of the FinishedDutt's ancientIndia.I remember ancient 'Hindu period' was characterised the first time, four years back, that the by such glorification.Inthis regard,it should readingof Macaulayfirstawakenedme to be noted that contemporaryGujaratiliterNationalityand nationalprogress. A proary circles were dominated by high-caste cession of noble patriotsholding aloft the Hindus, Jains and Parsis. In particular, sacred bannerof a nation on the marchNagar brahmans and vaniyas (including that is history [Trivedi 1976: 42]. Jains) occupied a leading position. These For B K Thakore, Dutt's was the 'first high-caste Hindu literati argued, for instance, that in the ancient period one finds book by an Indian' he had read 'capable a pure form of language [Shastri 1887: of exciting in the sympathetic heart' some 86]8 and that there were none of the un- kind of patriotism [Trivedi 1976: 43]. The desirable customs of contemporarysociety perception of a great Gujaratin the ancient such as child marriageand women's 'cry- period became in fact further evident in ing and beating of breasts' in mourning the writings of an influential 20th century [Mukta 1997: 227]. The glory of the 'Hindu writer, K M Munshi (1887-1971). His period' was often contrasted with the popularnovel, GujaratnoNath (The Master 'decline' of society and culture during the of Gujarat) and his voluminous work on 'Muslim period'. Dalpatram Dahyabhai the history of Gujarat entitled The Glo-y (1820-1898), a well known Shrimali Brah- That Was Gurjaradesa are examples of man poet of the late 19th century, for this.10As discussed later, such glorificainstance, considered that, with the ar- tion of Hindu rule by Munshi was accomrival of Muslim rulers, the knowledge panied at the same time by a greater of people in Hindustan decreased emphasis on decline under Muslim rule. Yet, we should note here that the literati [Dalpatram 1921: 8]. Narmadshankar Lalshankar (1833-1886), a contemporary of the late 19th century also illustrated the of Dalpatramand a famous Nagar brahman prosperity of Gujarat during the same 'Muslim period' and contrasted this with writer, attributed the decline both of brahmaniccultureandof the generalintelli- the following 'Maratha period' characteto Muslim rule [Narmad- rised by the oppression and exploitation gence of Gujaratis shankar 1874: 95-6]. This perception is of the Maratha rulers. For these Gujarati again evident in descriptions of the literary historians, the image of flourishing trade tradition of Gujarat by late-19th century andcommerce undercertainMuslim rulers literati. In their perception, the 'classical was too strong to be ignored. In particular, literature' of Gujaratconsisted mainly of in the case of Ahmedabad, the developwritten ment of the mercantile tradition there two kinds:one was theJainliterature in sanskrit, prakrit,apabhramshaand old occupied a central place in public percepGujarati,and the other consisted of works tion of its history. It was on this point that by well-known Hindu poets (kavis) such local historians could not agree with A K as Mira (Miram), Narasimha Mehta Forbes, in whose eyes even the 'tall mina(Maheta), Akho, Premanand,Samal Bhatt ret of the Moslem' in Ahmedabad was and Dayaram. In contrast with these two nothing but a symbol of Muslim tyranny genres, the Persian literaturepatronisedby [Forbes 1856; 387-8]. Edalji Dosabhai, for Muslim courts and the Islamic hymns sung instance, described how Ahmad Shah, who in local society were given little impor- founded Ahmedabad in 1411, made this tance [Isaka 2002]. In view of the fact that city 'a centre of trade and manufacture' both Muslim and Hindu elites had deep by gathering 'merchants, weavers and associations with Persian language until skilled craftsmen from many different the 19th century,9 this neglect of Persian places', settling them and giving them literature is rather striking. 'every encouragement' [Edalji 1894: 67].

