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APPENDIX I . FRANCIS BUCHANAN

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Peasants and Monks in British India
This chapter is in the book Peasants and Monks in British India
APPENDIX I Francis Buchanan The survey work of Francis Buchanan (later Francis Hamilton) between 1809 and 1813 is one of the most detailed sources for the social and cultural history of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh in the early nineteenth century. Inasmuch as portions of the present study, particularly chapter 1, rely on those surveys, and insofar as those surveys have been under-utilized as a source for religious and cultural history, it is appropriate to include a brief discussion of Buchanan's life and work. Buchanan has been dealt with in detail by historian Marika Vicziany, both with respect to the reliability of his numerical tabulations for economic history and as an example of the importance and evolution of the statistical method in imperial ideology. A surgeon by profession and a botanist by inclina-tion, Buchanan first came to India in 1794, having joined the East In-dia Company as a medical officer ten years earlier. Unhappy with tedious postings in rural Bengal, where the vegetation and wildlife failed to in-terest him, Buchanan sought through a variety of strategies to attain a more independent scientific position with the company. One such strat-egy involved becoming an expert on "native" society and culture. Buchanan soon developed a reputation as an irritant to the orientalist establishment, which was (in Vicziany's words) "inclined towards a Brah-manical interpretation of Indian society." By publishing an essay on Burmese Buddhism, Buchanan juxtaposed "the egalitarianism of Bud-dhism against the oppressive, hierarchical nature of Brahmanism. Buchanan's hatred of the entrenched Brahmin class in India, together with his critical reading of the religious scriptures, marked him out as a man ideally equipped to act as the Company's reporter on native affairs." J5i
© 1997 University of California Press, Berkeley

APPENDIX I Francis Buchanan The survey work of Francis Buchanan (later Francis Hamilton) between 1809 and 1813 is one of the most detailed sources for the social and cultural history of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh in the early nineteenth century. Inasmuch as portions of the present study, particularly chapter 1, rely on those surveys, and insofar as those surveys have been under-utilized as a source for religious and cultural history, it is appropriate to include a brief discussion of Buchanan's life and work. Buchanan has been dealt with in detail by historian Marika Vicziany, both with respect to the reliability of his numerical tabulations for economic history and as an example of the importance and evolution of the statistical method in imperial ideology. A surgeon by profession and a botanist by inclina-tion, Buchanan first came to India in 1794, having joined the East In-dia Company as a medical officer ten years earlier. Unhappy with tedious postings in rural Bengal, where the vegetation and wildlife failed to in-terest him, Buchanan sought through a variety of strategies to attain a more independent scientific position with the company. One such strat-egy involved becoming an expert on "native" society and culture. Buchanan soon developed a reputation as an irritant to the orientalist establishment, which was (in Vicziany's words) "inclined towards a Brah-manical interpretation of Indian society." By publishing an essay on Burmese Buddhism, Buchanan juxtaposed "the egalitarianism of Bud-dhism against the oppressive, hierarchical nature of Brahmanism. Buchanan's hatred of the entrenched Brahmin class in India, together with his critical reading of the religious scriptures, marked him out as a man ideally equipped to act as the Company's reporter on native affairs." J5i
© 1997 University of California Press, Berkeley

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. A Note on Translation and Transliteration vii
  4. Acknowledgments ix
  5. Introduction: Peasants, Monks, and Indian History 1
  6. CHAPTER I Sadhus and Shudras in North India, ca. 1700-1900 23
  7. CHAPTER 2 Ramanand and Ramanandis, ca. 1900-1940 48
  8. CHAPTER 3 Being Vaishnava, Becoming Kshatriya 81
  9. CHAPTER 4 Culture, Conflict, and Violence in Gangetic India 115
  10. Conclusions 139
  11. APPENDIX I . FRANCIS BUCHANAN 151
  12. APPENDIX Z . DHARNIDHARACHARYA AND JAMES TOD 155
  13. APPENDIX 3 . GOPA CHARITA 161
  14. NOTES 165
  15. BIBLIOGRAPHY 215
  16. INDEX 233
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https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520916302-009

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. A Note on Translation and Transliteration vii
  4. Acknowledgments ix
  5. Introduction: Peasants, Monks, and Indian History 1
  6. CHAPTER I Sadhus and Shudras in North India, ca. 1700-1900 23
  7. CHAPTER 2 Ramanand and Ramanandis, ca. 1900-1940 48
  8. CHAPTER 3 Being Vaishnava, Becoming Kshatriya 81
  9. CHAPTER 4 Culture, Conflict, and Violence in Gangetic India 115
  10. Conclusions 139
  11. APPENDIX I . FRANCIS BUCHANAN 151
  12. APPENDIX Z . DHARNIDHARACHARYA AND JAMES TOD 155
  13. APPENDIX 3 . GOPA CHARITA 161
  14. NOTES 165
  15. BIBLIOGRAPHY 215
  16. INDEX 233
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