#british raj

[janetsnakehole02]

This is probably my last post on the whole “Liz is dead” situation but I want to talk about my great grandmother, who is currently 92 years old. When I was growing up, hell even now, she’d tell me a lot about her own stories, mostly about how terrifying life was under both the British Raj and Nizam rule (her side of my family is from Hyderabad - Google the Nizams and the Razakars if you’ve never heard about them, that’s a whole other thing of its own).

Something I remember very clearly is her telling me about this one song she was forced to sing in her school - she went to a Christian convent school - and the song was about the greatness of “George Prabhu and Mary Rani,” aka George V, Elizabeth II’s grandfather. Recently my mom was able to film her singing this song so that we could listen to the lyrics, which are originally in Telugu, and roughly translated it means “we’re singing in honor of George and Mary, who are the rulers of India and have brought great fortune to India, and we see them as our father and mother.”

This is just a really difficult reminder that when we’re talking about why Elizabeth II and the royal family don’t deserve our respect or condolences, many of us have very personal stories that run deep through our families. “But she was a mother, a grandmother, a person” and I don’t care because she and her family were in the business of dehumanizing and erasing the identities of millions of other mothers, other grandmothers, other PEOPLE. Why else would my great grandmother be forced to sing a song in their honor? “But she wasn’t responsible for India” fair enough, her darling grandfather had a great time doing that, but how about you go and talk to Kenya? Or anyone in Africa? Or the Caribbean? I’m sick and tired of being told to “not speak ill of the dead” when REALLY I and millions of others should be getting an apology from anyone who wants to “praise her legacy” and talk about how “revolutionary” she was.

edit: i got the george’s mixed up before. george v is elizabeth ii’s grandfather. george vi is her father.

[nickysfacts]

Sari is basically like be swaddled, but in a feminine way with style and beauty!

🥻🇮🇳🥻

[dailyhistoryposts]

On This Day In History

March 29th, 1849: Punjab is annexed into the United Kingdom.

[historical-beauty-lily]

Devdas (2002) dir. Sanjay Leela Bhansali

[paletapessoal]

Copper and silver coffee and tea service, 19th Century, Raj period, Kashmir region.

[quasi-normalcy]

[the-ridiculous-blog]

Lloyd Owen as John Clive in Thugs of Hindustan

(No Rings Of Power in the next years, so it’s time for some other Lloyd content!)

[paulpingminho]

[francoanglo]

[neptune432]

I wanted to put this here on tumblr too. there were many famines during british rule since most of our land was being used to grow crops for the british raj. this meant most of the food and other resources kerala had were not being given to its people, and we suffered for it. it disturbs me to think that this history was so thoroughly wiped out that most people think kerala was one of the few places that was almost entirely unscathed during british rule.

also, I would not have looked into this history if someone had not pointed out a recent study claiming that the reason type-2 diabetes is so common in south and centra asia could be because of the famines during colonization. since my family has a history of type-2, it led to me finding out about this. I would never have known otherwise since most history sources don't mention kerala whenever they talk about famines in india.

[arthurdrakoni]

The Peshawar Lancers has some of the best world building I’ve seen in any alternate history novel. This is my review.

There are plenty of books I want to listen to, but they just aren't available in audio form. It frustrating, but it is what it is. Sometimes, however, my patience is rewarded in a big way. Case in point, The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling.

The Peshawar Lancers by SM Stirling is set in a world where Earth was struck by a series of asteroids in 1878. It wasn’t enough to wipe-out humanity, but it did screw up the climate. For example, it lead to five years of non-stop winter. As such, the various Europeans empires evacuated to their colonies in the southern hemisphere. For the British Empire this meant South Africa, Australia, and especially India. By 2020, the climate has stabilized, but the world is forever changed. The world is stuck in the Victorian era, but with some slight steampunk elements. More importantly, the British Empire, now called the Angrezi Raj, is home to an Anglo-Indian hybrid culture. The story follows a wide verity of characters, including the titular Peshawar Lancers, the Raj’s first line of defense on the frontier.

