International Journal of Research and Review www.gkpublication.in E-ISSN: 2349-9788; P-ISSN: 2454-2237

Original Research Article

Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement

Dr. Maitree Vaidya Sabnis

Assistant Professor, Department of History, the M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara,

ABSTRACT

Women have been absent from history writing of almost every civilization, more so the peasant women. Indian National Movement was the most recent turning point in Indian history, which ushered in a modern age. However, in order to present a complete picture, there is a need felt to create a dialogue between women and the national movement. Hence, an attempt has been made in this original research article to bring about the sublimities of this very discourse in the first half of the twentieth century.

Key Words: Gender, Indian National Movement, Historiography, Awadh, Warli

INTRODUCTION processes which reflect and later deflect the The old age adage of absences of common perceptions. The common women from history is too oft repeated to be perceptions are that men are active where as mentioned again. In the similar wane, to women are passive, which can be attributed reiterate writing women back in history too to according to Sherry Ortner‟s notion has assumed a rhetoric position. The widespread across the cultures that women question appears more pertinent in case of are closer to nature while men reside in the „low class‟ women, essentially women realm of culture. [1] So women are „working‟ in rural areas. It is a known fact associated with the 'domestic' or 'private' that there is virtually no record of women as rather than the 'public' domain of social, active agents in various events that took political and economic life, which only men place over the centuries in almost all the animate and transform. [2] civilizations. To fill the gap the feminist The other approach is to study and anthropologists, sociologists and historians articulate the processes of historical change are trying to give women their due as through various mediums other than the contributors in the development of society traditionally accepted ones. Social theorists and culture. The much recorded history is of the late 19th and early 20th century saw in about men, where women are absent or the transformation in the relations between silent. Apparently women‟s invisibility was the sexes, epitomized in changing family a matter not so much of fact but of structure, the clue to historical development. perspective which was more androcentric or It is possible, to retrieve the agential male-centric in nature. The question then capacities of women that may sometimes arises how historical events from the point defy neat categorizations in terms of of view of women can actually come to conventional classifications of social and have representations which are shaped to political action. In that women's public roles present the omitted picture? There is no are characterized by a politicization of their specific answer to this question, however private roles. The medium to explore is one approach could be to study the usually visible in "specific articulations of

International Journal of Research & Review (www.gkpublication.in) 130 Vol.4; Issue: 7; July 2017 Maitree Vaidya Sabnis. Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement consent and resistance", which enables as literature in the form of articles, poems and well as constrains women from making their propaganda material. Shelter and nursing own history. The history by women and of care were also provided to nationalist women also has considerable levels and leaders who were in hiding from the British issues which are addressed in accordance authorities. [4] Outside the home with the need of the time and hour. The Prabhatferis were organized in which Indian Freedom Struggle and the various women from all castes and classes would movements that were carried within its fold walk to the local temple singing songs to had multiple affects and effects on the rouse the nationalist and patriotic feelings of society which was gradually becoming more the people. In addition they held meetings conscious to the idea of „nation‟ and and demonstrations, took part in satyagraha, „freedom‟. picketed toddy and foreign-cloth shops, India's struggle for independence is went to prison and also suffered brutalities of tremendous importance in the history of at the hands of the British police. Lastly, anti-colonial movements. The nationalist when the nationalist leadership was in jail, movement set the precedent of achieving the women took over the leadership roles independence through non-violence and and provided guidance to the movement. thus a whole new philosophy based on The mass participation of women in the ahimsa was born. The culmination of the nationalist movement is a well-recognized movement in the partition on religious historical reality. Their activities within the grounds of a country as big and culturally movement were, however, diverse and diverse as India was also significant. almost marginalized in comparison to the However, arguably the most important men. While some women participated aspect of this movement which need to be actively on the streets, others just gave brought forth for independence from a support to the movement. [5] The women historical point of view was that it saw mass emerged as an important force in support of participation by Indian women, women who the national movement under the leadership had till then been confined to the domestic of Gandhi, [6] who in his attempt to create a sphere whether they were of upper class, wider mass participation opened up middle class or lower class. On the other floodgates of women‟s political activism. hand Partha Chatterji makes it clear to us However the underlying problem is that that “The nationalist discourse we have these women cannot be simply assumed to heard so far is a discourse about women; be a homogenous group. Their participation women do not speak here. It is a discourse in the national movement can be viewed which assigns to women a place, a sign, an from different angles. On the one hand there objectified value; women here are not were women's organizations which sprang subjects with a will and a consciousness. We up all over the country with a view to now have to ask very different questions to further women's cause as well as that of the allow women in recent Indian history to country's independence. On the other hand speak for themselves”. [3] were the intense struggles of the lower class The contributions of women women (and men) against exploitation and especially of the middle class to the oppression of the colonial government as Independence movement are reflected in the well as that of the landlord-trader-forest number of studies that have been carried out contractor. so far. The middle class women were The recent feminist historians have involved in diverse nationalist activities, paid quiet deservedly so, deliberate attention both within and outside the home. Within to history of middle class women‟s the home they spun and wove khadi, held participation in the national movement. classes to educate other women and However, apart from sporadic works, the contributed significantly to nationalist historical records are silent about the

