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The Indigo revolt (or ''Nil bidroha'';
Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
: নীল বিদ্রোহ) was a
peasant movement A peasant movement is a social movement involved with the agricultural policy, which claims peasants rights. Peasant movements have a long history that can be traced to the numerous peasant uprisings that occurred in various regions of the wor ...
and subsequent uprising of
indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
farmers against the indigo planters, that arose in
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
in 1859, and continued for over a year. The village headmen (Mandals) and substantial ryots were the most active and numerous groups who led the peasants. Sometimes disgruntled former employees of European planters - 'gomashta' or 'diwan' of the Indigo factories, took the lead to mobilise the peasants against the Indigo planters. In the summer of 1859 in Bengal when thousands of ryots (peasants) refused to grow indigo for the European planters with a show of rage and undying resolve, it became one of the most remarkable peasant movements in Indian history. Emerging in the
Nadia district Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north. Nadia district is highly influenti ...
, the revolt spread to in the different districts of Bengal in the 1860s and indigo factories and planters faced violent attacks in many places. The revolt ended after the formation of Indigo commission in 1860 which offered reforms of the system, which was inherently exploitative.


Background

Indigo planting in
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
dates back to 1777, when Louis Bonnaud, a
Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...
, introduced it to the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
. He became the first indigo planter in Bengal, starting to cultivate the crop at Taldanga and Goalpara near Hooghly. With the Nawabs of Bengal under Company rule, indigo planting became more and more commercially profitable because of the demand for blue dye in Europe. It was introduced in large parts of
Burdwan Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...
,
Bankura Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district. Etymology In the Mahabharata, Bankura was described as Suhmobhumi. The word or (in Nagari: rāḍh) was introduced af ...
,
Birbhum Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impo ...
, North 24 Parganas,
Nadia Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope" in many Slavic languages: ...
Jessore Jessore ( bn, যশোর, jôshor, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District situated in Khulna Division. It is situated in the south-western part of Bangladesh. It is the administrative centre (headquarter) of the eponymous district ...
and
Pabna Pabna ( bn, পাবনা) is a city of Pabna District, Bangladesh and the administrative capital of the eponymous Pabna District. It is on the north bank of the Padma River and has a population of about . Etymology * According to the histo ...
, and by 1830 there were more than a thousand indigo factories throughout Bengal. The indigo planters persuaded the peasants to plant indigo instead of food crops on their own lands. They provided loans, called dadon, at a very high interest. Once a farmer 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 farmers could make no profit growing indigo. The farmers 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. By an act in 1833, the planters were granted a free hand to deal with the peasants. The zamindars, who also stood to benefit from indigo cultivation, sided with the planters. Under these conditions, the farmers resorted to revolt. The Bengali
middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
were unanimous in their support of the peasants. Bengali intellectual Harish Chandra Mukherjee described the plight of the poor farmer in his newspaper '' The Hindu Patriot''. However the articles were overshadowed by
Dinabandhu Mitra Dinabandhu Mitra (1830 – 1 November 1873) was a Bengali writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play ''Nil Darpan'' (1860). Early life Mitra was born at Chowberia village in Gopalnagar P.S., North 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachand ...
, who depicted the situation in his play ''
Nil Darpan Nil may refer to: * nil (the number zero) Acronyms * NIL (programming language), an implementation of the Lisp programming language * Name, Image and Likeness, a set of rules in the American National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing colle ...
''.His play created a huge controversy which was later banned by the Company authorities to control the agitation among the Indians.


