Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Sekhar 4 PDF

    Uploaded by

    Krunal Shah
    10 views21 pages

    Original Title

    sekhar-4.pdf

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    10 views21 pages

    Sekhar 4 PDF

    Uploaded by

    Krunal Shah

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 21
    chapter four Emergence of Indian Nationalism 4.1. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF INDIAN NATIONALISM. Mow hr fa nanan ave arg dh he nan the enahshnee of Brahe Whether a nor ach tases op ae ‘embedded in Indian civilisation and th cal ahead og hry pot hat ar edt and iran have ess deed nr. Mow rey Pee has etiqued sich formulations tkelogiel medel of Enlhtenment History” tht pve the“ tla ceca eal Tie ashore oa a er cris howe cao nes ‘ec hc nan onal ote th ape io niin cena ele a yi ‘retort ne oc ae (Gee chapter 3.1 for more discuson on this). As the a ‘professed mission of the colonisers was to elevate the a noel om pee oe of cadence to deed te a ps a ee modernity, it became imperative for the latter le cinkat stamp ofback warden and avert hatte to were capable of i ee state. So the challenge of nationalisen in colonial Indi = ie 10 forge a national unity and to elaim its right to self cman ben ald sce ye ph See eee taka) ome pa of Saath peters {thet acc tise Indian aon, ae ong inh aon mater of ee enone al gag _ Neco cram ht Cie wo et ‘Wer diced pai adrklp wat "eeoe bare KcENCE OF INDIAN NATIONALISM 185 xiv discourse” from the West? Asis Nandy also thinks hit re onalion aya response to Wester imperialism was ke ey etonsen shaped by what was responding to”. The ater We vcisio of universalism, rooted in Indian ciation and peo- Hoye ike Rabindranath Tagore or Mahatma Gandhi eae pec moderna cies ofthe imperial West"—was rected Meo ects etd dls nda. While the alernative Be Myatt unite Indi at & socal rather than politcal leel By tvs and creatively wing differencs, the Indian naonaliss cris Western model of nation-state she defining pine Meets nant? CA Bayly (1998), on the other hand, has aaa eared forthe spehioryofmationslm’ Indian nai eae hins, bale on pre-existing sense oferty a rad tiny cioukn tational by indigenous ideas of public morality oa al gonernment- But how dose regional sldarities were an cred into a broader cularal notion of India through their aaa ida wth colonial rule and with each oer an issue of vigor aac ation, There wete varios nlaences and Varios cOnré> ein tat process, varius levels and forms of consclowsnes It i ee caosract sone -disensonal pctre out ofthis itu a ris since a aation-state wes bor, seems have been made can ycuc ts biography. This doesnot ofcourse mean that out eeina grand mcrae of te evolution of maintream nationalism i a ads dominance in the Formation ofthe Indian vation * do aernative narsatives of envisioning ation. fol aswell as some of tater followers dng, ocwed primarily 08 th sae thee wer he early nationalist sch nl eying thi process of mation-bu Macy ofa matonalisdeoloy and national consciousness va erty all ober forms of consciousness were astumed © have {ow elinated. This awareness of sation was based on a Ont ae ed apathy towards colonial rl, a feling of paso, pa ideology rooted in sense of pride in India's ancient Ci dons This achool, in other words ignored she ines cnflits ea a scien —vehich ong othe things, ed its division With staon snes and assumed the existence of nation #8 sa erence ith ange set of interes In opposition to rember nterpretaon emerged inthe Anglo-American seademia we Rap Ray has rather loony labeled it tthe “neo tradional ae fol: "This new interpretation echoed the old imperialist ve cion of authors like Valentine Chiro, that politcarion of sari dc develope along te ines of radial soil forme rae a Unguse repons, castes oF religious communities, 186 FROM PLASEY To PARTITION AND AFTER rather than the mode eateries of clas or nation, The most portant catalysts of change in this context were the insinonl Innovations of the colonial ste, actably che ineodvesion of West ‘emeiyation and political representation. These new opportaisies intersecd withthe traditional Indian soil dvsions and created new state group-the Western-edacated elite, which dew men ‘er from the exiing piileged indigenous collectives, sch a he ‘Dhadak in Bengal the Chicpavan Brahmans in Bombay oF the Tail Brshoans of Madras. The backward regions or the unde privileged group hat remained outside his imted political nation Fal no assew to the moder insational fe of colonial India, ‘within th confines of which the messages of early Indian national fem reverberate, This went on un che end of Woeld War One, ‘when forthe fet me Mahatma Gandhi lang open the gates of ‘Constiaonal polis t inte the new era of mas nationalism If the neo tadtionalis’ historians studied Indian polis within ‘he rameor ofthe province, Few others have tacked these di sions father down tothe level of leas. These later writings, ‘hik hae come to be identified a the "Cambridge School,’ have ‘questioned the oatlogy of « unified nationalist movement and Fave tacl instead ony a series of localised movement in colonial Tada Asimperilitm was weak, snce it osld not function without the help of Indi collaboracors, nationalism that grew out of con testaion wth was weak ax wel was nohing more than a battle ‘etwcen ero men of straws. As