Read Book Online : http://www.archive.org/stream/peopleofindiaser03greauoft#page/n5/mode/2up

Download pdf Book : http://ia341306.us.archive.org/2/items/peopleofindiaser03greauoft/peopleofindiaser03greauoft.pdf

...an interesting tome, certainly... some fine early photographs... I thought that the brief biographies of the 'Bareilly Municipal Committee' that can be found on page 124 were fairly indicative of British Imperial attitudes (and limitations) in the 1860s !!... Re: Mr Pelz's comment above - certainly the British held 'dismissive' or (just say it) arrogant attitudes in the mid-19th century - but - the nation was an almost unidsputed global super-power, so is this any great surprise? I do think, however, that 'dismissive' should not be confused with 'disinterested' - as works such as those above, and those by many other British scholars of the period (and for a century or so before) serve to illustrate. Regards etc.

This is a most interesting book that tells us much about our forefathers in North India (especially places like Aligarh, Meerut, Dehradun etc). The very fact that such a book was published suggests that the British rulers (after the 'mutiny' of 1857) were not 'disinterested' or 'dismissive' of the local Indian population. As Julian has pointed out, the composition of the 'Bareilly Municipal Committee' testifies that they were trying to incorporate the native population in local governments. I found this book fascinating as the authors have done extensive research on the origin of various castes, tribes and races of North India. Interestingly, they write about Beni-Israel in Koel (Aligarh) under 'Khaleefa Daood'. The facts are absolutely correct as they came to India with Sultan Shahabuddin Ghauri and were assigned a specific 'Mohalla' in every city. Such Mohallas still exist in cities like Aligarh, Bulandshahr etc according to a promise made by the Sultan to a local Jewish trader in Afghanistan over 800 years ago. There is just one mistake - the authors refer to Sultan Shahabuddin (or Muizuddin) Ghauri as "Allauddin Ghauri".