GA DHI

I eRA PAR

D. G. TE DULK R

THE PUBLl TIO DIVl · lON .MlNlST'R.V OF INFORMATION AND OAOOAST

00 OF INDIA

:Pt1JUlIUl'> Ulfl) TID Jt; CD OY Tn JltBAJl OOVDJftO!CT

OcllllKr 2, }957: 10 ~ 1879

U. A. S. ANGAlOR£ U IVERsrry LIBRARY.

Ace. CL. HO ..... " .... ~ •• 4 ..... '_lF .... _. __

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nm small book with a simple title contains the forty-year old story or Gandhiji'sfirst satyagraba on ]ndian 'I. cc.ounts of that t

have ap~. in various forms, one of them written b no I personage than Dr. Rajendra ~ra.tad. who joined G ndhiji a c0-

worker even as early as that campaign. That story is nn:rtnt d here () again, but it has been enriched by the uthOl' with fresh mat.crial from Government and other records which Vi n t

available earlier. bri D. O. Tendulkar visited the area nd thered some information from local IOUr<:es also. The genua! re der is lure

to find this new book on an old subject inviting. The theme is IUch

that it can lose neither its lesson nor its interest. The scene is laid in the district of mparan in North BihAr. The

occasion WN Oandhijj's first attempt in lncli to remove, by truthful and non·violent means, the grievances and sufferings of th aimple pasants t the hands of the indigo planten. w were oGen supported by 'the rulers of the day. he c:atne more d more in (onU t with Bihar, Gandhiji began to love "the humility, simplicity, goodn nd atraordinary faith 10 characteristic the Biharil".

Gandhiji discovered, early 1908, what he called the sovereign remedy of satyagraha. in the coune of his luce W leade1"lhip of the Indians in uth Afri in their hard and prolonged struggle against a number of iniquitie$ based on racial discrimination at the 1 dJ of th white resident. as welJ at the rulen. He evoked what he called aouMon::e in contrast to physical force. He did 10 out of convic:d n that it the best way and the way of cultured burnanity.

At Ger:miston in South Africa, while cb.allenging Mr. Hoaken. wll said that . ve n:sistance w w pon of the weak, Ga.ndlliji d ned his pulive resistance as "toul .. {i ret" and added that it was the w poll of the trongest. He told his audience tbat brute t; ree had no pta in the programme of the Indians, even if th W II po i Uity or using it. Gandbijj poin.ted out that even if they had anm he would have adviled Indians to use lOul·for<:e only. In planning tyagraha

OAHD B I 1M C aAK P All AH

in South. Africa, he aIICI'ted that even the slightest thought about the I1Ie or physical f, ce did not touch him at any time and at any ltage. He pitted moral force against phyaica1 force because be beliewd that it wa, a superior force. He refrained &om the use of physical force. direct or indirect. He tTained thousands U) do so. He would nOf even think in tnIJ of any injury to hit opponents; on the other hand, he would 0 to the endJ of the earth to do good to them. Gandhiji always

'me<! hit blOWI at the evil in the eviJ-doer. The evil-doer COlltinued to be t obj t of hiJ love and friendship.

Thit WAI, then, the meaning of Gandhiji'. &bimsa in thought, word .and d d. With him, ahimsa and ptyagraha were not ways and weapons of the weak but of the .t:rongeat in .phil. In bis speech on September } I, 1906, in South Africa he . d : "But I can boldly declare. and with ecrtainty, that 10 long there are even a handful of m n true to their pledg • theTe can be only one end to the Itruggle, and that is vic ry." His faith in this new way of combating human wrongs. evils, iniqujtieund injustice, whether social. economic or politica1. individual l' tional, grew as he preached and practised it in South Africa.

He did not think that his fight on these lines in South Africa was an ito) ted one or of no consequence. He was as much aware of its newn as of its universal applicability. To the Rev. Mr. Poke, hit lint biogmpher in outh Africa, he wrote in 1908, when asked (OT a m : "1 rd it n abtolutely sure remedy, not only (or our iUa in the Tnuuvaal but fi T all the political and other troubles from whkh OUT people .uffer in lndi .... ffis new) -discovered letter to TolJtoy on ovember 10, 1909, baa dliJ remar ble "In my pini n, tbi stru Ie or the Indiana in the Tr J'lJ\'aa.l i.e the

t C modem tim ,inasmuch .. \t has been id lised both a$ to tb 8 1 lh m \hods ad pte<! to reach the goal. I am not .~ (a Itru I in which th participaton are not to derive any pet'IOnal

advant e t the end fit. .. tfit au ceeds. it ",;JI be not only a triumph of rW . 'll, 10 nod truth 0 irreligion, hatred and falsehood, but it i. high) like) to rve an example to the millions in India a.nd lo·

pie in QU1Cl' m of the w rid who may be down-trodden, and will inl' t y towards breaking up the party or violeru:e.

t m India."

vi

OAl'Dltr IN CHAMP""'"

It was with. this finn and malure fj'th that he cam to Indi He took up the case 0( the Vu-amgam customs oord~ which I()W'CC of great banwment, and ucceedcd in getting it removed by tnerely publishing the absurdity of the wren and writing t . tbe Government about it, Th n t injlUtioe that be took up f1 r remedying was the CW'$C of Indian indentured t.bour. He rricd on a correspondence with me then Governor-General d told hitn tl t

1Atyagraha. mi,ght fullow if such fl n lnJusti~ was n bro ht to a stop. He succeeded in th' me the ca.l1 from Champaran through Rajlcumar hukl. a son of the soil. whose h rt spoke to Gandhiji in language which wa full oIanguish and sincerity. Gandhiji responded, and the ItOry in uti, book was the result.

Gandhiji's w y of dealing with all evil and injustice is Obviously new one. It is rooted in the faim that all life is one, that love is the I w of life and that love lone which builds life nd is a positive force n effe.c:tively conquer injustice, hatred and vi lence, which are n rive forces dcstror-lng life.

In the ~ .. ords of Mr. Homer Jack, n Amen author, tyagraha is truly "an epochal social invention". It i. w. r without violence gain t

all that represents the forces of evil nd violence. It is m nt ji r all and not merely for saints. It is a weapon of th ItTOng and n t of the ..... -ealt.

It is in cstablishing thiJ truth of truths that Gandhiji iJ t onoe original and one who has gone beyond U propheLl before lum. Gandhiji does not recognise ny exception to the rule that laty gr ha is a sovereign remedy a.gairut all evils nd is pplicablc under every circumstance. He makes no distinction between cular and religious, mal rial and Ipiritual, practical and id I Ipbercs of activity 10 far the application of aatyagrah is concerned. If, for the time being, It.

Satyagrahi does not see his way, it is the temporary incap city of the penon and DOt the inapplicability of the doctrine. HLet him knock and the door ahalI be opened." This infinite faith of GandbJjl wu rooted in his inner piritual experience of the immanent pI' of Truth or God,

Satyagraha mows no defeat. Gandhiji often emphasised. ty pha may be said to succeed best when the evil-doer Dr the perpetrator of

vii

OAMDHI III CHAMPA.AM

injwtice realizes his folly, repents and r:nakes amends in aU rincerity. nu. would be caIJed a case of genuine and complete co.nversion. But here are other waY' abo in which satyagraha r,nay succ=d. The

evil-doer may retrace his .tc:pl out of thame on acooun t of the aw lecning of his own conscience and the prtssure of public opinion. J t may alIo be that he will be induced to desiJt from continuing the wrong out r di$crc:ti n and practical wisdom. ~ is also another way in whi.ch tyagraha may succeed indirectly, when the evil-doer may be {oreed by the powers that be to desiJt from wt'Ong-doitlg. It may alJo h ppen that a Jalyagmru loses hlI liCe in the attempt to

tablish and the law of love. Even this would, in the eyes of andhiji. be triumph of saty pha since the satyagrahi'.

martyrdom would be the Jeed for future resistance, which one day waJ bound to triumph. He declared that life persists in spite of death and light pe:niJlI in spite of darkness, and that tnlUt must triumph over fabc!bood. nd good over evil.

It wu very fOl'tun te that the Bihar Government was able to get hri D. O. Tendulkar. the well-known author of t MakoJ1rI4' in eight

voJum ~ to write lh.i.s story. It i. equally fortunate that the Central Ministry of Inr. rtnation and Broadcasting bas taken upon itself the publication of thiJ work in the present attractive form. It is my good fortune to be in position to congn.tulate the Bihar Government

IroU h iu Chief M'misler, Dr. S. K. Sinha, for deciding to bring out thi boolc and inviting lui Tendulkar to write it. I am glad to see that

hri Tendulkar h been able to .pare the time for this important . gnmen t. I mmend this book to .all who re interested in tocial dynamics

and in a pc eeru! 101uti n of human conflicts, leading to the harmony nd bappin of all.

R. R.DIWAUa

INTRODUCTION

GANnID was described an "unwelcome visitor" when he ched South Africa in 1893. at the age of twenty.four. For twenty years he worked there among the indentured Jabourel"S) liglttened their sorroW$o organized them and kindled the flame of conscioumeu of human rights throughout the dark continent by leading the first epic march of 2,031 men, 127 women and 57 children in November 1913, in protest against the ill-treatm-e.nt of Indians in South Africa. Tolatoy wrote: '''Your activity in Transvaal is the most ential work, the most important of all the works now being done in the world, wherein the nations of all the world will unavoidably take part!' The tatya rah.l .truggle closed triwnphanuy in 1914 and GOUldhi returned to Indi in January 1915. At the request. of Ookbale. he did nOl participate in any activity for a year but studied closely the conditioN in India and took his first plunge in 1917 in Cbamparan. A1thougb he w not then a big figure in the political arena, he was known as a hero of South Africa throughout lodi • To rano e the indigo cultivaton' grievances was his objective. The authoritiea told him that he w an outaider and he had no busin in Champaran, but he defied them. Within • year be bed away the century-old stain of indigo and forged a weapon with which he broll:e the shackle. of .lavery and made Jndia free in thirty yean.

The Cbamparan struggle, therefore, forms an important chapter in India's non·violent war of independence. If my book Mah4tm4 i. a panorama of the Gandhian era in eight large volume., the present slender volume is a close-up of the earliest phase of t.h&t struggle.

Saiyagr@1J in Cluzmparan by Rajendra Pnuad gives a detail d and authentic account ot thiJ atruggIe. With ru. kind encouragement 1 m lupplementing his narration with the unpublish.ed material marked as t< confidential" by the Britiah Government in India. Most of the confidential documents relating to 1 Delia'. freedom movement were burnt by the British before they transferred power to Indi n hands. The material now in poaesaion of the Bihar GovenlDlenC which I have

OAMJ)BI 1,. OHA)I'PAaAlt

u.ted waf left untouched through the carelessneas of some oBicial who bad orders to burn it. It is valuable material which gjves insight into the British adm.i.nistration and belp' to reconstruct the momentous history of the Champaran campaign..

lJeaideI t.be (:Onlidcntial docu:menta and Rajendra :»abu's book 1 have wed the rues of Pitrnm and the SUZknn4n and other journals.

andbiji'. autobiography has helped me to reconatruct some scenes in th It le which even today atand out III touching and intimate and give an insight into ru.lllechods.

In giving n account of the )ong-SWlding grievances of the indigo workers 1 have made usc of the authentic matc:rial in KU'kJr;1 of Indigo Dirhl,b/l1Jl, in Btng41 by L. C. Mitra, Bmgol wulrr tile I...inUnumt-Gl1t1IT1JMS by • • Buckland and TAllUporl of tlu CommiJlu tm thl AgrtUi/ln Candi­lions in Ch4mpo.rtl1l.

nle Govcmrnent of Bihar and the Governor, Shri R. R. Diwakar. h ve given me an opportunity and ample facilities to write thiI book and I thank them rOT it.

t mlUt mention the Jibraries which suppJied me with rare Ji crature, IUch • Xu Durptnt, available only at the National Library, Calcutta. In perusing the files of the SlatUmlVl and PiDnar 1 was helped by Anu B ndyopadbyaya. The Branch of the Royal . tic Soci.ety'. Libr in .Bombay helpful in Uowing me to we the files of journals wllieh ar nOl vailabte even with the offices of the journals conce.med. I also made UK 0 the Sinha Library in Pac:na. My thanks are due to my friend Vitha.lbhai K. Jhaveri for throwing open to me his ri b coil don of boob concerning Gandhiji.

t1Yl 1 am 1'1\leful to the colleagues uf G ndhiji in Cbamparan who hdpcd m to visit the scenes of the struggle and collect the nec:cssary materiAl: Ramnavmi P d, RamdayaJ Sahu and HarivaDi

• ambiar for typing the OWl\lSCripl under heavy odds. the man . pt I grateful to my friends amlal and

thi

• JJM

INI)ICO STAIN

ROCKS AHEAD

CHAMPARA

ON TRIAL

INDICT lENT

CO TENTS

AT FIRST HAND

INQUlll Y

THE REPORT

AFTERMATH

10

22

S5

.7 59

7S

85

10!

