Colonialism, Orientalism and the Dravidian Languages

K. Venkateswarlu

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781000365771
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

The Dravidian language family is marked historically by a protracted struggle between Tamil and its aggressively assertive supremacy, and the consequent peripheralizing of other majoritarian languages of the region. This book looks at the development of Telugu — with its unique grammatical and lexical tradition as instrumental in the construction of the concept of the Dravidian language family in 1816, and in the development of comparative linguistics since that time.

The author's arguments locate Telugu in multiple matrices: of historical and theoretical Orientalism; the colonial state's interest in native languages; the politics of state patronage; questions of cultural assimilation and divergence; the overbearing presence of Tamil and its literary traditions; and the related inter- and intra-civilizational dialogues. The book thus grapples with the tortured emergence of Telugu — a product of the dynamics of Andhra society, economy, polity and culture influenced and driven by Muslim, Hindu and Western influence.

With its richly textured narrative, this book will be of interest to those in the fields of history, sociology, socio-linguistics, colonial studies, and literature, apart from the generally interested reader.

1
The Problem

The central theme of this book is the historical connection and role of the study of Telugu language and its grammatical tradition in the process of formulation of the concept of the Dravidian language family under the auspices of the College of Fort St George (Madras) in the second decade of the nineteenth century, and in the development of comparative linguistics. As a student of political and administrative theory, I am interested in the exploration of Indian experience in the reform of civil service and conduct of written examinations in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and its relevance for institutionalization of the civil service examinations. It is a valuable legacy, though not well known, of British India to the modern world (O’Malley 1931; Miśra 1954: 378). It is a significant topic but not related to my study. As it launched me on this study, a bare outline of it is noted.

Several factors, ideas and interests pushed forward the project of reform of administration in British India in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The patronage dispensed by the Directors of the East India Company, and corruption and greed of the Company’s servants and officers (including Indians) in India were notorious features of the early period of colonial rule (Ruthnaswamy 1935: 1–21). Low salaries and rights of private trade of the Company’s servants institutionalized corruption in the administration. The suicide of Robert Clive (1774) and the proceedings of the impeachment of Warren Hastings were only indicators of the decay, corruption and misrule of the period. The people of India as well as the people and polity of England bore the brunt and burden of the corrupt and inefficient order. The British opinion was deeply concerned about the ‘fatal consequences’ for the British government that arose from the ill-gotten wealth of the officers and merchants of the East India Company. It was said that in 1770, ‘the importers of foreign gold have forced their way into the Parliament by such a torrent of private corruption as no private hereditary fortune can resist’ (O’Malley 1941: 708). The early decades of British rule in India witnessed a near total collapse of authority and public order in the territories acquired by the Company. The process of reincarnation of the Company from a trading enterprise to a territorial power was imprinted by anarchy, confusion, arbitrary exercise of authority by the selfish and corrupt officers, and the attendant agony and suffering of the people. Therefore, public opinion mounted in England to set right the disorder in India so as to keep up the fair image of the British, and save ‘the second British Empire’ in the East (the first Empire was lost in 1776 in North America). P. J. Marshall’s study of the making and unmaking of empires during the period 1750–83 in India and America, respectively, is a stimulating and instructive account (2005). Furthermore, the British rule in India at the end of eighteenth century assumed a moral tone and purpose of civilizing the Indian people and society.

The parliamentary inquiry and subsequent control and reform of Indian administration through the Pitt’s India Act (1784) and the Charter Acts (1793, 1813, 1833, and 1853) were major developments, which led to the slow initiation of Indian civil service examinations in 1829 for those candidates who did not attend Haileybury College (established in 1806 at Hertford Castle and shifted to Haileybury in 1809, for training the East India Company’s civil servants). A limited scheme of competitive public examinations for selection of the best candidate out of the four candidates nominated by the Directors of the Company to each vacancy at Haileybury College was a chief provision of the Charter Act of 1833. Even though it was suspended after two years, this provision was the basis for genesis of the public competitive civil service examinations (Finer 1937: 38). Charles Trevelyan (brother-in-law of Lord T. B. Macaulay, Member, Governor-General’s Council in India) joined Haileybury College in 1820, and held important positions in India from 1826–38. Trevelyan proposed in 1835 that annual public competitive examinations for recruitment of civil servants should be held in important towns of the Presidencies of Bengal and Agra. A Committee headed by Lord Macaulay was appointed in July 1854 to report on the recruitment of the Indian Civil Service, and its report was submitted in November 1854. The recruitment of the Indian Civil Service based on the highest standards of public competitive examination was adapted in 1855. Lord Macaulay and Charles Trevelyan were ‘… the two men most responsible for the open competition …’ civil service recruitment in India (Cohn 1990: 544).