International Journal of Research & Review (www.gkpublication.in) 131 Vol.4; Issue: 7; July 2017 Maitree Vaidya Sabnis. Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement participation of lower class women in the which are not essentially struggles spawned freedom struggle. The superfluous by women but movements where women‟s justification can be the lower classes were participation have been traced and recorded unable to cope with their miseries, which by women and women emerge as the central was the result of the exploitation at the players though the impact that is created hands of the upper classes or castes. does not remain remarkably women However the more apt justification can be oriented. The first movement discusses the felt in the absences of recorded material political participation of women in what has regarding the involvement of the lower come to be known as the „Oudh Revolt‟ classes in the national movement. The word which was led by the Kisan Sabha in Uttar freedom struggle naturally had a different Pradesh or United Provinces. The second connotation to the lower classes, which struggle discusses the Warli struggle of assumed the form of people‟s struggle. The 1945-47, which was also led by the Kisan woes of recording the history of the lower Sabha of the Communist Party of India classes women were much intense and deep (CPI) both carrying leftist cliché. due to the issue exclusive to them which focused more on meeting exploitation from Peasant upsurge in Awadh: Role of their own community members apart from Women [7] the others, thereby apparently extricating After the Uprising of 1857, the their issues from the larger national cause or dynamic of British rule changed and a need even the popular peasant struggles or tribal was felt to create an ally which would movements. Also, the historiography of enable the upholding of their rule in India. popular struggles in turn like the general Thus were created and buttressed a small histories, considered women under the class of feudal barons and their 'kinsmen' category of 'man' thereby marginalizing along with the rajas and maharajas of the their roles as the central players and Princely States. The taluqdars of Awadh negating their capacities of leadership and were one such category which found profound involvement. While written patronage in the British Raj. [8] Besides histories of peasant/tribal struggles are few, general exploitation numerous humiliation most of those available having been were exerted on the peasantry to carry out produced in the last two decades, they their extortionate demands. The outbreak of clearly display the male perspective. the First World War resulted in scarcity and The central argument of this paper is high prices, adding to the existing problems that the studies of much celebrated Indian of poverty, unemployment and national movement falls short to take into its underemployment. In Awadh, the loyal fold the role played by lower classes supporters of the Empire-the taluqdars - especially lower class women on various squeezed the peasantry dry by forcibly accounts. This could be because firstly the raising war loans and recruits to aid their ideological base of these movements did not masters, leading to increased discontent. agree within the broad-spectrum of the The British Government was well aware of political demands of the time. Secondly the tire conditions prevailing in the Awadh other inherent forces like patriarchy areas. But any step taken to improve the prevented such inclusions in the peasants' lot was bound to annoy the historiography itself. This problematic taluqdars, which the Government could not predicament can be resolved only through afford as they were the upholders of the looking at various struggles within the empire against 'seditious' national leaders. national movement from gender The peasants of Oudh were ready to perspective. take to any means to achieve compensation Thus to give a holistic point of view, of their grievances. They found a benefactor this paper focuses on those movements in the form of Baba Ram Chandra, whose