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIO

Hiltoric: CIw:nparan c-w,: N~t.,;c.J~, PIIINI

lndl crowcn-contcmpOl'VY sk{«:bea

~'.)(.~~,~

Culdvat.On' qU&J'\Cn ~~h: D. O. T~

A PWU("J'f' Jrutdlery p_"IJt/t: D. C. TntiJJUr

Gandhi', instruedons to worken dwirla the 'r.n.aaIc C-"-rI: PIlNlliJ: 11M,...

FtoOciIpiece

Gaadhi', leuen from ChatnparaP to Mr Polak aud to a "ftiCDd" c-~: Citt/Mri X~

HuarbnaI', dhamwbala wbm Gandhi ~ aud cooductc:cl hi. camp . h •• :D.O.T~

A CUlIidrotial letttt Ii 1lI the eNd Sccn-tvy. Bihar ~l, to the Couun' • tt of Tlrhu l

c-.q: B_ t;__,

A 001 al Bhitbarwa built by Gandhi', ooUca,uc:a 00 IaDd allac:bn:l to • t.cmple "ileft' he t.cmporarily .ta~ ~: D. ~ T~

c.- . " '~ .J

I DIGO TAIN

Ta& TALB ofwoes of Indian ryots, farced to p1:mt indigo by the British planten, forms one of the blackest chapters in the annal of colonial exploitation..' ot a chest of indigo reached En land without being tamed with human blood," said Mr. E. De-LatOUl' of th Bengal

Civil Service, who , M~trate of Faridpur in 18+8. ivin evidence before an inquiry committee, he revealed: "I h ve seen several ryotl sent unto me as a m.agi.stratc. who h v been.peattd through the body. 1 have h d ryots before me who h ve been Ih t down by Mr. Forde. a planter. I h ve put on record how othen b:ll been fi t speam:J and then lcidnapped; and IUch a system of carrying on i digo, I co . dtt a system of blooc:irbed ...

Indigo was one of the old t, and, until the introduction of planting, ranked the most importan of th Indi n, pi grown by European capital. In 1877-78 the total port ofindigo from India wu 120,605 cwt., valued at [, 3,494 334i in 181Q..79, 105,051 cwt., valued t £2,960,463; in 1882·83 the export of indigo wu 141041 cwt., of the val of £ 3,912,997.

It js difficult to Jay wb n exactly indigo fint cultivated in Indi • but it appcan from records that it had been well known f1 r long as an indi8enoUl product of India. Brought thence to Europe, as fa urit dye and prized article of commerce, ccording to an . eut utho • it de:ri cd its name of "lndicwn • from the country in WID b it grew.

In the year 1600, indi 0 WlU the main 'tapte by which the E India Company made its profits and for many yean it ti tered the trade. At one period it was fou.nd to grow better in the W t Indies and afu:t carrying on the trad for a century, tb East India Company

vc: up indigo as an article of iov tment in favour of the W t India colonies. But in the Welt Indies it was found to be lell prof) ble n

aopI. and was given u.p and again taken up by the t Indi Company who, having IOJt C 80,000 in 1179 by contract, made it (lVcr to its ICtViUltJ and to private trad • The Eut India Company, with a view to fostc:ri intensive cultivation of indigo in India, advanoed eDOl'IllOUa ItUIIJ to the white planten.

The plarucn raorud to inhuman and ill I methods in order to

2 OA1I(DUl tN CUAWPAIlAN

get indigo cultivated at the lowest (lOft. Sir Ashley Eden in his evidence before me Indigo Commiuion of 1860 gavc: a list of their heinous acta and added that even justice was traversed when the planters were put on trial. When asked by the conuniaioa as to why this happened~

ir Aahley Eden .aid : ('There certainty was a failure ofjusUce which, in my opinion, may, to a great extent, be attributed to the .trong bias whi h the Governor and many of the officen of the Government have always d' played in favour of thOle engaged in this particular cu1ti­van ; thiJ may abo partly have arisen from the difficulty, whieb

. u Under the pracnt law, of obcaining a conviction gainst uropeans. I consider that it tw frequently been the caae that the

yen ent offici h have crificed justice to favour the planten. I will 0 furtha and "r that, as a young Ulistant, 1 confess I have favoured my own countrymen in teVeraJ instances."

The luspicion of the ryou as to the collusion between the Govan­t and pi Oteri WllI roUJCti, when in 1857, the Government of

. Frederick Halliday appointed IODle of the leading planters in the dittrietl of K:riabnagore and Murshid bad to be • tant magistrates. TIl Rev. J. W. Linde of K.ri!hnago e, who mixed freely with the ryotJ. lh ,told the inquiry corxuniaion that the impression very unfavourable among the ryots. "Now they have xnade the wolf the Bhepherd of tile aheep," waa a popul r saying among them at this time. Th Rev. J m Lon 'd he even he rd songs condemnatory of planters m' trntes, set to music and .ung by a band of singers in tb orc cWtric:t.

\-'etX)JlICDt ahow that the I)'Ite:m of indigo manu· in the vince of .Bengal h.u been uruound from a cry cady

tim... ubstantially, th ')'ne:m t the begi.oning the present }UI'

u fI c ever it d ~n. In the} 1810. the licences gT1U\ted

Ii ur plan\en to reaide in the inttl'ior of the country were withdnawn, UJlt of the ere ill~usage of the nadves proved qainst them;

1 DIOe) ,,.AIN

and the Govauor-Gen -in-Council found it n to ue k

cirt:u1a.r in that year, of date the 13th of July. Crom 'bich the Uowing is an extract:

<t'The attention of Govet'IUlH!nt has rece.ntly been attra ted in a particular manner to b · and opp . ons cornmifted by uro who are tablished as indigo planters in difl'erent parts of the country.

umcrous as those buses and oppressi ns h I tterly been the . ht Hon'ble the Go rernor-General-in-Council is till wiUing to

hope that this imputation dO«::1l not t ch to the: character of the: indi planters generally, considered a body or of people. The (i eta however, which have recently been establiahed a 'ust 10m indi i­duals of that class before the magistrates and tbe upremc Court f Judicarure are of so flagrant a nature that the: Govern r- eneral-in­Council considers it an act of ind' pensabJe publi duty to dopt such mearu.rca as appear to him, under existing 'lC\U1llItanc • best calcu­lated to prevent the repetition of fTeru:e:s equ l1y injurious to the

liJh character and to the peace nnd bappin 'Of our n ti IUbjcclS:

"Th oB"enoes to which th following n:tlW refer, d which b ve been tablished beyond all doubt or dispute by individual indigo p!anter1, may be reduced to the £ollowio d.a :

... irn, ets of violence, \ hieb, Ithou h tlleY mount not in the legal of the word to murder, have occasio d th death orn ttV •

"Secondly, the iU 1 detention of nativea in confinement, espeOalJy in stocks. with view to the recovery of balances aU d to be due from them or for other causes.

"Thirdly, rnbling. in a twnuJtuary manner. the people uachecl to their I"CSpective factories, and others, nd e gin in violent &ft'ra)'l with other indigo plantcn.

~(FoW1hJy. illicit in6ic.tion of punishment, by means of rattan or otb~'iJe. on the cultivators Or orll, r nativea.

't"fhe magistratCl wen: directed by the same circular to use .tocb kept by pJantcn to be destroyed; to report to G vemment of illegal co.rporal punishment not ,utJicient to warra.nt a commitment to the Supreme Court; and to impress on aU Europeana who wiabeel to continue to reside in the country ncce.ity of abltainin rom. ill-treatment of the people.

"In • CUblcquCllt circular. of 22nd July 1810, ~f.CI were

OANDBJ J CHAMPARAN

directed to report aU proved instances of plantera who were c:onvicted of 'obliging the ryOti who J'Mde in the vicinity of tbeiT rapcctive factories to receive advances, and of adopting other illicit and improper means to compel them to cultivate indigo'; the Governor-General-in-

uncil observing that this was a 'habit' of the plantca." Th Lieutenant-Govemor further said in hi. minute: "When the ry has a zamindar, who it not an indigo lUnufacturer,

h hat lOme protector in indi 0 llUltterl. When the same man is indigo manufaCturer and zamlndar. or zamindar". reprellentative, the ryot h no uch protection.

''It is iAdeed in .itJc1f an aU-suH''LCient exposition of the character of tb Be: I i.ndi 0 tyrttm to tate, what is denied by none, that, whilst wit.bin a few y . the pricca of all agricultural products have doubled or nearly doubled, the price paid 0'( nominally paid for indigo plant b n t been raised by .. lingl anna; and that until the ryots had, as it were, declared open w r, it is not .hown that a single planter, for

etal yean p t, had ever entertained thought of any inc:reaac: of price ...

''The Indigo Comm.issioD report that the crisis wbich oceurred in [800 ani bt have occurred in any other year. The combined effect of all th for oing considerations upon my mind is that no human power ted in d Dance of the law in support of the .ystem could h ve upb d it much 1 n erj and that, if Government had disregarded j tice nd policy 10 far as to make n att.emp it would have been IpecdUy punishai by a great agrarian rising, the d tructive effcet of which upon European and all otber capita.! no man can culat.c .•.

'11\ mml ' neA p Munce dun ely tb.a the cultivation is U1 ta le t the ryor. This is indeed the one point upon wbich the

whol indi 0 queen n f'una; .. nd it iJ Mt eli.puled. Rejecting au extreme , and givi indi the ben t of all douhtl, 1 canno put the

absolute 1 to the ryot t a Iowa: eo re ani the net loa in the cuJti ti n of ind' at the higb t price w all wed, d the lou of the n t p It th ryot would m e by any other ordinary crop at the rna:B price, t thAn R.a. 7 . I equivalent at the least to

tim the ~t f the I d. ow, if one remembers that these n t Caroliu shn but the free yeomanry of this country,

and in eed, trictly speaking, the virtu 1 OWDc:t'I f the grt:atu part of the land ill tb old cultivated parta of Bengal, 10 h ~ a loa this

IlU)JOO STAt

will fully account to us for the strength of the opposition to in culo"'Vation wbich have just experienced ... Thia is the t point of political bearing in the whole question. nnd it cannot be . "' n-tively considered by all who ba an 'rcspon ibility for tb tranquilUt of the country, and the strength of the British Go\"CJ1Ullcnt within it. II anyone thinks that such a d tration of trong feeli:ng by hundreds of thousands of people, 'We have ju t vitn ed in Ben I, bas no meaning of greater importan than an ordi ry mmerclal qUi . on concerning a particular blue dye, such a person. in my opinion, is fatally mistaken in the signs of the time."

The eli putts connected with indigo cultivation in Bengal h d 10 been a subject of anxiety to Government. In J860 tbe cltement a • JUt the cuJti tion of indi had becom trong to Jr d to acts of violence in lOme of the indigo distri • nd thinp I eel ery critical. " 1 ure you," wrote Lord Cantlin ,the i e.roy, r'th 1 for about a week it caused me more anx.i t). than I had since: the d ya of Dc:lhi," and, "from that day 1 fdt that a bOL fired in aog r or r. t by o e J; • h P nler migbt put up every factory inflames."

