Indian Peasant Uprisings Author(s): Kathleen Gough Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 9, No. 32/34, Special Number (Aug., 1974), pp. 1391-1393+1395-1397+1399+1401-1403+1405-1407+1409+1411-1412 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4363915 Accessed: 28-04-2020 06:46 UTC

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This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 28 Apr 2020 06:46:45 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Indian Peasant Uprisings

Kathleen Gough

Indian peasants have a long tradition of armed uprisings, reaching back at least to the initial Bri- tish conquest and the last decades of Moghuil governnent. For more than 200 years peasants in all the major regions have risen repeatedly against landlords, revenue agents and other bureaucrats, money- lenders, police and military forces. During this period there have been at least 77 revolts, the smallest of which probably engaged several thousand peasants in active support or in combat. About 30 of these revolts must have affected tens of thousands of peasants, and about 12, several huindreds of thousands. The uprisings were responses to deprivation of unusually severe character, always economic, and often also involving physical brutality or ethnic persecution. The political independence of has not brought surcease from these distresses. Major up- risings under communist leadership since British rutle not unnaturally show a continuity of tactics with earlier peasant revolts. Of these, the more successful have involved mzass insurrections, initially against specific grievances, and the less successful, social banditry and terrorist vengeance. Both in the case of communist revolts and in that of earlier peasant uprisings, social banditry and terrorist vengeance, when they occurred, appear to have happened in the wake of repression of other forms of revolt. Although the revolts have been widespread, certain areas have an especially strong tradition of rebellion. has been a hotbed of revolt, both rural and urban, from the earliest days of British ruile. Some districts in particular, such as Mymensingh, Dinajpur, Rangpnlr and Pabna in and the Santhal regions of Bihar and , figured repeatedly in peasant strutggles and continue to do so. The tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh and the state of also have long traditions of revolt. Hill re- gions where tribal or other minorities retain a certain independence, ethnic unity and tactical manoeuvr- ability, and where the terrain is suited to guerilla warfare, are of course especially favourable for peasant struggles, but these have also occurred in densely populated plain regions such as Thanjavur, where rack- renting, land hunger, landless labour and unemnployment cause great suffering.

IN Kilvenmani village in eastern Than- during and since British rule. We may leadership against the landlords and the javur, , in 1969, a group of define a social movement as "the at- British and the pacifying influence of Harijan landles's labourers, influenced tempt of a group to effect change in Gandhi on the peasantry.7 I would by the CPI(M), struck for higher wa- the face of resistance"5 and peasants argue that peasant revolts have in fact ges in view of the increased produc- as people who engage in agricultural or been common both during and since tion and price inflation brought about related production with primitive (pa- the British period, every state of pre- by the 'green revolution'.1 Goons hired laeotechnic) mneans and who surrender sent-day India having experienced se- by their landlords arrived on their part of their produce or its equivalent veral over the past two hundred years. street at night, imprisoned 42 men, to landlords or to agents of the state. Thus in a recent brief survey I disco- women and children in a hut and burnt This article is confined to social move- vered 77 revolts, the smallest of which these people to ashes.2 Again, in ments which (a) involved peasants as probably engaged several thousand pea- Chandwa-Rupaspur village, Bihar, in the sole or main force, (b) were class sants in active support or in combat. November 1971, a movement of San- struggles against those who exacted About 30 revolts must have affected thal tribespeople resisting encroach- surplus from peasants arnd (c) under- several tens of thousands, and about 12, ment of their land was met by land- took or were provoked to armed strug- several hundreds of thousands. Includ- lords' thugs. For Santhals were roast- gle in the course of their careers. ed in these revolts is the 'Indian Mu- ed alive, 10 were shot dead or hacked Generally, the scope and significance tiny' of 1857-58, in which vast bodies to pieces, 33 were severely wounded of India's peasant uprisings have been of peasants fought or otherwise work- and 45 huts burned down.3 These in- understressed. Barrington Moore, Jr, ed to destroy British rule over an area cidents and many similar ones have il- for example, in spite of acknowledge- of more than 500,000 square miles.8 lustrated a process of peasant resistance ing at some length instances of peasant The frequency of these revolts and the and landlord reprisals that has inten- revolts described in recent Indian writ- fact that at least 34 of those I consi- sified in India during the past seven ings, concludes that China forms "a dered were solely or partly by Hindus, years. Sinoe the Naxalbari uprising in most instructive contrast with India, cause me to doubt that the caste system West Bengal in 1967 and the emergence where peasant rebellions in the pre- has seriously impeded peasant rebellion of rebel and revolutionary groups among modern period were relatively rare and in times of trouble. both townsfolk and peasantry, several completely ineffective and where mo- There does seem no doubt that, apart peasant struggles have erupted, hun- dernisation impoverished the peasants from the Mutiny, peasant uprisings in dreds of landlords, police and money- at least as much as in China and over China usually had a wider geographi- lenders have been assassinated, and as long a period of time".6 Moore at- cal scope than those in India. At least thousands of peasants have died by tributes the alleged weakness of Indian since late Moghul times the reasons for violence.4 peasant movements to the caste system this may have included the political Social movements among the peasant- with its hierarchical divisions among vil- fragmentation as well as the diversity ry have been widely prevalent in India lagers and to the strength of bourgeois of language and culture among India's

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people. During the later decades of nial and post-colonial state than from dura to extract taxes from them in tra- Moghul rule the country had already the caste system or from peculiarities ditionally independent hill 'regions.'5 disintegrated into a number of virtual- of village structure. At least two Indian As it spread gradually throughout ly autonomous, mutually warring king- authors have, indeed, argued that the India, however, British rule brought a doms and principalities between whose caste system provided a framework for degree of disruption and suffering peasants there was little contact. The the organisation of peasant rebellions, among the peasantry which was, it British conquered India piecemeal over since in many cases peasants were able seems likely, more prolonged and wide- a hundred year period from the mid- to assemble quickly through the me- spread than had occurred in Moghul eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth cen- dium of their caste assemblies." times.'6 The effects of British rule turies. Early revolts against their rule When peasant uprisings figure in the came, of course, unevenly and in sta- therefore tended to occur at different British literature, they are often ob- ges, but once operative, they created a dates in different regions, although scured under such headings as "com- structure of underdevelopment in the there was inter-regional co-ordination munal riots" between major religions, Indian countryside which became en- among the largest - for example, those fanatical religious cults, or the activi- demic, and which has been modified led by Raja Chait Singh in Oudh and ties of "criminal" castes and tribes. but never eradicated since Indepen- other areas in 1778-81, by Vizier in While the armed struggles of peasants dence. Although I cannot analyse this Gorakhpur in 1799, and by the military have often had these characteristics, a structure in detail here, the following chiefs (poligars) of Madras and Andhra large proportion of such movements seem to me to have been the major in 1801-5.9 has also, and primarily, been concern- changes that have affected Indian pea- ed with the struggles of tenants, agri- Shortly after the British had subdued sants during the 200-odd years be- cultural labourers, plantation workers, tween the beginning of British rule most of India a huge uprising, widely or tribal cultivators, against the exac- and the present time. backed by the peasantry, did sweep tions of landlords, bureaucrats of the over most of Northern and Central 1. The early decades of rule by the state, merchants, moneylenders, or India in the shape of the Mutiny, but saw outright their agents, the police and the military. even in this case resistance tended to plunder of the country's wealth coupled be strongest in the areas more recently with ruinous taxation of the peasantry, THE COLONLAL BACKGROUND conquered, while those which had ear- in some areas up to twice that imposed lier had revolts that had been crushed, Information is limited about peasant by the Moghuls. These no doubt con- played lesser roles.10 uprisings and other forms of violence tributed to the Bengal famine of 1770 After the Mutiny, British rule and against the rich and powerful in re- in which a third of the people died. military preparedness became stronger mote pre-British times. Whatever the The collection of heavy revenues was than ever and the rural upper classes earlier record, revolts broke out in subsequently regularised in the Perma- of landlords and princes were either many areas during the seventeenth and nent Settlement of Bengal, Bihar and crushed totally or co-opted by the Bri- eighteenth centuries, as the Moghul Orissa in 1793 and in comparably harsh tish through concessions. At the same bureaucracy became more oppressive settlements in other regions. Revenues time, political disunity was perpetuat- and exacted harsher taxes, as commer- in the early decades were used chiefly ed by the division of India into British cial relations penetrated the country- for govemment expenses, wars, private provinces interspersed with 'native sta- side, and as local rulers made increas- fortunes, remittances to Britain and tes' having separate judicial systems. ing incursions into tribal hill territo- public works designed to increase im- Popular action was difficult to organise ries.12 Prominent among the peasant re- perial trade.17 across these boundaries as well as ac- bellions against the Moghuls were those 2. In later decades, land revenue de- ross ethnic and linguistic lines. Be- of the Jats of the Ganges-Jamuna region clined to a muich smaller proportion of tween the Mutiny and Independence, from the 1660s to 1690s, and of the the crop than was exacted by the Mo- the British government and anny were Satnami religious in Narnaul in ghuls, but by that time surplus was also better co-ordinated than those of 1672. In some, but not all, of the re- being removed from the peasants by China and India was not disturbed by volts against the Moghul power, pea- other kinds of agents such as money- invasions. In these circumstances, poli- sants placed themselves under the lead- lenders, non-cultivating intermediary tically disunited, under a despotic Cen- ership of local princes or land man- tenants, landlords, merchants, the new tral government and opposed by their agers (zamindars) who rebelled because professional classes such as lawyers, and landed aristocrats, after 1858 peasants the imperial land revenue pressed so particularly, although less directly, by engaged only in regional uprisings led heavily on the peasants that there was British firms engaged in export crop by religious figures or by local peasant little left for these local dignitaries. In farming, banking, shipping, exports and committees until political parties began the eighteenth century, the rapid ex- imports, and internal trade.'8 to form peasant unions in the 1930s. pansions of Sikh and Maratha power 3. The British land settlements for Even so, some of these revolts were im- and the growth of Thuggee bands in the first time made land private pro- pressive and wrung concessions from the the heartland of the empire owed much perty of a capitalist kind. The new rulers. Since the mid-1930s peasant to the fervent support of peasants suf- landlords included zamindars who had uprisings as well as non-violent resist- fering under Moghul revenue exac- previously been revenue collectors ance by peasants have usually been at tions.'3 Outside the empire, peasant under the Moghuls, a variety of prin- least partly guided by political parties, opposition to encroaching royal autho- ces or subordinate rulers, village head. especially by communists, or else by rity in the eighteenth century was in- men, military tenants, religious or se- nationalist and separatist movements of stanced in the revolts of the Maomoria cular functionaries of former govem- the formerly primitive tribes. In brief, movement against the kings of the ments, in some cases peasant cultiva- I would argue that the limitations of Assam velley,'4 and in south India, in tors who had hitherto merely leased Indian peasant revolts have sprung the resistance of the Kallar (literally, land under customary regulation, and more from broader political forces at "Robber") tribespeople against the ef- in other cases merchants or money- the level of the province and the cobo- forts of the rulers of Ramnad and Ma- lenders who bought land rights, along

