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Henry Miers Elliot – a reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Tripta Wahi
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Extract

Henry Miers Elliot's first specifically historical work on India appeared one hundred and forty years ago in 1849. Four years later his small book on the Arabs in Sind was published. Between 1866 and 1877 appeared the magnum opus with which Elliot's name has since become identified, the History of India as told by its own Historians (8 vols.), edited, arranged and completed by John Dowson.

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Articles
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 122 , Issue 1 , January 1990 , pp. 64 - 90
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Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1990

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References

1 Bibliographical Index to the Historians of Muhammedan India (Calcutta, 1849). Henceforth cited as Bibliographical IndexGoogle Scholar.

2 Appendix to the Arabs in Sind, Vol. III, Part I of the Historians of India (Cape Town, 1853). Hereafter Arabs in SindGoogle Scholar.

3 Cited as Elliot & Dowson.

4 A Sketch of the History of India, p. xviii.

5 Medieval India Under Mohammedan Rule (A.D. 712–1764) (London, 1906), p. viGoogle Scholar.

6 Lane-Poole's, Stanley article on Elliot, H. M. in the Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XVIII (1889), p. 258Google Scholar.

7 Hodivala, S. H., Studies in Indo-Muslim History: A Critical Commentary on Elliot and Dowson's History of India as told by its own Historians (Bombay, 1939), preface, p. vGoogle Scholar.

8 Elliot & Dowson, Vol. II, reprinted with (a) Introduction by Prof. M. Habib; (b) Commentary by the late Prof. S. H. Hodivala, (c) Supplement by Khaliq Ahmad Nizami (Aligarh, 1952), p. 764.

9 Presidential Address, Medieval Section, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Twenty-third Session (Aligarh, 1960) (Calcutta, 1961), p. 145Google Scholar.

10 See for instance Richards's, John F. use of Elliot & Dowsonin his article “The Economic History of the Lodi Period: 1451–1526”, The Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient (1965), pp. 47–67Google Scholar. Thapar, Romila has also made considerable use of Elliot & Dowson in her A History of India (Pelican Books, 1966)Google Scholar. See her bibliography for chapters 10–14, pp. 364–368.

11 brewery, John Elliot's, Elliot & Co., “being interpreted, signifies in the midst of large Vessels of the kind which Johnson describes as ‘not a parcel of boilers and vats, but the potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice’”, The Saturday Review, XXIV (1867), p. 158Google Scholar.

12 “Obituary Notice” in Allen's Indian Mail, XII, p. 18Google Scholar; Thomas's, Edward “Notice of Sir Henry M. Elliot”, Elliot & Dowson, Vol. I, pp. xxviii–xxxivGoogle Scholar.

13 Elliot had known two Directors of the East India Company since childhood - Haileybury College: Applications etc., J/l/43 (1827), Petition No. 48, India Office Library.

14 See, for instance, bond by Elliot, John Lettsom (on behalf of Messrs. Elliot & Co.), Miscellaneous Bonds or Agreements, Vol. 129, no. 173, IOLGoogle Scholar.

15 Registers of the Hon. E.I. Co.'s Bengal Civil Servants, 1790–1842 (Calcutta, 1844), p. xliiiGoogle Scholar.

16 Ibid., p. iii.

17 Loc. cit.

18 Loc. cit.

19 Loc. cit.

20 Loc. cit.

21 Agra Civil Servants, L/F/10 (1841) – IOL.

22 Bengal Civil Servants, L/F/10/31, IOL.

23 Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. VI, p. 676.

24 Hardinge's letter of 7 December 1847, Political Letters Received from India, L/P&S/6/15, p. 587, IOL.

25 See , Dalhousie's letter of 24 March 1849, to the Secretary, Committee of Court of Directors, Bengal Secret Letters, 1st Series, L/P&S/5, Vol. 34, p. 154Google Scholar.

26 Ibid. Indeed in Dalhousie's opinion “very great credit is due to Mr. Elliot for the manner in which he accomplished the duty he was charged with”.

