A Local-Level Analysis of an Opium District: Saran

Chapter 4 A Local-Level Analysis of an Opium District: Saran In terms of time and space, the previous two chapters took a broad perspective— over one century of the opium monopoly in the vast region of North India. I wrote these chapters to describe the history and the structures of the system the peasant production of opium was embedded in. This chapter will now focus more closely on the details of poppy cultivation by studying rural life in Bihar beyond what is directly associated with poppy cultivation. What might seem like a random compilation of ‘facts’ about a district in rural Bihar is in- tended as a selection of factors that had an impact on various aspects of poppy cultivation. The topography of a district, for example, influenced irrigation and the quality of the soil and, therefore, the very basics of agricultural production. In another example, a description of the composition of caste groups helps to locate the poppy cultivators—most of which belonged to a particular caste— within rural society in terms of social status. The economic status of a group was, I argue, largely defined by its access to land, which is why an account of the distribution of property rights and tenancies is relevant. All these aspects can hardly be handled on a macro-level. Consequently, I have chosen the district as a unit of analysis because it is small enough to allow an in-depth study and still large enough to be relevant. Furthermore, important records were produced at the district-level, such as the Settlement Records and the District Gazetteers. Saran district is chosen because it is large enough (in terms of area and population) to be a significant case study of North Indian opium production. Furthermore, the district is topographically and, therefore, also agriculturally quite coherent. Soil and fertility, means of irrigation and cropping-patterns are similar all over the district.1 Another advantage of studying Saran district is that is has already been the focus of historical scholarship. Above all, Anand Yang’s Limited Raj (1989) is an excellent study of Saran under colonial rule. Although Yang’s focus was less on agriculture then on political and social con- trol, I can draw upon many insights of his study. Finally, Saran district was among the top four opium producing districts in northern India.2 1 As opposed to, for example, Gaya district, where the agricultural pattern in the hilly south differs considerably from the plain north. 2 There were only four districts under the Bengal Opium Monopoly, where poppy covered more than three per cent of the net-cropped area: Saran, Gaya, Champaran and Rai Barelli. See rco ii, 446. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ��9 | doi:�0.��63/9789004385�84_005 <UN> 104 Chapter 4 Writing such a general chapter on a district can be dangerous. It is easy to get lost in the details of the district’s rich history. Here, I certainly do not want to write ‘the agricultural history of Saran.’ Nonetheless, I need a well-researched fundamental so that I can locate poppy cultivation within Saran’s (and to some extent Bihar’s) agriculture. Poppy cultivation cannot be understood in isolation from the rest of agriculture. It was one crop among many, planted before, after or next to rice, barley or sugarcane. And neither were the poppy cultivators, the people, isolated from rural society. Therefore, this chapter examines the socio- economic context in which the peasant production of opium was embedded. 4.1 Topography and General Aspects Related to Agriculture Saran district belonged to the province of Bihar in northern India.3 Political- ly, Saran district was divided into three subdivisions (roughly from south to north): Chapra, Siwan and Gopalganj.4 Additionally, the district was organ- ised into 10 police circles, so-called thanas.5 The political units from top to bottom were as follows: district, subdivision, thana and village. The total area of the district slightly differed from survey to survey because the course of the bordering rivers changed constantly, thus adding or subtracting strips of land. The total area of the district as published in Hunter’s Statistical Account of 1877 was 2,654 square miles, while in the Settlement Report of 1893–1901 it had grown to 2,674 square miles.6 The district’s shape (see Map 3) resembles an isosceles triangle, whose apex is at the junction of the Ganges and Gan- dak rivers in the southeast of the district, close to the town of Sonpur. The Gandak river forms the northeastern boundary to the districts of Champaran and Muzaffarpur, while the Gogra and Ganges rivers mark the southwestern boundary to the districts of Patna, Shahabad and Ballia. The western boundary is rather irregular and it only partly follows the Jharhi river, which separates Saran from Gorakhpur district in the North-Western Provinces. Saran district was part of the wider topographical area that is sometimes referred to as ‘Gangetic Bihar,’ which is a plain along the river Ganges.7 Saran is 3 I refer to the district boundaries after 1866 when Champaran was separated from Saran and became a district on its own. In 1973, Saran district was split into three parts, its former subdivisions (Chapra, Siwan and Gopalganj). Thus, today there is no district in India with the same boundaries as the historical Saran district that is the focus of my analysis here. 4 Until 1875, only two subdivisions existed. 5 Not to be confused with the parganas, a unit for revenue purposes only. 6 Hunter, Statistical Account of Bengal (sab) xi, 225 and Kerr, Saran Settlement Report (ssr), 4. 7 For a map of Gangetic Bihar (i.e. Saran and its neighboring districts) see Yang, Bazaar India, 21. <UN>.

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