We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2008
To what extent did legal notions of identity conceal more porous and dynamic social relationships experienced outside of court? This article reconstructs events surrounding a famous court case, Abraham v. Abraham (1863), involving a property dispute within a mixed race family from Bellary, South India. Using the case's original documents it presents a narrative about the Abraham family, highlighting their negotiations of identity within the domains of family, market and law. The narrative shows how Indians, even under colonialism, could experience far more dynamic and flexible boundaries than what is often portrayed in the literature on communalism. At the same time, it demonstrates the very real impact of personal law categories upon the choices and litigation strategies of Indians. Indians had real agency in crafting their identities, but only as they adopted the conceptual tools of the colonial judiciary to pursue their interests.
1 See Chatterjee, Partha, A Princely Impostor? The Strange and Universal History of the Kumar of Bhawal (Princeton: PUP, 2002)Google Scholar; and Dalrymple, William, White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth Century India (New York: Penguin Books, 2002)Google Scholar. Both books tell stories not simply about disputants and their claims, but also about the societies in which they lived and the cultural politics of British rule. Consistent with such aims, this essay uses legal documents as a means to understanding Bellary's society.
2 This article's citations of Abraham v. Abraham (1863) refer to the original records of the case, bound together in Privy Council Cases with Judgments, from the Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library. References to the depositions and correspondence will contain all information provided in the heading of the document. Typically, this includes a designation of whose witness it is, the witness's name, caste, religion, occupation, and place of residence. These are followed by the document number, date of affirmation, and the page number in the bound case volume. Subsequent references to the same witness will simply include the witness's name and the page number in the case volume.
3 Metcalf, Thomas, Ideologies of the Raj (Cambridge: CUP, 1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, chapters 3 and 4.
4 This transition to bounded identities is described in studies about colonial classifications and communalism. For example, Pandy, Gyanendra, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India (Oxford: OUP, 1990)Google Scholar; Cohn, Bernard, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: PUP, 1996)Google Scholar; Oberoi, Harjot, The Construction of Religious Boundaries: Culture, Identity and Diversity in the Sikh Tradition (New Delhi: OUP, 1997)Google Scholar; and Kaviraj, Sudipta, “Religion, Politics and Modernity,” in Baxi, Upendra and Parekh, Bhikhu (eds.), Crisis and Change in Contemporary India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1995)Google Scholar.
5 Recent scholarship has attempted to pay more serious attention to South Asian families as agents of change, sites of knowledge production, and points of contact with many aspects of the colonial experience. See Chatterjee, Indrani (ed.), Unfamiliar Relations: Family and History in South Asia (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.
6 The legal pluralism endorsed by early colonial courts preferred this “civilizational perspective” to the universalism found in Western legal traditions. Rudolph, Susanne Hoever and Rudolph, Lloyd I., “Living with Difference in India: Legal Pluralism and Legal Universalism in Historical Context,” in Larson, Gerald James (ed.), Religion and Personal Law in Secular India (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001), 38–9Google Scholar.
7 Sylvia Vatuk, “Where will she go? What will she do? Paternalism toward women in the administration of Muslim personal law in contemporary India,” in Larson (ed.), Religion and Personal Law in Secular India, 226–46.
8 For an analysis of market relations and laws affecting women within Hindu joint families, see Sreenivas, Mytheli, “Conjugality and Capital: Gender, Families and Property under Colonial Law in India,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 63, No. 4 (Nov. 2004), 937–960CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
9 Washbrook, David, “Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India,” Modern Asian Studies, 15, 3 (1981), 652CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
10 Washbrook, David, “Progress and Problems: South Asian Economic and Social History c. 1720–1860,” Modern Asian Studies, 22, 1 (1988), 81–83CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
11 Francis, W., Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary (Madras: Government, 1904), 53Google Scholar.
12 Debates continue to wage as to whether to view the transition to Company rule in terms of a radical break from the Mughal past or in terms of continuities; or whether the eighteenth century was a period of economic decline or growth. For a recent compilation of perspectives, see Marshall, P.J. (ed.), The Eighteenth Century in Indian History (New Delhi: OUP, 2003)Google Scholar.
