Get summaries, questions, answers, solutions, notes, extras, PDF and guide of Class 12 (second year) History textbook, chapter 9 Colonialism and the Countryside which is part of the syllabus of students studying under AHSEC/ASSEB (Assam Board). These solutions, however, should only be treated as references and can be modified/changed.
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Summary
This chapter explores how colonial rule affected rural India, focusing on Bengal, the Rajmahal hills, and the Deccan region. It begins with Bengal, where the British introduced the Permanent Settlement in 1793. This system fixed the revenue zamindars (landlords) had to pay to the East India Company. If zamindars failed to pay, their lands were auctioned. However, many zamindars used tricks to keep their lands, like fake auctions where their agents bought the land back. Despite these efforts, many zamindars struggled because the revenue demands were too high, and they often couldn’t collect enough rent from peasants. This led to the rise of jotedars, rich peasants who controlled large areas of land and had significant power in villages.
In the Rajmahal hills, the Paharias lived by hunting, gathering, and shifting cultivation. They resisted outsiders, including the British, who wanted to clear forests for settled agriculture. The British tried to control the Paharias through brutal force and later by offering allowances to their chiefs. However, the Paharias continued to resist. Meanwhile, the Santhals, another group, were encouraged by the British to settle in the hills and clear forests for farming. This led to conflicts between the Paharias and Santhals, as the Paharias lost access to fertile land. The Santhals, however, also faced problems like heavy taxes and exploitation by moneylenders, which eventually led to the Santhal Rebellion of 1855-56.
In the Deccan region, the British introduced the ryotwari system, where peasants paid revenue directly to the state. This system caused many peasants to fall into debt, especially during times of poor harvests. Moneylenders became powerful, and peasants often lost their land to them. The situation worsened during the American Civil War when cotton prices rose, and peasants took loans to grow more cotton. When the war ended, prices fell, and moneylenders stopped giving loans, leaving peasants in deep debt. This led to the Deccan Riots of 1875, where peasants attacked moneylenders and burned their account books.
The chapter also discusses how historians use official reports, like the Fifth Report and the Deccan Riots Commission, to understand these events. These reports provide valuable information but must be read carefully, as they reflect the views of the colonial government. The chapter shows how colonial policies disrupted rural life, leading to resistance and rebellion among peasants and tribal groups.
Textbook solutions
Answer in 100-150 words
1. Why was the jotedar a powerful figure in many areas of rural Bengal?
Answer: Jotedars were rich peasants who had acquired vast areas of land, sometimes several thousand acres. They controlled local trade and moneylending, exerting immense power over poorer cultivators. Unlike zamindars, who often lived in urban areas, jotedars resided in villages and had direct control over a significant section of poor villagers. They resisted attempts by zamindars to increase the village jama, prevented zamindari officials from executing their duties, mobilised dependent ryots, and deliberately delayed revenue payments to zamindars. When zamindari estates were auctioned for non-payment of revenue, jotedars were often among the purchasers. Their rise weakened zamindari authority, particularly in North Bengal, where they were most powerful. In different regions, they were also known as haoladars, gantidars, or mandals.
2. How did zamindars manage to retain control over their zamindaris?
Answer: The authority of the zamindars in rural areas did not collapse despite the high revenue demand and the threat of estate auctions. They used various strategies to retain control. One such method was fictitious sale, where zamindars’ agents manipulated auctions by deliberately withholding revenue, allowing unpaid balances to accumulate, and then repurchasing the auctioned estates through their own men. Additionally, the zamindars often transferred their estates to female family members since the Company had decreed that women’s property would not be seized. Furthermore, zamindars resisted outsiders who attempted to take possession of auctioned estates, sometimes using armed retainers (lathyals) to prevent new owners from taking control. Ryots also supported their zamindars, as they saw them as figures of authority. By the early 19th century, with economic recovery and flexible revenue rules, many zamindars consolidated their power once again.
