Santhal 1

The Unfinished Struggle of Santhal Bataidars in Purnea District, 1938-42
Author(s): Anand Chakravarti

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 21, No. 42 (Oct. 18, 1986), pp. 1847-1865
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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SPECIAL ARTICLES
The Unfinished Struggle of Santhal Bataidars

in Purnea District, 1938-42
Anand Chakravarti
In recent years the countryside in Bihar has been convulsed by severe agrarian tensions arising to a large extent
from the deliberate negligence an the part of the government of issues affecting the interests of oppressed sections,
such as tenants-at-will and agricultural labourers. The persistence of the problems of these sections is an outcome
of the failure of the Indian National Congress to effectively integrate agrarian issues with its programmefor attaining
Independence. This argument has been demonstrated here by examining in detail the struggle of the Santhal
bataidars (sharecroppers who were tenants-at-will) against their maliks (comprising tenure-holders and occupancy
tenants) in Dhamdaha revenue circle in the western part of Purnea district between 1938 and 1942. The conflici
occurred in a political environment dominanted partly by the national movement and partly by the struggles of
the upper layers of the tenantry against the zamindars in Bihar. The capacity of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha
and the Congress to take up the problems of tenants-at-will has been critically examined, and a point of view
that endorses the latter's position giving primacy to the campaign against colonial rule, while postponing the
solution of agrarian issues till the attainment of Independence, has been questioned.
The conflict between the Santhal bataidars and their maliks has been examined in the context of the ecological
setting in which the two groups came to be involved in a common scheme of production relations. It has been
argued that the principal shortcoming of much of the work on agrarian struggles in Bihar during the period of
British rule in the twentieth century is the failure to postulate a clear picture of agrarian differentiation based
on the unique features of the pattern of production relations in the area of conflict. While emphasising the unique
elements of class relations in Dhamdaha, including the capacity of the Santhal bataidars to pilot their own struggle,
the limitations of regarding them as an autonomous group have been stressed.
ON November 22, 1971 an armed mob in Dhamdaha revenue circle against its prin- because of their failure to identify the prin-
attacked one of the Santhal (Adivasi) settle- cipal landholders to establish their rights as cipal antagonists of the bataidars clearly.
ments of the village Chandwa-Rupaspur in full-fledged tenants on the lands they The significance, and even the very exi-
Dhamdaha revenue circle, in the western part cultivated. The struggle began in the stence, of bataidars as a category of tenants
of Purnea district, and set it on fire. Since middle of 1938 and continued unabated till in Bihar during the British period has been
the attack took place in the afternoon, most August 1942, when its momentum was largely denied by Sengupta: "the batai
of the residents were away harvesting paddy. somewhat checked by the Quit India move- (sharecropping) system of tenancy is old, but
Those who happened to be at home attemp- ment. But not long afterwards the un- not the class of bataidars in a historic sense.
ted to flee, but they were cut down by a hail resolved tensions between the landholders All varieties of tenants, paying fixed or pro-
of bullets fired at them by members of the and their bataidars again dominated the duce reat, including the sharecroppers, were
mob. In the carnage, which Bhola Paswan agrarian scene. Although this paper is mostly occupancy tenants, had similar pro-
Shastri, then Chief Minister of Bihar, mainly concerned with the events occurring blems and emerged as a single class of kisans
described as "simply inhuman, brutal and between 1938 and 1942, it also attempts to during the zamindari period".7 For him,
ghastly",1 ten Santhals were shot dead and contribute towards understanding the therefore, bataidars, such as those in Dham-
four were burnt alive.2 Some days later the sources of the agrarian tension in Dhamdaha daha, were "rare" during this period.8 It is
Minister of State for Home at the Centre, in the recenit past. not possible here to examine the significance
who visited the scene of the occurrence, The oppression of tenants-at-will by those of sharecropping as a system of production
declared that, "non-implementation of occupying more privileged positions in the relations during the zamindari period in
adequate land reforms [sic] measures for agrarian hierarchy has received insufficient Bihar as a whole. However, it may be argued
giving protection to sharecroppers was at the attention in the writings concerning agrarian that bataidars as a class of tenants, whose
root of the crime".3 struggles in Bihar during the period of very existence was governed by the will of
The Santhals of Chandwa-Rupaspur had British rule in the twentieth century.4 In this their superiors, were liable to be suppressed
been settled here as bataidars (share- province the oppressed sections have been and hence could remain unnoticed. Even the
croppers) over three decades before the identified as primarily the tenantry (in- Santhal bataidars of Dhamdaha might never
incident by one of its Rajput landholders. cluding both occupancy and non-occupancy have compelled our attention, and that of
However, in spite of tenancy laws protecting tenants, or raiyats) of landlords or the authors mentioned, had it not been for
the rights of sharecroppers, their position zamindars-to whom their sufferings were the agitation launched by them. By under-
was no better than that of tenants-at- attributable. The struggle of the Santhal taking a detailed analysis of their struggle,
will, and the holocaust that occurred in bataidars against the landholders in Dham- we hope tQ accord them the importance that
November 1971 was caused by the tension daha throws light on patterns of oppression they deserve.
generated by the persistence of the land- of a different level of the agrarian hierar- Our understanding of the complex of
holders in denying them their rights to chy. Although this struggle has been speci- events underlying the agitation of the
cultivate the lands under their possessiqn fically noticed by two scholars, Sengupta5 Santhal bataidars is based on three sources
and reap the fruits of their labour. The and Henningham,6 their accounts are not of information. One is the account of a local
outrage brought to a bloody climax the long- only. very brief-owing to their partial ex- leader, Dhaturanand Choudhary (hereafter
standing struggle of the Santhal bataidars ploitation of the sources-but misleading- Dhaturanand), whose guidance and leader-
Economic and Political Weekly

Vol XXI, No 42, October 18, 1986 1847
October 18, 1986 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY
ship were indispensable for launching their zamindari falling within Purnea was known which had the potential for cultivation, the
struggle9 The second is the official version, as Dharampur pargana, covering an area of settlement report (hereafter 'Byrne's settle-
comprising the police record of particular 964 square miles.'4 The conflict between ment') highlighted the magnitude of the con-
incidents, official correspondence, and the the Santhal bataidars and their superiors in straints against the extension of agriculture
inquiry into the agrarian disturbances in the the agrarian hierarchy-colloquially desig- in the district. Of the total uncultivated area
area conducted in 1940 by N P Thadani, the nated as maliks-occurred in the context of of 11,16,944 acres (39 per cent of the total
district collector. 10 The information in both certain unique ecological conditions opera- area), 1,58,516 acres (14.19 per cent) were
versions covers the antecedents of the agita- ting in the district as a whole, and Dham- fallow; 6,94,770 acres (62.20 per cent) were
tion and its main events till about the end daha in particular. cultivable; and only 2,63,658 acres (23.60 per
of 1940. We have been unable to locate data Purnea was unique among the districts of cent) were uncultivable.20 Thus, of the un-
that cover the period between 1940 and 1942, north Bihar at the turn of the nineteenth cultivated area, as much as 76.39 per cent
but on the basis of Dhaturanand's account century for having the lowest density of was capable of cultivation but was not
it appears that the pattern of the struggle population.'5 This was attributed to the actually being cultivated.
during the entire- four-year period *was occurrence of epidemics and the infertility Dhamdaha revenue circle, perhaps more
broadly the same. The third source of infor- of its western tracts where the soil consisted than any other area, epitomised all the
mation is a series of interviews with persons, mainly of sand deposited by the Kosi-a dismal features of the district. The Kosi
some of whom, having lived through certain river notorious for causing disastrous played havoc here with cultivation, and tan-
events during the course of the struggle, pro- floods. 16 The erratic behaviour of the Kosi, talised potential settlers, who were attracted
vided their perceptions of what they re- "which [was] constantly changing its bed", to its abundant lands. The Superintendent
collected, while the rest, by virtue of their exposed the main paddy crop to the "con- of the 1891 Census operations observed that
familiarity with the area, contributed to our stant danger of destruction"' though the area Dhamdaha was extensively covered by high
understanding of the subject. was "admirably adapted for pasture"''7 The grass jungle to which "immense herds of
In the light of the diverse views expressed grossly uncongenial environment compelled cattle [were] sent all through the cold and
on the struggle of the Santhal bataidars in a settlement official to recapitulate an hot weather for pasture". He added that a
the official version, it would be an error to ominous proverb, which ran as follows: "'great number of cultivators" also came into
regard Dhaturanand's account as the only mahar na khao, jahar na khao; marna howe this area from Bhagalpur to "snatch a crop
sympathetic interpretation of the event. to Purainia jao (consume neither bane [a from its fertile soil, before the floods of the
Since the landholders in Dhamdaha were a kind a poison] nor poison [in any form]; if Kusi [sic] [drove] them and the cattle graziers
category of people who were not "sym- you wish to die, go to Purnea).'8 back to their permanent homes" 21
biotically related to the Raj" (an expression In such circumstances the scope for The decade between 1901 and 1911 marked
used by Guha to designate those, such as agricultural activity in Purnea was severely a turning point in the ecology of Dharndaha.
zamindars and moneylenders, who were in restricted. The percentage of the net crop- The course of the Kosi had swung radically
such a relationship)," the struggle of the ped area in relation to the total area was the to the west, which made the prospects of
bataidars against them was not a direct lowest here among all the districts in north agriculture much more predictable. In 1911
threat to the colonial regime-in spite of the Bihar at the time of the settlement opera- it was stated that Dhamdaha was no longer
breakdown of law and order caused by it. tions covering the period 1901-08. '9 By swept by the floods of the river; "here waste
Therefore, while some officials were con- focusing on the extent of the uncropped area land is fast disappearing: what used to be
cerned narrowly with restoring the peace,
TABLE 2: DENSITY OF POPULATION IN DHAMDAHA AND REVENUE CIRCLES IN EACH SUB-DIvISION
there were others who felt that the return to
WITH THE HIGHEST DENSITY, 1872-1931
normalcy needed to be accomplished within
the framework of certain provisions of the Revenue Circle Persons Per Square Mile
Bihar Tenancy Act (1885) which had been and Sub-division 1872 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931
violated by the landholders at the expense
Dhamdaha (Sadr) 199 213 276 281 337 466 509
of the bataidars. Such officials, as shown Amaur (Sadr) 401 436 439 427
later, explicitly-endorsed certain facets of the
Katihar (Sadr) 551 652 762
bataidari struggle.
Araria (Araria) 424 464 489 466 491 487 531
ECOLOGICAL BACKGROUND Kishanganj
(Kishanganj) 449
Dhamdaha revenue circle, a tract cover- Bahadurganj
ing 524 square miles'2 in the west of Purnea (Kishanganj) 499 547 517 525 489 504
district,'3 was part of the zamindari estate
of the Darbhanga Raj. The segment of this Sources: The same as for Table 1.
TABLE 1: DENSITY OF POPULATION IN DHAMDAHA REVENUE CIRCLE, THE SUB-DIVISIONS OF PURNEA DISTRICT, AND THE DISTRICT
AS A WHOLE, 1872-1931
Unit Persons Per Square Mile

