Colonialism and the Countryside – Theme 10 Notes

Class 12 · Themes in Indian History – Part III

Theme Ten

Colonialism and the Countryside

Exploring Official Archives · Complete Notes & Worksheet with Answers

📌 Chapter Overview

How British colonial rule transformed rural India through revenue policies and land systems.
Three regions: Bengal (zamindars), Rajmahal hills (Paharias & Santhals), Bombay Deccan (Deccan Riots 1875).
Key sources: Revenue records, Buchanan's journals, the Fifth Report (1813), Deccan Riots Commission (1878).

1 Bengal and the Zamindars

1.1 The Permanent Settlement (1793)

Introduced by Lord Cornwallis in Bengal. Key features:

Revenue demand was permanently fixed — zamindars paid a set amount to EIC forever.
Zamindars became revenue collectors for the Company (not landowners in the village).
If a zamindar failed to pay, his estate would be auctioned (Sunset Law — must pay by sunset).
Goal: Create loyal landowners who would invest in agriculture and provide regular revenue.

1.2 Auction at Burdwan (1797) — The Fictitious Sale

Raja of Burdwan accumulated huge arrears; his estates were auctioned.
Most buyers were secretly his own servants and agents → benami purchases.
Over 95% of the auction was fictitious — raja stayed in control.

1.3 Why Zamindars Defaulted

⚠️ Four Key Reasons

High revenue demands: Set too high, hoping burden would ease over time.
Depressed prices (1790s): Low agricultural prices → ryots couldn't pay rent → zamindars couldn't pay EIC.
Sunset Law: Revenue invariable regardless of harvest; had to be paid on the exact date or estate auctioned.
Limited power: Company disbanded zamindar troops, courts supervised — couldn't enforce rent collection.

Power Structure in Rural Bengal

COMPANY (EIC)

▼ revenue ▼

ZAMINDAR
(controls villages)

←→

JOTEDAR
(rich ryot + trader)

▼ rent ▼ ▼ loans ▼

RYOT (peasant)

▼ half produce ▼

UNDER-RYOT (sharecropper)

1.4 The Rise of Jotedars

Rich peasants who acquired thousands of acres; controlled local trade and moneylending.
Sharecroppers (adhiyars/bargadars) cultivated their land and handed over half the produce.
More powerful than zamindars in villages — lived there, exercised direct control.
Resisted zamindari authority: delayed payments, stopped officials, instigated ryots.
Also known as haoladars, gantidars, mandals in different areas.

1.5 How Zamindars Resisted Displacement

Benami transfers: Property transferred to wife/agents (women's property couldn't be seized).
Auction manipulation: Agents bid high → refused to pay → re-auction → bought cheap.
Lathyals: Strongmen attacked new purchasers attempting possession.
Ryot loyalty: Peasants saw zamindar as their 'raja' — refused entry of outsiders.
By early 1800s, prices recovered → rules relaxed → zamindari power strengthened.

1.6 The Fifth Report (1813)

📄 What was the Fifth Report?

1,002-page report to British Parliament on EIC administration of Bengal.
Described widespread zamindari collapse and land auctions.
Caution: Recent research shows it exaggerated — the zamindaris were NOT collapsing as badly as claimed.
It was politically motivated to attack EIC's monopoly, not purely factual.

2 The Hoe and the Plough – Rajmahal Hills

Paharias vs Santhals – A Quick Comparison

Aspect	🪓 Paharias	🌾 Santhals
Symbol	HOE (shifting cultivation)	PLOUGH (settled farming)
Agriculture	Shifting — cleared forest patches, moved on	Settled — ploughed land permanently
Crops	Millets, pulses + forest products	Rice, cotton, mustard, tobacco
Attitude to outsiders	Hostile, resisted all outsiders	More willing to engage commercially
British view	"Savage, unruly, difficult to govern"	"Ideal settlers" — industrious
Fate under colonialism	Pushed to barren upper hills	Land lost to taxes, debt, zamindars

2.1 The Paharias — Original Hill Folk

Lived around Rajmahal hills; subsisted on forest produce and shifting cultivation.
Cleared forest patches (burning undergrowth) → grew crops for few years → moved on.
Collected mahua flowers, silk cocoons, resin, charcoal from forests.
Raided plains for survival; zamindars paid tribute to Paharia chiefs for peace.