Sir J. P. Grant, the Lieutcnnnt- 0 roor ot .Be: I, who on tour long the Kumar and the Kaligan rive bas gi en vivid description of wakenin among the indigo workcn in 1860:

U umerous crowds of ryo· ap red l rious pl c;es n the of the Kumar and the KaJiganga, whOle whole p yer w for an ol'd r or Govc:nuncnt that they Ihould not cultivate indigo. 1"1 my return a few days a.fterwatdt al g the llUne two riven, fro dawn to dUlle, as I teamed along theae two rivera for some sixty or .eventy mil , both banks were literally lined with crowds ofvilJagen, claimin jUJtice in th' matter. ven the women f th villa es on the banks were collected in groupa by themselves; the maJeJ who stood t and betw the riv -side villages in little crowds must have coUc:cu:d from aU the villa81 at a gI'Qt distance on eitber ode. I do not know that it ever fell to the lot of any Indian officer t .team Ji r fourteen houn t.boollgh a continued double Itreet of suppliants for JUJti ; all were moet respectful and orderly, and abo were plainly in earn t. It would be folly to suppose that ludl a disp y on the part of tenI of tho ods of people, men, women, and children. b no de p meaning. The organization and capacity for combined and timul neola action in the cause, which this remar bl demonstration ov 10

6 OAlfDJlI 1M OllAIIPAIlA

large an extent of country pmved, are ubjectJ worthy of much eonaideration, Jt

The: ryo had told the Indigo Q:ullmillion: "But if my throat is cut, I won;t lOW indigo"; IfJ 'WOuld rather go to a country where the indigo plant it never teen or sown"; "I would lOW indigo for nobody, flot even for my father and motha"; < 0, 1 would be rather killed with bullets!'

The fe lin81 of th ryOti were alSo voiced in their lOngs and sayingJ. A Bengali Ie of lOngs entitled Tht Opprusion rif the ~ Planlm w widely circulated. Those lOngs were tung far and wide among the indigo ryotl and Jet to music.

Th Rev. S. J. Hill of the London M'mionary Society repeated before the lndi 0 Inquiry Commission the following verse of a ballad, lung wid Iy in Bengali :

Zamlner hatru Nil Konner batru Dhil Tc:moni Jater batru Padre Hill.

(nle: neroy of the soil is indigo; The enemy of labour is idJcoCS$; tb enemy of te iI Padre Hill.)

• uffi rio,. of the ryOti were graphkally depicted in NIl J>urjHln. a Bengali drama written by Dinabandhu Mitra in 1860. In adia, th uthor'. bjrtbplac:e, it was whispered that beautiful peasant girl w rri d off one day, while going to fetch w ter, by a planter'.

llOt to obli the mana er of an indigo factory. It was alleged that th mana cr had Ie pt her in hls room till midnight IUld then tent her b clt in a pa1ki with cl d doon. Th' Ito was told by a missionary

ore th ludi :rom' 'ou and verified by the magistrate. The c bdu ti d many other moving seen of oppn:ssion in

Nil DIlrp4ll on f; ets found in the indigo a Th dra m ant to mirror the Item realities of the indigo

ork "life and it eaLJed "'the minor of indi 0'" Nil DIITpa. The pia tated th point of view of the ryot forced to grow indigo at .. pric tJ t did n t y him, In the ooune of the play, the wife of a

nt )'I" another vi1Ia woman: "Moreover, the wiJj of the • in order to make ber husband's cue 1tJ'Ong, has sent a lett~

• IrIlle since it is said that the te hears her warda tt naively," w th J dy,' replies the other. "abc has .noaba.meatalL When

1 0[00 ITAIM 7

the magistrate goes riding about the villages, the .tad rid horaeback with him. Riding a hone '"

Dinabandhu Mitra did not give his name in the book "hicb dcseribed as .... written b a a:rtain traveller for the good of ryo suffering from the bite of the cobm-de-capello in the fi il'm of the indigo planter!'

The author was then in the service of the Government superin-tendent under the Post Master General, Bengal. He h d to ~ from village to village inspecting post offices. He used to meet people of 1 classes. He had travelled much in those districb where indigo manufactured, and was acquainted in all its detail. with the 0PP on of the ryots by the plantcn of that time. During his inspection toun, he compo.ed the celebrated play. Otle night, while writin the drama on a.mJcing boat, he clung to the manuscript nd it was aa.ved.

Referring to the uthor,.Bankim Chandra Chatt.etjec. the great Bengali novel.' t. up: ('1 have known nom: other touch the h rt of the SOITOWS of Lhe poor and the afRicted as he djd. By virtue f his natural sympathy, the misery of the opp d ryet appealed to hi. n like misery felt by hlmsdI, and the poet trained to pour out the fountain of his heart throu b bis pen. Th 0 h the c:.hieI aim of ){il DwjHIII was the cot1'eCtion f a social wron J .till it m t

wJentas a piece of poetic art. " il DIII'JHm read with great eagern all over . Th

Rev. J Long took upon hlmself the taJk of having the drama t:ransl&tcd in English to acquaint the Government and the British amunu.nity with the Itntimentl of the Indian people. The translation 'was made by the gifted poet Michael Madhwud n Dutt in one ni ht. The translator', name was not mentioned in the boo_k; the Rev. James Long publithed the book and wrote an introduction und r hi. own name.

In the introduction to the translation the Rev. Jamet Long deacribed the playas tithe an.na1I of the poor" and added: lilt pI d:I the cause of thoee who are feeble; it describes a tapectable ryot, pcaant proJlrietor, bappy with his family in the enjoyment of hit land till the indigo system compels him to take adVaDOCI. to neglect hi. land, eultiva crope which beggared him, ftduang him to the condition of a .err and a vagabondj the c:£fectJ of I.hh OD hia home, children and relatives are pointed out in a language. plain but true; it .bowI bow

8 OANDRJ 1 eRAIlPAIlA"

in th cause of

' lO tM rernmenl Jndia..

1 DIGO STArN 9

The Secretary of tate, who bad stated his entire disapprnval of th circulation of the tl"IllUlation under the official 1 and fmnk of the Bengal Government, greed that Mr. n-Karr howd nol be U wed to resume his secretaryship, but expressed no doubt that" 0 able and d.i tinguished public servant :Mr. ton-KAn' will, hi ceasing to sit in the Legislauve Council, be pl ced in me "it ble situation where the public may h \"e the benefit of his ervi e."

For championing the use of the ryots, the indi · planters 1 unched a campaign gainn ir John P ter rant, the Lieu ten . t· mor of Bengal. They attacked him with virulence tJU'Ough the An 10-Indian p • describing him rr terribl.e m n- compound r Ghengis and Kublai Khan Tamerlane, adil' nd all". They ap· cd to the Covemor.General and Secretary of tate to remove it John Grant from his high offioc. ir John broke down in implementing . bold indigo measu:rcs) owing to stubborn opposition from th hi her authorities. He retired in 1862 and soon after ued by plant fc r libel. The planter was awarded nominal d rna of one rupe without costs.

The eell of Nil DurfHUt spread far and wid. h excite! Ilt

not confined to Bengal only. A pro t was lodged in India nd Eng) nd through the PI' and public meetings ag: inst the Rev. Lon 's in r-ouati n, The drama was Staged in some Indi n 'ues and traru-lated in many Ian g:es of urope. Whe.n it was staged in Icun

ld bighly respected leader 0 Bengal, g SO worked up that be threw his shoe during scene of oppr ion on the t ge. [n fact, ,I Drtrpan like U~ Tom's C4bin WOD the sym thy of the people for the cause of the downtrodden.

ROCKS AHEAD

TilE U'mJOO trouble, which bad ,ubsided in Nadia and Jeuore di neu, c:ameup again in Bihar which untill911 formed a part of tile Bengal Province.

daputel arctle durin the year 1866-61 between the ryotJ and er f th Pandoul indigo factory in the Da.rbbanga FAtate

in Tl1hut. Though the qu tion only came to a head in one CIOnce.m, the ffport of the loc:aJ offic:erlI, the general anxiety among planters, th WJI her of petitions IUbmitted, and the agitation of the 1 ndian p indi ted that the C'I'Uis was a lerioUJ one. The principal painu at • u were u foUows: Th factory maintained that in addition to the nijabaJ indi 0 lands, or lands undoubtedly in 'on of the factory and cultivated by fact.ory ploughs, then: were in every village other JAnds c:qu Uy in the ion of the factory which were planted with indigo for the Ii Clory by the ryou, and in pect of which the ryots were n t cultiva 01'1 of indigo in their own lands for the factory under

tract, but merely hired labouren cultivating orllil lands on behalf f the fa tory and receiving wages in return. The ryots, on the other

1:1 d, ed that the land. thua described were Dot factory DffliJ, but form d p t1. [their own proper holdings; that th fac.tory people 'Prevented them I.rom cuJtivating these: with cereals and other crops which paid them better than indigo by falsely claiming these lands as <tertlil . d D. . cueing th ryots of c:rin:Unal past when they attempted to cu1ti te them in the manner they liked best. that they wen: abo very much op cd by their pJouglu and bullocks being taken way from them during the m nufacturing n for the purposes of the fl c.tory, ad that, wbile the fac.tory leased villages from the Datbbanga F. tAte on the Unle rtnt as before, the rates levied from the cultivators hAd be<:n consid rably enhAnced by the introduction r a system of sub­leltin the vill to the Clary ICT\IlUltJ who were: rapacious in their dmw\ds. The ult ofth ditren:nces was that the T}'OtJ of a number rill, who had up to the OCCUITellce of the disputes been engaged

ill prepGring the) nds for indigo suddenly united together in refusing either t.o finUb the preparation of the lands or to Nlow the factory to do . 'I'hiJled to coJlisi ~,jtb the planters' 1Cn'&Dts. Government

AOOlts ABRAD 11

stepped in, the necessity of increa.sirlg the rates paid for indi recogniu:d by aeveraI of the Tirhut planters. and the Pand uJ ry ts came to tenm with the factory.

A year later there was a. strong dem nstration in the di met of Champaran, accompanied by violence. The ca of dissatisfaction on the part of the ryots were the unusual trouble d the b rd 1 bout involved in the cultivation of indigo; the h ent caused to the ryots by the factory servants who, besides committing oth ts of oppression. were in the habit of taking a very large percent e of the payments made to the ryo au their o'wn perquisites und r th general name of d4sblri ; the fact that the rates which were then bcin p' d for indigo cultivation did not give adequate remuneration for the J bour expended on the task; the widesp d knowledge esiJting among cultivaton that enormous profitt were derived from indigo, nd the natura] desire on their part to obtain • larger share of this profit.

The opposition of the ryot, showed itself by the exhibition f a general determination not to lOW indigo, and in some cues by the forcible ppropriation of the lands o.l.ready prep for the cultiva" tion of indigo to other crops. The first inatance of IU exhibition occurred in a village called Jaukatia. the ryota of whjch, in d n of the contract into which they had entered with th. Lal miya fact ry lOWed their lands with cold~wea.ther crops; and thia aa.rnpl w rapidly followed by other villagcn.

The disputes between the ryots and the plantetl threa ned to become serious. The ryota were determined not to lOW indigo un}

they received better treatment at the hands of the planten. The 1 o.tJic:cn almost unanimously reported that the cultivation of indigo had become abllolute1y unpopular, and that there wu not a ryot wh would not abandon.its cultivation if h could. Thia unpopularity was ascribed as much to ,the insufficiency of th remun tiOD which tit ryota received, at to the c:uctiom oppression. ann y ncc to which they were apoKd at the handa of th factory servants. Th Government waa sati cd that the tim had pUled when the pI nten could hope to carry on an indigo concern profi bty by forcillJ on th ryou a cultivation and labour which WaI unprofitable to them ; and it was clear that in the altered c:ircums of the time the planten must be prepared either to clo.e their factories OJ' to give to the ryo a 1"e1'Ouru:ration which should make it worth their while: to grow indjgo.

12 OANPHt ur CSAICPAJlAH

ThiI neccaity Wal recognized by the general body of the lrrhut and Champaran plantClS. and they yielded to the pressure, raising the tatc of remuneration from IU. 7-s.o to 12 per bigba.