3. How did the Paharias respond to the coming of outsiders?
Answer: The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills, depending on forest produce and shifting cultivation for their livelihood. They considered the entire region as their land and resisted the intrusion of outsiders. Their chiefs maintained the unity of the group and led them in battles. The Paharias regularly raided the settled villages of the plains for food grains and cattle, asserting their power over the plainspeople. Zamindars and traders had to pay tribute to the Paharia chiefs to ensure peace and safe passage. However, when the British began encouraging settled agriculture in the region, tensions escalated. The Paharias started raiding villages more frequently. The British initially responded with brutal extermination campaigns in the 1770s, but later adopted a policy of pacification in the 1780s by offering annual allowances to Paharia chiefs. Many chiefs refused, and those who accepted lost authority within their communities. Eventually, the Paharias retreated deeper into the hills as the Santhals and other settlers took over their lands.
4. Why did the Santhals rebel against British rule?
Answer: The Santhals rebelled against British rule due to the oppressive policies imposed on them. They initially settled in the foothills of Rajmahal and were encouraged to take up settled agriculture. However, over time, they found that the land they had cleared and cultivated was slipping away from them. The British government imposed heavy taxes, moneylenders (dikus) charged them high interest rates, and zamindars asserted control over the Damin-i-Koh region. By the 1850s, the Santhals felt they had no choice but to rebel against zamindars, moneylenders, and the colonial state. They aimed to create an ideal world for themselves where they would have control. The Santhal Revolt (1855-56) was a result of these grievances, after which the British created the Santhal Pargana, carving out land from Bhagalpur and Birbhum to conciliate them.
5. What explains the anger of the Deccan ryots against the moneylenders?
Answer: The anger of the Deccan ryots against the moneylenders stemmed from multiple factors. The moneylenders (sahukars) charged exorbitant interest rates, often manipulating the accounts to ensure that debts could never be fully repaid. They forced peasants to sign new bonds every three years, accumulating interest on unpaid balances, which kept the ryots trapped in a cycle of debt. Moneylenders also refused to provide receipts for payments, seized harvests without crediting them to the ryots’ accounts, and used legal loopholes to their advantage. The Limitation Law of 1859, intended to curb excessive debt accumulation, was turned against the peasants by compelling them to sign fresh bonds regularly. As cotton prices fell and revenue demands increased, the ryots found themselves unable to repay loans, leading to the Deccan Riots of 1875, where they attacked moneylenders, burned debt bonds, and looted shops.
Short essay-type answers
6. Why were many zamindaris auctioned after the Permanent Settlement?
Answer: The estates of the Burdwan Raj were not the only ones sold during the closing years of the eighteenth century. Over 75 per cent of the zamindaris changed hands after the Permanent Settlement. In introducing the Permanent Settlement, British officials hoped to resolve the problems they had been facing since the conquest of Bengal. By the 1770s, the rural economy in Bengal was in crisis, with recurrent famines and declining agricultural output. Officials felt that agriculture, trade, and the revenue resources of the state could all be developed by encouraging investment in agriculture.
Company officials felt that a fixed revenue demand would give zamindars a sense of security and encourage them to improve their estates. However, in the early decades after the Permanent Settlement, zamindars regularly failed to pay the revenue demand and unpaid balances accumulated. The reasons for this failure were various. The initial revenue demands were very high, as the Company feared losing its share of increased income from land when prices rose and cultivation expanded. Moreover, this high demand was imposed at a time when the prices of agricultural produce were depressed, making it difficult for the ryots to pay their dues to the zamindar.
The revenue was invariable, regardless of the harvest, and had to be paid punctually. According to the Sunset Law, if payment did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned. The Permanent Settlement also initially limited the power of the zamindar to collect rent from the ryot and manage his zamindari. The Company sought to control and regulate zamindars, subdue their authority, and restrict their autonomy. Their troops were disbanded, customs duties abolished, and their “cutcheries” (courts) brought under the supervision of a Collector appointed by the Company.
