Resistance and Insurrection | Maharashtra State PSC (MPSC): Preparation - MPSC (Maharastra) PDF Download

 Page 1


RESISTANCE AND INSURRECTION
INTRODUCTION
 
:
While the educated in Bombay and Poona were exploring the
marvels of New Science and thanking God for the blessings of the British
Rule, less advanced sections of the Society like the tribals hill-man and
peasants were facing a bleak future for their home and hearth.  The
foreign rule had uprooted them completely. The Ramoshis, Bhils and
Kolis from western Maharashtra vigorously opposed the new laws and
the wicked systems which the British rulers had introduced.
Page 2


RESISTANCE AND INSURRECTION
INTRODUCTION
 
:
While the educated in Bombay and Poona were exploring the
marvels of New Science and thanking God for the blessings of the British
Rule, less advanced sections of the Society like the tribals hill-man and
peasants were facing a bleak future for their home and hearth.  The
foreign rule had uprooted them completely. The Ramoshis, Bhils and
Kolis from western Maharashtra vigorously opposed the new laws and
the wicked systems which the British rulers had introduced.
The towns and cities might have been charmed by new schools,
periodicals, books, steam boats and a railway line from  Bombay to
kalyan but the village folks were undergoing the fortune of merciless
land laws and the oppressive systems of revenue and judicial
administration.  Land had become a market commodity and hadicrafts
were ruined because of the imports of machine made goods from
England.  The villagers and cultivators had a very grim future because
they were being thrown out of their hereditary land and occupation, those
who lost their means of livelihood crowded into agriculture and the
frequent famines and demand for cash-crops drove them to desperation.
The armed revolts of the tribals and later on the peasant did not
evoke any sympathy from the educated class.  Even the Great Revolt of
1857 was dismissed as the whimper  of a decayed feudal order by the
English educated people.  The peasants and craftsmen were busy with
the problem of the security of livelihood and thus the Revolt of 1857
could hardly inspire them to action for political gains.
The suppression of the revoIts and Insurrection by the Ramoshis,
Bhils and Kolis was not an easy task. The peasant revolts of 1860s and
1870s were put down with a heavy hand. This attracted the attention of
the new middle class which was rising in the cities of Bombay and Poona.
They began to perceive new meaning and a new line of action.
In some cases, some idealistic individuals, inspired by highly
nationalistic and emotional  writings, convinced that the British rule was
leading Indian society and culture downhill towards decline, wanted to
overthrow it. Fired by such idealism, they  attempted insurrections as in
the case of the revolt by Phadke.
THE RISING OF THE RAMOSIS AT POONA (1826-29) :
The Ramosis served in the Maratha police administration in the
lower ranks.  After the final defeat of the Marathas in 1818, the British
administration of the Bombay Province found it difficult to restore order
in the region immediately. The new administration was unable to absorb
the Ramosis in the police administration. Consequently, a vast body of
unemployed but armed men, including the Ramosis, were thrown upon
the former territories of the Peshwa. They were prepared to join anyone
who would provide them suitable employment, and even to help in the
attempt to overthrow the British power.
In 1825, the economic distress resulting from scarcity, and
reduction in the number of soldiers in the local Poona garrison, adversely
affected the Ramosis. Hence, under the leadership of Umaji Naik and
his associate, Bapu Trimbakji Sawant, they rose in revolt and resorted
to outlawry. From 1826 to 1829, they committed many excesses in the
Page 3