It was on the basis of this image of a glorious ancient period that the high-caste Hindu literati advocated the regeneration of the country. Some Hindu intellectuals began to link the image more consciously with the assertion of a great aryanrace and civilisation, which covered all Hindustan. This development reflected not only the influence of British writings on the Gujaratis, but also the growing influence of contemporary intellectual discourses in other parts of India - in particular those in Bengal and Maharashtra.For instance, B K Thakore, in his diary in 1892, expressed his excitement after reading Romesh Chandra Dutt's work on ancient India:

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This image of Ahmedabadas a prosperous city was repeated in the myth recorded by G P Taylor in the early 20th century. The myth tells the story of an incident which supposedly took place during the time of Ahmad Shah. A kotval, or head police officer of the city, on his night patrol met the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. She ordered him to bring the sultan to the spot, but the kotval tried to reject this request, saying thatshe might disappearby the time he brought the king. The goddess then promised him that she would not leave until she saw the ruler. When the kotval gave this message to Ahmad Shah, the sultan orderedthatthe kotval be killed and never went to the spot, thus preventing Lakshmi from leaving his city. As a result of this, the goddess of fortune remained in the city, waiting for the king, and the prosperity of Ahmedabad continued from this time [Commissariat 1922: 98]. Along with Ahmad Shah, another wellknown ruler among the Gujarat Sultans was Mahmud Begada, whom Mirat-iSikandari described as 'the best of all the Gujaratikings', due to his justice, beneficence andpiety [Bayley 1886(1970): 161]. EdaljiDosabhai statedthatduringthe reign of Begada, 'the splendour of Gujaratwas greatly increased' and that 'even the emperor of Delhi sent him presents, and thus virtually acknowledged Gujaratas a separate kingdom'[Edalji 1894: 96]. Narmadshankar Lalshankar,in spite of his generally negative perception of the 'Muslim period', considered the time of this Mahmud Begada to be one of the most glorious periods in Gujarat's past, along with the reigns of Jayshikhar and of Shiddhraj [Narmadshankar 1874: 140]. It is interesting to compare these accounts again with the work of the famous 20thcentury writer, K M Munshi. According to Munshi, although Muslim historians narrated 'numerous anecdotes revealing his [MahmudBegada's] popularity with his people', to the Hindus, 'one sultan was as good, or as bad, as another.' Munshi stressed the 'terrorand destruction' under Muslim rulers, which resulted in social exclusiveness among the people,who 'enjoyed settled existence only when sheltered behind their castes, mahajanas and pancayats' [Munshi 1935: 112-13]. In this account, the image of prosperity under some Muslim rulers, which we have seen in late-19th century writings, completely disappeared. The GujaratSultanate was brought to an end in 1573 with the conquest of this area by the Mughal Emperor, Akbar. An extremely favourable image was attributed to 'Akbar the Great' in many of the narratives produced by Gujarati historians. Maganlal Vakhatchandhad no doubt that

among Muslims there was no other king like Akbar [Maganlal 1860:61]. Navalram LakshmiramPandya( 1836-1888), a Nagar Brahmanwriter,in his poem called 'Itihasni Arsi' (The Mirror of History), also expressed his high opinion of Akbar's regime. According to him, there was 'no tyranny,no heavy tax, no partisanship'and he treated Hindus equally with Muslims [Parikh 1937: 366] It is evident that in late-19th century Gujarat, the local elite was conscious of the strongmercantiletraditionin this region and its origin in the 'Muslim period'. It also should be stressed here that in many contemporary accounts on history, the following 'Marathaperiod' was depicted as the darkest age of all. The Ahmedabad Municipality stated, in its memorial to the British government in the 1880s, that AhmedabadunderMuslim sovereigntywas 'one of the finest cities in the world', which was to be later 'divested of its riches and splendour' due to the 'decay of that power, the raids of the Marathas, the vandalism which accompanied those excursions, and their greed when they came into the possession of the district' (Appendix to Education Commission Report 1884, II: Memorials 9). Thus, without feeling any contradiction, the Hindu intellectuals articulated the 'Muslim period' both as a time of economic development and of cultural decline. There was a tendency, however, to emphasise the decline, a tendency which became more pronounced in the next century.Furthermore, some people began to develop the idea that the prosperity in the Muslim era was in fact only enjoyed by the ruling class and not by the 'people' as a whole (Appendix to Education Commission Report 1884, II: Memorials 9-10). This, in their opinion, made a greatcontrastwith Britishrule,which cared for 'public welfare', as discussed later. The negative image of the following 'Maratha period' seemed to have been partly derived from the popular memory of the Maratha rulers that still survived among Gujaratis in the late 19th century. The Britishdescriptionswrittenin the early 19th century enhanced this picture. For instance, James Forbes, in his 'Oriental Memoirs' (1813) compared the 'Mogul barbarism'[Forbes splendor'and 'Mahratta 1813: 120], and concluded: I shall not attempt a detail of the cruel oppressions and mean advantagesof the Mahratta pundits and governors, now dispersed throughoutGuzerat,and occupying these magnificentremainsof Mogul splendour.Their severe exactions have of Ahmedabad, rendered thedistrict already once so flourishingand delightful,almost a desert; and thousands of industrious subjects are annually leaving it, to seek