13 After the conquest and downsizing of Mysore in 1799, the British installed Krishna Wodeyar III as maharaja. By 1831, they came to regard him as incompetent to rule and assumed direct control over the state. During the following fifty years of direct rule, some administrators came to view Mysore as a “model” state, which absorbed the best features of a modern administration while retaining essential features of a Hindu kingdom. The Hindu dimensions of the state made life difficult for missionaries, who frequently petitioned the government to secure the “civil rights” of converts. Mallampalli, Chandra, Christians and Public Life in Colonial South India (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2004), chapter 2Google Scholar.
14 Stein, Burton, “Integration of the Agrarian System in South India,” in Frykenberg, R.E. (ed.), Land Control and Social Structure in Indian History (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), 201–202Google Scholar.
15 A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras (Madras: Government Press, 1886), 40–41.
16 Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary, 216.
17 Washbrook, “Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India,” 668.
18 Other troops stationed at Bellary included the 25th Dragoons, the 4th Regiment of cavalry, six companies of the 73rd Regiment, a wing of British and one of native infantry. Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary, 220.
19 In contrast to Bellary's economy, that found within the port city of Madras had, during the same period, created trading opportunities for many Indian merchant communities, including Komatis, Kaikkolars and Nattokottai Chettiars. These groups were able to thrive economically without assimilating into European culture. Their wealth was used to endow temples, maths, and pilgrimage sites and to enhance their status within the fluid varna-jati social relations of South India. See Frykenberg, Robert, “A Socio-political morphology of Madras” in Ballhatchet, Kenneth, Taylor, David (eds.), Changing South Asia: City and Culture (London: Asia Research Service, 1984)Google Scholar. See also Rudner, David, Caste and Capitalism in Colonial India: The Nattukottai Chettiars (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994)Google Scholar.
20 The Abkari Contract was renewed under Francis' own name in 1844 and 1845, and again from1846–49. The decree of the Sudder Adalat, which went in Francis' favor, cited the Commissariat's complete trust in his abilities and character. For this reason, he merited the renewals “without competition.” Decree of Sudder Adalat, Appeal Suit No. 187 of 1858, Abraham v. Abraham, 679.
21 Madras District Gazetteer: Bellary, 219. Such prejudice toward the Indian population and their segregation from European residences, buildings and forts were not unique to Bellary, but were typical of other colonial towns in the south, such as Madras, with mixed populations. See Metcalf, Thomas, “Imperial Towns and Cities,” in Marshall, P.J. (ed.), Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire (Cambridge: CUP, 1996), 225Google Scholar.
22 Singh, K.S., India's Communities, Volume VI, N-Z (Oxford: OUP, 1998), 2763Google Scholar. I am also grateful to historian, Daniel Jeyaraj, for sharing helpful insights on the backgrounds of the paraiyar subcastes.
23 What the case records refer to as “Vullungumpeter” resembles “Vallangamattar.” Among the Tamil paraiyars, the latter were “those of the right hand . . . who aligned with the agricultural Velalans of the ur (who had caste titles such as Pillai and Mudaliyar). Those of the left hand, Itankaimattar, aligned with the mercantile Velalans.” Hudson, Dennis, Protestant Origins in India: Tamil Evangelical Christians, 1706–1835 (Grand Rapids and Richmond Surrey: Eerdmans and Curzon Press, 2000), 196, 154–159Google Scholar. The ending “peter,” found in the colonial spelling, appears to derive from the Tamil root “pet,” which means to beat (as with hand, staff, hammer, etc.). This makes it more plausible that the Abraham brothers came from a drum beating class of paraiyars. Burrow, T. and Emeneau, M.B., A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), 362Google Scholar.