British Policy Towards Paharias

1770s: Brutal extermination campaigns — hunting and killing Paharias.
1780s: Augustus Cleveland's pacification policy — annual allowances to chiefs.
Chiefs who accepted lost community authority → seen as colonial employees.
As Santhals arrived, Paharias pushed deeper into barren rocky upper hills → impoverished.

2.2 The Santhals — Pioneer Settlers

Came to Bengal from around the 1780s; hired by zamindars to reclaim land.
British officials invited them to settle in Jangal Mahals (failed with Paharias).
1832: Damin-i-Koh demarcated — land of the Santhals.
Rapid growth: 40 villages (1838) → 1,473 villages (1851); population 3,000 → 82,000.

⚡ The Santhal Rebellion (1855–56)

Why? Heavy state taxes + moneylenders (dikus) seizing land for debts + zamindars asserting control over Damin-i-Koh.
Who? Led by Sidhu Manjhi — to create an ideal world of Santhal self-rule.
Result: Santhal Pargana created (5,500 sq. miles) from Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts.

2.3 Buchanan's Accounts — Reading Sources Critically

🔍 Who Was Buchanan?

Francis Buchanan (1794–1815) was a physician in Bengal Medical Service. He surveyed eastern India for the EIC — but his surveys were driven by commercial interest (finding exploitable resources), not genuine understanding of local communities. He saw forests as wasteland to be cleared, not as livelihoods. His perspectives must be read critically.

3 A Revolt in the Countryside – The Bombay Deccan

3.1 The Deccan Riots (1875)

12 May 1875: Ryots from Poona attacked sahukars (moneylender-traders).
Demanded return of bahi khatas (account books) and debt bonds; burnt them.
Spread across 30+ villages, 6,500 sq. km., reached Ahmednagar.
951 people arrested; troops called in.

3.2 The Ryotwari Settlement

Unlike Bengal, the Permanent Settlement was NOT extended to Bombay Deccan.
Revenue settled directly with the ryot (peasant); resurveyed every 30 years.
Based on David Ricardo's economic ideas about "average rent".

The Debt Spiral in the Bombay Deccan

1820s First revenue settlement — very high demands. Peasants desert villages.

1832–34 Devastating famine — ⅓ cattle killed, ½ human population dies.

1832+ Agricultural prices fall sharply — don't recover for 15+ years.

1840s Alarming peasant indebtedness; borrowing just to eat and pay tax.

1845+ Slow recovery; revenue demand slightly moderated to encourage cultivation.

1861 American Civil War → Cotton Boom! Ryots get Rs 100 advance per acre.

1865 War ends → cotton boom collapses → credit dries up → debt explodes.

1875 Deccan Riots — ryots burn account books and attack moneylenders.

3.3 The Cotton Boom and Its Aftermath

Before 1861: ¾ of Britain's raw cotton came from America.
American Civil War → imports collapsed from 2,000,000 bales to 55,000 bales (1862).
India stepped in: cotton acreage doubled (1860–64); 90%+ of British cotton came from India.
Ryots got easy credit — Rs 100 advance per acre planted.
But: Boom brought heavier debt for most, not prosperity.
1865: War ends → American cotton revived → Indian exports fell → credit cut off → riots.

3.4 Why Ryots Were Angry at Moneylenders

💢 Moneylender Abuses

Violated customary norm: interest could NOT exceed the principal (old tradition).
Limitation Law (1859) twisted: new bonds every 3 years — accumulated interest became new principal.
Refused to give receipts when loans were repaid.
Entered fictitious figures in account books.
Acquired peasants' harvests at below-market prices.
Result: Rs 100 loan → Rs 2,028+ interest after just 12 years.

4 The Deccan Riots Commission (1878)

Set up to investigate causes of the 1875 riots.
Recorded statements from ryots, sahukars, eyewitnesses.
Compiled data on revenue, prices, interest rates.
Conclusion: Blamed moneylenders, NOT government revenue policy.

⚖️ Reading Official Sources Critically

The colonial government was reluctant to admit that its own revenue policies caused peasant anger. This bias is systematic in official records. Historians must cross-reference with newspapers, legal records, oral sources, and unofficial accounts to get the full picture.