RESISTANCE AND INSURRECTION
INTRODUCTION
 
:
While the educated in Bombay and Poona were exploring the
marvels of New Science and thanking God for the blessings of the British
Rule, less advanced sections of the Society like the tribals hill-man and
peasants were facing a bleak future for their home and hearth.  The
foreign rule had uprooted them completely. The Ramoshis, Bhils and
Kolis from western Maharashtra vigorously opposed the new laws and
the wicked systems which the British rulers had introduced.
The towns and cities might have been charmed by new schools,
periodicals, books, steam boats and a railway line from  Bombay to
kalyan but the village folks were undergoing the fortune of merciless
land laws and the oppressive systems of revenue and judicial
administration.  Land had become a market commodity and hadicrafts
were ruined because of the imports of machine made goods from
England.  The villagers and cultivators had a very grim future because
they were being thrown out of their hereditary land and occupation, those
who lost their means of livelihood crowded into agriculture and the
frequent famines and demand for cash-crops drove them to desperation.
The armed revolts of the tribals and later on the peasant did not
evoke any sympathy from the educated class.  Even the Great Revolt of
1857 was dismissed as the whimper  of a decayed feudal order by the
English educated people.  The peasants and craftsmen were busy with
the problem of the security of livelihood and thus the Revolt of 1857
could hardly inspire them to action for political gains.
The suppression of the revoIts and Insurrection by the Ramoshis,
Bhils and Kolis was not an easy task. The peasant revolts of 1860s and
1870s were put down with a heavy hand. This attracted the attention of
the new middle class which was rising in the cities of Bombay and Poona.
They began to perceive new meaning and a new line of action.
In some cases, some idealistic individuals, inspired by highly
nationalistic and emotional  writings, convinced that the British rule was
leading Indian society and culture downhill towards decline, wanted to
overthrow it. Fired by such idealism, they  attempted insurrections as in
the case of the revolt by Phadke.
THE RISING OF THE RAMOSIS AT POONA (1826-29) :
The Ramosis served in the Maratha police administration in the
lower ranks.  After the final defeat of the Marathas in 1818, the British
administration of the Bombay Province found it difficult to restore order
in the region immediately. The new administration was unable to absorb
the Ramosis in the police administration. Consequently, a vast body of
unemployed but armed men, including the Ramosis, were thrown upon
the former territories of the Peshwa. They were prepared to join anyone
who would provide them suitable employment, and even to help in the
attempt to overthrow the British power.
In 1825, the economic distress resulting from scarcity, and
reduction in the number of soldiers in the local Poona garrison, adversely
affected the Ramosis. Hence, under the leadership of Umaji Naik and
his associate, Bapu Trimbakji Sawant, they rose in revolt and resorted
to outlawry. From 1826 to 1829, they committed many excesses in the
hills around the fort of Torna. They proved to be so turbulent that the
Government was forced to pardon many of their crimes and placated
them by granting lands as well as by recruiting them as hill police.
However, their risings were quelled by the British garrison. Nevertheless.
the Ramosis continued to cause trouble to the authorities by attacking
their oppressors like money-lenders.
 
THE
 
RISING
 
OF
 
THE
 
BHILS
 
:
The Bhils were primitive and predatory peoples. Their settlements
were scattered in the Western Ghats and in the Country at its base.
Their stronghold was in Khandesh. They controlled the mountain passes
between the north and the Deccan. In open country-side, they lived quietly
as cultivators, and proprietors of the soil. However, in the hilly region,
they subsisted on the plunder of the rich land-holders in the
neighborhood. They had suffered exploitation and depredations at the
hands of the Marathas and others and from the famine of 1802-04.
All these exciting causes rendered the conditions of Khandesh
where the Bhils were in the majority, highly anarchical. Thus driven by
wars and pestilence, against which they had no protection the Bhils,
refractory by temperament. entrenched themselves in the mountains
under the leadership of their chiefs, the occupation of the Province of
Khandesh by the British in 1818, naturally increased their restlessness.
The Satpuras were the nest of these disaffected Bhils in the North, and
Satmala and Ajanta in the South. Here, different organised gangs of the
Bhils were led by thirty two leaders.
In 1817, an insurrection of the Bhils broke out in Khandesh,
presumably stirred by Trimbakji after his escape from the fort of Thana.
When the British (Elphinstone) put pressure upon Peshwa Baji Rao II to
secure the seizure and arrest of Trimbakji, the Bhils turned anti-British
and rose in revolt against them. Their explosion presented a tempestuous
scene of a tremendous popular upsurge, and according to S.B.Chudhury
“this stirred the country to its depth.” The Government of Bombay used
severe military action against them and simultaneously used judicious
conciliatory measures to stop the eruption of the Bhils.
Page 4


