An Outsider's View

I’ve got to be honest. My growing knowledge of Indian history has only opened up since the Internet era.

I was born in Scotland in the 1950’s and brought up there till adulthood, when I married and moved South. As you can imagine – and you must always see events and history in the context of the time in which they are perceived, the history I learned in the 1950’s/60’s was a bit one-sided. The school history text-books, many printed before the 1950’s, were traditional and conformist in their telling of colonial history. Though Britain was losing the empire, school wall-maps and globes still showed in vivid pink the extent of how well Britain had done in the past and yes, in those days before we learned to think for ourselves, our chests puffed out proudly at Britain’s past achievements.

I think Scotland had a particularly close association with colonial India. Much Scottish commerce was based on Indian raw materials, Dundee will always be associated with Indian jute and the linoleum flooring industry it supplied. Paisley pattern cloth was inspired by Indo/Persian patterns, India pale ale was mainly produced by Scottish brewers for thirsty British troops in India, Dundee marmalade was invented mainly for mehm sahibs in the punkah-fan cooled bungalows of hill-stations. Scotland’s first modern 19th Century army barracks at Redford, Edinburgh, were modeled directly on an Indian example. Scottish food has always had a thing for spicyness - eg haggis, pies and sausages (compare normal spicy Scottish sausages to normal bland English sausages)

The telling of events in 1857-58, in what conformity called The Indian Mutiny, were also a bit-one sided compared to balanced modern telling.

Names which still roll off my tongue easily after all those years after learning in school are Meerut, Cawnpore and Lucknow. How about Barrackpore ? No – I can’t remember seeing anything about that place at all.

There were probably no more Scottish soldiers taking part than other British troops during that emergency. However, Scottish troops got the limelight. Remember, Queen Victoria was an avid fan of all things Scottish (Balmoral Castle was her idea) and there was a growing market for anything with a Scottish flavour. So kilted troops in action were a magnet for the media and they got much more publicity than other units.

Scottish regiments taking part were:- 42nd Royal Highlanders - Black Watch (kilted); 71st HLI, 72nd Highlanders; 73rd Perthshire; 74th Highlanders; 75th Stirlingshire; 78th Seaforth Highlanders (kilted); 79th Cameron Highlanders (kilted); 90th Perthshire Light Infantry; 91st Argyllshire; 92nd Gordon Highlanders (kilted), 93rd Sutherland Highlanders (kilted).

The regiments which by far got most publicity were all kilted: - the 42nd Black Watch, 78th Seaforth Highlanders and the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders. In particular, the 78th was famous for its part in the first relief of Lucknow and were featured in a famous dramatic poem of the time – Jessie’s Dream (the 78th soon became besieged too) and the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders, who won six VC’s before breakfast in the final relief of Lucknow.

These events, the poems, the collective memory were based on recurring Victorian thoughts of British valour and muscular Christian values. I must admit, all I saw at the time were a lot of men in long beards, so it didn’t mean that much to me – except for the way it was told and the names and places.

I have learned much more since then, more of causes and effects, of aspirations and increasing resentment.

Mangal Pandey the film does have its flaws for sure, but I can’t pretend to be able to know as much as people in this board. I had never heard of him before this. All I knew was a long-past reference to supporters of the mutiny as Pandeys and a phrase which descended down to the British Army of WW2 for people getting just punishment or retribution as “getting their pandeys”.

I was sort of disappointed to see many board members are unhappy with him as a choice of hero due to drug-taking etc. Remember, heroes are human and have flaws, but do something special when the time comes.

If you like to criticise film-versions of heroes, well I’m Scottish but I cringe at Braveheart. The real Wallace was much more interesting to me. But it doesn’t mean the film doesn’t impress !

So please, let time be a little kinder to this man, Mangal Pandey, who laid down his life for a cause.


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