1872 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931
Dhamdaha revenue circle 199 213 (7.04)a 276 (38.69) 281 (41.21) 337 (69.35) 466 (134.17) 509 (155.78)
Sadr sub-division 301 316 (4.98) 335 (11.30) 327 (8.64) 370 (22.92) 394 (30.90) 436 (44.85)
Araria sub-division 361 372 (3.05) 402 (11.36) 387 (7.20) 409 (13.30) 423 (17.17) 477 (32.13)
Kishanganj sub-division 421 471 (11.88) 484 (14.96) 460 (9.26) 451 (7.13) 417 (-0.95) 416 (-1.19)
Purnea district 346 370 (6.94) 390 (12.72) 376 (8.67) 398 (15.03) 407 (17.63) 440 (27.17)
Note: a The figures in brackets denote the percentage increase or decrease in density from the density in 1872.
Sources: For 1872: W W Hunter, "A Statistical Account of Bengal",Vol XV, "Districts of Monghyr and Purniah" (Reprint; Concept Publishing
Company, 1976), p 244.
For 1881: C J O'Donnell, "Census of the Lower Provinces of Bengal, 1891: The ProvincialTables" (Government of Bengal, 1893), pp 32-33.
For 1891, 1901, and 1911: O'Malley, n 22, Part III, pp 268-69.
For 1921 and 1931: Lacey, n 12, p 167.
1848
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY October 18, 1986
a vast jungle area is now a fertile and well returns of valuable crops. . 2 It is thus The categories of landholders and the per-
cultivated tract".22 The remarkable transfor- clear that from about 1911 Dhamdaha had centage of land held by each category in
mation that was occurring in Dhamdaha become an overwhelmingly attractive area Purnea distfict in general and Dhamdaha
may be grasped by comparing the changes for the pursuit of stable cultivation, and was revenue circle in particular, as recorded in
in the density of its population over several capable of accommodating large numbers Byrne's settlement, are shown in Table 3
Censuses with those in each of the sub- of settlers. (columns 1 and 2). The respective per-
divisions of the district on the one hand and While the retreat of the Kosi had made centages of land held by the same categoriei
the district as a whole on the other (see agricultural activity in Dhamdaha much in the flood-affected parts of Dhamdaha
Thble 1). The Table shows that the density of more predictable than before, it continued during this settlement, which were surveyed
population, in Dhamdaha had by 1921 sur- to be dependent on rainfall, and hence subsequently, are shown in columns 3 and
passed not only that of Sadr sub-division, intensive cultivation was not possible. We 4 of the same Table. (These supplementary
in which it was located, but that of the other were informed that a person who owned a surveys will hereafter be referred to as 'Bose's
stib-divisions and of the district as a whole. single pair of oxen and operated one plough settlement' and 'Prasad's settlement'
The percentage increases in the density of could manage upto 20 acres of land, since respectively.28) It is clear that those who
its population over successive decades from only 3 or 4 acres might actually have been have been classified as occupancy raiyats
that in 1872 were also remarkable: the cultivated in the course of a season. The held a pre-eminent position as landholders
statistics dwarf the corresponding figures for major food crop was dhan (paddy), which both in the district as a whole and in
the sub-divisions of the district and for the was transplanted on stretches of low land at Dhamdaha. They were followed by 'tenure-
district as a whole. A comparison of the the onset of monsoon in June-July and holders' Both categories held land under the
density of population in Dhamdaha with harvested in November-December.25 The Darbhanga Raj.
that of the revenue circles having the highest other food crops, grown on a smaller scale In formal, or legal, terms there was a
density in each sub-division between 1872 than paddy, included makai (maize)-sown fundamental distinction between a tenure-
and 1931 further corroborates the picture of in April-May and harvested in August- holder and a raiyat. The former was one
change (see Table 2). As shown in the Table, September-and jau (barley)-sown in who had "acquired from a proprietor or
the density of population in Dhamdaha, October-November and harvested in March- from another tenure-holder a right to hold
which was significantly lower than that of April. It is said that shakarkand (sweet land for the purpose of collecting rents or
the revenue circles with the highest density potato)-sown in June-July and harvested bringing it under cultivation by establishing
in each sub-division from 1872 to 1911, had in December-January-held the status of a tenants on it.. ."29 On the other hand a
attained a comparable position in relation food crop, being a staple item of the diet in raiyat was primarily one who had "acquired
to them (with the exception of Katihar) the period following its harvest.26 The prin- a right to hold land for the purpose of
by 1931. cipal cash crops were patwa (jute) and cultivating it by himself, or by members of
These statistics support the observations mirchai (chillies): the former was sown on his family, or by hired servants, or with the
made in 1911 regarding the qualitative low land in March-April and harvested in aid of partners.. ."30 We shall argue later
changes in the area. Further, according to August-September; and the latter, sown in that the distinction between a tenure-holder
the report of the 1921 Census, the Kosi had June-July on flat, slightly elevated land from and an occupancy raiyat in Dhamdaha was
in the course of its western movement which rain water was capable of draining fluid and more apparent than real. For the
"swung right across into Bhagalpur"; and away, was harvested in December-January. present, however, they may be regarded as
"the high gfass jungle described in the report The important pulses included rahad separate categories.
of 1891 [had] ... become one of the most (cajanus indicus) and khesadi (lathyrus It is evident from the three settlements
fertile and best cultivated areas in the sativus). Finally, tori (mustard) was the main that the occupancy raiyats and tenure-
district.. ."23 In 1926 a district Collector oilseed, which also served as a cash crop.27 holders together held the commanding
remarked, "An astounding change has come heights in the sphere of land control in
PROCESS OF RECLAMATION
over the neighbourhood in the last twenty Dhamdaha-controlling 84.47 per cent,
years. There is now no trace of jhil [marsh] The process of reclamation in Dhamdaha, 91.62 per cent, and 98.97 per cent respec-
or jungle... There is hardly an acre un- which began in the course of the first decade tively of the occupied area (see Table 3). The
cultivated... The land is now stable, free of this century, was initiated mainly by role inputed to these two categories as
from floods, and very fertile and yields large certain specific categories of landholders. initiators of the process of reclamation in
Dhamdaha will be examined because of their
T.x\Bt L 3: PERCENTA\(E r LAND HEAA) Bs LANDH(Ot DtRS- PURNEA DtsTRIT overwhelming importance as landholders.
.AND Di+.A\IDAHA\ REVENUTE CIR( T
According to Bose's settlement, a number
Status of Landholders Percentage of Total Occupied Area of developments occurred in the area with
Purnea District Dhamdaha Revenue CirCIe the retreat of the Kosi. First, the old raiyats
(1901-08) (1901-08) (1923-26)z' (1926-31)l' resumed control of their original holdings.
(1) (2) (3) (4) However, since the boundaries between
holdings had been obliterated while the area
Proprietors 2.22 3.84 0.34 0.07 was at the mercy of the river, powerful
Tenure-holders 19.00 24.51 21.50 15.42
raiyats were able to expand thieir holdings
Rent-free roiyvals 1.34 0.86 0.33 0.82
at the expense of their weaker neighbours.
Raiyats paying fixedrent 5.13 0.28 1.04 0.10
The actual cultivation of their lands was per-
Occupancy raivats 68.99 59.96 70.12 83.55
Non-occupancy raiyo,ls 3.32 10.56 6.67 0.04
formed by under-tenants (or under-raiyats)
100.00 100.01 100.00 100.00 on produce rents.31 These under-tenants,
who were regarded as the "bona Jide
Notes: a These figures pertain to 40 villages. cultivators" in Bose's settlement, included
b These figures pertain to 10 villages. Santhals and Gangota(s),32 a low caste. The
Sources: Byrne, n 15, Appendix l(v}, p x. connection between such cultivators and
** (i) For 1901-08: Ibid. their holdings was extremely precarious since
(ii) For 1923-26: Bose, n 24, Appendix 1(e), p v. "there [was] no custom in the locality for
(iii) For 1926-31: PIasad, n 28, Appendix' D(3), pp 68-71. under-raiyats to acquire occupancy right[s].
1849
The raiyats [took] care to turn them out after in response to a general question on the who had been forced to leave Rangpura [a
four or five years at the most".33 process of reclamation in Purnea. neighbouring village] because of a dispute
A second category involved in the general Speaking of Dhamdaha in particular, a with their malik. They were settled here by
scramble for land in the area included Collector of the di,trict wrote that the Sahdev Singh [a Rajput malik]. The land
immigrants from Chapra and Muzaffarpur, reclaiming of the "vast areas" under jungle around the basti was jungle. They cleared it
a majority of whom were relatives of under- "required hard manual labour over pro- and made it fit for cultivation.42
lings of the Darbhanga Raj. Large blocks longed periods". This task was believed to It may be mentioned in passing that
of land were settled with them by the Raj. be beyond the competence of the local during the period that followed the recession
They made their living as "rent collectors, population which was "lacking in energy of the Kosi, it was not difficult for a pro-
and not as cultivators", their lands being and initiative. . ."', and it was accomplished spective bataidar to raise a plough. Given
actually cultivated by Santhals and others through "imported labour", including, the precarious character of agriculture as
of low caste, including Musahar(s) and significantly, that of Santhals: "in most in- long as the river dominated the area, we were
Gangotas. However, the status of such stances they cleared the soil of jungles and informed that the maliks were greatly depen-
cultivators was no different from those men- made it fit for cultivation".39 dent on cattle-whose value as a source of
tioned earlier, as they were subject to the The unique talent of Santhals as agri- subsistence and income through the prepara-
arbitrary will of their superiors. Thus Bose's culturists was noticed by the local tenure- tion and sale of ghee (clarified butter)
settlement admits that all such "actual holders and raiyats who made full use of appeared to eclipse even that of land.43
cultivators" were not.found out, and that it them for reclaiming the vast tracts over Since the maliks were eager to reclaim as
would require vigilance on the part of the which they had acquired control. In their much land as possible after the retreat of the
district administration to enable those who view Santhals were extremely diligent and river, they tried to ensure that their bataidars
were recorded "to maintain their rights, of honest. In spite of their low status as tenants- had the required oxen and ploughs to start
which they were largely ignorant".34 at-will-locally designated as bataidars- cultivation expeditiously. A bataidar could
A third category who gained from the they brought jungle and marsh under the purchase a pair of oxen either directly from
recession of the Kosi were new tenants with plough; they decided the cropping pattern; his malik on deferred payment, or from
whom the Darbhanga Raj settled virgin and they organised production. It is said that some other source by obtaining a loan from
land. Several batches or tenants came to the there was a time when surveillance on the him-for which a concrete illustration is
area from Monghyr, Bhagalpur, and Santhal part of a tenure-holder or raiyat-whom provided by Rasik Besra's father. The same
Parganas to reclaim land for cultivation. The bataidars honorifically referred to as applied to wood for a plough or a leveller
Raj settled specified tracts with the leader malik-was considered redundant, ana he (chowki), which was avairable in abundance.
of a given group, designated as a pattadar, could rely on the good faith of his Santhal Many maliks are said to have established
who was responsible for paying the rent. The bataidars to harvest the crop, thresh and contacts with Santhals in Santhal Parganas
lease was, however, shared equally by all the winnow the grain, and finally divide the itself in the course of visits to Deogarh
other members of the group (known as produce in accordance with the terms of the (approximately 110 miles south-west of
koliatdars) who contributed their respective lease.40 Purnea), a place of pilgrimage. The oppor-
shares of rent to the pattadar. Since the The image of Santhals as diligent, honest, tunities for cultivation perceived by the in-
names of a given group of koliatdars were and efficient cultivators explains why maliks itial settlers were communicated to others
unrecorded, their security as tenants depen- in Dhamdaha actively encouraged them to through networks of kinship and affinity,
ded entirely upon the integrity of their settle in their respective villages. The follow- leading to the influx of a large number of
pattadar in whose name the lease of the ing are examples of a widespread pattern. Santhals into the area.
entire tract had been recorded. In course of Rasik Besra (aged about 65 in 1980), the The unique attraction of Dhamdaha for
time some pattadars exploited the vulnerable oldest resident of the Santhal settlement in Santhals is corroborated by comparing the
position of their koliatdars. One of the ways Fasalpur, recollected the past in the follow- number of Santhals in it with that in the
in which koliatdars were liable to be adversely ing words: other revenue circles of Sadr sub-division
affected was when a pattadar sold the entire My father came to Barena [a village in and in the other sub-divisions as a whole
holding, of which only a part was his. Even Dhamdaha] from Dumka [the district head- between 1901 and 1931 (see Table 4). The
if the new incumbent failed to oust his quarters of Santhal Parganas, but implying Table shows that an overwhelmingly large
Santhal co-tenants, he took batai (produce) the whole district according to colloquial number of Santhals were found in Sadr sub-
rent from them, thereby reducing them from usage] long before the earthquake [the earth- division, but their presence in Dhamdaha
their original status as de facto tenants of quake of 1934]. About four years before the from 1901 eclipsed that of their counterparts
the Raj to that of under-tenants.35 earthquake he was settled on the present site in all its other revenue circles. However, in
In all the three patterns of reclamation, [the Santhal tola or settlement in Fasalpur] view of the increase in their number in the
those who actually brought the land under by Jhingur Choudhary [a Bhumihar malik]. other revenue circles of the sub-division and
the plough were no better than tenants-at- He selected a clear space in the jungle and in the district as a whole between 1901 and
will. In both official documents and in the built a khopri [an improvised hut, made 1931, their relative percentage in Dhamdaha
mostly of straw]. Jhingur offered my father experienced a decline (as shown in the first
popular mind the Santhals in particular
a loan to raise a hal [literally, 'raise a and second columns of percentages for 1921
enjoy a unique and unchallenged reputation
plough' which in local parlance implies
for possessing the-capacity for taming land. and 1931 respectively). The great pre-
acquiring a pair of oxen for pursuing cultiva-
The following statements of officials are ponderance of Santhals here even in 1901
tion with one plough]. He was expected to
remarkably similar in highlighting this suggests that the opportunities for cultiva-
make abad [render land fit for cultivation]
ability: tion had probably been perceived even befQre
as much land as possible. Before he died he
The Santhals are masters in the art of had raised two hal, and was cultivating 10 to conditions had fully stabilised. There can be
reclaiming land for cultivation.36 15 bighas of land [in this area 1 bigha = 0.83 little doubt that the vast majority of those
The Santhal is a born reclaimer.37 acre].41 recorded in the tract in this Census were
There are no people like the Santhals in the immigrants, since there were only 215
Similarly, Alma Tudoo, a Santhal resident
whole of India who are known for their Santhals in the district as a whole in 1891."
of Chandwa-Rupaspur, recounted the
ability to reclaim land for cultivation.38 antecedents of the Santhal settlement thus: There are no data on the precise propor-
The last-mentioned statement, recorded This basti was established in the 1930s by tion of Santhal bataidars among bataidars
first-hand in the course of an interview with Mohan Tudoo [Alma's father], Mangal in general in Dhamdaha. However, the im-
a retired official, came forth spontaneously Murmu, Bauku Basuki, and Suttoo Hemram pressioris of those who knew the area suggest
1850
that they were dominant among bataidars. In Byrne's settlement it was noted that account the area of his holding.55 In prac-
Former maliks of the area, recounting the "numerous holders of large areas [under tice, however, it was difficult to classify land-
past, spontaneously referred to Santhals as zamindars-officially designated as holders unambiguously since some holding
their bataidars, and mentiofied non-Santhals 'proprietors'] were treated as tenure-holders less than 33 acres lived by rent, and others
who functioned in this capacity only in pas- all over the district". Landholders in general holding more than 33 acres lived overtly by
sing.45 In a somewhat general way this is appeared to be eager to be recorded as cultivation: "cases were frequent in which
corroborated by the district Collector who tenure-holders because this position con- it was extremely hard to determine the class
stated in 1940 that, "in the Sadr sub-divis on ferred "a certain social prestige":49 "it [was] to which a tenan't should be held to
the majority of the existing bataidars art of a matter of izzat to be classified as a tenure- belong". 56
Santhal origin'46 The non-Sant.ial holder"'.5? A person recorded as a tenure- In view of the advantages inherent in the
bataidars included, apart from Gangotas holder was placed in the khewat (record of status of a tenure-holder, it is believed that
dnd Musahars who have been mentioned landlords' interests) section of the record- the "majority of kisans [raiyats] sought to
earlier, Yadava(s), Dhanuk(s), and Tatma(s).47 of-rights, and had the status of an inter- have their lands classified as khewat" in
The description of the circumstances that mediate landlord5l-between a zamindar Purnea-ir.respective of the size of their
made Santhals a formidable entity among (the principal landlord) and tenants in holdings.57 On inquiry in 1938 it was
the cultivating population of Dhamdaha general. actually established that, due to sub-division
needs to be complemented with a discussion The tangible advantages that the status of since the last settlement, there were persons
of their principal antagonists, the maliks, tenure-holder conferred included: (1) the "recorded and treated as tenure-holders who
and the underlying sources of conflict in payment of a nominal rent to the Darbhanga [did] not hold more than a bigha or two
their relationship. Raj, since tenures were often created for the only ."..58 Thus it is not surprising that
purpose of reclamation in view of the the proportion of the area occupied by the
PRINCIPAL RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION
ecological circumstances of the area;52 and tenure-holders of Purnea among the various
IN DHAMDAHA
(2) the right to change the status of land categories of landholders was the largest
A detailed examination of the agrarian meant for cultivation (which a raiyat was among tenure-holders in the whole of north
structure of Dhamdaha is not possible here. normally debarred from doing) by construc- Bihar.59
However, in order to estimate the signi- ting buildings, tanks, and wells; or by Given the circumstances, the categorisa-
ficance of the conflict between maliks and establishing gardens and groves; or by tion of a person as a tenure-holder was to
bataidars in the area, their importance in the holding a hat (a temporary market).53 a large extent dictated by sxpediency. This
scheme of production relations needs to be The classification of a landholder as a is evident from the adverse reaction of the
defined.48 For this, the following points will tenure-holder or as a raiyat in Byrne's settle- tenure-holders in Dhamdaha to any settle-
be discussed briefly: (1) the extent to which ment was sought to be made on the basis ment which posed a threat to the un-
the category 'malik' encompassed the prin- of two criteria: the area of land held; and encumbered character of their holdings. In
cipal landholders of the area; and (2) the im- whether "he was by social position more a conformity with Section 5(3) of the Bihar
portance of sharecropping (batat) as a form rent-collector than a cultivator". 54 The two Tenancy Act, 1885, the under-raiyats
of labour in agricultural production. For the criteria were apparently used independently (bataidars) of a tenure-holder were liable to
first point, the analysis will be confined to of one another and not jointly. According be recorded as raiyats,60 whereas they
tenure-holders and occupancy raiyats, who to the 'area test' a person was deemed to be would have retained their original status as
enjoyed a preponderant position as land- a tenure-holder if he held over 100 standard under-raiyats if they had held land under a
holders (as shown in Table 3). The second bighas (33 acres); by the second criterion, raiyat. The status of a raiyat gave a person
point requires taking account of agricultural a person who leased out his land and was security against eviction, apart from certain
labourers, whose number in the district as living mainly by rent collection was classified other benefits.6' A person recorded as a
a whole was impressive. -as a tenure-holder, without taking into tenure-holder was thus liable to be en-
TABLE 4: NUMBER OF SANTHALS IN DHAMDAHA AND OTHER PARTS OF PURNEA: 1901, 1921, AND 1931
1901 1921 1931

