British Sources Confirm Atrocities against Indians

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British Sources Confirm Atrocities against Indians

 

British Sources Confirm Atrocities against Indians

 

"With the disappearance of the native Court, trade languishes, the

Capital decays and the people are impoverished. The Englishman

flourishes and acts like a sponge, drawing up the riches from the

banks of the Ganges and squeezing them down upon the banks of the

Thames."1850s British Writer and Traveler John Sullivan

 

A Report By Vrin Parker (VP Vedic Friends Association)

 

The following is from the book Rani of Jhansi-LAKSHMI BAI by E. Paul

and published by Lotus Collection Roli books. In this book are

authentic quotes from British authors and witnesses to the many

massacres carried out by the British in mid 19th century India. These

incidents are not denied they are just ignored. The fact is the world

has yet to come to terms with the horrific record of the British

Empire. Whether it's the infamous tea-clippers that were really opium

runners or the intentional distribution of small pox infected

blankets to the Red Indians, and many other crimes against humanity

too numerous to mention here, the British record is horrific. There

are those who will try to deny any connection between this and the

ongoing Vedic renaissance. The fact is a correct understanding of the

brutish British record allows one to differentiate between fact and

fiction. To this day India and Hinduism in particular, is burdened by

many false accusations. If we can understand that much of this burden

has been artificially imposed upon Indian society by the policies and

actions of the British administration we will able to understand the

trauma of modern India. Even on the economic level we find that

before British rule, India was responsible for nearly a 3rd of world

trade output. Agriculturally, India was a bountiful bread basket.

However the British enforced the growing of crops such as cotton,

tea, opium etc. and thus nearly destroyed India's natural

agricultural rhythm and self sufficiency. Only now, starting in the

year 2001 has India been able to catch up and become the agricultural

power house it had been throughout history.

 

All through history, India has been recognized as a land of plenty, a

realm overflowing with fabulous wealth. That is one of the reasons

conquerors such as Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar tried to

reach India. It was Cleopatra's supposed knowledge of a route to

India that first attracted Caesar to her. India has always been a

target for trade, conquest and knowledge. Again it was Columbus's

belief that he could reach India that led to the European discovery

of the Americas. Scholars of today are loath to admit this and will

use terms such as "Columbus's search for the Indies etc." Actually he

was trying to reach INDIA, the same India the Portuguese had reached

earlier under Vasco de Gama. The fact is, the British stripped India

of its wealth, massacred its people and set up a strategy that has

now placed the world on a path towards Armageddon. Pakistan, a

British-Saudi-US creation, is the legacy of the British Empire and a

kind of poison apple now stuck in the throat of the world.

 

The sooner we can expose the British record; the sooner humanity will

be able to unravel the hell we have inherited. Whether it's

Israel/Palestine, India/Pakistan, Iraq/Kuwait, Greek/Turk Cypriots,

N. Ireland Catholic/Protestant or Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, the world has

been burdened by the policies of the British. We can also thank the

British for the ongoing violence of Afghanistan. Current events in

Afghanistan are rooted in the "Great Game" of Empire played out

between the British and Russian Empires during the 1800s. It was the

British who built up the Japanese military as a deterrent to Russia.

The Japanese then went on to massacre thousands of Chinese, Koreans

and others. Rather than the British, it was thousands of young

Americans who died in the effort to contain the Japanese

Imperialists. On the intellectual and academic level, again we find

that some of history'###### barbaric philosophies found their genesis

within British Imperial circles. The Eugenics movement and the Aryan

Racial concept were both British creations. The atrocities committed

by the Nazis have a direct connection to the policies and philosophy

of the British Imperialists.

 

Through knowledge of the history of a problem, society can find just

solutions. As the physician is empowered by the knowledge of a

patient's history, in the same way, knowledge of the past will

empower society to overcome the burdens of the past.

 

It is also important to recognize that it is the policy of the

British elite that is to be condemned and not the British people. No

race or nation has a monopoly on nobility or inhumanity. But the

record of the British in India has never been clearly and accurately

presented. Any true student or researcher of history would demand to

know the facts as they were. It is in this spirit that I share this

information. Below is some information on the acts of the British in

India during the late 1850s. Vrin Parker March 23, 2004

 

BRITISH CAMPAIGN OF TERROR

 

"In May 1857, Colonel James Neil, a Scotsman, arrived in Benares with

the 1st Madras European Fusiliers and unleashed the most hideous

terror in the province. Colonel Neil's "hangings" became notorious

and are described thus and quoted in M. Edwards' book Red Year:

"Volunteer hanging parties went out into the districts and amateur

executioners were not wanting to the occasion. One gentleman

(original word used by British author) boasted of the numbers he had

finished off in an artistic manner with mango trees for gibbets and

elephants for drops, the victims of this wild justice being strung

up, as though for pastime, in the form of a figure eight."

