A radical history of Assam, 1826 -1947
The idea of Assam, a region in north-east India, conjures up two images: lush green tea gardens and ceaseless ethnic strife. Sharma argues both are absent in Assam’s pre-modern past. The “modernity” (introduced by the British) and its fatal consequences for colonial Assam constitute the core of Sharma’s book. The British envisaged progress and economic development with tea plantations for the region, which remains backward. The colonial modernity also instigated several cultural and political projects in the region such as the politics of identity formation, nation building, political representation, cultural assertion, and gender, which continue to reverberate in the violence afflicted politics of the region. Thus, neither political violence nor tea plantations and backwardness because of them are endemic to Assam, but are result of mis-led policies of the state. Sharma has two popular assumptions which must be (re)stated here. First, Assam is economically a backward region. Second, this backwardness is a result of the policies of colonial state (1826-1947) and of its successor independent Indian state.
The book has seven chapters divided into two parts: the first part has three chapters; and, the second part has four chapters. In first chapter, Sharma elucidates on reasons for Assam’s backwardness during colonial rule. Annexation of Assam in 1826, and subsequent discovery of tea cultivation (1831) in Assam, rendered it in imperial imagination as a region of endless profits. However, these commercial motives were couched in a moral language of progress and transformation of Assam into empire’s garden from nature’s jungle. This promise of progress initially excited natives’ imagination but soon faltered a regressive tea plantation economy was established under the white monopoly. The white planters called upon natives only for arduous labour work, which the latter despised for its boredom and discipline. This question of labour supply for tea plantations is the subject of second chapter. Frustrated with natives’ indifference for plantation work, the British procured labour from outside Assam particularly Chotanagpur area. This immigrant labour force, also called tea coolie or baghniya, constituted 645, 000 of Assam’s population by 1901 (p.81). However, during British rule, tea labourers were not the only group which migrated to Assam, there were many others. In third chapter, Sharma tells us that British rule in Assam provided commercial opportunities for inflow of diverse groups from other regions. Rajasthani traders, Nepali graziers, East Bengali Muslim peasants, and Bengali clerks, came and settled in Assam. This provides a background for Assam’s contemporary political violence between Assam’s natives and migrant groups. In fourth chapter, Sharma tells us that the British rule led to a decline in status of earlier ruling Ahom aristocracy and authority of Assam’s Gosains (spiritual leaders) of satras (monasteries). However this downfall was contested by Ahom aristocracy and Gosains. At the same time, the upper caste Hindu service gentry benefitted from British rule because of their literacy. This literate class exercised an important influence in the politics of Assam. In next chapter, Sharma reflects on the role of nineteenth century western educated men from Assam in the formation of Assamese identity. In newly developed Assamese print culture, these men opted for a reformed Hindu identity with medieval Bhakti saint Sankardeb as a patron saint, and ridiculed the worship of Gosains. In next chapter Sharma tells us that a part and parcel of forging Assamese identity was to establish Asomiya (the local language) as official language of Assam and to create literature in that language. As a result of these efforts of intelligentsia a sanskritized Asomiya was established as “region’s only true language” (p.194). In last chapter Sharma argues that in the twentieth century local marginal groups asserted their own identities vis-à-vis the dominant Hindu Assamese identity. These marginal groups included fisherman caste Dom, Kachari tribals, Ahoms and Muslim migrants from East Bengal. However this politics for making and remaking of identities is also found in modern history of other regions of India (thus the sub-title of the book: “Assam and the making of India”). The contents and arguments of the book justify it as a part of Radical Perspectives a Radical History Review book series (see pp. i-ii). Sharma herself boldly tells us that she had “shed the political indifference” before writing this book (p.20). However, this radicalism is in conflict with her narrative strategy which revolves around the lives of few elites of colonial Assam. In contrast, her treatment of migrant tea coolie is perfunctory. In a radical history, an over-emphasis on lives of few elites is puzzling. Apart from this, the book has one serious flaw Sharma’s “back and fro” style retards the flow of reading. By avoiding repetition, she could have saved paper and readers’ time too. Her choice for end-notes over foot-notes is regrettable. Unfortunately, the book also lacks coherence. On the contrary, the language is clear and free from jargon. There are hardly any typographical errors in this book. Inclusion of rare photographs makes reading a vivid experience. The book would be useful for those interested in history of nationalism, ethnicity, colonialism, modern Assam, and the British Empire. Sharma has written a radical history of a turbulent region. Anyone looking for the extent to which colonialism could wreck the economy and society of a region must read Empire’s Garden.