The Tears of the Rajas - Mutiny, Money, and Marriage in India 1805 to 1905 by Ferdinand Mount

I give my thanks to Max u for providing me with an Amazon Gift Card that allowed me to read this book.

The Tears of the Rajas Mutiny, Money, and Marriage in India 1805 to 1905 by Ferdinand Mount tells the story of British rule of India in the 19th century through the lives of three intermarried families. It is an important work anyone into Indian history will want to read. 

The biggest portion of the book is devoted to the many revolts against British rule and the crushing of these revolts by the British army and the British East India Company.  This book shows how thoughly dispicable the British rule of India was.  Indians were seen as barely human, other than the supposedly loyal sepoys who in fact often turned in revolt against them.  Experienced British officers counseled new arrivals not to fully trust any Indians.  

India in the 19th century was a geographic designation, not a unified country, just as can be said of the Philippines in the century.  Indians over all shared no common religion, spoke a polyglot of languages, it took rule by a hated colonial power to create a sense of national identity. 

The book talks in great detail about the violence of the revolts and the terrible punishments the British brought to bare on their subjects.  Parts of India were ruled directly by British civil servants or British East India Employees.  These positions were viewed by most as the door way to great wealth via bribes and graft.  The goal of  individual British in India was to retire rich back home.  Very interestingly Mount talks about the Thackarey family.  William Thackarey, the author of Vanity Fair was sent back to England at age five to be educated as was often the custom.  Other parts of India were under the control of local rulers, the Princely states.  Mount goes into a lot of detail explaining how the Princes were allowed to keep their thrones and wealth only by paying huge fees to the British, including yearly taxes, land grants and supplies of troops to fight for the British.  Mount lets us see the extreme decadence of many of the Princely rulers.  The British came at first without wives and many took up with local women.  As they prospered the upper class British wanted home grown wives and we learn a lot about the marriage market.  The trip to India could take up to four months so it was not to be undertaken lightly.

To their credit, some British officials became true scholars of Indian culture and tried to help their subjects.  One gets no sense from this book that the Indian Princes  saw those they ruled as anything more than slaves.  

I endorse this book to all into Indian history.  The British come out looking very bad, as rightly they should.

Mel u