Revolt

The revolt started in Chougacha village near
Krishnanagar Krishna Nagar or Krishnanagar may refer to: Places India * Krishna Nagar, Delhi ** Krishna Nagar metro station (Delhi) ** Krishna Nagar (Delhi Assembly constituency) * Krishna Nagar, Hyderabad * Krishna Nagar, Lucknow ** Krishna Nagar metro s ...
,
Nadia district Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north. Nadia district is highly influenti ...
, where Bishnucharan Biswas and Digambar Biswas first led the rebellion against the planters in Bengal, 1859. It spread rapidly in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Burdwan, Pabna, Khulna and Jessore. In Kalna, Burdwan Shyamal Mondal led the revolt. Mondal published a magazine named "Mrittika" and wrote about oppressions of the Indigo planters and plights of the peasants. 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. In response, the planters employed groups of mercenaries and engaged in continual clashes with the rebelling peasants. Historians have noted that unlike the First War of Indian Independence, the Indigo revolt did not direct their hostility towards the British colonial authorities but instead focused their attention towards European planters and merchants; historian Subhas Bhattacharya noted in ''The Indigo Revolt of Bengal'' (1977) that the "movement began and ended as a struggle against the planters." The revolt was eventually suppressed by the mercenary forces of the indigo planters, though not before it put a temporarily halt to large areas of indigo production along the Bengal and Kathgara regions. The planters sued hundreds of peasants for breaking their indigo contracts, with over seventeen thousand rupees being spent defending these lawsuits.


Aftermath

The peasants' techniques of resistance were not the same everywhere. The revolt that started in Chaugacha and Gobindapur by Bishnucharan and Digamber was armed conflict against the planters. But It varied with time and place and was mostly passive and non-violent. The historian Jogesh Chandra Bagal describes the revolt as a
non-violent Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
revolution and gives this as a reason why the indigo revolt was a success compared to the
Sepoy Revolt The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
. R.C. Majumdar in "History of Bengal" goes so far as to call it a forerunner of the non-violent
passive resistance Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, ...
later successfully adopted by
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- ...
. The revolt had a strong effect on the government, which immediately appointed the "Indigo Commission" in 1860. In the commission report, E. W. L. Tower testified that "not a chest of Indigo reached England without being stained with human blood". In 1860, the British colonial authorities formed the Indigo Commission due to Nawab Abdul Latif's initiative with the goal of putting an end to the repressions of indigo planters (by passing the Indigo Act 1862).


In popular culture

Dinabandhu Mitra Dinabandhu Mitra (1830 – 1 November 1873) was a Bengali writer and dramatist. He is notable for his play ''Nil Darpan'' (1860). Early life Mitra was born at Chowberia village in Gopalnagar P.S., North 24 Parganas and was the son of Kalachand ...
's 1860 play ''
Nil Darpan Nil may refer to: * nil (the number zero) Acronyms * NIL (programming language), an implementation of the Lisp programming language * Name, Image and Likeness, a set of rules in the American National Collegiate Athletic Association allowing colle ...
'' was published in
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
and was based on the revolt. It was translated into English by poet
Michael Madhusudan Dutta Michael Madhusudan Dutt ((Bengali: মাইকেল মধুসূদন দত্ত); (25 January 1824 – 29 June 1873) was a Bengali poet and playwright. He is considered one of the pioneers of Bengali literature. Early life Dutt ...
and published by Anglican priest James Long. For publishing the play, Long was put on trial by the colonial authorities and sentenced to a period of imprisonment and fine of 1,000 rupees.
Kaliprasanna Singha Kaliprasanna Sinha ( bn, কালীপ্রসন্ন সিংহ; 23 February 1841 – 24 July 1870), well known by his pen name Hootum Pyancha, was a Bengali author, playwright, and philanthropist. His most famous work was the translatio ...
, a friend of Long, paid the fine for him. The play proved to be essential to the development of theatre in Bengal and influenced
Girish Chandra Ghosh Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publ ...
, who in 1872 would go on to establish the National Theatre in
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
, where the first play ever commercially staged there was ''Nil Darpan''.Nildarpan (play by Mitra) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
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See also

*
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 ...
*
History of Bengal The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam's Karimga ...
*
Indigofera ''Indigofera'' is a large genus of over 750 species of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae. They are widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Description Species of ''Indigofera'' are mos ...


References

{{Reflist 1859 in British India Bengal Renaissance 1859 in India Protests in British India Bengal Presidency Conflicts in 1859 Rebellions in India