CHAPTER – 09 (Colonialism and the Countryside)

1.INTRODUCTION
1.Colonial Rule in the Countryside: 2. Establishment of English 3.Impact of Revenue Policies: 4.Consequences of State Laws:
. Introduction to colonial rule's impact East India Company's Rule: . Effects on different social . Determining factors for wealth
on rural areas. . How the E.I.C. imposed its groups. accumulation and impoverishment.
. Focus on Bengal zamindars, Rajmahal authority in rural areas. . Changes in everyday lives: . Shifts in land ownership and peasant
hills (Paharias and Santhals), and the . Implementation of revenue wealth distribution, land financial strategies.
Deccan region.
ownership, and peasant
policies.
livelihoods.
5.Resistance to Colonial Laws: 6.People's Influence on Law 7.Historical Sources and 8.Historical Documentation:
. People's defiance of unjust laws. Operation: Interpretation Challenges: . Examination of revenue records,
. Influence of local perceptions of . Shaping the outcomes of legal . Overview of available historical surveys, and journals.
justice on legal resistance. systems through resistance. sources. . Analysis of accounts left by surveyors,
. Modification of legal . Problems faced by historians in travelers, and enquiry commissions'
consequences through interpreting these sources. reports.
community action.
2. Bengal and the Zamindars
2.1 An auction in Burdwan
1.Revenue Default by the Raja of 2.Purchasers at the Auction: 3.Fictitious Nature of the 4.Control Retention by the Raja:
Burdwan: . Identification of the individuals Auction: . Examination of how despite the
. Causes for the Raja's failure to pay participating in the auction. . Unveiling the revelation that auction, the Raja retained control of his
the fixed revenue. . Roles of servants and agents of over 95% of the auction sales zamindari.
. Economic and political factors the Raja in purchasing the were fictitious. . Analysis of the mechanisms employed
contributing to the accumulation of estates. . Implications of this discovery by the Raja to maintain power despite
arrears. on the transfer of ownership and apparent loss of land.
control of the estates .
5. Rural Realities in Eastern India: 6.Effects of the Permanent
Settlement:
. Insights into the socio-economic
conditions prevailing in rural areas of
. Evaluation of the impact of the
Permanent Settlement on zamindari
eastern India during the late 18th revenue obligations and
century. landownership dynamics.
.Understanding power dynamics . Discussion on the consequences
between zamindars, peasants, and of revenue default and the
colonial authorities in rural contexts. subsequent auction process on local
power structures.
2.2 The problem of unpaid revenue
1.Objective of the Permanent 2.Implementation of the 3.Role of Zamindars under the 4. Revenue Collection and Estate
Settlement: Permanent Settlement: Permanent Settlement: Management:
. Addressing the economic crisis in . Process of permanently fixing . Definition of zamindars as . Responsibilities of zamindars in
Bengal during the 1770s. the revenue demand by the revenue collectors for the state, collecting rent from villages.
. Encouraging investment in British officials. not landowners. . Payment of fixed revenue to the
agriculture to stimulate economic . Classifying rajas and taluqdars . Management of multiple Company and retention of surplus as
growth. as zamindars under the villages under a zamindari. income.
. Establishing a stable revenue system settlement.
to benefit both the state and
entrepreneurs.
5.Consequences of Revenue Default: 6.Formation of a Class of 7.Challenges and Criticisms of
. Risk of estate auctioning for Landowners: the Permanent Settlement:
zamindars failing to pay the fixed . Hopes for the emergence of . Identification difficulties in
revenue. yeomen farmers and wealthy selecting individuals capable of
. Implications for the stability of landowners. improving agriculture and
zamindari control and landownership. . Expectation of loyalty to the meeting revenue demands.
British Company from this class. . Debate among Company
officials regarding the
effectiveness and fairness of the
settlement.

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 CHAPTER – 09 (Colonialism and the Countryside)