Gladstone, Prime Minister of England, appointed a Committee comprising of Charles Trevelyan and Stafford Northcote (son of the only daughter of Thomas Cockburn of the East India Company’s service in India) in 1853 to inquire and suggest the best method to organize Permanent Civil Service in England. Lord Macaulay’s speech, delivered in the House of Commons on 25 June 1853, in support of the adaption of Indian Civil Service Examinations (Charter Act of 1853) was a source of seminal ideas and arguments that commended the idea of public competitive civil service examinations. Charles Grant (another India hand) and Charles Wood (well acquainted with Indian administration and who appointed Lord Macaulay to head the Committee on Indian Civil Service in 1854) supported the idea of civil service examinations. The report of Trevelyan and Northcote (Organisation of Permanent Civil Service) was submitted in November 1853, and formed the basis for civil service examinations in England. A Civil Service Commission was constituted in 1855 to recruit junior officers of the British administration, and its jurisdiction was extended to the recruitment of higher level officers in 1870. Thus, it is clear that India hands and Indian experience in administration, and civil service reforms and examinations exercised determinate influence on the organization of Permanent Civil Service in England (1855). The British Civil Service was a pioneering example that initiated the process of transformation of the nature and character of the State in the modern world.

The written examination system is a universal mode and key element for selection in the civil services. Therefore, I looked at the evolution of the system of written examinations. Ancient and medieval societies (except China) were not acquainted with the method and practice of written examinations. Oral examination — questions and answers, interrogation, disputation, defence of propositions or theses and public lectures — were conducted by learned bodies and universities all over the world till the end of the seventeenth century. Practical examinations in medicine and preliminary experiments in the conduct of written examinations were introduced in the eighteenth century in some European and British universities. It is difficult to draw general observations on the mode and status of written examinations in the eighteenth century because of the varied practices followed in different universities. The system of written examinations gradually evolved and developed in the nineteenth century. The Indian experience is a valuable input in this process.

Written examinations were conducted by the government of Madras Presidency from 1798 for junior civil servants to test their proficiency in the study of Indian languages for the award of prizes of one thousand star pagodas to each candidate. The College of Fort William (1800) in Calcutta, the East India College (1806) at Hertford Castle in England and the College of Fort St George (1812) in Madras were established to give instruction and training in Indian languages (Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and vernacular languages), native laws and other useful subjects to the young men of England for the Company’s service in India. Examinations were regularly conducted in the College of Fort William from 1801 onwards. Written tests and examinations gradually took shape in these colleges to test the linguistic proficiency and knowledge in other subjects of the young men, and qualify and rank them for service in Indian administration.

In the course of the pursuit of development of written examinations in these colleges, I have read some materials on the programme of teaching of Telugu language at the College of Fort St George, Madras (Brown 1817, 1818; Campbell 1816; Ellis 1816; Pattābhirāma Śāstry 1814–15; Venkayya 1806). After piecing together evidence and arguments from several sources, the idea that Telugu language was the site for the genesis of the concept of Dravidian language family in the second decade of the nineteenth century gradually dawned. I have noted that the historical and theoretical significance of such a fundamental concept was not properly analysed in the study of Telugu and Dravidian linguistics. Hence, I ventured on the writing of this book with much reluctance and skepticism. I narrated these facts to explain how and why I started writing this book, but not to justify the venture.

The joint study of Telugu language and its grammatical tradition by the British and native scholars at the College of Fort St George, Madras in the second decade of the nineteenth century culminated in the formulation and publication of the concept of the Dravidian language family (1816). N. Venkata Rāo was the first scholar who noted in 1953 the meaning and significance of the project of joint study of British and native scholars and construction of the concept of Dravidian languages. He republished the Dissertation on Telugu language by Francis Whyte Ellis (1953–54: Telugu Section, 1–8, and 1954–55: Telugu Section, 1–35, hereafter cited as Dissertation). He wrote a learned and well-informed essay on the Dissertation and other works of Ellis (1953–54: Telugu Section, 1–6, separate pagination from the Dissertation of Ellis). His publications (1957: Telugu Section, 16–25, and 1957–58: Telugu Section, 1–14) on the related aspects of the theme are valuable. He observed that the Dissertation of Ellis ‘… marks the emergence of the theory of independent existence of Dravidian languages and their mutual relationships’ (1957: Telugu Section, 16), and Ellis ‘… may be rightly termed as the father of Dravidian philology in general and Telugu in particular …’ (1953–54: Telugu Section, Note 1).