International Journal of Research & Review (www.gkpublication.in) 132 Vol.4; Issue: 7; July 2017 Maitree Vaidya Sabnis. Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement real name was Shridhar Balwant a) A cow should be maintained by the Jodhpurkar, was a Maharashtrian brahmin. Panchayat in every village so that milk His political activities were already well is available for small children known before his arrival in India from Fiji b) After the death of the husband, and on islands. [9] Soon he launched an eight-fold confirmation of the proof of marriage, agrarian program for the upliftment of the the wife should get her right. If the wife peasantry. The peasantry was stirred into is not here then the son or daughter action in May 1920. This soon involved should have it. women also as we find the first instance of c) For achieving these demands of kisanin active political participation by women in (peasant women) we shall organize the peasant struggles in August-September meetings in every village 1920. When Ram Chandra was arrested for d) We will contribute one anna per woman the first time, about 40,000 peasants and for women panchayats in every surrounded Pratapgarh jail and the village government was forced to release him. e) We shall hold meetings in our villages Women had taken an active part in this and for the redressal of our grievances agirtaion and after this there was no going we shall get our own laws constituted back. Incidentally, Ram Chandra and thirty from the government. two other peasants had been arrested by the There are trajectories seen from the police on the complaint of a woman resolutions passed by women, which were taluqdar-Chabiraj Kunwar-who was articulated by women through the words of notorious and very oppressive. As the revolt Baba Ram Chandra. The issues that were thickened, women were the major sufferers. singled out and resolved had a little in In December 1920 the Ajodhaya Kisan common with the central issues and can be Conference was held in which 50,000 to one said to be apolitical in nature and were lakh peasant men and women were present. „women‟s‟ issues intrinsically. Each For the first time Satya Devi spoke from the resolution spoke about the concerns of stage on behalf of women and assured their women of those times, i.e. their children, participation in the movement. This was property rights, social rights, legal rights greatly applauded from all sides. When etc. In the 1930‟s as per the resolution, there was resistance from the authorities concrete efforts were made to form peasant women offered satyagraha and sustained the women‟s organizations. Among the activists struggle. who took the initiative were the wives of the The peasant movement in Oudh Kisan Sabha leaders. A Kisanin Panchayat assumed the dimensions of a class war as was formed with Jaggi as its leader this the desperate peasantry resorted to militant organization functioned as a branch of the action on a large scale in Rai Bareily Praja Sangh organized by Ram Chandra. district. The year 1921 began with The aims of the Kisanin Panchayat were: thousands of peasants moving from one a) To face the grievance faced by them as estate to another destroying the crops of the a women taluqdars. The women on their account b) To fight the grievances faced as peasants restricted the police by pelting stones. On and agricultural labourers. the 19th of February 1925, in Pratapgarh, an c) Political mobilization for the national all women conference was held under the movement. presidentship of Jai Kumari. It was Equally important was the pledge-almost a described as a “Kisan devi ki sabha” and the kind of demand charter-which a kisanin had following resolutions were passed which to sign and to promise to work for its focused on the issues which were closer to a attainment: woman a) After the death of the husband, without paying anything (this seems an indirect

International Journal of Research & Review (www.gkpublication.in) 133 Vol.4; Issue: 7; July 2017 Maitree Vaidya Sabnis. Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement

