NCERT Textbook - Indigo | English Class 12 PDF Download

 Page 1


Indigo
About the author
Louis Fischer (1896-1970) was born in Philadelphia. He served 
as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. 
Fischer made a career as a journalist and wrote for The New 
York Times, The Saturday Review and for European and Asian 
publications. He was also a member of the faculty at Princeton 
University. The following is an excerpt from his book- The Life of 
Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best 
books ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational Supplement.
Notice these expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  urge the departure ??  harbour a man like me
??  conflict of duties ??  seek a prop
When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in 
central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided 
to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the 
Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2,301 
delegates and many visitors. During the proceedings, Gandhi 
recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant 
in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. 
I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’ 
Gandhi had never heard of the place. It was in the foothills of the 
towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal. 
Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were 
sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate 
but resolute. He had come to the Congress session to complain 
about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar, and somebody 
had probably said, “Speak to Gandhi.”
5
Chap 5.indd   45 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 2


Indigo
About the author
Louis Fischer (1896-1970) was born in Philadelphia. He served 
as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. 
Fischer made a career as a journalist and wrote for The New 
York Times, The Saturday Review and for European and Asian 
publications. He was also a member of the faculty at Princeton 
University. The following is an excerpt from his book- The Life of 
Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best 
books ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational Supplement.
Notice these expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  urge the departure ??  harbour a man like me
??  conflict of duties ??  seek a prop
When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in 
central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided 
to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the 
Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2,301 
delegates and many visitors. During the proceedings, Gandhi 
recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant 
in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. 
I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’ 
Gandhi had never heard of the place. It was in the foothills of the 
towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal. 
Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were 
sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate 
but resolute. He had come to the Congress session to complain 
about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar, and somebody 
had probably said, “Speak to Gandhi.”
5
Chap 5.indd   45 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
46/Flamingo
Gandhi told Shukla he had an appointment in Cawnpore 
and was also committed to go to other parts of India. Shukla 
accompanied him everywhere. Then Gandhi returned to his ashram 
near Ahmedabad. Shukla followed him to the ashram. For weeks 
he never left Gandhi’s side. 
“Fix a date,” he begged.
Impressed by the sharecropper’s 
tenacity and story Gandhi said, ‘‘I 
have to be in Calcutta on such-and-
such a date. Come and meet me and 
take me from there.”
Months passed. Shukla was sitting 
on his haunches at the appointed spot 
in Calcutta when Gandhi arrived; he 
waited till Gandhi was free. Then the 
two of them boarded a train for the city 
of Patna in Bihar. There Shukla led 
him to the house of a lawyer named 
Rajendra Prasad who later became 
President of the Congress party and 
of India. Rajendra Prasad was out of 
town, but the servants knew Shukla as 
a poor yeoman who pestered their master to 
help the indigo sharecroppers. So they let him stay on the grounds with 
his companion, Gandhi, whom they took to be another peasant. But 
Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from the well lest some drops 
from his bucket pollute the entire source; how did they know that he 
was not an untouchable?
Gandhi decided to go first to Muzzafarpur, which was en route to 
Champaran, to obtain more complete information about conditions 
than Shukla was capable of imparting. He accordingly sent a telegram 
to Professor J.B. Kripalani, of the Arts College in Muzzafarpur, whom 
he had seen at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school. The train arrived at 
midnight, 15 April 1917. Kripalani was waiting at the station with 
a large body of students. Gandhi stayed there for two days in the 
home of Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. ‘‘It 
was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,’’ Gandhi commented, 
“for a government professor to harbour a man like me”. In smaller 
1. Strike out what is not true in the 
following.
 a. Rajkumar Shukla was         
 (i) a sharecropper.
 (ii) a politician.
 (iii) delegate     .
 (iv) a landlord.     
 b. Rajkumar Shukla  was       
 (i) poor.
 (ii) physically  strong.    
 (iii) illiterate.   