 

Neil next moved to Allahabad and the town was bombarded and

set on fire. As the inhabitants tried to escape, they were mowed down

by grapeshot. The surrounding villages were attacked and set on fire,

while European British troops ringed the villages and anyone who

tried to escape the fire was shot down.

 

In a few months Colonel Neil was promoted to the rank of

General. But he got his just deserts when he was ambushed by the

Sipahis (Sepoys) in the streets of Lucknow and shot through the head.

Queen Victoria awarded Neil a posthumous knighthood and his praises

were sung by many British writers.

 

There were hundreds of others as diabolical as Neil,

massacring old men and helpless women. The British were bent on

paying off scores making up for one British life by killing fifty

Indians. To kill an Indian became the "Best Sport". Thousands

perished at Varanasi (Benares) and "their corpses hanging from branch

and signpost all over town….For three months did eight dead carts

daily go their rounds from sunrise to sunset to take down the corpses

which hung at the crossroads and marketplaces poisoning the air of

the city and to throw their loathsome burdens into the Ganges," wrote

Bholanath Chander in the Travels of a Hindu.

 

One of the most gruesome punishments adopted by the British

was the blowing away of rebels from the mouths of cannons. The victim

was lashed to a cannon, the small of his back or the pit of his

stomach against a muzzle and then, "he was smeared with the blood of

the Englishmen murdered by the rebels." When the gun was fired, the

head of the victim, hardly disfigured, would fly through the smoke

and then fall to the ground slightly blackened, followed by the arms

and leg, which would also only be partially mutilated. The trunk

would, of course, be shattered giving off a "beastly smell" and

pieces of flesh and intestines and blood would fall on the gunners

and the eager spectators who had ventured too close. The vultures

flying above would, with amazing skill, snap up the bits of flesh in

their beaks.

 

An eyewitness account of this punishment quoted by Sir John

Smythe from the History of the 86th regiment, British Infantry, is

worth reproducing here….

"It was indeed a fearful sight. The square was formed on

three sides, the fourth being occupied by the artillery with a field

piece which was about to blow the poor wretch to eternity. I must

confess I felt a shiver of horror when I beheld the doomed man

approach. He was a splendid looking fellow, the perfect cut of a

Hindoo high-caste soldier. He stepped firmly and resolutely as if on

a parade, not a shake or shiver of his limbs, not a trace of emotion

on his countenance denoting the slightest fear of the frightful fate

he was about to encounter. He did not appear to be more than twenty-

five years of age. He placed himself composedly before the gun to

which he was fastened. Although perfectly aware that he might expect

the word "Fire" that would blow him into a thousand pieces, his face

never altered, but a slight sneer might be traced on his upper lip.

It was a moment of horror to all, and when the word "Fire" was given

it was almost a relief. We heard a dull "thud", a Scotch word more

expressive than any English one I could give, and after a second or

two, the remains of the Hindoo soldier were falling to the ground

like large hailstones, and particles of bone and muscle struck my

officer and men who were stationed behind the gun. There was dead

Silence…."

 

(Note: The above incidents took place after the war of 1857 had

begun, the incidents below preceded the outbreak of war)

 

…What further fuelled the people's hatred for the British was their

worsening economic situation. The administrative setup of the

Maharaja of Jhansi was dismantled by the British as a result of which

several people became unemployed. Many landowners suffered and some

were dispossessed of their land. British Major Erskine, the

commissioner of Sagar and Narbada territories, also ordered that all

land granted by the Rani of Jhansi must be confiscated. The Jhansi

army had already been disbanded and the soldiers were unemployed. The

########## effect of all these measures was that the purchasing power

of the elite declined and the economy of Jhansi suffered, adding to

the woes of the people. D.B.Parasnis in his book Jhansi ki Rani, 1894

quotes John Sullivan who wrote, "With the disappearance of the native

Court, trade languishes, the Capital decays and the people are

impoverished. The Englishman flourishes and acts like a sponge,

drawing up the riches from the banks of the Ganges and squeezing them

down upon the banks of the Thames (river in London)."