reference to nazarana), we should have woman‟s appeal) was sent to Prof Braj full right over the holding. And there Gopal Bhatnagar. [12] The petitioner had should be no eviction for five years. signed herself as a “dukhit praja ki abla” (A b) The women of the Kisan Sabhas should helpless woman of the oppressed masses). not be forced to work under the threats The petition listed five grievances which of lathis, dandas (sticks) chains etc. entailed that they were beaten with lathis or c) Those who work as labourers should get stick; ogled upon or leered at by the full wages. landlords and their agents; pushed into Traditional customs and ceremonies forced labour; faced evictions on the death like yagya were used by the Kisanin of their husbands; and faced unemployment. Panchayat to mobilize women. The Kisanin After the lifting of the Civil Panchayat also organized exhibitions to Disobedience Movement, there are educate the kisanin and these were financed instances of some of the Kisanin offering by the other bodies. Kapil Kumar has individual Satyagraha, in which the recorded two incidents “We have on record oppression of the peasants emerged as their two meetings (3rd September 1933 and 25th major concern amongst the others. All the April 1934) of the Praja Singh which were women who offered individual satyagraha largely attended by women from the three were from poor peasant families and tahsils (district subdivisions) of belonged to different castes. The caste Pratapgarh.” [10] The Kisanin Panchayt composition is very important development would send separate invitation slips to as these women had joined hands cutting women for such meetings. Kisanin ki across rigid caste norms and demonstrated panchayat mein kisano ki mang ke sath through this that satyagraha could be a milne ka utsav kiya jayega (in their meeting combined effort of the oppressed. the women will celebrate their joining the The participation of women though peasants in their demands). [11] does not bring forth any ideological impact The late 1930‟s witnessed a sharp on the course of national movement or on ideological struggle within the Indian the Women‟s Movement in India as the National Congress. The right wing movement collapsed with the death of Baba leadership was particularly hostile towards Ram Chandra in 1950. However it has the Kisan Sabha and at many places, peasant immense historical significance which membership of the Congress were not brings women within the vertex of a allowed to vote in the organization movement which achieved India its elections. In the Pratapgarh countryside freedom. women had enrolled themselves in large numbers as four anna members of the Warli Struggle 1945-1947 [13] Congress. These women were not just To understand the despondency of passive members. They played an important tribal a brief history is necessary to part not only during the direct action understand the circumstance in which these struggles but also in organizational matters. tribal women went up in rebellion. The When a large number of women found their Mughal rule was replaced by the British and names missing the voters list for the result of this political change was that it organizational elections they flooded the threw the tribes of the place into disarray, D.C.C. (District Congress Committee) resulting in “gang robberies” due to office with representations during 1938-39. confusing variety of land revenue systems Kapil Kumar also mentions that since on the one hand, and "gang robberies" by 1930‟s women had been making the tribal on the other. To settle the matter representations to the National leaders. the British, attempted to evolve a uniform Sometime in the mid or late 1930s a petition land settlement for the district as a whole. titled “Anath Ablaon ki Pukar” (the helpless By 1866, Ryotwari settlement was

International Journal of Research & Review (www.gkpublication.in) 134 Vol.4; Issue: 7; July 2017 Maitree Vaidya Sabnis. Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement introduced in the area, which made them she had not turned up for work. The more dependent on the moneylenders. landlords considered their tenants' wives What hit the hill tribes of Thana and the wives of their marriage servants to hardest was the 'forest conservation policy' be their personal property. They believed of the government. Due to the havoc caused that they had the hereditary right to enjoy by the merchants for gathering timber, by these women whenever they wished to do 1878, the Forest Act was passed and nearly so. The landlord often used her as his 4,01,566 acres of free grazing land was mistress and "for entertaining his official included in the forests of one description or and non-official guests". Violation of the other, and this amounted to nearly 50 women by the landlords was so percent to the forest areas of the district. common that the progeny was given a Several orders were issued in the subsequent special name. They were called 'watlas', a years with the object of preventing the use special caste. The two agencies which of timber and firewood for agricultural and helped the landlords to keep thousands of domestic purposes, with little regard for Warlis in subjection were the local custom which granted the people the right to government officers and the-privately use forest produce unrestrictedly from employed pathans and bhaiyyas who generation to generation. Due to the policies terrorised the Warlis into obedience, by of government and the acquiring powers by sexually oppressing their women and the landlords and moneylenders the inflicting physical torture on both men and exploitation on the increased. women. The women had to meet with dual By 1940s most adivasis had been plight when they were also oppressed by reduced to the position of tenants or their own men and the community as a agricultural labourers, bonded to the whole. landlord-money-lender in one way or the The component of Warli revolt other. The women suffered the worst. The indicates that it was a struggle primarily of landlords used their power over the adivasis the Warlis, though a few other tribes, too, to exact forced labour, Veth, for as many joined the struggle marginally at different days as was necessary for the former's points of time. While Dahanu and requirement. The adivasi women along with Umbergaon Talukas in Thana district, were the men suffered the exploitation of their the scenes of most intense struggle, its class. The Warli women experienced and effects spilled over to other talukas namely bitterly resented class exploitation as also and . The struggle was the gender oppression. Sexual harassment and strongest in Dahanu and Umbergaon, where, violence was the main component of gender Warlis formed 55 per cent of the total oppression perpetuated by the non-adivasi population, gave it a distinctly a Warli landlord and his musclemen and by the non- identity. In 1941, the Warlis also formed adivasi petty government officials like the 48.5 per cent of the adivasis in the district. talati, police and the forest guard. Many [14] This composition gives it a unique Warlis had to work on Veth for as much as a character of class struggle and thereby the fortnight in a month. The adivasi women, protest was directed by the leftist parties. along with the men, suffered the The revolt was led by the Kisan Sabha and exploitation of their class. They had to two names, among others, inextricably perform Veth for the landlord. Incidents like linked with the struggle are those of the following were a common feature. An Godavari Parulekar and her husband, old woman, because she was too ill to do Shamrao Parulekar. Members of the CPI, Veth, was dragged to the landlord's house, the Parulekars who came from an educated, and forced to work till she fainted. Another urban middle class background, entered the young woman who had recently delivered a Warli region in 1944 in order to mobilise baby was beaten by the landlord because the peasants for the first State

