COLONIAL STATE OF MALABAR 45 exposing the inadequacies of these presuppositions (like Kant in the Antimonies of Pure Reason) by asserting the contrary." ^Counter-propositions" have been levelled against the imperial stand of colonial peace. Stress has been placed on the essential barbarism of what Cesaire has called ^thc civilizing hordes." On the point of colonial barbarity and violence, there seems to be a consensus among many colonial intellectuals. Both positions may be true of the utility of the colonial state. If that is so then the colonial state manifested itself like a Sphinx, both humane and brutal. Professor Antony Low attempts to combine the two aspects in his analysis of imperial authority which he also calls colonial authority. He argues that there are many studies on colonial administration, indirect rule, imperial expansion and its rejection in the form of nationalism but these preoccupations skirt the issue of colonial authority. Of late studies in nationalism have been radicalized to include resistance movements and rebellions,8 but Low queries; ^what of the long intervals when there was next to none such."8 "The essential issue in all this" he says, ^can be very simply illustrated with just one question. How was it possible that 760 British members of the ruling Indian Civil Service could as late as 1939, in the face of the massive force of the Indian national movement led by Gandhi ^hold down" 378 million Indians." There is a need, he urges, to know how colonialism was accepted before we can understand the manner in which it was rejected. The key to this lies in the study of imperial authority.4 Imperial authority was associated with two other concepts: initial imperial situations and intensity of power. Initial imperial situations determined the aura of traditional legitimacy which contributed to the establishment of imperial authority while the intensity of power which passed from influence, through control to sway was used as a yardstick in gauging the gravity of such authority. The gathering of aura of legitimacy determined the kind of nexus established between imperial authorities and traditional rulers. Added to this, other ingredients which went into the building of imperial authority were force, which eventually brought about the colonial pax, the strength and efficiency of the colonial bureaucracy, charismatic qualities of imperial rulers, and so on.6 Nature of Collaborative Mechanisms Indeed there has been some debate, albeit not all that noisy, about whether collaborative mechanisms were more important than violent means in the establishment of imperial authority. Four Cambridge historians. Stokes, Seal, and especially Robinson and Gallagher, have argued that collaboration was very important in the establishment of imperial authority.0 Indeed, argues Robinson, what determines that a country will eventually be colonized and, eventually, when it will be