Interesting that Peshawar is where the Lancers are based. In ancient times, it was part of the Bactrian Kingdoms, a place of great culture exchange between Greeks and Indians. In fact, many of these Greek Indians eventually converted to Hinduism and Buddhism, eventually lead to a very unique culture and art style. I’m very tempted to thing that this was deliberate on Stirling’s part.

There are airships, Babbage Engines, and a couple steam-powered cars, but not really anything too fantastical in terms of technology. This is explains somewhat in-universe. Humanity had to focus on rebuilding after The Fall, so that stunted technological progress. Moreover, India doesn’t have access to a lot of mineral fuels, and there isn’t much need when wood is so plentiful. It is mentioned that steamships only recently surpassed wooden sailing ships in terms of capabilities.

Like I said, I utterly adore the world building that went into this novel. There’s even an index at the end containing certain details that didn’t make it into the novel proper. I loved the Anglo-Indian hybrid cultures of the Raj, France-outre-Mer in North Africa (which actually retained its French culture), andd the balls to walls insanity of how Russia is now an empire of Satanic cannibals.

The writing is also quite good. It reminds me very much of Victorian adventure novels by people such as H. Rider Haggard and Rudyard Kipling. I went on a kick of those in many younger days, so I was all onboard for that aspect.

Stirling has stated that he very much would like to write a sequel, but the sales weren’t good enough for his publisher to greenlight one. Oh well, I guess we can always hope that one day a sequel will come. Also, the man himself was nice enough to personally leave a comment on my blog saying that he appreciates my review.

The audiobook version is, of course, the whole reason we're having this review. It is narrated by Shaun Grindell, who perfectly captures the story. I'm very happy that this amazing work of alternate history is available in audiobook form at long last.

Have you read The Peshawar Lancers? If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog is here: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2018/09/book-review-peshawar-lancers-by-sm.html?m=1

[indizombie]

Pakistan inherited the blasphemy law from the British in the 19th Century. In the 1980s, Islamabad introduced stiffer penalties, including the death sentence for insulting Islam. Around 96% of Pakistan's population is Muslim. Other countries, including Iran, Brunei, and Mauritania also impose capital punishment for insulting religion. Religion-fuelled violence in Pakistan has risen since the country made blasphemy punishable by death, as it "bolsters violent behaviour," Iftekharul Bashar, a researcher at the think-tank RSIS who focuses on political and religious violence in South Asia, said. "The Pakistani society has experienced increased fragmentation, driven by widening economic disparities, leading to an upsurge in violence directed towards minority religious groups," Mr Bashar said. "The emergence of extremist and vigilante factions within Pakistan, some of which exhibit significant financial backing, also contributed to this trouble trend."

‘Pakistan: More than 100 arrested after churches burned’, BBC

[silalcarin]

So about how Britain has never actually apologized for this in the 104 years since this happened.

Elizabeth II called it a "moment of sadness" and a "difficult episode in our past" in 1997, but didn't actually apologize.

William and Catherine deliberately chose to literally not visit the memorial site in 2016.

David Cameron and Theresa May both called it a "shameful event" in 2013 and 2019, respectively, but didn't actually apologize.

Seriously, Brits, how fucking hard is it to apologize, to say "I'm sorry", for murdering 1500 Brown people — Brown men, women, elderly people, and children?

Oh, I know exactly why it's so damn hard for Brits to say "I'm sorry" regarding this tragedy — because the people who were murdered were Brown, so obviously to Brits, Brown people don't deserve an apology.

Stupid fucking colonizers. I don't even give a fuck if I offend any Brits on here; your country owes India and the people of India a goddamn sincere apology. Own up to it already.

[forkaround]

indian education sucks and ever single article I've read on the matter mentions 'British fucked it up' and yes they did. But it's been 75+ years. When will we figure out they are not the only ones to blame? now it seems like this easy answer to everything - they fucked up. But just like we don't excuse evil characters action because 'they had a bad childhood' we cannot excuse Indian systems just because british fucked it up.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“DISTINGUISHED GUESTS OF EMPEROR OF INDIA,” Montreal Star. August 5, 1930. Page 3. ---- When Their Majesties the King and Queen gave a garden party in the grounds of Buckingham Palace high-caste Indians were invited and are here seen arriving.