Ishan BhatnagarAIR 5 · CSE 2025 · 196 wordsTheir whole copy
Opening
British colonial policies had a dialectical relationship with Indian traditional society. While Occidentalists like Mill and Macaulay formed it as "backward" or "stagnant" and sought to justify the white man's burden, Orientalists like William Jones engaged with it more deeply.
Body · points
Role in shaping traditional structure
Census and consolidation of caste: Pan-India census exercise under Risley etc. that required self-disclosure of caste led to cementing of caste identities.
Limited reform agenda: shown in abolition of Sati, raising age at marriage etc. [Spivak] points out that reform happened from dialectics of male reformers and the state, with no voice to the "subaltern" - women.
Codification and stagnation: British sought to codify personal laws to administer them. [Gauri Vishwanathan] points out that codification restricted inherent flexibility of interpretation and led to stagnation.
Brahmanical view: Since interpretation of traditional laws was done by Brahman priests, Brahmanical view of varna ashrama dharma seen as ideal typical society -> evident in Maine's characterization of Indian family as patrilineal.
Neo-traditional institutions like Zamindari through permanent settlement -> breakdown of traditional feudal obligations and social security.
Close · a summary
Hence, as [Meera Kosambi] argues, colonial reform was incremental and not always progressive.