Shahriar 1

Background of the novel: Indian history in perspective

During the nineteenth century, British influence in India had been extended over the greater part of the subcontinent so that by the beginning if this century most of the country was either directly under British control or under British protection; only Nepal and the tiny State Bhotan, both in the north east, were independent. Forsters first journey to India in 1912 was primarily to visit his friend and ex-pupil, Syed Ross Masood, then working as a barrister in Patna, a town situated in the Bangal plains to the north and west of Calcutta; adjoining Patna was the Anglo-Indian town of Bankipore, geographically the original of the Chandarpore of his novel A Passage to India. He moved on from British India to the native states of Chhatarpur and Dewas Senior which served jointly as his models for Mau. Then, before returning home, he visited the Barabar Caves, the Marabar of the novels central section. He had thus on his first visit collected together the principal physical features of the country which he was to use in A Passage to India. A novelist who constantly made use of his own experience in his work, he had also, consciously or subconsciously, absorbed much of the other material he was to use later and had met many of the characters who in one way or another, were to contribute to his plot. Though he began the novel, however, it did not progress. The war intervened before Forsters second journey to India in 1921. he had spent just a week in Dewas on his previous visit, during which time he had developed a great liking for the young Rajah. Now he was invited back, ostensibly to act as secretary to the ruler who had meanwhile been elevated to the rank of Maharajh. Forsters duties were, in fact, very haphazard and uncertain and he found the aspect of his stay rather disturbing, though he was happy at the friendship which grew between him and the Maharajh. The highlight of his visit was the festival of Gokul Ashtami, the celebration

Shahriar 2 which culminates in the birth of Krishna. He gives a factual account of this festival in The Hill of Devi; it is dramatically reproduced in the last section of A Passage to India and was, perhaps for Forster the final link in the chain of creation. When he returned to England he was at last able to write his Indian novel which had been so long delayed. Yet it was not the same novel which he had embarked on almost ten years before; when I began the book I thought of it as a little bridge of sympathy between the East and West, but this conception has had to go, my sense of truth forbids anything so comfortable, (Furbank, 106) he wrote to Masood on 27 September 1922 So the novel stands truthful, but perhaps uncomfortable. Forster wrote the novel on Indian background to reflect the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, especially how the colonizer treated Indian people and keep them away to them. He took in from Indian history and incorporated the incident to describe the total situation of India. To write the novel he observed Indian politics, the peoples interest and clash between themselves. Because at that time people were not unite clash between Hindus and Muslims were existed. Even, for freedom the Indian people had clash against British administration as they cannot accept British as their ruler. From 1857 the people started to protest against British. The main occurrences of that time were happened between 1857 to 1922 which were very much associated with Fosters A Passage to India. The year 1857 witnessed armed revolts in parts of central and northern India, as a result of which effective British rule nearly collapsed in these regions until the spring of 1858, when order was restored again by the advancing imperial forces. The revolt witnessed an extraordinary amount of violence unleashed on both sides. As British rule had meticulously constructed a monopoly of violence (ekhara 169), it was retorted

Shahriar 3 with an equal amount of counter-violence of their subjects. If the British counterinsurgency measures included public execution of the rebels, blowing them off from cannons and indiscriminately burning native villages, the revels also massacred white civilians women and children included without mercy. The Kanpur massacre of 27 June 1857 was in this sense an act of transgression in being the indigenous violence of the colonized breaking that monopoly of violence of the colonizers. The revolt ended the rule of the East India Company, as after its pacification in 1858 by an act of parliament the Indian empire was taken over by the British Crown. The revolt, for long mistaken to be a mere mutiny of the Indian sepoys in the Bengal army, was indeed joined by an aggrieved rural society of north India. Its causes, therefore, need to be searched for not only in the disaffection of the army, but in a long drawn process of fundamental social and economic change that upset the peasant communities during the first century of the Companys rule. The Government of India Act, 1858 introduced the post of Viceroy for India and the Viscount Canning became the first Viceroy of India. The Queen had the authority to appoint the Viceroy. The Government of India Act, 1858 recognised the adoption of sons by the Princes of India. The Act had the provision for the creation of the Indian Civil Service under the control of the Secretary of State in England. The Indian Civil Service was one of the important machineries set up by this Act, which still prevails in India. Satyendranath Tagore, the sibling of Rabindranath Tagore, was the first Indian to the clear this examination and he went on to become a Judge. The Revolt of 1857 was a lesson for England, that the erstwhile weak governance structure would not do; hence, the Government of India Act, 1858 made a unitary and highly centralised administrative structure, which had a set mechanism for revenue collection.The Government of India Act, 1858 also declared that all the property of the East India Company now vested in

