The Indigo revolt (or ''Nil bidroha'';
Bengali: 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 world ...
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, predo ...
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 influentia ...
, 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, predo ...
dates back to 1777, when Louis Bonnaud, a
Frenchman, introduced it to the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Ind ...
. He became the first indigo planter in Bengal, starting to cultivate the crop at Taldanga and Goalpara near
Hooghly. With the
Nawabs of Bengal
The Nawab of Bengal ( bn, বাংলার নবাব) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar, a ...
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,
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,
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 hist ...
, 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
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...
, 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. Co ...
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, who depicted the situation in his play ''
Nil Darpan''.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,
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 influentia ...
, 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
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any ...
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.
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, const ...
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's 1860 play ''
Nil Darpan'' 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 ...
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, 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, comm ...
, where the first play ever commercially staged there was ''Nil Darpan''.
Nildarpan (play by Mitra) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
/ref>
See also
* Indian Rebellion of 1857
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 ...
* 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 Karim ...
* 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 mo ...
References
{{Reflist
1859 in British India
Bengal Renaissance
1859 in India
Protests in British India
Bengal Presidency
Conflicts in 1859
Rebellions in India