27 Home Correspondence: Honours for Indian Services, L/P & S/3, Vol. 24, p. 365, IOL.

28 Bengal Civil Servants, L/F/10/33, IOL.

29 Elliot died of chronic dysentery. It was suspected that he had been poisoned by Zinat Mahal, a younger queen of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah. Elliot had supported the claims of Bahadur Shah's eldest surviving son Mirza Fakhruddin against Mirza Jiwan Bakht, the son of Zinat Mahal Begam. Spear, T. G. P., Twilight of the Mughuls: Studies in Late Mughal Delhi (Cambridge, 1951), pp. 58–9, 163; also Board's Collection, Vol. 2583, No. 154435, IOLGoogle Scholar.

30 Board's Collections, no. 154435, IOL.

31 Hunter, W. W., The Marquess of Dalhousie (Rulers of India Series) (Oxford, 1890), p. 46Google Scholar.

32 This paragraph is based on chapters 4 and 5 of Husain's, ImtiazLand Revenue Policy in North India, The Ceded Conquered Provinces, 1801–33 (1967)Google Scholar.

33 Elliot, H. M., Supplement to the Glossary of Indian Terms (Agra, 1845), p. 17. Henceforth cited as Supplemental Glossary.Google Scholar

34 Loc. cit.

35 For instance, on the basis of the parganas mentioned together in a zamindari sanad Elliot questioned the validity of the sanad. He noticed that such a combination was non-existent in Akbar's time and could scarcely have been used in the fourth year of Jahangir's reign. Ibid., p. 188.

36 Meerut Universal Magazine (1835). For the evidence establishing Elliot's authorship of the article see Wahi, T., British Scholarship on Muslim Rule in India: the work of William Erskine, Sir Henry M. Elliot, John Dowson, Edward Thomas, J. Talboys Wheeler and Henry G. Keene, Ph.D. thesis, London University (1974), p. 103. Henceforth referred to as British Scholarship on Muslim Rule in IndiaGoogle Scholar.

37 Description of Places, Tribes & C., (Elliot Papers) MSS. Eur. F.57, p. 50, IOL.

38 Loc. cit.

39 N.W.P. Lt. Governor's Proceedings in the General Department, Range 214, Vol. 57 (1847), nos. 40–1Google Scholar, IOL.

40 Wilson, H. H., A Glossary of Judicial and Revenue Terms (London, 1855), p. ivGoogle Scholar.

41 Supplemental Glossary, p. 69.

42 Loc. cit.

43 Enclosed with Hardinge's, letter to the Court of Directors, Political Letters Received from India (1847), L/P & S/6, pp. 586–8, IOLGoogle Scholar.

44 Sprenger, Aloys (1813–93) was the translator of Mas'ūdī's Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems, and the author of the Technical Terms of the Sufees (Calcutta, 1844)Google Scholar, an English-Hindustani Grammar (1845), Selections from Arabic Authors (Calcutta, 1847), Life of Mohammad (1851) and the Gulistan of Saadi (1851).

45 “Manuscripts of the late SirElliot, H.”, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, XXIII (1854), p. 226Google Scholar.

46 Elliot Papers, Add. MS. 30768, f. 5, British Museum.

47 N.W.P. Lt. Governor's Proceedings in General Department, Range 214, Vol. 72, no. 88–9, IOL.

48 Bibliographical Index, Preface, pp. viii–ix.

49 Add. MS. 30768, f. 133, British Museum.

50 “Employment of Dr. Sprenger in the examination of the King's libraries at Lucknow”, Board's Collections, vol. 2271, no. 116117. Elliot impressed upon the Court the desirability of rescuing from oblivion many very valuable and rare works contained in the Nawab's libraries, IOL.

51 Ibid., p. 3.

52 Loc. cit.

53 Sprenger, A., Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammad (Berlin, 1869) (2nd ed.), Vol. I, p. vii, n. 2Google Scholar.

54 Add. MSS 30788, ff. 5–8, 17–18, 21–5, 56–8, 64–5, British Museum.

55 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. v.