2.3 Why zamindars defaulted on payments

1.High Initial Revenue Demands; 2.Challenges in Agricultural 3.Rigid Revenue Collection 4.Restrictions on Zamindari Power:
. Company's rationale for setting high Economy: Policies: . Initial limitations on zamindar authority
fixed revenue demands to prevent loss . Difficulties faced by zamindars . Imposition of invariable to collect rent and manage their estates.
of potential future income. in revenue collection due to revenue demands regardless of . Company's efforts to control and
depressed agricultural produce harvest conditions. regulate zamindars, diminishing their
. Impact of high demands on the prices. . Enforcement of punctual autonomy and authority.
financial burden of zamindars, . Inability of ryots (peasant payment deadlines under the
particularly during periods of tenants) to pay dues to the Sunset Law, with estate
economic depression. zamindar, affecting revenue flow auctioning as penalty for non-
to the Company. payment.
5.Role of Company Officials: 6.Challenges in Rent 7.Legal Proceedings and
. Actions taken by Company officials Collection: Litigation:
to assert control over zamindars, . Perennial difficulties faced by . Zamindars' recourse to legal
including disbanding troops and zamindars in rent collection from action against defaulting ryots.
regulating courts. ryots. . Proliferation of pending suits
. Instances of dispatching officials to . Delays in payment due to for arrears of rent payment,
suppress the authority and influence of factors such as bad harvests, low exemplified by the situation in
defaulting zamindars. prices, and deliberate Burdwan with over 30,000
procrastination by ryots. pending suits in 1798.
2.4 The rise of the jotedars
1.Emergence of Rich Peasants: 2.Description of Jotedars: 3.Control and Influence: 4.Local Power Dynamics:
. Formation of a wealthy peasant class . Insights from Francis . Exercise of immense power . Comparison between the power of
known as jotedars. Buchanan's survey of the over poorer cultivators in the jotedars and zamindars within villages.
. Consolidation of their position in Dinajpur district highlighting the region. . Direct control and presence of jotedars
rural villages during the late 18th and characteristics of jotedars. . Utilization of sharecroppers for in rural areas as opposed to the often
early 19th centuries. . Acquisition of vast cultivation and extraction of urban-dwelling zamindars.
landholdings and control over produce shares.
local trade and money lending.
5.Resistance against Zamindari 6.Involvement in Estate 7.Regional Influence and 8.Impact on Zamindari Authority:
Authority: Auctions: Variations: . Weakening of zamindari authority due
. Opposition to attempts by zamindars . Participation of jotedars as . Concentration of jotedar power to the rise of jotedars and similar
to increase village revenue demands purchasers in auctions of in North Bengal. affluent peasant classes.
(jama). zamindari estates due to . Emergence of similar . Transformation of power dynamics in
. Prevention of zamindari officials from revenue payment failures. commanding figures in other rural Bengal with jotedars playing a
executing duties and mobilization of parts of Bengal with various local significant role.
dependent ryots. titles such as haoladars,
gantidars, or mandals.
2.5 The zamindars resist
1.Survival Strategies of Zamindars: 2.Fictitious Sale Tactics: 3.Scale of Fictitious 4.Other Methods of Avoiding
. Adaptation to exorbitant revenue . Description of fictitious sale Transactions: Displacement:
demands and estate auction threats. maneuver employed by . Extent of fictitious purchases . Resistance against external buyers of
. Development of new strategies in zamindars. by zamindars between 1793 and estates at auctions.
response to changing circumstances. . Manipulation of auctions and 1801. . Instances of attacks on agents or
accumulation of unpaid balances . Impact on revenue recovery resistance by ryots loyal to their
to reclaim estates at low prices. and auction proceedings. zamindar.

5. Ryot Loyalty and Identity: 6.Consolidation of Zamindar 7.Decline of Zamindari

. Perceived loyalty of ryots to their Power: Authority:
zamindar as a figure of authority. . Strengthening of zamindar . Reference to the collapse of
. Resistance to the sale of zamindari authority over villages by the zamindar authority during the
due to disturbance of identity and beginning of the 19th century. Great Depression of the 1930s.
pride. . Flexibility in revenue payment . Ascendancy of jotedars and
rules contributing to zamindar consolidation of their power in
power consolidation. the countryside.
2.6 The Fifth Report