imperil rule depended on Indian collabora there was competition among them for favour ofthe ‘colo lers, This led to emergence of various interest groups, ‘which sted to expand their constituencies as the British intr ‘duced local sel governmeat and electoral system to rope in more ‘allaborties. The national movement was led by these selseking Tender extirely ro pore dee natrow indivdaalorclannish inte. cts, Lealers at various levels were Ged through patrom int rl tionships and it was through these versically sructuredloyaly ‘perworks hae they bargained with he Brith for power and patron ‘ge Thschoo, nae words, completely derecogises the ole of 2 nation ideology and sels 10 explain nationalist pols in {evs ofa competition-—collaborstion syndrome. India was not 3 ‘ton, ban agregar of dyparae interest greups and they Were ‘nied they had 9 opetate within a centralised national adnins- trative fesework created by the Brish This eyicl view of ie ony wiich took the mind and emotion out of its analysis and {olloweds arrow Namieite model, reduced nationalist movement a [yexcece OF INDIAN NaTIONALSM 187 to the sae of “Animal Poites, as Tapan Raychaudhur has des Ibibed it? This model of nterecation is, however no longer sub rived to even by its onetime enthusiastic champions. CA. Bay's fool Origins of Nationality in South Asia (1998), ceeredto erties, Jos reminder ofthat significant historiograpical hi. hy conast to thie rather constcted poieal explanation of tionalis he orthodox Maekst schoo! sought to snaise the clas thacacter of he nationalist aovement and tried ro explain i 0 term ofthe economic development ofthe colonial period, prima iy thereof indus apts and the development of x market Nociey in India, It identified the bourgeois leadership, which tineced this movetent ost thei own clas interests and neler tec the inetest of the masses and even fo some extent betrayed them Thi nattow dass approsch and economic determinis ofthe ity Manx ike RP Dutt and Soviet historian Vl. Paslov were jualied a later Marne wings ofS.N. Mukherec, Sumit Sarkar and Bian Chandra, Mukeree poined vt she complexities of fasonaism, is milsipe layers and meanings the importance of ‘Came alongwith clas and the simultaneous use of a traditional as wrell as a modern language of poiics® Sarkar showed the non Fourgeois background ofthe Indian educated classes and argued the they acted a teadiional” inllctuals, unconnected with the procescs of production, responding to world iological eurents Tike beatin or atonalien and subataeed™ For the ax ye mer tases of India’ In his ater book, Moder India (1983), Salas bas teamed us that “cas and claseconsciousness are anayial tools Vohich have to be used more skilfully and flexibly”. He secognises ‘he legacy of ationalss, but doesnot ignore the “internal te ‘Noos! within ie There were ono level of ant-iperialitsrgles intndias he contends the one elie andthe ther populist. One need hot ignore ether ofthe two but look athe “complex interaction of theve [levels dhrough which was produced "the pater of on ‘inuly crough change” that constinted the dominant theme ofthe period. Bian Chandra anda few of his colleagues have given Marxist. ‘aterpretation a ditinetly nationals orientation in their collective mterprse, Inds Srl for Independence (1988). They argue ‘hat Indian nationalist movement was 2 popular movement of vai ‘us ancy, not exclsively controlled bythe bourgeois. In colonial India they demonstrate wo types of contradictions. The primary Contradiction was between the interests ofthe Indian people and hore of Beis ral; hue spare from tha, there were also several 188 Foy PLassey To PARITTION AND AFTER [ErAcENGE OF INDIAN NariONALis 189 soni concn itn cin ss een Seo anion communi. Asche ascolnia gle propane rconany contac were conpronted ree of he primary cordon so hi wy te {F anaconalt cology ws esised Ba the maton Stet ot te morenencofasnge dato care ora ‘community, and leaders like Gandhi or Jawaharlal Nehew a Sted dards wee posse ation bt eoaton in ha ing Thee were au rope oth condition es eel eee cemeee oelaeseee tal tal conf and ang al ow dapat ros undone Tela e lenders At el the ndin natal maven teens people? tmvemenn ough al the secondary con Sa ra mice eek ‘brave new inereon inti debt came n 1982 when dl fi yolue ofthe Sr Si, eed by Rana Gaba We public ths prvoeive opening tren “The histor Iiy of fnan eaonaim has for ao sme be Joma {Man Thr -bnkered iovogaphy be oe on ‘xpkinInian natant, bein negli combo Sy he people om tet oun that dependently fhe li {othe mao ad deytopment ots satoalan° Tas al Manisa i dees theoreti pts om he ingle lan Morse, Annie Gra thks ta rand tonal mavemea nic aia led to the formation of the Indian nase wos holo ean of th ele, ere taonaiom wana of the mousy whores the suber There war "artral chown Berton the wo dona of tlie palit and ta of te sober the roo segments of fede vey ed in oro completely pers sn noni {logic ered mee wis din so dele ofconacosteAlthogh he baler fom tine Sine prtipned in poll ovement ated byte urea “ian ald topek forthe mason. The bongo ales, ana Guha argc ser es fad ove hegemony through eer Fetumion or coco, st was contin com teed ye pnsy and he working dl whoa dled Sms of milan an action, whisk the naonlse movement. {Mled we approprine. These naon state eae the dom parc of is borg snd eso bu war “dominance ihn hey