It’s the same land, but the India before the British and the one they left behind almost feel like parallel universes.
Vir Das spoke about the idea of two Indias, meaning two very different realities coexisting within the same country. Now, he meant it in a different context, but if there’s one place where this contrast truly hits, it’s when we look at India before the British came and after they left. From society and culture to the economy, it’s almost like two separate nations; one rooted in self-sustained systems, the other reshaped by colonial rule. But that’s not to say it was all bad. While the damage was widespread, the British also introduced changes that nudged India forward in some areas.
So, as we approach India’s 79th Independence Day, let's take a pause to look back at the country's transformation that came with its colonial rule.
Under dynasties like the Mughals and regional sultanates, India nurtured a rich cultural ecosystem with music, poetry, architecture, and painting flourishing. Socially, the caste hierarchy provided order but often left individuals trapped in rigid roles. Dark practices (sati, child marriage, female infanticide) persisted in several regions. Education was informal: Hindu children studied in gurukuls, Muslim youth in madrasas. Literacy was rare, but cultural traditions ran very deep. Women’s roles spanned the spectrum from queens and courtiers to those confined within patriarchal boundaries.
As the British intervened, some changes were progressive, while others were coercive. The ban on sati, the legalization of widow remarriage, and the Female Infanticide Prevention Act were definitely hard-won victories, largely due to voices like Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Historian Antoinette Burton reminds us, though, that these were often wielded to legitimize colonial rule.
Then came the Macaulay system, spawning an English-educated middle class (lawyers, journalists, and nationalist leaders), all of whom would one day challenge British hegemony. But colonial policies (rigid caste-based census, the 1905 Bengal Partition), on the other hand, deepened communal divisions. These fissures, artificially widened, erupted during Independence, leading to devastating violence and mass displacement.
The statement by LORD Macaulay in the British Parliament, dated 2 February 1835.
Before the Raj
According to historian Angus Maddison, in 1700 India accounted for nearly 24.4% of global GDP, nearly matching Europe. Its villages, agricultural estates, and textile workshops powered a world-renowned economy. François Bernier, a 17th-century traveler, remarked on its overflowing surpluses of gold and silver as true of a dominant trade hub.
By independence, India’s share of the global economy had shrunk to around 4.2%. While GDP per capita rose modestly, from $533 to $618, the decline was stark in relative terms. Colonial policies dismantled India’s famed handloom industry as textile output halved between 1850 and 1900. Dadabhai Naoroji’s “drain of wealth” theory (later modified by R.C. Dutt) estimated that roughly a quarter of Indian revenue paid Britain annually. This siphoned £200-300 million in some periods. With high land taxes and a cash-crop focus, famine became tragically common; between 1876 and 1902, between 15 and 30 million lives were lost.
India’s infrastructure was built around its villages, with decentralized irrigation, regional roads, and vibrant ports. The Grand Trunk Road, built by earlier empires, stitched northern India together under Mughal and regional powers.
The British revolutionized transport. By 1947, India had the world's fourth-largest railway network (~40,000 miles), extensive telegraphs, ports, and roads. Though railways facilitated economic, cultural, and geographic connectivity, they were primarily used to serve imperial interests, moving troops and raw materials. Still, this infrastructure became a launching pad for independent India.
The Mughal Empire managed its vast realm through local elites (zamindars and jagirdars) who mediated administration and justice. Courts followed local (Islamic, Hindu) legal traditions, creating a fluid system that balanced central oversight and regional particularities.
Colonial governance imposed a uniform administrative layer - district commissioners, provinces, the Indian Penal Code (1860), and a judiciary underpinned by the Indian Civil Service, which was efficient but deeply biased. At independence, it was strained by hooliganism from Partition and wartime disruption. But the blueprint remained; India’s early government relied on this inherited administrative skeleton.
Despite its diversity, pre-colonial India nurtured shared cultural roots. Minor communal tensions emerged, but local governance often kept them in check. Social unity and centuries-old traditions offered structural resilience.
The scars run deep. The 1947 Partition left over a million dead and about 15 million displaced. Resources were drained, as India received only about 17.5% of the Raj’s cash reserves, while Pakistan took much of the military hardware. Yet, seeds of unity were also sown: railways, English as a common tongue, and a shared nationalist tradition. These became tools of regeneration for a fractured nation.
