Vishnu's Crowded Temple: India Since the Great Rebellion

by Maria Misra

As it enters its sixtieth year of independence, India stands on the threshold of superpower status. Yet India is strikingly different from all other global colossi. While it is the world's most populous democracy and enjoys the benefits of its internationally competitive high-tech and software industries, India also contends with extremes of poverty, inequality, and political and religious violence. This accessible and vividly written book presents a new interpretation of India's history, focusing particular attention on the impact of British imperialism on Independent India. Maria Misra begins with the rebellion against the British in 1857 and tracks the country's advance to the present day. India's extremes persist, the author argues, because its politics rest upon a peculiar foundation in which traditional ideas of hierarchy, difference, and privilege coexist to a remarkable degree with modern notions of equality and democracy. The challenge of India's leaders today, as in the last sixty years, is to weave together the disparate threads of the nation's ancient culture, colonial legacy, and modern experience.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction

587 pages, ebook

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Vishal Kale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that belongs in your collection, its weaknesses and shortcomings notwithstanding; a book that helps us understand, or at least get an insight into why and how we Indians are what we are today. This is a study, an investigation, an attempt to understand Modern India, and trace how it arrived at the current place, a unique effort to present our history and our today as a single connected and linked thread.

On casteism, it delves into excruciating detail, proving the impact of the Raj on caste equations, analysing the situation at the advent of the Raj, and going on to provide factual details, events, strategies, tactical maneuvers and machinations that resulted, inadvertently at times, into the solidification and cementing of casteism into its most repressive form. The painstakingly put investigation comes as a revelation, despite it being exhausting in its detail. A better presentation would have made the absorption of the material much easier; having said that, there are no discernible logical gaps in the material, apart from it being slightly tedious due to the stunning level of detail.


Woven into this main theme is the theme of colonialism, and how the forces of the day intervened in all facets of Indian life, from the mundane to the esoteric, definitively shaping them for the worse. Before the advent of the British, the caste construct was fluid and interchangeable. The British intervened with their coloured glasses, and created a system of differential treatment of various classes and castes, differential economic treatment and power-sharing, combined with labelling of some tribes as criminal {who could be imprisoned on suspicion alone}. This led to a cascade impact, as a caste identity became the key to economic, political and social status under the new dispensation

The main criticisms of the book are 3-fold; first, it is irreverent towards Hindu sentiments, Gods, History and tends to take an ill-disguised condescending tone on more than several occasions. The unbalanced and one-sided analysis of Hinduism in its more aggressive form comes across as rhetorical in the absence of an equally rigorous examination of other forces.

Secondly, it is also surprisingly kind towards Pakistan and Islamic terror. But the most objectionable point was the reference to Kargil, and the claim that this was an operation carried out by Kashmiri insurgents! Similar are the unflattering references to terrorism in India, and a completely inaccurate analysis of the same.

Thirdly, and most damning, is the shoddy presentation, and editing / finishing. The book is extensively researched; but the bibliography, annotations and end-notes are just not upto the mark. The impact of this is a lack of conviction, as the links and references to the statements contained in the content do not immediately link back to the source of the said claims. This significantly impacts the readability of the book

[Rushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating: 4.25 / 5

Vishnu's Crowded Temple is an intriguing take on the history of modern India. As the title indicates, the book focuses on the politics of late British RAj in India and that of the independent Indian state after 1947. This is very much a political history. Ms. Misra offers much food for thought on the impact of caste, class and religion on political life in modern India.

The book is well written and the style is informal and anecdotal. The author tackles a topic that could be rather dull with panache and colour. The best sections of the book are those around the turn of the 20th century. We find befuddled victorian British administrators attempting to categorise and control the Indian electorate as well as a number of ambitious Indian politicians, including M.K. Gandhi, jostling for power and influence with nationhood and independence now a distinct possibility.

The book traces the dominant forces of modern Indian politics from the Hindu reform sects of the nineteenth century to the caste based "reservation politics" in the late twentieth. The period covered by the book encompasses rapid industrialisation, globalisation, two world wars and a tumultuous partition of the Indian subcontinent. The book focuses on political history at the expense of ignoring or skimming some important chapters in Indian history including the relationship with Pakistan and China, separatist movements in Kashmir and the north-eastern states and the impact of terrorism in more recent times. We also don't get much insight into the everyday life of Indians with the focus on politics and economics.

This is not a good "first Indian history book". If you are new to India, I would recommend "India: A History" by John Keay or the excellent "India after Gandhi" by Ramachandara Guha. With the great "Tamasha" that is the Indian elections coming up in 2014, Vishnu's Crowded Temple is an excellent read for those who want to understand more about Indian politics and political attitudes.

