Writing Empire, Fighting War: India, Great Britain and the First World War

Abstract

At the crossing of Constitution Hill and Hyde Park in London, the unsuspecting tourist comes across what may initially seem to be a remnant of the Raj: a white dome- shaped chattri or pavilion stands on a small patch of ground by the side of the busy road (Figure 2.1). As one steps inside the monument, one realizes that this is the memorial to the Indian soldiers killed in the First and Second World Wars, with the names of those who The Memorial Pavilion (Chattri) flanked by the Memorial Gates, Hyde Park, London. Courtesy Santanu Das were awarded Victoria or George Crosses engraved on the domed ceiling. This small and elegant chattri is flanked by the massive and palely- gleaming Commonwealth Memorial Gates inaugurated in 2002 by Queen Elizabeth II to honour, the inscription says, ‘the five million volunteers from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Caribbean who fought with Britain in the two World Wars’. Of these five million men, the Indian subcontinent (comprising present- day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) contributed nearly one and half million men, including 900,000 combatants and 600,000 non- combatants, to the First World War alone.