protection under milder governments IForbes 1813: 1531. Among the Gujarati accounts of this period, Maganlal Vakhatchanddevoted an entire section in his Gujarat Deshno Itihas and Amdalvadno Itihas to enumerating examples of tyranny, injustice and exploitation by Maratha rulers and their lack of interest in reform [Maganlal 1860: 836,1851 (1977): 53-5]. According to him, wealthy people in Ahmedabad even avoided wearing good clothes, for fear of drawing the attention of the Marathaofficers, who looked for any chance of exploitation [Maganlal 1851 (1977): 54]. Gujarati historians often contrasted this image with that of British rule, which they considered to have brought much-desired peace and order to Gujarat.The British were praised as saviours who had delivered the region from a 'crushing calamity' under the Maratharulers[Edalji 1894: 292].The final overthrow by the British of the Maratha power in Gujarat, which took place in 1818, was even described as the device of the 'Almighty' [Edalji 1894: 292]. Needless to say, this perception among the local elite was partly constructed through their close links with the British government, which tried to legitimise its rule over India. historians' Yet,atthe same time,theGujarati strong tone of condemnation of Maratha rule suggests that it was more than merely a wayofappeasingthecolonial government. In the same way, the assessment of Shivaji, the hero of many Maharashtrians, was not necessarily favourable among Gujaratis, due to his plunder of Surat. Observing the movement in the Deccan to raise a fund to repair the tomb of Shivaji, an Ahmedabadi paper in 1895 wrote: In spite of the attemptsmade some time to show thatShivaji ago by some Marathas was not as bad as he was depicted by historians,it must be conceded that there was utter chaos and confusion under his rule and thathis policy from beginningto end was thatof a plunderer. The conviction of the people of Gujaraton this point is too strongto be overthrown by any amount of Maratha The Marathas arequite rhetoric. welcome to worshipShivaji as a hero and to look upon the times in which he flourished as a golden epoch and to wish for its revival, but the Gujaratishave a keen memory of the Maratharaids up to the present day.II The Gujaratis' judgment of Shivaji, however, was sometimes contradictory. One of the earliest references to Shivaji in Gujaratappeared in a 'poetical composition of one Shair Bansilal' in the late 18th and early 19th century. This depicted Shivaji asthe 'Protectorof Cow and Brahman', while at the same time describing his plunder of the city of Surat. The poet

