The Aftermath of Revolt: India, 1857-1970

by Thomas R. Metcalf

The Mutiny of 1857 left a deep mark on Indian society and on the nature of British rule. Thomas Metcalf analyzes the influence of the Mutiny on many facets of Indian life and relations with Great Britain, examining social reform, education, land settlement policy, the position of the tenant and the moneylender, relations with the Indian states, the structure of the government, and the growth of racial sentiment. The author also makes an attempt to place the India of the 1860's in the broader context of Victorian liberalism. The view emerges that the relations between the British and the Indian people were decisively altered by the Mutiny. In fact the decade following the upheaval was possibly the last great creative period of British rule, and one in which the nature of many of the institutions that lasted to independence were shaped.



Originally published in 1964.

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Hardcover

First published November 21, 1964

About the author

Thomas R. Metcalf is the Emeritus Sarah Kailath Professor of India Studies and Professor of History at the University of California.

Reviews

[Dan Nuxoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title of this book examines the changes in British policy and the politics of those changes after the mutiny of 1857. The focus is on the period before 1870, although the book does occasionally discuss the late 19th century.

The first chapter discusses the efforts to English efforts to reform India before the mutiny, discussing education, religious and social reform, the princely states, and systems of land tenure and taxation. This chapter cites specific changes as well as the rationale for those changes. This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book because these changes are critical for understanding the causes of the revolt (discussed in chapter 2) and are central to understanding how British government of India changed after the mutiny. Again, the book deals extensively with the politics of those changes, both outlining the rationale for and the opposition to those changes. The author does a good job of dealing with both the ideas of the British in India as well as the wider intellectual trends in Britain itself. The book also takes note of the differences in India itself--the British did not adopt exactly the same policies in the Punjab and Bengal.

The book does a superb job, given its focus. There are clearly other aspects of the story which are not addressed, notably the reaction of the Indian population to the British policies both before and after the revolt.

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book - well written, thorough, and detailed yet lightly written. It's a model of historical scholarship that sets the bar high for what a revised dissertation should achieve. I'm not expert enough in Indian history to comment on whether or to what extent Metcalf's ideas have been accepted by the historical community, but his arguments are compelling and his themes seem appropriate to his purpose. The book is, in short, a study of the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the changes it brought to both Indian society and the British Raj. Following introductory chapters on the "era of reform" and the "Mutiny and Its Causes," the author analyzes these changes in a series of discreet chapters: Education and Social Reform; the Restoration of the Aristocracy; Landlord, Tenant, and Moneylender; the Princes and the People; and Courts, Councils, and Civil Servants. He concludes with an essay on the Legacy of the Mutiny.

[Supriyo Chaudhuri]

A good, non partisan work on how the ideas and engagements of the British Empire changed after the Sepy Mutiny of 1857.