 

 

Another measure which was particularly galling to the Rani of

Jhansi, as to all Hindus, was the introduction of cow slaughter to

Jhansi. In all Hindu states of the country, cow slaughter was

strictly prohibited and the introduction of this in Jhansi showed

total British disregard of the religious sentiments of the people.

Further offense was given to the Rani and the people by the British

measures relating to the beautiful Mahalakshmi temple. This temple,

built beside a lake on the outskirts of the city, was a place of

worship for a majority of Jhansi inhabitants. The Rani also

worshipped there regularly. The former Maharaja had granted two

villages in perpetuity two villages to this temple and the revenues

were used for its upkeep. The British ruled that these two villages

must be resumed along with the rest of the State of Jhansi. This

would have dire consequences for the temple. The Rani's protests were

in vain. Already there were sinister rumours among the people all

over north and central India that both Hindus and Muslims were being

forcibly converted to Christianity. In Jhansi, the measures against

the temple and introduction of cow slaughter fanned this widespread

fear.

 

In the case of Nagpur, where the Bhonsle family had ruled,

the British annexation was implemented in a way which gave great

offense to public feeling. Despite the protests of the ladies of the

royal household, the elephants, the horses and even the bullocks were

sold off to cattle dealers at the price of carrion. The furniture was

removed from the palace and these, along with the jewels of the

Bhonsle family, were sent for sale to the Calcutta market. These

actions created a worse impression on the surrounding provinces than

the British seizure of the kingdom itself.

 

It was during the time of Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General

(1847-56) that a stupendous growth took place in the British

territory in India. Dalhousie annexed several Indian States under the

policy of lapse, whereby on the failure to produce natural heirs, the

sovereignty of the `dependent' states lapsed to the British

government. It also did not acknowledge the right of those states to

adopt heirs, which had been a long standing practice among Hindus,

without the consent of British authorities. Consequently, whenever a

ruler died without a natural heir, the British got an opportunity for

territorial aggrandizement.

 

S.N. Sen, the historian, has offered the provocative

assessment of the impact of Dalhousie's policy. In his view,

annexation contributed unwittingly to the political unification of

India and thus became the foundation of the modern Indian nation.

Dalhousie's policy led to a strong sense of insecurity and injustice

among the rulers of various Indian states. Many discontented princes,

expropriated landlords and their followers and retainers were thus

driven to join the revolt against British rule. Dalhousie left India

a year before the 1857 war broke out, ravaged by disease, and died a

few years later at the early age of forty-seven. After the outbreak

of hostilities, he was bitterly criticized in Britain for his

policies, particularly the policy of lapse. As a result he stopped

keeping copies of his private correspondence and forbade publication

of his private papers until fifty years after his death. Ironically

Dalhousie had no sons and his own titles became extinct on his death.

It would seem that even the Gods disapproved of his policy.

 

(Note:The following 3 paragraphs are written by Vrn Parker)

These and other British policies led to the cause of India's

1857 War for Independence. The British, to this day, try to portray

the whole affair as simply a mutiny. However the fact that the

British went on a massive genocidal campaign and massacred thousands

of non-combatants proves they recognized the true nature of the

struggle. In a mutiny only the mutineers are targeted. However wars

of liberation are national efforts that encompass all members of a

community. Thus the British targeted all members of the community in

their drive to strike fear and terror into the hearts and minds of

one and all.

 

Another crucial point to recognize is that the 1857 struggle

was a united effort. Whether Hindu or Muslim, they all saw themselves

as Indians and worked together to liberate India from the British.

When the Indian Sepoys in the British army rebelled they issued a

proclamation, "The people are God's, the country is the King's and

the two religions Govern." In other words, all are children of God;

it didn't matter if God was called Allah or Rama. All, Hindu and

Muslim both, agreed to accept the Moghul Emperor, Bhahadur Shah as

Sovereign and to recognize both Hindu and Islam as the official State

religions. It was this spirit of unity that was destroyed by the

British in the years following the 1857 war. It was the result of

this policy that led to the creation of Pakistan. When it was

created in 1947, 30% of its citizens were Hindus. Within a few years,

the Hindu population dropped to 3%. On the other hand, India

maintained its tradition of inclusiveness without regard for

religious identity. Thus, today, modern India has more Muslim

citizens than even Pakistan and has the world's second largest Muslim

population. While not one Muslim nation has had a Hindu in its

government, India has had four Muslim Presidents. The Hindu

perception of Nationality encompasses all of its citizens. Hindu

Civilization recognizes all of its citizens to be Indians. All are

accepted regardless of religion, race, social status, caste or

creed.

