At the dawn of history India was already famous for its wealth, its gold and silver and precious stones, its fine silks, its spices and, drugs and rare woods. Treasures from India reached the ancient courts of Assyria and Egypt. Today India's wealth is not reckoned in gold or precious stones, but in the products of the fields. Agriculture is the most important industry, 230,000,000 of the population, out of a total of 350,000,000, making their living by farming, forestry, and stock-raising. And with the increased development of irrigation and transportation facilities the industry is growing rapidly. The millet grains form the chief crop, for these hardy, drought-resisting, and prolific cereals are the staple food of the lower classes. Almost the entire crop is consumed at home. Next in importance are rice, wheat, and pulses (lentils, chick-peas, pigeon-peas, etc.).
The Widespread Use of Oil
Oil-seeds and oil-producing plants, such as linseed, rape, mustard, sesamum, ground-nuts, castor plants, etc., are extensively grown, for the natives use vast quantities of oil for cooking, for their primitive
lamps, and for anointing themselves, and large quantities of these oils are exported. Cotton is one of India's most valuable products. Other crops of importance are barley, jute, sugar-cane, indigo, tea, coconuts, tobacco, and poppies for the production of opium. It is estimated that there are more cattle in India than in any other part of the world, but they are a hump-backed species of inferior quality, and since the religion of the great majority of Hindus forbids eating beef, the animals are chiefly used for draught purposes. Half-tamed buffaloes are also used in many sections for farm labour, and in the northwest camels are the principal work animals. Among the most important manufacturing establishments of India are cotton-mills, jute-mills, and sugar-mills. Coal, gold, and petroleum are the leading mineral products. Railway development has proceeded further in India than in any other part of Asia. About 40,000 miles are now in operation, consisting of broad-gauge trunk lines connecting the large centres of population, and a network of narrow-gauge lines. The rivers and canals carry much inland traffic. The currency of India is based upon the rupee, a silver coin worth about one shilling and fourpence. Tlie lesser coins rank as follows: 12 pies make one anna and 16 annas make one rupee. The native custom is to call 100,000 rupees a lakh, and 100 lakhs are called a crore.
The early history of India is mostly lost in the mists of ancient traditions. The great Hindu epic poem " Rig-Veda," written about 1500 b.c., tells of the old struggle between the Aryan invaders and the " black people " who were in possession of the soil. By the 6th century b.c., 16 Aryan states had been established south of the Himalayas, and Brahmanism was nourishing. In 327 b.c. the armies of Alexander
the Great reached the Hydaspes River, and the Greek settlements he left behind made a profound impression upon the art and literature of the country. The next 13 centuries were marked by a succession of bitter struggles for power between Indian princes, and by a succession of invasions, among which stand out clearly the inroads of the White Huns in the 5th and 6th centuries a.d.
The first attacks of the Mohammedans were repelled, but in the llth century the Turkish ; leader Mahmud established the Ghazni dynasty in the land. The great Mongol invasion of Genghis Khan followed in 1219, and in 1397 Tamerlane's Tatar hordes poured into India (see Mongols). In 1526 Baber, who was a descendant of Genghis Khan as well as Tamerlane, seized the throne at Delhi, establishing the great Mogul empire, which remained intact until the close of the 18th century. The south of India was never completely conquered, but the empire of the north, under such rulers as Akbar and Shah Jehan, was perhaps the most brilliant in the history of the Orient. During the reign of Aurungzebe (1618-1707), the last of the " Great Moguls," arose the power of the Mahrattas in the south, which so undermined the Mogul rule that its last years present a picture of weakness and decay.
Meanwhile the struggle between Europeans for supremacy in Indian affairs had begun. With Vasco da Gama's discovery of the ocean route around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498 there began a race for the rich Indian trade between Portugal, Holland, and France. In 1600 the English East India Company joined in the rivalry, and soon had trading posts at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta (then called Fort William). The history of India from that time forward deals chiefly with the long commercial struggles of these European rivals. The French enlisted and drilled native troops, and with these interfered so successfully in native quarrels that by 1751 the Carnatic and the Deccan were under French influence.
British Influence Restored
Just as British influence was threatened with extinction in India, the genius of Robert Clive turned the tables. First his storm, and successful holding of Arcot in 1751 and then his victory at Plassey in 1757 overthrew the French power and laid the foundations of the rule of the English East India Company (see Olive, Robert). Later mere trading rights gradually grew into political rule. It was one of the strangest conquests in history, this by which a private trading company conquered an empire by the use chiefly of soldiers (Sepoys) raised in that land itself.
Warren Hastings, who became Governor-General for the East India Company in 1774, built soundly upon the foundation Clive had laid. He subdued the Mahratta princes and crushed the famous Hyder Alt, sultan of Mysore (see Hastings, Warren). In the next 30 years the rule of the British Company extended over a great part of India. Between 1848 and 1856 the Sikhs were defeated and the Punjab was annexed.