1n the face ot un1ted oppolition the planters yielded for a while, but the oppr . on conunued. The planters belonged to the race of the ruling daa and they were connea.cd with the local officetS by ties of marri ge or at lealt of friendship and. I)'tllpatby. The planter treated th ryOtl like lavel. He let out land to peasanu on condition that they a d t y to pay rent but to grow indigo on a quarter of their J nd. H gave th advancca and he laW to it that the rye were Dever abl repay in full. Tbu th.ey were h' debton, u wdl as his

R.OCltS: AHBAD IS

The l;KGt tern of cultivation returned the best profi~. The fi tory owners under thls aystml used to cultivate the land in their poss ion with the help of their own plou bs and bulloch. This land used to be either the proprielm", printe land or land in , hiOO the fact owner had acquired rights of occupancy. The entire burden of culth bon used to be on the factory. The only connection that the tenanll had with this cultivation was that they were Ii ble to render ervice on the land or to have their bullocb and their ploughs imp for indigo cuJtifttion under the orden of the factory. No factory fuUy elf. contained in the matter of culti ting its land.

When the system of tSSami.w4r cultivation was followed, the indi 0

was grown by ii ctory tenants under the direction of the factory" servants. at fixed rates per bigha. Gulerally documents called saIt4r

were executed. the ryot rcClCiving an advance and binding hi If to grow indigo on a certain specified portio of hiI holdin, nd to pay damages. Mrja, if be should r.n to carry out his contract. All the penses of cultivation were paid by the ryot. but the seed was lupplied by the factory, which also cut IUld ed a y the indigo, tb ryot bc:ing paid for the se.rvices at fixed rates. When the SMIAS wert C Uled,

the cultivators bad to agree for a term of y n, IOmetim tw my to thirty yean, to grow indigo on three katM.s pet' bigha their h ldin • This was c:alled the ti.nkat/ri4 ')'Item, which led to conatant fri t.i n between the ryota and the plante

The third aystem, which was uncommon in Cb mparan. khuski. or cultivation by means of greetnenu with ouuid ryou. In this the factory supplied the seed and paid for fhe crop wh n delivered, t

privileged rat.es. This system was rarely adopted by th Ch mp n faetorics because they b.&d extensive tenuro-bolding rights and they a>uld make better terms with their own ryoll.

The bulllldi system of cultivation alao came uUo . t c in 1880. Under it the ryot mortgaged his entire holding and the very . te or his house for a period probably extending beyond his own lifj .time, redemption bci.Qg contingent on the: repayment ,[ th Joan.. Th ryot sold himxlf body and aoul into hopeless servitude. This syttcJn

not widely prevalent in Cbamparan. In the: c:ariy days indigo factorie. were tatted o1y in pi c:cs where

the IQil fit for indigo and odbV bon. In about 1875, when they had establi.ahed their influence fully, the pea aIJo

OAHDHI I" CHAMPA.AN

began to tett! in the north-western part of the Champaran district. Th lOil being UIlIit for indigo cultivation, they had to find suitable Jandt IOmewhc:re 1se. For building factories they took small lands on perpetual leue from the Bcttiah Raj, extending over 2,000 square miles. wbich had become heavily involved in debt owing to the ex­travagance of the rule:r. Mr. T. Gibbon. Manager of the Raj, raised a It ling n of about Rs.. 95 lakhs in England on the condition 0{

ubitAntiaJ uropean .ecurity. To utisfy thi, condition and cover the in t on the loan, it agreed that the Bettiab Raj should ac:ttle a portion of its estate with European factory ownen in perpe­tuity, and they would be paid the raerved rent towards the liquida­tion of the debt. Accordingly, lands retching five 1akhs and a balI per year were tettlecl in perpetual 0% mtJktnTi Jease with fourteen factories. This permanent inter. t in the land strengthened the planten' posi­tion. They also went on taking temporary Jeases from the Beuiah Raj.

ome villages were settled in perpetuity with factories by the bIn­na r Raj alto.

In the s ttlemc:nt report of 1899 it is stated that the indigo concerns er' d the riglut of landlord. in nearly half of the Champaran

diJtrict, either proprietOJ'!l or tenure-holdc:n, and that the indigo ind try owed the trength of position in the district to the fact that the planten a landlord', interest in 10 large an area. ot the 1 t notic.eabl result of lbis was that as DlOIt of their indigo WlU now grown on J d of which they we:re the landJords, they could dictate

aen t IN to petty proprieton and cuitivatol"l. The proportion land held by the planten proprietOJ'l was in­nsidtrA bie. amounting to only half per ce.n1 in the whole Champa.ran

rally .pcaki • th interest of the indigo conc:crns in the m . ly of tenure-holden, but in Bettiah, Motihari. Oobind-

lid K 'ya, wh the proportion of land held on pc:nmncnt nu varied m 23 45 per Ct:Ilt, it was certainly secUTe a

propri tary right. h cllt· non of • digo ve in Cbam:pa.ran

than in any oth r di trict Bihar. 'n to the .wvcy of 1892-97. no 1 than 21 cton v.itb 480u b employing SS,OOO

boure:rw d been es blished in the distriClt whiJe the area under u1ti\l ti n 95910 trCI about seven per ee:nt of the

ItOO1'.' AllaAD 1

The rate of indigo cultivation increased under p UR. but the planters continued to indul e in barbaric methods.

The press continued to comment on the ryots' sri c nd the attention of the Co ernment also dr3.wn to them directly from time to time. In J875 the Couunissioner of P tn proposed that a commission be appointed to inquire into the grievan of the indigo cultivators. The Lieutenant-Go ernor, Sir Richard Te.mple, thought. the appointment of a commission would lead to agi tion, and he accordingly gave orders to district officers to decide di putes between the planters and the tenants in an imp tial manner. In 1877 Mr.

tuart Bayley, the Conunissioner of Patna wrote thnt although the appointment of a commission had been considered inopportun • "th fact cemained that there much discontent manifest enough to local o1ficen".

About this time ir Richard Temple retired, and it bley Eden became the Lieutenanl·~vernor of Ben al. He had been . t.rate at the time of indigo disturbances in Benpl and was fully acquainted with the ac:tivitiel of tb.e planters. He tb ught that instead of takiilg aeti n openly, it woull! be better to get the iruUgo pJ nccrs to agree to I011le reforms. He ac:c.ordingly impn:sscd upon them that the practice of indigo cultivation under the QSJfIftiwar ayne wu harmful to the interests of the tenants and that they ahoutd, the ore, raise th pri of indigo. d that 8'ood fodin between the tenan! nd the pl nlen could be restored only jf the plantera g t indigo eu1ti ted on purely busin principles. He emphasized the t thAt it WaJ not proper for the planters to exact forced labour from their tenants.

The planters knew that in Sir Ashley Eden the ryota bad a .ym· pathetic ruler. They united together and CI bliJhed the Bihar lanten'

. tion in order to resist drastic refo.tnlS' by giving lOme minD CO~OJlS to the ryotS. In its very first meeting, th auoci ti n do-­cided to enhance the price of indigo cultivati n from .9 to . lO·~ per acre. It was also dec:ided that, if any complaint Wal made inst . ' ember of planters' associau n, the auociation should be elltidcd to inquire thereinto and if that member did not obey its orden he would be liable to be n:moved from the .. on. There w e 73 factoriel belonging to the . tion. employing 75,900 peno , cx.chwvc of a large taft Indian and Europeat.\. for management and supetViaion.

16 OA Dal JM CBAI(PAIlAN

From about. 1900 the indUltry began to ruffer from the competi­tion of artificial dyes in u.rope and from the.rise in prices of foodgrains .and the oomequent demand for land in Bihar. The price of the natural <iye fell rapidly from IU. 232 per factory tnaund to RI, 130 in 1912-13. The area under indi 0 cultivation naturally decreaJed and the history of the industry merged into the more general history of the relations between the landlords and the tenants. In 1900 the bated system of Jink4lhi4 prevailed. 10 the non-indigo concerns the ryots paid to their immediate landlords vanoUi abU1lJbl with a genc:ra.1 incidence of about lU. 3 per bi ha. Th indigo COI'lCC1'Ol, therefore, began to decrease the: und r coltiv tion and to levy compensation from the tenants for rel 'ng them. from the obligation of cultivation of indigo under 'he ti1lk41Jria JYltcm. TbiJ coincided with the: gradual awakening of the ten ntry to the doubtful legality of these additional considerations.

plain" wen: received but led to no improvement. The bad feel­in increued, until widespread dittorbancea broke out in 1907. The mOlt noteworthy cvC'nt of thil year wa.s the murder of Mr, Bloomfield,

cr of Telhara concern, who bad refused to sanction the transfer .of holdinga.

rom early in the year 1907 there was a general feeling of un n 'n tll S thi village situated in the Bettiab subdivision. Meetings of Mwlim ry u w re held under the guidance of Shaikh Gulab. They refuaed to grow indigo on th.e ground that it w unprofitable. The pi n.ten ituistecl on having indigo gro'wn. Convietions ~re obtained but rev rsed on appeal. A mmon fund raised by the ryota f01' cont ling tbe and petitions were put in 'nst the factory. The Ii ClOry Abut off the uppty of water t.brough the jHlW which it had

nstru ed, and Ul followed thcfia f water and prosecutions on th' count. In 1908 th !'yO disputed with the factory the '00 r th and other crops grown in the tinhllAia lands and thousands

of w instituted. In aympalhy. the ryou of a. factory situated in tb Ramnagat t te petitioned against t.hdr Buropean landlord and

plained of iUq{tJ cti< ns. Th offshoot of the lhi dispute was n grecment that whalev CI'O. in the tiJtUIJria land were grown

fi m Cae · 5ffii should be taken by the mctory, while the ryoulhould the crops grown &om Red lupplied by ~ and t such

ryo did n t want to w in or oa on the t:iIIk4t1ti4 system uld pay fot the irri clon from tbepaiAr at the rate otR.. S or every

ROOKS AS AD

bigba of their holding ins" d of at the previous rate of bout n annas, and sbould execute greements to this effect.

17

The uneasiness <:on.tinued througb the ummel' of 1908 an.d, at the Ikttiah mela, a general feding of dissatisfaction expressed inst the whole tillktdlti4 system. Sitalrai took the 1 d and continued the agitation among the tenants. The peasants' organization so per­fected that, on hearing a particular sound, the tenants of several viII would assemble at a fixed place. In October 1908, certain tmants \ ent into action and attacked a peon and the managu of the P rsa fi c,. tory. 1"hU foUowecl by violent acta in the P rsa Mallnhia Bairia and Kundia reas. Military police wen: rushed to protect the planters. Fifty-seven cr:imi.n.aI cases were instituted and 266 people were con­victed of acts of violence. Sitalrai sentenced to thirty monw' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of RI. 1,000. The Government further posted an additional punitive polioe foxce in the disturbed area and Ra. 30,000, the cast of maintaining the force, was realized from the tenantl.

By ovember 1908 the te.ruion had cued. Mr. Gour! y. who wu then Director of riculture and ha.d I.t one tim been ubdivia.iollM Officer in Bettiah, was deputed to tnake an informal illquiry, whieb he completed in December nd January. Hit report was submitted in April 1909 and, after inforQ'lal discussio between the Cov m· ment and memben of the Plantc:rs' Association, certain changes were made in the existing .ystem, the chief itemJ being an increase of the price per acre paid r. r indigo cultivation from RI. 12 to Rs. 13, and the introduction of a bye-J w whereby the area to be taken from tbe ryot each year was reduced from three koJiuu to two kat/UlJ in the bigha.

Mr. Gourlay's report was • restatement of all the old grievanCCl which had figured in the previous inquiries. Mr. Gourlay found that the cultivation of indigo on the asomiWIlI system did not pay the ryot, that the ryot bad to give up hit best land for indigo, that the culdv -oon required labour which could be more profitably employed c1Je.. where, and that the l)'ltem was irbome and led to OppreuiOD by th factory servants.

Mr. Gourlay's report was not published because it ded red that the t.enan • grievanca well-founded and the pbnten were to blam . The Government released all thOle tenants who bad been convicted and were in priton.