24 Testimony of the Plaintiff's 102nd witness, Tom Anthoo, a Roman Catholic, a Native Christian, aged 75 years, a Butler without employ, a native of Madras, but residing at Bellary, No. 225, 27–28 January, 1858; 333.
25 Testimony of Plaintiff's 2nd witness, Rebecca Aitkens, wife of Mr. John Aitkens, aged 42, of the Protestant faith, an East Indian, residing at Nagpore. No. 155, 22 January 1858; 140.
26 See Viswanathan, Gauri, Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity and Belief (Princeton, 1998), 35–9Google Scholar.
27 Many trace this accommodating ethos to the groundwork laid by the sixteenth century Jesuit Robert de Nobili.
28 Relations of the Company with the LMS were more tenuous than they were with Roman Catholic Missions. See Sherring, Rev. M.A., History of Protestant Missions in India: From their Commencement in 1706 to 1881 (London: Religious Tract Society, 1884), 56Google Scholar.
29 Examination of Plaintiff's 3rd Witness, Frederick Seymour, son of Stephen Newton Seymour, a Protestant, [aged 69], No. 156, 9 January, 1858; 151.
30 Chris Bayly notes that transformations of bodily practices and rising levels of uniformity in dress were among the effects of modernity upon many world cultures. The uniformity not only involved the adoption of ‘national’ attire, but also the need for people to “represent themselves publicly in a similar way.” Preoccupation with when the Abraham brothers had adopted the Western dress seems to have predated developments described by Bayly by at least fifty years. Bayly, C.A., The Birth of the Modern World, 1780–1914 (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), 13Google Scholar.
31 Testimony of Plaintiff's 68th witness, General William Cullen, aged 72 years, a Protestant, belonging to the Madras Artillery, and residing at Travancore. No. 196, 4 November 1857; 239. Francis himself dates the change of dress at 1818 or 1819. Testimony of Francis Abraham, son of Abraham, a Protestant, aged 44 years. No. 162, 21 December, 1857; 157. A Muslim witness, Booden Saib, claims to have seen Francis as a young boy dressed in an English “frock,” suggesting that he followed Matthew's lead in adopting Western clothes. Plaintiff's 45th witness, Booden Saib, son of Mahomed Oomer, caste Sheik, Sect Haneefa, aged 57 years, civil record keeper, and residing at Bellary. Translation. No. 180, 23 January, 1858; 194.
32 Plaintiff's 73rd witness, the Reverend William Howell, aged nearly 68 years, a Protestant, a Pensioned Missionary of European descent, and residing at Poonamalee. No. 200, 19 October, 1857; 255.
33 Caplan, Lionel, Children of Colonialism: East Indians in a Postcolonial World (Oxford: Berg, 2001), 22–23Google Scholar.
34 Ideas from evolutionist race science, Victorian ethnological ideals of the manly and “upright” Briton, and environmental determinism were used to explain the capacity of some races to flourish into advanced nations, and the tendency of other races to lag behind. Bayly, Susan, “Race in Britain and India,” in van der Veer, Peter and Lehmann, Harmut (eds.), Nation and Religion: Perspectives on Europe and Asia (Princeton: PUP, 1999), 73–81Google Scholar.
35 Younger, Coralie, East Indians: Neglected Children of the Raj (New Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corp., 1987), 13Google Scholar.
36 Testimony of the plaintiff's 99th witness, 1st plaintiff, Charlotte Abraham, widow of late Matthew Abraham, aged 51 years and a Protestant. No. 222, 11, 15, 16–19 December, 1857; 315, 323.
37 Ibid, 315.
38 A word of thanks is owed to Professor Lionel Caplan for his insights regarding Charlotte's possible lineage and the East Indians in general. Consultation, October 28, 2005.
39 Charlotte Abraham, 315, 324.
40 Ibid, 315.
41 Servants called her “Peddammah” and Charlotte “Chinnamah”. Testimony of plaintiff's 42nd witness, Geengar Venkapa, son of Venkapa, caste Geengar, Vishnoo religion, aged 60 years, carpenter by trade, and residing at Bellary. No. 177, 5–7 January, 1858; 189.