T. Burrow and M. B. Emeneau have noted in the Preface to their magnum opus, A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary: ‘The Dravidian family of languages was recognized at least as early as 1816 by Francis W. Ellis, in his “Note to the Introduction” of Alexander D. Campbell’s A Grammar of the Teloogoo Language (the Note has separate pagination as pp.1–32)’ (1961: V). They have observed in the Preface to the second edition of the Dictionary (1984: VII.cv.i) that the ‘Note’ of Ellis ‘… was brought to the attention of modern scholars by N. Venkata Rāo in Annals of Oriental Research, University of Madras, 12.1–35 (1954–55)’. The citation did not refer to the first part Ellis’s ‘Note’ or Dissertation (Venkata Rāo 1953–54: Telugu Section, 1–8).

Venkata Rāo also established and confirmed the authorship of Āndhra Dhātupāt́a, also known as Āndhra Dhātumāla, by Vēdam Pattābhirāma Śāstry, Head Sanskrit and Telugu Master at the College of Fort St George (1812–20) and underlined its value for Telugu philology and for the formulation of the concept of Dravidian languages. It is a pioneering work of fundamental value on the roots of Telugu words and verbal forms. Paravastu Chinnaya Sūri (1802–60), the first Headmaster of Telugu, University of Madras and a grammarian of repute, recognized the value of Āndhra Dhātumāla, wrote in his own handwriting a copy and kept it in his personal library. While writing a copy of Āndhra Dhātumāla, Sūri omitted the roots of Telugu words which had originated in colloquial usage and were used in literary works. The Āndhra Sāhitya Parishat (Andhra Literary Academy), Kakinada located the copy of the manuscript text of Āndhra Dhātumāla copied by Sūri, and erroneously designating Sūri the author, published it (1930) in the series of its publications (No. 23). It is significant to note that the publishers explicitly stated that clear evidence was not available to conclusively prove the authorship of Sūri. Karri Śāmbamūrti Śāstry, who wrote an Introduction, pointed out several points of conflict or disagreement between the grammatical propositions held and advocated by Sūri and the linguistic theories and practices found in Āndhra Dhātumāla. He felt that the internal evidence of Āndhra Dhātumāla did not lend support to the theory of authorship of Sūri (1930: 2–6). Furthermore, the author’s name was not found in the manuscript text copied by Sūri. Therefore, many scholars did not subscribe to the theory of Sūri’s authorship of Āndhra Dhātumāla. Venkata Rāo (1951: 5–13) pointed out the blunder committed by the Āndhra Sāhitya Parishat, and helped in the confirmation and restoration of the authorship of Āndhra Dhātumāla by Pattābhirāma Śāstry (originally published in Trilinga Patrika, 22 May 1950).

Āndhra Dīpika, a two-volume dictionary of Telugu language, was compiled by Māmidi Venkayya in 1806. It is a work of profound scholarship and learning. It is the first dictionary which listed words in alphabetical order of Telugu language. Venkayya’s Preface to Āndhra Dīpika is a brief, stimulating account of the history of Telugu language and grammar, which is a basic document for the construction of the concept of Dravidian languages. The historical role and linguistic value of Āndhra Dīpika in the formulation of the concept of Dravidian languages had been noted and highlighted by Venkata Rāo (1957: Telugu Section, 22–25). Thus, important research materials and the institutional and historical scenario relating to the connection of Telugu language with the birth of the Dravidian language family were brought to the notice of scholars and the public by Venkata Rāo.

The republication of Ellis’s Dissertation on Telugu language with focus on its significance for Dravidian and Telugu linguistics may be considered as a milestone on the roadmap of the progress of knowledge in the field. Therefore, it will prove to be a rewarding exercise to review the studies relating to Dravidian and Telugu linguistics in the period preceding and after Rāo brought Ellis’s Dissertation to the notice of scholars. Since my interest is in Telugu language, research materials relating to the studies of Telugu linguistics are reported.

