Thechristianphilosopher

Ok fair enough, a slight exaggeration. However, many british people became very interested in adopting indian culture, from language, music, even down to clothes!

Naomasa298

What evidence do you have to back this assertion? I wouldn't say an interest in Indian culture was particularly prevalent in British society at the time except perhaps in certain sections of society.

Queen Victoria certainly met Duleep Singh, the last Sikh Maharaja, but I get the impression that he was more a curiousity to Victorian society.

Ancientgeezer

Please do go into more detail. I have always been led to believe that there was a huge "Nativisation" of the British prior to the mutiny ( a two-way street), that England was besotted with all things Indian and the Anglo-Indian (mixed race) community was socially acceptable.
As for mixed marriages becoming less acceptable in the second half of the 19th C, this was true throughout the Empire when the steamship allowed the unmarriageable daughters of the middle classes to travel with ease and relatively low expense out to the colonies. It was called the "Fishing Fleet".
If they didn't score in India, they moved on to Hong Kong or Singapore or East Africa. It was European women who put the kibosh on mixed-marriages.

Shaheen

I think a book that deals directly with this topic is William Dalrymples "White Mughals". Many Europeans were indeed interested in learning the local culture and adopted local clothing. But this was all to end pretty much after 1857.

"Kirkpatrick himself didn't have it easy. The drama of much of his time in India derives from the resistance he faced from his British peers. He chose, it seems from Dalrymple's account, the wrong time to go native, when the imperial conquerors and administrators from Britain, who increasingly replaced the old-style traders and soldiers, were seeking a new, hard basis for British power in India. The old close relations with Indians were supplanted by a policy of racial exclusion and arrogance. Indian cultures and religions had few admirers among the new British generation of evangelists and utilitarians who sought to impose upon India the radical reforms they could only fitfully carry out in Britain."

Review: White Mughals by William Dalrymple | Education | The Guardian

Naomasa298

Are we talking about the British in India or British society back in Britain?

Nemowork

Not counting the obvious bits like Brighton pavillion and the fashion for Indian style in wallpaper and weaving theres the tea craze and the first popular curry houses, its maybe not a general thing but it was certainly influential.

The Chinese won the fashion stakes for porcelein but the Indians got the elite playing polo.

jungleplanewreck

Are we talking about the British within India or those back in Britain?

Within India, the Company's lack of understanding of Indian culture was a major cause of the rebellion. This to me suggests that they did not take much interest into it. If we take un un-rebellion related example... the bestowing of gifts between Mughal leaders and the people as a sign of loyalty was a big part of Indian culture. An important tradition and ritual, where the gifts that were given would be treasured and passed through generations. The British did not grasp this. When presented with gifts from highly regarded Mughals they deemed it as 'bribery' and sold on the gifts. That's just one example.

Post-Rebellion, when the governance was passed over to the crown, they realised the vulnerability of their position. They realised a bigger investment needed to be made into Indian culture.

Naomasa298

I didn't know the first curry houses dated from this era - I thought they came towards the end of the 19th century. Thanks!

Salah

I've read that British racism and xenophobia towards Indians greatly increased after the Mutiny - European newcomers to British India subsequently allowed their image of the 'natives' to be influenced by the horror stories they had heard.

anmol

They were two types of english ones who lived like the populace and the ones who lived aloof from the populace, Ones who lived with the populace was popular in 17's when british were one of the many groups vaying for power but as british set up these colonies they became more and more aloof from common indians they started having seperate townships and seperate work schedule