2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as  
being ‘resolute’?
3. Why do you think the servants thought 
Gandhi to be another peasant?
Chap 5.indd   46 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 3


Indigo
About the author
Louis Fischer (1896-1970) was born in Philadelphia. He served 
as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. 
Fischer made a career as a journalist and wrote for The New 
York Times, The Saturday Review and for European and Asian 
publications. He was also a member of the faculty at Princeton 
University. The following is an excerpt from his book- The Life of 
Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best 
books ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational Supplement.
Notice these expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  urge the departure ??  harbour a man like me
??  conflict of duties ??  seek a prop
When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in 
central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided 
to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the 
Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2,301 
delegates and many visitors. During the proceedings, Gandhi 
recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant 
in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. 
I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’ 
Gandhi had never heard of the place. It was in the foothills of the 
towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal. 
Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were 
sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate 
but resolute. He had come to the Congress session to complain 
about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar, and somebody 
had probably said, “Speak to Gandhi.”
5
Chap 5.indd   45 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
46/Flamingo
Gandhi told Shukla he had an appointment in Cawnpore 
and was also committed to go to other parts of India. Shukla 
accompanied him everywhere. Then Gandhi returned to his ashram 
near Ahmedabad. Shukla followed him to the ashram. For weeks 
he never left Gandhi’s side. 
“Fix a date,” he begged.
Impressed by the sharecropper’s 
tenacity and story Gandhi said, ‘‘I 
have to be in Calcutta on such-and-
such a date. Come and meet me and 
take me from there.”
Months passed. Shukla was sitting 
on his haunches at the appointed spot 
in Calcutta when Gandhi arrived; he 
waited till Gandhi was free. Then the 
two of them boarded a train for the city 
of Patna in Bihar. There Shukla led 
him to the house of a lawyer named 
Rajendra Prasad who later became 
President of the Congress party and 
of India. Rajendra Prasad was out of 
town, but the servants knew Shukla as 
a poor yeoman who pestered their master to 
help the indigo sharecroppers. So they let him stay on the grounds with 
his companion, Gandhi, whom they took to be another peasant. But 
Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from the well lest some drops 
from his bucket pollute the entire source; how did they know that he 
was not an untouchable?
Gandhi decided to go first to Muzzafarpur, which was en route to 
Champaran, to obtain more complete information about conditions 
than Shukla was capable of imparting. He accordingly sent a telegram 
to Professor J.B. Kripalani, of the Arts College in Muzzafarpur, whom 
he had seen at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school. The train arrived at 
midnight, 15 April 1917. Kripalani was waiting at the station with 
a large body of students. Gandhi stayed there for two days in the 
home of Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. ‘‘It 
was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,’’ Gandhi commented, 
“for a government professor to harbour a man like me”. In smaller 
1. Strike out what is not true in the 
following.
 a. Rajkumar Shukla was         
 (i) a sharecropper.
 (ii) a politician.
 (iii) delegate     .
 (iv) a landlord.     
 b. Rajkumar Shukla  was       
 (i) poor.
 (ii) physically  strong.    
 (iii) illiterate.   
2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as  
being ‘resolute’?
3. Why do you think the servants thought 
Gandhi to be another peasant?
Chap 5.indd   46 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Indigo/47
localities, the Indians were 
afraid to show sympathy for 
advocates of home-rule.
The news of Gandhi’s 
advent and of the nature of 
his mission spread quickly 
through Muzzafarpur and to 
Champaran. Sharecroppers 
from Champaran began 
arriving on foot and by 
conveyance to see their 
champion. Muzzafarpur 
lawyers called on Gandhi to 
brief him; they frequently 
represented peasant groups 
in court; they told him about 
their cases and reported the 
size of their fee.
Gandhi chided the lawyers 
for collecting big fee from the 
sharecroppers. He said, ‘‘I 
have come to the conclusion 
that we should stop going to 
law courts. Taking such cases 
to the courts does litte good. 
