It is history that gives us the wisdom and reasoning to find out the truth, and great civilisations that fail to preserve or doubt on their history and culture, lose their glory. On the Platinum Jubilee year of our Independence, when the country is celebrating Swantarta Ka Amrut Mahatotosava with great gusto, it is the moment to revisit our past; unlearn and relearn from history to sketch a proposition for country’s bright future, by taking pride in the scientific achievements of our countrymen in the colonial period, despite repression and discrimination.
India had a strong tradition of science and technology that had served millions of its people since the Vedic times. It was plural in nature and the welfare of entire humanity was at its roots. Research has shown that India was actively contributing to the field of science and technology, particularly mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy and medicine before modern laboratories were set up. It is ironical that a narrative has been built over the years that India did not have any noteworthy sciences prior to colonisation, and science which had its origin and development in Europe was introduced in India only under the British East India Company’s rule for the welfare of colonised Indians.
Arrival of Western Science in India
But the bitter truth is that the British rulers were not interested in science as such, but in using scientific knowledge for gaining better understanding of the climate, flora and fauna of the colony to administer it and exploit its natural resources in a more efficient manner. They had no commitment to the promotion of scientific disciplines or scientific societies and their goal was limited to the accomplishment of their assigned tasks. Native Indian scientists were treated as inferior and highly discriminated against in the colonial scientific enterprise. This article intends to highlight the stories of some bright Indian scientists who excelled in their field and contributed to the rise of nationalism though science in the colonial period despite strong discrimination at the hands of the rulers.Though Indians got introduced to western science upon being assigned the role of surveyors and data collectors in field studies or as laboratory assistants, they soon graduated to responding to science on their own. However, no matter the importance of their contribution to the sciences, credit went to their masters for improving the natives. Indians, by and large, remained nameless and faceless attendants in the European club of science.
Science ‘Apartheid’ in British Raj
Examples abound of such unsung scientific geniuses of India. Radhanath Sikdar, for instance, was a brilliant mathematician who specialised in spherical trigonometry, and worked as a ‘computor’ in the Great Trigonometric Survey of India (GTSI). He was the first person to calculate the height of the highest mountain of the world called Peak XV until then. It was Sir Andrew Waugh who proposed the name Mount Everest for this peak after his predecessor Surveyor-General George Everest without sharing the credit with Sikdar. It is interesting to note that though Sikdar’s contribution to the preparation of the Manual of Surveying for India (Edited by Capt. H. L. Thullier and Capt. F. Smyth) was duly acknowledged in the preface of the first and second editions, after his death when the third edition of the manual was brought out, the colonial rulers inadvertently or advertently removed the name of the able and distinguished head of the computing department of GTSI from the publication. They knew that the dead man could not protest. But this incident did not go unnoticed. In 1876, the paper Friend of India called it, ‘robbery of the dead’. Sikdar exhibited exemplary moral courage to protest the behaviour of a British magistrate who used derogatory remarks for survey department workers as ‘Paharee coolies’. Although the colonial administration fined him Rs 200 for his “criminal” action he was hailed as a hero by his countrymen.
During the colonial period, British scholars had to take support of Indian talents to achieve success but denied them their due credit. Sir Ronald Ross was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1902 for the discovery of the malaria parasite, whose entire research he had carried out in India. But neither in his Nobel lecture nor in his paper, he mentioned the scientific contributions of his young bright research assistant, Kishori Mohan Bandhopadhyay, a talented science graduate from Presidency College, Calcutta who worked tirelessly in the laboratory and convinced villagers to provide blood samples for research. After Ross received the Nobel Prize, to honour the contribution of Kishori Mohan, Upendranath Brahmachari, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose and others requested Lord Curzon to give recognition to Bandhyopadhyay. Lord Curzon saw to it that he was given King Edward VII’s Gold Medal in 1903 during the Delhi Durbar by the Duke of Connaught. Bandopadhyaya was disappointed when Ross published his memoirs, with a full account of the Great Malaria Problem and its solution, in 1923, without mentioning his name. In a few places he had mentioned his assistant, but not by name. He eventually refused to meet Ross, who revisited the Presidency General Hospital in 1927.
The British had a deceitful attitude towards Indian scientists. Seebchunder Nandy, inspector-in-charge of the telegraphic line under Dr William Brooke O‘Shaughnessy, rendered excellent services to the British government during the Mutiny of 1857 by securing the telegraphic communications between Calcutta and Bombay. When Dr O‘Shaughnessy became Director-General of Telegraphy, two Englishmen were appointed Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent but Nandy continued as Inspector despite showing his loyalty to the British during the mutiny. It is interesting to note the bigotry of the British government here — while they did not elevate him professionally, he was appeased with honours such as Rai Bahadur to raise him in social hierarchy.