2

18

The yean 1910 and 1911 were free from incidents. At the end of December 191 I, about 15,000 tenants assembled at arkatiganj rail~ way ,taboo to .tate their grievances to His Majesty the King EmperoT, who was then on his way back from Nepal. They shouted out their grievances but, on His Majesty. inquiry, it was represented to him as an QP 'on of wckomc: and joy on their part. When His Majesty reached. Calcutta, the ryOla sent representatives to submit a memorial to him. This was fo-rwarded under His Majcsry'. command to the

v rnment of I ndia for dilposnl, but it was returned to the seoden in FcbTUary 1912 for tb reason that it had not been submitted through the proper channel. Then Je'Veral memorials were submitted to the

vemment, but they were refe.m:d to the planters concerned and then filed.

Meanwhile, with th decline of indigo cultivation, the land! d's practice to cl im compensation from the tenants for releasing them from the obligation to grow indigo became general. Compensation was levied by two methods. First, in villages held in mDktmi or permanent lcue in which the planter was realty in the position of a propric r. the ryotl ex uted contracts to pay cob need rents. The enhancements were bout sixty per cent over the original rents and were effected by registered documcnt:l. This m thod was known as sltMaAbuhi.

ndty, in villages held on temporary lease, the planter took lump sums called tawan from the ten nu. There were, of ooune, exceptions.

or instance, the ~pur concern adopted the tatoQn system in all its villa and the Piprn eonctrn, while enhancing rent in mDkllTri \lill gu,

ntinu d rinkalJWz. ultivation in the Iltikadori villag . The LaJsara.iya c:em dopled neither nu:thod but merely I'eOt on

di.acovCffd in the . on of the ryOts at the last settlement, wbi 1 the Ii Clary b d agreed to Ie: VI!' un 10 lang u the ryo c nanued tinka.tlriD. culti lion,

These ubnjtuted arrn.ngcments continued througb 1912. 1913 and 1 14 d" e in fun 'ing wh n revisional &W'V y and ttlement operati s rt din loba 1913. The ' tuation was complicated by tIt fi t that the tti h tate applied for enhancement of rent in all i Ilrilmlari village

tn 1 14.15 th rd r ri hts for the Bdtiah ubdh " n was aU tat 0 rds th end 1914 nwnber ofpetiti ns were presented t the Lieutenant- overn complaining of (lhUVlb and other matters,

ROOlt. AIlBA1> 19

which ",-ere R'ported on by the dement Department. It cl rly proved that this illegal Cle$S '" bcing colkc.ted on large cale. The Bettiah tate stopped all such levies by ita tltiJuuJars, ut Ul admin'­tration 'W not in a posi . n to enforce ainillar prohibition in the Ramnagar tate. In J915-J6 the record of the fotihari subdi . ion was attestect The legality of slulrahbulii trcnuollsly nt~ted by the ryats. In the majority of the enhan~d rates w Uowed,

the ryOtl lad not the means to pro e their main pI , which that force had been wed to procure the new agreements.

me of the plant rs reali2.Cd much R.a. 50,000 per y r from cnhan ement of rates in their mohtni villag . The 'YO continued t send petitioN to the Government Stating that they wen: being Ii reed to agree to enhancements. One of such petitions w .ubmitt«l by Lotntajsio b to the Com.rtWsioner of Titbuf in 1914. Th petition w 'gned by 700 tenantS. a r ult Mr, orman, til manager of the

Pe pra factory, p ted Lornra,iJingh and fourt n others £i r d Ii ~ mation. fr. Beal, the magistrate, eonviclt!d them and sent Cf!d them to six months' impri mnent and 11 fine orRs. 24,000. On appeal to the

. trict Judge, Mr, A. ,Scroope. all the QCused were cquitted. In the eoune of his judgement, Mr. croope 'd:

"For the appeU lS the contention is ch t the wholesale exceuti n of kGlndpUs brought about by nothing 1 than an organized I)"Item of opp ion b}' the factory aervants, h t\K n-on and umidwo,,,. who represent th factory in the eyes of the ordinary ryot. and tb t

the chief means t'ftOJ"ted to were (I) stoppage of cultivation till the koba~4fs 'Wen executed, (2) brmging in women to "Iter, whOle bu.sb nds or male representatives had been away to avoid regiJtering, and (3) cri:minal cases. A ain, looking to the probabilities, th j no doubt that 'Whilst the intentions of manager may be: on thing, the acts of th factory servantS may be, and oft.en ar , quite another. It was undoubtedly to the int:tteJt of the II ctory to IU titute these new agreemen for the obligation to grow indi o. Thia bg 10, it is by no meam improbable that the factory ICTV8n:U would put p Oil

me ry to come in and execute Wul"aJ.I .. • Anyhow, takin th evidence it stands, it is impoaiblc to a.void th condUlion that stoppage of cultivation W1UI UJed by tb factory as a m na of ling these W.l.JoI.s executed, and this een.a.ioly jUitified a rcprClClltation to the Commiaioner, j, is hard to imagine a more unfair timulus

20 GANDHI I CHAJlPAIlAN

to execute a document, and the adjectives UIC!d in the petition to the Conuniaionc:r are not unreasonable epithets to apply to it .. , Then, regards the allegations about women, the defcn.ce puts in k41I1dyals, all of which, it it denied by the prosecution, were filed up first in a man's name and eventually registered by a woman, Certainly the factory's

cuon in t.hesc: inltances may have been perfectly bona fide, but the l\! • 'Y bas not. been explained for this urgency and for not waiting till th men bad made their periodic returns."

The ptantcn were weU organized ILnd ruthlessly exploited the help­I , ignorant 1)'ou with the active help of some of the higbly placed officiala, With the belp of the Anglo-Indian p and powerful business

nn do , they bad a direct access to the Viceroy and the Secretary of State. When Lord Ha_rdlnge visited Patna in 1913, the pllLnten

nled n address to him, in reply to which he gave them a certi­te of good behaviour: "Today, aa far as I know, the relations

bctw the Bihar planters and. their ryota are cordial and tisfactory in the North Bihar diatrictl."

In reply to thiJ, Babu Brajlcishore Prnaad, in his presidential ddrcss at the Bihar Provincial Conference of 1914, said:

"The hi best officials in the land have ut:iliz:ed their replies to the dd of welcome from the planting collUDunity to bestow upon

them lowing panegyrics on the valu ble services they are 'd to have ered to Tirhut. I do not grudge the planters these eulogiums and

I wiah them joy. But I do maintain that there is another aide of the abield and. wb tever ood the piantenrni btbavedone. their dealings wit.h the ryo h ve brought about Ilk acrious grarian ituation and th y have r ulted in conaiderable suffering and misery to the poor and de eel vill , It is well own that the ryots' all nons gainst Ule pi ten, which have been held by courts to be generally well­fo\u\ded, roe to the effect tl l they .re found to execute illegal UJII4S by methods of 'on, including the institution ofvcxatio c:ases, that lin nd CCSIC:t are unlawfully realized from them d they are ill·

t d if th ttempt in the 1 to refuse compliance with the orders th pI oten. far the caecutioD of the ,(lUlU is concerned, it .

t.ba.t . trati n om are opened at factories to suit the con-c:e of tJ1C plant 10 allegations are . us enough in all e ce to merit th h and sifting inquiry in the intCft$ not

but of the planters wdl.ln my opinion the Govern-

_OCK' A.UlAD 21

ment will be \OldJ d\'ised if. far from blinking so ~ou.s • problem. they tadJe it in the only 'way 'ble, namcl • b appointin & rcnall mixed committee of qualified ofli 'ala and non-offi 'ais t tho u hly in cstigate the matter by means of an open inquiry and b cting upon ill recommendations. Oth I m y warn the Co emment that there arc 1'OCb ahead and they had better look out. '

Again in 1915 the Bihar Provincial Confercn e passed a lU:Olution demanding an inquiry Qll11IJlitt« to exanUne th ryo' griev ces. Rajkumar bukJa. a rep tanve of the tenant. described graphl lIy

t the con6 renee the plight of the ryots. The Legislative uncil m t in May and Brajki.shore Pra d propoaed the foUowing resolution:

" That this Council recomm ds to the Li utenant-Go ernol'-in. Council that a committee of qualified officials and non-o 'ah be appointed to make an immediate and searching inquiry into th of strained relations between tbe planten and ryotJ in the cllitriGt ot Champaran and to suggest remedies therefor."

The Govenuncnl of Sir Charles Bayley did not llccept tWa tCI u­tion. In reply it 'wu 'd lh.t the GQvunm~t from. time to tUne b d inquiries made by local officers and at the time th mfV yand ettl­ment of the di&trict was going on, and whatever grievanctl the teoanb migbt have would be placed befi rt: the ettlement fficer whOle re­port would doubtless be authoritative.

Babu BmjJcishore Prasad was requettc.d to withdraw the reaolution. He only said in reply that if the Governm~nl gay a pi d t publUh the J' port of the inquiry which WlU then aUegcd to be made by the Settlemmt OffittJ', he might withdraw hi. resolution .. The Government did not even agree ID this.

CHAMPARA

MR. J. A. SWJWl&v. the tlement Officer, sUbmitted his report in Jun 1915. Tbe complaints of the tenants of Champaran were found by him to be mMtly true. Th incidence of the illegal cess, abwU, was equal to the Jqal rent and thw every tenant had to pay doubJe the amount he W8J Ie (1y liable to pay. Under the Bengal Tenancy Act a penOn who realized abwab was liable to pay double the atXlOUllt

rcaliud by him penalty. 0 lteps, however, were taken to enforce the law even inat luch plantcn as admitted having realized an illegal

TIler were no leu than fony types of abtlJllbs in addition to the fines which were exacted by the planten from the ryots. For water lupplied by th planter the ryot had to pay painkJuzrduJ. Canal or pain. in some cues, did not even exist, but the ryot was made to pay Rs. 3 per bigha of land. In other the upkeep of the canal did not COlt even Rs. 300 but by way of CCII RI. 9,000 was realized every year. There wen: instances of painJcluJr'ho being realized io lump SUIN too. In six typeS of abwabJ the TV t had to pay R.I. 3 per bigha over and above the rent : jJainkluzrcluJ, salami, tinktUhia, lagan, bondhbl/rri, blllunDJi. When a tenant died, hiJ heir h d to pay bapa/ti.pulJlhi. a sort of d tb duty. At the time of the marriage f Ii tenant's IOn or d ughter a taX of &S. 1--4--0 called J'fltl1U1&h w reafu:~ by the planter. t the time of the marriage

widow, J(J tlUTD of . 5 was collected. Four types of CCSiSCI--

t/aWAfPtCtI, pluJp4IU, t/tuahari, clrait"awami- were realized by the planten n the 0<: '00 of Hindu f4 tivals. When the planten wanted to pur­

eIepb otS for Ihlltor, the tenant3 had to raUe money from among cl ea and it was called IrttJmam. imilar taxes wen: coUected from

t("nAnt for purch ing a hone, motor.car or a bo t, namely, ,AMahi, mDiur4lri and Mwahi. If th~ planter fell ill, the tenants had to pay for his t tInent ; it called tluswahi. Rilsid4r.oan paid to tJ} viU e officer at the ra of 00 an.na JXI' receipt he' ued for n::nt J'eIlll eel from the tenants. There were four more such taxes, under different nlltnt".S. rving the me pUrpoie. The abUJGbs make a. formid­able list.

1r. Aounan. m ger of the Bel factory. id openly; nIs the

au PAIlAN 2

dtiJ:iAdII to blame for collecting these ®u: • for the tJriJutJ4r • 'd t sq~ and m t squeeze to pay?"

rqards the IIbtDtlh, the Settlement Officer \Ie his verdict in favour or the ta1&Dts, but in respect of the enhancement agreemtnts he . de<! with the planters. The len n ted that the enlmn.eement grec:menu were imposed on them, but the tdement fficer decld

mat coercion \ not proved. Even where it bJished th t th :tgrecmeD.ts for enhancement were bleen under undue influence r coercion and collRqu ntly invalid. the ttlernent Olcer re rded in the record of rights of the ten.an that they \vere under n obligation to grow indigo in three k4lMs of e'\'U)' bigh of their bolding. They hated tiJtkmJtiD. system and preferred to pay enhan cd tes. Th h d built high hopes to get relief from the ttJ.eInent were sorely disappointed.

