Indigo revolt
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The Indigo revolt (Bangla :নীল বিদ্রহ Neel bidrōhō) was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers' against the indigo planters that arose in Bengal in 1859. The back stage of the revolt goes back half a cetury [1] when the indigo plantation act was established. After the couragious fight by the sepoy for independence in 1857 it was Feb-March of 1859 when the farmers refused to sow a single seedling of indigo plant. The strength of the farmer resolutions were dramatically stronger than anticipated from a community victim of brutal treatment for about half a century. Most importantly it was a revolt of both the major riligious groups of farmers in Bengal , notably a farmer Haji Molla of Nischindipur said that he would "rather beg than sow indigo" [2].The farmers were in no possession of any types of arms, it was totally a nonviolent resistance [3].
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[edit] Causes of the revolt
Indigo planting in Bengal dated back to 1777. Louis Bonard was probably the first indigo planter. With expansion of British empire in India, indigo planting became more and more popular. It was introduced in large parts of Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum, Murshidabad, etc. The indigo planters left no stones unturned to make money. They mercilessly pursued the peasants to plant indigo instead of food crops. They provided loans, called dadon at a very high interest. Once a farmer took such loans he remained under debts for whole of his life before passing it to his successors. The price paid by the planters was meagre,only 2.5% of the market price. So the farmers could make no profit by growing indigo. The farmers were totally unprotected from the brutal indigo planters, who resorted to mortgage or destroy their properties if they were unwilling to obey them. Government rules favoured the planters. By an act in 1833, the planters were granted a free hand in oppression. Even the zamindars, money lenders and other influential persons sided with the planters. Out of the severe oppression unleashed on them the farmers resorted to revolt. The Bengali middle class supported the peasants whole-heartedly. Harish Chandra Mukhopadhyay thoroughly described the plight of the poor peasants in his newspaper "The Hindu Patriot". However every such contribution was overshadowed by Dinabandhu Mitra, who gave a perfect account of the situation in his play "Nildarpan".
[edit] The Revolt
The revolt started from Nadia where Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas first took up arms against the planters. It spread like wildfire in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna, Narail, etc. Indigo planters were put into public trial and executed. The indigo depots were burned down. Many planters fled to avoid being caught. The zamindars were also targets of the revolting peasants. However the revolt was brought down by iron hand. Large forces of police and military backed by the British Government and the zamindars mercilessly slaughtered a number of peasants. In spite of this the revolt was fairly popular, involving almost the whole of Bengal. The Biswas brothers of Nadia, Kader Molla of Pabna, Rafique Mondal of Malda were popular leaders. Even some of the zamindars supported the revolt, the most important of whom was Ramratan Mullick of Narail.
[edit] The effect on the British rulers in India
The famous historian Jogesh Chandra Bagal calles the revolt as non violent revolution and gives this as reason why the indigo revolt was a success comapred to the Sepoy Revolt.R.C. Majumdar in "History of Bengal"[4] goes so far ahead to call it as a forerunner of the nonviolent passive resistance later will be successfully adopted by Gandhi. The revolt had a strong effect on the government who immediately appoint the "Indigo Commission" in 1860 [5]. In the commission report E. W. L. Tower noted that "not a chest of Indigo reached England without being stained with human blood". Evidently it was a major thriumph of the peasants to incinate such emotion in the Europeans mind even though the statement might have been an overstatement.
[edit] Cultural effects
Dinabandhu Mitra's play Nil Darpan is based on the revolution. The play is also the first play to be staged commercially in the National Theater Kolkata. It was translated into English by Michael Madhusudan Dutta and published by Rev. James Long. It attracted much attention in England, where the people were stunned at the savagery of their countrymen. The British Govt. sent Rev. Long to a mock trial and punished him with imprisonment and fine. Kaliprasanna Sinha paid the fine for him.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Nildarpan (play by Mitra) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ Social Scientist. v 5, no. 60 (July 1977) p. 14.
- ^ Social Scientist. v 5, no. 60 (July 1977) p. 14.
- ^ *Majumdar, R. C. The Government in 1860 enacted the Indigo Act, according to which no planter could be forced to cultivate indigo against his will. The History of Bengal ISBN 81-7646-237-3
- ^ Social Scientist. v 5, no. 60 (July 1977) p. 14.
