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Did Macaulay unknowingly do us a favour by giving us English?
Macaulay is a much reviled figure in India and with much justification for his decision to replace traditional Indian education with an English medium education that was Western in its ethos and orientation. His intention may have been to give rise to a class of Indians who were in his words “Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, opinions, morals and intellect,”but what it achieved was giving the Indian people the opportunity to understand their oppressors better and ultimately oust them.
Merely teaching the highly intelligent Indians who had a long tradition of assimilating myriad cultural and linguistic influences into their fabric, in English was hardly going to subjugate their minds to the glory of the European races. However, the introduction of the language as a medium of instruction at a time when the star of Europe was on the ascendant, and the continent was leading the world in scientific discoveries acted as a catalyst for Indians to catch up with the West and reclaim their place in the world. It also helped them reevaluate and reconnect with their own past, thanks to the pioneering work of many Western Indologists like Max Mueller.
Besides, it allowed people in different parts of the vast Indian land mass who spoke different languages to receive education in a common language and thereby let…