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gave 'on the one side the brighter and on the other the darkerpicture of this event', butfinally blamed atrocities by the Mughal Emperor,Aurangseb,againstwhom Shivaji fought, for the misfortunes of Surat [Chavda nd: 119]. A similar contradictory view of Shivaji was expressed also by Narmadshankar[Sanjana 1950: 79]. The mixed reactions to Shivaji seem to have arisen mostly from the disparity between the role of Shivaji in the history of Gujarat and his role in the history of India. For high-caste Hindu Gujaratis, Shivaji cannot be forgiven in the context of Gujarat itself, but in the broad context of Indian history, this warrior who challenged the 'tyrannical' Muslim emperor, Aurangseb, could still be a hero. As mentioned above, Gujarati intellectuals in the 19th century became increasingly familiar with the contemporary views of Indian history expressed in the writings of British, Bengali and Maharashtrianwriters. The story of Shivaji and Aurangseb in these writings must have affected their perceptions of these figures. As a result, while still blaming Shivaji for his plunder of Surat, the Hindu literati in this region at the same time began to evaluate his action from an alternative viewpoint, namely, the viewpoint of the history of India. In the 20th century, as the nationalist movement gained momentum, the tendency to glorify Shivaji as an 'Indian' hero seems to have become more pronounced. K M Munshi, a strong advocate of Indian nationalism,for instance, defended Shivaji andthe Peshwas (all of whom, in his words. 'no doubt, dreamt of a well-governed empire'), by blaming their 'irresponsible in Gujarat agents' forthe maladministration [Munshi 1935: 207]. The 'British period', which followed the 'Marathaperiod', was called 'Ram Rajya' by MaganlalVakhatchand[Maganlal 1851 (1977): 53, 65]. The Gujarati elite of the late 19th century often stressed that the British had brought safety, prosperity, justice, education, technology and infrastructure,such as railways, the telegraph, printing and sanitary arrangements [Maganlal 1851 (1977): 63-5, Edalji 1894: 309] (Appendix to EducationCommission Report 1884,11:Memorials9-10) [Buddhiprakash 1858: 44]. They contrasted this with the previous regimes under which therewas frequentplunderingand fighting and which paid little attention to public welfare.Thus,even at the time of theMutiny in 1857, BholanathSarabhai(1822-1886), a famous Nagar Brahman social reformer and government servant, prayed to god in his diary that the matter would be settled quickly, for British rule was, in his opinto any otherrule[Krshnarao ion, farsuperior 1888: 65]. Similarly, Edalji, looking back

on this incident, stated that 'happily' the Mutiny extended to Gujarat in 'only a slight degree' [Edalji 1894:258]. Such ardent support for British rule, however, was to wane by the end of the century, as we will discuss later.

III

Notionof Gujarat and Gujaratis

One of the most striking aspects in these narratives of the history of Gujarat is the great significance attributedto the prominent mercantile tradition of this region. The following words from a lecture on the 'classical poets of Gujarat' by GovardhanramMadhavramTripathi(1855-1907), a well-known Nagar Brahman writer, are another good example to illustrate this point. He called this region 'a country of merchantsandpoets' andstatedthatGujarat 'always yielded a rich harvest of merchants', and that Gujaratiswere 'children of industry and enterprise' [Tripathi 1894 (1958): 49, 561. The Gujaratiintellectuals in the colonial period sought to give a new meaning to this mercantile tradition in order to make it a respectable marker of their identity. For instance, these people stated openly their pride in their capacity to support educational institutions and schemes for public welfare with their own money, thanks to their success in commerce and industry. They often emphasised that they had been improving their local areas by 'self-help' (Appendix to Education Commission Report 1884, II: Memorials 9), pointing out examples of their own philanthropic actions. Besides, in the colonial context, the act of 'money-making' could sometimes acquire forceful political and ideological meanings through the idea of 'swadeshi'. One of the earliest examples in Gujarat where we find this idea is Chadhai'(The Dalpatram's'Hunnarkhanni Invasion of Hunnarkhan, 1851), the allegorical poem on the impoverishment of Hindustan as a result of the invasion of Hunnarkhan(king industry), the ruler of Vilayat (a foreign country). Dalpatramlikened the relationship between contemporary England and India to that between Vilayat and Hindustan. After describing the misery of presentHindustan,the author makes a suggestion about how to revive this land.Accordingto him, the only person who can save the country is 'Mandalik' (unity), who is now deep in sleep. While emphasising the necessity of awakening him, Dalpatramurges the readersto defeat 'Yantrakhan' (machine minister) of this Vilayat, and take over the technology and industry dominated by foreigners [Dalpatram 1921]. In this poem, restoring