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This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 28 Apr 2020 06:46:45 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Special Number August 1974 with the right to eollect revenue, in opium, cotton, oilseeds, jute, pepper, grain stocks to be removed from pros- government auctions when previous re- coconuts, and other export crops.22 perous areas it appears to have allow- venue collectors proved unable to bring Landlords and local merchants profited ed the growth of chronic malnutrition in the tax. While such persons gained from their sales to British export firms, throughout the country. Concomitantly, private landownership, the lower ranks and brought pressure on peasants to however, modem transport fostered the of cultivating tenants, village servants, grow them in their roles as wage la- movement of ideas between town and and serfs lost their hereditary rights to bourers, serfs, tenants or indebted country and created links between ur- work and to share the produce of vil- smallholders. Despite the expansion of ban and rural people. Such links lage lands, and could be evicted if the total cultivated area, the produc- strengthened the Indian nationalist their landlords found them unnecessary, tion of export crops reduced the area movement led by the bourgeoisie; they recalcitrant or unable to pay their rents. available for subsistence farming in at also permitted a degree of unity bet- 4. During and since British rule, least some regions such as Kerala. ween peasants and urban workers in there has been increasing encroach- 8. Speculation and investment in the more recent revolts. ment on tribal hill territories and op- land by merchants, bureaucrats, land- 11. The most brutal feature of the pression of tribespeople by European lords, and successful cash crop farmers British period was the famines.26 There and Indian planters, by government nade land sales increasingly common. were serious regional famines before usurpation of forest areas, by land- The growth of absentee landlordism and British rule, notably in the Deccan in lords, merchants, and moneylenders of cultivation for private profit meant 1630-32 and in 1702-4. It seems cer- from the plains, and by government that traditional paternalistic relations of tain, however, that the famines of the agents. To the loss of large tribal areas landlords and their tenants were dis- British period were more frequent. was added exploitation in such forms rupted in many villages, and that te- Thus, 14 major famines are known to as rack-renting, unequal terms of trade, nants were disrupted in many villages, have occurred between the early ele- usury, corvee and even slave labour, and that tenants and labourers were ex- venth and the late seventeenth centu- and the obligation to grow cash crops posed to new and more alienating ries. During the period of government for little or no retum.1' forms of exploitation, resulting in by the East India Company, by con- 5. The British effected a reduction in greater resentment on their part. trast, in addition to the catastrophic the scale of at least some Indian hand- 9. Population increase occurred, es- Bengal famine of 1770, there were loom and handicraft industries, espe- pecially after 1921, as modemn medical twelve serious famines and four pe- cially those for the production of luxu- supplies and services reduced epidemics riods of acute scarcity before the' Mu- ry goods, through discriminatory inter- and infant mortality. Thus, the popu- tiny of 1857, while Indian peasants nal and external tariffs. Such mea- lation of former British India more were being tormented by excessive sures virtually destroyed India's export than doubled between 1891 and 1951. revenue exactions. Still more devastating of manufactured goods and also oblig- At the same time, industry developed famines followed the Mutiny. The ed Indians to buy British industrial ma- very slowly, so that there came to be worst occurred between 1865 and nufactures, notably cotton textiles.20 Re- too many villagers for a palaeotechnic 1899, and the most severe of all in ports indicate that centres of manufac- agriculture to feed adequately and 1896-97, when 97 million were serious- ture such as Dacca and Agra, as large large-scale unemployment or underem- ly affected and at least 4.5 million or larger than London in the mid-eight- ployment in the villages. In India as died. Another 650,000 died in 1898, eenth century, shrank as a result a whole, per capita agricultural output and a further 3.25 million in 1899. In of these and other British policies to a declined between 1911 and 1947.23 the famines of the* 1860s the principal fraction of their former size.2% Crafts- Some of the consequences of 'agricul- victims were landless labourers and un- men deprived of their livelihood were tural overpopulation' were fragmenta- employed weavers, but by 1900 tenant driven back upon the land as tenants tion of landholdings leading to dwarf- cultivators formed the largest category or landless labourers or joined the mo- tenancies; competition for land among employed in government relief works dern urban lumpen proletariat. Pea- share-croppers and other tenants, which during famines in the Deccan and sants had to sell their produce for cash, encouraged rack-renting; moneylending , while landless labourers fonn- often to moneylenders in return for ad- and chronic rural indebtedness; and the ed the next largest category, and wea- vance loans, in order to buy imported growth of debt bondage in some areas vers were still prominent. ITe data goods as well as to pay rents and re- and of poorly paid day labour in others. suggest that by the end of the century venues. Although the data are imperfect, it tenant cultivators had no reserves left 6. On balance, India was plundered seems probable that there has been, and that in famines they suffered al- through the export of capital to Britain both during and since British rule, a most equally with landless labourers by such methods as the repatriation of decline in the proportions of landlords, and with artisans thrown out of work profits and salaries, debt services for rich peasants and middle peasants and by British industrial policies. Using colonial wars and public works, "home an increase in the proportions of poor figures collected by Bhatia, and select- charges" and adverse terms of trade peasants and landless labourers.24 To- ing only those which record the deaths with respect to raw materials exported day, India has everywhere overburden- of more than 100,000 people in any fromn India and to imported manufactur- ed villages and underemployed and ill- single famine year and fegion, I have ed goods. nourished villagers.25 calculated a total of 20,687,000 famine 7. In many regions various means 10. From the 1850s with the build- deaths in India between 1866 and were used to encourage or compel cul- ing of the railways, the increased move- 1943. Because of the omission of smal- tivators to grow industrial crops, and ment of goods and people had pro- ler figures this is undoubtedly far too even food crops, for export. In addi- found effects. It further undermined the low. tion to highland plantations for tea, unity and self-sufficiency of villages. Probably thanks to improved trans- coffee, cinnamon, and later, rubber, The modem transport of foodgrains portation, there was no very large large areas of the plains were at diffe- reduced the danger of severe regional famine between 1908 and 1943, when rent periods turned over to indigo, famines; at the same time, by permitting the stoppage of rice imports from

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Burma by the Japanese invasion, coupl- who cannot afford the new technology the seizure of a liberated zone. The ed with hoarding and speculation, pro- and cannot compete.3' In 1972-74, fourth type, terrorist vengeance, can duced the Bengal famine in which 3.5 moreover, the gains of the green re- take place sporadically and spontaneous- million died. Since 1947 no catastro- volution have for the most part been ly with little or no organisation; it has phic major famine has occurred in wiped out by seasonal drought and probably occurred thousands of times India proper (as distinct from Bangla- flooding or, most recently, by shortages in all parts of the country in the form desh), but unknown millions annually of fertilisers. of small outbursts of retaliation against die untimely deaths as a result of ill- The above conditions fonm the landlords, moneylenders, etc. Occa- ness compounded with chronic malnu- background of agrarian revolt from sionally, the however, terrorist vengeance trition. A United Nations report of late eighteenth century until the pre- seems to develop into an organised mo- 1968 charged that five million Indian sent. Directly or. indirectly, all of them vement, sometimes involving a religious children still died of malnutrition each have been either created or severely cult; it is also usually present to some year.27 Severe shortages occurred in exacerbated by British colonial policies degree in all of the other four types. 1964-66, and since 1971 the situation or by the policies of the Indian gov- Religious movements (type 2) are thus has become increasingly critical, with ernment, under the influence of impe- not completely confined to attempts to famine deaths, suicides by starving rialism, in the post-colonial period.32 liberate an ethnic group or a region: people, food riots and other forms of some bandit groups, indeed, have spe- agitation in many parts of India. TYPES OF PEASANT UPRISINGS cial religious cults, as well as some Since Independence, and especially Seventy-seven revolts, including the terrorist movements, and both restora- since 1954, foreign food loans have Mutiny, were considered in preparation tive rebellions and insurrections have augmented India's food supply, but for this article. Eight of them occurred usually been regarded as sanctioned by have also helped plunge the country in East Bengal (present-day Bangla- 'normal' religion. The religious move- hopelessly into debt.21 India's own food desh); as it happened, none were mnents for liberation are, however, a production has roughly doubled since selected from regions lying in pre- sufficiently distinctive group, bearing Independence. This is no mean achieve- sent-day Pakistan. The East Bengal re- messianic and millenarian messages, to ment, but even when combined with volts help to illustrate general processes be placed in a separate category. Fin- foreign imports the increase is barely at work in British India. This paper ally, both messianic religious move- adequate to meet the needs of a popu- does not cover agrarian unrest in what ments and agitations for the redress of lation which grew from 356 million in became East Pakistan and later, Bangla- special grievances have, of course, oc- 1951 to 556 million in 1971. When desh; it is evident, however, that there curred very frequently in non-violent combined with hoarding, speculation have been peasant uprisings there since forms; but this paper deals only with and widening inequality in incomes, it the end of British rule, especially during armed revolts, or (in two or three cases) is not at all adequate. the invasion by Yahya Khan's forces in with armed movements which engaged 12. Since Independence, land re- 1971, and revolutionary mnovements bas- in forceful action without actually re- forms have removed some of the big- ed on peasants are continuing there.33 sorting to fighting. gest landlords - the zamindars - A rough classification of the revolts Since the mid-1930s peasant unions and some of the non-cultivating inter- during British rule yields five types of have been organised by a variety of so- mediary tenants, but in general laws action in terms of goals, ideology and cialist and social democratic groups on land ceilings have been evaded.29 methods of organisation: (1) Restorative and since the mid-1940s several armed Before and after each act, landlords rebellions to drive out the British and peasant uprisings have occurred under have evicted numerous tenants on the restore earlier rulers and social rela- communist influence. Some of these grounds that they needed the land for tions; (2) religious movements for the outbreaks took place in regions already "personal cultivation" and have creat- liberations of a region or an ethnic shaken by peasant uprisings in the British ed new paper owners' to conform with group under a new form of govern- period - notably, in Bengal, in vari- the acts while leaving the real control ment; (3) social banditry (to use Hobs- ous tribal hill regions and in Kerala. undisturbed. At least in some areas, bawm's term);34 (4) terrorist vengeance, With modifications, the communist- therefore, land reforms have resulted with ideas of meting out collective jus- inspired outbreaks have partaken of the in an increase in the proportions of tice; (5) mass insurrections for the re- character of types 3, 4 and 5, coupled poor peasants working part-time for dress of particular grievances. with a consciously revolutionary and wages, of landless labourers, and of The first and second of these types transformative ideology having some both rural and urban casual workers are transformative, in the sense that elements akin to type 2. There have and unemployed.30 they sought from the beginning - and tbus been continuities as well as chan- 13. During 1965-71 the 'green re- sometimes briefly achieved - a large- ges between the earlier revolts and the volution' increased productivity in scale restructuring of society.35 Resto- modem communist ones. The most sig- some regions. Reports indicate, how- rative revolts were, however, backward nificant changes have, of course, been ever, that it tended still further to looking, whereas India's religious pea- the attempt at leadership by a vanguard polarise agricultural incomes, for it sant movements have been 'nativistic' political party, together with the pos- enriched the larger owners while ten- in combining traditional cultural ele- session of a view of world history, an ants and labourers gained little or none ments and values with new themes, analysis of India, a strategy of revo- of the increase during a period in sometimes derived from the oppressing lution and a plan for the nation state which they were also being affected groups, in a utopian vision of a Golden at large, derived from the theories of by generalised inflation. As farms are Age. The third, fourth and fifth tyles Marx and Lenin and, more recently, of consolidated and operate as industrial are initially reformative in the sense Mao Tse-tung. capitalist enterprises, the green revolu- that they aim at only partial changes The goals and methods of those en- tion dispossesses some tenants, dis- in society. Both the third and the fifth gaged in revolt varied with their cir- employs some landless labourers and types have, hoxvever, sometimes be- cumstances. Although no neat correla- drives out of business small farmers come transformative and have led to tions are evident I shall suggest some

