.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
拍品专文
In early February 1782, William Hodges accompanied his friend and patron, Augustus Cleveland, on an excursion into the northern parts of the Rajmahal hills, then known as the Jungle Terry and occupied by the Paharia tribe. In his Travels in India, Hodges described his encounters with the Paharias, whom he speculated were the first aboriginal settlers of the region, possibly outcast from the ancient Hindu communities (Travels in India During the Years 1780, 1781, 1782 and 1783, London, 1793, p. 88). The artist alludes to the tribe’s lawless past when, armed only with bows (made of bamboo) and arrows, they descended from the hills and ‘cut off the traveller or stragglers’ (ibid., p. 89).
One of the various successful schemes introduced by Cleveland was that of raising a Corps of Hill Archers, recruited entirely from the Paharias, with the intention of preserving peace and order in a territory that had, hitherto, been subjected to long-standing local skirmishes, which had prevented the cultivation of the fertile lands at the foot of the Rajmahal hills and disrupted the vital lines of communication between Bengal and West Bihar. The camp Cleveland established for a corps of a thousand men, located three miles from Bhagalpur, and where their families also lived, was the subject of another picture by Hodges that remained at Tapeley until it was sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2009, lot 287 (Private collection; fig. 1). In that composition, which is dominated by five sepoys, assembled in the foreground wearing their new uniforms, Cleveland’s role is alluded to through the presence of his classical house, the central section of which is caught in sunlight through the distant trees.
One possible interpretation of the seemingly ambiguous subject of this picture is that the Paharias, known for their practice of intercepting travellers, are here shown as reformed characters, their poisoned arrows intended for the descending bird above the once vulnerable girl. Equally, the hut of a Paharia village, shown in the upper right of the composition, may allude to another of Cleveland's successful policies, in which he persuaded some Sardars (leaders of groups of villages) to settle down in the lowlands, where they could cultivate the fertile land and integrate with the wider community (see following lot). As such, the picture could be interpreted as an allegory of Cleveland's benign government, an explanation that would accord with the aforementioned ex-Tapeley picture of the sepoys before their camp.
In his account of Cleveland's relationship with the Paharias, Hodges wrote:
‘It was the humanity of that gentleman, added to the desire of improving the revenue of this part of his district for the Company’s benefit, that induced him to venture into the hills, alone and unarmed, where he convened some of the principal Chiefs; and after the fullest assurance of the most peaceable intentions and good-will towards them, he invited them to his residence at Bauglepoor. The confidence which he manifested in their honour, by trusting to it his personal safety, effectually gained their esteem, and some time after a deputation of their Chiefs waited on him. By a variety of attentions, by little presents, and acts of personal kindness, he so subdued their ferocious spirits, that they promised to desist entirely from their usual depredations…’ (ibid.)
While Hodges’s unrestrained praise of his patron implies that Cleveland was solely responsible for this diplomatic success, the policy of conciliation had, in fact, been initiated by two earlier administrators: first by Captain Robert Brooke, and later continued by his successor, Major James Browne. Cleveland also adopted this policy, but where his predecessors' progress had been stifled, he succeeded through ‘a humane touch… and a broader understanding of the Paharias’ needs which emerged from his personal interaction with them’ (S. Nath, ‘Augustus Cleveland and the Making of British Tribal Policy in Santal Parganas’, Journal of Adivasi and Indigenous Studies, VII, no. 2, August 2017, p. 33). In addition to the Corps of Hill Archers, Cleveland's policies included the introduction of a pension scheme, the establishment of the Hill Assembly – a judicial system for the tribe to secure self-government – and the opening of a school in Bhagalpur for the children of the Paharias.
When Cleveland died in 1784, the ensuing period of mourning extended to the Paharia tribe. In 1905, Francis Bradley Birt wrote: ‘They raise no monument in stone to their respected dead, but for him [Cleveland] they have raised a still more lasting memorial in their hearts and the traditions of the tribe. At the time of his death, they solemnly performed for him all the funeral rites with which they honour their departed kinsmen… and the weird wailing notes of the Paharia death-song echoed along the hills across the valleys from range to range as village after village caught the news and sadly hastened to join in the performance of one universal funeral rite of national mourning’ (F.B. Bradley Birt, The Story of an Indian Upland, London, 1905, p.112).