the country was almost equivalent to developing commerce and industry. Such an idea of swadeshi seems to have developed in Gujarat along with the success of the modern textile industry. For instance, from the 1860s, the local elite in Ahmedabad themselves took the initiative in founding textile mills based on the Western model, and the sense of pride in their success was widely shared among them. The following passage from an Ahmedabadi newspaper, though published in the early 20th century, indicates the impact that the development of the textile industry had on their self-image. Our readersare aware thatjute is one of the staplearticles of industry andcommerce in Bengal, but the industryis practically wholly in the hands of the European capitalist.With pardonable pride, we ventureto state that if Gujrathad grownjute, brethren would have engrossed ourGujrati the trade mainly or wholly. Our fellowcountrymen of Bengal, though undoubtand general edly ahead of us in literature knowledge,haveyet to acquirethe aptitude and means, which go to the making of successful captains of industry.'2 Due to this success of the textile industry, a strong conviction was widely shared by the Gujarati elite that their region, 'a country of merchants', was now on the way to prosperity and regeneration under British rule. Yet. aroundthe turnof the century, there were some who began to question this vision. They pointed out the obstructive effect of the colonial policy on theeconomic development of Gujarat. In particular, confrontation arose over certain economic policies of the British which were considered to work unfavourably against local industries, such as the imposition of the excise duties in the 1890s.13 Ambalal Sakarlal Desai (1844-1914), a leading intellectual, while speaking on behalf of the 'peace-loving and trading population of Guserat' in the 1902 Indian National Congress, did not try to conceal his annoyance at the imposition of the 'obnoxious excise duty' (Reportof the 18thIndian National Congress 1902: 5-6). For people like him, it was no longer certain that their region could keep developing under British rule by remaining only as 'Commercial Guzerat'. The Gujarati elite also became more attentive to political developments in other parts of India. The swadeshi movement in Bengal between 1905 and 1908, for instance,createda visible responsein Gujarat, especially among the youth. In Nadiad, a town in Khedadistrict, IndulalYagnik saw a series of meetings at which 'oratorsspoke and musicians sang about freeing our holy motherlandfrom the bonds of foreign rule'.

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In Ahmedabad,the Swadeshi MitraMandal (Friends'Society for Swadeshi) was founded to supportthis movement [Yagnik 1955 (1967): 111, 127-28, Spodek, Wood and Pathak n d: 123-4, 140-1]. This reaction of Gujaratiscan be explained from their long association with the concept of swadeshi and their expectation of economic advantage from this movement. (In fact, swadeshi enthusiasm for indigenous cloth during this time brought a tangible benefit to the textile industry in Mumbai and Ahmedabad [Sarkar 1983: 132].) At the same time, however, their support for the movementalso indicatesa majorchange which was taking place in the Gujarati perception of British rule. Now, the idea of developing industryand commerce, and thus developing the country itself under the British government, began to lose its charm, particularly among the younger generation. Observing political activities in other parts of India, young intellectuals in Gujaratbegan to search for a new way of defining Gujarat as something more thanjust 'a countryof merchantsandpoets', peace-loving, homely and religious, as illustrated by Govardhanram Tripathi [Tripathi 1894 (1958): 56]. This change seems to have formed one of the important contexts of Gandhi's rise to power in this region from the late 1910s.

IV Conclusion
This paper has shown that the way in which the late-19th century Gujaratiinteltheirregional history was lectuals narrated closely linked with the notion of Gujarati identity that they wished to establish. Although the local literati were highly dependenton Britishsources for the framework of writing history as well as for actual information, they adopted these elements only selectively. The impact of the British accounts upon their narratives therefore certainly had a clear limit. Thus, whatever view A K Forbes had, Gujarati writers, in many cases, did not depict the 'Muslim period' as a completely dark age. They were too conscious of the strong mercantile tradition of this region, and its origin in the 'Muslim period'. Thus, though the Gujaratiwriters often glorified the ancient 'Hindu period' and contrasted this with the cultural decline in the subsequent 'Muslim era', they described at the same time the prosperity of this region underthe reigns of Ahmad Shah, Mahmud Begada and Akbar. 'The Gujaratiintellectuals, in their construction of regional identity, consciously placed the mercantiletraditionat its centre. Furthermorethey sought to project it as a respectable identity-markerthrough the