42 Hawes, C. J., Poor Relations: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India, 1773–1833 (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press), 21–2Google Scholar.
43 These were Reverend James Morant, No. 164, 174; Reverend John Guest, No. 189, 209; Reverend E.J. Gloria, No. 192, 225; Elizabeth McBride, No. 202, 266; and Samuel Thomas, No. 211, 302.
44 Testimony of plaintiff's 75th witness, Mrs. Elizabeth McBride, aged 47 years, a Protestant, an East Indian and residing at Madras. No. 202, 25 September, 1857; 267.
45 Testimony of Plaintiff's 43rd witness, Govindapah, son of Venketapa, Caste Yellatee Reddy, worships Venkataramanoodoo, aged 50 years, a cultivator and bricklayer, residing at Bellary. No. 561, 15,16, 18 January, 1858; 190.
46 Other designations cited by witnesses include “Londoners,” “half-castes,” and “countryborn topikaras.”
47 Testimony of plaintiff's 41st witness, Valoydem, son of Annapen. Pariah by caste, a worshiper of Soobramoonier, a cook by trade, aged 82 years, and residing at Bellary. No. 176, 2–5 January 1858, 184. See also Testimony of plaintiff's 14th witness, Mr. Francis Abraham (defendant), son of Abraham, a Protestant, aged 44. No. 163, 21 December, 1857; 170.
48 On “English dress, beef steaks and drinking beer,” see Testimony of plaintiff's 24th witness, Mark, son of Antony Moothoo, a Christian, aged 45 years, a butler, and residing at Bellary. No. 169, 20 January, 1858; 177; For “fair complexion,” see Testimony of Reverend E.J. Gloria, No. 192, 225; For birth as chief criteria for being East Indian, see Elizabeth McBride, No. 202, 266.
49 Excerpted from testimony of plaintiff's 57th witness, Reverend Thomas Brotherton, aged 47 years, belonging to the Church of England, a clergyman, residing at Sawyurpooram, Tinnevelly. No. 188, 27 October, 1857; 206.
50 Charlotte Abraham, 315.
51 Francis Abraham, 159.
52 Mark, son of Antony Moothoo, 176–77.
53 An Exhaustive Glossary of Revenue, Salt, Abkari, Forest, Customs Inam Tenures and Other Terms with Full Explanations (Madras: Higginbothams, Ltd., 1917), 1–2.
54 Testimony of Plaintiff's 54th witness, Camalnadum Pillay, son of Balakrishna Pillay, caste Boovisey, Religion Vishnoo, aged 60 years, Arsenal head writer, and residing at Bellary. No. 185, 19 January, 1858; 202.
55 William Howell, 257.
56 Ibid.
57 A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras (Madras: Government Press, 1886), 40–41.
58 Testimony of the Defendant's 150th witness, Mr. Henry Vincent Platcher, son of Anthony Platcher, aged 36 years, a Protestant by religion, a District Moonsiff by occupation, and residing at Bellary. No. 445, 11, 13,15, 16 February, 1858; 585.
59 Letter from Charlotte Abraham to Captain Deere, dated 19th April, 1843. No. 332, 19 April, 1843; 387.
60 Macnaghten, William Hay, Principles of Hindu and Mohammadan Law Republished from the Principles and Precedents of the Same (London: Williams and Norgate, 1862), 17Google Scholar.
61 According to the Brahmin pandits, hired by the Sudder court to interpret Hindu law, “The Commentary of Man[u] entitled Coolookbuttegum explains the text 205 chapter IX by declaring that the property not ancestral, but acquired by all the brothers by means of agriculture, trade, etc. is equally divisible among all of them. . . In the present instance it appears that after the younger brother attained the age of discretion he and his elder brother acted jointly in the administration of business.” Testimonies of Appanah Sastry, Senior Pandit, and C. Gopala Sastry, Junior Pandit in the Sudder Adalat. No. 1004, 3 September 1859; 672.
