Question

Why was the Delhi Durbar organized in 1877 with pomp and slow?
(A) The viceroy wanted to display the wealth and prosperity of India.
(B) The British wanted to threaten the people by displaying their army strength.
(C) The British wanted to replace the Mughal emperor from the minds of the people as their rulers.
(D) The victory wanted to appease Queen Victoria.

Answer 1

Hint: An Indian imperial-style of the mass assembly was organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India. This was the Delhi Durbar. It marks the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. It is also known as the Imperial Durbar and it was held three times in three different years which are 1877, 1903, and 1911.

Complete step-by-step answer:
The Durbar of 1877 is also known as the Proclamation Durbar. On the beginning 1 January 1877, the Durbar was held to proclaim Queen Victoria as the Empress of India by the British. The Durbar of 1877 was an official event and not a popular occasion like the later durbars held in 1903 and 1911 with mass participation. The 1st Earl of Lytton – Viceroy of India, nawabs, maharajas and intellectuals attended this durbar. The transfer of control of British India from the East India Company to the Crown was the final decision of this durbar. The status of an honorary Raja by Lord Lytton, the viceroy of India, was raised to the elderly Ramanath Tagore. It was at this glittering durbar that Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi rose to read a citation on behalf of the grassroots native political organization the Poorna Sarvajanik Sabha, which was the foreshadow of the later rise of the Indian National Congress. The British wanted to replace the Mughal emperor from the minds of the people as their rulers so the Delhi Durbar was organized in 1877 with pomp and slow.

Thus, option (C) is correct.

Note: Joshi's speech couched in a very polite language and had put forth a demand. The campaign for a free India was formal with this demand. This was the beginning of a great transformation in India. Later, the durbar would be seen as controversial as it was directed by the funds from the Great famine of 1876 – 1878.