idea of swadeshi. According to this rhetoric, involvement in commerce and industry now no longer meant simply moneymaking, but was a partof a broaderscheme of developing the country. The late-19th century notion of Gujarat and the Gujaratiscontinued to be influential throughoutthe following periods. Yet, at the same time, we should also note that new regional symbols kept emerging. For instance, from the early 20th century. Gandhi himself and the nationalist movement under his leadership became deeply integrated into the notion of Gujaratihistory and identity. K M Munshi stated in 1935 that Gujaratwas 'no longer the land of commerce and industryonly', for it was now 'the land of MahatmaGandhi, as once it was of Sri Krshna' [Munshi 1935: 1]14 The fact that Gandhi stressed his Gujarati identity on several occasions encouraged this process. For instance, he chose Ahmedabad for the site of his Satyagraha Ashram in 1915 for the reasons he explained in his autobiography: 'I had predilection for Ahmedabad. Being a Gujarati I thought I should be able to render the greatest service to the country through the Gujarati language' [Gandhi 1927 (1992): 4611.15 During the periods of the noncooperation movement and civil disobedience movement, the Gujarati identity of Gandhi contributed to his gaining strong support from a wide range of the population in this region. We should remember here that, before the rise of the Gandhian movement, Gujarat had never become the focus of all-Indiapolitics. Now, a large number of people in this region began to participate in political activities on an unprecedentedscale for the 'honour of Gujarat'as well as for the interests of India. Here, through Gandhi and his satyagraha, Gujarati identity overlapped with Indian nationalism. This seems to have brought about a significant change in the identity-formation of the Gujaratis, though further investigation is necessary to understand this process.16 With the present situation in Gujarat,it seems especially important to look back on the recent past to understand how regional history and identity were articulated by the intellectuals of different periods and contexts, and how specific perceptions became dominant over others through educational institutions, leading literaryassociations and the press. Also we should not forget that there were always attempts by some sections of the population in this region to present alternative notions of history and identity, which differed from the dominant discourse. Although these alternativediscourses were not fully independent of the dominant discourseandwere in manycases intricately

linked to it, they nevertheless vividly demonstrate that there is no uniform and fixed perception of any event or individual in history. The ideas that the way to imagine the past can be varied and that writing a history is in a sense always an act of construction are hardly new. It still seems necessary to keep emphasising these ideas, however, in the context of contemporary Gujarat, where some sections of society, supportedby political groups, have been trying to impose their construction of regional history and identity on others with violence, and deny any alternative perception. [31 Address for correspondence: isaka@ask.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Notes
I Edalji Dosabhai was a studentof the English school in the city when he wrote this book [Edalji 1850: Preface]. He later joined the service,andwaseventuallyposted government to Ahmedabadas the deputy collector (The Times of Inldia,June 17, 1894, educational vol 47, no 542, Maharashtra State department, Archives). 2 Maganlal Vakhatchandwas a visa shrimali Jain who was educated in tile English school in Ahmedabad.He played an importantrole heldposts andliterary ineducational circles,and as the assistant masterof the English school of the Gujarat vernaandthe assistantsecretary business hejoinedthebanking cularsociety.Later and cotton industry. [Maganlal1851 (1977)]. 3 MahipatramRupram was a Nagar Brahmin from Surat. Having finished his education at school and English the governmentvernacular school, he latershifted to Bombay andjoined the ElphinstoneInstitutethere. In 1857, two yearsafterhejoinedtheeducational department, he was appointedas acting headmasterof a governmentschool in Ahmedabadand subseinspector. quentlybecamea deputyeducational As the principal of the training college in Gujarat (from 1862), as the editor of the monthlyjournal entitled GujaratShalaqatra, translator in theeducational andas the Gujarati tobedeeplyassociated hecontinued department, with educationalactivities in Gujarat[Raval 1987: 127-34][Parekh 1935 II: 92-117]. 4 The Gujarati translation of RarsMala by Ranchhodbhai Udayaram was published in withJames 1869.RasMalawasoftencompared Tod's Annalsand Antiquities of Rajastlhan alnd Grant Duff's A History of itheMahrattas. 5 Mirat-i-Alhmadiwas the Persian chronicle written by Ali MuhamadKhan,the diwan of Gujarat,in 1762. The early sections of this book were based on the account of Mirat-iPersian chroniclecomposed aniother Sikandari, aroundthe early 17thcenturyby Sikandarbin who servedthe Bukhari Said family Muhamad, in Gujarat. Fordetails, see [Bird 1834][Bayley 1886 (1970)] [Lokhandwala 1965]. 6 The first partof this gazetteer, 'Early History of Gujarat',was writtenby BhagvanlalIndraji with the help o' A M T Jackson.The second part,'MusalmanPeriod',was prepared by J W Watson,with additionsby FazlullahLutfullah Faridi.The thirdand forthsections ('Maratha Period' and 'Gujarat Disturbances') were written by J A Baines and L R Ashburner respectively [Gazetteer 1896]. 7 His GujaratnoPrachin Itilhasand Gujaratno