Sadr Sub-division Number Percentagesa Numberb Percentagesc Number Percentages
Purnea revenue circle 79 (1.26; 1.15) 638 (2.06; 1.84) 1,100 (2.73; 2.38)
Amaur revenue circle - 14 (0.05; 0.04) 489 (1.21; 1.06)
Dhamdaha revenue circle 4,431 (70.75; 64.75) 13,572 (43.83; 39.21) 14,254 (3j.34; 30.86)
Korha revenue circle 550 (8.78; 8.04) 3,140 (I0.14; 9.07) 5,775 (14.32; 12.50)
Gopalpur revenue circle 442 (7.06; 6.46) 3,559 (11.49; 10.28) 5,239 (12.99; 11.34)
Kadwa revenue circle 292 (4.66; 4.27) 2,263 (7.31; 6.54) 3,472 (8.61; 7.52)
Katihar revenue circle 469 (7.49; 6.85) 7,782 (25.13; 22.48) 10,002 (24.80; 21.66)
Totals 6,263 (100.00; 91.52) 30,968 (100.01; 89.46) 40,331 (100.00; 87.32)
Araria sub-division 8 (- 0.12) 498 (- 1.44) 1,132 (- 2.45)
Kishanganj sub-division 572 (- 8.36) 3,151 (- 9.10) 4,722 (- 10.22)
Purnea district 6,843 (100.00) 34,617 (100.00) 46,185 (99.99)
Notes: a The first column of percentages denotes the number of Santhals in each revenue circle of Sadr sub-division as a percentage of the
number in the sub-division as a whole; the second column of percentages denotes the number of Santhals in each revenue circle-of
Sadr sub-division as a percentage of the number in Purnea district as a whole. The same procedure has been followed for 1921 and
1931. The figures against Araria and Kishanganj sub-divisions denote the number. of Santhals in these sub-divisions as percentages
of their number in the district as a whole.
b The number of Santhals in each revenue circle according to this Census and the Census of 1931 does not include Christian Santhals,
for whom only the total in the district as a whole is available. The number of Christian Santhals in Purnea district in Censuses
of 1921 and 1931 was 378 and 810 respectiveiy.
c The percentage figures for 1921 and 1931 are based on the number of non-Christian Santhals only.
Source: Lacey, n 12, p 157 (the relevant figures for 1911 were not recorded).
1851
cumbered with a raiyat on his holding- a fair amount of credibility with the passage survey [sic]" 70
which was too high a price to pay for the of time. A member of the Bihar Assembly The explanation for the basic identity
prestige involved. Thus by the 1920s the from Purnea stated in 1937 that the position between teture-holders and occupancy
tenure-holders of Dhamdaha asserted that: of tenure-holders was, "so to say, that of the raiyats has to be sought mainly in their
"they should be recorded as raiyats"; "the occupancy tenants";63 and it was publicly common caste status. In Bihar in general the
names of raiyats under them should be sup- admitted that the recording of "persons who four castes which ranked highest in social
pressed"; and "they should continue to were actually cultivators... as tenure- precedence included: Brahmin, Bhumihar,
cultivate their lands on produce rents by holders" was an "unfortunate accident. . .64 Rajput, and Kayastha. There was a high
means of raiyats [under-raiyats], whom they To the extent that the respective settlements degree of correspondence between upper
could evict at will".62 of Bose and Prasad reflect the situation in caste status and placement in the agrarian
In the changed circumstances it therefore the entire revenue circle, the decline in the hierarphy since the principal landholders
becaine expedient for those recorded as percentage of tenure-holders and the in- belonged to these castes.71 In Dhamdaha in
tenure-holders to maintain that they were, crease in the percentage of occupancy raiyats particular it was said that Bhumihars domi-
in reality, raiyats. This point of view gained between the period of Byrne's settlement and nated the area in the 1930s-in terms of both
that of Prasad's (as shown in Table 3) may power and landholding: "Bhumiharo ka bol
TABLE 5: EARNERS IN ORDINARY CULTIVATIONa
be regarded as a corroboration of the shif- bala tha".72 Such men, by virtue of their
AS PRINCIPAL OCCUPATION caste, did not perform the actual tasks of
ting importance of the raiyat category.
IN PURNEA DISTRICT, 1931
By maintaining that they were raiyats, cultivation and depended on the labour of
Category Number Percentage tenure-holders could more easily put forward bataidars. For an ordinary bataidar, the
the claim that they were genuine cultivators, person whose land he cultivated on batai was
Non-cultivating his malik (or 'lord'), on whom depended his
and hence circumvent the embarrassment of
proprietors 2,873 0.45
admitting.the role of their bataidars. It was livelihood. The technical classification of his
Rent collectors,
thus common to find the landholders of the malik in the record-of-rights hardly mattered
clerks, etc. 541 0.08
area, irrespective of the size of their to him, nor was it of any consequence for
Cultivating owners 20,575 3.22
holdings, describing themselves by the the manner in which his labour was used.
Tenant cultivators 318,747 49.94
omnibus expression 'kisan'.65 This term was The status of batai as a form of labour
Agricultural
labourers 295,587 46.31 wide enough to encompass the following in Dhamdaha may be reinforced by asses-
Total 638,323 100.00 categories of persons, all of whom paid rent sing its importance in relation to the use of
to zamindars and for whom agriculture was hired labour. The number and percentages
Note: a Ordinary cultivation, comprising an the principal source of livelihood: those of 'earners' (male and female) involved in
item in the broad category 'pasture whose lands were cultivated mainly by 'ordinary cultivation' as the principal
and agriculture', excludes those in- bataidars on produce rent and only partially occupation in Purnea district, according to
volved in the cultivation of special the Census of 1931, are shown in Table 5.
by hired labourers; those whose lands were
crops, forestry, and stock raising in the Since disaggregated information for each
cultivated mainly by hired labourers and
district. Those involved in ordinary revenue circle is not available, the magnitude
only partially by bataidars; and those who
cultivation as the principal occupation
laboured on their lands themselves, but hired of agricultural labourers in Dhamdaha is not
comprised 96.91 per cenit of the
labourers to cope with the scale of their known. As shown in the Table, the percen-
persons included under pasture and
agricultural operations.66 While most of the tage of agricultural labourers in the district
agriculture.
landholders of Dhamdaha could be placed (46.31 per cent) is not significantly less than
Source: Lacey, n 12, pp 64-67. that of those classified as 'tenant cultivators'
in the first category (which will be argued
TABLE 6: NUMBER AND AREA OF UNDER- later), they tended to maintain the fiction of (49.94 per cent). The latter subsumed
RAIYATI HOLDINGS AS PERCENTAGES OF belonging to the third. This point of view tenants without occupancy rights, including
HOLDINGS AND ARYEA HELD BY TENURE- was sought to be impressed on the provincial bataidars, in contrast to occupancy tenants,
HOLDERS AND OCCUPANCY RAIYATS, AS administration by the Purnea district who have been categorised as 'cultivating
RECORDED IN THE SETTLEMENTS OF BYRNE, Congress in 1938 by drawing attention to owners' in the Census.73 It is our conten-
BOSE, AND PRASAD tion that the actual number of those
"men who are the actual tillers of the soil,
(1) (2) but recorded as tenure-holders. . ."6'7 From returned as agricultural labourers is likely to
the point of view of the Congress leadership have been less than the figure recorded; and
Tract Under-Raiyati Under-Raiyati
the expression 'tillers of the soil' covered the conversely, the actual number of those
Holdings as Area as
tenantry in general of zamindars, who were returned as tenant cultivators is likely to have
Percentage of Percentage of
Holdings of Area Held by designated either as "kisans" or as "the been more than the figure recorded. The
Tenure-Holders Tenure-Holders peasantry".68 As pointed out by Bhola importance of non-occupancy tenants, and
and Occupancy and Occupancy Paswan Shastri, who belonged to the area, in particular bataidars, in Purnea in general
Raiyats Raiyats "Kisan shabd aisa hai jo anya groupo ko is therefore likely to have been much greater
lapet leta hai" (the word kisan is one which than that conveyed in the Census data. This
Purnea district encapsulates within itself several groups of position may be substantiated by showing
(1901-08) 20.40 5.43 people).69 briefly the circumstances in which bataidars
Dhamdaha were liable to be recorded as labourers.
In the light of the preceding discussion,
revenue circle The number of holdings of under-raiyats
the distinction between tenure-holders and
1901-08 12.69 3.82
occupancy raiyats in Dhamdaha was essen- as a percentage of the holdings of tenure-
1923-26
tially a technical one and did not reflect any holders and occupancy raiyats, as recorded
(40 villages) 9.67 3.52
fundamental difference in the form of in the respective settlements of Byrne, Bose,
1926-31
labour-used-bataidari or sharecropping. and Prasad, is shown in Table 6 (column 1).
(10 villages) 1.1.35 2.31
The following observation about tenure- The area held by under-raiyats as a percen-
Sources: (i) Byrne, n 15, Appendix I(v), holders in Shahabad district could also be tage of the area of the holdings of tenure-
PP X-XI. applied to those of Purnea: "The people in holders and occupancy raiyats, as recorded
(ii) Bose, n 24, Appendix l(e), p v. the villages ... make no distinction between in the same settlements, is shown in column 2
(iii) Prasad, n 28, Appendix D(3), a tepure-holder and occupancy raiyats and of the Table. It is evident that the propor-
pp 68-71. both are treated similarly. It is a creation of tion of under-raiyati holdings in relation to
1852
the number of holdings of the tenure-holders foot by their lords and masters.78 relied on the labour of bataidars-the
and occupancy raiyats, or maliks, is small, In Prasad's settlement it was explicitly predominant labouring category. The boun-
particularly in Dhamdaha (column 1), but recognised that it would be an error to daries of the latter were fluid, and to an
the proportion of the area held by the under- deduce that the occupants of homestead extent which cannot be precisely defined,
raiyats is much smaller (column 2). We shall sites had no other land in their possession. they encapsulated agricultural labourers.
outline below how this discrepancy was
It was certainly not very easy for an officer ELEMENTS OF OPPRESSION IN THE
sought to be explained by officials, and
to believe after visiting the locality that [the] MALIK-BATAIDAR RELATIONSHIP83
critically examine the conclusions drawn by low class people having a cluster of thatched
them. houses in some part of the village should A bataidar who leased in land from a
In the course of Byrne's settlement hold only the homestead lands consisting of malik generally paid half the gross produce
widespread inquiries were made to ascertain a few decimals in area [1 acre = 100 (including the straw) as rent (adhi batai). A
whether the land under the jurisdiction of decimals] and all the cultivated lands around scaled down version of the same arrange-
an occupant of a homestead site was con- them would be in actual cultivation of people ment, obliging him to give one-third of the
fined to the homestead or extended to the in some other districts. This sort of suppres- produce as rent (tekri batai), was operative
agricult"rl' tracts beyond it. Referring to sion of raiyats was specially common in those usually during the first few years when the
conditions in the west of the district, it was cases where the raiyats were holding lands leased tract was being cleared of jungle and
stated that: on produce rents. The general impression in rendered fit for cultivation.84
the area was that by holding lands on
'Bastis' were found of every age from 12 A bataidar was obliged to provide all the
produce rents the tenant did not acquire any
hours upwards (this newly-established basti inputs, both in labour and in kind. The
right whatsoever against the landlord.79
being the home of some Santhals who had former covered all agricultural tasks,
just come over to clear the jungle). In the Therefore, in an atmosphere where maliks including ploughing, sowing, weeding,
case of recently established villages it was could intimidate bataidars to deny their true harvesting, and delivering the crop to the
always admitted that the inhabitants came status as cultivators, the validity of the threshing floor. The latter required him to
and squatted on the site and proceeded to number of persons recorded as agricultural
possess his own draft animals and imple-
burn the jungle and clear the most likely labourers in the Census of 1931 needs to be
ments (such as the plough, leveller, spade,
looking pieces of land for cultivation.74 seriously questioned. In these circumstances
hoe, and sickle).
The fundamental question concerns the the cultivation of land through the labour
status of such occupants in the agrarian of bataidars is likely to have been The dependence of a bataidar on his
hierarchy: were they bataidars or agricultural preponderant, though its exact magnitude malik for the initial lease, its renewal from
labourers? This question is taken up later in cannot be stated. This is corroborated by the time to time, and loans-both for meeting
the settlement report when the real status of recollections of a large number of maliks *the cost of inputs and for coping with
those recorded as under-raiyats is discussed. which suggest that during the first half of deficits-gave the latter a unique oppor-
The report expresses surprise that whereas this century considerably more than half the tunity to graft a series of exorbitant demands
the number of holdings held by under- land held by the members of the preceding (colloquially termed abwabs) and iniquitous
ralyats was 21.7 per cent of the total number generation was cultivated by bataidars.80 conditions on to the transactions underlying
of raiyati holdings, the area held by under- Only a small proportion of the land held by their relationship. These elements of oppres-
raiyats was only 6 per cent of the total raiyati a malik was retained for cultivation under sion may be classified into three broad
area.75 This discrepancy is explained by his personal supervision, the actual tasks categories: those associated with the lease,
stating that, "most under-raiyats are so only being performed by agricultural including the detnands made when the pro-
in respect of small plots for house sites and labourers.8' duce was being divided; those appended to
homesteads".76 By implication, such under- The importance of batai as a form of the loans taken by a bataidar from his malik,
raiyats were not really cultivators in the true labour in Dhamdaha during the same period and those which arose generally from the
sense of the term since they occupied only was emphasised even by agricultural tremendous subservience of a bataidar to the
homestead lands. The same reasoning labourers. Recollecting the experiences of will of the malik, making him subject to a
underlies a recent study of Purnea according members of the older generation, low-caste range of arbitrary impositions.
to which the occupants of holdings which Musahar and Markande labourers in In order to secure a lease, an aspiring
are confined to such lands are regarded as Fasalpur stated that every labourer aspired bataidar was required to pay a salami (a
agricultural labourers.77 to becoming a bataidar.82 This aspiration form of tribute) of between Rs 5 and Rs 10
An examination of the extreme vulner- was capable of fulfilment, given the avail- per bigha.85 On the basis of the price of
ability and subjection of the genuine ability of land and certain institutionalised paddy, the principal food crop, as recorded
cultivators to the will of their maliks casts arrangements which made it possible for an in the respective settlements of Byrne and
serious doubts on the validity of the surmise ordinary field labourer to acquire a pair of Bose (at Rs 3 per maund [1 maund -
that the occupants of holdings apparently oxen. It was a common practice for a malik approximately 37.32 kilograms] ),86 the
confined to homestead sites were agricultural to entrust a labourer with the maintenance salami was equivalent to between 12/3 and
labourers. The evidence in the respective of a cow for a period sufficient for the 311 'maunds of paddy. Assuming an average
settlements of Bose and Prasad is very animal to calve twice. Under this arrange- yield of 12 maunds per bigha,87 a bataidar
revealing, and all the more important ment, known as posiya, the first calf was the paying adhi batai was obliged. to incur a
because it is drawn from experience in malik's, and the second the labourer's. A liability of up to over half of his share of
Dhamdaha. According to the former's labourer, who often entered into a series of the produce even before he commenced
settlement: posiya arrangements, could thus in course cultivation.
of time build up a stock of cattle, including After a given crop (such as paddy) had
The bonafide cultivators are a timid lot and
do not possess the stamina to resist the
the crucial pair of oxen required for becom- been harvested, threshed, winnowed, and
pressure put upon them, in season and out ing a plough-operator, and hence a bataidar. made ready for distribution by the various
of season, by the tenure-holders who make On the basis of the preceding discussion bataidars of a malik, a number of deduc-
a common cause amongst them [sic] ... If it is evident that the principal relations of tions were made from the share of the pro-
their interests are not looked after properly, production in Dhamdaha involved maliks duce each one was liable to pay. In order to
they will either have to go away from here and bataidars. The former subsumed both extract the maximum batai rent, the latter
or be constrained to live, as they so long have tenure-holders and occupancy raiyats, who employed sepahis to maintain suirveillance
been living, as mere serfs-trampled under- did not cultivate their lands themselves, and over the crops grown; ironically a fee (termed
1853
laogi) of 5 seers per maund (1 standard reduced his share to less than one-third of purpose of redemption.
maund = 40 seers, 1 seer = 933 grams) had the produce. Loans in cash were governed by a perverse
to be given by a bataidar to the sepahi under The division of a jute harvest conformed system of interest (darkatti), which was built
whose jurisdiction his land happened to be. to a unique pattern since a malik sought to into the method of computing the cash
According to a Santhal bataidar, "in those have full control over its possession and sale, equivalent of the produce of the harvest im-
days maliks did not generally visit the fields and also squeeze the maximum possible mediately following the transaction. For
or pay much attention to agriculture".88 benefit from its production. The entire quan- example, a bataidar who borrowed a sum of
The fee of the person (who might be a tity of fibre produced on the leased area was Rs 10 from his malik in Sawan (July-August)
sepahi) who weighed the grain on the stored in his custody. The weight of the was expected to redeem the debt in kind at
threshing floor for the purpose of dividing deposited fibre was computed on the basis the forthcoming maize harvest. The quantity
it between- the malik and his bataidar was of a maund comprising 42 ?2 seers, and not of maize considered adequate for the
met through a device called peechla. This the standard maund.90 It was when the purpose was determined by the malik on the