RESISTANCE AND INSURRECTION
INTRODUCTION
 
:
While the educated in Bombay and Poona were exploring the
marvels of New Science and thanking God for the blessings of the British
Rule, less advanced sections of the Society like the tribals hill-man and
peasants were facing a bleak future for their home and hearth.  The
foreign rule had uprooted them completely. The Ramoshis, Bhils and
Kolis from western Maharashtra vigorously opposed the new laws and
the wicked systems which the British rulers had introduced.
The towns and cities might have been charmed by new schools,
periodicals, books, steam boats and a railway line from  Bombay to
kalyan but the village folks were undergoing the fortune of merciless
land laws and the oppressive systems of revenue and judicial
administration.  Land had become a market commodity and hadicrafts
were ruined because of the imports of machine made goods from
England.  The villagers and cultivators had a very grim future because
they were being thrown out of their hereditary land and occupation, those
who lost their means of livelihood crowded into agriculture and the
frequent famines and demand for cash-crops drove them to desperation.
The armed revolts of the tribals and later on the peasant did not
evoke any sympathy from the educated class.  Even the Great Revolt of
1857 was dismissed as the whimper  of a decayed feudal order by the
English educated people.  The peasants and craftsmen were busy with
the problem of the security of livelihood and thus the Revolt of 1857
could hardly inspire them to action for political gains.
The suppression of the revoIts and Insurrection by the Ramoshis,
Bhils and Kolis was not an easy task. The peasant revolts of 1860s and
1870s were put down with a heavy hand. This attracted the attention of
the new middle class which was rising in the cities of Bombay and Poona.
They began to perceive new meaning and a new line of action.
In some cases, some idealistic individuals, inspired by highly
nationalistic and emotional  writings, convinced that the British rule was
leading Indian society and culture downhill towards decline, wanted to
overthrow it. Fired by such idealism, they  attempted insurrections as in
the case of the revolt by Phadke.
THE RISING OF THE RAMOSIS AT POONA (1826-29) :
The Ramosis served in the Maratha police administration in the
lower ranks.  After the final defeat of the Marathas in 1818, the British
administration of the Bombay Province found it difficult to restore order
in the region immediately. The new administration was unable to absorb
the Ramosis in the police administration. Consequently, a vast body of
unemployed but armed men, including the Ramosis, were thrown upon
the former territories of the Peshwa. They were prepared to join anyone
who would provide them suitable employment, and even to help in the
attempt to overthrow the British power.
In 1825, the economic distress resulting from scarcity, and
reduction in the number of soldiers in the local Poona garrison, adversely
affected the Ramosis. Hence, under the leadership of Umaji Naik and
his associate, Bapu Trimbakji Sawant, they rose in revolt and resorted
to outlawry. From 1826 to 1829, they committed many excesses in the
hills around the fort of Torna. They proved to be so turbulent that the
Government was forced to pardon many of their crimes and placated
them by granting lands as well as by recruiting them as hill police.
However, their risings were quelled by the British garrison. Nevertheless.
the Ramosis continued to cause trouble to the authorities by attacking
their oppressors like money-lenders.
 
