PEASANT MOVEMENTS AND REBELLIONS IN BENGAL

MUHAMMAD RABIUL HAQUE

1730105

BPH101 SEC 01

FACULTY: SAYED ABU TOUAB SHAKIR

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On June 23, 1757, the East India Company defeated Nawab Siraj-ud Daulah and became the de-facto
ruler of Bengal. Territorial rule by a trading company resulted in the commercialization of power and the
effects of the British rule were highly destructive. As historian R.C. Dutt noted:

The people of Bengal had been used to tyranny but had never lived
under an oppression so far reaching in its effects, extending to every
village market and every
manufacturer’s loom. They had
been used to arbitrary acts from
men in power but had never
suffered from a system which
touched their trades, their
occupations, their lives so
closely. The springs of their
industry were stopped; the
sources of their wealth dried up.

The plunder of Bengal directly

contributed to the industrial
revolution in England. The capital
amassed in Bengal was invested
in nascent British industries and,
ultimately, resulted in the de-
industrialization of the
Bangladesh region. The muslin
industry virtually disappeared as
a result of British rule.

Faced by never ending

oppression, and having no
alternatives, the peasants of
Bengal rose up in revolt against
the British………

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A. BARASAT REVOLT (1830)

Syed Mir Nisar Ali (1782-1831), commonly known as Titu Mir, was a great Bengali freedom fighter and a
leader of the Barasat revolt. He led the Muslim religious reform movement Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya in
Bengal.

Titu Mir excelled in Bengali, Arabic and Persian languages and literature. He was well versed in Islamic
theology, fiqh, philosophy, tasawwuf and mantiq. He also achieved competence in boxing, archery, and
swords fighting. He was also an expert gymnast and a renowned wrestler of his time.

In 1822, Titu Mir went on a pilgrimage to Makkah where he met the great Islamic reformer,
revolutionary leader and a Sufi - Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi (1786–1831). Titu Mir became his disciple and
became greatly influenced by him. Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi initiated him into the Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya
movement. Its aim was to establish the code of life advocated by Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and to
purify the tenets of Islam from Hindu customs, traditions and cultural practices. It supported Sufism and
the need for having a spiritual guide for correct thought and action. It stressed the importance of
observing the five pillars of Islam (arkān al-Islām). The objective of this movement was to establish an
Islamic state where the Muslim community could observe pure teachings of Islam.

On his return from Mecca in 1827, Titu Mir began to propagate Tariqah-i-Muhammadiya in Bengal. He
encouraged his supporters to build mosques and maktabs to accommodate increasing number of
worshippers. These institutions became their centers of social and religious activities. He encouraged
the growing of beards for men, and burqas for women.

The local Hindu zamindar Krishnadeva Rai of Purha harbored sectarian attitude towards the Muslims
and imposed illegal taxes on them including tax on mosques, on the growing of beards and on Islamic
name of Muslims. The zamindar tried to create division among Titu Mir's followers by labeling him as a
Wahabi. However, the Muslims did not pay any heed to his tricks. As a result, he intensified torture on
the Muslims.

When the beard-tax collectors arrived, Titu Mir’s followers refused to pay. Enraged by this, Krishna and
his lathials not only marched into Titu Mir’s village Sarfarazpur, demolished the mosque and confiscated
their properties. During this attack Titu Mir and many of his prominent followers were injured. Some of
his followers were martyred as well.

To overcome the force of the zamindars Titu Mir organized a Mujahid force and was actively training
them in combat. The number of mujahids soon rose to nearly 5000 men.

On November 1830, Titu Mir attacked Purha (estate of Krishnadeva Rai) where they slaughtered a cow
in the marketplace, splattered its blood over the walls of a temple and hanged up the carcass in front of
that temple.

Titu Mir then proclaimed the Company government as illegitimate. In a bold act of inversion, he
declared himself the Muslim Caliph’s (Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II) representative in India, and urged
upon the people to participate in jihad against the British and re-establish Muslim rule. This incident is
known as the Barasat revolt.

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Titu Mir proclaimed himself as ‘Badshah’, formally appointed the leader of the weaving community as
his ‘Wazir’, and his disciple and nephew, Ghulam Masum was made commander of his mujahid forces.
He soon established his control over the districts of 24 Parganas, Nadia and Faridpur. According to his
instructions, peasants stopped paying rents to the zamindars and abandoned cultivating indigo for the
planters.

