Deccan riots
The Deccan Riots was a revolt of comparatively wealthy Indian farmers from May to July 1875 against British colonial rule and immigrant moneylenders, which covered 33 villages in six Taluks of the districts of Poona and Ahmadnagar .
causes
During the cotton boom of the 1860s, wealthier farmers, who saw their incomes dwindle again in the context of the Great Depression in 1873 , were faced with excessively increased property tax demands since 1867. They borrowed from moneylenders ( Marathi : saukar ), who in the traditional Indian village exercised the function of the commercial banks of modern capitalist society. At the same time, the introduction of a European style civil law made it easier for creditors to enforce. Payable interest exceeded by 60 to 75% p. a. by far what was asked of Jewish usurers of medieval Europe . In the Deccan most moneylenders belonged to the caste of the Marwari in. About a third of the farmers were indebted to an average of 18 times the value of their land because of the interest. Among those who were not overindebted, they had at least enough resources to survive two bad harvests without debt.
As early as 1874, armed groups made up of members of the Koli had been active in the mountains west of Poona, concentrating on robbing the possessing classes. In addition, an Englishman who had been ruined by Marwari moneylenders managed to petition the Empress to have the claims against him declared null and void. This led to the popular rumor that all claims of the Marwari had become invalid by English orders. This rumor was reinforced by the fact that British officials, who were working on the creation of an accurate statistical file, were conducting more surveys on the economic circumstances of the Indians at this time.
Fighting
The actual uprising, which was suppressed in three weeks, was supported not only by the peasants but also by ordinary people such as hairdressers, water carriers, etc. Tens of thousands gathered on marketplaces and swore not to comply with the demands of moneylenders and to burn their documents.
The attempt by the two moneylenders Kaluram and Bhagavandas to assert a title against Baba Sahib, the deshkmusk of Kare near Sirur , marks the beginning of the uprising . In the summer of 1874, Baba Sahib initially pledged some jewels as pledge, and on the third attempt at a complete seizure in December 1874, Kaluram had Baba's house torn down. The horrified villagers then boycotted the money lenders, from whom their staff ran away, and their houses were ritually contaminated with dead dogs and other rubbish. Similar incidents in the following months were directed against empires in other villages.
The first outbreak of violence occurred on May 12, 1875 in the village of Supa (Bhimthadi district). Here the victims were moneylenders of the Vani caste ( Gujaratis ), whose houses were looted and burned down. The chief constable of the sub-division succeeded with seven men on the same day to secure stolen goods worth Rs. 2000 . The injured claimed they had suffered damage of Rs 150,000, in fact it was only around Rs 25,000.
The very next day the property of a moneylender in the village of Kedgaon was destroyed. Over the next few days the houses of four moneylenders in Bhimthadi district were burned down, and in seventeen cases there were rioting during which violence was threatened. Soon similar incidents occurred in the adjacent sub-divisions of Indapur and Purandhar . There were also riots with isolated damage to property in 15 villages in Sirur. The protesters usually stopped doing what they did as soon as the usurer handed them the promissory notes to be destroyed. The colonial power sent Poona Horse troops to the region, which, as usual, cracked down rigorously.
Apart from a riot in Mundhali (Bhimthadi) on June 15, there were two more attacks on the property of moneylenders on July 22 and 28. An isolated outbreak of violence occurred on September 8 in the village of Kukrud, 150 km away.
Sacrifice and Consequences
Aside from the destruction in Supa, one moneylender died and few others were injured. Non-immigrant moneylenders were generally spared. A total of 559 people were arrested by the organs of the colonial power, 301 of whom were convicted by the courts. In the "dangerous" villages, additional police posts were set up for years, the costs of which were passed on to the village community.
The government of the Bombay Presidency set up a commission of inquiry, which delivered a report over the next year. As a result, after the region was completely devastated by a famine followed by cholera in 1876–1878, the Deccan Agriculturalists' Relief Act of 1879 eased the farmer's lot somewhat.
literature
- Campbell, James; Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Bombay 1880, Vol. XII, XVIII-1 (full text)
- Catanach, IJ; Rural credit in western India, 1875-1930; Berkeley 1970
- Charlesworth, Neil; The Myth of the Deccan Riots of 1875; Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 6, No. 4 (1972), pp. 401-21
- Ravinder Kumar; The Deccan Riots of 1875; Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Aug., 1965), pp. 613-35
- Report of the Committee on the Riots in Poona and Ahmednagar 1875; Bombay 1876 (commonly cited as the "Deccan Riots Commission Report")
- Sarkar, Sumit; Modern India 1885-1947; New Delhi 1983; ISBN 0-333-90425-7 , pp. 50f
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the practices and usury, cf. Bombay Gazetteer; (1880), pp. 124-33
- ↑ to the creation of the Bombay Gazetteer
- ↑ Such actions of complete exclusion from the village community are called samapatra . Bombay Gazetteer (1880), XII, p. 121, fn. 1
- ↑ 15 miles north of Supa
- ↑ detailed in: Campbell, James; Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Bombay 1880, Vol.XIX, S 187f ( full text )
- ^ Deccan Riot Commission Report; Bombay 1876
- ↑ Digby, Willam; The Famine Campaign in Southern India, 1876-1878; London 1900, Vol. I, pp. 148-50, 361f