Where the peasants are so 
crushed and fear-stricken, 
law courts are useless. The 
real relief for them is to be free 
from fear.’’
Most of the arable land 
in the Champaran district 
was divided into large estates 
owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian tenants. The chief 
commercial crop was indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants to 
plant three twentieths or 15 per cent of their holdings with indigo 
and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by 
long-term contract.
Chap 5.indd   47 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 4


Indigo
About the author
Louis Fischer (1896-1970) was born in Philadelphia. He served 
as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. 
Fischer made a career as a journalist and wrote for The New 
York Times, The Saturday Review and for European and Asian 
publications. He was also a member of the faculty at Princeton 
University. The following is an excerpt from his book- The Life of 
Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best 
books ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational Supplement.
Notice these expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  urge the departure ??  harbour a man like me
??  conflict of duties ??  seek a prop
When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in 
central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided 
to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the 
Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2,301 
delegates and many visitors. During the proceedings, Gandhi 
recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant 
in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. 
I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’ 
Gandhi had never heard of the place. It was in the foothills of the 
towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal. 
Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were 
sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate 
but resolute. He had come to the Congress session to complain 
about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar, and somebody 
had probably said, “Speak to Gandhi.”
5
Chap 5.indd   45 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
46/Flamingo
Gandhi told Shukla he had an appointment in Cawnpore 
and was also committed to go to other parts of India. Shukla 
accompanied him everywhere. Then Gandhi returned to his ashram 
near Ahmedabad. Shukla followed him to the ashram. For weeks 
he never left Gandhi’s side. 
“Fix a date,” he begged.
Impressed by the sharecropper’s 
tenacity and story Gandhi said, ‘‘I 
have to be in Calcutta on such-and-
such a date. Come and meet me and 
take me from there.”
Months passed. Shukla was sitting 
on his haunches at the appointed spot 
in Calcutta when Gandhi arrived; he 
waited till Gandhi was free. Then the 
two of them boarded a train for the city 
of Patna in Bihar. There Shukla led 
him to the house of a lawyer named 
Rajendra Prasad who later became 
President of the Congress party and 
of India. Rajendra Prasad was out of 
town, but the servants knew Shukla as 
a poor yeoman who pestered their master to 
help the indigo sharecroppers. So they let him stay on the grounds with 
his companion, Gandhi, whom they took to be another peasant. But 
Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from the well lest some drops 
from his bucket pollute the entire source; how did they know that he 
was not an untouchable?
Gandhi decided to go first to Muzzafarpur, which was en route to 
Champaran, to obtain more complete information about conditions 
than Shukla was capable of imparting. He accordingly sent a telegram 
to Professor J.B. Kripalani, of the Arts College in Muzzafarpur, whom 
he had seen at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school. The train arrived at 
midnight, 15 April 1917. Kripalani was waiting at the station with 
a large body of students. Gandhi stayed there for two days in the 
home of Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. ‘‘It 
was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,’’ Gandhi commented, 
“for a government professor to harbour a man like me”. In smaller 
1. Strike out what is not true in the 
following.
 a. Rajkumar Shukla was         
 (i) a sharecropper.
 (ii) a politician.
 (iii) delegate     .
 (iv) a landlord.     
 b. Rajkumar Shukla  was       
 (i) poor.
 (ii) physically  strong.    
 (iii) illiterate.   
2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as  
being ‘resolute’?
3. Why do you think the servants thought 
Gandhi to be another peasant?
Chap 5.indd   46 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Indigo/47
localities, the Indians were 
afraid to show sympathy for 
advocates of home-rule.
The news of Gandhi’s 
advent and of the nature of 
his mission spread quickly 
through Muzzafarpur and to 
Champaran. Sharecroppers 
from Champaran began 
arriving on foot and by 
conveyance to see their 
champion. Muzzafarpur 
lawyers called on Gandhi to 
brief him; they frequently 
represented peasant groups 
in court; they told him about 
their cases and reported the 
size of their fee.