But certain high-handed methods employed by the British Company, together with the teachings of missionaries and the advance of European customs, had stirred up a great wave of unrest. In 1857 a rumour was circulated among the native troops enlisted under the British flag that the cartridge papers, which the soldiers must tear with their teeth, were greased with the fat of cows and pigs — the former held sacred by the Hindus, and the latter abhorred by the Mohammedans. This rumour set fire to the tinder of discontent, and the great Indian Mutiny of 1857 was the result. The insurrection spread rapidly in the north. Nana Sahib, a Mahratta prince, besieged a British force in Cawnpore, and, after promising safe-conduct, treacherously massacred his prisoners, including women and children. Another British force was besieged in Lucknow, but after the commander, Sir Henry Lawrence, and many others had been killed the survivors were rescued. Not until Delhi was captured in September was the mutiny broken.
The End of "John Company" This tragic outbreak put an end to the political rule of " John Company." In 1858 its rights of government were transferred to the British Government, and the last flames of the mutiny were quenched. Since then greater respect has been shown to the religious and other susceptibilities of the people, and about two-fifths of India is still left to be ruled by its native princes.
The remaining history of India is the history of rapid industrial and commercial development, enlivened by occasional border warfare, particularly on the Afghanistan frontier. The spectres of famine and plague constantly hang over the land. The educated Indians, particularly the Hindus, have demanded an increasing share of self-government.
Government of British Provinces
Each of the 15 British provinces has its own Governor, nominated by the Viceroy. By an act of the British Parliament passed in 1919 eight of the provinces. were granted a considerable measure of self-government.
Legislative councils, containing at least 70 per cent. of elected members were set up, bearing a relation to the Indian legislature similar to that between the provincial and Dominion legislatures in Canada.
The native states, about 700 in number, are governed by their own princes, ministers, or councils, under the advice of a British Resident assigned by the Viceroy. Some are required to pay an annual tribute. They are restrained from making war or entering into alliances with one another or with foreign powers. The size of their armies is restricted, and in case of gross misrule the British Government reserves the right to interfere. But in most other matters the princes have supreme authority. British rule has brought factories, railways, hospitals, police systems, Western courts, modernized cities, schools, and universities, and brisk trade. But to quote the Earl of Ronaldshay, "the organization of industries on the lines evolved by Western nations is something which is altogether alien to the genius of the Indian people." The difference between the races was greatly intensified after the World War. During the conflict, India loyally sent money and men to the aid of Britain. These men returned with a new sense of the •importance of India to the Empire, and demanded a larger share in the government. India signed the Peace Treaty and was made an independent member of the League of Nations. But many of the Indians had expected freedom, or at least home rule. Mr. E. S. Montagu, Secretary of State for India, had announced the policy of the British Government as increasing the gradual development of self-governing institutions with a view to the progressive realization of responsible government in India as an integral part of the British Empire." Many expected immediate fulfilment, which was not implied. Discontent became open revolt.
In a rebellion against foreign domination and Western civilization, the strange ascetic, Mohandas Gandhi, initiated the Swaraj, or Home Rule, movement. He urged passive resistance and tried to end the cruel caste system and the wasteful hate between Mohammedans and Hindus, ro that India might present a united Front against everything British—government, imports, machinery, philosophy. Another faction of Swaraj, led by Ghitta Ranjan Das, urged violence. In 1922 Gandhi was sentenced to prison for sedition, and although he was released in 1924, his imprisonment increased Indian resistance and his own popularity.
At the same time communism was gaining, and the country was more and more torn by religious feuds between Hindus and Moslems. These riots became more frequent in 1920, and in the following year the British government appointed a commission with Sir John Simon as chairman to inquire into the advisability of altering the constitution, and to investigate all phases of the government of British India. All during 1929 Indian Nationalism grew in ardour. In 1930 Gandhi demanded immediate dominion status for India; when it was not granted, he inaugurated his "Salt Rebellion," attacking the government monopoly on salt. Rioting broke out afresh and Gandhi and his associates in the campaign were imprisoned. The report of the Simon Commission outlined a new constitutional organization for British India on the basis of a federation of autonomous provinces with the exception of Burma, which was to develop separately towards self-government. A "round-table conference" of British and Indian leaders to consider the details of such a scheme met in London in 1930.
Finally, after a series of conversations between Gandhi and the Governor-general, an agreement was reached whereby the Indian National Congress would discontinue the passive resistance campaign and take part in another London round-table discussion in 1931. The failure of the conference signalled the reopening of the civil disobedience campaign in India. Early in 1932 Gandhi and many other leaders were imprisoned, and the Indian government took vigorous steps to repress demonstrations.
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