ThspaleHstriogphicl ran hay howe, undero0e connlraehtsin een Yus wt the ci owing om elas emnaity, kom material analysis wo te privileging of cuore, jn and ena. Complaint have been raised by its onetime sal ft contibator Sumit Sarkar abour the “decline ofthe subalern in Jute Sadie’ "Tis is becuse gradually its focus has expan {from an excsive preoccupation with forms and instances of lic protest to an incorporation of the polis ofthe colonial Mligensia as well. "Ele and dominant groups cn abo have a ialkern pasty argues Dipesh Chakrabarty 1 ajustifcation for cis Avs is focus! Te has been argued, folowing Edward aid (1978), {hat chit subalernity was consiated through the colonisation of (heir mind, which consraced dei subjectvry. As fo an under~ ovding of nationals of thew subordinate colonial elites, the most |inrortane conerbaton hae come fom Partha Chere, Hiveatlier tention vt that naionalinn in Inia was esetially “diferent” thr “esiatve dicourse” from the West thar developed through thse dninct eages: the "momen of departure” when the nationals omcousness was constricted though te hegemonising influence Grthe spontEnightenment cational thought”, the “snoment of wonseufee when the masoes were obved nts support and the foment of aval hen ir became “a course of order” and" crear Steantaion of power" This theory hasbeen farther deve ped int heee book The Nation and ts Fragments (1993), where Te bar argued about two domains of ation ofthis inteligensi the medial and the spina. Inthe inner spiral domain they ‘red to fashion modern’ national culture that eveshcess not Western” and hete they refed to allow colonial intervention; it ras hee tha atinalsm ws already sovereign Inde outer mate~ UI wold defined by the taiations ofthe colonial state, there was towever bile cope for them 0 avoid the influenes of Western thodels. Inthe outer word the Indian elite contested de eotonial Tite of difference, wile nthe ianer domain they sough wo homo" eine Indlan society by producing consent and dominating the eernc of alter dent, Sot two domains of eit and balers ‘eit should now be studied not hee separateness, Chaterice Persads bu in their "muvaly conditioned hires". Thesubaleen view of rationalism —orwhatisnow being described ss dujor sean in "postcolonial? dheory—has wimnested further development in Gyan Prakash's most recent ook Another Reason {9991 where he has argued-—in pascal revision of Charterjee—that athere wa no fundamental opposion between the ionersphere ‘ofthe nation and is outerlife aba pasion stat; the later was the for- her's exten at another, absrat level! The fashioning ofthe 190. FON PLASsEy To PARTITION AND AFTER ation sate in India was no mete emulation of the Western 2 thoughtby Chanere,buea rethinking and eniguing ofthe We ‘em modernity from the vantage point of Inds spiriea-culta Irertage, combined with went approach, This sate ax ca plated by leaders like Javaslal Nebr, would be guided by t Indian principles of ethical couduc hat privileged colective and inthissense, it would noche" Westen impor”. However, ‘very reliance on the sate emanated from ther flare to ache ‘atonal unity, which they had ly visualised aa discarsive le Thus, a Prakash argues, “he nation-sare was immanent in very hegemonic project of imagining and normalizing a nati ‘commonit" and herein ay dhe contadicton of Indian atonal ‘Outside there particular schools mentioned eater, which smore or les clearly definable, thee are, however, a whole range ‘other writings that have looked at Indian nationalism from dive ological vintage points ad histoiagraphiel perspectives I ‘nationalism in other words, i an intensely contested discursive ee rin from where iis cificul to arrive a deta mide ground ‘or evolve an ecletic view that would be accepeale to all Brith rule sought to colonise Indian minds the Indians also slecvely Spproprated,teralised arid manipulated tht colonial knowledge ‘o mount thir wn resistance to colonial hegemony. Bat male stream sationlinm amumed the existence of homogenous dation thar supposedly spoke with one voice, thete have been peristent claims about exchson, sence and sopresio of discordant voice, sch as thor of women® or dalits" In other word its ow argued by an everincresing group of historians thatthe forms of sot ‘colonial resistance and the ideologies that went behind them were ‘tale or constructed in maple ways eis dificult to deny the teuth i Ania Looraa's observation shat here “heaton” lf ina ‘round of dspace and debate a site for the competing imaginings of dierent ideological and polcialimeress India was a. plural ‘ocety au therfore Indian national seas bound to have many ‘oozes, dllerent cases, groups, communis and regions inter pce thei ‘nation’ in various, sometimes even comtaditory, ways, Inians had many idetitey ike class identity, east ident, ei tious identity and soon; a diferent historia conjunetaesdifer- ‘ent identities wore arcolated and intersected with each other. At the colonial state sought to cenforce and subsantilive these fi ses, the Indian nationalist tied to publice an alternative di Course of iteration. Jawabalal Nehru talked about “he old Indian ideal of synthesis offering elements and thee fusion into EMERGENCE OF INDAN NATIONALSNS 194 sonivo0 nationals Such romantic asumprion of fsion va, weve, co avoid the hard reais of confer and contradiction. Complacency and failure to accommodate diference in the ining of «notional clue exclded sme groups from the pro fol niogalsn andthe aity that was achieved proved to be le snd hence s0 much dependence on a centalisig nation» ie, However, this erigue need not take us ro wit Sagata Bose ih! Ayesha Jalal have warmed ws again "Tealing over fag- in” and siding ino sindlss atria Instead of denying the existence ofthe nation at an emotional Igy), will consider ita ste of polcal contestation. The noe~ ulin tendency ofthe mainsueam nationalism norwithstanding, this dominant version ofthe nation was repeatedly contested fom [vide Bu ete question remains ie hiscontettion incapable of fesoletion, o a Hom Bhabha has claimed, such *frces of socal Intagonish gr outradiction cannot be rancended oF dialectcally furmounted"?