[Holt Dwyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick-paced history of India since the latter 19th century. The author depicts the British view of India as the conglomeration of "a practically unlimited number of self-centered and mutually repellent groups" as a self-fulfilling prophecy. It discusses the ways in which the British Raj strengthened the pre-existing caste divisions of Indian society by providing pseudo-scientific ethnographic evidence of a racial connection to caste and by establishing the high social position of Brahmins in government (a consequence of their literary traditions). Their (perhaps well-intentioned) policy of ethnic particularism, embodied in the policy of providing separate representation for the Muslim minority (and even of pitting Hindus, Muslims, and "others" against one another in cricket) is portrayed as having led, in part, to the increased cultural separation of Hindu and Muslim citizens of India by pitting Muslims afraid of majority oppression against the rising force of Hindu nationalism. Their linguistic census of India, in turn, partly inspired the linguistic nationalisms that led to the attempted separation of Sanskritized Hindi (written with the Devangari script) and Persianized Urdu (written in a Persian script) out of the mutually intelligible Hindustani, and the attenpted de-Sanskritization of the Dravidian languages of southern India. The author then goes on to discuss the role of Japanese military success in the Russo-Japanese war in inspiring Indian "swadeshi" or self-strengthening efforts, of British abolition of the Ottoman caliphate at the end of the First World War as a spark igniting Muslim discontent with the Raj, and of the failure of the peace to lead to Wilsonian self-determination for India as another such source of discontent. It covers the many eccentricities of Gandhi, a man whose vision of India was at once socialistic and socially conservative in its acceptance of the caste system and the secondary role of women, revolutionary and yet traditionalist in its glorification of a pastoral vision of India, and high-minded yet strangely obsessive about the minutiae of dress, routine, and diet. It discusses the rushed postwar division of India, carried out in less than a month by a British civil servant who had never seen the areas he was partitioning, and the bloody conflict of partition. It discusses why partition was desirable to some Muslim leaders, on the ground of self-determination, and to many Hindu leaders, on the grounds of lessening the risk of future fragmentation of India into ethnic enclaves and princely states left over from the Raj. It talks about the rise of Congress from a political party to what was effectively a shadow government, the state-directed growth strategy pursued by Nehru and his statistician adviser Mahalonobis, and his relatively secular, tolerant outlook. It covers the growing corruption of the Indian central government under domination by the Congress party, the resurgence of the party in 1971 under Indira Gandhi (daughter of Nehru), and her imposition of martial law (the "Emergency") in 1975 after losing a corruption case and rising organized opposition to her administration, which she feared might result in a coup or the rise of the RSS, a nationalist group from which the current BJP descends and which she viewed as fascist. It discusses the early popularity of the Emergency, and its later foundering over opposition to its heavy-handed vasectomization campaign designed to reduce India's high birth rate and the self-serving exploits of Indira's rather witless son Sanjay. It discusses her surprise return to open elections in 1978, which ironically established a truly democratic tradition in India through the election of the opposition Janata party, led by Indira Gandhi's longtime political opponent, the religious and anti-Western Gujarati politician Morarji Desai (whose penchant for drinking urine is repeatedly commented on by the author). This ineffective administration ended after two years with the re-election of Indira, whose fomenting of extremist Sikhism for her own electoral benefit in the Punjab led, in 1984, to armed conflict between the government and Indira's quondam puppet preacher that left hundreds dead, and to Indira's own assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. The book discusses the wild popularity of Indian state television's adaptations of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, which showed the power of religion as a uniting force. It covers the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its role in rousing Hindu nationalism to destroy the Babri mosque at Ayodhya (supposed site of an earlier temple to the legendary Hindu king Ram). It discusses the attempts of low-caste groups to rise in Indian society either by "Sanskritization" (the invention of a glorious group heritage) or by gaining access to the explicit quotas for "other backwards classes" (OBCs) (quotas that aroused the ire of the traditionalist BJP), and the rise of OBCs as a political force. It also discusses the ways in which the quota system was misused as a way to put members of leaders' own ethnic and social group into positions of regional power, and the subsequent fracturing of OBC support between the BJP and the BSP, a party led by untouchables. The book discusses the gradual economic liberalization of India under Indira's son Rajiv, and the way in which the selective relaxation of restrictions allowed politicians to pad the pockets of their allies. It discusses the way in which the BJP has pursued policies in conflict with its underlying hierarchical Hindu nationalist orientation to gain electoral popularity, the role of BJP politicians including current PM Narendra Modi in allowing or possibly encouraging an anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat in 2003. The book ends on a hopeful note, suggesting that there is evidence of an increasing sense of Indian cohesion and a growing respect for the principle of public service rather than use of the state as a public tool for private gain. How the author would react to the current dominance of the BJP is anyone's guess.

[Agyani · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author has tried to write India's modern history of more than 150 years in mere 400+ pages; a daunting task in which she fails miserably. The book is full of factual errors and the author conveniently picks up stories to make her point. Being a social science academician, her leftist inclinations are quite evident but unfortunately the referencing is terrible. Perhaps, this helped the author some freedom for manipulation. 2.5/5

[D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of all the books on Indian history I've read recently, this one was the hardest to slog through. It's not a very long book, but the author's writing style is just very dry and not very engaging. Not to mention the editor in me kept finding errors in the text--spelling mistakes, punctuation errors--and it drove me nuts. I'm glad to be returning this one to the library.

[Lauren Mendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I deeply enjoyed this hearty and thoughtful insight into India’s political history. Much of the information within this book was new to me, or was a richer description of historical figures including Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, and Indira. I found this book to provide insight into how India is deeply impacted by politics being a deeply participatory process for all groups and communities to share their voice. Colonialism, caste hierarchy, wealth, and religion have deeply impacted India’s identity as a democracy. This book is dense and full of historical figures and context so it is one I recommend when you are willing to focus and learn about a history full of engaging and complex narratives.

[Abhishek Upadhayay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book. I really enjoyed reading it.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid, well-written history of India from the mid-19th century Raj to the present day. This book is easily accessible to someone without much background knowledge of India, and covers a great deal of material in an engaging, scholarly way. Clearly very well researched.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love India, and all of its confusion, vitality, and variety. This intriguin, well-written book provides an interesting account of how the best laid plans always have unexpected results in this varied subcontinent.

A 'must-read' for anyone interested in modern India.

[Supriya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid liberal history of post-1857 India. Egregious editing errors in this edition, but Misra is a very good storyteller.

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

[Ross Cohen]

Misra's prose is crowded, but her ideas are compelling. Anyone looking to understand India from the decline of the Raj to modern times would do well to undertake this read.