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This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 28 Apr 2020 06:46:45 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Special Number August 1974 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY connections between contexts and types squeeze out the revenue the Comnpany's ly, were reinstated with less exacting of revolt. All of the revolts seem to officers often completely pauperised the revenue settlements. More commonly have occurred under conditions of re- peasants or had them starved, flogged they were wiped out with exemplary lative deprivation,36 that is of depriva- or jailed.38 savagery; Velu Thampi was hanged tion considered outrageous by compari- Twenty-nine revolts involving pea- publicly after his death. The Pazhassi son with the past or with the condition sants as the main force were counted Raja was executed and his lineage dis- of others in the present. All of them for this period, 12 by tribal chiefs and possessed; his palace was razed and a embodied ideas of freedom from undue 17 by Hindu or Muslim rulers or other road built over the site. After a few economic exploitation or deprivation; of former officials.39 Six took place in of the revolts the revenue exactions on some fonn of collective independence Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Assam the peasants were reduced, but more from a domination conceived of as for- and 15 in central and isouth India. The often 'pacification' was brutally effect- eign and unjustified; and of a just so- enemies in these rebellions included all ed. Half the Santhal army was mur- cial order sanctioned by some religious British officials and troops, British plan- dered and the victors randomly flogged faith or all-embracing modern ideolo- tation owners, revenue agents, pro-Bri- or imprisoned peasants as examples to gy, especially that of Marxism. It is tish landlords, moneylenders, and po- others. The Oudh revolt of 1778-81 true of course that Marxism differs lice. Rebel armies of peasants and for- ended with the zamindars' forts des- from religious belief in its denial of the soldiers holed up in forts, in the troyed, their owners expelled into ban- supernatural, and that the work of forests, or own hill tops with stocks of ditry and fierce plunderings and reve- Marx and his successors points a way grain, and from there made forays in nue exactions in the countryside which towards non-dogmatic, scientific ana- bands of a few hundred to several thou- led to the famine of 1784. lysis of social phenomena. As a politi- sand, robbing and killing officials, loot- The largest restorative rebellion was, cal ideology, however, especially when ing and burning treasuries, plundering of course, the 'Mutiny' of 1857-58. Be- translated into the language and con- merchant boats or the homes of land- gun by Hindu and Muslim soldiers in cepts of peasants, Marxism has simila- lords and moneylenders, and ambushing revolt against their conditions and rities to religious movements in that it or fighting off police and troops with against offences to their religions, it en- purports to offer a complete explana- matchlocks, knives, swords, or bows gaged millions of impoverished pea- tion of society and especially of social and arrows. All of the movements in- sants, ruined artisans, dispossessed no- evils, and in that parts of the explana- volved several thousand armed rebels bles, estate managers, tribal chiefs, tion are accepted on faith. Marxist mo- and supporting populations of tens or landlords, religious leaders (Hindu, vements are also dedicated to a future hundreds of thousands. The largest re- Muslim, tribal and Sikh), civil servants, state of ethical virtue, providing new bellions produced alliances of nobles in boatmen, shopkeepers, mendicants, low relationships for a 'blessed community'. several districts, peasant insurrections caste labourers and workers in Euro- Finally, as in chiliastic religious move- over wide areas, the capture of towns pean plantations and factories. The ments, its followers are ideally willing and the temporary expulsion of the Bri- leaders included rajas and nawabs with to sacrifice their lives to bring this sta- tish from one or more local government the emperor of Delhi as figurehead, na- te about. Contrary to Cohn,37 I do not centres. tive gentry, tribal chiefs and village regard these qualities as undesirable in Among these major uprisings were headmen some of whom set themselves times of oppression, nor as necessarily the revolt of Raja Chait Singh and up as kings. The revolt was not cen- linked with lack of realism or with col- other Hindu and Muslim zamindars of trally co-ordinated, but leaped from dis- lective paranqoia. Oudh in 1778-81; the subsequent re- trict to district throughout most of volt of Vizier Ali, the deposed Nawab northern and central India and inspir- RESTORATIVE MOVEMENTrs of Oudh, in Banaras, Gorakhpur and ed scattered uprisings in the south.'1 Between 1765 and 1857 a large pro- surrounding areas in 1799; the massive The racism of the conquerors, their portion of revolts were led by Hindu or uprisings of the poligars and their pea- insults to religion, their eviction of Muslim petty rulers, former revenue sants in Tinnevelly, North Arcot, and rulers and managers, and above all agents under the Moghuls, tribal chiefs the ceded districts of Andhra in 1801- their ruination of agriculture and ma- in hill regions and local landed military 5; the uprising of the Chuar tribesmen nufactures, combined to provoke an officers (poligars) in south India. They of Midnapore in 1799;40 the revolt of anti-imperialist cataclysm. For the pea- were supported by masses of peasants the Pazhassi Raja, - which counmanded sants, years of rack-renting, famines, and sometimes of former soldiers. The tens of thousands of guerilla fighters high prices, tariffs, debts, land seizures revolts were either against the conquest and affected most of the population of and physical brutality were the main itself and the imposition of heavy re- Malabar in 1796-1805; and almost im- grievances; for the artisans, loss of venues on existing nobles, or retaliatory mediately afterwards, an insurrection livelihood; for the workers, low wages attempts to drive out the British after further south in Travancore and Cochin and sub-human conditions; and for the they had dispossessed a zamindar or a by Velu Thampi, the prime minister of hill chiefdoms, incursions, taxes and raja for failing to pay the revenues and Travancore state, with professional army loss of land. The prime enemies were had replaced him with some other of 30,000 and even larger numbers of of course the British govemment, mili- claimant to the estate, with a Company cultivators. The last of these major re- tary and planters, the big 'loyal' prin- officer, or with a merchant, money- bellions before the Mutiny was the fa- ces who allied with them, the revenue lender or adventurer who had bought mous Santhal tribal revolt of 1855-56, officers, the wealthier merchants and the estate at auction. The goals of involving a peasant army of between the moneylenders. The revolt raged these revolts were complete annihila- 30 and 50 thousand, village assemblies most fiercely in areas which had been tion or expulsion of the British and re- in groups of 10,000, and tens of thou- conquered after 1800, for example, version to the previous government and sands of government troops. All these Oudh (conqucred in 1856), Chota Nag- agrarian relations. The peasants were revolts were, of course, eventually pur (1831-33), Jabalpur (1818), Nag- not blind loyalists. Their own griev- crushed by the British. Some rebel pur (1854), Jhansi (1853) and Berar ances were bitter, for in thieir efforts leaders to fled into banditry or, very rare- (1853-60). Bengal, Orissa, the ceded

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districts of Andhra ahd Madras, Kera- probably true, but most writers give a those most liable to violent uprisings of la, Mysore and Bombay, which had wider meaning to millenarian. Cohn a millenarian kind. been conquered earlier and had al- cites five characteristics: such move- If this is true, I suggest that fervent ready undergone rebellions and re- ments are collective; they look forward chiliastic. movements may .be most like- pression, played lesser roles. to a reign of bliss on this earth; the ly to arise among cultural minorities In the heart of the rebel area mass transformation from the present evil who have lost their customary security, insurrections of armed peasants, in addi- age is to be total; it is imminent, its occupations or statuses and have suf- tion to the mutinying troops and the followers waiting in "tense expectation fered unusual deprivation by compari- private armies of rulers, combined to of the millennium"; and it will come son with their own past and with those massacre the British and to destroy about by supernatural means.46 around them.50 This would apply par- government buildings, revenue and In this sense, a number of millena- ticularly to the Muslim cultivators of court records, coffee and indigo plan- rian movements have arisen among Bengal and Kerala who suffered acute- tations and factories, telegraphs, rail- Hindus, and tribal peoples in ly, often under Hindu landlords, both ways and churches - in short, every India over the past two centuries and as rack-rented or evicted peasants, and organ of British rule. The war was a probably earlier, although their preva- as religious groups who were hated by holy war, so announced repeatedly by lence has until recently been over-' those in authority because their co- rulers and religious leaders, but it was looked by researchers. Stephen Fuchs' religionists had earlier wielded political also most interestingly a war in which "Rebellious Prophets: A Study of power. I would also apply to the tri- Hindu and Muslim, tribesman and Messianic Movements in Indian Religi- bal peoples, who, more than most Sikh, explicitly foreswore mutual enmi- ons"47 describes more than 50 move- groups in India, suffered incursions, ty and combined in defence of their ments with messianic and millenarian loss of land, swindling, bankruptcy, own and each others' customs, and ho- overtones. All had divine or prophetic and the undermining of their culture nour against infidel conquest and op- leaders who were believed to possess by literate and technologically superior pression. Contrary to standard British supernatural powers and looked forward invaders, both British and Indian. It accounts, it seems to have come within to a terrestrial state of righteousness is noteworthy that the Hindus who an ace of ending the Company's rule.42 and justice in which their enemies have joined religious movements with It failed, apparently, because it did not would be removed or defeated. Most an egalitarian and millenarian flavour, spread to all of India and was not cen- were transfiormative rather than refor- for example, the Vaishnavite Maomorias trally co-ordinated (as was the British mative in their expectation of a sudden, of Assam in 1769-1839 and the follow- government and army), and because, total change, and most believed the ers of the Bengal Sanyasis in the late spreading at different dates from region Golden Age to be imminent and sub- eighteenth century, were also predo- to region, the rebellion lost some ject to some kind of supernatural in- minantly low caste or of tribal origin, strongholds, in particular Delbi, before tervention. suffering unusual deprivation from it could properly take hold in others. Fuchs records 19 such movements evictions, famine, and excessive rents or Nevertheless, for several months it rag- among peasants which resorted to revenues.51 ed ever a 500,000-square-mile region armed struggle against the British and It seems likely that the more hope- in which the peasantry, including the against those familiar foes, the land- less the real prospects of the religious lowest castes and the landless labour- lords, merchants, moneylenders, revenue movement and the fewer its means of ers, formed the backbone of resistance. agents and other bureaucrats, troops, practical rehabilitation or redress, the and police. The Moplah (or Mappilla) greater the tendency to seek an immnii- RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS revolts of Malabar which took place nent millenarian outcome through non- After the failure of the Mutiny and I)etween 1836 and 1896 - actually 22 empirical means, and to invest the the annexation of India by the Crown, in number and varying somewhat in leader with marvellous, indeed magical, rebel princes and chiefs were for the ideology - are here counted as one powers. Thus five of the 19 movements most part executed, driven into exile, further instance, for a total of twenty.48 studied were classically millenarian in or co-opted by the government. Tribal Of these 20 revolts involving armed character, waiting in tense expectation chiefs played a part in some of the struggle, 10 occurred among tribal peo- of imminent deliverance, chiefly .by later uprisings and also some religious ples and 10 among predominantly Mus- supernatural means. These movements leaders with claims to royal or noble lim' or Hindu populations. 10 arose be- included the early movement of Mop- descent. In general, however, peasant fore the Mutiny and 10 afterwards. lah tenants in the 1830s to 1850s led rebels from the Mutiny to the 1930s Four of the non-tribal movements oc- by the Mambram Tangal,52 the joined bandit troops, engaged in iinsur- curred in Bengal, one in Gujarat, one tribal movement in Gujarat under the rections under their own committees or in , one in Malwa, one in Hindu religious leader Joria Bbagat in local popular leaders, or else took Patiala, one in Kerala and one in 1867-70,53 the Munda tribal movement part in movements for local liberation Assam. Six of the 10 non-tribal move- under Birsa in the 1890s,54 and the Bhil under charismatic religious leaders. A ments were Muslim and only four pre- tribal movement under Covindgiri, a number of such religious movements dominantly Hindu, although most of tribal convert to , in 1900- had already occurred before the Mu- the tribal peoples were affected by 1912, following a severe famine in tiny. Hinduism as well as Christianity and 1900. The Bhil groups of the Panch Hobsbawm,43 Cohn,"4 and Worsley45 a few by . It is probable that Mahals and the Naikdas, both of whom have suggested that millenarian move- other millenarian revolts may yet probably number fewer than 10,000, ments were rare or absent in India and come to light among the Hindu peo- came to believe that their leader was the view is widespread that they stem ples of various regions; certainly, there himself an incarnation of the supreme usually from Judaeo-Christian origins or were some non-violent Hindu millena- deity (Parameswar or Siva among the influences. In the strict sense of be- rian movements.49 At present it seems, Naikdas and Vishnu among the Bhils). lief in a thousand year period in which however, that tribal and Muslimr mino- Both groups thought that their divine the Evil One will be chained, this is rities, especially in eastern India, were leader xvould deliver them from British

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rule and establish an independent, tive ideology. It was believed that the ed as bandits from their hill country ethical tribal kingdom, which the Naik- rebels, having first purified themselves in Madura into lowland Madura, Pudu- das called dharmraj (kingdom of virtue), by religious ceremonies, would gain in- kottai and Thanjavur in the late eight- a Hindui term. The Muslim Moplah stant salvation by assassinating their teenth to the twentieth centuries.62 tenants, suffering from rack-renting, British and landlord oppressors until These groups form only a small pro- evictions and famine with the spread of they themselves fell in martyrdom. portion of the large numbers of, pea- cash crop farming and the disruption of All of the religious movements be- sants, tribesmen, disinherited landlords their formerly stable tenancies,56 were lieved in a coming realm of righteous- and disbanded soldiers who turned to taught by the Tangal that if they ness and invested their leaders with part-time or full-time banditry in the would give up cultivating, pray dili- supernatural povers, but the more po- eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gently, and organise for battle, a ship werful ones seem from the beginning when they were deprived of their live- b)earing arms and modem equipment to have relied chiefly on their own ef- lihood, evicted from their homelands, for 40,000 men would miraculously ap- forts to usher in the new society. or squeezed in their tribal territories. pear on the horizon and the British These movements were especially pro- The Thuggee were the most colour- woould be driven out of Malabar - a mninent during the famines and harsh ful and numerous of Indian bandits, clear case of a millenarian cargo cult. exploitation of peasants in the early the best of them combining a rather decades of Company rule in Bengal. Birsa received teaching from both Lu- distant millenarian prospect with a cer- theran missionaries and Hindu ascetics They included the Muslim Maulvis tain Robin Hood gallantry and a genius under Titu Miyan, who spread over but then reverted to his Munda reli- for swift assassination. They arose about gion, bringing with him beliefs and Barasat, Nadia, Faridpur, Jessore and 1650 in the area between Delhi and images from both major faiths. He Calcutta regions in 1827-31; the Mus- Agra and multiplied in late Moghul lim Pagal Panthis, converts from the tauight the Mundas first that he was a times as revenue exactions became har- divinely appointed messenger come to Garo and Hajong tribes, under Tipu sher. During British rule they spread deliver them from foreign rule, and Shah in northern Mymensingh in 1824- throughout Bihar and into Oudh, Ben- 33; and the Muslim Faraizis of Bogra later that he was an incarnation of God gal, Orissa, Rajputana, the Punjab, (Bhagwan) himself. His mission was to and Faridpur in 1838-51. All of these Mysore and the Kamatak. Operating save the faithful from destruction in movements attracted tens of thousands in bands of about a dozen, they left imminent flood, fire and brimstone by of rack-rented and evicted peasants, their home villages periodically and leading them to the top of a mountain. recruited armed bands of many thou- waylaid wealthy travellers many miles Beneath them, all the British, Hindus sands, and strove to drive out their away, decoyed them by stealth and and Muslims would perish, after which Hindu landlords and British rulers and then strangled them with yellow scar- establish a reign of Islamic righteous- a Munda kingdom would be ushered ves, robbed them and buried them. in. ness. Tipu Shah and Titu Miyan con- Precisely what was done with the Although their religious predictions quered large territories, set up admi- booty is unclear, but in some cases at failed, all of these movements organis- nistrations and levied tribute from the least the Thuggee must have shared ed such numbers of fervent followers landlords. Dudu Miyan, the Faraizi it with their fellow villagers, for they that they took instead to empirical leader, ran a parallel administration to had the peasants' loyalty in their own means and made armed attacks on their that of the British from Bahadarpur in territories. ITuggee were recruited oppressors. Birsa assembled a force of East Bengal, which he divided into cir- from outlaws of the state, peasants and 6,000 Mundas armed with swords and cles of villages under deputies. Each disbanded soldiers - chiefly from the: b)ows and arrows, some of whom burn- deputy settled disputes among the most oppressed classes of their regions. ed Hindu temples and Christian houses tenants, forced Muslims to convert to Each band customarily contained mem- and churches, killed a constable and the Maulvi sect, and protected culti- bers of several Hindu castes, Muslims, were finally defeated in battle by gov- vators from the zamindars' excesses and in the Punjab, Sikhs. Band mem- ernment troops. Joria's followers were through a mixture of litigation and bers observed normal social distinctions organised for revolt by Rupsing Gobar, armed intimidation. The British defeat- in their own communities but ate, a rebel leader who actually founded a ed Tipu Shah and Titu Miyan in bat- smoked and drank together on their Naikda kingdom, collected revenues, tle and imprisoned Dudu Miyan in outings. They were initiated into a and sacked two nearby police stations Alipore jail - a site of confinement movement devoted to the service of before his army was subdued by Bri- and ill-treatment of revolutionary pri- their goddess, seen as Kali by the tish forces. Govindgiri collected an soners down to the present day.57 Hindus and Fatima by the Muslims, by army in the Mangarh hills in 1911 and whom; they believed their order to have SociAL BANDITS plundered the surrounding Hindu and been created so as to root out evil Muslim landowners, but was conquered Five of the revolts studied are best beings and save humanity from des- by state troops and British artillery. classified by Hobsbawm's term "social truction. As in the case of the Moplahs Bands of Moplah devotees numbering banditry". They are the Thuggee of and no doubt most of the other arm- from three hundred to several hundred, north and central India of 1650-1850 ed religious movements, rites of dedi- chiefly tenants facing eviction, carried or later,58 the Sanyasis and of cation and purification preceded each out 22 uprisings over a period of 60 Bengal in the late eighteenth cen- assassination. Thuggee were forbidden years in several talukas of Malabar, in tury,5 9 the dispossessed military chief by their religion to kill women, child- which they assassinated numerous po- Narasimha Reddi and his followers in ren, youth, Hindu and Muslim holy lice, government officials, Hindu land- Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, in 1846-47,60 men, carpenters, poor people, beggars, lords and British and Indian troops. the tribal Lodhas of Midnapore, who bards, water-carriers, oil-vendors, dan- Faced with insuperable odds, but dri- became a 'criminal caste' in the nine- cers, sweepers, laundry workers, musi- ven to frenzied action by continuing teenth century after being evicted from cians and cripples - in short almost economic misery, the Moplah move- their homelands,61 and the tribal Kallar every productive or defenceless category ment became sustained by a redemp- of South India, some of whom operat- in the population. They confined their