 

(Note: The incidents below took place after the British

falsely accused the Rani of Jhansi of massacring British citizens and

after the outbreak of the 1857 War of Indian Independence. It took

nearly two weeks for the British to storm Jhansi. Even then they only

succeeded with the help of a traitor, Dulaji Thakar. The British

later awarded him an estate for his betrayal of Jhansi.)

 

THE SIEGE OF JHANSI

 

Halwaipura, an elegant locality, where the Sardars and other wealthy

people lived, had been looted by the British soldiers and then set on

fire. Men, women and children in their hundreds were burnt to death.

Shrieks of agony, crying and wailing could be heard in the fort along

with the sounds of fighting, shooting and pillaging….

 

Heavy street fighting continued in Jhansi for two whole days. No

quarter was given even to women and children. Those who could not

escape threw their women and babes down wells, and then jumped down

themselves. The British were not just intent on capturing Jhansi but

on destroying the people-they were out for revenge. "No maudlin

clemency was to mark the fall of the city," wrote British Dr

Lowe. "The Jezebel of India was there, the young, energetic, proud,

unbending, uncompromising Rani."

 

Looting and massacre were freely allowed. British soldiers dived into

every house and searched its dark corners and pulled down walls. All

gold and silver articles were taken, even the deities of Gods from

temples. They pulled jewelry off women's ears and necks. One Indian

eyewitness, Vishnu Godse, a Brahmin priest, described how one band of

British soldiers would descend on a house and the inmates, in fear of

their lives, would hand over all their valuables, but along would

come a second band and not finding anything of value, would put them

to the sword anyway.

 

After the fall of Jhansi to the British, it was the turn of the

inhabitants of this city to be put through the horror of wholesale

slaughter and looting. English writers have maintained a discreet

silence about this and the only one person to have mildly suggested

that there was looting was the assistant surgeon accompanying British

troops, Dr. J.H. Sylvester. "So as soon as the fighting had ceased,

officers and men began to look about them with that spirit of

curiosity. They dived into every house and searched its dark corners

and pulled down walls, all in this self same spirit of curiosity…not

to loot of course. One class of articles, however, seemed to me to be

looked on as fair loot by even the most scrupulous, these were the

gods found in temples."

 

Vishnu Godse, who went through the nightmare of the killing and

looting by the British in Jhansi, has painted a grim

picture: "Everyone thought they were standing at the edge of the

graveyard." He asked his host, "How are we going to save ourselves

from being massacred?" His host Keshav Bhat told him not to worry as

in a nearby haveli (mansion), there were bakhars or recesses built

into the thick walls where no one would find them. These recesses

were dark and stifling but that was where they must hide. That night

Godse looked at the city from the roof-top and the whole of Jhansi

looked like a cremation ground with the fires blazing everywhere. In

the light of these fires he would see people in the streets crying

pitifully and hugging the corpses of their loved ones. In Halwaipura,

the elegant havelis of the rich were on fire, the flames leaping to

the skies. There was no way they could be extinguished and the fires

were spreading from one house to the next. "That night, says

Godse, "the gunfire was incessant. I could not sleep; I lay

trembling, my mouth and throat dry."

 

The next day, Godse and his hosts fled their home and crept to their

hiding place. When they got there it was crammed with people and they

forced their way in. Vishnu Godse, with a tinge of humor says that

the niche in which he took shelter was very small and he was squeezed

against a couple of attractive young women for several hours but not

one carnal thought entered his mind, He could only visualize the

horror outside.

 

In three days of looting, the white soldiers had emptied the houses

of all valuables: gold, silver and gems. After that came the Indian

contingents of Madras and Hyderabad and they made off with brass and

copper vessels, clothes and even grain stored in houses. On the

eighth day an amnesty was declared. It was the month of April and it

was hot. Hundreds of dead bodies lay rotting in the streets and a

loathsome stench pervaded the city.

 

The main royal palace of Jhansi had the accumulated wealth of several

generations of Maharajas. The British denuded it of all its

treasures, the Panna diamonds and other gems, the priceless carpets

and miniature paintings and other artifacts. The greatest loss was

the library. This had been damaged in the bombardment but many

manuscripts and books could have been saved. But now the European

soldiers attracted by the rich and beautiful cases and silk bindings

in which the manuscripts were kept, tore out the pages and took away

the cases. These books were irreplaceable and Indian writer Parasnis

says this wanton destruction was worse than the ancient depredation

of the Mongols. The library had been founded by the Rani's late

husband, Maharaja Gangadhar Rao, who had obtained rare manuscripts in

Sanskrit, Hindi and Marathi from centres of learning in North India

as well as the Deccan. The Rani continued this splendid institution

and helped to increase its collection. Unfortunately, the library was

destroyed during the British bombardment and the world is the poorer

for it.