At the time of rent collection, an officer of the zamindar, usually the amlah, would visit the village. But rent collection was a persistent problem. Sometimes bad harvests and low prices made payment of dues difficult for the ryots. At other times, ryots deliberately delayed payment. Rich ryots and village headmen—jotedars and mandals—were only too happy to see the zamindar in trouble. The zamindar could prosecute defaulters, but the judicial process was long drawn. In Burdwan alone, there were over 30,000 pending suits for arrears of rent payment in 1798.
Due to these various pressures, many zamindaris were eventually auctioned, as zamindars were unable to meet their revenue demands. However, some zamindars devised ways to retain control by engaging in fictitious sales, transferring their estates to female relatives, and using agents to repurchase their own lands at auctions.
7. In what way was the livelihood of the Paharias different from that of the Santhals?
Answer: The Paharias lived around the Rajmahal hills, subsisting on forest produce and practicing shifting cultivation. They cleared patches of forest by cutting bushes and burning the undergrowth. On these patches, enriched by the potash from the ash, they grew a variety of pulses and millets for consumption. They scratched the ground lightly with hoes, cultivated the cleared land for a few years, then left it fallow so that it could recover its fertility and moved to a new area. They also collected mahua (a flower) for food, silk cocoons and resin for sale, and wood for charcoal production. They considered the entire region as their land and resisted the intrusion of outsiders. Their chiefs maintained the unity of the group, settled disputes, and led the tribe in battles with other tribes and plainspeople. The Paharias regularly raided the plains, taking food grains and cattle from settled agriculturists. They also demanded tribute from zamindars and traders in return for peace and protection.
The Santhals, in contrast, were pioneer settlers who moved into the Rajmahal hills around 1800. Unlike the Paharias, they cleared forests permanently and took to settled plough agriculture. Encouraged by the British and zamindars, they brought new lands under cultivation, producing rice and cotton. The British demarcated a large area, Damin-i-Koh, for them to settle, ensuring they remained agriculturalists. Over time, the Santhals became part of the market economy, dealing with traders and moneylenders, growing commercial crops for sale. However, they soon faced exploitation from the state and moneylenders, which led to conflicts and ultimately the Santhal rebellion of 1855-56.
The key difference between the two was that the Paharias were shifting cultivators and forest dwellers who resisted settled agriculture, while the Santhals became settled agriculturalists, embracing plough cultivation and expanding farming in the region.
8. How did the American Civil War affect the lives of ryots in India?
Answer: The American Civil War (1861–1865) had a significant impact on the lives of ryots in India, particularly in the Bombay Deccan. Before the war, three-fourths of the raw cotton imports into Britain came from America. When the war broke out, cotton supplies from America drastically reduced, and British industries turned to India as an alternative source. The demand for Indian cotton increased, leading to a boom in cotton cultivation.
To meet the growing British demand, export merchants in Bombay provided advances to urban sahukars, who then extended credit to rural moneylenders. These moneylenders, in turn, offered loans to the ryots, encouraging them to grow more cotton. Many ryots took loans, expecting profits from cotton cultivation.
During the boom years, cotton acreage doubled, and more than 90% of cotton imports to Britain came from India by 1862. However, this prosperity was short-lived. When the Civil War ended in 1865, American cotton production resumed, leading to a steep decline in the demand for Indian cotton. As prices fell, Indian ryots found themselves unable to repay the loans they had taken during the boom. Credit from moneylenders dried up, and many ryots became heavily indebted.
The situation worsened when the British administration increased the revenue demand at a time when cotton prices were plummeting. Ryots who had once benefited from easy loans now faced mounting debts and land seizures. Their frustration led to widespread anger against the moneylenders, culminating in the Deccan Riots of 1875, where ryots attacked moneylenders, burned account books, and protested against the oppressive debt system.
9. What are the problems of using official sources in writing about the history of peasants?
Answer: Official sources pose several problems when writing about the history of peasants. Firstly, they are often biased as they reflect the perspectives and interests of the colonial administration rather than the peasants themselves. Official records like the Fifth Report exaggerated the collapse of traditional zamindari power and overestimated the scale on which zamindars were losing their land. They were produced to critique the East India Company’s maladministration, not to provide an unbiased history.
