The Coolie-Begar or Coolie- Utar movement was a non-violent movement by the general public of
Kumaun in the
Bageshwar
Bageshwar ( Kumaoni: ''Bāgshyār'') is a town and a municipal board in Bageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is located at a distance of 470 km from the National Capital New Delhi and 332 km from the State Capital ...
town of
United Provinces in 1921. This movement was led by
Hargovind Pant and
Badri Datt Pandey, who were awarded the titles of 'Jannayak' and 'Kumaon Kesari' respectively after the success of this movement. The aim of this movement was to put pressure on the British to end the practice of
Coolie-Begar.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
, while praising the movement, named it 'Bloodless Revolution'.
Introduction and reasons
‘Coolie Begar’ or ' Coolie-Utar' referred to the law requiring locals of the hill regions of Kumaun to provide free transportation for the luggage of travelling British officials. It was the responsibility of the 'Village Head' of different villages, to make available a certain number of coolies for a certain period. For this work, there was a regular register, in which the names of all the villagers were written and everyone was forced to do this work alternately.
The dissatisfaction between the public, due to the collusion of the Village Heads, the landlords and the patwaris, and the discrimination between the people increased as the head and patwari of the village started promoting this virtue to get rid of their personal interests. Sometimes, people were also forced to do extremely disgusting things. Such as picking up garbage or washing clothes for the British etc. The locals were being exploited by the British physically and mentally. Eventually, people started to unite to protest against this.
History
The
Chand rulers, during their reign, initiated a tax related to horses in the state. It was possibly the earliest form of the 'Coolie Begar' exploitation. This practice took a widespread form of governance under the rule of
Gorkhas
The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India.
The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...
. Though the British ended it initially, they gradually not only re-enforced this system, but brought it to its formidable form. Earlier this was not on the general public, but on those salaried farmers who used to collect tax from the landowners or collectors. Hence, this practice directly influenced those tenants who owned land. But the reality was that these rich landlords and jurists had imposed their parts of slavery on landless farmers, laborers and weak sections of society who accepted it as conditional remuneration. Thus, this practice continued, despite the opposition of local people.
Background
During the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
,
Haldwani
Haldwani ( Kumaoni: ''Haldvānī'') is the largest city of Kumaon. It is also the third most populous city and largest commercial market in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Haldwani is said to be the financial capital of Uttarakhand, having the ...
, that was the gateway to the
Kumaon area, was seized by the rebels of
Rohilkhand. Though the British succeeded in crushing the rebellion in its infancy itself, the tension of suppression of that time sporadically flared into different forms of resistance from time to time. There was also a dissatisfaction with the British's exploitation of the forests of Kumaon.
Coolie Begar was made mandatory for the residents of
Kumaon division
Kumaon (; Kumaoni: ''Kumāū''; ; historically romanized as KemāonJames Prinsep (Editor)John McClelland ) is a revenue and administrative division in the Indian State of Uttarakhand. It spans over the eastern half of the state and is bounde ...
in 1913. It was opposed everywhere;
Badri Datt Pandey led the movement in
Almora
Almora ( Kumaoni: ''Almāḍ'') is a municipal board and a cantonment town in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Almora district. Almora is located on a ridge at the southern edge of the Kumaon Hills of th ...
, while other leaders like Anusuya Prasad Bahuguna and
Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant also played an active role in the Movement in
Garhwal and
Kashipur respectively. Through his ''Almora Akhbar'', Badri Datt Pandey started protesting against this evil. In 1920, the annual Convention of the
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
was held in
Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...
. several leaders including Pt
Govind Ballabh Pant
Govind Ballabh Pant (10 September 1887 – 7 March 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter and the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pant was a key figure i ...
,
Badri Datt Pandey,
Hargovind Pant, Victor Mohan Joshi, Shyam Lal Shah etc. attended the session, to take the blessings of
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
for the Coolie Begar movement. When they came back, they started raising awareness against this evil.
Movement
On 14 January 1921, on occasion of the Uttarayani fair, this movement was initiated from the grounds of Confluence (Bagad) of
Saryu
The Sarayu is a river that originates at a ridge south of Nanda Kot mountain in Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand, India. It flows through Kapkot, Bageshwar, and Seraghat towns before discharging into the Sharda River at Pancheshwar at the I ...
and
Gomati. Before the commencement of this movement, a notice was issued by the District Magistrate to
Hargovind Pant, Lala Chiranjilal and
Badri Datt Pandey, but it had no effect on them. To participate in this movement, people from different villages came out to the fair ground, and turned it into a huge show. The people first went to the
Bagnath Temple
Bagnath Temple (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: बागनाथ थान) is an ancient shrine dedicated to Shiva, situated in the Bageshwar city at the confluence of Sarju River, Sarayu and Gomati rivers. Bagnath Temple is festooned with bells o ...
to offer prayers, and then about 40 Thousand people went to Saryu Bagad, in front of the procession carrying a flag, with the words "End the Coolie Begar". After that, there was a meeting in Saryu Ground, Badri Datt Pandey, while addressing the gathering, took an oath saying, "Taking the water of the sacred Saryu, and with the Bagnath temple as a witness, we pledge that we will not tolerate 'Coolie Utar', 'Coolie Begar' and 'Coolie Burdayash' any more." All the people took this oath and the Village heads who had brought the 'record registers' with them, flung these registers into the confluence while raising slogans in praise of
Bharat Mata
Bhārat Mātā ( Mother India in English) is a national personification of India ( Bharat ) as a mother goddess. In the visual arts she is commonly depicted dressed in a red or saffron-coloured sari and holding a national flag; she sometimes ...
.
The then deputy commissioner of
Almora district
Almora is a district in the Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand state, India. The headquarters is at Almora. It is 1,638 meters above sea level. The neighbouring regions are Pithoragarh district to the east, Chamoli district to the west, Bageshwar d ...
was also present in the crowd. Though he wanted to open fire on the crowd, he had to step back due to the lack of police force.
Aftermath
After the success of this movement, people gave the title of 'Jannayak' to
Hargovind Pant and that of 'Kumaon Kesari' to
Badri Datt Pandey. People not only supported the movement but also strictly followed it and continued to protest against this practice. The result was that the government was forced to end the tradition by bringing a bill in the House.
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
was very impressed with this movement and paid a visit to
Bageshwar
Bageshwar ( Kumaoni: ''Bāgshyār'') is a town and a municipal board in Bageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is located at a distance of 470 km from the National Capital New Delhi and 332 km from the State Capital ...
and
Kausani
Kausani ( Kumaoni: ''Kôsānī'') is a hill station and Village situated in Bageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is famous for its scenic splendour and its spectacular 300 km-wide panoramic view of Himalayan peaks like ...
himself in 1929. He also established a Gandhi Ashram in Chanunda. After this, Gandhiji wrote about this movement in
Young India
''Young India'' was a weekly paper or journal in English founded by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1916 and later published by Mahatma Gandhi. Through this work, Mahatma Gandhi desired to popularise India's demand of self-government or Swaraj.
It was publ ...
stating "its effect was complete, it was a bloodless revolution."
[The Times of India 3 January 2015]
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Uttarakhand
Indian independence movement
Bageshwar
History of Uttarakhand