Gandhi chided the lawyers 
for collecting big fee from the 
sharecroppers. He said, ‘‘I 
have come to the conclusion 
that we should stop going to 
law courts. Taking such cases 
to the courts does litte good. 
Where the peasants are so 
crushed and fear-stricken, 
law courts are useless. The 
real relief for them is to be free 
from fear.’’
Most of the arable land 
in the Champaran district 
was divided into large estates 
owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian tenants. The chief 
commercial crop was indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants to 
plant three twentieths or 15 per cent of their holdings with indigo 
and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by 
long-term contract.
Chap 5.indd   47 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
48/Flamingo
Presently, the landlords learned that 
Germany had developed synthetic indigo. 
They, thereupon, obtained agreements 
from the sharecroppers to pay them 
compensation for being released from the 
15 per cent arrangement. 
The sharecropping arrangement was 
irksome to the peasants, and many signed 
willingly. Those who resisted, engaged 
lawyers; the landlords hired thugs. 
Meanwhile, the information about synthetic 
indigo reached the illiterate peasants who 
had signed, and they wanted their money 
back.
At this point Gandhi arrived in Champaran. 
He began by trying to get the facts. First he visited the secretary 
of the British landlord’s association. The secretary told him that 
they could give no information to an outsider. Gandhi answered 
that he was no outsider.
Next, Gandhi called on the British official commissioner of 
the Tirhut division in which the Champaran district lay. ‘‘The 
commissioner,’’ Gandhi reports, ‘‘proceeded to bully me and advised 
me forthwith to leave Tirhut.’’
Gandhi did not leave. Instead he proceeded to Motihari, the capital 
of Champaran. Several lawyers accompanied him. At the railway 
station, a vast multitude greeted Gandhi. He went to a house and, 
using it as headquarters, continued his investigations. A report came 
in that a peasant had been maltreated in a nearby village. Gandhi 
decided to go and see; the next morning he started out on the back of an 
elephant. He had not proceeded far when the police superintendent’s 
messenger overtook him and ordered him to return to town in his 
carriage. Gandhi complied. The messenger drove Gandhi home where 
he served him with an official notice to quit Champaran immediately. 
Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice and wrote on it that he would 
disobey the order. 
In consequence, Gandhi received a summons to appear in 
court the next day. 
1.  List the places that Gandhi 
visited between his first 
meeting with Shukla and his 
arrival at Champaran.
2.   What did the peasants pay 
the British landlords as 
rent? What did the British 
now want instead and why? 
What would be the impact of 
synthetic indigo on the prices 
of natural indigo?
Chap 5.indd   48 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Page 5


Indigo
About the author
Louis Fischer (1896-1970) was born in Philadelphia. He served 
as a volunteer in the British Army between 1918 and 1920. 
Fischer made a career as a journalist and wrote for The New 
York Times, The Saturday Review and for European and Asian 
publications. He was also a member of the faculty at Princeton 
University. The following is an excerpt from his book- The Life of 
Mahatma Gandhi. The book has been reviewed as one of the best 
books ever written on Gandhi by Times Educational Supplement.
Notice these expressions in the text.
Infer their meaning from the context.
??  urge the departure ??  harbour a man like me
??  conflict of duties ??  seek a prop
When I first visited Gandhi in 1942 at his ashram in Sevagram, in 
central India, he said, “I will tell you how it happened that I decided 
to urge the departure of the British. It was in 1917.”
He had gone to the December 1916 annual convention of the 
Indian National Congress party in Lucknow. There were 2,301 
delegates and many visitors. During the proceedings, Gandhi 
recounted, “a peasant came up to me looking like any other peasant 
in India, poor and emaciated, and said, ‘I am Rajkumar Shukla. 
I am from Champaran, and I want you to come to my district’!’’ 
Gandhi had never heard of the place. It was in the foothills of the 
towering Himalayas, near the kingdom of Nepal. 
