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Early Years: Lessons in Useful Knowledge
With the breach of the Treaty of 1769, the Company’s relationship with Hyder Ali had worsened and Thomas Rumbold, the Governor of Madras, resolved to send a secret mission to Mysore, with the missionary Schwartz, as envoy. He had been chosen for the job because he had a good knowledge of Hindustani, and being a missionary his movements would hardly be regarded with suspicion. It was about this time that Schwartz had had the opportunity to meet Tulaja Raja of Tanjore, then ‘in the prime of life, of good natural talents, and of mild and dignified manners; indolent and self-indulgent, like the generality of Hindoo princes, but not … tyrannical or oppressive’.1 Born in Sonnenburg in Germany, Schwartz was educated at the Lutheran Mission in Halle. He laboured in the Danish settlement of Tranquebar and Trichinopoly for twenty-eight years, from the time of his arrival in India in 1750 to settling down in Tanjore in 1778. Schwartz was appointed chaplain by the Company soon after he became a member of the SPCK, London, in 1767. In a letter to Francke (son of August Hermann Francke of the Halle Mission), Schwartz observed that the ‘poor king sits, as it were, in a prison. His officers deceive him and the whole country, and resist to the utmost the settlement of a missionary here’.2 The British had taken control over Tanjore’s affairs in early 1776, by dismissing the troops of the Nawab of Arcot from the place, and restoring Tulaja Raja as the ruler of the Maratha dynasty. In return for the favour, Lord Pigot, the Governor of Madras, demanded his pound of flesh in the form of a treaty with the Company, the acquiescence which left the kingdom of Tanjore incapacitated, and reduced to a British protectorate. By 1787, Tulaja had become weak, feeble and unable to pay the Company’s tribute; he was also heirless. To settle the succession problem, on 22 January 1787, he adopted a boy called ‘Surfogee Raja … the son of Sahaji, the son of Subhanu Raja, a near cousin by lineal descent … ten years old and proper in all respects’. The ailing Raja passed away soon after, but not before entrusting the boy–prince Serfoji to the care of Schwartz.
As per Governor General Lord Cornwallis’ minute of the 26 February 1787, Sir Archibald Campbell, the Governor of Madras, summoned twelve leading pundits of Tanjore for their respective opinions on the issue of succession. Consequently, it was decided that Serfoji be made heir to the throne, and Tulaja’s half-brother, Ameer Sing (alias Ramaswamy), be appointed regent, under whose protection the minor would begin life in the palace.3 As guardian, Schwartz was to have free access to the young Serfoji, but Ameer Sing did not make this easy. When the missionary eventually met Serfoji, he was saddened to learn that the young prince was profoundly unhappy, deprived not only of education, but also of fresh air, exercise and play: ‘I have no one to teach me; therefore I do not know one letter’, Serfoji complained.4 The pathetic state of affairs was reported to the Governor of Madras by Resident Alexander Macleod in August 1789: ‘Mr. Swartz and myself had an interview with the adopted son of the late Rajah … He told us, upon inquiry, that he had no masters given to him to instruct him, complained of his confinement, and wished to go to the house of his mother — so he calls the widow of the late Rajah.’5 On being asked for an explanation, Ameer Sing attributed the unfortunate state of affairs to Serfoji being of ‘an obstinate disposition and disinclined to learn’.6 Unconvinced, the Governor ordered Ameer Sing to allow the young heir to occupy a separate residence, adjacent to that of his adopted mother, the elder of Tulaja’s widows, ‘free from every restraint of his person’ and with a small guard of the Company’s sepoys to attend on him.
There has been much distorting of facts, with respect to Serfoji’s early years of education, in contemporary accounts. Scholars have incorrectly claimed that he ‘was educated according to the Halle curriculum as it was put into practice by Wilhelm Gericke in the Madras Civilian Orphan Asylum’ between the years 1793 and 1797;7 that ‘we may safely trace the King’s lifelong passion for experimental science to his immersion in the Halle missionary school curriculum during the five years of his education with Gericke and Schwartz in Madras’;8 that he along with the Tamil Christian poet Vedanayakam9 ‘were among the earliest Indians to receive systematic education in Western science as part of European schooling’ under German missionaries associated with the Danish– German Protestant Mission in Tranquebar.10 This chapter aims to dispel such myths, that have gained currency in the recent years, by bringing to light the exact nature of education the young Raja received in his formative years. Serfoji was privately educated, not just by the two SPCK missionaries Schwartz and Gericke, but also by a Maratha Brahman and at least two European instructors. Never at any point in time was he under the instruction of the Tranquebar missionaries (although he received advice on scientific and other matters from them), leave alone obtaining a ‘systematic education in Western science’ from them. The chief subjects of his study, during the three years spent in Madras, included English, Marathi, Tamil, Arithmetic, and Geography. On the recommendation of Schwartz, a Brahman Dadarow, who previously taught Marathi to ‘Mr Burke and Mr [William] Blackburne’, was appointed as Serfoji’s Marathi teacher in Tanjore — the first to be appointed in that capacity.
