The Punjab Exhibition of 1881 and Politics of the British Raj

Author:

Kapoor Punita1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. 1Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India .

Abstract

In 1849, Punjab was annexed by the English East India Company. This paper deals with the Punjab Exhibition of 1881, where along with textiles, arts and other local handicrafts of India were put on display. Claiming to revive the indigenous Indian arts, crafts and textiles, the exhibition represents the politics of selected exhibits that catered to the taste1 and choice of the British. The exhibition helps in understanding the objective and importance of conducting imperial exhibitions, as exhibitions were also redefining the European homes. A detailed analysis of the exhibition foregrounds how colonial rule redefined the idea and representation of indigenous handicrafts and art. The indigenous handicraft was also immensely being guided by the European market. Thus, the paper focuses on the aspects and strategy adopted by the British at promoting and preserving Indian art and textile. Moreover, efforts at preservation of the arts got institutionalised in the form of art schools. These were set up for the purpose of promoting and building taste for Indian traditional art in the British markets. The paper attempts to understand how the British shaped the notion of heritage and cultural difference between the coloniser and colonised and the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ through the exhibition. By analyzing the Punjab Exhibition 1881, the paper aims to deal with some pertinent issues such as strategic organisation and representation of the exhibits, as well as the legacy of the exhibition during colonial rule. The paper argues that though the British took to organising exhibitions to promote and preserve Indian art and textile, but in reality, it was a disguise aimed at establishing imperial supremacy over the colonised and maintain a hierarchical relationship of aesthetic and traditional culture between the ruler and the ruled.

Publisher

Enviro Research Publishers

Subject

General Medicine

Reference42 articles.

1. 1. The idea of taste is uniform throughout the paper. By promoting traditional Indian products excelling in craftsmanship, the British catered to the taste of British gentry and European markets and aimed to raise the Indian public taste by standardizing it to their taste.

2. 2. Exhibition of Indian Art held at the Government House, New Delhi, November 6-December 31, 1948, quoted by Guha-Thakurta, T., Monuments, Objects and Histories: Institutions of Art in Colonial and Post-Colonial India, Columbia University Press, New York, 2004, p. 175, (emphasis mine).

3. 3. The economic plight of the handicraft gave origin to the economic ideas of Indian leadership which was led by Dadabhai Naroji who was soon to be followed by brilliant economic ideas of prominent individuals like Gokhale, M.G. Ranade, G.V. Joshi, R.C. Dutt, G.S. Iyer. Realizing the nature of British policies of development of Indian economy, the nationalists demanded fundamental changes in existing economic relation between India and Britain which would cut at the very roots of colonialism. One such demand of Indian leadership was the state assistance of indigenous industry without promotion of state policy of industrial enterprise. However, the most accepted and advocated method to encourage the traditional Indian industries and check growing poverty of India was the idea of swadeshi. Swadeshi movement stood for encouragement for use of Indian made manufactures while rejecting/boycotting foreign goods. As the tide of swadeshi rose many people advocated and practised swadeshi so as to save the native artisans and handicraftsmen from ruin at hands of foreign goods.

4. 4. For example, traditional craft carried out by use of hands and not machine such as ornament in woodcarving, weaving, embroidery, etc.\

5. 5. Evelyn, Stuart M., East Indian Art Handicraft, Fine Arts Journal, 35(6), 1917, p. 406.

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