A Glimpse of Empire is a work that shows the tryst of an
Irish woman Lilah with India in the first decade of the 20th century. She comes to India to escape the oppressive influence of her mother and
see the darbar of George V in Delhi .Her granddaughter penned the courageous take if Lilah who
came , saw and fell in love with India. She wrote about her impressions which
were found in her diary. The love between Irish and India is historical.
There has been a proximity between the two countries which suffered
under the colonial rule of the
British. The Irish home rule movement came to India, thanks to Annie Besant. Lilah’s
perception of India seems fresh even after more than a century after her visit to India. It is a symbol of
triumph of emancipation of woman from
“the claustrophobic Edwardian and aristocratic conventions of her gloomy mother.” (1) Her
independence of mind is shown through her sure rebuttal of advances from the
middle aged and wealthy Comte de Madre
on her voyage to India on the ship called Maloza. She was an explorer into the
life of style of India and its rulers, princes , Rajahs in pre-independence India. She navigated through the
unchartered waters to understand
the heart of India. She observed the life plainly and without any prejudice,
the eyes of the innocence.
John Steinbeck too visited Soviet union and he expressed his objective understanding any political glasses. He observes the
landscape and people of Russia to
perceive the country’s heart without tinted glasses.
In both the books we find the black and white photos which present enchanting history of
India and Russia respectively in unvarnished terms. See to know the truth .
This is the technique in both the books. Jessica Douglas use her
material and diary entries of her grand mother to reveal the charm of her
person and perception whereas Steinbeck and Capa bring out the enigmatic truth
of Russia.
On her way to Delhi, Lailah sees bewildering reality of India.
Through the window she could see grey monkeys
with white chests and very ling tails darting in and out among trees,
parakeets, mynahs and crows, carts drawn by great horned bullocks, fields full
of mimosa trees, palms and scrub, and
peasants in the fields washing their clothes in muddy streams. (28)
When she got down on the platform she was
Instantly surrounded by a swarm of small boys, natives in brilliant
turbans and naked men protected only by
loin clothes, all bargaining ,begging, stealing or performing mesmeric feats of
conjuring. (28)
Her diary entries showed that
whole
framework and all the preconceptions of her English existence, with its formalities
and rules, had abruptly become
irrelevant. Life in India was outside
the pale of those rigid conventions: it was unpredictable, bewildering – but it
was life. (29)
She was in tented city. When she came back
from a small excursion , she heard about the two Punjab camps were caught fire
and there wa no alarm by the watchmen.
Indians were, by all accounts, highly
superstitious. In Bombay earlier in the day the flag that was hoisted on the
King’s arrival had stuck at half mast, resisting every effort to rise it
further. This too was considered a bad omen. Lilah herself had a touch of Irish
superstitiousness. (34)
Lilah Visited the tents of various kings or chiefs of the
principalities who came to participate in the Durbar. She refers to the
encampment of Kashmir king, the
Muslim female ruler of Bhopal, the
luxury-minded Maharajah of Patiala , the faithful Nizam of Hyderabad, The independent Gaekwar of Baroda, The Maharaja
of Bikaner, the Maharajh of
Nawanagar and famous cricketer
Ranjit Singh .
In the work we see the journey of Lilah through the eyes of Jessica
who recreates the journey imaginatively and yet makes it look fresh.
Referring to the ambiguous relation between the Kings and The raj,
she writes,
Each chief and his family had behind them at
least a century’s history of loyalty, ambivalence or disaffection towards Britain.
As the Empire disintegrated, giving way to the East India company and later to
the Raj, many of the Mahrajahs had sought the Crown’s protection from marauding
Afghans and from each other. (39)
The book refers to
collaboration between the Raj and the
Rajahs and Princes and an unspoken part of the
Durbar’s aim was to reinforce the authority of the Raj by getting the
princes to proclaim their homage publicly to the King Emperor in front of their
own people.”(43)
The year 1911 was also not free from apprehension of the fear of possible mutiny or terroristic violence and the
trouble affected Punjab that had been loyal so far. The parade showed that the Queen was more noticeable than the King
and the Indian Princes stole the show through their show of splendor. Lilah
understood what Dhokal Thakur told her on board regarding the Durbar
procession
which was a carefully crafted religious
ritual , the core of all that kept the princely families compelling to their
peoples. A ruler needed to be displayed to enhance his power; the public needed
to see him to participate in that power. The objects he brought to a Durbar
were as important s the clothes he wore, centuries-old decorative symbols which
left interpretation to the viewer, allowing for differences in belief about
religion and kingship. (51)
In the story of Lilah imaginatively reconstructed y her
granddaughter , one can observe how she has shown partiality towards the
British captains who died in mutiny and the same is not at all shown to the
mutineers or freedom fighters who opposed
the British rule. When he came to
know about Nana Sahib’s treacherous act of giving a safe passage to the British
and gunning them down while they were going on boats and butchering of the
English prisoners including women and
children disturbed her a great deal. The
reprisals on the mutineers were also brutal. Jessica Douglas also refers
to Vasily Vereshchagin’s war paintings
in which the mutineers were shown tied up to the cannon and blown up. Lilah
thought that the “Mutiny had seen
terrible acts on both sides.” (87) Western historiography portrays rebellion
against the raj in the negative and natives are hardly given any praise for
their spirit of rebellion. They are savage ,retributive , illiterate, lustful
and what not. The same continues in
any depiction of history of rebellion
against the oppressors. So Nana sahib and others appear horrible and the
Vietcong fighters in Vietnam war are commies who needed to be napalmed rather
than understood. The burden of civilization continues to torment the Westerns
since 1857. But Lilah also praises hospitality of Indians and criticizes the
English for imposing generosity upon some prince or Rajah . Shea remarks .”
Many of these contemptuously termed ‘natives’
are far finer truer gentlemen than many an Englishman.” (119) The book
also mentions how Lilah was swayed by
Annie Besant in her return journey
and when she came to know about Annie’s desire to take on the Home rule
movement , she was ‘dumbstruck.’ (120)This shows how the book presents the
courage as well as prejudice of Lilah who looked at India more from the western viewpoint rather than Irish
nationalist viewpoint.
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