ESSAYS AND LECTURES

ON THE

INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA

AND OTHER INDIAN SUBJECTS

[1880-1906]

BY

PRAMATHA ATH BOSE, B. Sc. (LONDON), F.G.S.,
AUTHOR OF A "HISTORY OF HINDU CIVILISATION DURING
BRITISH RULE"

Calcutta :

W. NEWMAN & CO.

1906.

HC 435 .B73

PRINTED BY ASUTOSH CHAKRABURTI,

at the Elm Press, 62-2-1, Beadon Street, Calcutta.

570986-234

CONTENTS

CHAP.

I.

SECTION I.-Industrial

Industrial Development of India.

(Presidential address at the Bengal Industrial

Conference, 1891.)

II. Industrial Development by Indian Enterprise

(Lecture delivered in Calcutta, July 1906)

III.

IV.

V.

A plea for a patriotic movement.

(National Magazine, May 1903)

PAGE.

20

32

The possibilities of Hand-loom Weaving in India 50

(Hindusthan Review, February 1906)

Technical and Scientific Education in Bengal

(Pamphlet, 1886)

59

VI. Scientific and Technical Education in Bengal. 79

(The Statesman, July 1906)

SECTION II.-Historical.

I.

Caste System in India: Its origin and History

(Lecture delivered at the Bristol Museum and

91

Library, March 1880)

II.

Hindu civilisation during the Moslem rule.

139

(The Calcutta Review, January and July 1893)

III.

196

Lessons in a street

(A lecture delivered in Calcutta, August 1884)

Note on some earthen pots found in the alluvium
at Mahesvara

(Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LI.
pt. I., 1882)

200

215

IV.

Note on Mahismati or Mahesvara on the Narmada and the identification of Hiouen Thsang's

(Extract from the Journal, Asiatic Society of
Bengal, Vol. LIX pt. 10, 1890)

THE all but utter extinction of our industries has ruined our artisan classes. Down to the commencement of the present century we used to make enough clothes, not only to meet our own demands, but also to export a good portion of them. Our export trade then consisted mainly of manufactured cotton; now it consists almost exclusively of raw produce. In 1798-99, India exported to England one crore and-a-half worth of piecegoods; in 1888-89, we imported from England nearly 29 crores worth of manufactured cotton. The profits of manufacture which a century ago remained in the coun try and enriched it now swell the ever increasing drain