Shahriar 4 the British crown. The army was reorganised and more English soldiers were appointed to the crucial posts in the army. Ultimately, this Act helped India to come directly under the British Parliament, which helped to bring about several administrative and political changes. It was a beginning of Indian recognition by the English. Although the British succeeded in suppressing the 1857 Revolt, they could not stop the growth of political awareness in India. The Indian National Congress was founded in December 1885. It was the visible embodiment of the national awakening in the country. Its founder was an Englishman, Allan Octavian Hume, a retired member of the Indian Civil Service. The Indian leaders, who cooperated with Hume in launching the Congress, were patriots of high character. The first President of the Congress was W.C. Bannerjee. The aims of the Congress were: promotion of friendship and cooperation amongst the nationalist political workers from the different parts of the country; the eradication of racial, creed or provincial prejudices and promotion of national unity; formulation of popular demands and their presentation before the Government; and, most important of all, the training and organisation of public opinion in the country. On December 30, 1898, Lord Curzon took over as the new Viceroy of India. The partition of Bengal came into effect on October 16, 1905, through a Royal Proclamation, reducing the old province of Bengal in size by creating a new province of East Bengal, which later on became East Pakistan and present day Bangladesh. The government explained that it was done to stimulate growth of underdeveloped eastern region of the Bengal. But, actually, the main objective was to 'Divide and Rule' the most advanced region of the country at that time.

Shahriar 5 In 1906, All India Muslim League was set up under the leadership of Aga Khan, Nawab Salimullah of Dacca and Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk. The League supported the partition of Bengal, opposed the Swadeshi Movement, and demanded special safegurds for its community and a separate electorates of Muslims. This led to communal differences between Hindus and Muslims. Morley-Minto Reforms were introduced in 1909 during the period when Lord Minto was the GovernorGeneral of India. The reforms envisaged a separate electorate for Muslims besides other constitutional measures. The government thereby sought to create a rift within the Congress on the one hand by winning the support of the moderates, and on the other, to win favour of Muslims against Bindus. To achieve the latter objective, the reforms introduced the system of separate electorates under which Muslims could only vote for Muslim candidates. This was done to encourage the notion that the political, economic and cultural interests of Hindus and Muslims were separate and not common. Indian political leaders were however dissatisfied by these reforms. An important step forward in achieving Hindu-Muslim unity was the Lucknow Pact 1916. Anti British feelings were generated among the Muslims following a war between Britain and Turkey which opened way for Congress and Muslim League unity. Both the Congress and the Muslim League held sessions at Lucknow in 1916 and concluded the famous Lucknow Pact. The Congress accepted the separate electorates, and both organizations jointly demanded dominion status for the country. HinduMuslim unity weakened the British attitude and forced the government to announce its future policy. In 1916 a British policy was announced whereby association of Indians was increased and there was to be a gradual development of local self-governing institutions.

Shahriar 6 While trying to appease Indians, the British Government was following a policy of repression. Throughout the First World War, repression of freedom fighters had continued. The revolutionaries had been hunted down, hanged or imprisoned. The Government now decided to arm itself with more powers in order to suppress the freedom fighters. In March 1919, it passed the Rowlatt Act. This Act authorised the government to detain any person without trial. The Rowlatt Act came like a sudden blow. The Indians had been promised extension of democracy during the war. They felt humiliated and were filled with anger when they found that their civil liberties were going to be curtailed still further. Unrest gripped the country and a powerful agitation against the Act started. During this agitation, Gandhiji took command of the nationalist movement. March and April 1919 witnessed a remarkable political awakening in the country. There were hartals, strikes and demonstrations at various places. The slogans of Hindu-Muslim unity filled the air. With the Congress support of the Khilafat movement, Hindu-Muslim unity was achieved which encouraged Gandhiji to launch his non-violent, non-cooperation movement. At the Calcutta Session in September 1920, the Congress resolved in favour of the non-violent, non-cooperation movement and defined Swaraj as its ultimate aim. The movement envisaged: (i) Surrender of titles and honorary officers; (ii) Resignation from nominated offices and posts in the local bodies; (iii) Refusal to attend government darbars and official functions and boycott of British courts by the lawyers; (iv) Refusal of general public to offer themselves for military and other government jobs, and boycott of foreign goods, etc. The non-cooperation movement also saw picketing of shops selling foreign cloth and boycott of the foreign cloth by the followers of Gandhiji.

Shahriar 7 The Congress session held at Ahmedabad in December 1921 decided to launch a Civil Disobedience Movement while reiterating its stand on the non-violent, noncooperation movement of which Gandhiji was appointed the leader. Before Gandhiji could launch the Civil Disobedience Movement, a mob of countrymen at Chauri Chaura, a place near Gorakhpur in D.P., clashed with the police which opened fire. In retaliation the mob burnt the police-station and killed 22 policemen. This compelled Gandhiji to call off the Civil Disobedience Movement on February 12, 1922. Despite this Gandhiji was arrested and sentenced to six years imprisonment. The Chauri Chaura incident convinced Gandhiji that the nation was not yet ready for the mass-dis6bedience and he prevailed upon Congress Working Committee in Bardoli on February 12, 1922 to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement. Forster indirectly expressed the events in his novel as he tried to show the relationship between British and Indian, Hindus and Muslims, and why the friendship between British and Indian is questionable. From the history, Foster learned the things and incorporate them in his novel. For example, we have known that the mutiny of 1857 was a revolt of Indian people against British ruler. Foster recreates the scene in his novel by echo scene where British clamed that Dr. Aziz was about to rape Adela. The mutiny was against British and here the rape attempt was also against British. As Jenny Sharpes writes; The racial memory that echoes across the Mutiny novels as a horrific nightmare is also silently constitutive of A Passage to India. The (mis)representation of the object of the 1857 uprisings is so closely imbricated with the racial stereotype of brown-skinned men desiring white women that the Mutiny serves as a

