The Dutch and British East India Company are known to have spread opium addiction among the Chinese in the 18th and 19th centuries through illegal trade. But Amitav Ghosh’s biting narrative in Smoke and Ashes, that is taking account of counter-intuitive views, reveals that India also shares part of the blame.
“You can’t blame them (Indian traders) entirely since the British were leading the way. But we do need to recognise that the Indian participation in the First and second Opium Wars was not forced. In fact, the commercial communities of western India financed this war,” said Ghosh to a crowded room at the India International Centre in New Delhi, in conversation with the editor-in-chief and founder of ThePrint, Shekhar Gupta.
The civilisational shock
In his book, Ghosh has quoted Gopal Krishna Gokhale – one of the many public figures who were part of the anti-opium movement in India. “I have always felt a sense of deep humiliation at the thought of this [opium] revenue, derived as it is practically from the degradation and moral ruin of the people of China,” Gokhale had said.
“Indians would do well to remember these words every time they are assailed by a sense of grievance in relation to China,” Ghosh writes in Smoke and Ashes.
Not an apology, but Ghosh wants Indians to at least acknowledge their role in the civilisational shock that China experienced in the 19th century due to opium. This deduction of history seems provocative in the current state of geopolitical affairs.
“There was a great honeymoon period between China and the West but now that is changing. Is it the western world’s nostalgia, looking at the Chinese as lesser people who used to buy illegal opium are now ruling the world or is it the Xi Jinping factor responsible for it?” asked Gupta to Ghosh.
Instead of touching upon the now of things, Ghosh went back to the 17th century. He listed the cultural imprints of the Chinese inspiration in India such as the Banarasi and Tanchoi sarees and tea. However, he added that “the contest between China and the West is far from over.” He added that the opium, which found its way to the palaces in Beijing, has now found its place in the palaces of Washington.
“I am still curious and I will push you on it,” Gupta said before asking why did the West see China as the ‘master race’ and not India when both countries were at the peak of power in the 16th century. Ghosh then brought up the Qing dynasty and its greatest achievement–winning against the colonisers.
Smoke and Ashes traces the history of opium trade between the East India Company and China. Struggling to pay the Chinese in silver in exchange for tea, silk, and other products in the mid-18th century, the British found a mysterious plant growing in the purvanchal region of India—the poppy. The opium extracted from it funded the expansionist ambitions of the East India Company and transformed the Indian subcontinent and much of the world.
“He has written in the book, but let me leak the paper for you here,” Gupta addressed the audience as he asked Ghosh to explain how the opium trade’s impact can be seen in today’s India.
According to Ghosh, Bihar suffered the most under the draconian laws of the opium trade where farmers were forced to produce the drug below cost. “In the 19th century, a strange cycle took place where Purvanchal was supplying the British with invaluable assets–sepoys and opium. After the 1857 war, the British stopped recruiting soldiers from the region and took away one of the few sources of employment and social mobility from them,” Ghosh said.
Despite being historically exposed to opium pathogens, as Ghosh calls it, the region also grappled with widespread addiction in the 19th century.
During his lecture, Ghosh also demonstrated the opium era through ‘Company art’ made by the likes of Sita Ram, Shiva Lal, and W. Sherwill. While Sherwill documented the ‘progress’ made by the East India Company, the Indian artists used their art to critique the British opium department.
The author added that it is surprising most Indians are unaware of its colonial opium past.
“It played such a foundational role in our history and society and yet we don’t hear about it anywhere in schools and colleges. There is a complete disavowal of this part of our story,” Ghosh said.
“Opium has reached so deep into our lives,” he added.
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Amitav Ghosh fans
Ghosh’s book focuses on a small plant that was used to wage wars, build capital and fund most Ivy League schools and the railroad in the US.
“We have become so used to thinking of humans as a center of the universe that we haven’t been able to figure out how non-human entities shape and guide our lives,” Ghosh said.
From the Ibis trilogy to Glass Palace to Gun Island to Flood of Fire, Ghosh has written fiction and non-fiction books that have a climate change narrative. And the full-beyond-capacity auditorium at IIC on a rainy evening proved his works’ popularity.
Ghosh’s fans occupied every little corner they could find. Some even had to wait outside throughout the talk to see a glimpse of the author in the end. From journalists, Ph.D. scholars, historians, and doctors, to school and college students, the audience came prepared with their stack of Amitav Ghosh’s books for his autograph. Many carried with them old dusty copies of books like The Hungry Tide with yellow, wilting pages. They stood in long lines, waiting for the author to sign them.
Seventeen-year-old Kashvi said the room was brimming with Bengali kinship. Grandfathers and grandchildren came in packed cars to attend Ghosh’s lecture before leaving for a family dinner. Kashvi had tagged along with her sister, whose 41-year-old husband Saurya claimed to have read every book written by Ghosh.
“Why have you written this book?” asked Mihir, a boy barely past the age of 10. When the laughter subsided, Ghosh replied, “So that you can grow up and read it”
“This book is not for children,” he added.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)