ABSTRACT
The East India Company’s rule in India was arguably the most bizarre experiment in governance that the world has ever seen. The new rulers knew nothing about the land or the peoples now under their control. The locals spoke a different language and followed a different religion. As a first step, the colonists became patrons of ancient learning, with a view to endearing themselves to influential sections of Hindu society. The British had no option but to employ Indians in the administration of their own country by teaching them English or, as the colonists put it, by effecting their ‘moral and intellectual improvement’. But the timing had to be chosen carefully.