THE
 
RISING
 
OF
 
THE
 
BHILS
 
:
The Bhils were primitive and predatory peoples. Their settlements
were scattered in the Western Ghats and in the Country at its base.
Their stronghold was in Khandesh. They controlled the mountain passes
between the north and the Deccan. In open country-side, they lived quietly
as cultivators, and proprietors of the soil. However, in the hilly region,
they subsisted on the plunder of the rich land-holders in the
neighborhood. They had suffered exploitation and depredations at the
hands of the Marathas and others and from the famine of 1802-04.
All these exciting causes rendered the conditions of Khandesh
where the Bhils were in the majority, highly anarchical. Thus driven by
wars and pestilence, against which they had no protection the Bhils,
refractory by temperament. entrenched themselves in the mountains
under the leadership of their chiefs, the occupation of the Province of
Khandesh by the British in 1818, naturally increased their restlessness.
The Satpuras were the nest of these disaffected Bhils in the North, and
Satmala and Ajanta in the South. Here, different organised gangs of the
Bhils were led by thirty two leaders.
In 1817, an insurrection of the Bhils broke out in Khandesh,
presumably stirred by Trimbakji after his escape from the fort of Thana.
When the British (Elphinstone) put pressure upon Peshwa Baji Rao II to
secure the seizure and arrest of Trimbakji, the Bhils turned anti-British
and rose in revolt against them. Their explosion presented a tempestuous
scene of a tremendous popular upsurge, and according to S.B.Chudhury
“this stirred the country to its depth.” The Government of Bombay used
severe military action against them and simultaneously used judicious
conciliatory measures to stop the eruption of the Bhils.
In the following year the Bhils broke out in a general insurrection
on all sides and ravaged the neighbouring plains. The British had to
employ several detachments to suppress them. The trouble continued
until 1831 inspite of vigorous military measures of the Government.
Gradually the dual measures of coercion, anti -conciliation, at which the
British were the past- masters, succeeded in quelling the disturbances
of the Bhils and converting them into peaceful cultivators. Although a
section of the Bhils once again broke out in revolt in Malwa in 1846, the
rising was suppressed. The two and a half decades of struggle with the
British cost them very dearly. Not only many of their leaders were killed
or captured but a large number of them were killed and their settlements
were destroyed their new conquerors.
THE
 
RISING
 
OF
 
THE
 
KOLIS
 
(1828-30,
 
1839
 
AND
1844-48) :
The Kolis were neighbours of the Bhils, and lived in the country
both above and below the Sahyadri in the Thana District, they were
scattered over the whole area from the borders of Kutch to the Western
Ghats. They were by nature a turbulent people. The British had the first
taste of the Koli intransigence in 1824 when Kolis of Gujarat raised a
formidable insurrection, burning and plundering villages right upto
Baroda. Only the use of force strong enough to quell the activities of the
desperadoes could check their excesses.
The Kolis revolted again in 1828 because most of them had been
thrown out of employment by the dismantling of forts by the British, thereby
depriving them of their livelihood. Inspired by successful insurrection of
the Ramosis of Satara, the Kolis under the leadership of Ramji
Bhungeria, (a Koli officer of the Government who had resigned in protest
against a government order stopping his levy of rupees fifty) raised the
standard of revolt in 1828. A large body of troops had to be sent against
them, and detachments had to be posted at Konkan and Sahyadri to
prevent them from escaping from the combing operations of the British
troops.
The Kolis proved to be a thorn in the flesh of the British Government.
They posed a serious menace when in 1839 bands of Kolis plundered
Page 5