The war broke out in 1914 and thepri orall commoditi higb. With the supplies of synth tie dyes from Germany cut ofT, such natural dyes were still obtainable, of which the indigo the moat important, found a ready market. The quantity of export of the dye rote from 142,000 Ibs. j t before til WIll' and 600,000 1 . in 1914-15 to about one and a half million pounds in 1916~17. Pi at made fortunes, whereas the ryots had to buy aU their requirements t enhanced prices.

Rajlrurnar hulda was one of those agricultu.risl.ll who bad ~ n under this harrow, and he waJ filled with pin to w' h away the tain of indigo for the thousand. who were suffering he h d lUffer d. He gave vent to the grievances of the tcnanl.ll from the platt; rm of the Bihar Provincial Conference held in 1915 at Ch pta. In be:r 1916 be proceeded to Lucknow to acquaint the Indian N rion I Congr with the pl.igbt of the indigo worken in Bihar.

The Luclrnow . on of the Congress was a momentous one and was aUeaded by ovu 2,300 delegat and a large number r viaiton from all over the country. The year 1916 had been a period f marked political activity in India under the leadership of Tilak, Mrs. nt and Jinnah. The results of this activity were epitom.ized in the pro­ceedings of the Congn:sa and the Muslim Leagu , m tings of which were held simultaneously. After the $pHt At urat, Tilak for the nst time attended the Congress at Lucknow 'witb a number of foUowm. Along with other provinces Bihar was repr nted by a large contin-

24 OA1U)IU 1M eftA_PAIlAIf

gent of ddegalcl, including Braj.kiJbore Prasad and R ajendra Prasad. Among those distinguillu:d leaden prClCDt at the session were Mrs. lksalltj MaJaviya, Surendranath BaneJjea, Jinnah and Ma.zharul Haq. Candhi was there but he was not prom.inmt in the poJjtical arena. Ttlak wat tbe dominating figure in the country and w looked upon at a hero by all

It ~lrumar Shukla approached Lokaxnanya Tllak and Malaviya with the griev: oes f indigo cultivaton but they tnld him that the jm1DC'" i · te qu tion before the Con · was political freedom. The timpl cultivator was impatient with regard to his own pl'tssin prob-1 • He b d heard Gandhi', name as a saviour ofindentured labourers

uth Africa. andhi was dreucd like Kathiawadi peasant and did not weal' even ,a sign of mourning over CokhaJe'. death. He Uv d in th delegates' campt not far from the Bihar ddegafCl. R Ukumar bukJa brought nabu Brajlcidlorc Prasad to Candhi's t.eDt nd louched Gandhi'. feet with a request to move resolution on the

plight of the Cbampar n ryoLi. BtajJcishore Babu was dressed in a black alpaca a&Mhm and trou en. Gandhi thought that be must be a vakil exploiting the aimple agriculturists. Having patiently heard from biro IOmething of Champaran, Gandhi firmly replied: "I can give n opinion without leeing the condition witll my own ey • You will pleaae move the rtIOlution in the Congrel!. but leave me free for the p t,"

On thl! . on th following n:sol ution on panul moved by nmj.kisbore Prasad: "The Con most

res ctfully urg on the Government the desirability of appointing a mi.'lted oommiu of o.ffi . ab and n n-official to inquire into the

US of grarian trouble nd the strained relations between the indigo ryo and European planten in orth Bihar and to lJ88 rem i thetefi r."

jlrum r hukl, a representative of the tc:nantl, made a .peech Ii m the Con platronn, supporting the resolution. He was glad but far from tis6 d. He n ed Gandhi penon tty to visit Champaran

the mistria the ryot3 th • He and his coU CI ~d letter to andhi at his bmtdabad address. He

be wu campaigning for the abolition of the er the lution w cd in the Congn:a, the

ukumat hukla approached Gandhi and

CRA PARA 25

pressed him to visit Bihar. He promised th t h 'would try d a few days in Bihar in {arch or April of the fi llowing y

From Luckno andhi went to wnpon:. R Jkum followed him there.. He in ' ted: Ch m i ery n h give a da.' Gandhi further commiu~ himself by saying: 'p excuse me this time. But I promise th t 1 will come.··

Gandhi returned to the barman ashram. jkum r there too. "Pray fu: the da.}' now," h said. < ell" replied andhi "I have to be in Cal utta in h ar h, come Md rn t me tb n, nd k me from there." He did not know here he to go, wb t to do and what thin to see.

Rajkum r hukla. on behalf of th nts wrote letter to on ebruary 27, 1917. Gandhi wrote in reply th t he would in

cutta on March 7 and inquired where R~kumAt hukl uld meet him. Th letter did not reach him till er the 7th. He had, h w-ever beard that Gandhi bad g ne to cut but on arriving th hit that h had ~dy left for Delhi. 'kum r huld c-turned to Champaran and gain wrote nelhi and ived reply 00 March 16, ying thnt he ould tAk the rliest opportunity of viaitlng Champ n. On April 3 G ndhi nt a Ie 0 J. kumar hukla that h w g ing to Calcutta where h would y with Bhupendranatb &SU nd cd Rajkumar hukl to rn t him there. Before G ndhi reached Bhupen bu's place, d hulcl

d ne and estabJUhed b.imsclf there. Thus this ign rant, un phiJ.. . ted but resoluU! iculturisl captured him.

to on knew About Gandhi', p posed visit nd although m the delegates from Bihar were prcxnt in cut at the AU-I Co Committee'. meeting, no one had any taUe with him re-garding ChAmparan.

On April 7, Candhi ccompanied by :ikum r hukl, left Calcutta tor Champ • The two looked lit fellow tunics.

ndhi had seen pack til of indigo, but titde dreamed that it w grown and manufi c,tu in Champa n at t hardahipa t th u-sands of griculturists. He had not known v r.h nam, much 1 the phi 1 JXl'iti n, of Champatan, and had hardly ny n ion of indigo plan lions.

mparan dittrict is situated in the north-w tem mer of Bihar. The hi t rivet' in the distri ' the G nd whi in the olden

G-2467

26 OAND1U 1M CBAMPAllAN

times flowed through the middle of the district. It has changed its course but tbe traces of ita old course are still there in the shape of forty-three Jakel in the district. Many of these are deep but their wateT it not drinkable. It is used in indigo factories many of which have been constructed on the banb of these lakc:s.

Thet'i are only two towns in Cbamparan-Motihari, which is the headquarten of the district, and Bettiah-and 2,841 villages. Of its population of two million. 98 per cent inhabit the rural areas • .Like other dlruictl r Bihar there is preponderance of Hindua in Champaran. Bhojpuri, it dialect of Hindi, is ,polr.en by both Hindus and Muslims.

mparan OT Champaranya is auociated with great historic ents lince (lenturic:&. Its thick jungles lCTVed as the place of retreat ..

14POVana. of ruhis. Dhruva was hom in un. forest and did his penance here. Thi was the land of King Janaka. The ashram of Va1miJci waJ

also ,i ted bere. Buddha p through Cbamparan on hi.s last m reb from Vaisali Kuainar. Three or four pillan erected by Am 11iU .tand here a witness to the bistoric and cultural importance of Champaran. Th Lichchhavi. and Gupta kings. Asoka and Harsha· v rdhana. are intimalely 8JSOCiated with this ancient land.

From ruch glorious p t Champaran lank steadily into an era of white planters' rul of loot and slavery. Gandhi', mission wu to wash away the .lain f lndl 0 and end the slavery.

n th way to Champaran, G ndhi arrived in Patna on the morning of April 10. This was his first visit to the city. He bad no friend there with whom he could think f putting up. He bad an idea that Rajkumar ltukla must ha e tome influence in P lila. He bad

m to k.n whim. unI more on the journey, and on ching llama andhi had no iJlusi ns left concerning him. "He was perfectly inn0-

cent f everything. The vakils th t be had taken to be hu friends were r aUy nothing of the IOrt. Rajkumar w more or I a menial to tJlem. tween such agri ulturist clients and their vakils there is a gulf as wide th nges in Bood.»

' Kurn:lr hukhl took him to bu R jendra Prasad', house in P aJendra 1\I had gone to Puri. There only a servant in th hi • who paid 0 attention the gu Is. Gandhi bad with him m thing to t. He wanted dates which Rajkuma:r procured (t r him from the bazar. There &\riet untouchability in Bihar.

ndhi. h maled this unbapp experi ce in his autobiography:

CHAItPAR.A 27

9 might not draw 'W ter at the well whils!. the servan min it, I t drop$ of water from my bucket might pollute them the n;

not knowing to what caste I belongtd. R ~kumar directed. me to the indoor latrine, the servant p mptly directed me to th outdoor on • All this was far from surprising or irri ling to m • fi r I inured to IUch things, The: servants were doing the duty, which th thought Raje:ndra Babu would wish them to do.

"These entertaining experiences enhanced my rtgard, if they enabled me to know him better. 1 saw now that Rajkumnr could not guide me. and that 1 must take the reins in my own hand."

Gandhi knew Mazharul Haq in London wben be was studyin for the bar. and when he m :t him in the Bombay in 1915, the year in which MaWrul H q was President of the Muilim ue) be had .renewed the acqu ·ntance, and ext nded Gandhi an invi -tion atay with him whenever he happened to go to PaUla. ndhi bethought himsdl f this invitation and sent him a note indicating the purpoee of his visit. Mubarul Haq immedi te1y came in hi CAt, and prosed him to accept his hospitality. andhi thanked him and ~uestcd him to guide him to his destination by the first vail ble train, the railway guide being usel to an utter Itrang T lik him. Mazharul Haq suggested that be should first go to Muzaflj rput, the beadquarte1'5 of the Cornrniuioner of nthut division well r the Bihar Planters' Association. There a train for that pia the same evening, and Mubarul Haq aent G ndbi ofT y it. J. .8 . Kripalani, who was then a professor in the MuzaJl'arpur Col leg , was telegraphically informed of his arrival.

The: train reached Muzalfarpur at midnight. Krip Lani had ncv r met Gandhi Wore:, although they had corresponded with each other. Kripalani accompanied by a crowd of stud nu Wal waiting at tb station to receive Gandhi, but they could not recognize him. andhl was walking barefoot, wearing a coane db ti, a kurUl IUld p, carrying a llDail bundle tucked under his ann and trru U tiffin-box, containing lOme dry fruit, in one of his hands. RajkuilUlr Shukla with pride introduced C ndhi to the trowd. The ,tud n g ve arc: p­uon t the ltation, honotU"ed him by waving Ii rtbc:n oil.lamp, and dragged his c:aniage. KripaJani bad JUSt n:ligned hi pole

and bad no ·rooms of bit own. He was .tayin with Proft r Malkani.. who, therefore, virtually became Gandhi', host. If WAf an

GAMbill IN O B AMPAIlAM

tlttraordina.ry ching in thOle days for a Government lttVant to

harbour a man like Gandhi. Kcipalani, that night, .poke to him about the desperate condition

of Bihar, particuJarly of the TlI'hut diviJion. In the moming a mmJl group of vakilt called on him. One of them was RaIJlllaVOli Prasad whose earnestness appc:aJed to Gandhi. «It is not poaible," said Ram­navtni d, "{or you to do the kind of work you have come for, if you .tay in Profellor Malkani'. quarters. You must come and stay with on of UI. Gay .. Babu is a well-known va.kil here. I have come on his bebaJf to invite you to .tay with him. I confess we are all afraid of the: ovcmment, but we JhalJ render what help we can. Most of the things Rajlrumar Shukla h told you arc true. It is a pity that our Jead n: not b today. 1 have, however, wired to them both, Babu .9raj.kiahore Pr d and Babu Rajendra Prasad. I expect them to arrive shortly, and they at Jure to be able to give you all the inform tion you want and to hdp you considerably. Pray come over

y Babu', place." Thia Will a request that Gandhi could not resist, though he hesitated

for fear or ernban' ing Qaya Babu. But he put him at , and so he went over to .tay with him.