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1.Background of the Fifth Report: 2.Debates and Opposition in 3.Regulation of Company 4.Significance of the Fifth Report:
. Submission to the British Parliament Britain: Rule: . Influence on parliamentary debates
in 1813. . Criticism of the East India . Enactment of Acts by the regarding the nature of Company rule in
. Details and contents of the report, Company's monopoly over trade British Parliament to regulate India.
including appendices. with India and China. and control Company activities . Shaping of historical understanding of
. Calls for revocation of the in India. rural Bengal in the late 18th century for
Royal Charter and opening of . Establishment of committees to over a century and a half.
Indian markets to private traders inquire into Company affairs.
and British industrialists.
5.Critical Evaluation of the Fifth 6.Contrast with Recent Research:
Report: . Utilization of archival and local
. Recent research highlighting the records to provide a nuanced
understanding of colonial rule in
need for careful reading of official rural Bengal.
reports. . Identification of exaggerations in
. Recognition of biases and the Fifth Report regarding the loss
exaggerations in the Fifth Report, of zamindari land and displacement
particularly regarding the collapse of of zamindars.
traditional zamindari power.
3. The Hoe and the Plough
3.1 In the hills of Rajmahal
1.Impenetrable Rajmahal Hills: 2.Identity of the Hill Folk - 3.Subsistence Practices: 4.Utilization of Forest Resources:
. Buchanan's observations of the Paharias: . Dependence on forest . Collection of mahua, silk cocoons,
Rajmahal hills as inaccessible and . Identification of the hill resources and shifting cultivation resin, and wood from the forests for
dangerous. dwellers as Paharias based on for sustenance. various purposes.
. Hostility and apprehension of the late-eighteenth-century revenue . Clearing patches of forest for . Production of charcoal from wood
local hill folk towards outsiders. records. cultivation and allowing fallow resources.
. Residence in the vicinity of the periods for land fertility recovery.
Rajmahal hills.
5.Role of Forest Environment: 6.Paharia Lifestyle and 7.Territorial Identity and 8.Raids on the Plains:
. Importance of undergrowth and Connection to the Forest: Resistance to Outsiders: . Regular raids by the Paharias on
grassy patches for pasture for cattle. . Roles as hunters, shifting . View of the entire region as settled agriculturists in the plains.
. Integration of forest resources into cultivators, food gatherers, their land, integral to their . Purpose of raids for survival, power
the Paharia livelihood strategy charcoal producers, and identity and survival. assertion, and negotiation of political
silkworm rearers. . Resistance to intrusion from relations with outsiders.
. Settlement in hutments within outsiders and maintenance of
tamarind groves and reliance on unity by tribal chiefs.
forest resources for survival.
9.Tribute Payments and Traders' 10.Negotiated Peace and 11.British Perceptions of 12.Expansion of Settled Agriculture
Toll: Fragility: Forests and Forest People: and Conflict:
. Practice of zamindars paying tribute . Fragility of negotiated peace, . View of forests as wild and . Reduction of forest and pasture areas
to hill chiefs for peace. especially during aggressive uncultivated, needing clearance due to expansion of settled agriculture.
. Traders' payment of toll to hill folk extension of settled agriculture for agricultural development. . Escalation of conflict between hill folk
in the late 18th century. . Perception of forest people as and settled cultivators as a result.
for passage through controlled passes.
. British encouragement of savage, unruly, and difficult to
forest clearance and extension of govern
settled agriculture.
13.Paharia Raids and Colonial 14.Brutal Policies and 15.Response of Paharia Chiefs 16.Paharia Withdrawal and War with
Response: Pacification Attempts: and Community: Outsiders:
. Increasing raids by Paharias on . British adoption of brutal . Refusal of many Paharia chiefs . Retreat of Paharias into the mountains
settled villages, leading to colonial policies of extermination in the to accept allowances, leading to to insulate themselves from hostile
attempts at control. 1770s. loss of authority. forces.
. Challenges faced by colonial officials . Introduction of pacification . Perception of chiefs accepting . Continuation of war with outsiders
in controlling and subduing the policy by Augustus Cleveland in allowances as subordinate to the despite pacification efforts.
Paharias. the 1780s. colonial government.
. Offering of annual allowances
to Paharia chiefs in exchange for

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maintaining order among their

people
17.Suspicion of British Infiltration: 18.Emergence of New Threats: 19.Symbolism of Conflict:
. Suspicion and distrust of British . Arrival of Santhals in the area, . Symbolic representation of
individuals, including Buchanan, due to leading to further clearing of Paharia life by the hoe used for
memories of pacification campaigns forests and agricultural shifting cultivation.
and repression. expansion. . Contrast with the power
. Perception of British infiltration as a . Recession of Paharias deeper represented by settlers wielding
threat to Paharia way of life and into the Rajmahal hills in the plough, symbolizing the
control over forests and lands. response to Santhal settlement. battle between the two.

3.2 The Santhals: Pioneer settlers

1. Arrival in Bengal (1780s): 2. Role of Zamindars and 3.Comparison with Paharias: 4. Perception as Ideal Settlers:
. Initial migration of Santhals into British Officials:
. Paharias' resistance to forest . Santhals seen as suitable settlers due
Bengal. . Zamindars hiring Santhals for clearance and agriculture. to their willingness to clear forests and
land reclamation and cultivation cultivate land.
expansion.

.Invitation by British officials to

settle in the Jangal Mahals.
5.Land Grant and Settlement (1832): 7.Rapid Expansion of Santhal 8.Impact on Revenue and Economy:
6. Demarcation and Boundary:
. Allocation of land in Rajmahal . Surveyed, mapped, and
Settlements: . Increased revenue due to expanded
foothills. . Growth from 40 villages in cultivation.
enclosed.
. Practice of plough agriculture 1838 to 1,473 by 1851.
encouraged .Separation from plains . Population surge from 3,000 to
agriculturists and Paharias. over 82,000.
9.Transition from Mobility to 10.Impact on Paharias: 11.Consequences of Paharias' 12.Shift in Livelihoods:
Settlement: . Resistance to Santhal Displacement: . Transition to settled agriculture.
. Santhal myths depict a history of settlement. . Confined to less fertile, rocky .Cultivation of commercial crops.
continuous travel until settling in . Forced withdrawal deeper into areas. . Engagement with traders and
Damin-i-Koh. hills. . Long-term impoverishment. moneylenders.
. Settlement marked the end of their
nomadic lifestyle.
17.Creation of Santhal Pargana: 18.Colonial State's Response:
. Establishment of a new territory . Attempt to conciliate Santhals
covering 5,500 square miles. through special laws.
. Carved out from Bhagalpur and . Effort to mitigate grievances
Birbhum districts. and pacify rebellion

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