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Kisan Sabha Conference to be held in musclemen. An important Kisan Sabha Titwalla in Thana district in January 1945. activist in the region reported that during As leaders, they, especially Godavari this period women played a very important Parulekar, associated very closely with the role in hiding the underground party adivasis throughout the period of the members. They were careful not to give any struggle 1945-47, giving them confidence, information to the police. Many women, courage and political consciousness. She so too, went into the jungles, but most stayed at endeared herself to the adivasis, that she home with the children and the aged had to was affectionately called "Godutai" (elder bear the brunt of police brutalities. As one sister) by them. [15] old woman reported, "We used to face the There were general causes of the revolt in police and the saukar's goondas which the issues of women were left out collectively. We used to snatch their lathis unlike the previous movement under the from them and chase them out of the pada general issues. (hamlet). We used to carry bhakris (a type 1. To remove forced labour or vat-The first of bread) to the jungle in small packets and conference of the Maharashtra State tie these packets to branches of trees so that Kisan Sabha held in January 1945 at our men did not starve". [16] The struggle Titwalla in Kalyan taluka in Thana continued and just before the independence district was attended by nearly 10,000 on April 5, 1947, the Chief Minister B G peasants. Twenty or thirty adivasis Kher, announced the release of arrested attended the conference. Inspired by the adivasis and offered some concessions. atmosphere, one of the Warlis spoke The contribution of the women in passionately of how they had suffered this movement is multifold. At one level, under the labour system, "... but the the women displayed as much militancy and Warlis will not put up with persecution", courage as their male counterparts. They he concluded. They heard the slogan, along with their men struggled courageously "Down with forced labour" for the first against the exploiters and the police, who time at the conference. At the end of the aided the former. On the other level they conference, the adivasis picked up a few were important members and functionaries red flags on their way home. They were of Kisan Sabha, women had a voice in transformed by the conference. They selecting local leaders of the Kisan Sabha. spontaneously went from village to However they themselves were not village with red flags, shouting the members of the Kisan Sabha. Only after slogan "Down with forced labour". 1950 were they made members. Nor was 2. To abolish the system of lagnagadi- the there a separate organisation for women. system was in operation due to the This was due to the fact that there was no efforts of the women. In this system the political consciousness about gender issues married couple was forced to work on in the party and also amongst the tribal as the estate of the landlords free of cost. such. Adivasi women were oppressed by This issue was enmeshed more with their own men. They would drink and beat saving the honour of women and women their wives. What the women were had no direct say in the matter. spontaneously doing was to bring the 3. To increase their wages 'political' to prevail upon the 'domestic' a The police and the government came task neglected by the Kisan Sabha and the heavily down on them women especially party. This is illustrated by the incident were the object of the wrath of the police when during a kisan women's conference, and the landlord's goondas. Warli women an old kisan hearing all the talk of women displayed great courage in withstanding participation in the work of the Kisan Sabha physical torture, molestations and threats of asked, "How can the Kisan Sabha help rape by the police and the landlord's you?" The answer was prompt "Your