RESISTANCE AND INSURRECTION
INTRODUCTION
 
:
While the educated in Bombay and Poona were exploring the
marvels of New Science and thanking God for the blessings of the British
Rule, less advanced sections of the Society like the tribals hill-man and
peasants were facing a bleak future for their home and hearth.  The
foreign rule had uprooted them completely. The Ramoshis, Bhils and
Kolis from western Maharashtra vigorously opposed the new laws and
the wicked systems which the British rulers had introduced.
The towns and cities might have been charmed by new schools,
periodicals, books, steam boats and a railway line from  Bombay to
kalyan but the village folks were undergoing the fortune of merciless
land laws and the oppressive systems of revenue and judicial
administration.  Land had become a market commodity and hadicrafts
were ruined because of the imports of machine made goods from
England.  The villagers and cultivators had a very grim future because
they were being thrown out of their hereditary land and occupation, those
who lost their means of livelihood crowded into agriculture and the
frequent famines and demand for cash-crops drove them to desperation.
The armed revolts of the tribals and later on the peasant did not
evoke any sympathy from the educated class.  Even the Great Revolt of
1857 was dismissed as the whimper  of a decayed feudal order by the
English educated people.  The peasants and craftsmen were busy with
the problem of the security of livelihood and thus the Revolt of 1857
could hardly inspire them to action for political gains.
The suppression of the revoIts and Insurrection by the Ramoshis,
Bhils and Kolis was not an easy task. The peasant revolts of 1860s and
1870s were put down with a heavy hand. This attracted the attention of
the new middle class which was rising in the cities of Bombay and Poona.
They began to perceive new meaning and a new line of action.
In some cases, some idealistic individuals, inspired by highly
nationalistic and emotional  writings, convinced that the British rule was
leading Indian society and culture downhill towards decline, wanted to
overthrow it. Fired by such idealism, they  attempted insurrections as in
the case of the revolt by Phadke.
THE RISING OF THE RAMOSIS AT POONA (1826-29) :
The Ramosis served in the Maratha police administration in the
lower ranks.  After the final defeat of the Marathas in 1818, the British
administration of the Bombay Province found it difficult to restore order
in the region immediately. The new administration was unable to absorb
the Ramosis in the police administration. Consequently, a vast body of
unemployed but armed men, including the Ramosis, were thrown upon
the former territories of the Peshwa. They were prepared to join anyone
who would provide them suitable employment, and even to help in the
attempt to overthrow the British power.
In 1825, the economic distress resulting from scarcity, and
reduction in the number of soldiers in the local Poona garrison, adversely
affected the Ramosis. Hence, under the leadership of Umaji Naik and
his associate, Bapu Trimbakji Sawant, they rose in revolt and resorted
to outlawry. From 1826 to 1829, they committed many excesses in the
hills around the fort of Torna. They proved to be so turbulent that the
Government was forced to pardon many of their crimes and placated
them by granting lands as well as by recruiting them as hill police.
However, their risings were quelled by the British garrison. Nevertheless.
the Ramosis continued to cause trouble to the authorities by attacking
their oppressors like money-lenders.
 
THE
 
RISING
 
OF
 
THE
 
BHILS
 
:
The Bhils were primitive and predatory peoples. Their settlements
were scattered in the Western Ghats and in the Country at its base.
Their stronghold was in Khandesh. They controlled the mountain passes
between the north and the Deccan. In open country-side, they lived quietly
as cultivators, and proprietors of the soil. However, in the hilly region,
they subsisted on the plunder of the rich land-holders in the
neighborhood. They had suffered exploitation and depredations at the
hands of the Marathas and others and from the famine of 1802-04.
All these exciting causes rendered the conditions of Khandesh
where the Bhils were in the majority, highly anarchical. Thus driven by
wars and pestilence, against which they had no protection the Bhils,
refractory by temperament. entrenched themselves in the mountains
under the leadership of their chiefs, the occupation of the Province of
Khandesh by the British in 1818, naturally increased their restlessness.
The Satpuras were the nest of these disaffected Bhils in the North, and
Satmala and Ajanta in the South. Here, different organised gangs of the
Bhils were led by thirty two leaders.
In 1817, an insurrection of the Bhils broke out in Khandesh,
presumably stirred by Trimbakji after his escape from the fort of Thana.
When the British (Elphinstone) put pressure upon Peshwa Baji Rao II to
secure the seizure and arrest of Trimbakji, the Bhils turned anti-British
and rose in revolt against them. Their explosion presented a tempestuous
scene of a tremendous popular upsurge, and according to S.B.Chudhury
“this stirred the country to its depth.” The Government of Bombay used
severe military action against them and simultaneously used judicious
conciliatory measures to stop the eruption of the Bhils.
In the following year the Bhils broke out in a general insurrection
on all sides and ravaged the neighbouring plains. The British had to
employ several detachments to suppress them. The trouble continued
until 1831 inspite of vigorous military measures of the Government.
Gradually the dual measures of coercion, anti -conciliation, at which the
British were the past- masters, succeeded in quelling the disturbances
of the Bhils and converting them into peaceful cultivators. Although a
section of the Bhils once again broke out in revolt in Malwa in 1846, the
rising was suppressed. The two and a half decades of struggle with the
British cost them very dearly. Not only many of their leaders were killed
or captured but a large number of them were killed and their settlements
were destroyed their new conquerors.
THE
 
