Queen Victoria and the name she left behind

S. Pathiravitana

It’s a bit of a mystery how dictionaries come to tell us that the name victorian, being the designation of the long reign Queen Victoria ruled, is associated with things like prudery, stuffiness, middle class respectability, moral strictness, old fashioned ideas and out dated beliefs For these are the very things, it may be said, she fought against.

Readers who read that charming story that appeared in the Daily News a week or two ago about her Indian love may be surprised how she encouraged an Indian member of her household staff, Abdul Karim, to be her personal secretary, much to the annoyance of her Royal Ministers, who probably were the people who held such old fashioned ideas.

It’s now too late perhaps to reverse our notions of what is victorian but let the name survive in objects like - victoria, a four wheeled horse drawn carriages built for two which if used today may not be for travel but more for short romantic journeys. The history books of course do not tell us anything more about the Queen of England’s relationship with her groom Abdul Karim.

The following quotation from the earlier article on ‘An English Queen and her Indian love’ reveals her outlook and attitude to people. “Once she pulled up one of her Prime Ministers for identifying Indians as ‘black men.’” And knowing what a bureaucracy can turn out to be she warned, “The future Viceroy must really shake himself more and more free from his red-tapist, narrow minded Council and entourage. He must... not be guided by the snobbish and vulgar overbearings and offensive behaviour of many of our Civil and Political Agents...” - so different from the dictionary meanings we have been given of her name.

Though history does not tell us whether she ever had to interfere with the administrators in Ceylon there is one instance where Queen Victoria had to stop the Ceylonese government from hurting the interest of the Buddhists. This was in connection with the Kalutara Bo tree.

This happened in 1896. When the stones in the Dutch fort were being removed to make way for the railway bridge, a bo plant was seen growing among the stones. It was reported that soon ‘a wall was built round it and a charity box was placed by it. The tree rapidly grew and gained in veneration.

During Wesak time lights were displayed on the tree.’ This, it was claimed, distracted the attention of the engine drivers and accidents were feared. The authorities thought that to avert that disaster the tree should be removed.

And when it was rumoured that the tree was going to be removed on a certain date a crowd of about 2000 had gathered in protest. When the police asked the crowd to move away they grew restive and police loaded their rifles to shoot if they did not move.

In the altercation that followed some were arrested and remanded. When a member of the Legislative Council, Mr. Ellawala, raised the question of whether it was the government’s intention to remove the bo tree the answer was that the government had no such intention. If the government wanted to, then the disturbance that took place would not have deterred it.

But what really deterred the government was the voice of Queen Victoria. When this story about the threat to fell the Kalutara Bo tree arose a reader in a letter to the Sunday Observer recently gave the background to what stopped the Ceylon Government from creating an injudicious act.

Some leading authorities had approached the Waskaduwe high priest and placed before him this problem. The High priest had made the acquaintance of Queen Victoria’s son who later succeeded her and told him of the government’s plan.

He, in turn, placed the facts before his mother and she took a decision to tell the Ceylon Government , ‘Don’t touch the Bo tree.’ That would be in character with Queen Victoria who frowned on the bureaucratic ‘red tapism’ which she often had to pull them up for.