56 Loc. cit.

57 Ibid., pp. v–vi.

58 Add. MSS 30768–70 (British Museum) - “the draft MS. of Bibliographical Index to the Historians of Mohammadan India”. Add. MS. 30763 is the first draft completed by January 1847 as the date of the preface shows. The remaining two volumes contain materials collected by Elliot between 1847 and 1849.

59 Here and earlier, “Muslim rule in India” is being used instead of medieval Indian history because that is how Elliot perceived this period of Indian history.

60 Add. MS. 30768, f. 5, British Museum.

61 Ibid., f. 5 (reverse).

62 Ibid., ff. 5–6.

63 Ibid., f. 5 (reverse).

64 Elliot's letter of 23 June 1847 to Wilson, H. H., Wilson Papers, MSS. Eur. E. 301, Vol. VI, p. 141Google Scholar, IOL.

65 Ibid., vide Elliot's letter of 24 January 1848 to H. H. Wilson, p. 169.

66 Board of Directors' letter of 18 June 1856 to the Board of Control - Board of Control Letters &c., F/2/3 (1856), IOL.

67 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. vi.

68 Ibid., p. 95.

69 Elliot & Dowson, Vol. VI, p. 277; Add MS. 30769, f. 17, British Museum.

70 See, for instance, Elliot's comments on the historians of Timur - Add. MS. 30768, ff. 111–12, British Museum. See also Elliot & Dowson, Vol. III, pp. 478–9, Vol. VI, pp. 210, 400.

71 Arabs in Sind, p. 194.

72 The revised plan prefixed to the Arabs in Sind.

73 Loc. cit.

74 See, T. Wahi, op. cit., pp. 178–85.

75 Elliot & Dowson, Vol. II, p p. 434–78.

76 Arabs in Sind, pp. 845–83.

77 Thomas's, E. article “An account of eight Kufic silver coins” is based on the collection made by Elliot during his march to Peshawar with the camp of the Governor-General: JASB, XX (1851), p. 537Google Scholar.

78 Add. MS. 30789 Original letters addressed to Sir H. M. Elliot -ff. 52–53 (British Museum); MSS Eur. D. 313, pp. 1–8 (IOL), see also JASB, XVI (1847), p. 1080Google Scholar.

79 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xvii.

80 Ibid., p. xxii.

81 Grewal, J. S., Muslim Rule in India: The Assessment of British Historians (Oxford, 1970), p. 171Google Scholar.

82 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xvii.

83 Ibid., pp. xv–xvi.

84 Ibid., p. xvi.

85 Loc. cit.

86 Ibid., pp. xvi–xvii.

87 Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Twenty-third Session (Aligarh, 1960) (Calcutta, 1961), pp. 144–5Google Scholar.

88 These articles are distinguished by the use of “we” for the author or authors editor's note to the article “On the registration of Mafee”, MUM, II.

89 Hume, J., A Selection from the Writings, Prose and Poetical of the late Henry W. Torrens with a Biographical Note (Calcutta, 1854), Preface, pp. v, xiii; MUM, I, ProspectusGoogle Scholar.

90 J. Hume, ibid., pp. xi, xiii.

91 Polyglot Boby's Own Book (Meerut and Calcutta, 1834)Google Scholar. This article was written by Elliot and Torrens under the pseudonym of Bartolozzi Brown. This is mentioned on the title page of the booklet available in the British Museum.

92 “Education”, MUM (1835), I, pp. 227–35Google Scholar; “Speculative benevolence”, ibid., II, pp. 229–62.

93 “Education”, ibid., I, p. 229; “Speculative benevolence”, ibid., II, p. 262.

94 “Education”, ibid., I, p. 232.

95 “Education”, ibid., I, p. 234.

96 Bibliographical Index, p. xxix.

97 “Education”, MUM, I, p. 234.

98 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xxii.

