Question

Short note on indigo rebellion of 1857

Answer 1

In India there have been many rebellions before and after 1857 War of Independence. The celebrated English writer Vidiadhar S Naipaul refers to India as ‘Land of Million Mutinys’, his book title.





   Vidiadhar S Naipaul and his book

Indigo, famous Indian export

One among them is the rebellion of Indigo growers in March 1859. Indigo has been a cash crop, a famous export of India for many years.





                   Indigo dye Factory in Bengal, 1850s                                   Indigo Plant

Infact, India had the exclusive technology and monopoly in indigo trade till the blue coloured dye was chemically made in Europe, by Alfred Bob Buyer in 1902.

Forced to grow Indigo

In the 1800s, when the British had a threshing control over India’s economy, trade and its agrarian society, the British traders and rulers directly forced the farmers to grow indigo only repeatedly.

To meet the avarice of the traders, Indigo was heavily grown in crop rotation with rice and other crops, to keep the soil fertility and sustainability.

Farmers become bonded labourers

The British administrators bypassed the zamindars who knew the local system and directly threatened the farmers to grow only indigo. This led to a situation where the farmers became almost like bonded labourers to British administrators.

The Indigo Rebellion

This oppression continued for decades culminating in what is now referred to as indigo rebellion that occurred in Bengal, between 1859 and 1861, couple of years after 1857 War of Independence, which was ruthlessly crushed by the British.