★ Key Terms Glossary

Term	Definition	Context
Zamindar	Revenue collector for the EIC; had many villages under them	Bengal
Jotedar	Rich peasant; controlled trade, moneylending, sharecroppers	Bengal
Ryot/Raiyat	Peasant cultivator; often leased land to under-ryots	Bengal
Permanent Settlement	1793 Bengal system; revenue fixed permanently for zamindars	Bengal
Benami	Fictitious/anonymous transaction done in another person's name	Bengal
Lathyal	Strongman employed by zamindars; wielded a lathi	Bengal
Taluqdar	Territorial unit holder; similar to zamindars	Bengal
Adhiyar/Bargadar	Sharecropper; gave half the harvest to jotedar	Bengal
Paharias	Original Rajmahal hill dwellers; shifting hoe cultivation	Rajmahal
Damin-i-Koh	Land of the Santhals; demarcated 1832	Rajmahal
Diku	Outsider/moneylender; Santhal term for exploiters	Rajmahal
Sahukar	Moneylender-trader combined	Deccan
Bahi Khata	Account book recording debts; burnt in Deccan Riots	Deccan
Ryotwari	Revenue settled directly with ryot; revised every 30 years	Deccan
Rentier	Person who lives on rental income from property	General
Kist	Instalment of revenue payment	Bengal

📝 Worksheet: Questions and Answers

All in-chapter questions and exercise questions with concise, exam-ready answers

Part A: In-Chapter Discussion Questions

1 From the tone of the Fifth Report, what is its attitude to the facts? What is it trying to say through the figures? Can you think of problems in making long-term generalisations from two years of figures?

The Fifth Report presents alarming financial figures (revenue arrears, auctions) to argue that EIC misrule was destroying Bengal's zamindars. Its tone is politically motivated — meant to fuel parliamentary debate against EIC monopoly, not to present balanced facts. Two years of data (1796–97 and 1797–98) cannot reliably show long-term trends. Prices fluctuate, harvests vary, and exceptional years can be misread as permanent patterns. Recent research confirms the Report exaggerated zamindari collapse.

2 Describe the ways in which jotedars resisted the authority of zamindars. (Source 1 — Buchanan on Dinajpur)

According to Buchanan's account: (1) Jotedars paid only a few rupees and routinely fell into arrears; (2) They held more land than their deeds (pottahs) allowed; (3) When zamindari officers summoned them to the cutcherry, they immediately went to police stations and courts to complain; (4) They instigated other ryots not to pay revenue to the zamindar. Their economic power and local presence made them nearly impossible to discipline.

3 What does Buchanan's description tell us about his ideas of development? (Source 5)

Buchanan believed development meant clearing forests and expanding settled commercial cultivation. He wanted plantations of Asan, Palas (for silk), and Lac to replace forests; what was unfit for crops should rear mahua. His vision was shaped by EIC's commercial interests and Western notions of "progress" — not by what forest communities needed. He was inevitably critical of shifting cultivators like Paharias, seeing their way of life as backward and their forests as wasted potential agricultural land.

4 Explain the complaints in the ryot's petition (Source 8). Why was the harvest not credited to peasants' accounts?

The ryot complained that: (1) Sahukars charged 25–50% above market rates for goods; (2) Harvests were taken as repayment but never recorded in accounts — no receipts given; (3) They were forced into hard bond conditions. Moneylenders refused receipts deliberately: by keeping no record of payments, they could continue showing the debt as unpaid, charge compound interest, and maintain control over the peasant. The written record was entirely in the moneylender's hands.

Part B: Exercise Questions (Answer in 100–150 Words)

Q1 Why was the jotedar a powerful figure in many areas of rural Bengal?

Jotedars were powerful for several reasons: (1) Land: They owned thousands of acres — sometimes several thousand. (2) Economic control: They controlled local trade and moneylending, making poorer cultivators dependent on them. (3) Physical presence: Unlike zamindars who lived in cities, jotedars lived in the village and exercised direct, daily power. (4) Labour control: Sharecroppers (adhiyars) who depended on them for land had to hand over half the harvest. (5) Political power: They could mobilise dependent ryots to resist zamindars. (6) Auction buying: When zamindars' estates were auctioned, jotedars often bought them. Their economic dominance, physical presence, and ability to mobilise the village made them the real power in rural Bengal.

Q2 How did zamindars manage to retain control over their zamindaris?