BnijJWbore Babu now arrived from Darbhanga and Rajendra bu from PurL Brajlcisbore Bahu was not the Babu Brajkishore

Prasad that Gandhi had m tin Luclmow. Brajkisbore imprused him thi time with hit "humility, cimplicity, goodness and extnlorclinary faith, so c:hara eri.stic of the Bihw", and Gandhi'. heart was joy­OUI ov r it. He fdt himaelf becoming bound to thi.t circle of collcagu in Iiti -Ion · fri dabip.

B . ~kish re Babu cquainted him with the facts of the case. He used to be in the h bit of taking up the dUCS of the poor tenants. When he W ill nny such cue, he had. the conaol tion that he was doing some-tho {i th poor people. ot th t he did not charge fees from these simpJ nu.

<lLawyel'$ I bour under the bellef that. if they do not charge the fees» th y wiU b ve no whenwitbal to run their households, nd will not be &hl to render effective help to the poor people. The figures of the Ji they clJ and the stand rd of a barrister's fees in Bengal nd ih I mc.'· observed Gandhi ... 'We gave Rs. 10,000

t 10 nd 10 {i 'bU opini / I told. othing lea than four figures

ClIAKPAltAN 29

in any case." The Bihari vakils listened to his kindly reproach and did not misunderstand him.

~'Having studied these cases •• said Gandhi, ~cI b ve come to the conclusion that we should stop going to law courts. Takin such to Ule courts does little good. Where the ryot;, re crushed nd fear· triclten. Jaw courts ate usel . The real relief J1 r them is to be free from fear. We cannot sit stiU until we h c driven tUtkaUci4 out of Bihar. I bad thought that 1 should be ble to leave here in two d 11, but 1 now realize that tbe wo-rk might take even two y n. I am pre­pared to give that time, if nee ry. I am now fi cling my groWld, but I want your help."

Babu BraJkishore Prasad, a cool.headed vakil, said quietly: 'We shall render all the help we can, but pray teU us wh t kind of help you will need."

"I shall have little use for your legal knowledge," Gandhi replied. rtI want clerical . lance and help in in tetpreta tion. It may be nee • sa.ry to face imprisonment. but, much as I would love you to run Uult risk, you would go only so Car as you feel yourselves capable of going. Even tu~ yourselves into dub and giving up your profi 'on for an indefinite period is no small thing. I find it difficult to unden, nd Bhojpuri, the local dialect of Hindi, and 1 shall not be able to re d papcn written in Kaithi or Urdu. 1 shan want you to tr nslate th m for me. We cannot afford to pay fOT this work. It should 11 be done for Jove and out of a spirit of servi~."

BrajlciJhore Praaad. understood this jmmcdia~y, and now examined Gandhi and hi own comp niON by tum. He then cried to ascertain the implicationl of all that Gandbi had eaid.- how long their c.rvice would be required, how many of them would be need d.

whether they might lerve by turns and 10 01). Then he asked the: v kits how far they were prepar«l for cri6ce. Ultimately they g. ve G ndhl this ranee: "Such and luch a number of us will do whatever you may uk. Some of us will be with you for much timt 81 you D1< y requite. The idea of ac:coromodaliog ourselves to imprilonment it novel thing fOJ' us. We will try to adjwt ouneJves to it!'

Gandhi'l object was to inquire: into the condition of the Champaran ryots and understand their grievances against the indigo pJamcn. F r this purp<lIC it was necessary that be .bould meet tbousandt of the ryota. But he deemed it CIIetltW, before ltarting on bit inquiry,

32 GANDHI tJ( OHAMJ'ARAN

to orakh Prasad, a pleader, in 'Whose small bungalow he stayed. The very same day he got the news that in a near-by village. J;uauli­patti, a ~oant was severely beaten and hi! property waa destroyed. Gandhi decided to visit the village the next moming.

On April 16, at nine in the moming, Gandhi and his interpreter Dha.mi.dhar Prasad, .tarted for Jasaulipatti OD elephant's back, the common mode of conveyance in Bihar villagc:s. Gandhi was not used to riding an elephant.. A hot dusty wind added to the inconvenience. But he waa too engrossed in the probleDlJ to think of discomfort. Among the .ubjects diJcussed by him with his companion was also the custom of purdah in Bihar. "It u not my desire that our ""omen Ihould adopt the 'W tern mode of living," he aaid, "but we must realize what harm thil pernicious Iystem of purdah does to their health and in how many waY' they are deprived of the privilege of help1ng their hUi d ."

By noon they had travelled bout nine miles from MotihAri and ached village ea1led Chandrahia. Gandhi decided to stop there

or a wbile and ICe the condition of the village, which bappened to belong to the Motihari factory. The majority of its residents were labourers and they had gone to the factory for work. A solitary man whom they met in the village laid that even the oolleetor dared not do nything agn.irut the u.hib, the man get' of the factory. While thU convenation going on, a man in plain clothes was ICetl coming on icyclc. He wu Police ub-Inspector. He approached Gandhi

ld told bim th t the superintendent had sent his saJ41I1l. Gandhi w wh t he m nt. He expecting that something of .th,i, sort would h p;pen. rr ou need not mind il," he told Dharnidhar Babu, "you p e to J uli tti and do the work there."

ndhi got into bullock rt which the sub-inspector had hired. Mer while, n d/rtJ .:ngaged by the lub-ins~tor ; at his re-qu t ndhi tell. tbe and got in the d:M. When they had covered

Ib rt distan • Deputy uperintcndent of Police came in a tandem nd requ ted ndbi to Ie \Ie the db and get into the tandem.

When they h d gone a little further, the 0 ccr stopped the tandem, III iW a J1I tice to G dhi d drov him his place in Motibari...

The noti e, d ted prill6. J917 . cd by the District Magistrate; Mr. W. B. H ycock. addressed to t • M. Gandhi at present in lotib .• II read . FolJo"W :

~'Wbereaa it bas been made to ppear to. m from the le tel' of the CommisPonc:r or the Division, a mpy or which is attached t this order, that your presence in any part of the district rill end th public: peace and may lead to. serious disturbance ""hi \ n: y be ceom­panied by loa of life and whereas urgency is of the u.tmost importance; DOW. thc:refoJ'e, I do hereby order you to bstain m rc . ins in the district. which you. are required 10 I ve by the n t vailablc train. II

The Commiaioner'. note addressed \0 the D' tnet . trate of Ownparan 'd:

"MI'. M. K. Gandhi has come here in !'espouse to what he des­<:ribea as an i.nsi&tent public demand to. inquire into t.b.e conditiON under whieb Indians work on indigo plantatioN and desitel the help of the local administration. He cam to see me this mornin d. I explained that the relations between the planters and the ryotl bad engaged the attention of the administration since the .i.xties, and that we were particularly concerned with a p~ of the problem in Champaran now; but that it was doubtful whether the in.terventi n of • stranger in the middle of the treatment of our cue would not prove an embamusment. J indicated the potenti lilies of disturbance .in Champaran, uked foJ' credentials to ,how an insistent demand {or his inquiry and said that the matter would prob bly need reference to the Government.

"1 expected that Mr. Gandhi would communicate with me in bef<l1"e he proceeds to Champaran but I have been informed .mae our interview that his object is likely to be gitation rather than a genuine aeardt for knowledge and it it possible that he may proceed without further reference. I comider that there it a d ager of dia­turbancc to the public tJ1Ulquillity mould he visit your diatriet. I have the honour to request you to direct him by an order under coon J44 Cr. P. C. to leave it at once if he mould appear."

When Gandhi was asked to acknowledge the aerY'ice of the notice, be wrote to the m.agi.nrate that he did not propose to comply with it and leave Cbamparan till W. inquiry was finished :

t~it.h reference to the order under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code just lCIVed upon me. I beg to late that I am lOrry that you have fell called upon 10 illue it and r am lOrry that the Com­mi.ioner of the division bas totally misinterpreted my petition. Out

S

34 GANDHl IN CHAMPA.AN

of a serue of public respomt'bility 1 felt it to be my duty to say that I am unable to leave thiJ district but if it 10 pleaM:II the authorities, 1 aball 'Ubmit to the order suffering the penalty of cfuobe.dienc:e.

~/l must emphatically repudiat:e the ColD.JJlissjoner's suggeation that my obj is likely to be agitation. My desire is purdy and simply rOT a moine aearch for knowledge. And thiJ I shall continue to tisfy 10 1 g as I am left free."

P nd.ll Malaviya, Madulrul Haq and other Indian leaders were informed phically bout the latest development in Champaran and Mr. Andrews was wired to come at once. Gandhi kept awake the whol night writing J ten and giving necessary instructions to :B J' re P d. He also prepared a detailed. programme of work

followed fter bis imprisonment.

ON TRIAL

APan. 17, 1917 the work of reoordin the $.tat~en~ of cutti t

Il in. the small compound of C dhi', residence. A poliee officer arrived on the scene and statted to note down dlC names the 1& who gave tatcments at first $le:.Utbily and then openly. Th bad come in .uch large numbers that th e who recorded til ments had to rk the whole d y without an t.

Gandhi'. am::st was expected any moment. Tclegranu pouring in from all parts of India. ffi ring active 00-0 ti

Mazharul naq intimated bi n-adin to 5tll.rt, but wa., infl nnw th t hi presence auld be ne ry after andhi', imprisonJD t. PlUldit blaviya wir«l for information and Ct his wiUin t

leaving the Hindu University work. ndhi l'ep1i d til t biJ P :0

was not ret needed. :Mr. Pol k wired that be b d al dy 3tartcd. Babu Rajendn Prasad WiLl told to com t on c with olunt When no summons were rtteivt-d up to the evening f lh 17th, dhi wtOte a letter to the diJtrict m gi trate yin that b inumded t

. . t the neighbouring viUaget &hartly: "As 1 ha no desire to do anything without the knowled

authorities, I beg to inform you that ( uming there jJ no Iervi ummoru for appearance before the court tomorrow) I In gom to harnpur and the .urrounding villages tomorrow morning. 'Ill party

hopes to ,tart about 3 a.m. "1 observed yestcrd y that .. police officer followed th party a.U

the way. I may state that we court the Cutlea\ publicity and, dleref'o • beg on my own behalf and that of my colleagues to y that w ahAJI

rclcome the prcsmce, if we may not bave the ittance. the: police in the c:oune of our mission."

On receipt of the Jetter the district magiatrate Mr. Heyeock ot a letter to Gandhi aa ing that b would be cb with an offen under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. that a .ummOI'll uJd be issued against him, and that he would n t leave otib.ari.

Gandhi replied, "I lhaJl gladly remain in Motitwi monow and ",'ait IUDlmom. It The mmmo received caJiing upon andhi

to appear be{; the IUbdivisional of:Ucer on April 18, at 12.30 p. m.

OANDBS Uf OBAlIIl'A:RAN

Gandhi went on workirlg !he whole nigbt and prepared a statement to be read before the court. He abo wrote letters to the aeaetary of the Planters' AIIoc:iation and the Corrunislioner of luhut in which he re­counted the grievances of the tenants and luggestcd certain remedies. He abo wrote a letter to Lord Cbebmford, the Viceroy, describing th la t deveiopmentl. He recilled his Jong-sta.nd.ing association with tbe Govenunent and bit record of public service, for which the

. r-l·1find medal bad been co.nferred on him, and said that, whit he oonsidered that as .. great honour, he felt that since the Government did not trult him enough to let him do public SCt'Viee in Champaran. it would not be proper for him to keep that medal, Accordin Iy be was asking tb<* with whom be had depoaited it to return it to the Viceroy.

He wrote JettcrI to many friendt. inclw:1ing Parulit Malaviya, Mazh ru1 Haq and Mr. PoWt. He then made copiet of bU telegraJnl, lett tI and th tement. He pvc instructiON that lOme of the !etten .bouJd be potted only after his impruonment.

After midnigbt Sabu Dbamidbar and Babu Ramnavmi returned &om the vitI ge, where they bad been deputed for th.e investigation, and made 'tl ir report to Gandhi. Gandhi, in hit tum, told them what h d happened since he puttd from them. He said that he was lumdin biJ trial the foUowing day which would probably end in his

i jail,' nd wanted to know their plans thereafter. DI miclhar replied: t'You brought us here to act as interpreters.

