Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services
Boydell & Brewer
Book
Licensed
Unlicensed
Requires Authentication
The East India Company and Religion, 1698-1858
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2012
About this book
An overview of the East India Company's policy towards religion throughout its period of rule in India.
This wide-ranging book charts how the East India Company grappled with religious issues in its multi-faith empire, putting them into the context of pressures exerted both in Britain and on the subcontinent, from the Company's early mercantile beginnings to the bloody end of its rule in 1858. Religion was at the heart of the East India Company's relationship with India, but the course of its religious policy has rarely been examined in any systematic way.
The free exercise of religion, the policy the Company adopted in its early days in order to safeguard the security of its possessions, was challenged by Evangelicals in the late eighteenth century. They demanded that the Company should grant free access to Christians of all Protestant denominations and an end to 'barbaric' Indian religious practices. This gave rise to an unprecedented petitioning movement in 1813, comparable in strength to that for theabolition of the slave trade the following year. It was an important milestone in British domestic politics. The final years of the Company's rule were dominated by its attempts to withstand Evangelical demands in the face of growing hostility from Indians. In the end it pleased no one, and its rule came to a gory and ignominious end.
In this compelling account, Penny Carson examines the twists and turns of the East India Company's policy on religious issues. The story of how the Company dealt with the fact that it was a Christian Company, trying to be equitable to the different faiths it found in India, has resonances for Britain today as it attempts to accommodate the religions of all its peoples within the Christian heritage and structure of the state.
Penelope Carson is an independent scholar with a doctorate from King's College, London.
This wide-ranging book charts how the East India Company grappled with religious issues in its multi-faith empire, putting them into the context of pressures exerted both in Britain and on the subcontinent, from the Company's early mercantile beginnings to the bloody end of its rule in 1858. Religion was at the heart of the East India Company's relationship with India, but the course of its religious policy has rarely been examined in any systematic way.
The free exercise of religion, the policy the Company adopted in its early days in order to safeguard the security of its possessions, was challenged by Evangelicals in the late eighteenth century. They demanded that the Company should grant free access to Christians of all Protestant denominations and an end to 'barbaric' Indian religious practices. This gave rise to an unprecedented petitioning movement in 1813, comparable in strength to that for theabolition of the slave trade the following year. It was an important milestone in British domestic politics. The final years of the Company's rule were dominated by its attempts to withstand Evangelical demands in the face of growing hostility from Indians. In the end it pleased no one, and its rule came to a gory and ignominious end.
In this compelling account, Penny Carson examines the twists and turns of the East India Company's policy on religious issues. The story of how the Company dealt with the fact that it was a Christian Company, trying to be equitable to the different faiths it found in India, has resonances for Britain today as it attempts to accommodate the religions of all its peoples within the Christian heritage and structure of the state.
Penelope Carson is an independent scholar with a doctorate from King's College, London.
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
i -
Download PDFPublicly Available
CONTENTS
v -
Download PDFPublicly Available
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
vii -
Download PDFPublicly Available
NOTE ON HINDUISM
ix -
Download PDFPublicly Available
ABBREVIATIONS
x -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Map of India
xii -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
INTRODUCTION
1 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
One A CHRISTIAN COMPANY ?
7 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Two THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, BRITA IN AND INDIA: 1770–1790
18 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Three THE 1790s: A TIME OF CRISIS
34 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Four THE PILLAR OF FIRE MOVES FORWARD: THE ADVENT OF BRITISH MISSIONAR IES 1793–1806
52 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Five THE WISDOM OF THE SERPENT AND THE INNOCENCE OF THE DOVE: THE VELLORE MUTINY AND THE PAMPHLET WAR 1806–1808
70 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Six TRO UBLED YEARS 1807–1812
90 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Seven BATTLE LINES DRAWN: MISSIONS, DISSENT AND THE ESTA BLISHMENT
110 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Eight THE 1813 RENEWAL OF THE COMPANY’S CHARTER : THE RELIGIOUS PUBLIC TAKES ON THE COMPANY
130 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Nine A TURBULENT FRONT IER: THE COMPANY AND RELIGION 1814–1828
151 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Ten A NEW DA WN? THE ERA OF LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK 1828–1835
183 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Eleven BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARIBDIS 1836–1858
206 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
CONCLUSION AND EPILO GUE: STRANGERS IN THE LAND
237 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Appendix 1 PRESIDENTS OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL
245 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Appendix 2 GOVERNORS-GENERAL 1786–1858
246 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Appendix 3 AIDE MEMOIRE TO NAMES
248 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Appendix 4 ‘THE PIOUS CLAUSE’: EAST INDIA COMPANY CHARTER 53 G.III, c.155
250 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
BIBLIOGRAPHY
251 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
INDEX
261
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
February 21, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9781782040279
Original publisher:
Boydell Press
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781782040279
Keywords for this book
East India Company; Religion; Colonial Rule; Evangelicals; Christian Missions; Indian Religious Practices; Corruption; Bureaucracy; British Domestic Politics
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