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assaults chiefly to merchants, soldiers, and a belief that their struggles would dispute and had served sentence in the money-carriers and servants of the eventually release the world from pain. Andaman Islands. On his return he Company. They are reported to have Bandits apparently differed from local came to live in his wife's village which assassinated more than a million peo- religious movements for liberation, how- belonged to Brahman landlords and ob- pie and plundered many millions of ever, in being recruited from displac- tained the post of 'watchman' there. rupees. ed or outcast groups and individuals At that date, small groups of youth of The Thuggee, like the Kallar, the disbanded soldiers, unseated nobles, Kallar communities long resident as Lodhas and many other tribes who raid- evicted peasants, unemployed artisans, tenants in Thanjavur villages still ed rich plainsmen when their lands outlaws of the state although not engaged in plundering landlords and were invaded, must be classed as re- necessarily of the local community, and rich peasants through cattle thefts, formative, since they sought not a libe- those who had lost all through war highway robberies and thefts from grain rated kingdom but only short-term re- or famine. They were thus men who, carts far from home in' the famine sea- lief for themselves and their fellows, although they might maintain a home son and shared their loot with their and believed only vaguely in a Golden or shelter in their villages, had no live- kinsfolk. Their untouchable servants of Age hereafter. The Sanyasis and Fakirs lihood except plunder and were free the Palla (landless labourer) caste, spe- became, however, a transformative to roam far afield. Alternatively, bandits cially trained in dacoity, sometimes movement and for a short time a high- arose part-time among tribal peoples assisted them. Two miles from my place ly successful one. These religiosi were squeezed by plainis invaders and by the of work lived a famous (but retired) originally peasants, evicted and made govemment, who could combine ven- Palla multi-murderer who told won- homeless during the wars, depredations geance with predation by raising plains' derous anecdotes. His neighbours pro- and revenue exactions of the East India landlords from their own base areas. tected him with amused pride as a kind Company and various rival Indian Being foot-loose, bandits had great of village marvel. princes in the late eighteenth century. adaptability and therefore an ambiguous When wvhole regions were ravaged They first formed bands of Hindu and status in the larger society. As Hobs- by famine or excessive revenue exac- Muslim holy men and survived as bawm stresses, only some of them, tions, bandits sometimes led ordinary mendicants. As their numbers swelled probably a minority, were "social ban- peasants in driving out the rulers and in the great famine of 1770, they dits", that is engaged essentially in landlords, as in the Sanyasi and Faldr gathered together with disbanded sol- class struggle and concerned with the rebellion. The relationship of peasants diers and dispossessed zamindars, form- interests of the poor from whom they to these liberators seems, however, to ed bandit troops and scoured the coun- sought protection and with whom have been characteristically uneasy. tryside, raiding the grain stocks and they shared their loot.64 Many bandit During the Bengal famine of 1769-70 treasuries of the wealthy and distribut- groups, including some Thuggee, serv- a third of the villages of Birbhum and ing them to the starving peasantry.63 ed as mercenaries for established land- Bishnupur districts were wiped out, yet In trying to consolidate its rule the lords and princes as well as for dis- the Company still further increased its Company met with a large Sanyasi and possessed rebel nobles or for adven- revenue demands by twelve per cent rebellion in 1771 between Rang- turers seeking fortune and political between 1770 and 1776. Thousands of pur and Dacca which defeated a com- power.65 Others served religious mes- peasants ruined by famine or rack-rent- pany of sepoys and killed the comman- siahs bent on driving out the British.66 ing scoured the countryside as handits der. Bands of five thousand to seven The Kallar of Madura exemplify the and in 1787 and 1788 sacked the Bish- thousand bandits then spread over most diverse potentialities of bandits. Hav- nupur treasury, carrying off more than of Bengal and eastem Bihar, set up ing fought unsuccessful wars to main- three thousands sterling pounds' worth an independent government in Bogra tain their tribal lands tax-free from the of silver.68 In November 1789 the pea- and Mymensingh and almost wiped Nayak rulers of Madura and the Bri- santry made common cause with the out another British detachment in 1773. tish in the mid-eighteenth century, bandits and drove out the British from Further frequent encounters took place some Kallar became bandits (perhaps Rajnagar and Bishnupur. Very soon, between the Sanyasis-Fakirs and British "social") who robbed merchants and however, the peasants came to be at forces all over West Bengal and Bihar officials on the high roads out of Ma- odds with the bandits and fell upon until the movement finally disintegrat- dura. Others hired themselves as mer- them, slaughtering them unmercifully, ed about 1800; according to Stephen cenaries to the Maratha Raja of Than- and in 1790 peasants co-operated with Fuchs, its survivors are believed to have javur. After British rule became esta- the government to restore 'peace and migrated to join the Marathas in their blished around 1800, bandit troops from order'. The reason for this clash is un- wars against the British. Kallar settlements of both Madura and clear: perhaps bandit rule proved less The militant religious movements Thanjavur became cattle thieves operat- "social" than -the peasants anticipated, discussed in type 2 strove for the libe- ing among high caste rich peasants and or perhaps the peasants resisted bandit ration of an ethnic region - both landlords of these districts. In their demands for division of their lands. from the British and from 'foreign' attempts to reduce cattle losses, the Indian predators and invaders - and plains landlords even appointed single TERRORIST ACTS WITH IDEAS OF VEN- for the establishment of a divinely families, of Kallar as watchmen (kaval- GEANCE AND JUST[CE ordained kingdom of righteousness and gar) in their villages. These collected Banditry involves assassination, whe- justice. They arose among severly ex- annual bribes from the villagers on be- ther routine or occasional, but which ploited minorities most of whom, half of bandit groups to ward off the is mainly far survival and predation, nevertheless, remained in their home bandits' predations, or when cattle did while restorative and religious move- territories and were numerically pre- disappear, arranged their ransom.67 The ments for liberation kill or terrorise in ponderant within a region. Many ban- system persisted in western Thanjavur pursuit of their aim to drive out the dit movements resembled the ethnic as late as 1953. The Kallar kavalgar oppressor. The simplest, if least effec- religious movements in possessing spe- of one village where I worked had tive, form of revolt, however, is that in cial religious cults, charismnatic leaders earlier murdered his cousin in a family which peasants rise up and kcill or

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maim the oppressors without plans for pur and Birbhum in 1789,72 of the Jat bellion after killing many peasants, the future - often, indeed, in the peasants of Haryana in 1809,73 of the burning their homes and hanging a certain knowledge of being annihilated. peasants of Khandesh in 1852,74 and village headman. No relief seems to In India every village has its legends of the Moplahs of Kerala in 1921.75 have been forthcoming from this up- of individual or small group acts of One revolt, that of the Santhals of rising. violence against landlords, revenue Bengal in 1870, was predominantly The Deccan revolt of 1875 was join- agents, moneylenders, bailiffs, or other tribal, although plains' peasants took ed by water-carriers, barbers and even authorities or wealthy persons. More part in it.76 The rest involved Hindus, the house-servants of moneylenders in rarely, when there is extreme suffering Muslims, or Sikhs, usually a combina- addition to cultivators. It covered yet when it is impossible to drive out tion of members of two religions. Six Poona and Ahmednagar districts and the enemy, patterns of violence may occurred before the Mutiny, and eight spread into Gujarat. Excessive revenue emerge in which members of a minority afterwards. The biggest revolts, those exactions, low prices of grain and cot- or even a whole region, engage in of Rangpur in 1783, of Bishnupur in ton crops and evictions and land mort- epidemic assassinations of key enemies, 1789, of the Jats in 1809, of the My- gages to moneylenders drove the or bum buildings, stacks, or other sore peasants in 1830-31, of the indigo peasants to a three week insurrection. property. The individual terrorist kills growers in Bengal in 1860, of the Dec- Tens of thousands met in public gather- and risks his life for his community, can peasants in 1875, and of the Mop- ings in market places and vowed to in vengeance but also partly with a labs in 1921, probably affected popula- boycott the claims of moneylenders sense of group pride and natural jus- tions of more than a million. The re- and to seize their documents. Some tice; sometimes, with a religious belief volts characteristically lasted for seve- moneylenders fled the area. Those that this is his unavoidable destiny and ral weeks, but the Moplah revolt con- who resisted the armed bands who his road to salvation. Although the tinued for six months. came for documents had their fodder custom was ancient among them, some All the uprisings involved tenants or stacks burned down, although the of the Lushai Kukis' headhunting raids small owner-cultivators. All were against peasants carried on very little personal into Sylhet and Cachar in the first half economic deprivations resulting from violence. After three weeks troops of the nineteenth century seem to have British policies and in most cases also moved against the boycotters, hundreds been in vengeance, "not [as some firom landlords' exactions. The revolt were arrested in each centre, and the charged] to get heads to bury with in Rangpur and Dinajpur of 1783 and government levied collective fines [their dead chief] Laroo, but to avenge the Deccan peasant uprising of 1875 throughout the area. The revolt pro- unfair dealing of Bengalis at the fron- provide earlier and later examples of duced some respite in the Deccan Agri- tier marts".6' And although they sprang features characteristic of all these up- culturalists' Relief Act of 1879.78 originally from a millenarian ideology, risings. In Rangpur in the early years The famous Bengal indigo strike of most of the nineteenth century Moplah of Company rule, revenue exactions 1860 was the first large strike in India killings of British officials, landlords under the revenue contractor Debi and one of the most successful. It and revenue agents were carried out Singh were outrageous - his agents illustrates the initiative and discipline to avenge specific wrongs, to mete out chained and imprisoned selected pea- of which peasants are capable. It in- rural justice and to afford desperate sants, then flogged and starved them volved hundreds of thousands of tenants paupers escape to salvation through until their villages paid the assessment. on British plantations. The tenants martyrdom.70 The British correctly On January 18, 1783, peasants of many were forced to grow indigo at very low estimated the element of collective jus- villages assembled in Tepah and elect- prices for the British textile industry, tice, for they levied heavy fines on the ed a leader - the son of a peasant to the exclusion of most other crops. entire village of those who died fight- who had served as leader in a previous When they refused, slave drivers - ing after they had assassinated some insurrection. The mob then stormed a some trained on United States southern high ranking person. prison and released the prisoners and plantations - kidnapped or flogged marched with drumbeats to deimand them, exposed them in stocks, or mur- MASS INSURRECTIONS revenue concessions from the local ag- dered them. Once decided upon, Fourteen of the revolts studied. wer- ent. When his police fired and killed a the strike spread rapidly. Tenants mass insurrections in which peasants peasant a fight ensued in which the assembled with staffs, swords, bows and provided the leadership and were the agent Gaurmohan was captured and arrows and matchlocks to defend their sole or dominant force.71 These revolts several peasants killed before the crowd settlements. In Pabna an army of 2,000 were sudden and dramatic. They lack- could withdraw. Although the peasants peasants appeared and wounded a ed a religious movement ideology and made clear that they wanted justice, magistrate's horse; otherwise, there was a single charismatic religious leader. not bloodshed, and later presented a little violence. The strike stopped indigo They aimed initially at the redress of written petition to the government, theyplanting in Bengal and forced the particular grievances and thus were at met only attempts to renew the reve- planters to move west to Bihar. first reformnative. They started charac- nue collections. The situation was so The Moplah rebellion of 1921 lasted teristically with peaceful mass boycotts bad that, as they claimed, "we then longer than any other peasant insur- or demands for the righting of wrongs, sold our cattle and-the trinkets belong- rection I have examined. It bridged the but fought when reprisals were taken ing to our women. We have since sold period of 'pre-political-party, peasant against them. Seven of the revolts oc- our children .. ." Failing to get relief, uprisings and that of peasant actions curred in Bengal, two in the Punjab, they killed two revenue agents77 and sponsored by political parties. In its three in the Deccan, one in Mysore and raised a huge armed force which march- first large all-India struggle towards one in Kerala. Several became revolu- ed through the countryside. The revolt Independence, the Indian National tionary in aim as they progressed and spread to Dinajpur, where peasants Congress joined with Muslims of the four actually achieved a temporarily elected two more leaders and sacked Khilafat movement79 to boycott British liberated zone. These were the revolts and robbed a revenue office. After five instituted councils, law courts, titles, of the peasants and bandits of Bishnu- weeks British troops put down the re- educational institutions and the pur-