RISING
 
OF
 
THE
 
KOLIS
 
(1828-30,
 
1839
 
AND
1844-48) :
The Kolis were neighbours of the Bhils, and lived in the country
both above and below the Sahyadri in the Thana District, they were
scattered over the whole area from the borders of Kutch to the Western
Ghats. They were by nature a turbulent people. The British had the first
taste of the Koli intransigence in 1824 when Kolis of Gujarat raised a
formidable insurrection, burning and plundering villages right upto
Baroda. Only the use of force strong enough to quell the activities of the
desperadoes could check their excesses.
The Kolis revolted again in 1828 because most of them had been
thrown out of employment by the dismantling of forts by the British, thereby
depriving them of their livelihood. Inspired by successful insurrection of
the Ramosis of Satara, the Kolis under the leadership of Ramji
Bhungeria, (a Koli officer of the Government who had resigned in protest
against a government order stopping his levy of rupees fifty) raised the
standard of revolt in 1828. A large body of troops had to be sent against
them, and detachments had to be posted at Konkan and Sahyadri to
prevent them from escaping from the combing operations of the British
troops.
The Kolis proved to be a thorn in the flesh of the British Government.
They posed a serious menace when in 1839 bands of Kolis plundered
a large number of villages in the Sahyadri. They were joined by other
turbulent elements of the hills. Both R.C.Majumdar and S.B.Chaudhary
point out that in these risings, the Kolis were led by three Brahmins
(Bhau Khare, Chimnaji Jadhav and Nanan Dharbhare) who seemed to
have harboured some political motives. To quote Majumdar, they “felt
strong enough to work for the restoration of the Peshwa, as the strength
of the Poona garrison had lately been reduced. The rebels assumed
the charge of the Government in the name of the Peshwa. But the British
acted swiftly and their prompt action averted a crisis. The British forces
attacked the Kolis dispersed their bands captured and arrested many
fifty four of whom were tried and punished with varying terms of
imprisonment; some were hanged, including a Brahmin, by name
Ramchandra Ganesh Gore.
The Kolis were not the ones to give in easily; they broke into revolt
again in 1844. Their leaders this time were Raghu Bangria and Bapu
Bangria. Starting from their headquarters in the country side to the north-
west of Poona, they carried on their looting and plunder in the districts
of Nasik and Ahmadnagar. Next year the Koli disturbances spread as
far as Purandhar and Satara. The situation appeared to  be desperate,
until a strong military force brought the situation under control. Bapu
Bangria was caught but Raghu Bangria eluded the vigilance of the police.
He had tremendous influence over the minds of the people and “lived on
blackmail levied from Poona and Thana Villages”. Finally he was
arrested on 2 
nd
January, 1848 and hanged. By 1850, the Koli rebellion
had been crushed.
It is significant to note that during the Koli rebelion of May 1845,
Umaji, the leader of the Ramosi uprising of 1825, had also joined the
Kolis at Purandhar  lawless activities. Further, in 1873, Honya, an
influential Koli, raised a well-trained band of followers in the north west
of Poona, and began a series of attacks on the moneylenders “who
habitually cheat and oppress the hill-tribes and at intervals drive them
into crime.” Though Honya was caught in 1875, the spirit of insurrection
was spread from the Kolis to the peace-loving Kunbis of the plains.
Between May and July, 1875 over a dozen assaults were committed on
money- Ienders by the insurrectionists. The authorities had to summon
troops to restore order.
Again, during the revolt of Phadke in 1879. the peace around
Poona was disturbed by two gangs: one of the Kolis and the other of the
Ramosis. No fewer than fifty nine robberies were committed by the gangs.
It took a lot of hard work for the police and the troops to effectively curb
the violent activities of these two gangs.