There are numerous evidences which highlight the discrimination faced by even those Indian scientists who had distinguished themselves in renowned British Universities. They were offered inferior positions than the Europeans of the same grade and rank. In those days, the British thought that Indians were not capable of holding high posts in educational service and thus Imperial Educational Service (IES) was out of their bounds, however qualified they might be. The IES was accessible only through nomination. This policy put the Europeans at an advantage to get a place in the education department through the IES, while Indian scientists had to remain in the Provincial Educational Service (PES), and were given half the salary of their counterparts in the IES.
The Indian Response
This ‘apartheid’ in science made the Indians respond strongly. J. C. Bose, the first noted Indian physicist who was nominated by Lord Ripon, then Viceroy of India, for Imperial Education Service was strongly opposed by Sir Alfred Croft, then Director of Public Instruction of Bengal, and Mr. Charles R. Tawney, Principal of the Presidency College. Croft said: ‘I am usually approached from below, not from above. There is no higher class appointment at present available in the Imperial Educational Service, I can only offer you a place in the Provincial Service, from which you may be promoted.’ Even after personal intervention of Lord Ripon, he was given appointment on a temporary basis with half-pay. Bose protested, the first Satyagrah of the colonial period, but continued his teaching assignment at Presidency College for three years, refusing to accept the reduced salary. Not only this, till the Royal Society recognised Bose, the college authorities refused him any research facility and considered his work as purely private. Finally, the authorities fully realised the value of Bose’s skill in teaching and his appointment was made permanent with retrospective effect and was given the full salary for the past three years.
Another noted Indian chemist, Acharya PC Ray had also suffered similarly. On his return from Edinburgh University, England, in 1888 with a doctorate in chemistry, he had to hang around for a year and was finally offered a temporary assistant professorship whereas British chemists with similar qualifications and experience were immediately placed in the IES by the Secretary of State. When Ray complained about this unequal treatment, the response of the British authority was, ‘There are other walks of life open to you. Nobody compels you to accept this appointment’. It is sad to note that Acharya Ray, a true nationalist whom the British referred to as ‘revolutionary in the garb of a scientist’, had to be content with discriminatory position in Provincial Service throughout his life.
To HB Medlicott, head of Geological Survey of India (GSI), Indians appeared utterly incapable of any original work in natural science. He wanted to wait till the “scientific chord among the natives” was touched, and added most contemptuously “if indeed it exists as yet in this variety of human race …..so let us exercise a little discretion with our weaker brethren, and not expect them to run before they can walk”. Supersession of PN Bose, an accomplished geologist with a degree of Royal School of Mines, London, by T Holland, who was 10 years junior to him in service, for the position of Director, Geological Survey of India, reflects the humiliating attitude towards native Indians. However, he did not accept the subordination of a less capable junior colleague and preferred to resign from GSI citing its discriminatory policies against his fellow countrymen. He was aware of the fact that all his previous geological discoveries would be used by the British Raj. Thus, when he discovered rich iron ore reserves in Mayurbhanj, he brought it to the notice of Swadeshi industrialist, Jamsetji Tata. The industrialist provided resources to Bose to invest his knowledge of science and geology in setting up the first iron and steel industry, TISCO (Tata Iron and Steel Company).It is beyond the scope of this write-up to make a complete account of the struggle of our audacious scientists — both celebrated and unsung — who fought for a place and recognition in the scientific domain during the British Raj. Under colonialism, any effort to exert the indigenous talent or to promote and apply it to local progress was a challenge to the superiority of the masters. Though it may seem that most of the scientists did not directly participate in the political struggle, their ideological underpinnings to scientific pursuits reflected a definite form of struggle. Their contribution in the struggle for independence is by all means at par with that of Gokhale, Tilak, Bhagat Singh and others. Their struggle meant to bring about an international status for science in India and thereby reassert their national scientific identity. These scientists, who contested the intellectual hegemony of the British, were in fact, responsible for the emergence of Indian nationalism in the freedom struggle. At this important moment of transition, when the country celebrates 75 years of Independence, Indian society, in general, and scientific fraternity, in particular, must acknowledge the sacrifices made by these luminaries and draw inspiration to commit themselves for the pride of our great country Bharat!
*The writer is Director, National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research, New Delhi.