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This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 28 Apr 2020 06:46:45 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Special Number August 1974 chase of foreign goods. The boycott guerilla warfare and two large battles common grievances. allied Hindu and Muslin middle class were fought. On reconquering the Peasant revolts since the 1920s have leaders, a few landlords, high ranking region the British took savage reprisals. been co-ordinated within the policies of non-cultivating tenants and a large mass The rebel leaders were shot, hundreds oppositional political parties. They have of poverty stricken cultivating tenants of their followers were hanged or formed two major types. On the one and landless labourers, especially deported to the Andamans and 61 pri- hand, there have been political Moplabs, who formed a majority of the soners suffocated as a result of being movements for independence or for population in the Ernad and Walluva- enclosed in a railway goods-wagon on national or regional autonomy among nad taluks and who followed the their way from Tirur to Coimbatore blocks of tribal peoples. The most not- Khilafat leaders. Both the Congress jail. Considering the violent enmity of able of these have been the struggle for and the Khilafat parties had begun to the Hindu landlords, the wavering of an independent state in Kashmir, the organise a movement for tenancy re- the (largely Hindu) Indian National nationalist war of the Naga and Mizo forms, which was strongly opposed by Congress and the terror instituted by the tribal peoples, and the Jarkhand move- Malabar's big landlords with their British, the rebel leaders' conduct must ment for the political autonomy of the memories of the nineteenth century I)e considered moderate and the rebels' Santhals, Oraons and other tribes. On Moplah revolts. The manager of a communal reprisals a minor part of the the other hand, there have been peasant large Hindu princely estate persuaded revolt, which was essentially a, peasants' uprisings which were primarily class the police to search the local Khilafat insurrection. The Moplah rebellion struggles and were guided by one or secretary's house for a gun that he illustrates the fact that in India as another of India's communist parties. alleged had been stolen from the palace. elsewhere, agrarian classes usually have Seven major peasant uprisings or Thousands of armed Moplahs were sum- a partial isomorphismn with major ethnic episodes of revolutionary struggle in the moned by drumbeats to prevent their categories, whether these are Hindu Indian countryside have occurred to my leader's arrest. When police broke into and Muslim or culturally distinct blocks knowledge under communist guidance. a in search of the fugitive, of Hindu castes, or even, in some areas, The first four were conducted by the Moplahs throughout the two taluks'rose co-resident linguistic groups.80 What Communist party of India before it in insurrection, sacking police stations, is labelled inter-religious or inter-com- split into two wings in 1964. These looting government treasuries and munal strife is often, perhaps usually, were Tebbaga uprising in the north destroying records of debts and mort- initially a class struggle, but unity in of Bengal in 1946, the Telengana gages in courts and registries. For six the class struggle is all too often broken peasant war in former Hyderabad state months British rule became inoperative by the upper classes' appeal to and (now part of Andhra Pradesh) in 1946- throughout the region. A leader emerg- manipulation of cultural differences, 48,81 a strike of tenants and landless ed to govern it who was known as and under duress those most oppressed labourers in eastern Tlanjavur for Raja by the Hindus, Amir by the Mus- may tum on all the co-religionists of several weeks in 1948,82 and a series lims, and Colonel of the Khilafat army. thleir oppressors. of short strikes followed by attacks on He administered the territory, super- granaries and grain trucks in Kerala in vised the execution of police, both MODERN PEASANT UPRISINGS 1946-48.83 The other three uprisings Hindu and Muslim, who had commnitted Except for the early revolts to drive were led by Maoist groups which began atrocities, and of traitors who helped out the British and re-establish tradi- to break away from the Communist the British forces, put an end to the tional principalities, the uprisings so Party of India (Marxist) in 1967. They looting, and announced the suspension far discussed were 'pre-political' or included prolonged peasant struggles of land revenue and rents for one year. 'primitive' in the special sense that they involving land claims and harvest shares Ile commanded poor peasants to harvest were not addressed to the future of the in 1966-71 led by the Andhra Pradesh their landlords' crops and used the nation state and thus were doomed to Revolutionary Communist Committee; surplus to feed his anny. He issued failure when they aimed at revolution. the uprising in Naxalbari in West Ben- passports to travellers entering and These revolts were, however, politically gal in 1967; and the "annihilation cam- leaving his kingdom and edicts against progressive in that they sought a new paign" of the Communist Party of the harming of Hindus by Muslims. state of peasant society which would India (Marxist-Leninist) against land- The Congress party under Gandhi combine freedom from alien rule to- lords, moneylenders, police and a variety withdrew its support from the move- gether with some traditional virtues and of political enemies of the party, especi- ment as soon as it resorted to violence modern technology and popular govern- ally in Srikakulam, Mushahari and and tried ineffectively to mediate bet- ment, rather than merely reverting to Debra-Gopivallabpur in 1969-70.84 ween the British and the revolutionaries, pre-British social structures. The re- Communist sponsored uprisings differ The resultant wavering among Hindu volts also amply illustrated the remark- in many respects from those of earlier followers roused suspicion among the able organising abilities of the peasantry, periods. First, of course, they are led Moplahs and when British troops at- their potential discipline and solidarity, at least ostensibly by a vanguard party tacked and engaged in espionage among their determined militancy in opposing which recruits members from urban the Hindus the movement acquiired a imperialism and exploitative class rela- petty bourgeois, urban working class, or communal flavour. The rebels killed tions, their inventiveness and potential even landlord origins as well as from some 500 alleged traitors, chiefly Hindus, military prowess and their aspirations the peasants and which draws on the sacked about a hundred temples and for a more democratic and egalitarian theories of Marx and Lenin as well as, forcibly converted 2,500 Hindus to society. The more impressive uprisings more recently, Mao Tse-tung. In each Islam. A fierce struggle followed bet- also show that even in Indlia, where uprising the party involved has had as ween British and Curkha troops on one inter-ethnic strife has produced some its ultimate goal the revolutionary at- side and the rebel army on the other, of the most tragic modern holocausts, tainment of a People's Democracy as a in which according to A Sreedhara peasants are capable of co-operating in prelude to the transition to socialism Menon about 10,000 were estimated to class struggles across caste, religious and throughout India.85 Peasant revolts have died. There was prolonged even linguistic lines to redress their have been co-ordinated, and sometimes

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started, in accordance wlth redistributing current itparty among the tribal of (Congress-supporting) landlords Idlled policy, and have sometimes peasants.91 been stopp- several leading peasants and party mem- ed by the party because ofIn allnational these struggles, or much as in bers and arrested most of the others, even international changes more successful of party of the traditional and the Communist Party became tem- line.8 6 peasant insurrections referred to earlier, porarily isolated from the villagers. the peasant unions were able to secure In the second instance, the CPI(ML) Nevertheless, just as modern tribal temporary liberated zones which they moving away from its earlier policy nationalist movements, in their goal of govemed for several weeks or months of mass struggles in Naxalbari and to ethnic liberation, share common features through peasant committees supervised some extent in Srikakulam, developed with and may even draw experience by the Communist Party. In Thanjavur the policy of "annihilation" of land- and organisational strength from earlier landlords, police and bureaucrats re- lords, police, moneylenders, oppressive tribal religious movements,87 so various mained in the area but obeyed the vil- bureaucrats and enemies of other politi- communist struggles among the peasants lage committees; in the other regions cal parties by secret squads recruited have had features in common with the peasants killed or drove out these from young party members and their early peasant movements involving social figures during the period of revolu- associates in the cities, and, where banditry, terrorist vengeance with ideas tionary government. The largest and possible, from the most oppressed groups of popular justice, or mass insurrections longest revolt was that of Telengana, of poor peasants and landless labourers for the redress of grievances. which is reported to have engulfed 2,000 in the countryside. Several dozens villages in an area of 15,000 square and probably hundreds of landlords in The most successful communist led miles, with a population of four million eastern India were assassinated in a peasant actions were those of Tebhaga and a peasant army of 5,000. In the three-year period. In their size, secrecy, in 1946, Telengana in 1946-48, Naxal- more recent Andhra Pradesh uprising primitive veaponry, utter devotion and bari in 1967, and Andhra Pradesh in of the late 1960s under the Andhra in the fact that they tended to operate 1969-71. All of them involved a large Pradesh Revolutionary Communist Comn- some distance from home, these revolu- component of tribal people. All of mittee, which took place partly in the tionary squads resembled those of the these revolts began as strikes or other same area, the revolutionaries claimed Moplah peasant insurgents who carried forms of popular action initiated by the in mid-1970 a liberated area of 7,000 out acts of terrorist vengeance in peasants or with their willing consent to 8,000 square miles with a popula- Malabar in the nineteenth century - for the redress of specific grievances. tion of 500,000 to 600,000.92 Repres- and no doubt also other Indian terrorist The Tebbaga revolt began with a sion has since greatly increased and the groups in urban uprisings of the early demand for reduction of the occupying movement appears to be temporarily twentieth century. While commanding crushed. tenants' (jotedars')88 rights in the crop admiration in many villages, the squad from half to one-third and a corres- In contrast with these efforts, com- tactic, unaccompanied by mass orga- ponding increase in the rights of poor munist armed action has been less suc- nisation around specific economic griev- peasant sharecroppers (adhiars or barga- cessful when it employed tactics sug- anlces, isolated the cadres and exposed dars). It had been preceded in the gestive of banditry or of terrorist a defenceless populace to police and late 1930s by a campaign on behalf of vengeance, unaccompanied by mass in- later to military reprisals. The annihila- niddle peasants (the better-off tenants) surrection or by demands for redress of tion policy, along with other shortcom- to abolish 'feudal' levies over and above specific grievances and popular control ings, was criticised in a letter from the the legal rents. In Telengana, too, the by peasant committees. These tactics Chinese government in November 1970, initial demands were for abolition of predominated in the party's struggles and helped provoke a split in the party illegal exactions by the deshmukhs and among the peasants in 1948-49 in in 1971. Since the death of Charu nawabs - the feudal lords - and later Kerala and in those of the CPI(ML) in Mazumdar, the party chairman and the on for cancellation of peasants' debts.89 eastern India and elsewhere in 1969- main exponent of the annihilation tactic, In Thanjavur the demands were for 72." In the former instance the com- in July 1972, it has been repudiated by halving the rents paid by cultivating munists had earlier, in 1946, conducted most of the party's remaining leaders."' tenants and doubling the wages of land- successful mass strikes for higher wages At present, most of the CPI(ML)'s less labourers. In Naxalbari the peasant among landless labourers and mass cul- cadres appear to have been arrested, or unions began by taking over land which tivation of the forest lands of big land- to have left the party, or to have been the communist-led West Bengal govern- lords. (As in Bengal, they had also killed in action or in jails.95 ment had already decreed should be successfully organised strikes of rniddle removed from the jotedars, the former peasants against illegal levies during the CONCLUSIONS occupancy tenants who by this time late 1930s.) When, however, police re- Indian peasants have a long tradi- had become outright owners of the prisals became heavy and several com- tion of armed uprisings, reaching back land with the abolition of zamindari munists and peasants were killed, the at least to the initial British conquest rights. The land act provided for this party went partly underground and and the last decades of Moghul gov- land to be distributed to the landless, squads of party members and peasant emnment. For more than 200 years but the proprietors refused to surrender leaders began to rob grain trucks and peasants in all the major regions have it. Having driven out the landlords, ransack the granaries of landlords and risen repeatedly against landlords, the peasant unions then went on to dis- distribute food to the people. Although revenue agents and other bureaucrats, tribute all the land among the peasants.'0 poor peasants admired these exploits moneylenders, police and military forces. Similarly, in Warangal, Khammam and much as they admire those of dacoits The uprisings were responses to rela- Karimnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh who pillage the rich and powerful - tive deprivation of unsually severe in 1969, the communist peasant unions the peasants did not become organised character, always economic, and often began their armed struggle by occupy- through these actions and had no con- also involving physical brutality or ing land which had been taken from trol over them. In the course of these them by neighbouring landlords and ethnic persecution. The political In- actions the police and the armed goons dependence of India has not brought

