Cartoons of the Raj
Partha Mitter looks at how tensions and cultural interchange between Indians and Britons are conveyed in the imagery of the colonial period.
One of the first cartoons by an Indian to make a political impact was published in the Bengali newspaper Sulav Samachar in the 1870s, highlighting a glaring injustice. Often poorer Indians were assaulted by Europeans, leading to their death. lf the case came to court at all, the victim's 'enlarged spleen' was blamed for his death. The cartoon shows a dead coolie with his wife weeping next to him. A European doctor conducts a perfunctory post-mortem while the offender stands nonchalantly smoking a cigar. The cartoon, with its suggestion of collusion between European authorities and the offenders, was one of the seditious pieces that provoked the Raj into imposing vernacular press censorship in 1878.
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