referred to the quantity of grain (adhaiya or fibre was sold that the rationale for this basis of a price which was lower than the
21/2 seers) used in conjunction with a weight device became explicit: the sale was made market rate actually prevailing. Thus, if the
of 21/2 seers to constitute a 5-seer-unit of by computing its weight on the basis of the malik imposed a price of Rs 2 per maund,
measurement for weighing one maund of standard maund. Therefore, for every whereas the market rate was Rs 3, his
grain. For every maund of grain weighed, an enhanced maund of fibre deposited by a bataidar would have to return 5 maunds of
adhaiya was claimed by the weigher. bataidar, he received the value of half of maize instead of 3 1/3 maunds. However, if
Various other persons were entitled to only 40 seers and had to forego his share the latter failed to give the assessed amount
demand small, unspecified quantities of in the remaining 2?/2 seers. While the fibre of maize in time, its value was then arbi-
grain from a bataidar's share. They included undergoes a loss in weight in the course of trarily enhanced by obliging him to part with
the sepahi who supervised harvesting on the storage, this was not a valid ground for the an equal, but far more valued amount of
bataidar's fields; the malik's cart-driver adoption of two standards of measurement mustard, harvested in Magh (January-
(philmaan); the keeper, of the malik's horses since sales were generally made by maliks February). For example, if the price of tori
(saees); and the paan-seller who supplied soon after the fibre had been prepared. was Rs 4 per maund, the value of the 5
paan in the course of harvesting to the The same conditions governed the distri- maunds that the bataidar was obliged to give
bataidar, the members of his family, and the bution of other cash crops, including chillies his malik was Rs 20. Therefore, by January-
sepahi. and mustard. It was also said that no proper February the principal advanced in July-
The above-mentioned impositions did not account of the sales was given to the August fetched an interest of Rs 10, i e, 100
exhaust the possibilities of extracting further bataidars, and they were forced to accept per cent.
quantities of grain from a bataidar's already whatever their maliks doled out to them.91 Finally, a bataidar was subject to a series
depleted share. For example, he could be The amount paid was liable to be based on of miscellaneous demands arising out of his
asked to part with a scaleful of grain (5 seers) the lowest price of the season, and had great obligation to his malik. Every bataidar
as salami on social occasions in the malik's absolutely no bearing on the actual rate at was required to contribute his labour (begar)
household, such as the birth of a son; the which the sale had been made. and equipment for one session of ploughing
arrival of a new daughter-in-law; and the A bataidar, having already suffered a con- at the beginning of every crop season
visit of a married daughter. His share could siderable reduction in his share of the pro- (known as harihara hat) on the khas land
also be depleted if his malik, through whim duce through the various demands and of the malik (land held under his personal
or cool deliberation, prematurely terminated devices of his malik, inevitably found charge). Maliks who had not acquired their
the process of weighing the consolicdated pile himself beholden to the latter for meeting own draft animals and implements called
of grain on the specious ground that only his deficits. The malik obliged his bataidar upon their bataidars to plough their khas
the last layer (tari: a mixture of grain and with loans, but they were governed by the lands every eighth day. They could be called
-mud) remained. The remainder of the grain harshest possible terms. upon at any time to provide male goats or
on the threshing floor was appropriated by Loans taken in kind before a harvest had poultry for the malik's kitchen at an
the malik. to be redeemed at the forthcoming harvest, extremely nominal price. There were in-
After a maize harvest the division of the and were governed by a 50 per cent rate of numerable occasions, including festivals,
crop and the various impositions on a interest in kind. If a bataidar failed to when quantities of milk had to be provided,
bataidar's share corresponded to the pattern redeem the debt at this harvest, the amount for which no account was maintained. Such
described for paddy. In addition, a bataidar was subject to compound interest, and was exactions deterred many Santhals from keep-
was obliged to bear the charges of the recoverable at the next harvest.92 Through ing milch cattle, or goats and poultry.
labourers hired by his malik to separate the application of compound interest an Finally, a bataidar was required to perform
the corn from the cobs (a process called unredeemed debt could multiply to many gratis a range of miscellaneous tasks for his
peetaoni) in the latter's share. The payment times its principal, and hence a defaulting malik (also subsumed under begar), such as
for peetaoni was in kind, at the rate of one bataidar would find himself falling deeper preparing new thatches for the latter's
part out of every eleven. and deeper into the clutches of his malik. houses, collecting firewood, carrying mes-
The series of deductions from a bataidar's The iniquity of the terms governing sages to kinsmen and affines in other
share made a mockery of the principle of produce loans did not lie simply in their villages, and so on.93
sharing the produce equally with the malik harshness. An element of perversity was It is evident that the status accorded to
(adhi batai). The official view corroborated built into the transaction since the weight of bataidars as tenants was despicably low. The
this state of affairs: "Besides having to pay the loaned amount and that of the amount description of the plethora of iniquities
half the produce of land as rent to the liable to be returned were subject to different which they had to undergo supports the
malik-sometimes more-various kinds of schemes of measurement. The grain advan- observation in Bose's settlement, quoted
abwabs were exacted from them [bataidars], ced on loan was measured according to the earlier, that they were treated like serfs,
so their share of the produce was about one- standard maund, but when the debt was "trampled underfoot" by their maliks. A
third"89 Even this statement, which is being redeemed, the weight of the principal similar remark was made by the Collector
applicable to food crops such as paddy and, was assessed according to the enhanced in 1940. Referring to the role of "Santhals
maize, seems to overestimate the amount maund. By this device, for every standard and others" in bringing land under cultiva-
received by a bataidar, since the exactions maund advanced to a bataidar, the principal tion, he stated that, "The maliks, both
on account of laogi and peechia alone alone was raised to 42 1/2 seers for the tenure-holders and raiyats, could not afford
1854
the daily wages either in cash or in kind and observations of the Kisan Enquiry Com- than with general, if not vague and mis-
settled the lands on batai with Santhals mittee on the part played by abwabs in the leading, termns like 'elite' and 'subaltern.
whom they regarded and still regard as no relations between zamindars and tenants are
LEGAL PLANK OF BATAIDARI AGITATION
better than labourers".94 As mentioned relevant also for understanding their role in
earlier, in Prasad's settlement this kind of expressing the dominance of maliks over In 1938 a set of unusual circumstances
suppression had been regarded as unique to bataidars: " . . the realisation of abwabs [by galvanised the Santhal bataidars to question
tenants who held land on produce rent. zamindars] is a point of prestige; it reduces the established order of exploitation. Their
Prasad seems to have held the view that even the tenant into a helpless victim; it extols the protest metamorphosed the character of
the bataidars themselves perhaps acquiesced landlord into a malik while otherwise he malik-bataidar relations in the area, the
in their inferior status: "Although the defini- would be a mere rent collector"'0' repercussions of which are apparent even to
tion in the Bihar Tenancy Act of the ierm the present day. Many of the demands made
The general ignorance of bataidars
'rent' covers money rent as well as rent paid by them were supported by certain sections
perpetuated their enslavement to the arbi-
in kind, in the mind of an ordinary cultivator of the Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885 which were
trariness of their maliks for several decades,
rent in kind is associated with an inferior favourable to tenants in general, and
during which there did not appear to be even
status, and the holder of the land with such especially under-raiyats. These sections im-
a murmur of dissent. The Collector summed
rent is supposed to be less secure in his parted a large measure of legitimacy to their
up the situation in the following words:
tenancy than one who pays rent in cash'95 cause from the standpoint of the colonial
"With so much of exploitation and a little
The vulnerability of bataidars arose from administration, which was called upon to
of benevolence, things continued peaceful in
the fact that they were denied rent receipts, tackle the situation. The manner in which
the past, the bataidars knowing no better
and hence had no basis on which they could the Santhals themselves became aware of
[sic]' 102
claim protection under the law. As stated by these sections through particular individuals,
the Collector in 1940, "They were tenants- On the basis of the role of the maliks as both official and non-official, is significant
at-will and lands assigned to them were oppressors of their bataidars, it would for understanding the genesis of their agita-
frequently interchanged, rent receipts were amount to a serious distortion of reality if, tion. This knowledge provided, a framework
never granted to them and they were on the in conformity with Guha's dichotomy for their assertiveness, which was tempered
land merely on sufferance and could be between the 'elite' and the 'subaltern", they by a certain attitude of righteousness on the
ousted at any time at the malik's wilP'Y96 were to be classified as a subaltern group. part of their leaders. Some of the relevant
Some officials, reporting at a more For Guha, the members of 'subaltern sections are outlined here for facilitating the
general level, felt that the "substantial classes', also characterised as ordinary description of the flow of events underlying
cultivators" who occupied a position 'people' comprise "the demographic dif- the agitation.
equivalent to, that of maliks with large ference between the total Indian population In accordance with Section 56 of the Act
holdings in Dhamdaha-were "notoriously and all those ... described as the 'elite'": a landlord was obliged to issue receipts, duly
more oppressive in their dealings with the the latter include Englishmen in theit acknowledging the rent paid by his tenant. lO4
poorer cultivators than landlords [zamindarsj capacity as "officials... industrialists, The same condition applied to the rent paid
themselves".97 This remark may be sub- merchants, financiers, planters, landlords by bataidars to their maliks.105 As men-
stantiated by comparing the extent of the and missionaries", and Indians in their tioned earlier, since maliks flouted this rule,
produce appropriated by maliks on account capacity as big zamindars, industrialists, their bataidars had no means of establishing
of batai rent and the exactions appended to merchants, and high officials.'03 This broad their de jure status, and were thus entirely
it with that regard as a fair rent by the Kisan division of Indian society during the colonial at the mercy of the former's whims.
Enquiry Committee which had been appoin- period grossly oversimplifies the hetero- Certain amendments were made in the
ted by the Bihar Congress to inquire into the geneous character of the subaltern classes, Bihar Tenancy Act during the tenure of the
grievances of the tenantry against zamin- for it fails to take cognizance of the range first Congress ministry in the province,
dars. The Committee felt that in certain of groups in relationships of superordination which assumed office in July 1937 under the
areas of Patna and Gaya districts, where and subordination among them, and the Government of India Act, 1935. The extrac-
zamindars took produce rent from their sharp cleavages of interest inherent in these tion of abwabs by landlords from tenants
tenants, a rent of half the produce was a relationships. For example, our analysis of had been made illegal earlier by Section 74
"high rate" which "[infringed] against the the malik-bataidar relationship in Dham- of the Act. The following Section (75), which
principle of fair rent settlement which is one- daha, and particularly the elements of was amended in 1937, imposed penalties,
fourth of the gross produce".98 In some oppression built into it, shows that the in- including a fine of up to Rs 500 or simple
villages in Patna zamindars imposed an even terests of the maliks were so overwhelmingly imprisonment up to six months, or both, for
higher rent of 27 seers out of every maund exploitative that it would be a mockery of violation of the law. 106 In the normal
produced, to which an official quoted by the existential conditions if they were to be course the maliks of the area were the
Committee had reacted by exclaiming that classed along with their bataidars, in con- givers of abwabs to the Darbhanga Raj.'07
"the authors of [the] Permanent Settlement" formity with Guha's definition of the term The relevant debates in the legislative
would have reacted "with unassumed 'subaltern', for the purpose of conceptually assembly explicitly highlighted this institu-
horror"!99 In Dhamdaha, as we have noted, isolating the elite. In this context the elite tion as a major evil of the zamindari
the maliks extorted 271/2 seers from every would include the Darbhanga zamindar and system.108 But there did not appear to be
maund produced by bataidars on account high officials of the provincial and district any realisation in these debates that the
of adhi batai, laogi, and peechia alone. To .administrations. It is thus obvious that the victims of zamindari abwabs could in their
these must be added the miscellaneous term 'subaltern' in its stated form would fail turn viciously impose abwabs on the sub-
demands described earlier. In relation to the to clearly identify the truly underprivileged ordinate tenantry. However Dhaturanand,
notion of a fair rent mentioned above, this classes in Dhamdaha, including the batai- the person who sowed the seeds of
level of!extortion suffered by the bataidars dars and the agricultural labourers. There- protest among the Santhal bataidars, was
was nothing short of tyrannical. fore, given the nature of inequalities at the acutely sensitive to the abwabs imposed on
The imposition of abwabs, the conduct local level, a clear comprehension of the them by their maliks, and deliberately
of transactions underlying the division of most exploited sections of society demands sought to apply the relevant sections of the
cash crops and loans, and the performance that we work with terms which denote the Act in order to terminate these practices.'09
of begar were a reflection of the tremendous actual arrangement of groups in relation- In accordance with Section 48A of the Act,
power of maliks over their bataidars. '? The ships of domination and subjection, rather which was a consequence of further amend-
1855
ments in 1938, an under-raiyat who had con to Mogulia Purandaha and strove to esta- forming Adivasi bataidars about proper
tinuously held land for a period of twelve blish himself therem This was achieved partly steps to be taken. The Adivasis allied behind
years was "deemed to have acquired... a through leasing in land as a bataidar and Dula Tliddu [sic] ..119 According to
right of occupancy in the land.. ." The partly through his appointment as a petty Thadani's version,
following clause (48 B) clarified that an functionary responsible for depositing the The Congress and the kisan workers began
under-raiyat who had acquired the right of chowkidari (watchman) tax at Dhamdaha. to do propaganda among the Santhal
occupancy enjoyed the same rights as an He was in the habit of keeping his salary bataidars from disinterested as well as in-
occupancy raiyat with regard to succession, with a shopkeeper in the neighbouring terested motives and thus began to educate
or rights in "trees and bamboos".I"0 By an Santhal tola of Dharahara, where he often them in their rights... [They] penetrated the
earlier amendment the prduce rent payable hung around. He thus became acquainted Santhal villages and preached to them that
by one who had an occupancy holding was with Dulla Tudoo, a Santhal resident of the the land realy belongs to those who cultivate
limited to nine-twentieths of the producet II same settlement, who later emerged as one the same, that they should pay no abwabs,
There were also certain significant provi- that they should insist upon rent receipts
of the leading figures in the bataidari agita-
sions in the Act which defined the de jure before dividing the crop, that they had
tion. Dulla was then a primary school
acquired occupancy rights under the new
status of bataidars when they held land teacher, a rare position among Santhals at
legislation, [and] that they could not be
under tenure-holders. As mentioned earlier, that time.
ousted from the land. 2
under Section 5 (3) such bataidars were liable Dhaturanand's idealism made him
to enjoy the status of raiyats. In an area like
The use of the label 'Congress and kisan
respond, like many others of his time, to the
workers' by the Collector for those who
Dhamdaha which abounded with tenure- impulses of the national movement. He
holders, the potential significance of this stirred the Santhal bataidars suggests a
joined the Congress in c 1930 aiid parti-
certain lack of familiarity with their back-
clause for boosting the status of bataidars cipated in thelocal salt satyagraha at Purnea
was very great. Once it had been admitted ground. In this context it has been stated
in response to Gandhi's call. However, his
that a bataidar was a lessee of a tenure- that, "officials... were inclined to see
friendship with Dulla and his first-hand
holder, and by implication a raiyat, it was the hand of Congress behind almost any
exposure to the plight of the Santhal
presumed (under Section 20 [7]) that he had bataidars in Dharahara, impelled him to
kind [of] protest activity"."2' While both
Dhaturanand and Dulla, the two outstan-
"for twelve years continuously held that land react to the oppression prevailing in his im-
or some part of it as a raiyat"' "until the ding 'propagandists', could be described as
mediate environment.114 By the time the
contrary [was] proved.. ., 112 The onus was kisan workers-given the broad-based
Congress ministry in Bihar assumed office
nature of the term-only the former could
therefore on a tenure-holder to establish that in July 1937, Dhaturanand, who happened
be designated as a Congressman. On the
a person deemed to be his bataidar, and to be an important member of the Dham-
therefore a raiyat under the Act, was not other hand Dulla, according to a categorical
daha unit of the Congress, had already con-
indeed one. These were formidable pro- statement by Bhola Paswan Shastri, "was