Zamindars used clever strategies to avoid losing their estates: (1) Benami purchases: Transferred property to their wives (Company couldn't take women's property) or loyal agents. (2) Auction manipulation: Agents bid high prices at auctions, then refused to pay, forcing re-auction. This was repeated until the estate was sold cheaply back to the zamindar. (3) Violence: Lathyals (hired strongmen) attacked outsiders who bought their estates. (4) Peasant loyalty: Ryots saw the zamindar as their 'raja' and resisted the entry of strangers. They felt a bond of identity and loyalty. By early 1800s, prices rose and revenue rules became flexible, consolidating zamindari power again.

Q3 How did the Paharias respond to the coming of outsiders?

The Paharias responded to outsiders with deep suspicion and active resistance: (1) They regularly raided settled plains villages for food and to assert power. (2) When the British launched extermination campaigns in the 1770s, they fought back fiercely. (3) When the British offered annual allowances in the 1780s, many Paharia chiefs refused; those who accepted lost community respect. (4) As Santhals arrived and cleared lower hills, Paharias withdrew deeper into the mountains, insulating themselves. (5) When Buchanan visited in 1810–11, Paharias deserted their villages to avoid him — every outsider represented a threat to their forests and way of life. Their resistance stemmed from a history of brutal repression and cultural displacement.

Q4 Why did the Santhals rebel against British rule?

The Santhals had cleared forests and built a home in Damin-i-Koh, but found their land slipping away: (1) The colonial state imposed heavy taxes on the land they had cleared. (2) Moneylenders (dikus) charged exorbitant interest and seized land when debts were unpaid. (3) Zamindars were trying to assert control over the Damin area. All three forces — state, moneylenders, and zamindars — seemed to conspire against them. (4) The Santhals wanted to create their own ideal world free from these oppressors. The Santhal Rebellion (1855–56) was led by Sidhu Manjhi. After it was crushed, the colonial state created the Santhal Pargana (5,500 sq. miles) with special laws, hoping to conciliate the Santhals.

Q5 What explains the anger of the Deccan ryots against the moneylenders?

Deccan ryots were furious because moneylenders had systematically violated customary norms and trapped them in debt: (1) The old custom — interest cannot exceed the principal — was broken; Rs 100 grew to Rs 2,028+ in 12 years. (2) The Limitation Law (1859) was twisted to force new bonds every 3 years, making accumulated interest the new principal. (3) Moneylenders refused to give receipts, so payments made were never recorded. (4) They entered fictitious figures in account books. (5) After the cotton boom collapsed (1865), sahukars cut off all loans and demanded repayment — while the government raised revenue demands by 50–100%. Ryots were trapped with no income, no loans, and rising dues. The burning of account books was a direct attack on this symbol of oppression.

Part C: Short Essays (250–300 Words)

Q6 Why were many zamindaris auctioned after the Permanent Settlement?

Many zamindaris were auctioned after the 1793 Permanent Settlement due to several interconnected causes. First, the initial revenue demand was set excessively high. Since revenue was now fixed permanently, the Company feared it would never benefit from future agricultural growth, so it pegged the demand at the highest possible level, expecting the burden on zamindars to gradually ease. Second, the 1790s saw a sharp depression in agricultural prices. Ryots could barely afford to pay rent, so zamindars received inadequate income and could not meet the Company's demand. Third, the revenue was completely inflexible. The Sunset Law required payment by a fixed date — failure meant immediate auction, regardless of harvest failure or economic conditions. Fourth, the Company weakened zamindari power precisely when zamindars needed it most. Troops were disbanded, courts (cutcheries) put under Company supervision, and customs duties abolished. Without enforcement power, zamindars could not compel ryots to pay rent. Fifth, powerful jotedars and rich ryots actively resisted zamindars by delaying payments and organising opposition. In Burdwan alone, over 30,000 rent suits were pending in 1798. The result was that over 75% of zamindaris changed hands. However, this did not mean zamindars actually lost control — many used benami purchases, fictitious auctions, and loyal ryots to stay in effective possession even after official sale.

Q7 In what way was the livelihood of the Paharias different from that of the Santhals?

