Imperial hierarchy was imagined as a chain of being from beast to Empress.

Evidence

An order of sovereignty is set up from East to West, a mock chain of being whose clearest form was given once by Kipling: Mule, horse, elephant, or bullock, he obeys his driver, and the driver his sergeant, and the sergeant his lieutenant, and the lieutenant his captain, and the captain his major, and the major his colonel, and the colonel his brigadier commanding three regiments, and the brigadier his general, who obeys the Viceroy, who is the servant of the Empress. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 136

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• CANDY: Kipling’s verse distills the entire imperial chain of command — great elevator material.
• XREF: The ‘chain of being’ concept prefigures the racial/civilizational hierarchies later Islamophobia discourse inverts or recycles.