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ArvachinItihaswere publishedin 1898 by the Gujaratvernacularsociety [Desai 1898]. 8 On the notionof the Gujaratilanguageamong late 19th century Gujaratiliterati, see Isaka 2002. 9 On the Hindu elite contribution to Persian literature in Gujarat, see Quraishi 1972: 237-9. The language of the court had been Persian during the Mughal period, and even some sectionsof high-casteHinduliteratisuch asbrahmins(especially Nagar Brahmins), kayasthas and brahmakshatriyas wrote in Persian 1921 1954, 45-6] (1993): [Divatia 1955]. [Nayak 10 For recent analysis of Munshi's novel, for Desai Nath,see, instance, 2002, Gujaratno Skaria 2001: 276-7. 11 Hitechchhu,November7, 1895, in Reporton Native Papers (Bombay Presidency), November 9, 1895, p 17. 12 Praja Bandhu, January20, 1907, p 1. 13 For details, see Chandra 1966: 238. 14 In this regard,it is worthmentioningthatsome places related to Gandhi and the nationalist movement became new pilgrimage sites for Gujaratis. 15 We shouldnoteherethatGandhiwas originally from kathiawad,which greatly differed from the region around Ahmedabad, in various aspects including language, literature and history. Yet, it was his Gujaratiidentity, not his kathiawadi identity, that Gandhi found more importantand meaningful in his social and public activities. 16 Another moment when significant change seems to have taken place in this identity formationwas around1960, when the present Gujaratstate was created as a separate state from Maharashtra.At this time, mainland andkathiawad bothbecameintegrated Gujarat into this new state. For the political aspect of the integration of these two partsinto Gujarat state, see Wood 1972.