99 Ibid., Preface, pp. xxiii–xxiv.

100 Ibid., Preface, p. xxiv.

101 Ibid., Preface, pp. xxiv–xxvi.

102 “Cicero as a philosopher”, MUM, III, p. 430. Authorship vide Sir R. Burns's “Notes” on contributions and authors of the MUM, IV (IOL. ST. 890).

103 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xxix.

104 Ibid., p. xxix, fn.

105 Ibid., p. xxix, fn.

106 Ibid., pp. xxix–xxx, fn.

107 Ibid., p. xxx, fn.

108 “Speculative benevolence”, MUM (1836), II, p. 262.

109 Ibid., pp. 247–8.

110 Ibid., p. 245 fn.

111 “Speculative benevolence”, MUM, II (1836), p. 243Google Scholar.

112 “Education”, ibid., I, p. 230.

113 ”Speculative benevolence”, ibid., II (1836), pp. 261–2.

114 Ibid., pp. 260–1.

115 Ibid., pp. 260–2.

116 Ibid., p. 261.

117 Mehrotra, S. R., The Emergence of the Indian National Congress (Vikas Publications, 1971), p. 16Google Scholar.

118 Ibid., p. 16.

119 Elliot Papers, MSS. Eur. F. 57, p. 110, IOL.

120 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xix.

121 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xxi.

122 Chattopadhyay, Goutam, Awakening in Bengal in Early Nineteenth Century (Selected Documents) (Calcutta, 1965), Introduction, pp. xiii–xviGoogle Scholar.

123 Mehrotra, op. cit., p. 8.

124 Ibid., pp. 1, 9–11.

125 Ibid., p. 26.

126 Loc. cit.

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128 Ibid., p. xliii.

129 Ibid., p. xli; Mehrotra, op. cit., pp. 26–7.

130 Chattopadhyay, op. cit., p. xli; Mehrotra, op. cit., pp. 26–8.

131 Quoted, Mehrotra, op. cit., p. 27.

132 “Speculative benevolence”, MUM, II (1836), pp. 235, 239Google Scholar.

133 Bibliographical Index, Preface, p. xv.

134 Ibid., Preface, pp. xv–xvi.

135 Memorandum and a note of the conference attached to Hardinge's letter of 2 December 1847 to the Court of Directors – Political Letters Received from India, L/P & S/6/15 (1847), pp. 511–42, IOL.

136 Political Letters Received from India, L/P & S/6/15 (1847), p. 524.

137 Ibid., pp. 528–9, 537.

138 Ibid., p. 537.

139 Tate, R. F. S., The Home Government of India, 1834–53, Ph.D. thesis, University of London (1972), pp. 296–7, 304–5Google Scholar.

140 Sleeman, W. H., A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude in 1849–1850 (London, 1858), Vol. I, pp. xviii–xixGoogle Scholar.

141 Ibid., p. xix.

142 Note of the Conference attached to Hardinge's letter of 2 December 1847 to the Court of Directors – Political Letters Received from India, L/P & S/6/15 (1947), IOL.

143 Loc. cit.

144 Hunter, W. W., The Marquess of Dalhousie (Rulers of India Series) (Oxford, 1890), p. 35Google Scholar.

145 R. F. S. Tate, op. cit. pp. 296–7, 305.

146 See the discussion above on Elliot's attitude towards the resumption of rent-free grants.

147 “Manuscripts of the late Sir Elliot, H.”, JASB, XXIII (1854), p. 227Google Scholar.

148 History of India (1843), Vol. I, p. 518Google Scholar.

149 Arabs in Sind, pp. 83–4.

150 Ibid., p. 84.

151 Ibid., p. 84, n. 1.

152 Ibid., p. 84.

153 This and the subsequent paragraph are based on my researches on a wide-ranging study of official papers and collections of private papers in the India Office Library and the British Museum. See T. Wahi, op. cit., 149–201.

154 Ibid., pp. 192–5.

155 Ibid., pp. 154–63.

156 The Athenaeum (1867), p. 462Google Scholar.

157 Ibid., p. 462.

158 Ibid., pp. 462–3.

159 The Englishman (21 September 1871), p. 2.