Animals, Transport, and the Army in Colonial Punjab

• In Event: 57. Power, People, and Animals in Asia, Part 1 of 3

Abstract

The power which fuelled the British Indian Empire was not only human but was constituted significantly of non-human animals as well. This paper deals with military transport animals (such as camels, mules, donkeys, bullocks) in colonial Punjab. Their journey from privately owned to state owned or hired animals (impressed into military field service) was complex, involving multiple stakeholders. This paper illustrates that even though animals were treated as property in colonial laws, their practical use actually entailed understanding and acceptance of animal natures, temperaments and needs. This necessitated constant changes in the very laws that tried to govern them and their roles. Animals, therefore, influenced the laws in specific ways. After massive loss in the military expeditions of the 1890s, officials had even more incentive to regularize their recruitment. This led to the Punjab Military Transport Animal Bill and Act (1901-15). This paper will analyse this much debated law to understand the importance of transport animals and issues of deployment, but also explore the nature of animal-human relationships. It is the labour, power, and energy that people have made animals invest in various sectors that have made the human world as it is, making animals intrinsic to humans past (and present). This paper historically analyses animal-human relationships in colonial times through the prism of law. The larger effort is to reveal animals as affiliates rather than supplementary factors in making the past.

Author

• Heeral Chhabra, University of Delhi