ducted his own inquiry into the oppressive
positions once the Santhal bataidars became never a Congressman".22 An air of mystery
conditions suffered by the bataidars. In
also seems to have characterised certain
conscious of their status under the law. this endeavour he had been assisted by
official statements on those who fomented
Devnarain Choudhary and Jivatsa Sharma
AWAKENING OF SANTHAL BATAIDARS the Santhal agitation. The Superintendent
'Himanshu', two maliks of the area who
of Police (SP), Purnea, writing in the mid-
As mentioned earlier, the local leader seemed at that time to be sympathetic to the
dle of 1940, attributed the stirrings among
Dhaturanand played a significant role in bataidars. He formed a navyuvak samiti
them to "some secret agents [who -had] led
launching the struggle of the Santhal (youth forum) in Mogulia Purandaha,
bataidars. In spite of being a Bhumihar,
[them] away into the wrong path.. !'123
through which he hoped to tackle their,
According to another report, the agitation
certain special circumstances created an problems."15 He and his friend Dulla were
had the backing of "Communists and other
affinity between him and these bataidars. the leading figures of this organisation.
Left Wing elements from the Bhagalpur
Born in c 1896, he was the older of the two Reminiscing on his association with
district"''24-but due to the lack of cor-
sons of Thakur, a big Bhumihar malik of Dhaturanand, Dulla admitted that he had
roborative evidence it is not possible to spell
the village Damaili in Dhamdaha, who con- come under the influence of the latter
out its implications.
trolled about 1,200 bighas.113 Dhatura- and "decided to give up teaching for
nand's parents died while he was still a politics".116 It was in c June 1938 that Dhaturanand
minor, and the vast inheritance was managed During the tenure of the Congress sought to draw the attention of Shri Krishna
by Bhuti, a patrilateral third cousin of his. ministry the party organisation consciously Sinha, then Prime Minister of Bihar, to the
He and his younger brother were brought sought to publicise the measures designed problems of the bataidars by submitting a
up by their father's sister in her affinal to improve the conditions of the tenantry.117 petition. The latter, according to his memoir,
village Mogulia Purandaha. He was an Certain statements contained in the literature referred the matter to the district Col-
unusually bright child, and is said to have received by the local party organisation lector.125 On the other hand the official
taught himself to read and write, using basic made a profound impression upon Dhatura- report states that the "first indications of the
school texts, while herding his phupha's nand. One of them was: "To serve humanity trouble were conveyed in a petition to the
(father's sister's husband) buffaloes. Bhuti, is to serve God.' Another referred to the Collector, Mr Archer tW G Archerl, in June
a man of devious ways, took advantage of amendments in the 'Bihar Tenancy Act, 1938 by the Santhal bataidars of Jamunia
the vulnerability of his young cousins by especially, as stated by him, the illegality of and Dharahara villages [the Santhal settle-
appropriating their land. Dhaturanand was "laogi, peetaoni, harihara hal, begari, etc!' ments of Mogulia Purandaha] of Dhamdaha
thus forced to find an alternative means of Dhaturanand went from village to village police station at the instance of some kisan
livelihood. While still in his teens he propagating these amendments and urging workers against [the] realisation of abwabs
was employed by a prominent Bhumihar maliks to "terminate these injustices since by their miliks. ..'126 The inquiry that
advocate of Purnea, serving as his factotum, they were wrong both from the point of view followed confirmed that "the allegations
fetching and carrying his bag and docu- of God and the law"."I8 In this campaign he were true, the same being admitted by the
ments, and generally being available in the received the able support of Dulla lTdoo. maliks themselves, pleading custom and
course of discussions with clients. This ex- It has been stated that, "with a dozen ignorance" of the relevant section of the
perience brought him into contact with the lieutenants he [Dulla] used to move on Bihar Tenancy Act. They even "promised to
wider world. horseback from village to village evading give up realising these customary dues"27
In course of time Dhaturanand returned police arrest and attacks from landlords, in- According to Dhaturanand, however, the
1856
maliks reacted to the inquiry with extreme nised themselves into hostile camps, the "the maliks were the lhckbone of the Con-
belligerence. They insisted that, "We shall Santhals to keep forcible possession over gress [in Purnea] and dominated its leader-
take from the bataidars laogi, peetaoni, lands and crops and even to usurp posses- ship" "40 According to Jivatsa Sharma
harihara hal, begari, and so on, or else not sion over other lands of the maliks not in Himanshu, a veteran Congressman of
permit them to cultivate our lands. If the their possession, and the maliks attempting Purnea, who, as mentioned earlier, initially
sarkar [the government] wishes to stop these to oust the existing bataidars by setting up collaborated with Dhaturanand, there were
practices, then the sarkar should lease out new bataidars from among their friends, two groups in the district Congress in the
its own lands to the bataidars for cultiva- relations and servants".135 Indeed, by the late 1930s: '"garam aur naram" [iteraUly 'hot'
tion'128 Later developments suggest that second half of June 1939 the confrontation and 'soft' respectively]. Those comprising
Dhaturanand had interpreted the maliks' had become significant enough to feature in the garam faction, a minority, vigorously
reaction to the initial intervention of the the fortnightly reports to the Home Depart- advocated the abolition of the zaminda'r
government more accurately than the ment at the Centre. 136 system and professed sympathy for the
Collector. Some maliks attempted to oust their bataidars; on the other hand the naram
By January-February 1939 the scope of Santhal bataidars by filing cases of criminal elements, comprising both big and small
the propaganda among the Santhals went trespass against them through newly establi- maliks, were lukewarm towards these
beyond the question of abwabs: "the Con- shed bataidars. Some Santhal bataidars also issues. 14' Bhubaneshwari Prasad
gress and kisan workers extended the field filed cases against their maliks and their new Choudhary, a malik who identified himself
of their propaganda [by] pointing out that bataidars, accusing them of rioting, and the with the garam elements, stated that the
the bataidars could acquire occupancy rights former in particular of refusing to grant rent opposite camp dominated the district Con-
and those under the tenure-holders could get receipts. The use of force by both sides gress. They includ9d the prominent land-
their rents commuted [into cash] and that brought forth the intervention of the district holders of Dhamdaha, including Vir Narain
it was their inherent right to demand and ob- administration: the Collector (Rai Bahadur Chand and Lakshmi Narain Sudhanshu,
tain receipts for division of [the] crop:' Since Rameshwar Singh) appointed four Arbitra- who had been instrumental in forming the
most of the maliks were "petty tenure-holders tion Committees, each consisting of two kisan samiti to oppose the bataidars.
or raiyats, who had hoped to turn their lands nominees of the maliks and two of the Reminiscing on his attitude towards this
[into] bakasht [cultivation under their per- bataidars. The committees were presided body, Bhubaneshwari Prasad Choudhary
sonal charge] someday,' they felt gravely over by Babu Ram Raksha Prasad, a Deputy referred to its members deprecatingly and
threatened at the prospect of their bataidars Magistrate. 137 said that they had "neither a social nor a
becoming upgraded to the status of oc- When one of the Committees met in May national perspective and were oriented
cupancy raiyats: they "became panic stricken 1939, the maliks insisted on the execution towards the fulfilment of their own selfish
when they realised what was coming". They of an agreement by their bataidars. The motives". which included the promotion of
tried desperately to wipe out all evidence of Deputy Magistrate Prasad prepared a draft their interests as maliks. He recalled that he
long-standing leases by getting rid of their agreement at a meeting comprising the had declined to join an organisation which
Santhal bataidars and establishing in their representatives of the maliks and bataidars, conflicted with his ideals as a human being:
place new bataidars, mostly from among the former including Vir Narain Chand, and "pahle me insan hun, uske baad he kisan"
non-Santhals, 29 whom they could oust at the latter, Dulla Tudoo. The most important [I am a human being first, and only after
will. The stage had thus been set for a major feature of the agreement was that it required that a kisan].142 The dominance of the
confrontation between the two sides. The the maliks to recognise their existing naram faction in the district Congress was
area of the confrontation covered eighty-one bataidars, leaving all other matters, such as dramatically expressed in their attempt to rid
villages in the Sadr sub-division of Purnea the period of the lease, to be settled in court. the organisation of Dhaturanand.
district, of which seventy-nine were in According to Prasad, "the maliks bound Dhaturanand, as a leading spokesman of
Dhamdaha revenue circle (26.78 per cent of themselves to evict bataidars only on the the garam faction in Dhamdaha, had earned
the total number of villages in this circle award of the Sadr Sub-divisional Officer the wrath of his naram party colleagues
according to the Census of 1941) and two [SDO] or the district Congress Committee whose class interests conflicted with those
in Katihar.'30 It was officially stated that, or by a regular suit for eviction and in no of the bataidars. He records that some
"in practically all [the affected villages] there other way". At the end of the meeting both specially selected maliks approached
[was] a Santhal tola", the Santhals being the parties wanted time for taking legal opinion. the president of the distriqt Congress
principal agitators.'3' The members of the As stated by Prasad, "the maliks took time Baidyanath Choudhary, and sought to have
other communities who also featured in thrice but in the end they were determined him ousted from the organisation on the
the agrarian disturbances in Dhamdaha not to recognise possession of any bataidar ground that he was a trouble-maker. His
included Musahar, Gangota, Dhangar for one day even". Further, they insisted that memoir mentions that even Shri Krishna
(Adivasis; also known as Oraon), and their bataidars should execute fresh Sinha and his colleague Anugraha Narayan
Dusadh.132 We shall take up later the ques- agreements specifying a maximum of two Sinha, Prime Minister and Finance Minister
tion of why the non-Santhal bataidars in years as the period of the lease, and oblig- respectively in the Congress ministry, visited
Dhamdaha did not participate fully in the ing them to leave the land on its expiry. The Purnea in order to resolve the conflict and
struggle of their Santhal counterparts, even bataidars, on their part, had also sought prevent the split in the party organisa-
though they were equally oppressed. legal opinion and were not prepared to tion.143 According to Bhola Paswan Shastri,
In order to discuss the new developments execute fresh agreements since this would although there was strong feeling in the
the maliks convened a meeting at Mogulia neutralise the occupancy rights most of them party against those who supported the
Purandaha at which about 500 persons were had already acquired. 138 Ultimately the ef- bataidars, and especially Dhaturanand, no
present; prominent among them were Lakshmi forts at arriving at a settlement "failed owing drastic action was actually taken against
Narain Sudhanshu and Vir Narain Chand, to the bad faith of [the] maliks and their anyone. This was because Baidyanath
both of whom were big landholders and refusal to grant rent receipts'.139 Choudhary regarded the struggle for inde-
leading Congressmen of the area.133 The It was at about this stage of the confron- pendence as the primary task of the Con-
principal outcome of the meeting was the tation that a significant event occurred in the gress organisation, which underscored the
formation of a 'kisan samati', which was the life of the Congrss in Purnea, which high- paramount need to maintain its unity. Thus,
maliks' forum for counteracting their lights the extent to which. the party organisa- when he found Bhola Paswan Shastri argu-
bataidars.134 As reported by the Collector, tion was anchored to the interests of the ing in favour of the bataidars, he said, "Ek
by May-June 1939 the two sides had "orga maliks. As stated by Bhola Paswan Shastri, he prograam ho: Angrezo ko hatao; bataidaro
1857
ka sawal mat uthao" [let there be only one attitude "had a soothing, wholesome effect Prasad's visit to Mogulia Purandaha,
programme: oust the British; do not raise and soon brought them [the maliks] to a Rameshwar Singh is supposed to have called
the bataidari issue]."44 At the same time proper frame of mind, ready to listen to a meeting of the maliks and bataidars at
Baidyanath Choudhary was not unsym- reason and expediency..." According to Purnea. When the Collector arrived at his
pathetic to the bataidars, in spite of his him, they agreed to issue rent receipts to their office, he found only the representatives of
status as a substantial landholder in the bataidars, subject to the latter executing the Santhal bataidars. Even though the
distriCt.'45 Partly for this reason, but mainly agreements specifying various terms and maliks' representatives had also come to
due to the compulsions of maintaining the conditions of the lease. 51 Purnea, they had wandered off to a fair at
integrity of the party organisation, the pro- According to Dhaturanand, the maliks' Gulab Bagh-a trading centre for agri-
posed action against Dhaturanand was given overt posture was only a manoeuvre, designed cultural produce. Their irresponsible
up. As Bhola Paswan Shastri, referring to to create a good impression on the Collector, behaviour created an unfavourable impres-
him, said, "Hataya nahin, samjha diya gaya" who then concluded, in the course of a sion on the Collector. Subsequently he made
[he was not ousted; only contained].'46 meeting with them, that Congress workers another attempt to meet the two parties at
The new Collector, Thadani, who suc- (implying, presumably, persons like Dhatur- Dhamdaha, but again the maliks played
ceeded Rameshwar- Singh, became involved anand, though his name is nowhere men- truant, whereas the bataidars arrived in large
in the problem in March 1940. By then the tioned in the official account) were wholly numbers. The former's conduct dealt a fatal
Santhal bataidars had advanced quite far to blame for the prevailing unrest. He recalls blow to the Collector's patience and, at that
from their original acquiescence of oppres- that he immediately retorted that, "on the very meeting, he issued certain instructions
sion. In the course of a meeting between the contrary, it was the progaganda of certain to the bataidars: (i) bataidars who had been
Collector and the maliks at Dhamdaha the officials that had caused the disturbances in ousted from the land under their occupation
latter described to him: the area" 152 (this will be explained below). within two years of the time when they had
the strong combination among the Santhal It is not clear from Dhaturanand's account been asked to quit were told to take posses-
bataidars, their going about in large numbers as to precisely what effect this retort had on sion of the land again [this directive pro-
armed with bows and arrows, often using the Collector. bably arose from Section 49A of the Bihar
criminal intimidation whereby the small Thadani's account proceeds to describe Tenancy (Amendment) Act, 1938, according
maliks dared not go on the land to claim his meeting with the representatives of the to which a bataidar without occupancy
batai, their refusal to divide the crop and in Santhal bataidars: "A patient, sympathetic rights who had held land on an oral lease
many instances removal of the entire top hearing of their grievances at length, gained before the commencement. of the above Act
from the khalihan [threshing floor], the their confidence.'53 As recorded by him, could be served with a notice before June
forcible ploughing of adjoining or other they had stated that: 30, 1939 to vacate the land, but was obliged
lands now settled with them, etc.147
For many long years they have been much to do so only "at the end of the agricultural
As Thadani himself was forced to admit: "A year next following the year in which the said
oppressed. Half, sometimes more than half,
single visit to the spot and an improvised the crop was taken from them. Various notice to quit was served"];'56 (ii) bataidars
mixed meeting of the maliks and the Santhal abwabs were exacted from the remainder of were advised to decline sharing the produce
bataidars would hardly solve a dispute of their share. No receipts had ever been granted with their maliks unless rent receipts were
such dimensions.""4 His main endeavour to them. Still they had lived at peace with issued; and (iii) the bataidars were encouraged
was to try to get the warring parties to their maliks. The Congress workers had told a support each other.
concur on an agreement within the frame- them to insist upon receipts before divi-
work of the tenancy law governing leases to sion of [the] produce; even the authorities Dhaturanand states further that the SDO
under-tenants. In order to achieve this objec- (meaning the Sadr Sub-divisional Officer McNeill openly encouraged the bataidars to
tive he camped at Dhamdaha for five days [C H McNeill] and the District Magistrate assert their rights, and that Ram Raksha
in March 1940 and met the representatives [presumably Thadani's predecessor Rameshwar Prasad, the Deputy Magistrate, had expresed
of the two sides on several occasions. He Singh]) had also told them so.154 similar sentiments. 157 It appears likely that
sought to persuade the maliks to accept the In Dhaturanand's record of the same his impression of the role of Rameshwar
legal standing of their bataidars. This had meeting between Thadani and the represen- Singh and McNeill in the development of the
been in response to their erroneous view of tatives of the Santhal bataidars it is stated Santhal agitation had some basis, since it is
the latter's status: that: echoed in the official record of events. With
... they [the maliks] had employed the Collector Sahab inquired from the bataidars, regard to the latter, his superior, then
Santhals to clear the lands for cultivation and 'Who gave you instructions to take posses- Rameshwar Singh, had noted that, "the
that their [the Santhals'] position was really sion of lands and demand receipts as a tenure-holders and their leaders allege that
no better than that of hired labour or coolies precondition for dividing the produce?' The the sVmDathy of the Sub-divisional Officer
and that they had generously or foolishly bataidars replied, 'Shri Rameshwar Babu, [McNeill] is with the Santhals and it is,
allowed them to take batai in place of wages Collector, McLean [sic] Sahab, SDO, and therefore, that they are encouraged and are
