Sidharth Bhatia

By Mushirul Hasan

Rs 795

At a time when cartoons are being viewed with suspicion and hostility and the nation seems to be losing its sense of humour, it is useful to know that this form of lampooning has a hoary past in this country.

Cartoons in India did not start with K. Shankar Pillai, even if he was a pioneer in post-Independence India (and, it now turns out, drawing stuff that would anger politicians six decades later). Much earlier, in the middle of the 19th century, Indian publishers took inspiration from the witty British magazine Punch and brought out their own native versions — Awadh Punch and Parsee Punch.
Prof. Mushirul Hasan, an academic with a love for this kind of popular art and culture, has edited a compendium of Parsee Punch and it is apparent that he has worked on it with great affection. His intention is not just to bring out the wit and wisdom of the magazine but to make sure it is appreciated by a wide spectrum of people; towards that end, he has kept academic analysis and jargon to the minimum. The cartoons speak for themselves and the captions underneath give a historical context, which enhances the pleasure.
The breadth of subjects handled by the Parsee Punch is remarkable. From international relations to colonial officialdom to community affairs, the artists of Parsee Punch spare nothing and nobody. The drawings are in the original Punch style, engravings with a caption underneath. What gives them a quaint, localised flavour is the Gujarati translation below the English one; often the former have an earthiness that’s missing in the latter.
Many of the cartoons are little more than visual representations of news items. One such from the December 1884 issue shows a comely lass in a sari and nose ring walking with a sack on her back; the caption underneath reads: “God Speed, Miss Millbai on her way to the Red Sea Ports”. This takes off from the news of the Bombay Millowners Association sending agents to eastern ports to open new markets. The city’s mill owners had by then become very powerful and rich and the textile industry was becoming the mainstay of the Bombay economy. Indian magnates had globalisation on their minds even then.
China comes in for a lot of bashing, an indication perhaps of its uneasy relationship with the British Empire. Though the opium wars were over by 1860, the two sides continued to be at loggerheads and the Chinese Manchu rulers had to continue giving concessions to Western powers. The cartoons, made in the 1880s, show Emperor Guangxu as a blustering, bloated and weak figure.
The modern reader will also be amazed at how candid some of the cartoons are. On the announcement by Sir James Ferguson about establishing a native girls’ high school in Poona, a sketch shows the whiskered Raj official hugging and kissing Miss Poona-bai, who appears rather pleased about it. This is in 1884. The editors of Parsee Punch clearly had a naughty sense of humour. Similarly, a panel of sketches shows how Sorab, a typical Parsi gent, spends Pateti (Parsi new year), which involves him getting a special hair cut, greeting friends, playing a hand or two of cards at his club and finally getting drunk and being carried home, much to the bemusement of his wife and child. The community’s sense of humour about itself clearly has a long history. The clothes worn by Parsi women subtly change in the cartoons, from saris to trouser-style pajamas — an indication of the gradual Westernisation of the community.
Mumbai readers, who are currently dealing with the shenanigans of the moral police which is trying to curb alcohol consumption and other related activities will be intrigued to see a cartoon of traders weeping because of the increase in licence fees for selling liquor.
The Parsee Punch was launched in 1854 and continued till the 1930s in one form or the other (in the late 1800s it changed its name to Hindi Punch). The selection of cartoons in this volume is from July to December 1884; it would have been delightful to be able to see sketches from other years as well. Even so, it is a book to be treasured by all those who love Indian cultural history; it is better than opening a dry textbook.
A few months before the first Parsee Punch appeared, the Indian Nation newspaper from Calcutta wrote: “The faculty of humour is worth cultivating and we are glad to see this opportunity afforded to countrymen of sweetening their temper, enjoying the ridiculous and training themselves to look at things occasionally in their comic aspect.”
How wonderful it would be if today’s pompous and overblown leaders followed this maxim instead of unleashing their wrath on all those who dare to make fun of them.