In early 1792, following Schwartz’s advice, Serfoji sent his newly appointed lawyer Gopal Venkaji to Madras to inform the Government of the harassments suffered at the hands of Ameer Sing.11 Venkaji carried a letter from Serfoji addressed to Governor William Medows:12 ‘My grandmother is particularly unwell … I see you as my parents … kindly ensure that our family is no longer harassed and ensure justice for us; please find out whether our sastrams and jati traditions have more rights to the post, then I will perform the last rites. Amarsingh has no right and cannot perform the last rites.’13 Serfoji’s letter was accompanied by Dhraupadamba Bai’s (one of Tulaja Raja’s widows) note, in which she wrote: ‘I have written Sriram 100,000 times that Saheb [Governor Medows] will return safely. This will have effect, your efforts will bear fruit. That is what a sannyasi has told us.’14 Venkaji reported to Serfoji from Madras that he had visited the Fort St George and the residences of their European friends in the Government to discuss the issue. General Medows, he observed, was already burdened by official duties and so could hardly be expected to listen to their problems. He also insisted that all communications be kept confidential, and warned them from the use of the Sivaganga post belonging to Ameer Sing, recommending instead the Company’s postal service.15 In a second letter, the lawyer informed Dadarow’s son, Dattajee Appa, that a petition in English against Ameer Sing’s betrayal had been laid before Andrew Ross, who not only promised to recommend the same to General Medows and Lord Cornwallis but also suitably introduce him to them. Enclosed with the petition was a work on Dharmasastra and the genealogy of the Maratha dynasty, which Ross had himself studied in great detail.16 As for Cornwallis, he was at the time busy with the affairs of Tipu Sultan’s sons, Abdul Khaliq and Muiz-ud-din, taken hostage by the Government.17 Venkaji believed that matters could be hastened if only Serfoji represented his case in person, but to do this it was necessary for him to be able to write and speak in English.18
Confidential letters from Madras reported on the intense negotiations that were on to recommend Serfoji’s case to the Government,19 and the efforts being taken to prepare an English draft of Serfoji’s petition, with the aid of European friends.20 None of this, however, really proved effective. Tanjore’s financial crisis was a convenient ground for the Company to intervene in its internal affairs. The 25,000 pagodas per annum, which the Government had allocated to Serfoji and Tulaja’s widows, were to be paid into the Company’s account by Ameer Sing. This proved to be a major drain on the Tanjore treasury, resulting in indebtedness to the Company. The treaty of 1787 was, thus, revoked by the Madras Government and a new treaty settled with Tanjore. Despite the intense political pressure, Ameer Sing refused to yield anything and the British were forced to pose the young and inexperienced Serfoji, as his rival. This development brought upon further misery on the young prince. A frustrated and unhappy Serfoji complained to Schwartz: ‘I will not again explain the various vexations which I have hitherto suffered from Ameer Sing Maharaja because you know them … He continues to torment us. My teachers he prevents from coming to me … My servants he confines; so that hardly any one will stay with me.’21 Immediately after, on grounds of personal security, Serfoji was ordered to be removed and sent to Madras with Tulaja’s widows and accommodated at a garden-house on the Choultry Plain, a fashionable quarter near Fort St George, containing the villages of Egmore, Nungambakkam, Pudupakkam, Royapetta and Teynampet.22 Every gentleman of repute owned a house on the Plain;23 in 1780, there were about 600 garden-houses within a radius of six or seven miles.24 Most were two stories high with stately pillars and large sheltered corridors, keeping it cool and pleasant. The top floors were in general used as apartments, and the ground floor for the kitchen and cellars. Every gentleman kept a band of servants, adding greatly to household expenses.25 When Dubash Pachaiyappa Mudali26 was asked by Venkaji about the cost of living in the city, the reply was that no less than 60,000 varahan was necessary for rehabilitating the young heir in Madras.27
Social Life in Madras
The young prince arrived in Madras on 10 January 1793, accompanied by Schwartz, Dadarow, his father Dattaje...