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This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 28 Apr 2020 06:46:45 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Special Number August 1974 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY surcease from these distresses, for institute repressioii. Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar imperial extraction of wealth from Today the Indian government is more Pradesh. 5 David F Aberle, "The Peyote Re- India and oppression by local property heavily militarised than it has ever ligion Among the Navaho", Wen- owners continue to produce poverty, been. It has the experience of crushing ner-Gren Foundation for Anthropo- famine, agricultural sluggishness and recent peasant struggles, of years of logical Research, 1966, p 315. agrarian unrest. Major uprisings under police repression in West Bengal and of 6 Barrington Moore, Jr, "The Social communist leadership since British rule the invasion of Bangladesh. It also has Origins of Dictatorship and Demo- not unnaturally show a continuity of the example of US methods of repres- cracy", Beacon Press, 1966, p 202. tactics with earlier peasant revolts. Of sion in Indochina.97 The increasing 7 Op cit, p 383. Moore is actually these, the more successful have involv- poverty, famine and unemployment equivocal about the effects of ed mass insurrections, initially against nmake it seenm certain that India's agra- caste on peasant unrest, for on page 382 he writes, "Any notion to specific grievances, and the less suc- rian ills can be solved only by a pea- the effect that caste or other dis- cessful, social banditry and terrorist sant-backed revolution leading to social- tinctive traits of Indian peasant so- vengeance. Both in the case of com- ism, but the struggle will be very long ciety constitutes an effective bar- munist revolts and in that of earlier and hard. rier to insurrection is obviously peasant uprisings, social banditry and false", but on page 383, "Caste was also a way of organising a terrorist vengeance, when they occur- Notes highly Pragmented society... red, appear to have happened in the Though this fragmentation could wake of repression of other forms of 1 An earlier version of this paper was at times be overcome in small presented at a Conference on ways and in specific localities, it revolt. Peasants of Asia and Latin Ame- Although revolts have been wide- must have been a barrier to wide- rica at the University of British spread rebellion. Furthermore, the spread, certain areas have an especially Columbia in February, 1973, system of caste did enforce hierar- strong tradition of rebellion. Bengal has sponsored by the Canada Council. chical submission. Make a man been a hotbed or revolt, both rural and I am grateful to David F Aberle, feel bumble by a thousand daily Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Peter urban, from the earliest days of British acts and he will behave in a hum- HIarnetty, Gail Omvedt and ble way. The traditional etiquet- rule. Some districts in particular such Thomas Weisskopf for comments te of caste was no mere excre- as Mymensingh, Dinajpur, Rangpur and on the earlier version. None of scence; it had definite political Pabna in Bangladesh, and the Santhal them is responsible for my inter- consequences. Finally, as a safety regions of Bihar and West Bengal, pretations. valve' caste does provide a form 2 The hut and charred bodies were figured repeatedly in peasant struggles of collective upward mobility photographed and are reproduced through Sanskritization". My view and continue to do so. The tribal areas in Lasse and Lisa Berg, "Face to is that an enforced etiquette of of Andhra Pradesh, and the state of Face: Fascism and Revolution in submission does not necessarily en- Kerala, also have long traditions of re- India", Ramparts Press, Califor- gender submissive feelings; if the volt. Hill regions where tribal or other nia, 1971, p 55. For more details subordinate comes to feel unjustly and an account of recent class minorities retain a certain independence, deprived, having to observe the struggles in Thanjavur, see Mythily etiquette may engender rebellious ethnic unity, and tactical manoeuvrabi- Shivaraman, "Rumblings of Class feelings which sometimes burst lity, and where the terrain is suited to Struggle in Thanjavur", in Kath- forth. In Thanjavur in 1952 I lived guerilla warfare, are of course especi- leen Gough and Hari P Sharma, on a street of low ranking and po- ally favourable for peasant struggles, but eds, "Imperialism and Revolution verty striken cowherds and share- in South Asia", Monthly Review croppers, servants of Brahman land- these have also occurred in densely Press, 1973. lords. The caste etiquette was the populated plains regions such as Thanja- 3 Rupert M Moser, "The Situation of most subservient I have seen out- vur, where rack-renting, land hunger, the of Chota Nagpur side of Kerala. In private the landless labour and unemployment and Santal Parganas, Bihar, sharecroppers often raged against cause great suffering. India", International Work Group their landlords as "evil". In spite for Indigenous Affairs Document of severe reprisals involving flog- The more successful revolts of the No 4, Frekderiksholms Kanal 4 A, ging and being forced to drink recent period occurred under irre- DK 1220 Copenbagenr K, Den- pints of cowdung and water, lower gular conditions which are unlikely to mark, 1972. caste men, in this village had fre- be repeated. The Tebhaga revolt took 4 A supporter of the Communist quently resorted to violence. One once smote his landlord across the place three years after a famine had Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), one of the main Maoist groups, face; another cut off his landlord's killed three and a half million Bengalis, reported that an estimated 10,000 leg; two more bound their land- leaving a labour shortage. The British peasants and others had been kill- lord to a cart-wheel, thrashed him government was nervous of offending ed on the communist side in the and drove him out of the village the peasantry because of the Japanese three years from 1967 to, 1970 (per- for seducing a kinswoman. Sans- kritisation permits upward mobili- invasion; it failed to move against the sonal communication). Liberation, the organ of the CPI(ML), has pub- ty but only for a small minority. rebels until the Japanese had been lished numerous accounts of assas- The conflicts of interest among defeated and the proportions of the sinations of landlords, police, usur- castes which are respectively com- rebellion had become alarming.98 In ers and others by cadres of the posed predominantly of smallhold- ers, sharecroppers, and landless Telengana in 1946-47 the change of party between November 1967 and labourers, are a serious matter for government created an emergency, as January 1972. The journal was issued from 60A Keshab Chandra revolutionary organisers, but such the Nizam of Hyderabad refused to Sen Street, Calcutta 9, until early class conflicts among peasants are accede to the Indian Union, and it was 1970 and was then published worldwide. some time before the Indian govern- clandestinely. Issues since Septem- 8 S B Chaudhuri, "Civil Rebellion in the Indian Mutinies, 1857-1859", ment decided to invade the state and ber 1970 are available from Chin- World Press, Calcutta, 1957, p 32. mop up both the Nizam's forces and gai, PO Box 32, Station F, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 9 See S B Chaudhuri, "Civil Distur- the communists. In Thanjavur in 1948 5, No 1 (July 1971-January 1972) bances During th.e British Rule in the government was occupied in invad- contains accounts of a number of India (1765-1857)", World Press, ing Hyderabad and did not immediately assissinations in West Bengal, Calcutta, 1955, pp -56-58, 74-76

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and 125-132 for accounts of these manufactured goods. For evidence land in Broach and 22 per cent in revolts. and figures see Barratt Brown, but the cultivators were re- 10 The Punjab appears to have been op cit; A K Bagehi, loc cit; B B ported to receive little or no profit an exception. Although recently Misra, "The Indian Middle Clas- (R C Dutt, "The Economic History conquered, the Sikhs in particular ses", University Press, 1961; and of India in the Victorian Age, provided soldiers loyal to the Bri- Daniel Thorner, "Deindustrialisation 1837-1900", Routledge and Kegan tish. in India", in "Land and Labour in Paul, 1960, p 98). Today about 40 11 See E M S Namboodiripad, "The India", Asia Publishing House, per cent of the land in Kerala sta- National Question in Kerala", Bom- 1962, chapter VI. Romesh Chan- te is devoted to export crops and bay, 1952, pp 102-103; Irfan Ha- dra Dutt's classic study, "The Eco- Assam is similarly dominated by a bib, "The Agrarian System of Mo- nomic History of India under Ear- plantation economy; export crops ghul India", Asia Publishing House, ly British Rule, 1757-1837, Rout- occupy at least one-fifth of the cul- London, 1963, p 332. ledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, first tivable land of India as a whole 12 The formerly primitive tribes of published in 1901, is still of great (A K Copalan, "Kerala Past and India number about 45 million and value, especially pp 176-200. Dhar- Present", Lawrence and Wishart, form about one-twelfth of the po- ma Kumar, who is mainly concern- 1959, pp 79-96). In addition to pulation. ed about stressing the existence of the expansion of industrial crops 13 For peasant revolts in the Moghul landless labour in India from pre- for export, India also exported in- period see Irfan Habib, op cit, pp British times, nevertheless points creasing amounts of foodgrains du- 330-333, 3.37-351. See also Ram- out that the agriculturally depen- ring the nineteenth century, in krishna Mukherjee, "The Rise and dent population increased from spite of the growing population Fall of the East India Company", about 60 per cent to 69 per cent and the virtual stagnation of sub- Veb Deutscher Verlag der Wissens- between 1800 and 1901. It had sistence agriculture. Thus, India chaften, Berlin, 1957, p 217. In- reached about 75 per cent by 1951 exported 1.25 million tons of food- formation on the Thuggee is taken ("Land and Labour in South In- grains in 1879-80, whereas it had mainly from an unpublished paper dia", Cambridge University Press, exported only 0.65 million pounds by the late Saghir Abmad, "Thug- 1965, p 181). In Kerala and Than- sterling worth in 1842, 3.58 mil- gees: Rebels or Criminals?", javur in the 1950s I found many lion in 1860 and 27.26 million in which is being edited for publica- families in castes traditionally de- 1880 (B M Bhatia, "Famines in tion. Major sources include W H signated as Weavers, Goldsmiths, India, 1860-1965", Asia Publish- Sleeman, "History and Practices of Traders, Tile-Makers, high class ing House, 1967, p 38). the Thug", Philadelphia, 1839; Potters, Oil-Mongers, Basket and 23 For a detailed treatment of trends W H Sleeman, "Reports on the Mat-Makers, or other craftsmen, in both commercial and subsistence Depredation Committed by the who became unable to ply their agriculture during British rule, see Thug Gangs of Upper and Central crafts at some time during British George Blyn, "Agricultural Trends India", Calcutta, 1840, Francis rule and who became tenant farm- in India, 1891-1947", Philadel- Tuker "The Yellow Scarf", Lon- ers, landless labourers, or casual phia, 1966. don, 1961; and John Masters, workers in towns. Saghir Ahmad 24 There is uncertainty about the ex- "The Deceivers", London, 1960. found the same in West Punjab act proportions of the different 14 Stephen Fuchs, "Rebellious Pro- (see "Peasant Classes in Pakistan", classes of peasants and agricultural phets: A Study of Messianic in Gough and Sharma, eds, op cit, workers in various decades because Movements in Indian Religions", 1973, pp 203-221). Morris D Morris of imperfect records and differen- Asia Publishing House, 1965, pp has argued more strongly than ces in modes of classification. 143-144. other recent writers against 'de- Dharma Kumar rightly points out industrialisation', but I believe his 15 W Francis, Madras District Gazet- that there was a substantial class arguments to have been ably ans- teers, Madura, Madras Govern- of agricultural labourers at the be- wered by several Indian authors. ment Press, 1906, pp 88-91. ginning of British rule, usually See Morris D Morris, ed, "The 16 See, e g, Michael Barratt Brown, enslaved and mainly untouchable. Indian Economy in the Nineteenth "After Imperialism", Heinemann, She estimates its size at about 10 Century: A Symposium", Indian 1963, pp 58-60; Amiya Kumar to 15 per cent of the total popula- Economic and Social History As- Bagchi, "Foreign Capital and Eco- tion. Although she emphasises sociation, Delhi School of Econo- nomic Development in India: A continuities in the agrarian struc- mics, Delhi 7, 1969.) Schematic View", in Kathleen ture of India in the nineteenth Gough and Hari P Sharina, eds, 21 The population of Dacca is report- century, Kumar notes that, agricul- op cit, for analysis. ed to have fallen from 150,000 in tural labourers had increased to an 17 S B Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955, p 15. 1757 to between 30,000 and estimated 15 to 20 per cent of the 18 See, e g, Barratt Brown, op cit, pp 40,000 in 1840. In 1787 the ex- total population in the period be- 174-177; and A K Bagchi, loc cit. ports of Dacca muslins to England tween 1871 and 1901. Landless 19 See, for example, Martin Orans, amounted to three million rupees, labourers were estimated at 28 per "The Santal", Wayne State Univer- but in 1817 they had ceased alto- cent of the total workforce in 1951 sity Press, 1965, pp 30-36; Rupert gether. Murshidabad, Surat, Agra and 26 per cent in 1971. It is M Moser, loc cit; S B Chaudhuri, and also southem cities such as also relevant to estimate the pro- op cit, 1955, pp 51-53. Thanjavur suffered corresponding- portions of agricultural labourers 20 The century old dispute regarding ly (R Mukherjee, op cit, pp 337- in relation to the total population the extent, or even the occurrence, 339). dependent on agriculture in the of 'deindustrialisation' in nineteenth 22 Opium, for example, was the chief various periods, and the latter in century India has not abated. Most agricultural crop in Malwa and relation to the total population of writers acknowledge that there was lower Rajputana in 1817-18 ( S B India. Rough estimates are as fol- certainly a decline in the propor- Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955, p 217), lows. Dharma Kumar estimates tion of Indian craftsmen relative and this was still true in 1860- the agriculturally dependent popu- to the total population in the first 1880. Indigo in Bengal and Bihar, lation at 60 per cent of the total half of the nineteenth century, and cotton in the north-west provinces, population in 1800 or even less. some, that the decline continued central India and the Karnatak, Agricultural labourers were probab- throughout the century. The argu- jute and sugarcane in Bengal, and ly about 17 to 25 per cent of the inent regarding the earlier period, tea, tobacco and coffee in north- agricultural population. In 1901 in particular, seems unquestionable east and south-east India, were the agricultural population was in view of the staggering decline among the export crops that were about 69 per cent of the total with in exports of Indian craft goods greatly expanded in the first half agricultural labourers about 27 to and the staggering increases in of the nineteenth century. In Bom- 29 per cent of the agricultural po- Indian exports of raw materials bay province in 1834-45 cotton oc- pulation. In 1951 the agricultural and in British imports to India of cupied 43 per cent of cultivated population was about 75 per cent