and that now they were bent upon grabing Ram Raksha Babu, Magistrate, once visited creating trouble". Rameshwar Singh had
[sic] the land and the entire crop, so that the Dhamdaha. They are the persons who issued offered no comment on this charge, but had
maliks had no land or very soon would have such instructions'. On hearing this, Thandani immediately castigated the maliks for not
no land to call their own... 149 [sic] Sahab lapsed into silence. fulfilling certain basic legal obligations: "Be
Replying to them Thadani said: Dhaturanand adds immediately, "The con- that as it may, there is no doubt that the
I explained to them [the maliks] the obvious flict could not be resolved. Collector tenure-holders are also to be blamed for their
difference between hired labour and bataidars. Thandani Sahab was transferred. The-strug- unwillingness to grant receipts". '58 The
Whether they had been generous or foolish gle continued:"55 Santhal bataidars believed that he had him-
in the past could not help them in their pre- The apparent involvement of Rameshwar self played a role identical to that of McNeill,
sent predicament which was the direct result Singh, the Collector, and C H McNeill, she as stated by them to Thadani. The attitude
of their past dealings. The Santhals were SDO, in the agitation has been categorically of these district officials towards the agita-
settled upon the land and were entitled to stated in Dhaturanand's account. As noted tion merits a proper discussion. We shall
batai receipts. Similarly they must reconcile earlier, the former had attempted to bring defer this till further details concerning it
themselves to political changes and the new about an understanding betweQen the maliks have been given, which incltides the reactions
Congress legislation which conferred oc- and bataidars, and had deputed Ram of a wider range of officials to the issues
cupancy rights on under-raiyats... 150 Raksha Prasad to preside over the Arbitra- raised by it.
The Collector believed that his "sympathetic' tion Committees. After the failure of As mentioned earlier, Thadani had met
1858
the respective representatives of the maliks should continue in possession of the land rights by the organisation of lathials
and bataidars at Dhamdaha in March in as at present"163 He attributed the follow- [musclemen].. ."168 This observation was
order to attempt a resolution of their dif- ing words to Dulla lbdoo in order to sum also made in May 1940. We shall postpone
ferences. The main hurdle to a satisfactory up the latter's attitude towards the issue: for the moment further examination of the
settlement lay in evolving a kabuliat (agree- Let things continue as they have been for the official correspondence on the kabuliat
ment) which would be acceptable to both past two years. These disputes are profitable drafted by Thadani, and attempt to capture
sides. Thadani acknowledged that the to us. No kabuliats and no receipts either. some facets of the assertiveness displayed by
bataidars "could not be expected to execute We are able to defend our possession of the the Santhals during their agitation by
a kabuliat as for [a] de novo settlement. lands against the maliks. We can have the examining the police record of particular
Some of them had been probably several crops as they come.164 incidents. By bringing into focus real people
years in possession. Some of them must have In spite of these belligerent words, and their actions, at least something of the
acquired even occupancy rights". In spite of Thadani states that the representatives of the panorama of events spanning their struggle
this, he regarded as "thoroughly unreason- Santhals agreed to put their signatures on may be gleaned. We are aware of the inherent
able" the demand of the bataidars that the the draft kabuliat "after a great deal of per- limitations of the police version of the
kabuliat should state that they had already suasion'. The SDO McNeill was required by events, since it is liable to be unsympathetic
acquired occupancy rights, or that they were him to pursue the matter further: "As the to those responsible for causing a breach of
in continued possession of lands over a Santhals had hitherto been very much under peace, without being sensitive to the under-
number of years "as they may be pleased to the influence of [the] Sadr Sub-divisional lying reasons for their actions. However, as
claim. . ." He was tentatively of the view that Officer, C H McNeill, he was asked to tackle shown by some of the cases, this was not
the kabuliat should not mention the length them. . ."165 necessarily so.
of batai possession, and that bataidars who McNeill's own report to Thadani on the The police record covers ten incidents that
claimed occupancy rights should be obliged situation reveals his overt attitude towards occurred between February and December
to prove their claims in court. 159 It should the Santhal agitation, which contrasts 1940 mainly in Dhamdaha. Of these, eight
not come as a surprise if the Collector's posi- sharply with the popular perception of his took place in Dhamdaha revenue circle
tion ultimately forced negotiations to run role in the conflict.-He begins by conceding (four in the area under the jurisdiction of
aground. In the circumstances prevailing in that the agitation was "the result of forty Dhamdaha police station, and two each in
Dhamdaha, where purely oral leases to years of admitted oppression by the tenure- Rupauli and Dharahara police stations), and
bataidars were the norm, it would have been holders of their Santhal bataidars'. But fur- one each occurred in Katihar and Korha
practically impossible for any of them to ther on he adds, "Lately the Santhals police stations. In all, except one of them,
prove the actual period of possession in have... gone completely off the rails and Santhals were named as the accused: in seven
court. The legal process was therefore liable have taken the law into their own hands by they were the only accused; in the eighth and
to be a convenient handle for the maliks to ploughing uplands not in their possession." ninth Oraons and Gangptas respectively
oust even their long-standing bataidars. Four The extent to which he believed the Santhals were involved additionally. The only incideni
decades earlier, one of Thadani's peers in had gone off the rails may be surmised from not involving Santhals occurred in Rupauli,
Bhagalpur had written: "No one who has his statement that had it not been for where the accused were Oraons and Dusadhs.
not heard at first hand such tales as I have, Thadani's persistence in negotiating with the The behaviour of the Santhals in the
can imagin, the utter and cruel injustice now Santhals and the tenure-holders, "there incidents highlights the extent to which they
habitually worked in the name of justice would have been a rising in [the] sub- had moved away from the servility that was
through our Civil Courts, simply because all division, which could only have been typical of the established relationship with
this tangled web of procedure has put the countered by buckshot and wholesale their maliks: they were now capable of over-
poorer man, the less educated, at the mercy arrests". He concluded with a warning: "If whelming their opponents through their
of any unscrupulous man who chooses to the negotiations fall through, the Santhals capacity to mobilise large numbers; and by
ruin him by litigation."'IO A contemporary will have themselves to blame, and I shall not using their traditional weaponry of bows and
author who quotes these lines, concludes, hesitate to show them that a policy of arrows they could strike terror among those
"Through their corruption, the courts rein- violence is not a paying one.. !'66 who tried to oppose them. The gist of some
forced and legitimised the dominance of the Thadani soon realised that his belief that incidents is given below (for purposes of pre-
rich and the powerful''161 an atmosphere for a negotiated settlement sentation their sequence has been altered).
Thadani eventually drafted a kabuliat had been created was misconceived. In a let- Case I (Special Report [SR] No 157/40)169
which incorporated certain demands of the ter to the SP in May 1940 he stated that, Location: Village Paisa, Dhamdaha police
maliks: this included a clause to the effect "Since the writing of the report [his report station
that the period of the batai settlement on the agrarian situation] the Santhals... Time: December 1940.
should be at the utmost two years; and that have been bakhawed (misled by wrong and Akbar Ali, tile principal witness in this
they shouId have a right to demand the cheap legal advice) and they are again un- incident, stated that he had purchased about
cultivation of "more valuable crops" by their willing to execute the kabuliat..."167 The 8 bighas of land in Paisa from Khela
bataidars. 162 The representatives of the Inspector-Gemeral of Police (IGP), Bihar, Manjhi (the honorific mode of address for
bataidars, including Dulla Tidoo, had A E Bion, stated the position quite plainly: a Santhal) in c 1936. The land had been
serious reservations about the draft, which "The impression I got when in Purnea was in his cultivating possession since then.
brought negotiations to a standstill. Their that the Santhals will never sign the kabuliat According to the chowkidar's report, on
major apprehension was that, 'by the very and the maliks will never grant receipts to December 4, 1940 "Kanoo Manjhi and Ram
fact of execution of the kabuliat the maliks their bataidars until these kabuliats are Manjhi had collected a large number of
may get [a] handle to cancel the batai settle- signed" The atmosphere of confrontation Santhals armed with bows, arrows, spears
ment and to drive them out of the land". The had therefore by no means receded since the and other deadly weapons for the purpose
Collector's reaction to their fears was unsym- Santhals, in the words of the IGP, "with of reploughing the standing wheat and kalai
pathetic: "It was transparent that these ap- their organisation in support of each other [one of the-pulses] crops of Akbar Ali and
prehensions were not genuine but faked. . ." and their readiness to use bows and arrows Nakchhed. . ." When police officials reached
As far as he was concerned "the cat was have definitely created a certain amount of the place of occurrence they saw "about 20C
cut of the bag"' since the representatives panic among the ordinary Biharis settled in Santhals in several batches moving about".
declared that, "they never wanted and they Purnea... Unless a settlement is arrived at When one of the batches comprising about
do not want rent receipts and that they the maliks will take steps to enforce their thirty-five Santhals was approached, Ram
1859
Manjhi, the leader, said that, "they were being wronged, instead of as the perpetrators Rambaran beat Harma. with a hallam...
assembled to replough the disputed land by of crime. This was a prbblem which created [Ledha] was also beaten with a lathi. Matla
force". As they had assembled unlawfully, dilemmas even within the British administra- was also beaten... 179
according to the police, "for the avowed ob- tion, including the police, which will become The police Inspector who investigated both
ject of committing an imminent breach of clear in due course. cases stated, "In the two cases... it is very
the peace", they were srrested and their Case 3 (SR No 69/40)176 difficult to say if the Santhals were actually
weapons.seized. Ram Manjhi pleaded guilty, Location: Village Jianganj, Dharahara the bataidars of the land in dispute... The
but- stated that the land in question formerly police statiom. whole plot... is ploughed but no crop has
"belonged" to him; "therefore, he [had]for- Time: June-July 1940. been sown yet: anybody can claim that he
cibly [taken] possession over it, for which Harakhchand Jadav [Yadav] of the village ploughed the land`. However, in his view,
purpose he [had] collected the accused Jianganj and his kinsmen were sikmidars Nebi Gope!s standing as the bataidar had
Santhals". The other thirty-four accused (recorded under-raiyats) on a tract of land "amply been proved by... Harakhchand [the
admitted that they had been called upon by held by a tenure-holder Baidyanath Chand complainantJ and others". On the other hand,
Ram Manjhi to help him in ploughing the of the village Bi-hanpur. His status as an the contention of the Santhals in the counter-
field in question.'70 under-raiyat was corroborated by rent case was "supported only by themselves".
The case shows that Ram Manjhi was so receipts for several years up to 1934. The Moreover, the tenure-holder of the plot under
convinced of the legitimacy of his rights to land, according to his statement, had been dispute "[did] not recognise the Santhals as
the land in question that he had no inhibi- cultivated on batai by Nebi Gope [Yadav] for bataidars, and the Santhals "[had] no docu-
tions about declaring, even to the police, that Een years preceding the incident. On June 10, mentary proof of [the] same" But practically
he had taken possession of it by force. A 1940 he filed the following report: in the very next breath the Inspector records,
similar reaction on the part of the Santhals This morning [Nebi Gope] went to the field "strangely enough, some of the [principal
concerned will be noticed in Case 2. to sow maize seeds, when Barka Jetha, witnesses] of [the original case] support the
Case 2 (St No 86/40)171 Lerhwa, Lakhan Bara, Chhota Lakhan, Santhals' version: that they saw them com-
Location: Village Bardaha, Dhamdaha Jatharu Santhal, Kobo Santhal, Lajo Santhal, ing to the field with ploughs and
police station. Angara Santhal,. Bhagwat Manjhi. . . and bullocks!"80 But the implications of this bit
Time: June-July 1940. 20-25 other Santhals whose names I do not
of contrary evidence have not been spelt out,
know, but can identify them on seeing,
The complainant Punit Singh claimed to though arrests were made under each of the
arrived at the field armed wlth bows and
be the bataidar of a field measuring approx- two cases: thirty-one in the first, and eigh-
arrows and lathis [staffs]. They obstructed
imately I bigha. The police inquiry cor- teen in the second.'81
Nebi in sowing the land, saying that they
roborated that he had been the bataidar on
cultivate the land on adhi system [adhi batal] Even after further investigations the SP,
this land "for several years". On June 21,
and so why they (Nebi and others) have H J Milton, was not able to discover the
1940 he filed a case against Dewan Manjhi, come. Nebi got alarmed and raised hulla veracity of the claims made by the two
his son Mandal, and about thirty other [shouted], hearing which Meghu Gope, opposed groups: ."It has not been possible to
Santhals. Dewan and his son were accused
Mayalal, Baldeo and Rabi Gope... ran to establish who has the right over the land, nor
of ploughing the jute field. He added, "I him (Nebi) and began arguing with the
who went to the land first. The ploughs found
opposed them: they threatened to beat me. Santhals, but they would not listen and
at the site are claimed by both parties... As
I have filed two criminal cases against them. unyoked bullocks from the ploughs. On this,
the ploughs are practically unidentifiable, it
They want me to withdraw them. I refuse quarrel between the two parties arose. Subse-
is still not clear as to who was the aggressor
to listen to them and hence this zulum quently the Santhals assaulted them with
in this case, and who was exercising his
[injustice]"' 72 While the incident was taking arrows and lathis. Barka Jetha shot Rabi with
rights'" But his subsequent observations
place the other accused Santhals stood by arrow which pierced his chest and he died
Nebi, Mayalal and Meghu were assaulted clearly throw light on his image of the
in a nearby grove.
with lathis. I do not remember the nature of Santhals:
In the course of the investigations the two
principal accused stated that they had re- injury each man sustained. I also ran to the From the extent of the injuries it appears that
ploughed-the disputed land and sown maize place of occurrence on hulla and found the Goalas [Yadavs] first went to the field to
Rabi Gope dead and Meghu unconscious. do their ploughing and did not probably
because "they were the bataidars' though
The accused Santhals fled away after the anticipate any opposition. That is why they
they were unable to produce any oral-or
occurrence... 177 were armed only with lathis. If they were
documentary evidence to support their
contention. 173
Meghu also died later, and Nebi, one of the expeting any opposition from [the] Santhals,
principal witnesses, was severely injured by as they certainly knew that the Santhals woud
The above-mentioned cases suggest that
arrows; "receiving no less than 5 punctured bring bows and arrows with them... the
a proper interpretation of the actions of mer.
wounds", and he was stated to be in a serious Goalas would. have been much better and
like Ram Manjhi, or Dewan Manjhi and his more heavily armed than they were... Cir-
condition. Even a dying declaration was
son, needs to transcend the purely legal cumstances point to the fact that the Santhals
recorded. 178
definition of crime. Needless to say, those came up afterwards and when the Goalas
The following day, one of the accused
who filed cases against them sought to have attempted to chase them off the land, the
Santhals filed a counter-case against Harakh-
them prosecuted as criminals. In another Santhals replied with bows and arrows.
chand Jadav and more than 300 others. Ac-
case, the details of which are being omitted, The SP concluded, therefore, that:
cording to his statement:
an attempt was even made to compound the
On Monday last [June 10]. . . after sunrise, I am of opinion that the Goalas had-the right
offence of the accused-Santhals by alleging
I, Jetha Manjhi, Harma Manjhi, Ledha to plough and were actually ploughing when
that they "often uttered" a treasonable
.Manjhi and Matla Manjhi went to plough and their possession was interfered with by 'ag-
slogan, "German Maharaj ki jaf', while they cultivate a plot of about 50 bighas... We gressive Santhals, who possessing superior
"looted" the crop of a non-Santhal who armament did not hesitate to challenge the
hold this plot on adhi under Jialal Mandal
claimed to be the genuine bataidar."74 The in village Jianganj. The accused came armed Goalas to battle, and the Goalas thinking the
overtness of such actions, and the open with ballam [spears], gupti [long knives], Santhals would scatter at their first charge,
declaration of the underlying motive that pharasas [axe-shaped weapons], talwars made a charge on the Santhals, who then
fuelled them (essentially to recover posses- [swords], . . . a gun and lathis and opposed resorted to their bows and arrows, and even-
sion of lands once cultivated), differentiated us from ploughing the field and began beating tually became the victors.182
the performers from common criminals. 175 us. Rasiklal beat me with a lathi, Baldeo beat It is through such incidents that various
On the other hand they saw themselves as Jetha on his right arm and it fractured, members of the district administration
1860
formed an impression of what was thought Kharay Manjhi's conduct was most un- accusing Soti Musatar and some Santhals
to be the typical behaviour of Santhals in becoming of a Santhal as he had allowed of cuttinttSe mustard crop from his (Kusum
their strugge The SP believed that their himself to be used as an instrument of the Lal's) field. The case was referred to the Sub-