Under an ancient arrangement, the Champaran peasants were 
sharecroppers. Rajkumar Shukla was one of them. He was illiterate 
but resolute. He had come to the Congress session to complain 
about the injustice of the landlord system in Bihar, and somebody 
had probably said, “Speak to Gandhi.”
5
Chap 5.indd   45 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
46/Flamingo
Gandhi told Shukla he had an appointment in Cawnpore 
and was also committed to go to other parts of India. Shukla 
accompanied him everywhere. Then Gandhi returned to his ashram 
near Ahmedabad. Shukla followed him to the ashram. For weeks 
he never left Gandhi’s side. 
“Fix a date,” he begged.
Impressed by the sharecropper’s 
tenacity and story Gandhi said, ‘‘I 
have to be in Calcutta on such-and-
such a date. Come and meet me and 
take me from there.”
Months passed. Shukla was sitting 
on his haunches at the appointed spot 
in Calcutta when Gandhi arrived; he 
waited till Gandhi was free. Then the 
two of them boarded a train for the city 
of Patna in Bihar. There Shukla led 
him to the house of a lawyer named 
Rajendra Prasad who later became 
President of the Congress party and 
of India. Rajendra Prasad was out of 
town, but the servants knew Shukla as 
a poor yeoman who pestered their master to 
help the indigo sharecroppers. So they let him stay on the grounds with 
his companion, Gandhi, whom they took to be another peasant. But 
Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from the well lest some drops 
from his bucket pollute the entire source; how did they know that he 
was not an untouchable?
Gandhi decided to go first to Muzzafarpur, which was en route to 
Champaran, to obtain more complete information about conditions 
than Shukla was capable of imparting. He accordingly sent a telegram 
to Professor J.B. Kripalani, of the Arts College in Muzzafarpur, whom 
he had seen at Tagore’s Shantiniketan school. The train arrived at 
midnight, 15 April 1917. Kripalani was waiting at the station with 
a large body of students. Gandhi stayed there for two days in the 
home of Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. ‘‘It 
was an extraordinary thing ‘in those days,’’ Gandhi commented, 
“for a government professor to harbour a man like me”. In smaller 
1. Strike out what is not true in the 
following.
 a. Rajkumar Shukla was         
 (i) a sharecropper.
 (ii) a politician.
 (iii) delegate     .
 (iv) a landlord.     
 b. Rajkumar Shukla  was       
 (i) poor.
 (ii) physically  strong.    
 (iii) illiterate.   
2. Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as  
being ‘resolute’?
3. Why do you think the servants thought 
Gandhi to be another peasant?
Chap 5.indd   46 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Indigo/47
localities, the Indians were 
afraid to show sympathy for 
advocates of home-rule.
The news of Gandhi’s 
advent and of the nature of 
his mission spread quickly 
through Muzzafarpur and to 
Champaran. Sharecroppers 
from Champaran began 
arriving on foot and by 
conveyance to see their 
champion. Muzzafarpur 
lawyers called on Gandhi to 
brief him; they frequently 
represented peasant groups 
in court; they told him about 
their cases and reported the 
size of their fee.
Gandhi chided the lawyers 
for collecting big fee from the 
sharecroppers. He said, ‘‘I 
have come to the conclusion 
that we should stop going to 
law courts. Taking such cases 
to the courts does litte good. 
Where the peasants are so 
crushed and fear-stricken, 
law courts are useless. The 
real relief for them is to be free 
from fear.’’
Most of the arable land 
in the Champaran district 
was divided into large estates 
owned by Englishmen and worked by Indian tenants. The chief 
commercial crop was indigo. The landlords compelled all tenants to 
plant three twentieths or 15 per cent of their holdings with indigo 
and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent. This was done by 
long-term contract.
Chap 5.indd   47 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
48/Flamingo
Presently, the landlords learned that 
Germany had developed synthetic indigo. 