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of the total population and agri- days a year (Bettelheim, op cit, Blok)" in Comparative Studies in cultural labourers about 38 per p 30). Society and History, Vol 14, No 4, cent of the agricultural population. 26 See B M Bhatia, op cit, for the September 1972, pp 503-505. In 1971 the agricultural popula- following information, especially 35 pp Aberle, op cit, pp 316, 318 and tion had declined again to 69 per 10-13, 239-242 and 308-339. 322-23, for discussion of transfor- cent of the total; agricultural la- 27 Newsweek, June 17, 1963, report- mative movements. bourers still fonrned about 38 per ing On the World Food Congress 36 For discussions of relative depriva- cent of the agriculturally depen- held in Washington, DC, under tion, see Aberle, op cit, pp 326- dent population, but a larger pro- the auspices of the United Na- 329; and Aberle, "A Note on Re- portion of them were probably to- tions. lative Deprivation Theory as Ap- tally landless than were in 1951. 28 P L Eldridge, "The Politics of plied to Millenarian and other Cult (See Dharma Kumar, "Land and Foreign Aid in India", Vikas Pub- Movements", in Sylvia L Thrupp, Caste in South India", Cambridge lications, Delhi, 1969, especially ed, "Millennial Dreams in Action", University Press, 1965, especially pp 112-116. India imported only Mouton, The Hague, 1962, .pp pp 168-193; Charles Bettelheim, 2.6 per cent of its foodgrains in 209-214. "India Independent", Monthly Re- the First Five Year Plan (1951- 37 Norman Cohn "The Pursuit of the view Press, 1969, p 25; and Gov- 1955), but this was increased, Millennium", Secker and War- ernment of India Censuses for the chiefly under US Public Law 480 burg, London, 1957, pp 307-314. various decades.) In some states loans, to 4.9 pe' cent in the Se- 38 S B Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955, pp where the agricultural popula- cond Plan and 7.5 per cent in the 16, 60, 61, et passim. tion's density is very high, the Third. 39 These revolts were those of (1) numbers of agricultural labourers 29 For the impact of land reforms, the Kallar of Madura 1710-1784; have risen quite rapidly in recent see, e g, Bhowani Sen, "Evolution (2) the Rajas of Dhalbhum, 1769- decades. In Thanjavur district, for of Agrarian Relations in India", 74; (3) the Chuar tribe of Midna- example, they increased by 60 per People's Publishing House, Delhi, pore, 1799; (4) a chief in Sylbet, cent between 1951 and 1961. 1962; Grigory Kotovsky, "Agra- 1787; (5) a dispossessed zamindar (See, e g, Mythily Shivaraman, rian Reforms in India", People's in Sylbet 1799; (6) Vizier Ali in "Rumblings of Class Struggle in Publishing House, 1964; and Char- Banaras and Gorakhpur 1799: (7) Thanjavur", in Cough and Shar- les Bettelheim, op cit, pp 146-233. the Raja Vizieram Rauze in Viza- ma, eds, op cit, p 252.) When mid- 30 See Hari P Sharma, "Green Revo- gapatam, 1794; (8) the Maratha dle and poor peasants lose their lution in India: Prelude to a Red Dhundia Wagh in Mysore, 1799- lands, moreover, not all of them One?" in Cough and Sharma, eds, 1800; (9) the Pazhassi or "Pyche" show up in the category of land- op cit, pp 88 and 94. Observations less labourers. Some, like- some in Kerala in 1964 convinced me Raja in North Malabar, 1796-1805; former landless labourers, are forc- that these processes were widely (10) the poligars of Bellary, Anan- tapur, Cuddapah and Kurnool, ed to migrate to cities, where they at work there, partly as a result of often join the lumpen proletariat landlords' reactions to sucoessive 1803-5; (11) the poligars of Tinne- of beggars, casual labourers and land reform acts. In one north velly, 1901; (1) the poligars of underemployed craftsmen or ser- Kerala village, for example, I North Arcot, 1803-5; (13) Velu vice workers. Dhe urban popua- found that whereas in 1948 poor Thampi, the Prime Minister of Tra- tion increased from about 25 per peasants, landless labourers and vancore, 1808-9; (14) the heirs of cent to 31 per cent of the total be- casually employed non-agricultural the Desai of Kittur, 1824; (15) the tween 1951 and 1971. day labourers, having no land or Bhils of Khandesh, 1818 31; the only one small garden, were 72.1 Bhils of Malwa, 1846; (17) the 25 See, e g, V M Dandekar and Nila- Khonds of Orissa, 1846; (18) the kantha Rath, "Poverty in India: per cent of the population, by 1964 they were 88.2 per cent. Santhals of Bihar, 1855-56; (19) an Dimensions and Trends", Economic ex-chief, Gopal Singh, of Bundel- and Political Weekly, Bombay 31 See, e g, Francine Frankel, "India's khand, 1802-12; (20) the chiefs of January 2, 1971, pp 106-146. Green Revolution: Economic Gains forts in Aligarh, 1817; (21) the Paiks The authors estimate that in 1960- and Political Costs", Princeton and Khonds of Cuttack, 1817-18; 61, 38 to 40 per cent of India's University Press, 1971, for the in- (22) the Gujars of Sindia, 1824; rural population and about 54 per creasing gap in incomes brought (23) the Kols, Hos, and Mundas cent of its urban population re- about by the green revolution and of Chota Nagpur, 1831-32; (24) ceived inadequate diet to main- the fact that it chiefly benefits the the Bhumij and Chuar of Man- tain health by United Nations larger farmers. Mohan Ram, ("Mao- bhum, 1832; (25) the Khasis of standards, even with respect to ism in India", Vikas, Delhi, 1971, Assam, 1829-58; (26) the Garos of number of calories. By 1967-68, pp 185-6) and Mythily Shivara- Assam, 1852, 1857, and 1872; (27) consumer expenditure amnong the man, (loc cit) cite increases in the Syntengs of Assam, 1860 and poorest 5 per cent of villagers had landless labourers and unemploy- 1862; (28) the Mers of Merwara, declined slightly, while the poorest ed. 1820; and (29) the 'Sepoy Mutiny' 20 per cent in the rural areas had 32 See Hamza Alavi, "Imperialism in north and central India, 1857- stagnated. In towns, partly as a Old and New", The Socialist Re- 58. For the Kallar, see W Francis, result of the migration of rural un- gister, 1964, Monthly Review op cit, pp 66, 88-91; for the Garos employed to the cities, consumer Press, 1964, pp 104-126; and A K and Syntengs, Stephen Fuchs, op expenditure had declined among Bagchi, loc cit, for characteristics cit, pp 111, 115, 126; and for the the bottom 40 per cent between of neo-imperialism in India since Mutiny, Chaudhuri, op cit, 1957. 1960-61 and 1967-68. Using a Independence and for comparisons The other rebellions are reported in different criterion of a minimum and contrasts with the period of Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955. L Nata-, of Rs 15 per month per capita for British rule. Alavi's later essay, rajan includes further information consumer expenditure, Bardhan es- "The State in Postcolonial Socie- on the Santal revolt of 1855-56 in timated that the rural population ties: Pakistan and Bangladesh", Peasant Uprisings int India, 1850- living below the poverty line was in Gough and Sharma, eds, op cit, 1900, People's Publishing House, 38.03 per cent in 1960-61, 44.57 pp 145-173, is also in many res- Bombay, 1953. per cent in 1964-65 and 53.02 per pects highly relevant to India. 40 See Benoy Ghosh, "Prepolitical cent in 1967-68 (P Bardhan, 33 See, e g, "Bangladesh Maoists", Rebellions in Bengal", Frontier "Green Revolution and Agricultu- Frontier, Calcutta, January 16, Caloutta, Vol 5, Nos 27-29, Octo- ral Labourers: A Correction", Eco- 1973 pp 16-17. ber 14, 1972, pp 9-14, for a recent nzomic and Political Weekly, Janu- 34 E J Hobsbawm, "Primitive Rebels", account of the Chuar and Santhal ary 2, 1971, pp 25-48). Male ag- Manchester University Press, 1959, rebellions. ricultural labourers can find work pp 13-29; "Bandits", The Trinity 41 The Moplah revolt of 1857, for for an average of only 190 days a Press, London, 1969, pp 18-2T3; example, was influenced by the year and females for only 120 and "Social Bandits: Reply (to belief that the British would soon