International Journal of Research & Review (www.gkpublication.in) 136 Vol.4; Issue: 7; July 2017 Maitree Vaidya Sabnis. Hidden Histories: Peasant Women and the Indian National Movement members can stop beating their wives' The oppressed sex. On the contrary, the Kisan kisan shook his head and replied, "That, of Sabha allowed women to recede into the course, we can do. But it had never struck background once the struggle had passed its us before. I suppose it was because we all peak. Much later, however, a tribal women's did it" Under pressure it may have passed organisation called Adivasi Mahila Jagruti resolutions banning wife beating or enrolled Mandal was started by the Kisan Sabha in women as members, but its perspective on Thana, in 1976. women remained largely unaltered and the The study of both these movements Communist Party's position confirms this. from the gender point of view throws [17] certain common trajectories. The leftist To sum up, the oppression and agencies as is an established fact is more exploitation of the Warlis by the landlord- sensitive to the issue of women, though in a trader-forest contractor were the primary restrictive manner and women were seen issue, and the need to organize the Warlis to within the fold as a class and not as a struggle against the domination the primary category „women‟. However what is task in 1945. It was strategically necessary remarkable in both the movements is that to unite both Warli men and women against the women were conscious of this fact and the common class enemy, which indeed attempted to level it out in their own way by Kisan Sabha succeeded in doing. The passing resolutions to institutionalize some shortcomings of the Kisan Sabha as in the of the rules to their favor. The caste case of the Warli struggle were, precisely divisions do not come in the way while the following. First, women were not homogenizing the issues of women. Both involved in the same way or to the same the movements though failed to create any extent as their male counter parts even long term impact but left clues for further during most intensive phase of the struggle. researches and more space for locating and The militancy, commitment and ingenuity historicizing women. of women, of which there was ample proof, were neither fully absorbed nor developed, REFERENCES and women were, by and large, assigned a 1. Ortner S B, 'Is Female to Male What mere 'supportive' role. Second, the Kisan Nature Is to Culture' in Rosaldo M and Sabha did not treat as important issues Lamphere L (eds), Women, Culture and Society, Stanford University Press, relating to gender oppression of women Stanford, 1974, p72. particularly by their own men (gender 2. Uberoi P, 'Feminine Identity and oppression of women by the men of the National Ethos in Indian Calender Art' exploiter class was perceived as a class in EPW, ppWS-41-46 issue and therefore taken up) even when 3. Chatterjee P, Colonialism, Nationalism, women spontaneously questioned male and Colonialized Women: The Contest domination in the family and the in India, American Ethnologist, Vol. 16, community. It is my contention that the No. 4 (Nov., 1989), pp. 632 Kisan Sabha could have taken up issues 4. Sethi M , Avenging Angels and pertaining to gender oppression far more Nurturing Mothers: Women in Hindu seriously than it actually did during and Nationalism, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 37, No. 16 (Apr. 20-26, especially after the peak of the struggle, 2002), pp. 1545-1552 1945-1947, given that women had 5. Thapar S, Women as Activists; Women demonstrated a high level of consciousness. as Symbols: A Study of the Indian A separate organisation of women could Nationalist Movement, Feminist have facilitated the task of building a Review, No. 44, (Summer, 1993), pp. women's movement to deal with problems 81- 96 faced by tribal women both as part of the 6. Mondal A, The Emblematics of Gender oppressed class as well as that of the and Sexuality in Indian Nationalist

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Discourse, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 12. ibid 36, No. 4 (Oct., 2002), pp. 913-936 13. For details see, Saldanha I M, Tribal 7. For details see, Kapil K, Rural Women Women in the Warli Revolt: 1945-47: in Oudh, 1917-1947 in Kumkum S and 'Class' and 'Gender' in the Left Vaid S (ed.) Recasting Women, pp-350- Perspective, Economic and Political 51 Weekly, Vol. 21, No. 17 (Apr. 26, 8. For details on the politic dynamics of 1986), pp. WS41-WS52 the movement please see, Mittal S. K. 14. Parulekar S V, Revolt of the Warlis, and Kumar K, Anti-Feudal and Anti- PPH, Bombay, 1947, p 9. Colonial Struggles of the Oudh 15. Parulekar G, "Adivasis Revolt: The Peasantry in Early 1920s, Social Story of Warli Peasants in Struggle', Scientist, Vol. 8, No. 12 (Jul., 1980), pp. National Book Agency, Calcutta, 1975, 28-45 pp 45-48. 9. Also see Mittal S K and Kumar K, Baba 16. Godavari Parulekar-Interview with the Ram Chandra and Peasant Upsurge in author. Oudh: 1920-21, Social Scientist, Vol. 6, 17. See Chakravarthy R, "Communists in No. 11 (Jun., 1978), pp. 35-56 Indian Women's Movement 1940- 10. Kapil K, Rural Women In Oudh, 1917- 1950", PPH, New Delhi, 1980, p 89; 47, pp-359-360 Cooper A, 'When Peasant Women 11. Ahilya Rangnekar-Interview with the Arose', Manushi, July-August 1979, p author. 49.

How to cite this article: Sabnis MV. Hidden histories: peasant women and the Indian national movement. International Journal of Research and Review. 2017; 4(7):130-138.

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