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and 19 in Madras (Chennai). Some impor- g Newspapers.
tant newspapers of that period were : g Writings of reformers, poets and novelists.
The “Times of India” founded in 1861. 6. Surveys
The “Pioneer” founded in 1865. The practice of surveying also became
The “Tribune” started in Lahore in 1877. common under the colonial administration.
“The Bengali” (English), founded in 1862 The British believed that a country had to
by Surendranath Banerjee. be properly known before it could be
The “Amrita Bazar Patrika”, founded in effectively administered.
1868 by Sisir Kumar Ghosh. By the early nineteenth century, detailed
surveys were being carried out to map the
entire country. The effort was to know the
topography, the soil quality, the flora, the
fauna, the local histories and the cropping
pattern – all the facts seen as necessary to
known about to administer the region. From
the end of the nineteenth century, Census
operations were held every ten years. These
prepared detailed records of the number of
people in all the provinces of India, noting
information on castes, religions and occupa-
Newspaper
tion. There were many other surveys –
The Indian Press reflected the public pinion botanical surveys, zoological surveys,
of the times. Their contribution in educating archaeological surveys, anthropological
the people, in promoting political conscious- surveys and forest surveys.
ness and demanding increased participation
7. Print as Source
of Indian in administration was far reaching.
Many European artist also arrived in India
5. Official Records
along with the trading companies. They
Official records, although very detailed and produced various images showing the major
easily available, do not help us in knowing events of history. But, images need to be
what other people in the country, people carefully studied for the project the view-
who were not directly under the British rule point of those who create then can be found
and what reasons were behind their actions. in several illustrated books produced by the
To know that, unofficial records are used, British after the 1857 rebellion. The caption
which of course are more difficult to find as at the bottom says, “Mutinous sepoys share
compared to the official records. the loot”. In British representations, the
Some non-official records are as follows : rebels appear as greedily. Vicious and
g Personal diaries of people. brutal. Whereas in it is the British soldiers
g Accounts of travelers and pilgrims. who have been shown looting.
g Autobiographies of important people. Thus, in order to study Indian history in a
comprehensive manner one has to depend
g Popular booklets.
on literary as well as archaeological sources
Social Science-8 10
