Curbs on Free Speech Are Justified in the Interests of Social Harmony
257
THEME
TEN
Colonialism and the Countryside
Exploring Off Archives Explor ing Of f icial Ar c hiv es
In this chapter you will see what colonial rule meant to those who lived in the countryside. You will meet the zamindars of Bengal, travel to the Rajmahal hills where the Paharias and the Santhals lived, and then move west to the Deccan. You will look at the way the English East India Company (E.I.C.) established its raj in the countryside, implemented its revenue policies, what these policies meant to different sections of people, and how they changed everyday lives. Laws introduced by the state have consequences for people: they determine to an extent who grows richer and who poorer, who acquires new land and who loses the land they have lived on, where peasants go when they need money. As you will see, however, people were not only subject to the working of laws, they also resisted the law by acting according to what they believed to be just. In doing so people defined the way in which laws operated, thereby modifying their consequences. You will also come to know about the sources that tell us about these histories, and the problems historians face in interpreting them. You will read about revenue records and surveys, journals and accounts left by surveyors and travellers, and reports produced by enquiry commissions.
T li R b E u C p N re © e b to t o n
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Fig. 10.1 Cotton being carried from the village to the mandi, Illustrated London News, 20 April 1861
258
THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III
1. Bengal and the Zamindars
As you know, colonial rule was first established in Bengal. It is here that the earliest attempts were made to reorder rural society and establish a new regime of land rights and a new revenue system. Let us see what happened in Bengal in the early years of Company (E.I.C.) rule. 1.1 An auction in Burdwan In 1797 there was an auction in Burdwan (presentday Bardhaman). It was a big public event. A
THEME
TEN
Colonialism and the Countryside
Exploring Off Archives Explor ing Of f icial Ar c hiv es
In this chapter you will see what colonial rule meant to those who lived in the countryside. You will meet the zamindars of Bengal, travel to the Rajmahal hills where the Paharias and the Santhals lived, and then move west to the Deccan. You will look at the way the English East India Company (E.I.C.) established its raj in the countryside, implemented its revenue policies, what these policies meant to different sections of people, and how they changed everyday lives. Laws introduced by the state have consequences for people: they determine to an extent who grows richer and who poorer, who acquires new land and who loses the land they have lived on, where peasants go when they need money. As you will see, however, people were not only subject to the working of laws, they also resisted the law by acting according to what they believed to be just. In doing so people defined the way in which laws operated, thereby modifying their consequences. You will also come to know about the sources that tell us about these histories, and the problems historians face in interpreting them. You will read about revenue records and surveys, journals and accounts left by surveyors and travellers, and reports produced by enquiry commissions.
T li R b E u C p N re © e b to t o n
h s
d e
Fig. 10.1 Cotton being carried from the village to the mandi, Illustrated London News, 20 April 1861
258
THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY – PART III
1. Bengal and the Zamindars
As you know, colonial rule was first established in Bengal. It is here that the earliest attempts were made to reorder rural society and establish a new regime of land rights and a new revenue system. Let us see what happened in Bengal in the early years of Company (E.I.C.) rule. 1.1 An auction in Burdwan In 1797 there was an auction in Burdwan (presentday Bardhaman). It was a big public event. A