The Paharias and Santhals represent two fundamentally different ways of living, symbolised by the hoe and the plough respectively. The Paharias were the original inhabitants of the Rajmahal hills who practised shifting cultivation. Using hoes, they cleared small forest patches by cutting bushes and burning undergrowth, enriching the soil with potash from ash. They grew millets and pulses for a few years, then left the land fallow to recover and moved to a new patch. Their livelihood was deeply intertwined with the forest — they collected mahua flowers, silk cocoons, resin, and wood. They lived in hutments under mango and tamarind trees and considered the entire region their land and identity. They resisted plough agriculture and refused to become settled cultivators. The Santhals, by contrast, were settled plough agriculturalists. Coming from Bengal around the 1780s, they cleared forests permanently, built villages, and ploughed fields to grow rice, cotton, mustard, and tobacco. They were commercially oriented, dealing with traders and moneylenders. The British saw them as "ideal settlers" — industrious, settled, and revenue-generating. This key difference — mobile, forest-based hoe farming versus permanent, market-oriented plough farming — explains why the British supported Santhal settlement while trying to "tame" or marginalise Paharias, and why the two communities had such different relationships with the colonial state.

Q8 How did the American Civil War affect the lives of ryots in India?

The American Civil War (1861–65) had a dramatic but ultimately devastating impact on ryots in the Bombay Deccan. Before the war, three-fourths of Britain's raw cotton came from America. When war broke out, American cotton imports to Britain collapsed from over 2,000,000 bales to just 55,000 bales in one year. Britain urgently turned to India. This created a sudden cotton boom in the Deccan. Merchants visited cotton districts, credit flowed freely — ryots received Rs 100 advance for every acre planted with cotton. Sahukars were eager to lend long-term. Cotton acreage doubled between 1860 and 1864, and by 1862 over 90% of Britain's cotton imports came from India. However, when the war ended in 1865, American cotton production revived rapidly and Indian exports declined. Sahukars, who had eagerly extended credit during the boom, now stopped all loans and demanded repayment. A new revenue settlement simultaneously raised demands by 50–100%. Ryots who had borrowed heavily were trapped: cotton prices were falling, credit had evaporated, and government demands were rising. They could not repay old loans, could not get new ones, and could not meet their revenue. This combination of financial pressure exploded into the Deccan Riots of 1875, when ryots attacked sahukars and burnt account books — the physical symbols of their debt bondage.

Q9 What are the problems of using official sources in writing about the history of peasants?

Official sources — revenue records, survey reports, commission reports, parliamentary papers — are invaluable for writing peasant history, but they have serious limitations. First, they reflect the bias of their authors. Colonial administrators had specific agendas. The Fifth Report (1813) exaggerated zamindari collapse to fuel parliamentary debate against EIC monopoly. Second, they hide uncomfortable truths. The Deccan Riots Commission blamed moneylenders — not government revenue policy — because admitting government blame was politically inconvenient. This reluctance to indict the state appears repeatedly in colonial records. Third, surveys like Buchanan's were commercially driven. Buchanan observed landscapes to find exploitable resources, not to understand communities. His descriptions of Paharia or Santhal life reflect a colonial lens — forests are "wastelands," shifting cultivators are "backward." Fourth, peasants' own voices are absent or distorted. Petitions were summarised or filtered by officials; illiterate peasants didn't know what they signed. Fifth, official records focus on law, revenue, and order — not on lived experience, culture, or suffering. To write a more complete history, historians must juxtapose official sources with zamindari archives, newspapers, unofficial accounts, oral traditions, and legal records. No single source reveals the whole truth; critical, comparative reading is essential.

🎯 Quick Revision & Exam Tips

HOE vs PLOUGH: Paharias = hoe (forest, shifting) | Santhals = plough (settled, commercial)
JOTEDAR vs ZAMINDAR: Jotedar lived IN the village → more real power; Zamindar lived in town → less direct control
THREE REGIONS: Bengal (zamindars & jotedars) → Rajmahal (Paharias & Santhals) → Bombay Deccan (ryots & sahukars)
SUNSET LAW: Revenue must be paid by sunset or estate auctioned — key reason for defaults
DAMIN-i-KOH (1832): Santhal homeland — later exploited by all three forces: state, dikus, zamindars
FIFTH REPORT CAUTION: Exaggerated zamindari collapse; politically motivated; do not accept uncritically
COTTON BOOM TRAP: Boom (1861–65) → easy credit + debt → bust → credit cut + revenue raised → riots (1875)
BENAMI = Anonymous: Fictitious transaction in another person's name to hide real ownership
Rs 100 → Rs 2,028: This shocking figure shows how compound interest destroyed Deccan peasants