 

The loot from the royal palace of Jhansi, the horses and elephants

and other treasures, were auctioned by the British. Scindia of

Gwalior, a British ally, delightfully snapped up most of the prize

animals and other precious items from the palace.

 

By Sep 22 1857, Delhi had been reoccupied. Delhi then suffered its

reign of terror. There was no sanctity of life or property. The

innocent suffered along with the rebel-they were shot and strung up

on gibbets; the revenge was bloody and cruel. Ghalib, the great poet

wrote, "Here is a vast ocean of blood before me. God alone knows what

more I have to behold….thousands of my friends are dead. Whom should

I remember and to whom should I complain? Perhaps none is left even

to shed tears on my grave." The Moghul Emperor Bahadur Shah was made

a prisoner and his three sons were killed although they had

surrendered on the condition that their safety would be guaranteed.

Twenty one other princes of the royal family were hanged. The three

sons were killed in cold blood after putting their faith in British

honor. The Emperor was tried in court and banished to Rangoon, Burma

where he died a few years later, far from his home and his family,

unhonoured and unsung.End Quotes from the book, Rani of Jhansi-

Lakshmi Bai.

 

Some have tried to whitewash the British actions as an example

of `collateral damage' frequently sustained in combat conditions.

They highlight atrocities committed by Indians and completely ignore

the fact that these acts were generally carried out by individuals

and groups acting independently. Whereas the British atrocities were

part of official State policy the Indian atrocities had no official

sanction. Some have even suggested that the Rani of Jhansi, Lakshmi

Bai, was implicated in the massacre of British women and children. We

only need to read a letter to Damodar Rao, the adopted son of the

Rani of Jhansi, written by T.A. Martin, one of the Englishmen at

Jhansi who managed to escape the massacre. Martin wrote the letter in

1889.

 

It says, "Your poor mother was very unjustly and cruelly

dealt with and no one knows her true case as I do. The poor thing

took no part whatever in the massacre of the European residents of

Jhansi in June 1857. On the contrary, she supplied them with food for

two day after they had gone into the fort, got one hundred matchlock

men from Kurrura, and sent them to assist us. But after being kept a

day in the fort they were sent away in the evening. She then advised

Major Skeene and Captain Gordon to fly at once to Duttia and place

themselves under the Raja's protection-but this even they would not

do-and finally, they were all massacred by our own troops-the police,

jail and customs etc. (all in the employ of the British.) How could

the poor Rani have succoured them?"

 

Sir Robert Hamilton, an Agent of the Governor–General for

central India had met the Rani on several occasions. He says, "Not a

paper incriminating the Ranee did I find nor did there appear any

evidence that she desired or was privy to the murder of any

Europeans….the English were induced to leave the fort (and thus

massacred) by the persuasion of the Darogah (warden) of the jail and

by a Rissaldar of the Irregulars. The Ranee was not present nor any

man on her behalf."

 

General Sir Hugh Rose, the leader of the Jhansi campaign had this to

say about Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi. "The most important result

was the death of the Ranee of Jhansi who although a lady, was the

bravest and best military commander of the rebels."

 

Yamuna Sheorey, a grand-daughter of the Rani's uncle gives the

following account on the death of the Rani. "The Rani had already

donned her red soldier's uniform. The bombardment from the British

cannons began. The Rani mounted her steed and plunged into battle. As

the hand to hand fighting developed, a white soldier lunged at the

Rani with his bayonet and pierced her below the chest. She turned

like a lioness and struck the man down. She saw her companion, Mundar

Bai, killed by a bullet. Another bullet hit the Rani on her left

thigh. She dropped the sword in her left hand and pressed the wound

and with the second sword in her right hand slashed and hit a

soldier. A third assailant struck the Rani on the head with his

sword, cutting the right side of her face and eye wounding her

mortally. Her followers valiantly extracted her from the battle and

carried her to the hut of Baba Ganga Das and the Sadhu put Ganges

water in her mouth. She was heard to mutter, `Har Har Mahadev' before

passing into eternal sleep. A funeral was hurriedly made up of dry

grass and her wish that her body not fall into British hands was

fulfilled."