capacity for aggression had made them col- malik-instead of being antagonistic Inspector (SI) of Dharahara police station
lous towards the law, and if the accused in towards him: for investigation. The SI reached the village
the incident could be convicted, it would "do The complainant in this case is not a true at about 9.00 p m the same evening to
much to inculcate a healthier respect for law Santhal, and is not taking any part in the investigate the matter. The DSP Sadr,
and order in the minds of these San- Santhal agitation. For instance, he does not R B Singh, reported the event in the follow-
thals . .." 183 The stereotype of aggressive believe in demanding a receipt for the batai ing words:
behaviour associated with Santhals was so crop, which they are entitled to do by law.
[rhe SI] found heaps of bundles of [the]
firmly ingrained in the mind of the SP(that, Apparently the malik wanted to oust the true mustard crop lying in front of the house of
when he found one of them deviating from Santhals, who were the former bataidars, accused Soti Musahar, which he wanted to
it, he did not regard the person as a Santhal because they insisted on having a receipt for attach and remove. The accused Santhals
at all. This is shown in the following case: the crop. appear to have resented his taking such
Case 4 (SR No 85/40)'14 Finally, he said, "The acquittal is justified. action in the night and began boating drums,
Location: Village Tk3rauna, Dhamdaha police The case failed because the concocted story which was a signal to the neighbouring
station. of the prosecution witnesses completely Santhals to collect. The SI was accompanied
Time: May-November 1940. broke down.in cross-examination"187 by the complainant's party which probably
Ritbaran Singh of village Tarauna is said The SP's contrast between the conduct of gave a wrong impression to the Santhals, and
to have leased about 1 '2 bighas to Kharay a "true" Santhal and, by implication, a in a short time a large number of Santhals
Manjhi for cultivation on batai. On May 27, 'false' one, and his approval of the demand came and surrounded the party and assumed
for rent receipts, implicitly endorsed the a threatening attitude. [According to the SP's
1940 the latter filed the following complaint
report of the incident, the SI is reported to
against Bagai Manjhi and nine other Santhals logic of the Santhal agitation. His explicit
have stated that "the Santhals actually aimed
with the SDO: support of the Magistrate's decision to
their arrows at him, but did not loose off any
... Yesterday, I and my brothers Barsa Manjhi acquit the accused Santhals, in spite of their
arrows. 190] It is said that the Santhals
and Charka Manjhi were ploughing our land prosecution for causing a breach of peace,
wanted to take the SI to Purnea before [a]
for sowing maize. My mother and younger suggests that his concern for law and order, Magistrate, but eventually the SI succeeded
sister sowed maize. The accused came and said which had been categorically declared in the in getting away from the place with his party
that they would not allow us to cultivate the case cited earlier (Case 3), was not undiluted, safely, and took shelter in a neighbouring
land as I did not hear their advice and did but tempered by his evaluation of the legi- tola... from where he despatched a letter to
not go on their side. They removed my timacy of the Santhal struggle. But there HQ [headquarters] for an armed force...
bullocks and ploughs and three katoras [bowl- were others holding responsible positions in Again in the morning he despatched a
shaped utensils]... three chadars [coverlets], the district administration whose perspec- telegram for [an] armed force...
and one basket containing some maize seeds. tive constrained them from expecting much I [the DSP] with Sadr SDO [McNeill] and
They beat Barsa and myself and tore Barsa's the armed force arrived in the village at about
more from the police than simply main-
clothes. The beat my mother also... 185 I p m on 25/2 [February 25] and found the
taining peace. Thus, Thadani, the Collector,
When the matter was investigated, Ritbaran in a covering letter to the same SP enclosing SI with a large number of men and rural
Singh stated that he "never gave" the dis- His report on the agrarian situation in police in the neighbouring tola. Some of the
puted land on batai to the "accused Bagai Dhamdaha, pointed out that pending a party were armed with spears and lathis, and
Manjhi". The witnesses whose lands bounded settlement between the maliks and bataidars, one man had a gun. They said they were
the disputed plot also testified that the com- "it is essential to keep the peace impartially guarding the SI. There was no Santhal there
plainant Kharay Manjhi was the genuine though we were told that a large number,
and with a strong hand". This is qualified
bataidar. In their testimony, the accused with an explicit statement on his expectations about 200 strong, 411 armed with bows and
Santhals, who had been arrested, denied arrows, had scattered on the arrival of the
from the police: "The police are not con-
most of the charges against them, but ad-
armed force... When we started going
cerned with the settlement or solution, but
towards the Santhal to:a, we heared the
mitted that they had told Kharay Manjhi not they are certainly concerned with main-
beating of [al drum and saw a Santhal
to plough the disputed land as one of them tenance of peace and order which will be beating [a] drum on the roof'of a hut. The
(Bagai Manjhi) was at one time the bataidar. necessary till such time as the settlement is man took to his'heels when we got to within
Bagai Manjhi and his supporters could not, finally achieved" 88 200 [yards] of the tola and he took refuge
however, produce any documentary evidence in a closely wooded tola nearby. Large bodies
Thadani's unambiguous views notwith-
to substantiate this claim. Further investiga- of Santhals were seen collecting in various
standing, the somewhat flexible attitude of
tions could not establish the charge of theft directions. . .
the SP towards the Santhal position was
against Bagai and the others. In fact, the We found it was futile traversing miles of
echoed at even higher levels of the Admini-
three ploughs alleged to have been removed broken country to make arrests as people fled
stration, indicating that the police were
from the field on the day of the occurrence on our sight; we went back to the tola where
expected to show great restraint in the
were traced by him to the house of Nirsu the mustard crop was and on our arrival there
display and use of force-their principal one Lakhan Manjhi, brother of the alleged
Jha, a prosecution witness. The latter had
weapon for the maintenance of order. The ringleader, was arrested. Megnwhile a large
in the meantime disappearecd!'86
following case is an illustration. body of Santhals had assembled at a distance
The charges against the accused thus col-
Case 5 (From the note of the Deputy Superin- of about 400 [yards] from us watching the
lapsed owing to the fabricated evidence of
tendent of Police [DSPI Sadr, Purnea, on proceedings. We approached this large body
the prosecution witnesses, resulting in their
the agrarian situation in Dharahara police of Santhals and to our surprise learnt that
acquittal. As reported by the SP, "Ap-
station)'89 they were keeping away from the authorities
jSarently, the malik is the ringleader in this
Location: Village Bahora, Dharahara police as they were told that AP [armed police] had
case, add deliberately set yp another party station. come to shoot them. We spoke to the crowd
of bataidars to falsely claim the land;. the
Time: February-April 1940. and when they found that we were not out
malik had to admit that the accused persons to shoot but to investigate their troubles, they
were his former bataidars, and hid Kusum Lal Mander of the village Bahora, were amenable to our advice. None of them
cultivated the land in question". The SP an employee of Khub Lal Choudhary, a were [sic] armed with bows and arrows. The
observed further that the complainant "landlord"' filed a complaint with the SDO SI attached the crop and put the accused on
1861
bail. There being no further apprehension of official responses to their behaviour, was 1917-1942" (Australian National Univer-
trouble, though the SI appeared unneces- demonstrated again when the kabuliat sity, 1982); Arvind N Das, "Agrarian
sarily agitated at the thought of being left drafted by the Collector, Thadani, was scruti- Unrest and Socio-Economic Change in
alone, we returned with the armed force to nised at various levels of the government. Bihar, 1900-1980" (Manohar, 1983),
HQ in the- evening... This case also reveals an important ele- Chapters III-VII; Binay Bhushan
It was not necessary at all for the SI to go ment in the organisational capability of the Chaudhuri, 'Agrarian Movements in
with the [complainants's] party at 9 o'clock Santhals: the presence of an enemy, or the Bengal and Bihar, 1919-39', in A R Desai
in the night and attach the harvested crop, (ed), "Peasant Struggles in India" (Oxford
urgency of collecting together to meet a con-
when prima facie the case was one of civil University Press, 1981), pp 337-74; and
tingency, could be conveyed to all the men
disoute. The awkward situation was a result Nirmal Sengupta, 'Agrarian MNovements in
within earshot by a skilled drummer beating
of the SI's tactless and overzealous action. 191 Bihar', The Journal of Peasant Studies,
a-special drum (digga). Although the above-
The SP, Milton, corroborated the DSP's 9 (3), 1982, pp 15-39.
mentioned case is the only incident in the
observations on the case, including his stric- 5 Sengupta, ibid, p 29. More information on
official record mentioning the use of the
tures upon the conduct of the SI: "Because the struggle by the same author is found
drum as an instrument of mobilisation, we
the tenants and the landlords refuse to give in his paper, 'Bataidari Movement (I)', in
were informed of its widespread use during A R Desai (ed), "Agrarian Struggles
the Santhals receipt [s] for the half share of
the agitation. The digga is even today regard- in India after Independence" (Oxford
the crop, the Santhals refuse to give up the ed as a characteristic accompaniment of University Press, 1986), pp 285-92.
crops... I think [the SI] was unnecessarily Santhals by former maliks.'96 6 Stephen Henningham, 'Autonomy and
apprehensive".'92 But this was only a mild
Organisation: Harijan and Adivasi Protest
indictment of the SI's conduct. The Chief (To be concluded) Movements', Economic and Political
Secretary, Government of Bihar, Y A Godbole, Weekly, 16 (27), 1981, pp 1153-56;
on perusing the SP's report, expressed
Notes Henningham, note (n) 4, p 167.
serious concern at the SI's reaction to the 7 Sengupta, n 4, p 25 (emphasis added).
situation. Writing to the IGP, he expressed [I am greatly indebted to Sumit Sarkar for 8 Ibid.
the view that the SI's conduct "requires fur- making several constructive suggestions for
9 Dhaturanand Choudhary, Memoir on
improving the quality of this paper. I have also
ther examination. It is highly improbable agrarian relations in Dhamdaha, including
benefited from the comments of Sudesh Vaid,
that simply on seeing him the Santhals of the agitation of the Santhal bataidars (ms.
Radhika Singha, Abhijit Dasgupta, and Jayoti
Dharahara got ready to shoot arrows at him. in Hindi), no date, pp 13-25 (pagination
Gupta on a preliminary draft. I am grateful to
It is further not clear whether he made as in copy supplied to,this author). Access
the Indian Council of Social Science Research
any attempt to explain his mission to the to this source became possible through
for the award of a Senior Fellowship which has
Santhals before sending out a message for personal contact with Dhaturanand, to
enabled me to prepare the paper for publi-
[an] armed force". 193 The SI's conduct un- whom we were referred by the Santhal
cation. Finally, I must mention that Uma
leader Dulla Tudoo.
doubtedly landed him in deep trouble, for Chakravarti and Sudesh Vaid contributed
the IGP informed the Chief Secretary that towards overcoming my initial hesitation to 10 PS, F 120 (I), 1940, BSA. Henningham has
the SP of Purnea had been instructed to write this paper by insisting that we owed it to used this source, but only superficially.
deal with him "for his tactless and cowardly the Qanthal bataidars of Dhamdaha to put on (The style for citing local terms in this
behaviour". 194 record their struggle and the issues raised lpy it.] source and elsewhere has generally been
The case overtly shows that the Santhals The following abbreviations have been used: standardised to conform to the style used
concerned had a certain image of the police BSA Bihar State Archives. in the text of the essay.)
as an agency determined to maintain order F File. 11 Ranajit Guha, 'The Prose of Counter-
at any cost, irrespective of the issues involved: Insurgency', in Ranajit Guha (ed), "Sub-
FR (1) Fortnightly Report for the first half of
hence "they were keeping away from the altern Studies II" (Oxford University
the month.
Press, 1983), p 3.
authorities as they [had been] told that [the FR (2) Fortnightly Report for the second half
12 W G Lacey, "Census of India, 1931,
police] had come to shoot them". However, of the month.
Vol VII, Bihar and Orissa, Part II'
it could perhaps also be argued that the SI's GB Government of Bihar.
(Government of Bihar and Orissa, 1933),
conduct, especially since he had been accom- GBO Government of Bihar and Orissa.
p 167.
pained by the complainant's party when he HP Home Political Department of the Govern-
13 A revenue circle was officially designated
attempted to attach the mustard crop, ment of India.
as a revenue thana, a term which we are
conveyed to them the impression that the LRB Land Revenue Branch of the Revenue
avoiding to prevent confusing it with a
police were biased in favour of the maliks. Department, Government of Bihar.
police thana or station. Dhamdaha
It was therefore convenient for him to MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly.
revenue circle comprised three police
NAI National Archives of India.
dismiss the Santhals involved as criminals, thanas: Dhamdaha, Rupauli, and
PLAB Proceedings of the Legislative Assembly
given his predisposition to support the Dharahara.
of Bihar.
maliks due to, it may be conjectured, his per- 14 L S S O'Malley, "Bengal District Gazet-
Progs Proceedings.
sonal biases or simply corruption, or a com- teers-Purnea" (Government of Bengal,
PS Political Special Department, Government
bination of both. However, the attitude of of Bihar.
1911), p 165.
the police in the case cannot be summed up 15 The number of persons per square mile in
Trs translated.
by the conduct of the SI alone; the con- 1901 (shown in brackets) in the various
trasting response of the DSP was an equally 1 The Searchlight, November 29, 1971. districts comprising north Bihar was as
2 Ibid, November 30, 1971; Kandan Murmu: follows: Muzaffarpur (917); Saran (901);
important component of the role played by
Interview, Chandwa-Rupaspur, June 21, Darbhanga (873); north Monghyr [the
this agency. Thus the DSP, in spite of being
1976. portion of Monghyr district north of the
accompanied by a group of armed police-
3 The Searchlight, December 27, 1971. Ganga] (768); Champaran (507); and
men, had reassured the Santhals that they
4 The principal writings include: Walter Purnea (375): J Byrne, "Final Report on
were "not out to shoot but to investigate
Hauser, "The Bihar Provincial Kisan the Survey and Settlement Operations
their troubles". For him, therefore, their Sabha, 1929-1942: A Study of an Indian in the District of Purnea, 1901-1908"
actions were an outcome of certain problems Peasant Movement", unpublished Ph D (Government of Bengal, 1908), p 10.
("troubles") which merited examination. thesis (University of Chicago, 1961); 16 E A Gait, "Census of India, 1901, Vol VI,
This ambiguity'95 in evaluating the Santhal Stephen Henningham, "Peasant Move- The Lower Provinces of Bengal and their
position, evident from the, contrasting ments in Colonial India: North Bihar Feudatories", Part I (Government of
1862
Bengal, 1902), pp 23-24, 96. See also 32 Ibid, p 16. area of the land. It was thus possible for
O'Malley, n 14, pp 19-31. 33 Ibid, p 23. a landholder who had reclaimed large
17 Gait, ibid, p 96. 34 Ibid, p 8. tracts of land to still pay the same rent,
18 Byrne, n 15, p 10; the English version is 35 Ibid, pp 6-7. which would appear ridiculously low in the
an adaptation of Byrne's translation. 36 Tbllents, n 23, p 60. changed circumstances: Dhaturanand
19 The percentage of net cropped area to the 37 S C Mukherji, "District Gazetteer of Choudhary, n 9, pp 8-9.
total area in various districts of north Santhal Parganas" (2nd edition), 1938, 53 Ibid, p 9; Narendra Narain Choudhary (an
Bihar was as follows (shown in brackets): p 208, quoted in P C Roy Chaudhury, advocate and prominent landholder of
Darbhanga (80); Muzaffarpur (80); Saran "Bihar District Gazetteers-Santhal Purnea district), Chairman's address (in
(79); Champaran (70); north Monghyr Parganas" (Government of Bihar, 1965), Hindi), Annual Convention of Purnea
(69); and Purnea (61): Byrne, n 15, p 98. p 196. District Kisan Sangh, December 11, 1955,
20 Ibid, p 100. 38 Ranchor Prasad (a retired official of the Purnea; and Dhairaj Behari Sen (former
21 C J O'Donnell, "Census of India, 1891, Bihar government): Interview, Patna, Manager of the Nazarganj zamindarO):
The Lower Provinces of Bengal and Their October 10, 1983. Interview, Purnea, April 27, 1975.
Feudatories", Vol III (Government of 39 N P Thadani (Collector, Purnea), "Report 54 Byrne, n 15, p 40.
Bengal, 1893), p 108. There is an apparent on the Agrarian Trouble in Dhamdaha and 55 Ibid, p 59. (The equivalence between stan-
contradiction in the respective observa- Dharahara Police Stations of Purnea dard bighas and acres mentioned here,
tions of O'Donnell and his successor Gait District", in PS, F 120 (I),n 10, pp 51, 53. which applies to the district as a whole,
(n 16) on the character of the soil in 40 These observations about the Santhals are differs from that in Dharampur pargana
Dhamdaha. However, there is no real based on interviews with several former where 1 bigha = 0.83 acre: Prasad, n 28,
contradiction since the soil of this tract was tenure-holders and raiyats conducted at p 18).
considered to be originally fertile, but had various times between December 1975 and 56 Byrne, ibid.
been rendered infertile by the deposits of October 1983 in certain villages of 57 Narendra Narain Choudhary, n 53 (trs).
sand left by the Kosi (see O'Malley, Dhamdaha revenue circle, including 58 Note by A G K Lal, Secretary, Revenue
n 14, p 83). Chandwa-Rupaspur, Khagha, Fasalpur, Dept, GB, November 29, 1938, in LRB, B
22 L S S O'Malley, "Census of India, 1911, and Mogulia Purandaha. Progs, n 50, p 25; see also Thadani, n 39,
Vol V, Bihar and Orissa", Part I (Govern- 41 Rasik Besra: Interview (trs), Fasalpur, April p 51; and PLAB, Intervention by Baldeva
mtiit of Bihar and Orissa, 1913), p 132. 22, 1980. Sahay, Advocate-General, December 17,
23 P C Tallents, "Census of India, 1921, Vol 42 Alma Tudoo: Interview (trs), Chandwa- 1937, Vol II, 1937 (Government of Bihar
VII, Bihar and Orissa", Part I (Govern- Rupaspur, December 25, 1975. 1938), p 635.
ment of Bihar and Orissa, 1923), p 31. See 43 A senior Bhumihar resident of Fasalpur 59 The percentage area of the total occupied
also P C Roy Chaudhury, "Bihar District cited the experience of his grandfather, area held by the respective tenure-holders