* Or may be, we should not pest thar question a all Tor, to expect final resolution and everyone living happily ever- ser ig hin ofan end of hisrory. On the coneray, nation build ing always a proces of eontinsous adjustment, accommodation tin! contestation Iris feom this biszriographiel poston of recog hining the muliplcty of responses, rather than assuming. any Uilineatisy of progaes that we wil Took at the emergence of ‘sonal in post 1857 Ida. We wl fous oa theeilferent levels i chick ht consciousness wae developing and ty 0 analyse how ‘ich various form of consciousness intersected and interacted with ‘ich ott, How they viewed contradictions within Indian soceey Sd alo defined their vacated conesaory postions wists thei common oppresive ‘Other, the colonial egime. 4.2. AGRARIAN SOCIETY AND PEASANT DISCONTENT Jn post. 1857 India we wines fist of alla continuation of some of the eaies forms of prot against various oppesive aspects of ‘clon ales he tal and petant movements being dhe foremost stnong them, We have sreaydiscused various aspects of peasant ideology and thei politcal conscioumest (chaper 3.2), many of these tends being present inthe late period aswell, Bu these later novetensaeqted some new features aswel. irs, we find in his petiod a greater awareness of colonial polices, laws and inscutions Song the peasinry both bal and non-ebal. And wat is more important, some of them even embraced those iassucions, the aw ‘ure for example, a an extended and lestimae space fe venting 192 Prox PLasey 0 PARTON AND AFTER ENINGENGE OF INDIAN NATIONALS 193, thie anger or for seeking rediess 1 existing injustices. The limporant fence was the growing invavement ofthe ed ‘idle-classimligentsia as spokespersons forthe aggrieved ney thus adding new dznension to her pores an inking ‘movements to wider agitation against certsin undesirable a of colonial rae, The nature of this ouside intervention in ‘moremens has been asabject of intense debate. Ravinder Ku fon the one hand, would thin that these middl-cas leaders formed an important and effective fnetion 48 channel of eo munication, ereen url society and the administration” a ‘when the wadeiona channels and methods had become tive Ranajt Gua, onthe other hand his described the nine century middle-class atcinde vo peasants at “a cori concotion sn inherited Indian syle paternalism and an sequred, wesc ‘humanism. Theie actions at every sae betrayed thee innate co lnborative mind and revealed the futility of liberalism as det to tyeanay™” But whatever might have been the nature or impact ‘his midle-dass mediation, this was nonetheless anew feature nearly all the peasant movements inthe second half ofthe ‘One of the major evens in which dhe old and aew features peasant movements were equally visible was the Indigo rebellion i engal in 1859-60. The oppressive aspects ofthe indigo plmtatio system (see chapter 25) had been the targets of peasant protest the central and easters Beagal fr a ong time, In 1812 in Barat the followers of Tia Mir had given the local indigo planer the fright of thee lifetime. Almost around the same time the Fact _movemen under Dude Mian neater Bengal hal the indigo plant 15 35 one of hei selected targets of atic. The oppression of the planters increased in the second half of the nineteen centry ag indigo lostits economic importance asan expore item and the Unio ‘Bank, which was the chief financier for the planters failed in 1847, The oppressed peasantry eonsiniedto bea with the coercive plant ‘essfora whl, but ther ated changed when in May 1859 syne pathetic John Pere Granttoak up office asthe Lieutenant Governor ‘of Bengal and with hisencouragement some ofthe diate ofits though nr all—began to ake a pro-peasan poston, thinking tha the courcive methods ofthe planters went against the ethos of ee enterprise. “The indigo disturbances stared inthe aur of 1859 when pease ans refasd to aecepeadvanes fom the planters ina wide eon ia the sects of Neda, Murshidaba, and Pata, The Jono peasants pine hadsin he ping sowing season of 1860, by whch ime she ce deta gion f Bengal had Beane affected, Ashe planes! Phe vind to chee he esas ow indigo they et th if essionce and sometimes thir Indan agents were subjected 10 Mresncd social boycore Te subantial pests od age head ven provided lendeship. The loa saminda who resented the Huron plates usurping che pine postion of power im he nyse fe pated wh th tym sometines even of: ins tateny bt tothe lo control of he station The panic rect prolate lobby in Caleta bad enporarylegotaion sed n Mah 1860, compelng the