The British Raj in India

The British Raj is the name given to the period of British colonial rule in India between 1858 and 1947, after the fall of Mughal Empire. It started when the European acquire Asian trading, but over time, the acquisition of territory grew in importance. Britain had been trading in India since about 1600. During the Mogul emperor Jahangir, the East India Company was able to establish operations in India, where they traded cotton, silk, tea and opium. By 1700s, The East India Company established its own army in India, which was composed of British troops as well as native soldiers called “Sepoys”. In the 1800s English power expanded in India. The British rule in India became known as "The Raj," which was derived from the Sanskrit term ‘raja’ meaning king. During the period under the British control, there were many rivals of the Indian against the British commanders, for example, “The Indian Rebellion of 1857”, which was also called the ‘Great rebellion’, was a turning point in the history of Britain in India. There were a number of other underlying causes for the rebellion. Many Indians were distressed by the rapid cultural changes imposed by the British. They worried that Hindu and Muslim India would be "Christianized." Resentment toward the British had been building for some time, and new policies, which allowed the British to annex some areas of India, exacerbated tensions However, the rivals had to surrender to the British power because of superior weaponry. In 1858 which is the beginning of the raj, the system of governance was instituted when the rule of the British East India Company was transferred to the Crown in the person of Queen Victoria (and who in 1877 was proclaimed Empress of India). It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign dominion states: the Republic of India, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the eastern half of which, still later, became the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

Architecture of the British Raj

In December 1911, the British announced that India’s capital, then in Calcutta, would return to Delhi where a new city would be built. Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker, the English architects were assigned by Jawaharan Nehru, the first president of India after the independence to design the new city. They designed a grand capital in ‘imperial style’, spacious, symmetrical, with a few elements of Indian architecture. Buildings under the British Raj tended to emulate Roman styles with the addition of Mughal type commonly known as the 'Indo-Saracenic’, which composed of i.e. surface decoration, and arched gateways. The last legacy of the Raj includes imposing government buildings, such as Rashtrapati Bhavan, the ceremonial Rajpath, India Gate and the vast crescent of Connaught Place. The architecture of the British Raj was enduring and represented a means of ensuring that Indians were aware of British power and supremacy.

The Raj - Malin

The Mughal ruled Delhi until in the middle of 19^th Century, 1858. British Company took the royal splendor and patronage from the Mughal dynasty. From pre-the Raj to post-the Raj, people way of life and architectural style shifted from ‘the Persian and Islamic influenced’ to ‘the western influenced’. Education and domesticity of Indian was change gradually during hundred years of the British colonial.

During the period of colonial rules Indian learned English as the language for administration, the language of the new ruler. Also, Western style Education College spread very quickly in India during 1800-1850. Indian liked to send their children to this kind of educational system, because graduates would be paid well and get good job. That means the education of this country would develop as unique as it could follow the central curriculum in British way.

British had grabbed lands and propertied from Indians. The British did restructuring the domestic properties and spread it out to the elites, especially in Delhi. As like the farm land around Delhi, the British Company took it and redistributed by their system. Since that, Delhi city became a blending of British and Indian style.

However, the British intrusively invasion in India brought up ‘civilization’ which was a western way to the city. They brought in a new generation of transportation and a new way of economic system. Indian people as their subservience, has gradually changed their identity and their way of life through time during the siege of British Empire. Howsoever, it cannot be proved that the way of city changing during the Raj period got to the matter of good or not. Anyhow, the hundred years of the Raj had not long enough to cleanly vanish Indian essence. That is how Indian culture especially in Delhi presented as an ensuing result of the two cultures mixing and it made Delhi as Delhi today.