Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in India, 1780-1870In a penetrating account of the evolution of British intelligence gathering in India, C. A. Bayly shows how networks of Indian spies, runners and political secretaries were recruited by the British to secure information about their subjects. He also examines the social and intellectual origins of these informants, and considers how the colonial authorities interpreted and often misinterpreted the information they supplied. As Professor Bayly demonstrates, it was such misunderstandings which ultimately contributed to the failure of the British to anticipate the mutinies of 1857. He argues, however, that, even before this, India's complex systems of communication were challenging the political and intellectual dominance of the European rulers. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Prologue surveillance and communication in early modern India | 10 |
Political intelligence and indigenous informants during the conquest of India c 17851815 | 56 |
Misinformation and failure on the fringes of empire | 97 |
Between human intelligence and colonial knowledge | 142 |
The Indian ecumene an indigenous public sphere | 180 |
Useful knowledge and godly society c 183050 | 212 |
Other editions - View all
Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and Social Communication in ... C. A. Bayly No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
administration agents Agra Allahabad army Asia astronomical Awadh Banaras bazaar became Benares Bengal Brahmins British Burma Burmese Calcutta Cambridge caste colonial communication Company Company's court culture debate Delhi Devanagari early ecumene Edmonstone eighteenth century elite Empire English European Friend of India Ghalib Gilchrist Gurkha harkaras Hindi Hindu Hindustani History Hussain ibid Indian indigenous Indo-Muslim information order intellectual intelligence Islam Journal Khan King Kirkpatrick knowledge Lahore language later learned letters literary London Lucknow Madras Maratha medicine merchants military missionaries modern Moorcroft Mughal Mughal Empire munshis Muslim native Nawab Nepal networks newspapers newswriters nineteenth century north India officials OIOC Oriental orientalist pandits Papers Patna Persian police political printed Provinces Punjab Rajasthan Rebellion recorded religion religious reports revenue royal rulers runners Sanskrit Sayyid Sept Shiva Sikh Singh social society Sufi surveillance texts tradition translated Urdu village western writers