Gazetteers-Purnea" (Government of dating back to c 1920, who was owed a in the districts of north Bihar was as
Bihar, 1963), pp 51-52. sum of approximately Rs 250 by two of follows: Purnea (19.0); Champaran (7.5);
24 Collector, Purnea, to Commissioner, his (the grandfather's) classificatory grand- Saran (3.7); Muzaffarpur (3.7); Darbhanga
Bhagalpur, March 22, 1926, quoted in sons. He demanded from them three (2.9); and north Monghyr (2.8). See Byrne,
Nalinindra Lal Bose, "Final Report on the buffaloes in order to settle accounts. n 15, p 111.
Survey and Settlement Operations of the However, they appealed to him to take 5 60 This conformed to Section 5 (3) of the Act
Kosi Diara Area in the District of Purnea, bighas of land instead: "if we part with according to which "a person shall not be
1923-26" (Government of Bihar and our buffaloes, then what will we eat"? they deemed to be a raiyat unless he holds land
Orissa, 1927), Appendix III (a), p xvi. pleaded. The matter was referred to a pan- either immediately under a proprietor or
25 Chandilal Yadav: Interview, Fasalpur (a chayat, which upheld their plea (Sonelal immediately under a tenure-holder" (BTA,
pseudonym for a village in Dhamdaha Choudhary: Interview [trs], Fasalpur, n 29, p 16).
revenue circle), December 5, 1978. Inten- January 2, 1980. 61 See Sections 18 to 47 pertaining to various
sive fieldwork for a period of 13 months, 44 Lacey, n 12 p 157. categories of raiyats in ibid, pp 21-42.
between November 1978 and May 1980, 45 The same sources as in n 40. 62 Secretary, Board of Revenue, GBO to
was conducted by us in this village. 46 Thadani, n 39, p 51. Secretary, Revenue Dept GBO, April 7,
26 Dhirendra Narain Choudhary: Interview, 47 The same sources as in n 40. 1927, quoted in Bose, n 24, p 2 (of letter).
Fasalpur, February 19, 1979. 48 By relations of production in the context 63 PLAB, Intervention by Muhammad
27 Ibid. under discussion we mean the relations Islamuddin, December 16, 1937, Vol II,
28 The first of thesee supplementary surveys between those who controlled the land, the n 58 p 558.
(1923-26) covered an area of 75 square principal means of production, and those 64 PLAB, Intervention by Baldeva Sahay,
miles, comprising forty villages in who worked for them by performing the December 15, 1937, Vol II, n 58, p 533.
Dhamdaha revenue circle (Sadr sub- tasks of cultivation. The specificity of a 65 For instance, Narendra Narain Choudhary
division) and fourteen villages in Raniganj given pattern of production relations was (n 53) regarded all those who were im-
revenue circle (Araria sub-division): Bose, conditioned by the form of labour used mediately subordinate to zamindars as
n 24. The second supplementary survey by those who controlled the means of pro- kisans-, and Dhaturanand Choudhary (n 9)
(1926-31) covered an area of 513 square duction: whether that of tenants (including used the term kisan synonymously with
miles, of which 398 square miles were in bataidars) or hired labourers. This was, in raiyat to include even a person who com-
Bhagalpur district, and 115 square miles turn, conditioned by their attitude towards manded 900 bighas of land (pp 8-9).
in Purnea. The area in Dhamdaha revenue mental and physical involvement in the 66 This statement is based on field experience
circle covered by this survey was 11 square tasks of cultivation. in Fasalpur (n 25).
miles, comprising ten villages: Ray 49 Byrne, n 15, p 40. 67 Anath Kanta Basu, In-Charge Kishan
Hardatta Prasad, "Final Report on the 50 "Extract from Revenue Dept F II Department [sic], Purnea District Con-
Kosi Di~ara Survey and Settlement Opera- T-243/38", in LRB, B Progs, May 1940, gress Committee, to Revenue Secretary,
tions in the Districts of Bhagalpur and Nos 922-24, F II T-39/38, 1940, BSA, p 45. GB, December 6, 1938, in LRB, B Progs,
Purnea, 1926-31" (GCovernment of Bihar 51 Nilmoni Dey, "Survey Settlement Guide" n 50, p 35.
and Orissa, 1932). [sic] -(Publisher not stated; Bhagalpur, 68 PLAB, Prime Minister Shri Krishna
29 "The Bihar Tenancy Act, 1885" (BTA) 1912), pp 9-10. Sinha's speech introducing the Bihar Ten-
(Government of Bihar, 1975), p 15. 52 In fact it has been stated that at the time ancy (Amendment) Bill, 1937, September 25,
30 Ibid. of Byrne's settlement the Darbhanga Raj 1937, Vol I, 1937 (Government of Bihar,
31 Bose, n 24, p 3. For an example of such was issuing rent receipts specifying only a 1938), pp 1798, 1803, 1804.
usurpation, see Appendix III (a), p xi. certain rent, but without mentioning the 69 Bhola Paswan Shastri: Interview, Delhi,
1863
April 10, 1984. former's statement, which is also an 105 This point was reiterated by officials more
70 Chaudhri Sharafat Hussain, MLA, to insider's view, appears to be more than once in the course of the agitation.
Krishna Ballabh Sahay, Parliamentary acceptable. The following is a categorical statement:
Secretary, December 7, 1938, in LRB, 86 Byrne, n 15, p 120; Bose, n 24, p 23. "All tenants, whether they pay rent in cash
B Progs, n 50, p 39. 87 This figure has been derived from ibid. or [in] kind, are entitled to have rent
71 Sengupta, n 4, p 17; for north Bihar in par- 88 Kandan Murmu: Interview (trs), receipts from the landlords . . ." (Prasad,
ticular, see Henningham, n 4, pp 4-5, 7-12. Chandwa-Rupaspur, January 5, 1976. n 85, p 20).
The four castes together accounted for 89 Thadani, n 39, p 51. 106 BTA, n 29, p 74.
only 4.7 per cent of the population of 90 This was achieved by a device whereby a 107 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, pp 10-11
Purnea district in 1931 (this figure has been seer was computed as being equivalent.to 108 PLAB: The following statement of Prime
derived from Lacey, n 12, pp 2, 136-39). 17 kanwa (the unit of a seer, usually Minister Shri Krishna Sinha may be cited
72 Bhola Paswan Nhastri, n 69. designated as chhatank in several parts of as an example " [The] realisation of
73 There is no explicit mention of the various north India) and not the normal 16 kanwa. abwabs has been the darkest spot in the
kinds of non-occupancy tenants compris- By means of this device, a maund of fibre agrarian history of the province ..."
ing the category tenant cultivators in the was equivalent to 680 kanwa and not the September 27, 1937, Vol I, n 68, p 1930.
Report of the all-India Census for 1931. usual 640 kanwa (i e, one additional kanwa 109 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, pp 17-18.
However, since the report explicitly defines for every seer in the maund, or, each stan- 110 BTA, n 29, pp 43-44.
'cultivating owners' as "cultivators" in dard maund was 40 kanwa [21/2 seers] 111 Ibid, p 145n.
"possession of rights of occupancy", it short of the enhanced maund). 112 Ibid, p 24. The favourable implications of
may be presumed that all categories of 91 Churka Marande: Interview, Chandwa- this section for bataidars has been cate-
cultivators without rights of occupancy Rupaspur, June 10, 1976. gorically stated by Thadani, n 39, p 52.
(including bataidars) may be included 92 For example, a bataidar who borrowed a 113 The information on Dhaturanand's youth
among tenant cultivators: see J H Hutton, maund of paddy in October was liable to is based on interviews with his wife and
"Census of India,, 1931", Vol I, India, return 11/2 maunds in the course of the his eldest son: Jogendra Choudhary
Part I (Gove-nment of India, 1933), forthcoming paddy harvest in November- and his mother: Interviews, Mogulia
pp 286-87. December. If he failed to do so, he was Purandaha, October 11 and 12, 1983. (It
74 Byrne, n 15, p 45 (emphasis added). obliged to return one and a half times the is unfortunate that Dhaturanand himself
75 Ibid, p 110. It should be remembered that enhanced amount in the course of the next was bedridden with a stroke during this
in Table 6 we have calculated the number harvest of maize in August-September, i e, visit to Mogulia Purandaha, and no con-
od under-raiyati holdings and the under- 214 maunds. versation was possible with him.)
raiyati area as percentages of the holdings 93 Kandan Murmu, n 88. 114 Ibid.
and area held by tenure-holders and oc- 94 Thadani, n 39, p 53 (emphasis added). 115 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, p 17.
cupancy raiyats. 95 Prasad, n 85, p 19 (emphasis added). 116 Dulla Tudoo: Interview (trs), Dharahara,
76 Ibid (emphasis added). 96 Thadani, n 39, pp 51-52 (emphasis added). January 4, 1976.
77 Manoshi Mitra and T Vijayendra, 97 GB, FR(2), September 1936, HP, F 117 The intensification of efforts in this direc-
'Agricultural Labourers and Peasant 18/8/1936, NAI. The officials in question tion is mentioned in GB, FR(I), November
Politics: Rural Proletarianisation in were the respective Commissioners of 1938, HP, F 18/11/1938, NAI. Earlier, in
Purnea, Bihar, The Journal of Peasant Bhagalpur (which included Purnea September 1937, Shri Krishna Sinha, the
Studies, 9 (3), 1982, p 99. district) and Tirhut divisions. Prime Minister, commended the workers
78 Bose, n 24, p 25 (emphasis added). 98 Report of the Kisan Enquiry Com- of the Congress and Bihar Kisan Sabha for
79 Prasad, n 28, p 19. mittee (KEC), Rajendra Prasad Papers, "[arousing] consciousness" among kisans
80 The same sources as in n 40. To these may F VII/1937, Collection No 1, NAI, p 134 (PLAB, n 68, p 1804).
be added: Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, (emphasis added). 118 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, pp 17-18
pp 13, 15; Bhola Paswan Shastri, n 69; and 99 Ibid, p 128. (trs).
Dina Nath Bhagat (Purnea District 100 In a different context the KEC had noted 119 Saudagor Murmrn, Secretary, Adivasi Seva
Secretary, Communist Party of India): the role of power in the extraction of Samiti, Banmankhi, Purnea: Interview,
Interview, Purnea, April 5,1975. produce rent from tenants by zamindars January 15, 1977, quoted in Sengupta,
81 The same sources as in n 40. in areas such as Patna and Gaya districts: "Bataidari Movement (1)", n 5, p 289.
82 Fasalpur: field notes, n 25. "the quantity of produce rent that the 120 Thadani, n 39, pp 53-54 (emphasis added).
83 The basic information for this section landlord can take does not depend only 121 Henningham, 'Autonomy and Organisa-
has been drawn from Dhaturanand upon rule of proportions but upon his tion'. n 6, p 1155.
Choudhary's memoir (n 9, pp 13-14, power to take as much as he can" Ibid, 122 Bhola Paswan Shastri, n 69.
15-17). We have also used the sources men- p 129. See also Ranajit Guha, "Elemen- 123 Note by S P, Purnea, on Special Report
tioned in n 40. The other sources will tary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in (SR) 69/40, Ist Report, June 12, 1940, in
be cited in the usual manner. Colonial India" (Oxford University Press, PS, F 120 (I), n 10, p 101.
84 A third, somewhat, atypical, arrangement 1983), p 6: Guha states that the extraction 124 GB, FR(2), October 1940, HP, F
required a bataidar to pay the cash value of surplus from agricultural producers, 18/10/1940, NAI.
of a fLxed amount of the produce per bigha such as sharecroppers, among others, by 125 Dhaturnand Choudhary, n 9, p 18.
(manhunda), irrespective of the actual landlords in colonial India was determined 126 Thadani, n 39, p 55. Dhaturanand's
amount produced (Prasad, n 28, p 22). "less by the free play of the forces of a description of the intervention of the
85 This has been stated by Dhaturanand market economy than by the extra- district administration appears to tele-
Choudhary in his memoir (n 9, p 15). economic force of the landlord's standing scope the role played by two collectors:
However, according to Ray Hardatta in local society ... it was a relationship W G Archer and his successor Rai
Prasad, who had conducted settlement of dominance and subordination Bahadur Rameshwar Singh. His memoir
operations in this area (n 28), no salami 101 KEC, n 98, p 146. does not mention Archer, and only speaks
was payable for land leased in on produce 102 Thadani, n 39, p 52 (emphasis added). of Rameshwar Singh.
rent (Ray Hardatta Prasad's notes on 103 Ranajit Guha, 'On Some Aspects of the 127 Ibid.
Thadani's report on the agrarian situation Historiography of Colonial India'. in 128 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, p 18 (trs).
in Dhamdaha, May 31 and June 5, 1940, Ranajit Guha (ed), "Subaltern Studies I" 129 Thadani, n 39, pp 55-56.
in PS, F 120(I), n 10, p 19). In the light (Oxford University Press, 1982), p 8 130 The breakdown of the affected villages
of the general picture of oppression (emphasis in original). according to police stations was as follows:
characteristic of a bataidar's existence, the 104 BTA, n 29, p 62. Dhamdaha-70; Rupauli-6; Dharahara-3;
1864
and Katihar-2 (Collector, Purnea, to Com- Bhagalpur district, in his annual report for their oppression.
missioner, Bhagalpur, July 4, 1940, in PS, 1908, quoted in Henningham, n 4, p 22. 176 PS, F 120(I), n 10, pp 100-101, 108-13,
F 120(I), n 10, pp 136-38). According to 161 Henningham, ibid. 125-26.
the Census of 1941 there were 295 villages 162 Thadani, n 39, p 69. 177 Ibid, p 100.
in this revenue circle (W G Archer, 163 Ibid, p 70. 178 Ibid, p 111.
"Census of India 1941, Vol VII, Bihar" 164- Ibid, p 71. 179 Ibid, pp 108-109.
[Government of India 1942], p 90). 165 Ibid, p 72. 180 Ibid, pp 111-12 (emphasis added).
131 Commissioner, Bhagalpur, to Chief 166 C H McNeill's note on the agrarian situa- 181 Ibid, p 112.
Secretary, GB, October 2, 1940, in PS, F tion in Dhamdaha, quoted in ibid, 182 Ibid, pp 125-26 (emphasis added).
120(1), n 10, p 154. pp 76-77. 183 Ibid, p 101.
132 PS, F 120(I), ibid, pp 43, 148, 152. 167 Collector, Purnea, to S P, Purnea, May 9, 184 Ibid, pp 118-20, 161, 163.
133 Lakshmi Narain Sudhanshu's great 1940, in PS, F 120(I), n 10, p 87. 185 Ibid, p 118 (emphasis added).
grandfather commanded over 1,200 168 IGP, Bihar, to Chief Secretary, GB, May 186 Ibid, pp 118-19.
bighas (Chandrasekhar Singh: Interview, 18, 1940, in PS. F 120(I), ibid, pp 108-9. 187 Ibid, p 163 (emphasis added).
Chandwa-Rupaspur, January 7, 1976); Vir 169 PS, F 120(I), ibid, pp 171-72. 188 Collector, Purnea, to SP, Purnea, May 9,
Narain Chand has been referred to as 170 Ibid, p 171 (emphasis added). 1940, in ibid, p 87 (emphasis added).
the biggest landholder of Purnea, still 171 Ibid, pp 122-23. 189 Note of the DSP, Sadr, Purnea, on the
controlling over 2,000 bighas in spite of 172 Ibid, p 122. agrarian situation in Dharahara police
ceiling legislation (S Choudhary: Interview, 173 Ibid, p 123 (emphasis added). station, March 24, 1940, in PS, F 120(I),
Purnea, June 24, 1975). 174 S R Case No 110/40, dated August 22, 1940, ibid, pp 43-45.
134 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, pp 20-21. pertaining to the village Maadhwapur, 190 Extract from confidential diary of the
135 Thadani, n 39, p 58. Rupauli police station, in ibid, p 193. It S P, Purnea, March 1, 1940, in PS, F
136 The first report featuring the conflict per- is not clear from the case as to whether 120(I), ibid, p 39.
tained to the second half of June 1939. the accused Santhals actually uttered the 191 Note of the DSP, n 189, pp 43-45.
Thereafter, a number of reports mentioned quoted slogan, or whether it was imputed 192 Extract from SP's diary, n 190, pp 38-39.
the conflict: see GB, FR(2), June 1939; to them by the complainant in order to 193 Chief Secretary, GB, to IGP, March 11/12,
FR(1 and 2), March 1940; FR(2), June compound their offence. The basis of the 1940, in PS, F 120(I), n 10, p 40.
1940; FR(1), July 1940; FR(2), September reference to Germany has also not been 194 IGP to Chief Secretary, April 2/5, 1940,
1940; and FR(2), October 1940; HP, stated. in PS, F 120(I), ibid, p 42.
Files 18/6/1939, 18/3/1940, 18/6/1940, 175 We have derived this distinction from Guha 195 This is the expression used by Guha (n 100,
18/7/1940, 18/9/1940 and 18/10/1940, (n 100, pp 109-15) who, in a different con- pp 77-108) to describe the attempts of the
NAI. text, distinguished between peasant rebels British authorities to comprehend various
137 Thadani, n 39, pp 56-57. and common criminals. This distinction "peasant uprisings" against the regime.
138 Babu Ram Raksha Prasad, quoted in ibid, has a more general applicability to the pro- 196 Darogi Prasad Choudhary: Interview,
p 59 (emphasis added). test of all oppressed groups against the Mogulia Purandaha, October 12, 1983. See
139 Thadani, ibid, p 57. sources of their suffering, which is liable also Guha (ibid, pp 228-33), who high-
140 Bhola Paswan Shastri, n 69. to be regarded as 'crime by those who lights the use of the drum and some other
141 Jivatsa Sharma Himanshu: Interview, dominate the polity, but whose legitimacy musical instruments for the "aural
Purnea, October 14, 1983. is rooted in the right of such groups to transmission of insurgency" in the tribal
142 Bhubaneshwari Prasad Choudhary: Inter- emancipate themselves from the bonds of uprisings described by him.
view (trs), Kajha, October 14, 1983. This
respondent, with whom we interacted
fairly closely on a number of occasions in
1979-80, happened to be the father-in-law
of the younger brother of my host in
Fasalpur. He was a soft-spoken man who
appeared to live by certain principles. The
rationale for his unusual response to the
formation of the kisan samiti lay perhaps REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
in his qualities as a person.
143 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, p 21.
India's Policy Experience of Controls over Industry
144 Bhola Paswan Shastri, n 69. SHARAD S MARATHE
145 Bhubaneshwari Prasad Choudhary, n 142.
According to him, Baidyanath Choudhary In this comprehensive and analytical study of the evolution of industrial policy in India,
controlled about 2,000 bighas. Sharad Marathe clearly documents how, over a period of time, the original content
146 Bhola Paswan Shastri, n 69. and purpose of various policy initiatives were rendered infructuous and a rigid system
147 Thadani, n 39, p 63. which emphasized regulation to the detriment of development evolved. Once the
148 Ibid, p 62. system veered towards regulation it acquired a momentum of its own and though
149 Ibid, p 63. India's industrial policy has become counter-productive, there has been no serious
150 Ibid, p 64.
effort to radically alter it in the interest of the country's industrial development.
151 Ibid, pp 64-65.
152 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, pp 22-23. The author argues eloquently in favour of the need to move away from traditional
153 Thadani, n 39, p 65. policy perspectives. The author feels that the recent political changes and the emerging
154 Ibid, (emphasis added). signs of India's economic resilience provide a rare opportunity for a major and essential
155 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, p 23 (trs). overhauling of the system.
156 BTA, n 29, pp 47-48.
157 Dhaturanand Choudhary, n 9, pp 19-20. 328 pp/225x140 mm/Rs 195 (hb)/1986
158 Rai Bahadur Rameshwar Singh's note on

the agrarian situation in Dhamdaha,
quoted in Thadani, n 39, p 61 (emphasis
added). SAGE PUBLICATIONS INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED
159 Thadani, ibid, pp 66-67.
Post Box 4215, New Delhi 110048
160 Comment of F E Lyall, Collector,
1865

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The Unfinished Struggle of Santhal Bataidars in Purnea District, 1938-42

Author(s): Anand Chakravarti

The Unfinished Struggle of Santhal Bataidars

Economic and Political Weekly

Unit Persons Per Square Mile

1901 1921 1931

158 Rai Bahadur Rameshwar Singh's note on

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