Colonialisms: Its Possible Origins

Abstract

Much has been said about colonial traditions. The point is that colonial traditions may not have been colonial at all. The ideologues of the raj may have been drawing from what they considered native traditions. A rider is essential here as the raj interpreted had their own understanding of native traditions based on input from their native informants. The British therefore lent their own spin to what constituted native traditions and what avowedly did not pass the test. Lata Mani in a different context has termed this process as the ‘Invention of Traditions’. This article would like to investigate the origin of colonial traditions with respect to the colonial armies. How were these so-called colonial traditions derived? How did they evolve over the course of time? Could some colonial traditions be termed as invention of traditions? Was the colonial discourse regarding the army unnidimensional? Or were there multiple voices which spouted multiple discourses? Lastly but not the least what was the native role in the forming of colonial traditions? Did they merely act as informants or did they play an active role in moulding colonial concepts? These are some of the questions this article seeks to answer.