References
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ArvachinItihas, Gujarat Varakyular Sosaiti, Amdavad. Desai, Meghnad (2002): 'Gujarat and Its Bhasmita', Seminar, 513, May, pp 56-57. Divatia,N B (1921 repr1993):GujaratiLanguage and Literature,Asian EducationalServices, New Delhi. Edalji,Dosabhai(1850): Gujaratnoltihas, Gujarat VarnakyularSosaiti, Amdavad. - ( 894):A Historyof Gujarat: FromtheEarliest Period to the Present Time, Ahmedabad. Forbes, A K (1856): Ras Mala: Hindoo Annlals of the Province of Goozeratin western India, RichardsonBrothers, London. James( 1813):Oriental Forbes, Memoirs, III,White, Cochrane, and Co, London. Desai(1927,reprl992): Gandhi,M K,trbyMahadev Anl or the Storyof My ExperiAutobiography nments with Truth,Navajivan, Ahmedabad. Gazetteerof the BombayPresidency, I-I, History of Gujarat (1896): Bombay. Isaka, Riho (2002): 'Language and Dominance: The Debatesover the Gujarati Languagein the Asia , XXV,1,ppl-19. Late19thCentury', South - (2002): 'The Perception of the Literary Traditionof Gujarat in the Late 19thcentury', Jolurnal of the JapaneseAssociation for South Asian Studies, 14 (forthcoming). Kaviraj,Sudipta (1995): The UnhappyConscioiusness:BankimchandraChattopadhyayand the Formation of Nationalist Discourse in India, Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Krshnarao, Bholanath (1888): Bholanath Sarabhainunr Jivancharit, Mumbai. Lokhandwala,M F (tr) (1965): Mirat-i-Ahmadi: A Persian History of Gujarat, English Translation,Oriental Institute, Baroda. (1860): GujaratDeshno Maganlal,Vakhatchand Itilias,Gujarat Sosaiti,Amdavad. Varnakyular - (1977): Anmdavadno Itihas, Gujarat Vidyasabha, Amdavad. Mukta, Parita (1997): 'Lament and Power: The Subversion and Appropriation of Grief. Studies in History', 13,2, pp 209-46. Munshi,K M (1935): Gujarataand Its Literature: A Surveyfromthe Earliest Timnes, Longmans, Green and Co, Bombay. Narmadshankar, Lalshankar( 1874):Narmagadya, I, Mumbai. Nayak, Chhotubhai Ranchhodji (1954, 1955): Gujarati par Arabi Pharsini Asar, Vols 2, GujaratVidya Sabha, Amdavad. Nilkanth,Mahipatram (1878): Gujaratno Rupram Balbodhak Itihas, Mumbai. Parekh, Hiralal Tribhuvandas(1935): Gujarat VarnakyularSosaitino Itihas,3 Vols, Amdavad. Parikh, Narhari Dvarkadas(ed) (1966): Navalgranthavali, GujaratVidyapith, Amdavad. Praja Bandhu, January20, 1907. Quraishi, Mansooruddin A (1972): Muslini Education and Learning in Gujarat (12971758), University of Baroda, Baroda. Raval, R L (1987): Socio-religious Reform Movements in Gujarat: During the 19th Century, Ess Ess Publications, New Delhi. The Reportof the 18th lldian National Congress, Held at Alhmedabad, 1902 (1903): Bombay. Report on Native Papers (Bombay Presidency), November 9, 1895. J E (1950): Studiesin GujaratiLiterature, Sanjana, University of Bombay, Bombay. Sarkar,Sumit (1983): ModernIndia: 1885-1947, Macmillan, New Delhi. N (1988): 'TheRoleof Ahmedabad Shah,Kunjlata in Swadeshi Movement 1851-1905', University Research Journal, Social Sciences, History Section, SNDT Women's University, 10, pp 1-8. Shastri,VajlalKalidas(1887): GujaratiBhashano Itihas,Gujarat Sosaiti,Amdavad. Varnakyular Skaria, Ajay (2001): 'Homeless in Gujaratand

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Letters to editor
(Continued from p 4750) it is to be useful...marxists who make a fetish of formulas are simply playing the fool with marxism." Chandra does not find Gramsci's contribution to marxism significant in the sense of extending the rule of capital to the social and cultural domain. But we are indebted to Antonio Gramsci for liberating the marxist discourse from economism. One interesting point to be noted in this context is that British marxist scholars had an aversion to Grtmsci's writings till the mid-1950s (David Forgacs, 'Gramsc4 and Marxism in Britain', New Left Review, No 176 1989). Almost at the end of his life Engels was shocked to find economic determinism in the writings of younger marxists. And he expressed his anguish in a letter to Joseph Bloch in 1890: Marx and I are ourselves partlyto blame for the fact that the younger people sometimes lay more stress on the economic side than is due to it. We had to emphasise the main principle vis-a-vis our adversaries,who denied it, and we had not always the time, the place or the opportunityto give their due to the other factors involved in the interaction. Chandra wants to go back to Marx for intellectual guidance without taking into account the historical and social context of his writings. This is nothing but marxist fundamentalism. In the present crisis of marxism, we should bid farewell to the grand narrative of official marxism and read Marx with an open mind. KUMAR SEN ARUP Calcutta

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