Although the British never maintained a significant military presence in India, they were able to maintain political control of the colony through their effective manipulation of Indian culture. British missionaries, scholars, and writers undertook a comprehensive survey of Indian history, languages, and customs. The codified knowledge about Indian life that emerged from this survey allowed the British to manipulate Indian culture to maintain their political control of the continent. Although the British were most effective in setting different ethnicities and regions against each other in order to subjugate the whole of the country, perhaps the most important aspect of British colonial rule was the creation and psychological indoctrination of a new Indian elite that supported British rule. In effect, the British were able to exploit their knowledge of Indian culture by creating a new quasi-caste of British sympathizers. This elite was legitimized through the revival of several archaic Indian customs, such as the Zamindar system and the Manusmriti texts. The new elite quasi-caste within Indian society served as a buffer for the British and allowed them to rule the country effectively from afar.
In 1835, the architect of Colonial Britain's educational policy in India, Thomas Macaulay, laid out England's goal vis-a-vis the new quasi-caste of British educated Indian elites: "We must do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, words and intellect." The Indian elite was encouraged to adopt British values and ideas in order to facilitate British rule of the colony and their concomitant exploitation of the continent's resources. What is most fascinating, however, is the fashion in which Britain exploited Indian culture as they created and established the new elite Indian class.
The British quick...