India in modern times, broadly understood as the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and beyond, has been a geopolitical mass of tremendous significance. The 18thcentury saw the colonial powers struggling with each other and with the local powers, to establish their dominance in the sub-continent. The English began in the Ganga Delta moving upwards through Ganga. The French began in the south via Pondicherry, and the Portuguese, after an early start, kept pushing the boundaries of territorial dominance around Goa. The rest, as they say, is history.
That the English succeeded more than other colonial powers was as much about the entrepreneurial spirit of the race as it was about not getting mixed up with the socio-religious sensitivities of the local population. The Portuguese kept pushing for conversions and was succeeded to certain extent whereas the English (with the East India Company being their economic and administrative face) was happy even to serve as the dry nurse to God Vishnu, Thus they fulfilled the roles which the past rulers had, say in some of the temples of...
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