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be driven out of India by the revolt of the Sardari Lari in the Calcutta, December 4, 1971; and northern rebels (W Logan, "Mala- 1870s in Chota Nagpur; (12) the Le Monde, Paris, November 30, bar", Vol 1, Government Press, Munda revolt under Birsa in 1971). Madras, 1951, p 576). Chota Nagpur in 1895-98; (13) the 58 For a brief account and biblio- 42 Chaudhuri, op cit, 1957, p 269. Oraon movement of Jotra Bhagat graphy see "Thug", Enicyclopaedia 43 Hobsbawm, op cit, 1959, p 58. in Chota Nagpur in 1914; (14) the Britatnnl.ica, 1958, Volume 21, p 44 Norman Cohn, "Medieval Mille- movement of Vasudeo Balvant 1095. narism: Its Bearing on the Com- Phadke among Maharashtrian pea- 59 Fuchs, op cit, pp 109-111. parative Study of Millenarian sants and others in 1879-80; (15) 60 Chaudhuri, 1955, op cit p 152. Movements", in Sylvia L Thrupp, the Kacha Naga movement under 61 Fuchs, op cit, pp 71-72. ed, op cit, 1962, p 43. Sambhudan in 1882; (16) the 62 Francis, op cit, pp 88-93. 45 Peter Worsley, "The Trumpet Kacha Naga movement under 63 Fuchs, op cit, p 71. Shall Sound", Schocken Books, Jadonang and Gaidiliu in 1929-36 64 E J Hobsbawm, "Social Bandits: New York, 1968, p 224. and again under Gaidiliu in 1961; Reply (to Blok)", Comparative 46 Cohn, loc cit, p 32. (17) a revolt among the Garos of Studies in Society and History, 47 Fuchs notes 14 characteristics of Assam in 1902; (18) the revolt of Volume 14, Number 4, September the movements he calls messianic. the Gonds of Adilabad under 1972, p 504. They are: intense dissatisfaction Bhimu against the Nizam of 65 Stewart N Gordon argues that with socio-economic conditions, Hyderabad in 1940; and (19) the Thuggee bands were employed by emotional unrest with hysterical revolt of the Bhil Nath-panthis Maratha chiefs in the late eighteen- symptoms, a charismatic leader, under Govindgiri in 1911-12. the century in Malwa in order to the leader's demand for implicit 49 Fuchs records a movement among provide them with a non-local faith and obedience, his demand the Pankas of Raipur an untouch- source of revenue from plundering for a radical change of life or for able caste of weavers and village far afield during a period of com- destruction of property, rejection of artisans; the messiah thought that petition in small state formation established authority and a call for a deity had entered him and aind to pay for European-style artil- rebellion, threat of severe punish- preached that good men's crops lery and infantry (Gordon, "Scarf ment of traitors and opponents, the would grow without sowing; when and Sword: Thugs, Marauders and remembrance of a 'Golden Age' at his following grew large and the State-formation in 18th Century the beginning of mankind's career, revenue fell off he was arrested in Malwa", The Indian Economic revivalism or renewed interest in 1860 (Fuchs, op cit, p 106). anid Social History Review, Volume traditional religion, nativism or the 50 Cf Aberle, op cit, 1962, pp 209- 6, Number 4, December 1969, pp conscious attempt to restore select- 403-429). 210. ed aspects of traditional culture 66 Vasudeo Balvant Phadke, the and to reject alien elements, vita- 51 Fuchs, op cit, pp 134 et seq. Maratha Brabman religious leader lism or the desire for alien gifts from 52 Logan, op cit, p 567. who believed himself an incarna- heaven, syncretism or indiscrimi- 53 Fuchs, op cit, pp 218-221. tion of Shivaji Maharaj, recruited nate adoption of various traits in 54 Fuchs, op cit, pp 28-34. Ramoshi bandits in 1879 and with the oppressors' culture, eschatolo- 55 Fuchs, op cit, pp 240-243. The them carried out robberies and gism or the expectation of world fifth classically millenarian move- attacks on police stations to obtain renewal after a worldwide catas- ment was that of a Hindu messiah supplies with which he hoped to trophe, and millenarianism or chi- in Badawar, Patiala state, in the build an army a*d drive out the liasm, the hope or expectation of early nineteenth century who British. He was disillusiotied, a paradise on earth. (See Fuchs, believed that he was Kalki, the however, by the fact that the op cit, pp 1-15.) last of the incamations of Vishnu, Ramoshis looted for their own 48 The fullest account of the Moplab the inaugurator of a happy and benefit, and so he turned instead revolts up to the rnid-1880s is virtuous Hindu millennium. He to the Dhangar shepherd caste and contained in Logan, op cit, pp 554- announced that on an appointed to the Kolis, who joined him 594. See also C A Innes, Gazet- day he would overturn the foreign because they believed they had teer of the Malabar District, Madras government and set up his king- been unjustly deprived of a large Government Press, 1908, pp 82-89. dom. He was arrested and his part of their cultivated land (Fuchs, The movements recorded by Fuchs followers disappeared. Fuchs points op cit, pp 228-33). are: (1) the Hindu Maomaria out that Vaishnavism, Shaivism, 67 Francis, op cit, pp 91-92. Jainism and Buddhism, all contain movement in the Assam valley, 68 Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955, pp 66-67. 1769-1839; (2) the move- millenarian mythologies - Vaish- 69 Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955, p 109. ment of Aga Reza with navism that of Kalki, Shaivism of the Kuki Nagas in Cachar in 1799 the 26 or 28 incamations of Shiva 70 Logan, op cit, p 584. Fuchs re- (also described by Chaudhuri, op each ushering in an age of libera- cords another rebellion in which the cit, 1955, p 73); (3) the Mahdi tion from evil, Jainism in the com- motives seem to have been chiefly movement of Abdul Rahman and ing period of 63 saints whose sav- revenge on the part of Muslim Bohra peasants in Gujarat, 1810; ing qualities are similar to those cultivators and townsmen against (4) the Muslim Pagal Panthi move- to the Vishnu avatars, and Bud- unjust agrarian and municipal ment in Bengal in 1824-33; (5) the dhism with its belief in the Bud- taxes. The revolt took place in Muslim Maulvi or Wahabi move- dha Maitreya, a future saviour of Bareilly in 1816 under Mufti Mu- ment in Bengal in 1827-31 under the world (Fuchs, op cit, pp x-xi, lhammacd Aiwaz and commanded Titu Miyan; (6) the Muslim Faraizi and for the Patiala movement, p an army variously estimated at movement of Dudu Miyan in 178). five to fifteen thousand (Fuchs, op Bengal in 1838-51; (7) an undated 56 Logan op cit, pp 558-59. cit, pp 180-181). Hlindu messianic movement in 57 There have been at least three 71 Six of the revolts took place before Sondwara, Malwa, in the early massacres of political prisoners, the Mutiny, and are described by nineteenth century; (8) an undated chiefly members of the Communist Chaudhuiri, namely the revolt at Ilindu messianic movement in Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Dinajpur and Rangpur in 1783, Patiala state in the early nineteenth since mid-1970. In particular on that at BishnuLpur and Birbhum in century; (9) revolts of the Gauda November 26, 1971, police admit- 1789, that in Mysore in 1830-31, tribe of Mysore and some peasants ted that six 'Naxalites' had been that in KittLr in 1824, that in of Coorg and south Canara under beaten to death with clubs and Khandesh in 1852, and that of the three successive Hindu religious 237 wounded; according to some Jats of Haryana in 1809 (Chau- leaders in 1837 and the following reports, however, up to 50 were dhuri, op cit, 1955, sections 3, 4, years; (10) the revolt of the Naik- murdered and many of the injured, 31, 43 and 45). The other eight das under Rupsingh in 1867-70 in at the time of reporting,* hovered revolts were those of the tenants the Panchmnals; (11) the Munda betwveen life and death (Frontier, of European indigo plantations in

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Bengal in 1860, of the peasants 1965, edited inby Ralph Miliband. 93 Mohan Ram, op cit, '1971, pp 136- Pabna and Bogra, East Bengal, Monthly Reviewin Press, 1965, for 163; loc cit, 1972, p 41. 1872-73, of the Deccan cultivatorsaccounts of the Tebbaga and in 1875, of peasants in the Punjab 94 Frontier, Volume 5, Number 30, Telengana revolts. See also Mohan November 4, 1973, pp 15-16. in the 1890s, of the Santhals Ram, "The and Telengana Peasant other peasants in Bengal in the Armed Struggle, 1946-51", Econo- 95 Several massacres of Naxalites and 1870s, of converted Muslim tribal mic and Political Weekly, Volume supposed Naxalite supporters have cultivators in East Bengal in the Number 23, June 9, 1973, pp been conducted in the streets by 1890s, of the Moplahs of Malabar 1025-32. police or gangs of hired hoodlums, in 1921, and of the Santhals dur- notably olle in Baranagar on ing the Second World War and 82 Scec John F Muehl, "Interview with August 12, 1971, when about 1,000 the national Independence struggle India", John Day, New York, 1950, pp 249-292. goons, under police protection, in 1942-43. L Natarajan describes rampaged over an area of two the first three of these revolts in 83 See E M S Namboodiripad, "Kerala square miles and killed 150 Naxa- "Peasant Uprisings in India, 1850- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", lites and their sympathisers (Fron- 1900", op cit. For the Bengal pp 193, 196. tier, August 21, 1971, p 1, and indigo revolt of 1860, see especi- 84 For all of these actions see Mohan September 18, 1971, p 10). Using ally Blair Kling, "The Blue Ram, "Maoism in India", Delhi, police figures, which in some cases Mutiny", University of Pennsylva- Vikas, 1971, pp 38-163. See also are known to be much too low, nia Press, Philadelphia, 1966. For Mohan Ram, "Five Years After it has been estimated that 1,788 the Moplah revolt of 1921, see Naxalbari", Economic and Political menibers of the CPI(ML) were E M S Namboodiripad, "Kerala killed outside the jails in West Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", Special Number, August 1972, Weekly, Volume 7, Numbers 31-33, Bengal between March 1970 and National Book Agency, Calcutta, pp 1471-76. August 1971, and 42 (unofficially, 1967, pp 144-150; and A Sree- 172) inside the jails in Midnapore, dhara Menon, "Kerala District 85 For differences in ideology and Berhampore, Alipore, Dum Dum Gazetteers: Kozhikode", Govern- strategy among the Communist and Howrah (Frontier, Volume 5, ment Press Trivanidrum, 1962, pp Party of India, the Communist Number 40, January 13, 1973, pp 179-186. The other revolts are re- Party of India (Marxist), the Com- 3-4.) In the same period, 368 ferrecl to by Fuchs, op cit, p 58; munist Party of India (Marxist- members of the Communist Party and A R Desai, "Social Background Leninist) and the Ancibra Pradesh of India (Marxist) were reported to of Indian Nationalism", Popular Revolutionary Communist Com- have been killed outside the jails, Prakashan, Bombay, 1966, pp 188- mittee, see Mohan Ram, "The but somne of these are alleged to 189. Comfmunist Movement in India" have been people who had recently 72 Chaudhuri op cit, 1955, pp 65-67. Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scho- left the CPI(M) for the CPI(ML). lars, Volume 4, Number 1, Winter 73 Chaudhuri, op cit, 1955, pp 175-76. 1972, pp 32-42. Nine members of other political parties, including the ruling Con- 74 Chaudhuri, op cit 1955, pp 171- 86 The Cominform intervened in'1951 gress party, were killed in this 172. The revolt began in mass to induce the Communist Party of period and 66 police, businessmen, opposition to the land survey and India to abandon armed struggle moneylenders, landlords and others. the placing of boundary stones on (Ram, loc cit, 1972, p 34). In November, 1973, a trial began land - an indication of the at Parvathipuram in Andhra Pra- peasants dread of' the assessment 87 The movement originally started by the Kacha Naga religious leader desh involving 68 leaders of the that would follow the survey and Communist Party of India (Mar- (leilarcation of their plots. Jadonang in 1929 and carried on intermittently by his woman dis- xist-Leninist) and 38 of the Andhra 75 Mlenon, op cit, p 179. ciple Gaidiliu into the 1960s seems Pradesh Revolutionary Communist 76 Chauclhuri, op cit, 1955, p 61. in particular to have been a fore- Commitee, perhaps the largest trial rLnner of the Naga nationalist of Communist revolutionaries in 77 The leader, Dirjinarain pleaded for history. The trial continues at the movement, although confined to one the life of Gaurmohan the first time of writing (May 1974). About agent, at some risk to his own, tribe, and mnuch smaller in scale (see Fuchs, op cit, pp 147-56). 45,000 other revolutionaries or because Guas'mohan was a Brahman alleged revolutionaries are still in aind Brahmans were exempt from 88 By the time of the Tebhaga rebel- jails ian India, many of them under execution by traditional law. The lion the zamindar or landlord re- the legal classification of criminals peasants, however, insisted on tained rights to only a small pro- rather than of political prisoners. killing him. portion of the produce and the Many have been held for four or 78 In "The Myth of the Deccan jotedar or occupying tenant receiv- more years without being brought Riots", Modern Asian Studies, ed most of the surplus. By the to trial. November 1972, Neil Charlesworth tinme of the Naxalbari revolt the 96 See Hainza Alavi, loc cit, 1965. lhas argued that the extent of the zamindars had been removed and uprising was much overestimated the jotedars were the landlords. 97 On March 1, 1971, the Govern- ian current and subsequent reports. 89 Hamza Alavi, loc cit. ment of India sent about 10,000 I-lIs argument does not seem con- paramilitary personnel into the dis- vincing in the light of data cited 90 Kanu Sanyal, "Report on the tricts of Warangal, Khammam and by Natarajan and other writers. Peasant Movement in the Terai Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh and 79 Thb Khilatat movement was begun Region", Liberation, Volume 2, subdued the revolutionary struggle to protest against Britain's remov- Number 1, November 1968. For there. Something similar to the lig various Middle Eastemn terri- the circumstances surrounding the Vietnamese strategic hamlet plan tories from the control of Turkey Naxalbari rebellion and for the has been attempted in Srikakulam in violation of promises made by attitude taken towards it of the district, people of scattered villages Lloyd George during the First Communist Party of India (Mar- being herded together in camps at World War. xist) which was then in power ini three mile intervals so that food a coalition government in West supplies to the guerrillas are cut 80 See Kathleen Gough, "Indian Bengal, see People's Denwcracy, off. No civilians are allowed out Nationalism and Ethnic Freedom", weekly organ of the CPI(M), after dusk. Some 50,000 tribes- in David Bidney, ed, "The Concept Volume 3, Numbers 23-30, 1967. people were still confined in these of Freedom in Anthropology", See also Mohan Ram, op cit, 1971, hamlets in April 1974. (See Mohan Mouton, 1963, pp 170-207, for pp 38-71. Ram, loc cit, 1972, p 42, Frontier, f urther discussion. 91 Mohan Ram, op cit, 1971, pp 165- Volume 5, January 27, 1973, p 8; 81 See I-Iamza Alavi, "Peasants and 169. and Economic and Political Week- alnd Revolution", Socialist Regitr, ly, Volume 9, Number 17, April 92 Mohan Ram, loc cit, 1972, p 42. 27, 1974, p 666.)

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