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Journalism of Courage
James Tod8217;s Rajasthan
edited by Giles Tillotson
Marg Books, Rs 2,500
The fate of most historians is to have their works consigned to dusty shelves, from where the occasional student picks them up and reads. It is the good fortune of a few historians, such as Gibbon or Thucydides, to transcend their time and to be familiar even to those who have not read a word they have written. Then, there is the rarest of the rare, a historian, both read and honoured, with a town being named after him 8212; James Tod, the historian of the Rajputs, memorialised in Todgarh in Rajasthan.
The Mirzapur-born Tod rose fast in the service of Company Bahadur, ultimately becoming the first British political agent in the western Rajput states, before an early return to England, probably a result of what was perceived as his being too sympathetic to Rajput interests. He became a founder-member of the Royal Asiatic Society and its first librarian. The book begins with the Society, with the collection of Rajasthani paintings and manuscripts that Tod left there, and which have been largely ignored. Giles Tillotson and Francis D8217;Souza note that Tod8217;s appreciation of Rajput architecture led to Annals being enhanced with drawings of landscapes and buildings, something new in British writings on India. Rima Hooja links the manuscript collection to the Annals.
But even as these essays enlarge the world of Tod as we know it, we still want to know more about the historian and his history. And there, James Tod8217;s Rajasthan does not disappoint. James Freitag describes how, in a sense, Tod created Rajput history. By relying on the bardic traditions, he compiled a list of the clans, which acquired a veneer of authenticity, so much so that in a case of royal adoption in the 1920s, Tod was cited as an authority! With his history, Tod also helped confer legitimacy on the Rajput clans in the eyes of the new imperial power. By presenting the Rajput portrait of themselves as authentic, Tod also helped in creating the modern concept of Rajput identity. Lloyd Rudolph8217;s gem on Tod and James Mill alone is worth the price of this book. Few, aside from die-hard Todophiles, will be aware that in 1832, Tod went up against Mill, who wrote History of India without the benefit of visiting or knowing any Indian language. His wholesale condemnation of India was required reading for British officers till 1947. While Mill wanted to do away with the princes, and rule India directly, Tod emphasised the importance of the role played by the subordinate princes, and the need to improve administration through their medium. Here, Tod prevailed over Mill.
This book is a valuable addition to Indian historiography, because Tod stands like a colossus on the historiography of Rajasthan. Everyone who writes on Rajasthan has to begin with Tod, even if in disagreement. If there had been no Tod, then it would have been necessary to invent him.
