Zee JLF | Not a ‘toddler’: Col James was ‘Tod’ of all he surveyed!

What can Col James Tod be considered; a historian, a surveyor, an art collector or an observer who recorded what he saw; or was he a nationalist who played a major role in introducing the concept of nationalism through his writings. The debate in the Charbagh at JLF revolved around defining the role of Tod in the history of Rajasthan.

The participants Giles Tillotson, Norbert Peabody and Reema Hooja; all debated on the various aspects of Tod’s writings at the session titled The Afterlife of James Tod’s Rajasthan.

Historian Reema Hooja was of the opinion that Tod did not know about the history of Rajasthan. He was merely recording what he saw and he wrote annals not history. But she cites the letters between him and the queen of Bundi his rakhi sister as an evidence that the women in Rajasthan were emancipated and not oppressed as writings project them to be.

“His writings gave an understanding to the British on how to deal with India. The characters he picked up in his writings were later picked up again by other writers. But at the same time he focused more on the ruling Rajputs and not the complex society that is Rajasthan,” said Hooja.     

Giles Tillotson described him as the person who played a major role in identification of monuments that had been ravaged over time. He illustrated this through a painting of Padmini Palace at Chittorgarh by Patric Waugh. “The Chittorgarh fort was ravaged. It was through identification with the help of local people and subsequent artwork that he not just chronicalised, but also identified the monuments,” said Tillotson.

Norbert Peabody described Tod as the man who was strolling for knowledge in a foreign land. Through his letters he comes across as someone who did not know the language, who did not have the leisure to be a historian, but the oral inscriptions of Rajasthan have been chronicalised by him,” said Peabody.      

While all were in agreement that Tod through his writing comes across as someone who was very impressed with the nationalist sentiment that he saw among the Rajput rulers. They also felt this had promoted nationalist sentiment in Europe.