H. H. Wilson, in his Introduction to the collection of manuscripts of Colin Mackenzie, noted and endorsed the opinion of Ellis and Campbell that Telugu language along with Tamil and Kannada languages had origins in a common source (other than Sanskrit). He appreciated the historical significance of Ellis’s Dissertation on Telugu language (1828: 17–25).

Bishop Robert Caldwell’s classic A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian family of languages was published in 1856. Caldwell wrote in the Preface to the first edition of his celebrated book:

‘The First to break ground in the field was Mr. Ellis, a Madras Civilian, who was profoundly versed in the Tamil language and literature, and whose interesting but very brief comparison, not of the grammatical forms, but only some of the vocables of the three Dravidian dialects, is contained in his introduction to Campbell’s Telugu Grammar’ (1856: IV).

This is a brief but inadequate and less than fair acknowledgement to the contribution of Ellis. The second edition (1875) issued by Caldwell, and the third edition (1913) as well as the revised edition (1961) and currently available print of the book dropped the Preface to the first edition, and do not have any reference to the contribution of Ellis and Campbell to the formulation of the concept of the Dravidian language family.

A. C. Burnell published Ellis’s ‘Dissertation on the Malayalam Language’ with editorial notes in The Indian antiquary (1878). He appreciated the significance and value of the two dissertations on Telugu and Malayalam languages by Ellis in a note as follows.

The above Dissertation is of remarkable historical interest, for (taken with the essay on Telugu) it proves that before 1816 Mr. Ellis had already foreseen the possibility of comparative philology, not only as regards the so called Aryan tongues, but also in respect of the Dravidian. Now it was not till 1816 (so Burnet says, and I must take his assertion for I cannot refer to the original) that Bopp published his Conjugations System, which was the beginning of comparative philology in Europe. Ellis could (considering the means of intercourse available in those days) hardly have seen or heard of this work at all, for he died early in 1819. He must then, in future, be considered one of the originators of one of the most remarkable advances in science in this century. His unfortunate end — he was poisoned by accident — prevented his doing much, for he was only forty when he died, but he cannot be robbed of his due fame by the success of others more lucky than he was (Ellis 1878).

C. Nārāyan. a Rāo, a reputed scholar and author of the well-known History of Āndhra Language (1937), was simply unaware of the contributions of Campbell and Ellis to Telugu linguistics and Dravidian philology. He noted: ‘This problem of the relationship of the South Indian languages and their ultimate affiliation was for the first time tackled by Dr. Caldwell’ (1929: 69).

Achyuta C. Mēnon gave an excellent analysis of the crucial role performed by the College of Fort St George in shaping the concept of Dravidian languages. He ably reviewed and reported the plan for the study and advancement of South Indian languages under the auspices of the College (1939: 393–406) and provided a fair and detailed account of the groundwork for the study and promotion of Telugu language at the College (ibid.: 399–401).

C. S. Śrīnivāsāchāri presented a good account of the promotion of studies in Telugu language and literature by the Madras Government under the Company rule (1941: 8–18). Naturally, he focused on the role of the College of Fort St George as a centre for the advancement of study of Telugu language. The Board of Superintendence of the College recommended the purchase of copyright of Āndhra Dīpika by the government. The College offered and supervised a programme of instruction in native laws for munshis and other natives, who were to be appointed law officers and pleaders in the provincial government after successful completion of the course. He noted: ‘It was Campbell that first pointed the radical and intimate connection that exists between Telugu and other South Indian languages’ (ibid.: 14).

K. Vīrabhadra Rāo acknowledged that valuable contributions were made by Campbell and Ellis to the theory of independent origin of Telugu language, and that it was not a descendant of Sanskrit language. Campbell’s account of the distinctive features of Telugu grammar as well as methods of study followed in Ellis’s Dissertation and its conclusions were carefully analysed. He had clearly identified the critical elements in the study of Telugu language at the College. William Brown’s opinion that Sanskrit was not the source of birth for Telugu language had been cited (Vīrabhadr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface and Acknowledgements
• 1. The Problem
• 2. Historical Context and Institutional Matrix
• 3. The Dravidian Language Family
• 4. Telugu Grammatical Tradition
• 5. Telugu Language — Site for Formulation of Dravidian Language Family
• 6. Orientalism
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index