san ofall the con Trctaobigdons soso digo The ars were loded with Stuinensc and some ofthe neraeaios magitats force Ne peas se wocalas the ated cop. Bt Grant efiedo extend he lee i eon aon ng ade mae ‘Shel pens to atcpt advan tocolateindg. The peas Slovo esto couo, wich wee undace wth ach aw Stes Th novenen a th age toed ino aoe eampalgn cod hepamer sought to viet hr eugene, he ater sree aut eubleh tht ight oecpancy HO unde he Ren act X of 153. ins whol eptode anther morta feature was the inerven vom othe edued mile caso py sore ofthe European mi “Snares Dinabandas Mira published n eptember 1860 playin Song eed Nec! Dao eral, blue mieor), wick depieed the acts of he inigo ler in he bldest possible alu ‘The play was tanlaed nt Ens by te famous Bengal poet ‘Mic Madhusudan Duta tad was pblhed by Re. James Long tithe Church Misonary Soc to bingo the note of the It nl pot cle in dad Loon. Fo hi, Lang was wed {ortbetin de Caeura Supreme Courand wor ied Ra 000 wih ial semence of one moth His conveon enraged the Calcuta ier asthe nan ress, pitt the indo Proc and Som Prakash took up the ese ofthe nig pean, andthe Bish {naa secon cape othr ideas well Albogh chi appeal srito the lua politcal opsion among the impel buenas dicbeweyed the unflagngfathin Bish sce ytem, ese ‘muds protagonists However sucreded in rng the peas So ne he der sen of nina ply and the ‘tte na growing pres on the planes to besve. By 1863, tmovement way ove ary hat tme aig culation, which was Teal an ancl bfos lation Beg, had anos sap peared rm Bega 194 FROM PLASSEY TO PARTITION AND AFTER But indigo plantation suvived in the backyard of she emp i the "relatively cemote and backward region” of Bikar, where the ‘oppressive sytem was allowed to continue without much gover rmint interference Indeed afer the disturbances of 1859-60, much ‘of he indigo investment fom Bengal shifted to Bibar, where eon- Sinued to grow uni anata dye was invented in 1698, But rill ‘he indary continued into the wei century, even experiencing aie revival daring World War One There were instances of ei tance in Darbhangs and Champaran in 1874 and ehen again 1907-8, bythe indigo ckvatos under the leadership of rich ot ‘substantial peasants. But these movements were suppressed by the planters and heie msclemen, with only occasional mild incerven- on feom she government, which could acu forthe pesants ony some limited concessions.» Indigo planation in Champaran hal ait fr Gandhi's ietervenson in 1917 fo is complete demise (see shaper 62). To Bengal—where the spiriof rebellion had een kindled among, the peasants of caster and central districts, particulanly where the Farazi moversent had prepared 4 moral grovnd fr geste righ- teousness—dissent and resistance persisted through to the closing decades ofthe nineteenth century. The next most important event was the forming in 1873 of the Agrarian League in the Yosulshai pargana of Pabna dst, where the oppresin ofa few nes land- Fords phe the peasants othe resold of tolerance n chi are the ate of rent had been coninsally going up along with the illegal ‘esses of abwabs" But the main grevanee of the peaancy war ‘gaint the concerted atemprs of the landlords to destroy teit ‘ceupancy rights by denying them leases in the same ple of land continually for twelve years which would enti them to the po- tection ofthe law (Rent Act X of 1859). The movement, which Was mainly spearheaded by the subsantial peasants, but aided by che lower peasantry as wel remained largely non-violent 2nd within he ‘bounds of la, witha profound fsith i the Brith joatice system, Indeed, the peasant ambition was to become the tue wobec ofthe ‘Queen; they formed the Agari League wo raise money 0 take the Iandors to cours, which were inundated with ene suites. ‘Whar was more important, the Pabaa experiment was repeated soon in ecerdisriets f eater and central Bengal where the amin drs had eecetly resorted to what Benoy Chaudhuri has described as “high landlords, i, defying all laws in che management of their estates, enhancing rent at their wil, imposing legal absabs and persistently trying t0 destroy the occupancy rights of the EMERGENCE OF INDAN NATIONALS 195 obstantil peasans, Agrarian leagues came up in Dacca, Mymen Aiigh, Tripsrs, Bakarganj, Faidpor, Bogra and Rajhabi distri, Gute cvl courts were choked with rene suites. Although some Jeaders were Hindus and there was remarkable communal harmony, these were othe eeions where Faraz movement had large folk Jiwving sed Naya Mian, tie on of Dady Mian, was himself active in frpansing the agraian combination in Mehendigunge in 1880. Asa of che movement, agraan relations in Bengal became sharply polarised and the mounting tension acelerated the passage ofthe Hengal Tenaney Ace of 1885. Tepeovided for relatively greater pro- tection of occupancy rights of dhe sobstatial peasants who leased Tan in the same wile (at just the same pico of Ind) coninue fos for twelve yest Bue the rights of the lester peasantry te hnsined undefined as before, The other interesting feature of the Van uprising and ite aftermath was the ambivalence ofthe edu {hte ede hve. The Caleta naive pes, which had been able fo take an neqaivacal poston against the European planern now teas divided when the oppression of che indigenous landlords was Under attack. Te sme Mindoo Patriot, alongwith the Arita Bazar Para, eook an overtly