 

British Military Secretary to the Commander in Chief in India, Sir

O.T. Burne wrote in his book Clyde and Strathnairn, published in

1891, "This Indian Joan of Arc was dressed in a rd jacket and

trousers and a white turban. She wore Scindia's celebrated pearl

necklace she had taken from his treasury. As she lay mortally

wounded, she ordered these ornaments to be distributed among her

troops. The whole rebel army mourned her loss."

 

Let me conclude by offering a couple glimpses from the life of Queen

Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. The first incident took place at the beginning

of her reign and the other on the eve of her final battle.

 

"Twice a week, the Rani and her son, Damodar, went in procession to

the Mahalakshmi temple, with its lake filled with lotus flowers. The

procession was an impressive one and wound through the main streets

of the city. Sometimes she went on horseback and at other times in a

palanquin decorated with curtains and gold brocade. Her ministers,

feudatories, and other officials mounted on horses accompanied her.

At the head of the procession were a drummer and a flag bearer while

the rear was taken up by a mounted escort of soldiers in Maratha

uniforms. A further touch of glamour was added by her beautifully

attired handmaidens who walked alongside her palanquin. If it became

dark men baring flaming torches lit the way. At the palace gates, the

melodious notes of the shenai greeted her return.

One cold wintry evening, while returning from the temple, she saw the

poor of the town in coarse cotton garments huddling around hastily

built fires in the by lanes of the city. She got down from her

palanquin and asked them all to come to her palace in four days time.

All the tailors of the town were kept very busy for those four days.

When the poor in their hundreds gathered in front of the palaces,

every one of them was handed over a woolen jacket, cap and a

blanket."

 

"…as a morale-boosting measure, she decided to make the annual

ceremony of Haldi Kunku into a far more brilliant function than

usual. As this ceremony is only for women, Lakshmi Bai invited most

of the women of Jhansi from all walks of life, caste and creed, Hindu

and Muslim alike. The wives of the noblemen and officials arrived in

richly hung palanquins with liveried attendants whilst the majority

walked to the palace. An image of Goddess Gauri adorned with diamond

jewelry was installed and the Durbar Hall of the palace was

resplendent with brocade curtains, rich carpets, fragrant flowers and

brilliantly lit chandeliers. One hundred handmaidens were in

attendance passing around silver trays laden with sweetmeats, haldi

kunku, sandalwood paste and flowers. The function continued from two

in the afternoon to nine at night. The women were dressed in

shimmering silk saris or brocade lenghas and cholis and gorgeous

jewelry. The function achieved its objective of restoring confidence,

as the women, on returning home, talked of her warm hospitality and

her determination to win the forthcoming battle."

 

RANI LAKSHMI BAI KI JAI!!! BHARAT MATA KI JAI!!!

BHAVANI MATA KI JAI!!!

[Guest guest]

indicjournalists, "Rajeev Srinivasan"

<rajeevs@r...> wrote:

vrin

we have tended to ignore the damage done by british barbarians to

india. i think the time has come to work out a quantitative estimate

of what it cost us. i am doing a little research on this with some

financial types, and the amounts that we are talking about are truly

astronomical: in the $10 trillion range.

 

before the battle of plassey in 1757, india was at least as

prosperous, and probably much more prosperous, than britain. in

1750,

india accounted for 25% of the world's entire manufacturing. the

kaveri and brahmaputra deltas were two of the world's 4 largest

pocekts of industrial might.

 

the systematic impoverization of india is worth a few phd theses.

 

not to mention a lot of works of fiction about the atrocities

perpetrated on indians. the jury is still out on whether muslim rule

or christian rule was worse for india. i am inclined to believe it

was the latter. at the very least, the muslims intended to live

here,

so they didnt destroy the economics of the country.

 

besides, the christians are better at marketing and psychological

warfare than the more straightforward muslims.

 

rajeev

 

 

indicjournalists, "vrnparker"

<vrnparker>

wrote:

> British Sources Confirm Atrocities against Indians

>

> "With the disappearance of the native Court, trade languishes, the

> Capital decays and the people are impoverished. The Englishman

> flourishes and acts like a sponge, drawing up the riches from the

> banks of the Ganges and squeezing them down upon the banks of the

> Thames."1850s British Writer and Traveler John Sullivan

>

> A Report By Vrin Parker (VP Vedic Friends Association)

>

--- End forwarded message ---