Shahriar 8 convenient name for expressing colonial fears and fantasies over the intermingling of two races. (The Indeterminacies of Rape 80) We can consider this rape event from a racial point of view. Because, a brown skinned man has sexual lust towards a white woman according to the British. The British never like the Indians rather they treated the people as slave as the colonial concept. The colonizers always treat colonized people badly and imposed their ruling system on colonized land. The British were the colonizer and Indian people were colonized. As he again writes; The drama surrounding Azizs arrest reenacts the precariousness of the colonialist mission under threat of native insurrection. It is a vulnerability that hides behind a representation of the Indian males sexual desire for white women as the cause of colonial conflict. As the court case draws nearer, the novel recreates the explosive atmosphere of 1857 and 1919 in a scene showing club members who debate what they should do about the hostile mobs demanding that Aziz be released. (The Indeterminacies of Rape 80) We can also find the racial mentality into the British people when they keep the Indians far from them, if we consider the bridge party in the novel it might be cleared that how they were keeping Indians in corner. As in the novel; A little group of Indian ladies had been gathering in a third quarter of the grounds, near a rustic summer-house, in which the more timid of them had already taken refuge. The rest stood with their backs to the company and their faces pressed into a bank of shrubs. (61)

Shahriar 9 The mutiny also inspired the Indian movement for independence. The deep divisions between the Muslims and the Hindus during the independence movement are revealed in the sometimes strained relationship between the Hindu and Muslim characters in the novel. The 1860s witnessed a Muslim revival and a renewed appreciation for Mughal culture and literature, which is evident in Aziz's deep love of Persian poetry and his nostalgia for the reign of the Mughal emperors. As Foster writes in the novel; Sometimes I shut my eyes and dream I have splendid clothes again and am riding into battle behind Alamgir. Mr. Fielding, must not India have been beautiful then, with the Mogul Empire at its height and Alamgir reigning at Delhi upon the peacock Throne? (83) In 1885, the Indian National Congress was founded initially to advocate for the rights of Indians within the British Empire, but later became one of the primary players for Indian independence. While the Indian National Congress may have been dominated by the Hindus, one of its central tenets was religious freedom for all religious groups on the subcontinent. Many Muslims, however, feared that when the Congress came into power in an independent India, it would not respect all religious minorities and take away property and rights from Muslims. The Muslim League was founded in 1906 to advocate a separate, Muslim-dominated country. These fractures within the independence movement can be seen in Hamidullah's political activities in the novel, where rifts between competing religious groups seem difficult to bridge except when it comes to their common enemy, the British. However, by the time A Passage to India was published in 1924, a series of historical events encouraged the Congress and the Muslim League to work together for independence. These historical events provide a set of historical references for the

Shahriar 10 events surrounding the trial in Forster's novel. In 1918, the Rowlatt Commission proposed what came to be known as the Rowlatt Acts, which took away key civil liberties away from Indians, including the admission of testimony from dead or absent witnesses hence the outcry over Mrs. Moore's absence in the novel. At this point, Gandhi, a member of the Indian National Congress and a founding figure in Indian history, organized non-violent demonstrations against the acts, including hartal, or work stoppages thus the Sweepers' strike during Aziz's trial, which caused all the stoppages in the toilets. These demonstrations led to the infamous Amritsar Massacre of 1919 in circumstances quite similar to the novel. Peaceful Indian demonstrators had collected at Jallianwallah Bagh, but British and sepoy soldiers opened fire. Almost five hundred unarmed individuals were killed, and a thousand were wounded. During the so-called riot, an Englishwoman was allegedly attacked by the Indians. She denied that she was attacked intentionally, cited the fact that she was helped by Indians after the attack, and refused any compensation. Despite her protestations, the general in charge instituted the notorious crawling order, where Indians were forced to crawl along the road where the Englishwoman had been attacked thus Mrs. Turton's comment that Indians should be forced to crawl. While there are no massacres in the novel, an attack on a white woman is also at the center of civil unrest, leading to the riots during the Moshurram festivities and after the trial. Events such as the Amritsar massacre and the Rowlatt Acts further inspired Indians to seek independence, leading to an alliance between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League during the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920. But Forster's novel, in its depiction of the fissures within Indian society, shows how tenuous such an alliance was.

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