Reversing The Gaze: Amar Singh's Diary, A Colonial Subject's Narrative Of Imperial India

662 Pages·2002·105.34 MB·English

by  Amar Singh, Lloyd I. Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, Mohan Singh Kanota

ERSI
Ga
z
Amar
Singh’s Diary,
A
Colonial Subject’s
Narrative of Imperial India
Edited a\
Susanne Hoeber Rudolph & Lloyd Rudolph
I.
MOHAN SINGH KANOTA
with
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2015
in
https://archive.org/details/reversinggazeamaOOamar

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Amur
Singh’s Diary,
A
Colonial Subject’s Narrative of
Imperial India
EditingandCommentaryby
Susanne Hoeber Rudolph
Lloyd I. Rudolph
with
Mohan Singh Kanota
Allrightsreserved.PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.Nopartofthispublicationmaybere-
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copy,recording,oranyinformationstorageandretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfrom
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Copyright©2002byWestviewPress,AMemberofthePerseusBooksGroup
Copyright©fordiaryextractsbySusanneHoeberRudolph,LloydI.Rudolph,MohanSinghKanota.
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Publishedin2002intheUnitedStatesofAmericabyWestviewPress,5500CentralAvenue,Boulder,
Colorado80301-2877,andintheUnitedKingdombyWestviewPress, 12Hid’sCopseRoad,Cumnor
Hill,OxfordOX29JJ
FindusontheWorldWideWebatwww.westviewpress.com
ACIPcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress.
ISBN0-8133-3626-0
ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstherequirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandardfor
PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterialsZ39.48-1984.
987654321
10
Contents
ListofIllustrations vii
Acknowledgments X
SelectionsfromAmarSingh'sReadings xii
Introduction
1
Introduction 3
1 Provenance: Making a Selfatthe Jodhpur Court 6
2 Liminality: Makinga SelfBetween Two Cultures 16
3 HowWe Encountered the Diary 22
4 Reconstructingthe Text 27
5 An Indian Diaryin English 30
6 Reversingthe Gaze: The Diarist as Reflexive
“Native”Ethnographer 39
—
Part Getting Started 45
I
Introduction 47
1 About the Diary 49
2 The Education ofa Diarist 60
3 Sarkar 76
4 Hurjee 81
5 TheApprentice 83
6 Manners and Mores 87
7 AMania for Polo 89
8 Blood and Other Sports 96
9 MyFamily 101
—
Part II TheJodhpur Lancers in China:
Imperial Soldiers orCooliesofthe Raj? 107
Introduction 109
1 GettingThere:With theAllied Expeditionary Force to China 114
2 Tensions in the China Garrison 125
3 Under Fire at Lijapoo 142
4 Thinkingit Over:“TriedWarrior”or“Coolie ofthe Raj”? 153
—
Part III Transgression and Reconciliation:Becoming a Householder 165
Introduction 167
1 An UncommonWedding 169
2 Becoming a Householder 181
1
vi Contents
—
Part IV Soldier forthe Raj?:Accommodation
and Resistanceatthe Imperial CadetCorps 195
Introduction 197
1 “An Example forOthers”: FirstTerm inthe Imperial CadetCorps 209
2 “The Results ofSodomy”: SecondTerm in theImperial CadetCorps 233
3 “Too Proudand Haughty”?: ThirdTerm in the Imperial CadetCorps 255
4 “To CommandEuropeans”?: Fifth Term in the Imperial CadetCorps 268
5 “The BigSwellswere Gone”: SixthTerm in the Imperial Cadet Corps 280
6 “Good-bye,MyDearCorps”: SeventhTerm in the Imperial Cadet
Corps 291
—
PartV Private Lives in Patriarchal Space:
Amar Singh at Home in Princely India 305
Introduction 307
1 DiplomacyofEverydayLife:“This Damned Etiquette” 316
2 Lectures to the Maharaja ofKishengarh:
“Howto Promote Love”and“TheAbuses ofYouth” 334
3 Women at Home:“What Real Difficulties ThereAre
in a Rajput FamilyLife” 342
4 Joint-FamilyResponsibilities:“MyOneAim Is to Secure
Peace at Home” 352
5 Men in theWorld: Estate Management, Horses,and Books 377
6 Harmonyand Dissidence in the Joint Family:
“ShowSympathyandYouWill Earn Confidence” 388
—
PartVI PrincelyCourts in Imperial Space 41
Introduction 413
1 Court Societyat Jodhpur: The Struggle for the Maharaja’s Person 419
2 Court Societyat Kishengarh and Idar: Replicating Marks of
Sovereignty 439
3 H. H. Kishengarh Marries atUdaipur: The Ceremonial
Enactment ofInferiority 452
4 Imperial Ritual atAlwar: Lord Curzon Invests Jai Singh
with Full Powers 468
5 Paramountcyand Corruption: Talkswith Political Officers 474
Notes 487
GlossaryI:NamesofPersonsandPlaces 553
GlossaryII: Unfamiliar Terms 577
Appendix: GenealogicalChartsandLineages 593
AuthorIndex 603
SubjectIndex 609
11
List of Illustrations
Introduction
1 The Diarist Reading 3
2 Map,princelystates ofthe RajputanaAgency, 1931 4
3 Viewacross Jodhpurcityto Jodhpur fort,circa 1930 7
4 Camel encampment,Jodhpur 7
5 Sir Pratap Singh,Amar Singh’s mentorandpatron 9
6 Amar Singh’s father,Narain Singh, and friends intheiryouth 1
7 The Ormerod-WestcottMarriage,Mhow, 1910 17
8 Amar Singh’sbungalowin the Mhowcantonment 18
9 Amar Singh’s Edwardian drawingroom at Mhow 19
10 General Lloyd Payne,circa 1912, inspectingretired
viceroy’s commissioned officers 20
11 Susanne Rudolph,Mohan Singh andLloyd Rudolph at
Amar Singh’s chattri (cenotaph) in 1971 25
12 Page ofthe diary.Alwar, Sunday, 13th December, 1903 32
PartI
1-1 Map ofJodhpurcity, circa 1900 48
1-2 RegisterofShikarin theYear 1903 58
1-3 “Books that I have Read in theYear 1903” 59
1-4 Amar Singh reading, 1907 60
1-5 Students ofPowlettNobles School,Jodhpur,circa 1888 62
1-6 Barath Ram Nath Ratnu (Ram Nathji) 68
1-7 Amar Singh’s studyandlibraryat Kanota fort 68
1-8 Sir Pratap Singh 76
1-9 Jodhpurlandscape 85
I-10 “We playPolo,we talkPolo, andwe even dream Polo” 89
I-11 The Mhowpolo tournament of 1899 93
1-12 Mhowpolo tournament, December 1912 95
1-13 The men ofKanota 101
1-14 The Champawat connection at Jaipur 103
I-15 Zorawar Singh,Thakur ofKanota 104
Part
II
II-1 Map ofplacesvisitedbythe Jodhpur Lancers in China 11
II-2 Officers ofthe Jodhpur Lancers at the stables at Shan Hai Kuan 125
II-3 Agroup ofChinese officialswith Japanese and Chinese officers 127
II-4 The men from Jodhpur’s desert suffer from the severe cold
ofShan Hai Kuan’swinter 128
II-5 “Agroup ofsome soldiers ofall nations collected in China” 138