Titu Mir demanded tax from the zamindars who entreated the British for protection. The combined
forces of the British and Zamindars met humiliating defeat several times at the hands of the mujahid
force as a result of his strike-and-retreat guerrilla tactics.

On October 1831, Titumir readied the mujahids for armed conflict, and built a fort of bamboo at
Narikelbaria. On November 1831, Governor General William Bentinck sent a large British force to
Narikelberia against Titu Mir under Lieutenant Colonel Stewart consisting of 100 cavalry, 300 native
infantry and artillery with two cannons. The mujahids were overwhelmed by the vastly superior
firepower of the British forces. Titu Mir along with some fifty of his comrades were martyred; and
around 350 mujahids were captured, including Ghulam, who was hanged to death.

B. FARAIZI MOVEMENT

Haji Shariatullah (1781–1840) was born to Abdul Jalil Talukdar, a farmer by profession, in 1781. He
travelled to Makkah in Arabia in 1799. In Makkah, he studied Arabic literature, Islamic jurisprudence,
religious sciences and Sufism. Later, he enrolled in the University of al-Azhar in Egypt to study Islam in
greater depth, along with philosophy (Hikmat). He came back from Arabia as a good Arabic scholar and a
skillful debater.

On his return to Bengal in 1818, he found that the Muslims had been following many indigenous
customs, rituals and ceremonies influenced by Hindu beliefs and superstitions which were far removed
from the principles of Islam. He made it his mission to guide the Muslims of Bengal to the true path of
Islam. His effort and struggle of Islamic revival later came to be known as Faraizi Movement.

Haji Shariatullah faced a lot of opposition from the Muslim elites in Bengal, who even tried to entrap
him into legal matters to get rid of him. His preaching of pure doctrines failed to attract audience. He,
thereupon, went back to Makkah to seek advice from his teacher, Tahir al-Sumbal, who initiated him
into the Qadiriyah Tariqah of Sufism. Tahir al-Sumbal sent him back to Bengal in 1820 with spiritual
blessings.

With the new Sufi element with a call to hold the iman in the qalb (heart), the Faraizi Movement spread
far and wide with extraordinary rapidity, and soon became popular in the areas of Dhaka, Faridpur,
Madaripur, Barisal, Mymensingh, Comilla, Chittagong and Noakhali districts, as well as to the province of
Assam, during the lifetime of the Haji Shariatullah.

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The Faraizis adhered to the Hanafi school, and their religious beliefs as well as in practices were grouped
together into five Faraizi doctrines:

(i) Tawbah i.e. to be penitent for past sins as a measure for the purification of soul;

(ii) To observe strictly the five pillars of Islam (arkān al-Islām), and all other religious duties enjoined by
the Qur’an as well as by the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW);

(iii) Strict adherence to Tawḥīd;

(iv) India being Dar al-Harb (abode of war), Jumu'ah and Eid congregations were not obligatory;

(v) Denouncing all cultural rites and ceremonies, which had no reference to the Quran and Prophetic
traditions, as bid’ah.

He also emphasized the unity and brotherhood of the Muslims and equality of mankind; he condemned
caste discrimination, which had contaminated the Muslim society.

Haji Shariatullah deemed British domination in Bengal as detrimental to the religious life of Muslims. He
declared as British India is Dar al-Harb (abode of war), Jumu'ah and Eid congregations were not
obligatory. His contemporary religious preacher Maulana Karamat Ali Jaunpuri (d. 1873) fervently
opposed him on this point and condemned him as the Khariji of Bengal.

He declared that zamindars created under the Permanent Settlement had no right to a share of the
agricultural crops produced by the tillers of the land. He instructed his followers not to participate in the
Puja festivities of the Hindu neighbours, and not to pay any crop-levy imposed on them by the
zamindars. Many taxes were of religious nature, such as, cesses on Kali Puja, Durga Puja, etc.

In 1837, the Hindu zamindars accused Haji Shariatullah of attempting to build up a kingdom of his own.
Shariatullah was placed under the detention of the police several times for purportedly inciting agrarian
turbulences in Faridpur.