pro-landlord positon, wile Bengal and the Anglotndian press ridculed them when thei grandiose epots fm pestane violence turned ou to be mere landlord propaganda.” This was adem which the middle-class Indian nationals suf lered fom since the beginning oftheir eareerand which they never scceeded in overcoming completely. ‘essa protest apunst landlord oppresion was nor confined to tenga alone. The ight ofthe Moplah peasants agains thir enmis Continued in Malabar Ge chapter 3.2), while in Sapa dsice of ‘adh and in Mewar in Rajasthan peasants resisted rent enbance- tment and imposition of legal cesses by thir landlords 1860 and 1837 respecivey" Religion sil played 2 large role in peasant tebelions as before; in Punjab, for example the attempts to panify ‘Sih eto the Kaka revalein 1872. Inall hese egonsthe tradi ‘on of peasant militancy coninsed into chefs decade ofthe twen= ‘Sesh cut ulimatly merging ino the larger Gandhian tradition ‘f mass movement in 1921 This merger of couse was not without ft own tensions given the perenial dilemmas ofthe midle~hss leadership (ee ehapter 6) Tn Maharashtra on the ote Hand, the peasants had another enemy to fight against here they cashed heatkon with their money- Tender. Although contemporary colonial officals and some recent ‘trian ave efrred to these events of 1875 asthe Deccan Riot, 196 PRON PLASSEY To PARTITION AND AFTER the psn looked a eva and and thay Da Hedman hr ari, icorported the upg nara Smoot Makara ceo pac Rasa (loa beieeestbtesiirieeincercdoetar il shares The sot of dacomten yn the ging Sati bewen the Marta Kips an ths (hea eeu eto lendeaoey to he Kab pea ike bur mee erin tre Oe oe lage economy Te iveaon of he ean soa Rowers ange the sinaton each pean nay eal tmre eri andthe reston of propery ik nln an the cone nciy selina a! alloca eal ‘ra mmore ean fo ind Te tender ear a {pre ewe poner al agiteces titan all fart repay, he ok ponenion fh land hgh a dese (Shere Chie perpen reed de eles a oe igre plang ottoenelmcyrenowiietot eee cael cmnercalatrs, who his becse teats in thet ov ind The Stount of land ater hat ook place a Maks ering ths fevod nda whiten dace the ts are fcr te Cr exutroyry bn Cac (199) apes hat dn nll rls bt lest aye Raver Kec oon tient ate batho aicemes a Ces lela th ne and cope mies at be ales a Only abe pe cnt th alan in Desa bad pe om te iahans she Maceo Copa nonyederet isto the ot But one a oan atti sal proporon of nd tar the mo een the whole ron and the swt thee tebe mach eed 1 stain fx of oti we om etd whe over enticed th Fevenerasin 1867 on ground of exten of Cclaton nn apc pies he sa nda the cerhetia pens Ursunis ron tiseyetpt ofS rca tat nant ge wan at igo 20 pr co. Chere tina cece we atthe rss behind eas ‘ilps mont ace sheds nthe maa ae “ide fee nye tall whic some oh eed lat remained completely pave srng the whole ped. Bae een ‘hem ne ea ty lpr the fc tt dae ues West $Stnoueed aan hat cl thre ben or iappeprar ‘Te coton beam n Des ceed yt rfc dent eae sed by the American Civil Was, had jos cashed ater the end ofthe Extnassce OF INDAN NATIONALS 197 fy, The peasants were impoteished and were bound to become pelea indebeed the it in revenue ia such a sition would bly increase panic The Kunbis made appeals for aevson ofthe new rats; but thee [aiona leadership had been completely out of touch withthe few institutions and thir morel demand fr anew rational and leyat fhnange of commonication. The Poona Sarvsjanik Sabha, the new ovation of the middle-class inelcruls, now intervened and fretted in 1873 a“Repore”oracase fo atevision ofthe revenve hte Ie lo senevolunterst the villages arouse the Kunbi pea nis again the new tate. Pessarse by this a8 Ravinder Kumar Iigoes che Bombay government now granted a major coocesion, thst in case of fale copay revenue st the movable properties fla peasant would be tached his land would be put up for suction ‘nly his movable properties proved tobe insufficient This conces Sion actually became the sousce of conc: beeween the peasants nd moneyender, asthe lace in 1874 refused to offer credit co the peasants ope their land revenue because of what they thought ‘lack of sufficient scary, But the is of 1875 were not the resale his single factor as Kumar farther argues; they stemmed from © combination of factors, sich as the dislocation of the economy iy the American Civil Wat an illconceved revision of land ax, ‘gation inated by the Poona Sarvajank Sabha and nally the Tengstending hoses beween the Kunbi peasants and the money lenders. "The tots st broke out on 12 May 1875 ata village called Supe in Bhima taluka and soon spread to other villages in Poona. and [Ahmadnaga districts A wide area, about sey-fiveklometes north to south and a hundted Kilometres eat to west was affected by the USstuances. Everywhere the Gujarat and Marwari moneylenders ‘were tacked, not simply because they were “ousides", but ‘because they were thought ra be more avaricious. They alo lived in the villages and therefore were more exposed osuchttacks, lke the Brahman moneylenders who usually resided in beter protected ‘ie, What is more significant, thete was very Lie violence againc the person of the sahokars only thee debt Bonds mere seized and sseoyed. Moreover, violence was resorted to only if there was feaintancein handing over these legal documents, This very featare “Ttingusbes these ot fom the average gene of “pain its” eg= nected by poverty-stricken pesants. The rites had clearly ident fed thie target, an instrument of oppression and dominance, and ths seemed to have been quite avare of the new insiuionat 198 Fos PLASEY 70 PARITTION AND AFTER feamework of power relations within which dey had of late fund themrclves locked in. And if she Brsh ad noe acted prompt in suppressing te revolt, the rotng spc wa highly key ave Spread tothe whole of Maharashea. The Bombay government ated promi in peevesting the recurrence of sich eiotngs the peasants Srere protected against sich fre land grabbing though che Deccan Aricltarns Rei Act of 1879 ‘Whats important, however, isthe face thc in the second half of the nineteenth century and i the fs half ofthe vente, such occurrences of pessane protests gaint moneylenders were quite common theoughou India, a colonial rule had significantly aleted the elatonship been the ro sroupsin he political economy of the village. And everywhere we find similar paterns of peasant behaviow, ie. ive violence against persons but destruction of he legal debe bonds ofthe moneylenders. Tis happened in Saharanpr disc of wesern UP in 1887, n Naskin 1868 nthe ghar regions between Bombay and Poona in 1874 in Amer dsc of Rajasthan ‘in T891, n Pui in 1914 snd in east Bengal in 1950.” Very leary sich disturbances were the reaction of India rural scityaganee the adverse impact of the Bris land system, che laws of property right and cours, which appeared a alien imposions from above that tended toto thee word upside down However it was aot jas the symbols of British role or changes brought about by ie that were being targeted by the peasant there were also overly an-Brish peasant movements, particulary inthe ryorwar ares. Along with the atacks on moneylenders, there were algo nowtax campaigns in a wide area of Mahaashea Deccan in 1873-74 in seaponse to the revenne hike by the Bombay goverment in the 1860s and 1870s, Although the government on this cxaion offered some concessions, it refused to tone down the builtin intently ofits tax system. So when agin in 1896-97 there was a ‘crop filre resting na sevre famine, there wat no remision of revenue, leading 1 a widespread nowt eampaign,parcsary in| the coastal isis of Thane and Kolaka, la Khandes and Dharwar discs, he saukars refused to pay che land tax as there was har vest faire, and the peasantry withheld payment of all axes, One of the major fears of ehe movement, ax Hardiman notes, wa it srengi in relatively more prosperous eegions which were lest lected by the famine. This was an "ageaton of landloeds and eich peasants, while the mediason of the urban leadership from Bom bay and Pooaa payed signcat role to, inviting stong-arm tc tis from the goverament By the end of 1897 ie was all ver Bat [excenes oF IspuN NanoxALSM 199 peasant unrest eruped agin in 1899-1900 in Gort, which suf- fered from a bad harvest ond Ease: Led once agin by the richer peasantry, Kheda,Surarand Broach dinits witnessed nat uni ‘eral refal o pay land tx, but here the ode urban leader Ship coud nor ply any important roe. Her to, the government broke the movement by coercion and threat of confsation of the defaults propery. ‘Amore disc and effecive confrontation benaeen the peasants and the colonial state took pace in 1907 in Punjab, wherein the Chenab Canal Colony the locl government proposed introduce 2 new lw which would contol the lives of the seters move inte ‘mately proposed eo contol inheritance of land inthe eal tle ‘mens fine all those who would break the canal colony regulations land ence the water taxes, Fessnts were organised by their more tducated members to protest against the draconian lav mammoth public mectings were eld and pestions were sen At eh tage, the Involvement of Lajpat Rai and Aj Singh, the two leaders of the Lahore Indian Assocation, and the support of the Singh Sabha and ‘Arya Samal enlarged the scope ofthe movement both vertically and horizontal. The peasns held large demonstrations and withheld the paytiene of al rane brobe cut large lit Arts, Lahore and Rawalpind. The Puja government inially misjudged ‘the magnitce ofthe tension and mistook tobe instigated entirely bby outrdecs: Sit deported Rab ad Singh aad baaned all pubic meetings but tha didnot lead vo any abatement of uatest, which ow affected the army, as Panjab was the most important catchment ates fr army recruitment. Solimately on 26 Ma, Viceroy Minto ‘vetoed the new ar and the measure had s micaclons effet on the ‘peasant who hailed ie ar" vindication of Brtish juice” En peasant consciousness, the distant ruler was sil che saviour, while the enemy was te corrupe offical laser at home. Such ambiguity notwithstanding, they fought against wha they thought te unust taxes oc undesirable interference in thei rational way of life Ip this, Pusja wat no exception. No tx campaigns were reported i ‘ths period from diferent parts of India~from Awadh inthe north in 1879, fom Camby state in Gujarat in the west in 1890, from ‘Tanjore district in the south in 1892-98 and from Assam in the northeast in 1893-94. ‘Along with che unrest among the seed grculuriss the earlier tradition of millenarian movements among te tbl peasants also Continued well into the pore-1857 period, a major example of this tradition being the Manda niga of 1899-1900, under the 200 FON PLASSEY TO PARITTION AND