The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c15.1

c15.1

Expansion and reaction: the coupling of the two concepts in a complementary pair seems obvious. In fact it is too obvious to be true. Expansion of Western, specifically British, control over the Indian subcontinent there certainly was—even though our understanding of this complex phenomenon is less than perfect. But what about its counterpart, the Indian reaction? One is even tempted to ask, Was there a reaction at all? Such a question flies in the face of the consecrated rhetoric that glibly speaks of the defense of traditional values, national identity, and the struggle for freedom. But then the same goes for the countervailing slogans of the white man's burden and the *mission civilisatrice*—not to mention the ambitious utterances of our latter-day development ideologists, which make the rhetoric of their colonial predecessors look rather pale and shame-faced.