62 In July 1853, roughly one year before Charlotte filed her suit, Charlotte sent her sister Rebecca Aitkens to the home of Chouriah Maistry, Matthew's cousin, to inquire about the true status of Francis. Chouriah told Rebecca that Matthew's mother, Chinthathree had identified Francis as her child. Testimony of Plaintiff's 2nd witness, Mrs. Rebecca Aitkens, wife of Mr. John Aitkens, aged 42 years, of the Protestant faith, an East Indian, residing at Nagpore. No. 155, 22 January, 1858; 149.
63 In a letter from Charles Henry Abraham to Francis (No. 249, 2nd October 1841; 355), Charles asked Francis why it is that he is has not yet married. Five months later, (No. 251, 27 February 1842; 356), Charles congratulated Francis on his marriage, 356.
64 There existed different accounts as to whether Matthew had given the bungalow to Francis as a wedding gift or whether Francis and Matthew had purchased the bungalow jointly from Colonel Bremner. Francis Abraham, 164 and Plaintiff's 53rd witness, Goolam Moideen, son of Mahomed Dowlut, caste Sheik, Sect Haneefa, aged about forty years, profession shop business, and residing at Bellary. No. 184, 20, 21 and 23 January, 1858; 198.
65 Rebecca Aitkens described Francis as an “avaricious man,” who was preoccupied with making money for his own gain. In doing so, she ascribed to Francis East Indian Protestant qualities, while contesting his claim that he supported Charlotte and her sons “out of charity” after Matthew's death. Mrs. Rebecca Aitkens, 141.
66 Testimony of Plaintiff's 101st witness (3rd Plaintiff) Daniel Vincent Abraham, son of Matthew Abraham, a Protestant, aged 34 years. No. 224, 12, 14, 15 December, 1857; 328.
67 Geengar Venkapa, 187.
68 Ibid.
69 Testimony of plaintiff's 43rd witness, Govindapah, son of Venketapa, caste Yellatee Reddy, worships Venketaramanoodoo, aged 50 years, a cultivator and bricklayer, residing at Bellary. No. 178, 15, 16, 18 January, 1858; 190.
70 Charlotte Abraham, 317.
71 Goolam Moideen, 200.
72 Ibid, 199.
73 Ibid.
74 Charlotte Abraham, 322.
75 Ibid, 319.
76 Charlotte Abraham to Captain Deere, No. 332, 19th April 1843; 387.
77 Francis Abraham, 166.
78 Ibid, 164.
79 Henry Vincent Platcher, 584–85.
80 Ibid, 586–87.
81 Ibid, 588.
82 Ibid, 585.
83 Regarding an illness suffered by Francis, Charles Henry wrote: “It is with the purest pleasure however that I have learned the attention that the [Bada] Sahib endeavored to pay you, and above all things, that you are quite well again.” Letter from the Second Plaintiff to Francis Abraham, Defendant, dated Vicarage St. Wenn, St. Columb Cornwall, No. 249, 1 November 1841, 355.
84 Henry Vincent Platcher, 589.
85 Testimony of Defendant's 152nd witness, Chouriah Maistry, son of Arogium, a Roman Catholic by caste, a Shop Trader by occupation, aged 76 years and residing at Chepauk, Madras. No. 447, 26 September, 1857; 592.
86 Francis supported the education of Chouriah's son at a Catholic school. In order to do so, he sent money to a Catholic minister, most likely the Reverend P. Doyle, to be allocated to Chouriah's son's education. See Testimony of Chowriah Maistry, Ibid.
87 Madras District Gazetteers: Bellary, 55.
88 Testimony of Defendant's 1st witness, the Reverend P. Doyle, son of Nicholas Doyle, aged 42 years, Roman Catholic Chaplain, and residing at Bellary. No. 339, 18 February, 1858; 393.
89 Testimony of Defendant's 18th witness, Chinnapareddy, son of Tippareddy, caste Neridoo Capoo, Religion Christian, aged 34 years, occupation a Reddy and Cultivator, and residing at Chinna Papally, Talook Gooty (translation). No. 344, 21 September 1857; 401.
