When trains first came to India in the mid 19th century, they were a source of great wonder and awe. But Indians were also wary of the new creatures that chugged through the countryside. They were scared of the mighty machine – what were these large, black demons breathing fire and smoke?
A new book recounts stories and anecdotes about the early days of Indian railways, with nuggets from the 1830s onwards.
Shaitan of the Scinde
The 1860s were boom years for British engineers and contractors in India, John Brunton being one of them, with railway mania spreading far and wide. Brunton spent the years 1858 to 1864 building the Scinde Railway, a 173-km-long line from Karachi to Kotri on the Indus. This was the first railway line to be laid in the areas that now comprise Pakistan.
He wrote the story of his life dedicated to his seven grandchildren, in the hope that they would find it interesting and amusing. In his work, titled John Brunton’s Book: Being the Memories of John Brunton, Engineer, from a Manuscript in his Own Hand Written for his Grandchildren and Now Printed, Brunton recalls an interesting anecdote during the Indian Mutiny that mentions how a mob of mutineers did not go near the steam locomotive, fearing it to be the devil, and threw stones at it from far away.
Rajendra B. Aklekar
A Short History of Indian Railways
Rupa Publications India, 2019
He notes: “The natives of Scinde had never seen a locomotive engine, they had heard of them as dragging great loads on the lines by some hidden power they could not understand, therefore they feared them, supposing they moved by some diabolical agency, they called them Shaitan (or Satan). During the Mutiny, the mutineers got possession of one of the East Indian Line Stations where stood several engines. They did not dare to approach them but stood a good way off and threw stones at them.”
A Rakshas
Circa 1850s, the sight of the first locomotive and its run led to hysteria amidst the local population. No one was sure what it was – a devil, a machine, a magical animal or some wizard that would capture their land. People hid from it, saw glimpses of it and floated stories about it. Some brave people ventured out to view and touch it. At Hooghly, a businessman flogged his horse to achieve the speed of steam trains. At another place near the Bombay railway line, there were rumours circulated that you needed to sacrifice life to power trains and the steam run required a corpse per kilometre!
In 1852, in Bombay, work on the construction of embankments to build the line was at an advanced stage and, as Faviell and Fowler, the contractors, struggled to finish it, a steam locomotive landed at the port. It drew huge crowds and was named after the sitting governor of Bombay, Lord Viscount Falkland. Though stationary steam machines and steam ships had been in regular use, it was the first time the people of Bombay were seeing a moving steam apparatus on rails.
Used for shunting operations, ‘Lord Falkland’ created euphoria. Its hissing, puffing and whistling, its smoke, soot and smell, and its sheer size and weight were awe-inspiring. From the ports, it was pulled down a public road by more than 200 coolies for its first operation. While it scared a few, it struck a chord with most others.
Early railway construction of Bombay port. Photo: Mumbai Port Trust Archives
The engine’s shunting operations began near Byculla from a grove belonging to a landlord named William Phipps. The grove, which had been cultivated with toddy trees, also had stone quarries that were later used for ballasting the railway line. As quarrying would destroy plantations, it was necessary for the railways to have absolute rights over the land to make radical changes in land use. The GIPR bought the land at a cost of ‘4,000. Phipps’ land, with the engine in it, was the city’s new attraction and it drew crowds from all parts of town, the site resembling a fair.
To start with, people called the train a ‘lokhandi rakshas’ (‘iron demon’ in Marathi). They maintained that no native of a high caste would ever ‘defile himself by entering a railway carriage’.
Early railway construction of Bombay port. Photo: Mumbai Port Trust Archives
Rajendra B. Aklekar
The first locomotive in action gave the native population a cultural shock. The locals, unaware of the industrial developments taking place on the other side of the world, were confident that the mechanical contraption of a running, smoke-belching steam machine pulling wagons was an all-powerful mystical creature. It gave rise to strange ideas and stranger rumours. They were confident that the monster would soon spread its ill effects on society.
The few who were not superstitious or ambitious about the railways simply believed it was all a cruel joke. They said that the idea of a ‘steam-run machine pulling a row of wagons’ was just a ‘bluff ’ to cheat poor Indians of their land and money. The rumours refused to go away. While some said it was a ploy by the English to collect all the money from India and run away, others questioned the project, asking whether the great saints and rishi munis were fools that they had not discovered such a thing earlier. Had steam-powered locomotion really been possible, it would have been put to use much earlier.
As people saw ‘Lord Falkland’ in action every day, another rumour was circulated that one had to bury children and young couples under the rail sleepers to power the rail engine and that the British sepoys were looking for and catching hold of every young couple and child found on the streets to put under the tracks. Yet another rumour spread was that if one travelled by rail, one’s lifespan would decrease, as one would end up reaching the destination faster, fast-forwarding one’s life and age!
Excerpted with permission from A Short History of Indian Railways by Rajendra B. Aklekar, published by Rupa.
Rajendra B. Aklekar is a Mumbai-based journalist and author of several books on the Indian Railways.
