Science and Modern India

CHAPTER 25

The Development of Modern Sciences in the Punjab University under Colonial Rule, 1882–1947

Kamlesh Mohan^*

 

The annexation of the kingdom of Lahore in the final phase of the British conquest of India in 1849 removed the last pocket of resistance to the establishment of Pax Britannica. Henceforth, the British rulers sought to colonize the economy, and the cultural and intellectual heritage of India. More significant than the introduction of new methods of land surveys, revenue assessment and collection was the grafting of Western institutional structures for administration, education and forms of knowledge.

In this chapter, I shall argue that science and technology became powerful instruments in the effective exercise and legitimization ...