Despite an enduring commitment to the production of knowledge about India, the British made little effort at any time explicitly to construct an ordering system of ideology for their imperial enterprise. Discuss.

The British Raj wanted to justify their rule in India. For this, they made serious efforts to understand the customs, beliefs, norms, values, etc. of the within the Hindu as well as Muslim fold.
However, there appears to be a flaw in their approach.
They have shown immense reliance on the elaboration of the systems of knowledge from the Brahmin pandits about the nature of Indian society and religion. This, then they presented as their own ideologies and convinced themselves of their right to govern India.
In 1776, Halhed had published A Code of Gentoo Laws with the help of eleven ‘professors’ of Sanskrit, who were able to translate the Sanskrit text to Persian and then to English. Through this exercise, the British believed that were going to have a precise knowledge of the customs and manners of the people and therefore it would serve as a legal accomplishment for setting up a new system of government in Bengal.
Thus, it can be observed that there were enduring efforts made by the English to obtain the knowledge of India and rule it. However, they made no real efforts to create any sort of coherent ideology which would guide them in sustaining their rule. This turned out to be a major obstacle to the sustenance of their rule and consequently led to various revolts starting from 1857 mutiny in order to overthrow them and ultimately the Indian war of Independence.

Topics: GS-I: Modern Indian History & Freedom Struggle