One of the various successful schemes introduced by Cleveland was that of raising a Corps of Hill Archers, recruited entirely from the Paharias, with the intention of preserving peace and order in a territory that had, hitherto, been subjected to long-standing local skirmishes, which had prevented the cultivation of the fertile lands at the foot of the Rajmahal hills and disrupted the vital lines of communication between Bengal and West Bihar. The camp Cleveland established for a corps of a thousand men, located three miles from Bhagalpur, and where their families also lived, was the subject of another picture by Hodges that remained at Tapeley until it was sold in these Rooms, 6 October 2009, lot 287 (Private collection; fig. 1). In that composition, which is dominated by five sepoys, assembled in the foreground wearing their new uniforms, Cleveland’s role is alluded to through the presence of his classical house, the central section of which is caught in sunlight through the distant trees.
One possible interpretation of the seemingly ambiguous subject of this picture is that the Paharias, known for their practice of intercepting travellers, are here shown as reformed characters, their poisoned arrows intended for the descending bird above the once vulnerable girl. Equally, the hut of a Paharia village, shown in the upper right of the composition, may allude to another of Cleveland's successful policies, in which he persuaded some Sardars (leaders of groups of villages) to settle down in the lowlands, where they could cultivate the fertile land and integrate with the wider community (see following lot). As such, the picture could be interpreted as an allegory of Cleveland's benign government, an explanation that would accord with the aforementioned ex-Tapeley picture of the sepoys before their camp.
In his account of Cleveland's relationship with the Paharias, Hodges wrote:
‘It was the humanity of that gentleman, added to the desire of improving the revenue of this part of his district for the Company’s benefit, that induced him to venture into the hills, alone and unarmed, where he convened some of the principal Chiefs; and after the fullest assurance of the most peaceable intentions and good-will towards them, he invited them to his residence at Bauglepoor. The confidence which he manifested in their honour, by trusting to it his personal safety, effectually gained their esteem, and some time after a deputation of their Chiefs waited on him. By a variety of attentions, by little presents, and acts of personal kindness, he so subdued their ferocious spirits, that they promised to desist entirely from their usual depredations…’ (ibid.)
While Hodges’s unrestrained praise of his patron implies that Cleveland was solely responsible for this diplomatic success, the policy of conciliation had, in fact, been initiated by two earlier administrators: first by Captain Robert Brooke, and later continued by his successor, Major James Browne. Cleveland also adopted this policy, but where his predecessors' progress had been stifled, he succeeded through ‘a humane touch… and a broader understanding of the Paharias’ needs which emerged from his personal interaction with them’ (S. Nath, ‘Augustus Cleveland and the Making of British Tribal Policy in Santal Parganas’, Journal of Adivasi and Indigenous Studies, VII, no. 2, August 2017, p. 33). In addition to the Corps of Hill Archers, Cleveland's policies included the introduction of a pension scheme, the establishment of the Hill Assembly – a judicial system for the tribe to secure self-government – and the opening of a school in Bhagalpur for the children of the Paharias.
When Cleveland died in 1784, the ensuing period of mourning extended to the Paharia tribe. In 1905, Francis Bradley Birt wrote: ‘They raise no monument in stone to their respected dead, but for him [Cleveland] they have raised a still more lasting memorial in their hearts and the traditions of the tribe. At the time of his death, they solemnly performed for him all the funeral rites with which they honour their departed kinsmen… and the weird wailing notes of the Paharia death-song echoed along the hills across the valleys from range to range as village after village caught the news and sadly hastened to join in the performance of one universal funeral rite of national mourning’ (F.B. Bradley Birt, The Story of an Indian Upland, London, 1905, p.112).