90 See Dumont, Louis, Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and its Implications. Trans. Sainsbury, Mark. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970)Google Scholar.
91 Plaintiff's 55th witness, Cuddapah Sawmyrow, son of Cuddapah Bheemrow, caste Brahmin, religion Smartha, aged thirty-six years, second Goomasta of the Subordinate Court, and residing at Bellary. No. 186, 2, 4 February, 1858; 203.
92 Venn, J.A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part II, from 1752 to 1900, Vol. I, Abbey—Challis (Cambridge: CUP, 1940), 4Google Scholar.
93 Letter from the Second Plaintiff to Francis Abraham, Defendant, No. 262, dated Queen's College, Cambridge, 31st May 1846, 363–64.
94 Letter from the Defendant to the second Plaintiff, No. 48, dated 19th August 1842, 59.
95 Ibid.
96 Letter from the Second Plaintiff to Francis Abraham, Defendant, No. 256, dated Queen's College, Cambridge, 3rd November, no year, 359.
97 Ibid.
98 This was in response to Charles' suggestion that he return to India to help out with the family business. Charlotte, after reading the letter, told Francis that Charles was underestimating his living expenses. Letter from the Defendant to the Second Plaintiff, No. 52, dated 25th October 1842, 62–3.
99 Werner Menski argues that the Anglo-Hindu law implemented by colonial courts fundamentally distorted the nature of Hindu law. It replaced a “self-controlling dharmic order,” based on flexible and varied manifestations of local custom (the real Hindu law) with a rigid codified law. See Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity (Oxford: OUP, 2003), 196. The Abraham case provides no verdict on whether Hindu law is constituted either by the codified textual law or by “living” customs. The case engages both the textual law and the embodied practices of this mixed race family as equally significant sites of analysis. In this respect the case reflects what Marc Galanter has described as the “interpenetrating” relationship between law and society. See Marc Galanter,”Group Membership and Group Preferences in India,” in his Law and Society in Modern India (New Delhi: OUP, 1997), 104.
100 Testimony of plaintiff's 7th witness, Mr. William Donnellan, a Protestant Christian and residing at Bellary. No. 11, 5th October, 1854; 33. Donnellan had worked for a time at the Supreme Court of Singapore.
101 Letter from the Defendant to William Donnellan. No. 132, 19 September, 1853; 119.
102 See for instance, Mayne, J.D., A Treatise on Hindu Law and Usage. Ninth edn. (Madras: Higginbothams and Co., 1922)Google Scholar and Strange, Thomas, Hindu Law: Principally with Reference to Such Portions of it as Concern the Administration of Justice in the King's Courts in India, Vol. I (London: Parbury, Allen and Co., 1830)Google Scholar. Some objected to the application of Hindu law to South India, even arguing that South Indian social realities could not be called “Hindu” in the sense that the codified Hindu law had conceived. See Nelson, J.H., A View of the Hindu Law as Administered by the High Court of Judicature at Madras (Madras: Higginbothams and Co., 1877)Google Scholar.
103 The Bellary District Court, did not, however, consider the brothers to have become East Indians. It deemed evidence concerning the customs of East Indians as irrelevant, since the brothers did not belong to that community.
104 In the Court of the Sudder Adalat at Madras; Law opinion of the Pandits. Appaniah Sastry, Senior Pandit and C. Gopala Sastry, Junior Pandit, Sudder Adalat. No. 1003, 31 August, 1859 and No.1004, 3 September, 1859; 672.
105 This is from the summary of the District Court decision contained in the Decree of the Court of the Sudder Adalat. Appeal Suit No. 187 of 1858; 676.
106 Ibid, 677.
107 Judgment on the Appeal of Abraham v. Abraham, from the Sudder Diwani Adalat at Madras; heard by the Lords of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. February 1863. Judgment delivered 13th June, 1863; 15.