They, thereupon, obtained agreements 
from the sharecroppers to pay them 
compensation for being released from the 
15 per cent arrangement. 
The sharecropping arrangement was 
irksome to the peasants, and many signed 
willingly. Those who resisted, engaged 
lawyers; the landlords hired thugs. 
Meanwhile, the information about synthetic 
indigo reached the illiterate peasants who 
had signed, and they wanted their money 
back.
At this point Gandhi arrived in Champaran. 
He began by trying to get the facts. First he visited the secretary 
of the British landlord’s association. The secretary told him that 
they could give no information to an outsider. Gandhi answered 
that he was no outsider.
Next, Gandhi called on the British official commissioner of 
the Tirhut division in which the Champaran district lay. ‘‘The 
commissioner,’’ Gandhi reports, ‘‘proceeded to bully me and advised 
me forthwith to leave Tirhut.’’
Gandhi did not leave. Instead he proceeded to Motihari, the capital 
of Champaran. Several lawyers accompanied him. At the railway 
station, a vast multitude greeted Gandhi. He went to a house and, 
using it as headquarters, continued his investigations. A report came 
in that a peasant had been maltreated in a nearby village. Gandhi 
decided to go and see; the next morning he started out on the back of an 
elephant. He had not proceeded far when the police superintendent’s 
messenger overtook him and ordered him to return to town in his 
carriage. Gandhi complied. The messenger drove Gandhi home where 
he served him with an official notice to quit Champaran immediately. 
Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice and wrote on it that he would 
disobey the order. 
In consequence, Gandhi received a summons to appear in 
court the next day. 
1.  List the places that Gandhi 
visited between his first 
meeting with Shukla and his 
arrival at Champaran.
2.   What did the peasants pay 
the British landlords as 
rent? What did the British 
now want instead and why? 
What would be the impact of 
synthetic indigo on the prices 
of natural indigo?
Chap 5.indd   48 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26
Indigo/49
All night Gandhi remained awake. He telegraphed Rajendra 
Prasad to come from Bihar with influential friends. He sent 
instructions to the ashram. He wired a full report to the Viceroy.
Morning found the town of Motihari black with peasants. They 
did not know Gandhi’s record in South Africa. They had merely 
heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them was in trouble with 
the authorities. Their spontaneous demonstration, in thousands, 
around the courthouse was the beginning of their liberation from 
fear of the British.
The officials felt powerless without Gandhi’s cooperation. He 
helped them regulate the crowd. He was polite and friendly. He was 
giving them concrete proof that their might, hitherto dreaded and 
unquestioned, could be challenged by Indians.
The government was baffled. The prosecutor requested the 
judge to postpone the trial. Apparently, the authorities wished to 
consult their superiors.
Gandhi protested against the delay. He read a statement pleading 
guilty. He was involved, he told the court, in a “conflict of duties”— on 
the one hand, not to set a bad example as a lawbreaker; on the other 
hand, to render the “humanitarian and national service” for which he 
had come. He disregarded the order to leave, “not for want of respect 
for lawful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our being, 
the voice of conscience”. He asked the penalty due. 
The magistrate announced that he would pronounce sentence 
after a two-hour recess and asked Gandhi to furnish bail for those 
120 minutes. Gandhi refused. The judge released him without bail.
When the court reconvened, the judge said he would not deliver 
the judgment for several days. Meanwhile he allowed Gandhi to 
remain at liberty.
Rajendra Prasad, Brij Kishor Babu, Maulana Mazharul Huq 
and several other prominent lawyers had arrived from Bihar. They 
conferred with Gandhi. What would they do if he was sentenced to 
prison, Gandhi asked. Why, the senior lawyer replied, they had come 
to advise and help him; if he went to jail there would be nobody to 
advise and they would go home.
What about the injustice to the sharecroppers, Gandhi 
demanded. The lawyers withdrew to consult. Rajendra Prasad 
Chap 5.indd   49 12/11/2024   11:20:07 AM
Reprint 2025-26