The story of how “A commercial company enslaved a nation comprising two hundred million people.” Leo Tolstoy’s one-line description of The East Indian Company is perhaps the most effective description of ‘The Anarchy’.
A company dissolved centuries ago. But relevant even today.
We live in a day and age today where the world is largely run by corporations. Right from our basic necessities like food and healthcare to grand luxuries, these corporations and brands have become an inseparable part of our lives. A time when they are the topic of almost every discussion. While some organizations falter, others seek new heights every day. Quite literally at times. Just ask Jeff Bezos. And the difference between a business succeeding and one that shuts shop, often and unsurprisingly comes down to how they are run. Which brings to focus two of many elements of businesses.
First, a certain ruthlessness that success and growth demands. Something I recall hearing years ago as a young student, from one of my business school professors. Reiterated by many others across the world, in both, words and actions. Second, combining that ruthlessness with an ethical conduct of yourself and your business. So important that Business Ethics and Ethical behaviour are today more than just classes in business schools. And it’s easy to find many success stories around these two subjects, the story of the East India Trading Company, despite all its achievement, is an example of an organization that stretched all limits of its ruthless streak, with very little ethical ground to walk on.
An organization that makes 21st century powerhouses pale in comparison
If you were to google some of the world’s most powerful corporations today, you will no doubt come across a healthy list of renowned and respectable names. You may have even done this at some point and seen Google present a list that had the likes Apple, GE, Walmart, JP Morgan, and even Google itself. But very few of them, if any, can compare to the kind of power that the East India Trading Company wielded over a country for more than 200 years.
A power that started off as nothing more than a humble joint venture to operate as a trading unit in the year 1599. It’s objective. To set up and explore new trade-lanes. But a company that soon found itself the led by an increasing number of greedy men. Many of whom prioritized the company’s commercial benefits above everything else. Including basic freedom and human rights. And with commercial benefits taking a higher priority, these leaders would soon turn the company into a true superpower. A company that set new heights of unethical, indecent, and even criminal acts to gain the kind of corporate power that is likely to remain unmatched for the foreseeable future. And a company that used this corporate power, and its political influence to rule of a country for centuries.
The Anarchy – Brutally honest. Almost as much as the East India Company itself.
Tracing back to the origins of the East India Company, Dalyrymple takes us from its humble beginnings to the height of the its triumphs, and eventually its ultimate conclusion, bringing out the harsh realities of what remains a relatively unspoken period of Indian history. A period that was influenced by not just the East India Company – as is clear in the title itself. But also by the Mughals, the Marathas, Nawabs, Rohillas, Sultans, the French, and the British regimes.
And that is where Dalrymple has done a fascinating job with The Anarchy. He hasn’t just narrated a story of over 200 years in his book. But the details he takes you through, all backed by thorough research, give you an idea of the company’s greed and the brutal extent they it would go to in order to satisfy that greed.
With stories of individuals like Robert Clive, a key figure in the company who would eventually take his own life. Or Charles Cornwallis, who would sow seeds of discrimination through his racist regime. And even the company’s Indian counterparts, like Siraj ud-Daula and Tipu Sultan among many others who played significant roles in the company’s expansion. The Anarchy gives you a detailed account of the violence, betrayals, conspiracies, corruption, tortures, corporate politics, and many such acts committed by men widely considered to be of great historical significance. Acts that transformed the East India Company from a trading unit to a fully militarized corporate and political super-power in India. One that would rule the country for centuries to come.
The Anarchy. A lesson in history. For tomorrow.
At some point you get a clearer sense of the impact the East India Company has really had. Impact that can be felt even today at multiple levels because it has ingrained itself into our beings for generations. And in a story that interweaves corporate governance and politics, you cannot help but notice a few parallels in today’s day and age as well.
Four hundred and twenty years after its founding, the story of the East India Company has never been more current.
William Dalrymple
The Anarchy
One of the most important points The Anarchy makes comes out as you conclude the book. Where William Dalrymple himself steers us from the past into the present. Condemning corporate bodies for their intentions and seemingly endless thirst for more. And asking serious questions of government bodies that allow it. And in the process, opening the doors to so many more questions. Which is the story of the East India Company is one that needs to be told. And heard. Because empires have evolved. For instance, from explicit physical mediation to modern methods of corporate influence, data harvesting and surveillance. But imperialism continues to exist. Even in areas where we can’t see it. Or refuse to acknowledge it.
The East India Company remains today history’s most ominous warning about the potential for the abuse of corporate power.
William Dalrymple
The Anarchy
History after all is more than just a memory. It is an insight into the past. And if we learn to learn from it, a guide into the future. To quote Maya Angelou, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”
On the whole, William Dalrymple’s ‘The Anarchy’ is an extremely difficult book to fault at any level. Whether it is his attention to detail, his research, or his style, it’s a book I would, like many others, highly recommend. It is a brutally honest and absolutely brilliant narration of a history we perhaps never knew, and one we can and should never forget.