Secondly, these sources were written by officials who had specific instructions on what to record, which influenced their observations. Buchanan’s reports, for example, were shaped by the commercial interests of the British East India Company, focusing on land productivity rather than the experiences of local people. His reports suggested how landscapes could be transformed for revenue benefits rather than documenting the actual living conditions and challenges faced by the rural population.
Thirdly, the use of legal documents, contracts, and reports often misrepresented the lived experiences of peasants. Moneylenders manipulated laws, and peasants were often forced to sign bonds and deeds they did not fully understand. Colonial records emphasized these legal documents, ignoring the fact that they were often instruments of exploitation.
Finally, official sources rarely captured peasant resistance in their own terms. Instead, they framed acts of defiance, such as the Deccan riots, as lawlessness rather than legitimate struggles against exploitation. These sources must be read critically and supplemented with local records, oral histories, and unofficial accounts to construct a more accurate picture of peasant history.
Extras
Additional questions and answers
1. What was the Sunset Law?
Answer: According to the Sunset Law, if payment of revenue did not come in by sunset of the specified date, the zamindari was liable to be auctioned.
55. Explain the circumstances leading to the Deccan riots of 1875 and their aftermath?
Answer: The Deccan riots of 1875 were preceded by a period of increasing agrarian distress. Following the collapse of the cotton boom after the American Civil War ended in 1865, credit dried up as export merchants and sahukars became unwilling to extend long-term loans and demanded repayment of debts. Simultaneously, the state’s revenue demand was sharply increased in the new settlement, by 50 to 100 per cent. Peasants, facing falling prices and disappearing cotton fields, could not meet this demand and turned to moneylenders, who now refused loans, lacking confidence in the ryots’ repayment capacity.
This refusal enraged the ryots. They felt infuriated not just by their deepening debt and dependence, but also by the moneylenders’ perceived insensitivity and violation of customary norms of the countryside, such as limits on interest rates. Moneylenders were seen as devious, manipulating laws like the Limitation Law of 1859 by forcing new bonds periodically, forging accounts, and using legally binding deeds and bonds, which peasants feared, to oppress them and take over their property.
The movement began at Supa, a large village in Poona district, on 12 May 1875. Ryots from surrounding areas gathered and attacked shopkeepers, demanding their bahi khatas (account books) and debt bonds. They burnt the khatas, looted grain shops, and sometimes set fire to the houses of sahukars. The revolt spread from Poona to Ahmednagar and further, covering over 6,500 sq km and affecting more than thirty villages over the next two months. Everywhere, sahukars were attacked, account books burnt, and debt bonds destroyed. Terrified sahukars fled the villages.
In the aftermath, British officials, seeing the spectre of 1857, established police posts to frighten peasants and quickly called in troops. 951 people were arrested, and many were convicted, though it took several months to bring the countryside under control. Worried by the memory of 1857, the Government of India pressurised the Government of Bombay to set up a commission of enquiry. The commission produced the Deccan Riots Report in 1878, presented to the British Parliament. It held enquiries in affected districts, recorded statements from ryots, sahukars, and eyewitnesses, compiled statistical data on revenue rates, prices, and interest rates, and collated district collectors’ reports. The commission was specifically asked to judge if the government revenue demand caused the revolt. It concluded that the government demand was not the cause of peasant anger, blaming the moneylenders instead. This finding reflected a persistent reluctance by the colonial government to admit that its actions caused popular discontent.
Additional MCQs
1. In which year did the Permanent Settlement come into operation in Bengal?
A. 1773
B. 1793
C. 1818
D. 1845
Answer: B. 1793
53. According to the Limitation Law, what happened when a new bond was signed after three years?
A. Interest was reduced
B. The unpaid balance was reset as the new principal
C. Debts were forgiven
D. Harvest yields were recorded
Answer: B. The unpaid balance was reset as the new principal
Ron’e Dutta is a journalist, teacher, aspiring novelist, and blogger who manages Online Free Notes. An avid reader of Victorian literature, his favourite book is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. He dreams of travelling the world. You can connect with him on social media. He does personal writing on ronism.
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