AER ‘guidance of charismatic religious leader, Birsa Mand, The alen- ation of Munda land and he advent of cis had spurred an agi ‘ion nde thee eadersin 1890-95, This movement gradually came unde the leadership of Bes, who fortwo years mobilised the ‘Munda rb peasant rom a wide region in Chora Nagpa in Bar, by promising 9 protect them roman spocaipic diester. Rumour, spread abou his occult powers, ably to bea diate and perform sisal. tial imagination, he appeated as a meni who could ‘usm Beis bales iato water. He tok themn on a pilgrimage to “Manda holy places and onthe way held large public meting tale ing abou «golden pastor stig that was gone and the dark afi tha had befallen, sehen the Minds Land or den was ruled by ‘Queen Mandodar the wile ofthe demon King Ravana probably a metaphor forthe Raj under Queen Vietria.® What came out in these meetings was the tribal pasa antipathy towatde the for ‘gers the dilas—the landlords and she moneylendets and their patrons, the sibs (Europeans)—both officials and Christian mi slonacies. The grounds were thus peepared for a masive anti colonial bal uprising that started ding the Christmas of 1899 t targeted chrches, temples, policemen and oder symbols ofthe new regime and was finally defeated bythe governnent force, What was important, however, about the Monda ulgulan was thei greater awarenes’ of the wider politcal reales of the colonial state. Tribal teritorialty notwithstanding, Biss ambitions were no longer localised. The aim of is movement was not merch to dive ou he ils, but “to destoy their enemies and pu an end tothe Bish Raf” and exalishing in is place "a Bsa Raj and a Brat rel sion" Ie was his poll awareness and abil to connect fo the broad picture that was new inthe late ninetenth century tbat Another new feature ofthe tribal peasant fe of his period was the “unguiet woods, as Ramchandra Ga has described i (1991) “The peoplein the woods became ree as government regulations threatened to deprive the oftheir xstomary user rights on forest resources. The atention ofthe Betish was dram tothe vase oresty of nda in 1806, primarily because ofthe imperil demand for oak timber needed for shipbulding for the Royal Navy. And then he pid constueion of allway in che mi-inetendh century and the hg demand for sleepers shat it crete, made conservation of for: fests major concer forthe colonial sate In 1864 a fres depart ‘ment wa started, followed by 2.Government Forests Act posed in 1865, Ie was farther tightened bythe Indian Fores Act of 1878, EMERGENCE OF INDIAN NATIONAL which esublished complete government monopoly ove Ie forestlands, Needles cy, this imperial need to reserve lors ‘ommercial timber production went against the previous uni dered exstomary user rights ofthe cba peasans and impinged on their principal soares of velihood The act vided the forestlands in India imo three categorie: “reserved”, “protected” and "ancl fied”. The “reserved” forexs were under complete government ronepoly wehere felling of tees was crally prohibited; from the “protected” forex the radial right holders could collect ber for personal wee, but nt forsale, Inaly they eould dot fee of on bt gral the government imposed aad then enhanced user charges By 1900, 20 percent of India’s and ste had come under gover ‘ment forest administration, which not only redefined property rights cher, but also threatened the customary ecological balance. ‘This change imperiled ewo groups of tribal peasants, the hunter _atherets and those who depended on ann ash and burn) culva tion, and their resistance ro forest laws became endemic the see- ‘ondhalf ofthe nineteenth century in practical all parts of Inia To ive t few examples, commercial forestry and the ame laws that accompanied it, prohibiting subsistence hunting, tneatened the ‘Chenchus of Hyderabad with vial extinction and they rook 10 bande. On the other hand the Bigs of cena Indi, che Hil Redel of Hyderabad and he Bison Maras of Bastar continued with their handing ritalin defiance of the laws. ‘The goverment tempted stp hums cultivation, ecaue it was considered t0 Dea rmitive method of agriculture and agaist the interest of commer Cilistion of forests; but these atemps met with various hinds of resistance. The Baga often migrated to neighbouring ates, this ‘depriving the government of aweful source of about Sometimes, they refused 9 pay taxes or defiantly resorted ro shifting cultivation in prohibited 2ones. The Saora rts of the Ganjam Agency, on the other hand, often got involved in frontal confrontation with the state by clearing reserved forest for jum and courting arrests for fhe violation of laws “The state monopoly and commer exploitation of forex also brought autide intuder into the eibal terior, many of whom used considerable amount of coercive power to explo the tal peasants This station in tuen brought ser resistance, a it bap- pened in che Gudem and Rampa hill tacts of Andhra Pradesh, Inhabited by the Koya and Konda Dora tribes. The fist few rebel. lions or ftns inthis region between 1839 and 1862, were inated 202 Pow PLassry To Panto ayo AFTER ty the local mttadas oe ent holders, who found thie power carted and rights denied bythe ination of the sew ous co trol However in he at nineteenth cee sme es can ‘ooplae hat rogh the mn bal pean in a tel of 1979, AS the conmercal te of oer bapa an

    You might also like