C P Brown: Hailebury College in England

23. Hailebury College in England


Bangorey gathered substantial material but unfortunately did not analyse it properly, because he was psychologically conditioner and prejudiced against the society in which he was living for whatever reasons they be. He missed so many vital deductions; one such is about the Hailebury College as a ‘Conditioning’ factory to produce ‘Writers’ for the EIC with a core personality of WHITE supremacy. We used to hear as school children in ’30s / ’40s a slogan that the battlefields in Europe were won in the playing fields of EATON or like that insipid statements.

It will be of interest to get all the people trained in this college and scrutinise if even ONE just one admirer of Indian composite culture was produced!! Another fact to be highlighted is that most of the “Seats in this College” were bought a British practice now in vogue in India where Engineering / Medical seats are sold for lakhs of Rupees.

Orientalists, like Colebrook, Wilkins, Wellford, and Wilson who carried on the study of Sanskrit literature or like Brahmins, if anything. Wilkins told Mr. Brown that “He thought in another century Christianity would be worn out”. Wilson, The Sanskrit Professor in Oxford advised an official to use his influence in favour of Hinduism. These five people and a host of others, who stayed prior to 1820, were mostly better informed about Hindu religion. We shall see, Munroe one of the very staunch orientalists. These Orientalists, occupying pivotal positions were touching everything with a golden bough and had some sympathy for the people of this country being robbed / deprived.

London administrators clearly saw a danger of Indianisation of the British youth. They planned to shift the student orientation from the Orientalists to those of Cambridge clergymen to train the boys well in England before sending them off to India. Hastily, an East India College was started in the Hertford shire palace. As it was necessary to play down and create civil servants by indoctrination with the British, Socio-Political Values before being sent to India. Part of their colonial and political duties was unstinting loyalty to the British aims of domination over their colonial possession. They did not want the Indianised Orientalists to be in positions of influence anywhere. Thus this college was established in 1805. There was also a “ To convert or Not to convert” debate going on.

Apart from having been trained with an anti Orientalsist mentality. CPB as a son of a clergyman had been imbued with a missionary zeal, which was inherently and intrinsically inimical to Hinduism itself. The books etc. at Hailey bury College will show how thoroughly the subjects were taught with methods of looking down on all Indian matters. It is this attitude, which makes CPB start with the heinous statement “ I found, Telugu language about to die”, without even knowing Telugu well.