Haji Shariatullah died in 1840, and was succeeded by his son, Muhsinuddin Ahmad (1819–1862).

To bring all the Faraizis under the direct control of his authorised representatives and to confront their
opponents effectively, Muhsinuddin organised the Faraizi society into a hierarchical Khilafat system. His
policy was to create a state within the state.

He organised the Faraizi hamlets, enclaves and settlements into small units of 300 to 500 families and
appointed a Gaon (ward) Khalifah over each unit. Ten or more such units were grouped together into a
circle or Gird, over which was appointed a Superintendent Khalifah. The Superintendent Khalifah was
provided with a peon and a piyadah (guard), who was sent to and fro maintaining contact with the Gaon
Khalifah on the one hand, and with the Ustad on the other. Muhsinuddin set up his headquarters at
Bahadurpur, and kept in his company a number of Uparastha (adviser) Khalifahs to advise him on
important issues raised by circumstances or referred to by the Superintended Khalifahs for final
settlement.

In organizing the Faraizi society, Muhsinuddin Ahmad had two objectives in view, viz.

(i) protecting the Faraizi peasantry from the oppression of the zamindars and European indigo planters,
for which he raised a volunteer corps of clubmen (lathiyals);

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(ii)securing social justice for the masses, for which he revived the traditional self-governing organisation
of Panchayat system, which exercised great influence on the people and in Faraizi villages.

The zamindars and indigo planters tried to contain Muhsinuddin by instituting cases against him. He was
arrested several times but released because he became so popular with the peasantry that in those
cases, courts seldom found a witness against him.

Muhsinuddin was prudent enough to recognise the political power of the East India Company. He
recognised the legal revenues of land as due to the zamindars as displayed in the rent-roll list of the khas
mahal.

C. INDIGO REVOLT (1859)

The Indigo revolt (Nil vidroha) was a peasant movement and subsequent uprising of indigo farmers
against the indigo planters that arose in Bengal in 1859.

Indigo cultivation for commercial purpose appears to have begun in the late eighteenth century,
introduced by a Frenchman by the name of Louis Bonnard who was the first indigo planter in Bengal.
With the expansion of British power in Bengal, indigo planting was emphasized because of the high
demand of the Blue Dye in Europe. It was introduced in large parts of Burdwan, Bankura, Birbhum,
North 24 Parganas, and Jessore.

The indigo planters provided loans at a very high interest. Once a raiyat took such loans he remained in
debt for his whole life before passing it to his successors. The price paid by the planters was meagre,
only 2.5% of the market price. The raiyats could make no profit growing indigo. The raiyats were totally
unprotected from the indigo planters, who resorted to mortgages or destruction of their property if they
were unwilling to obey them. Government rules favoured the planters.

Though indigo cultivation was non-remunerative to the raiyats, the planters coerced them to grow
indigo. Indigo planters forced the raiyats to cultivate without remuneration, confined, beat and
compelled the villagers.

The revolt started from the villages of Gobindapur and Chaugacha in Krishnanagar, Nadia district, where
Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas first led the rebellion against the planters. It spread rapidly in
Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna, and Narail. Some indigo planters were given a public
trial and executed. The indigo depots were burned down. Many planters fled to avoid being caught. The
zamindars were also targets of the rebellious peasants.

The revolt was ruthlessly suppressed. Large forces of police and military, backed by the British
Government and the zamindars, mercilessly slaughtered a number of peasants.

The Bengali intelligentsia played a significant role by supporting the peasants’ cause through newspaper
campaigns, organisation of mass meetings, preparing memoranda on peasants’ grievances and
supporting them in legal battles.

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A drama called Neel Darpan by Dinabandhu Mitra, and some newspaper reports of Kishori Chand Mitra
and Harishchandra Mukherjee had helped mold public opinion in favour of the resisting raiyats.

All these factors persuaded the government to set up a commission in 1860 to look into the problem.
With the publication of the indigo commission Report an Act was passed prohibiting coercion of raiyats
for indigo cultivation and the measure led to the end of the movement.

A major reason for the success of the Indigo Revolt was the tremendous initiative, cooperation,
organization and discipline of the raiyats. Leadership for the movement was provided by the more well-
off raiyats, and in some cases by petty zamindars, moneylenders and ex-employees of the planters.

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