After your imprisonment, we shall not he needed {or that job. We .hall, there{1 re, return to OUT respective places."

ndlu ked, "And wiU you abandon these poor ryou to their

ON' TalAL 57

Cbamparan. The news of the IlOt:ic.e d the summons prea.d like wild fire and Moribari that day wim unprecedented enes. Cora.kh Babu'l bungalow and the oourt ho od wed with mm. Gandhi had finished all his w rk durin the night and able en cope with crowds. Overwhelmed willl th I")

he wrote in his autobiography: CCA sort of friendlin sprang up between the offici I tor,

Magistrate, Police Superinttndent d m "elf. I mj t have legally resisted the notices acned on m . lost d I cceptcd th m U, and my conduct towards the: officials .... 'U cotrc t. They thlU w th t 1 did not w nt to offend th m penonally. but tb t 1 nlcd t fr. r civil . tance to their orden. In thU way they were put at • and instead of harassing roe tiley gl dJy availed thc:msclv of my and co-workers' co-optr Don in regulating the: crowds. But it w an oeu\ l'

demoNtration to them of the fact th t their autllority hum. The people had for the moment loat f, r r punishnlent d yielded obedience to the power of love which their new friend erciaed.

rtI t bouJd be remembered that no one knew me in Ch m The peuanta were aU ignorant. Cham parnn , being far up north of the Ganges, and right at the foot of the Himalayu in cl p imity tQ ep I, wu cut off from the rest of India. The Co was pn. '-ca.uy unknown in tbose paN. Even those who had heard the e 0[ the Congress .hrank from joining it or even menti ning it. And now the Congr and ita mcmben had entered ~bi land, t.h u b not in tlle name of the Congress, yet in a far more re I rue.

"'In consultation with my co-workers I had decid d th t nothing UlouJd be done: in the name of the Congr What w wanted wu work and not name, IUbstance and not ahadow. For the nam of th Congrea was the bell "we of the Government and their controUen­the plante:n. To them the Cong.resa a byword for lawy 1'1' wn.n lcs. evasion of law through loopholes. a bywol'd f1 bomb and anarchical crime and for diplomacy and hypocriry .. We bad to d' illu· lion them both. Therefore, we had decid.c:d not to mention the name or the: CoDgl'Cll and not to acquaint the pc:: nll with tb organiza­tion called the CongteJS. It wu enough, we thou bt, if they under­Itood and followed the: spirit r tll Congl'Cll instead of i J ner.

o emiJsaries had, th reCore, been ICDC there, openJy or aeaetly, on behalf ot the OongtUI (0 prepa.re the ound COl' our arrival.

38 OAIlfPJlI 11' CllA¥l'AJlAN

R.ajlcu.mar Shulda was incapable of reaching the thousands of peasants. " political wo.rk had yet been done amongat them.. The world out~

side Champaran was not known to them. And yet they received me as though we: had been ag~long friends. It is no exaggeration, but the litttal truth. to say that in this meeting with the peasants I was face to face with God, Ahhrua and Truth.

"When I come to c::xam.ine my title to this realization, r find nothing but my Jove for the people. And this in tum is nothing but an expres­'on or. my unsbabbl (aith in Ahimsa.

U hat d y in Champaran waa an unforgettable event in my life and a red-letter day for the peasants and fOT toe.

ft AC(l()roing to the law 1 was to be on my trial, but truly speaking Government wa.s to be on its trial. The Comm.issioner only succeeded in trapping Gov rnment in the net which he had spread for me., ..

n April 18, at 12 noon, the work of recording ltatem nts stopped and the tcnantl were told that the work would again commence on t1 e following day. Gandhi separated those of his things which he wanted to take with himself to jail from thOle which be wanted to

J v behind, At quarter past twelve Gandhi accompanied by Babu R vmi and bu Dbarnidhar started in carriage for the court.

n th way the companions told bim that they had decided to follow hi.tn in jaiJ, even though others might n t. Gandhi exclaimed. t ow I know we ahalJ JUC<:e d."

Hundreds of tenants h d assembled in the court compound from l n o'd k. Wh n ndh; entcrt'd the courtroom, he Vi followed , 2.000 men who, in th ir nxi ty to get in, broke the gl panes of

the dool'1. 111 • trate teeing the bu crowd ked Gandhi to 't (or little whil in m khtian' library, and leDt for armed police

th IX'Ople from entering tJ e courtroom and to prev nt Any in . rlr.. Then dhi called in the courtrooxn.

u got any plead 1" cd the magistrate. It 0, non .. adM,

rnmenr pl der opened the ~ and stated that under ued under section 144 Cr, p, C. dhi ought to have left

1 nm nth rti bt f pril 16, bu.t that be bad not yet done so d h co qu :tly c:ha tel with an oB"mce under aeeti n 188

bull n Penal Code. dhi 'd th ton re«ipt of the order he had ICDt a reply to the

o TIUAL

magistrate in which he had tated his th orda and he wished that the letter should be p ced on

'The trial began. The Oo~ent pi der. the other officials were on lento-boob. Th~y were t 1 to know, hut to do. Th Government pl der \'; p 'ng the mngistrate to t­pone the case.. But Gandhi interfered and requ ted the JruI gi trnte no to postpone the case. he nted to pJ d guilty to ~avi dis­obe\ cd the order to leave Champarnn, and read a brief a tement:

"With the permission of the court I would lik to ma.ke bri stal~ mmt showing wby I have taken a ery 'ow a.ttp of seeming) d'­obeying the order passed under section 144 'mittal Procedure Cod . In my humble opinion it is a question of difference f opinion betw n the loc:a.l dminlm'ation and myself. I have entered the country with motivcs of tendering humanitarian and nationaJ Mee. I h VI: done so in response to a pressing invitation to come and help the ryo • who urge that they are not being fairly tre ted by indigo pi J: t 1'1.

I could not render any belp without studying the problem. J h , th~ ,come to study it with the . t .. mce, if possible, 0 the administration and the plan ten. I have no other motive, nd Mot believe that my coming can in any w; y disturb public pea e and cause loss of life, I cla..im to h :ve considerable experience in .uch matters. The administration, however, h ve thougbt differently. 1 fully appr ~

'ate rhdr difficulty, Bnd I admit too that they an only proc d upon information they reeOved. AJ a I w· biding citi2cn my lint inaunct w uld be, u it was, to obey the order rved upon me, But I auld n t do so without doing violence to my sense of duty to thOi fI r whom I have come. J feel that I could just now serve them only by remain­mg in their midst. I could not. therefore, voluntarily retire. Amid this conflict of duties I could only throw the responsibility of removing me from them on the administration. 1 am fully conscious of the Ji J:.t tb t a penon, holding, in the public life of lodi. position Inch 1 do, has to be mOlt c.arcful in tetting an example. It is my finn belief that in the compJex constitution under which we re living. th only

c and honourable course for a Idf-respecting man ls, in the cit­cumstancea such as face me, to do what I have decided to do, that ii, to tubmit without protc:at to th penallY of disobedic:nce.

<II venture to make thia statement not in any w y in ¢l\l.Cn ti n of the penalty to be awarded against me, ut to .bow ~t 1 b ve

O A 'HDlll 1" C BAVI'A lt AN

diJregarded the order served upon me not for want of respect for law­ful authority, but in obedience to the higher law of our being, the voice of CONcienu."

The roagi.trate Tepeatedly aSked Gandhi, if he pleaded guilty. Oandhi replied. "I have said whatever I have to say in my statement."

The m gUtrate said that did not contain a clear plea of guilty. andhi thereupon replied, III do not wish to waste the time of the

court and 1 plead guilty." ~e magistrate laid, ttl( you leave the district now and promise

not to mum, the against you would be withdrawn." Gandhi ernphadcaUy uid : ttThat cannot be. Not to speak of this time alone. 1 .h 11 mak harnparan my borne even after my return from jail."

There waJ now no occuion to postpone the hearing, but as both the magistrate and the Government pleader had been taken by sur­pri e, the magistrate postponed judgement till three o'clock.

At bout one o'clock. when Gandhi was about to return to his r 'den c, th Superintendent of Police called. him. He had one time been in outh Africa. He .poke against Rajkumar Shukla and pr0.­

mised bring about a meeting between Gandhi and the planteD. Tbtreafter G ndhi w Mr. Heycoa. the district magistrate, who expraced regret at the necessity be felt to launch proceedinp against him and said that Gandhi ought to have seen him earlier.

dhi replied that after the rebuff he had rtteived from the commi· . ner it was ncithcr possible nor proper for him LO see the ttl . trAte.

The m gistrate rcqu eel Gandhi to postpone his visits to villages fl r tb: d)'3 to which he colUCDted.

dhi appeared in the magistrate', courtroOm at three p. ro. Th magis te t Id him that be would pass orden on April 21, but t be would release him in the meantime on a bail of RI. 100.

Delhi 'd t.b t h h d no bailor and could not offer bail. Then the r mllmllf'r:1· le said. "If you cann t offer bail. then you may offer penonal recognizance. It When G dhi declined to do even. that. he said: t cry well. Com clc on April 21 when 1 propo.e to give my verdi t." Candbj agrttd.

hortly er th o'd Gandhi returned to his residence and he te to his friends and newr pen about that day's happenings

. th .:ti until e Government'.

ON TRIAL +1

On April 18 Muharul Haq, Brajk.iShon: bu, Ra,iendra Bahu, Babu Anugrabanarayan. Shambhusaran nd Pol reached Motibari. Mer a prolonged c:liscussiQn they decided to foUo G dhl in j il, if n«CSS:a.rY. Gandhi immediately took down names d dIvided them into batehC$ of two to carry on the inquiry and court imprisonment one after another. Mu:ha:ruJ H q and Braj . bore d uld be in c:harge, if Gandhi was removed. The next tch uld consUt of Bahu Dbarnidhar and Ramnavmi Prasad. If they too ,vue pic ed UP. ~endta Prasad, Bahu hambbUSlU":lD and Anugrahana yan ¥lould continue the work. Whatever happened the ryots were not to be let down. In accordance with this decision Hnq and B ~kis.h rc Prasad left for P rna and Darbhangn l'CSp«:(;tively to settle their pri. vate afI'ain, so that they might return by April 21. Mazharul H q, who was then a member of the Viceroy's Legis) live uncil, lent telegram ,to the Viceroy, detailing the happenings in mparon.

From April 19 batches of tenants began to pour in nd G udhPs . lants recorded their statements. Gandhi himself recorded It teo-

menta of some of the tenants and he d the s te.menLs re 'orded by others. Those who were entrwtcd with the w k were It! to c

mine the tenants carefully and clOlCly. to record only luell It te­men appeared to them to be true. nd if they cam Cl'O$lI n}' cue which required immediate inquiry to draw Gandhi'. ttention to it.

On the 20th the statements continued to be recorded the whole day. A .tream of peas:ultl poured in from 6.30 a. 0). to 6. 90 p . r . Many had to Itay overnight and atill their atatetnenu could not be re<:orded even the next day.

At about 7 p. m. the magistrate ICOt written Dl · ge that the Lieutenant-Governor had ordered the case ainst G ndlU to be withdrawn and the collector wrote ring that he w at liberty to conduct the proposed inquiry, and that be might count on what ver help he needed from the offici.a1J. When be called on tbe U Mr. Heycoclc that evening, he told Gandhi lbAt be might k wb tever papers he desired to ICe, and that be was \ liberty to him whenever he liked.

"The country thUJ bad i first direct object leaon in . viJ diJ. obedieru:e," ob.etved Gandhi."n aJfai.r was fr y ditcuasc:d both 'oc::aUyand in the p , and my inquiry got uneq>ected publicit.y!'

42 OANDBI IN CJJ.A¥PARAN

An intimate auount of the methods 0{ the inquiry, in Gandhi's own wordl, i. as foUOWI:

"The inquiry could not be conducted in Gorakh Babu', house, wjthout practically asking him to vacate it. And the people of Mon­hari had n t yet shed their fear to the extent of renting a house to us. However, Brajkilhar Babu tactfully aecured one with considerable pen Ipa about it, and we now removed theR.

trlt not quite poaible to carry on the work without money. It h d not be n the practice hitherto to appeal to the public for money Cor work of thU kind. Brajkishore Babu and his fru:nds were mainly vakila who either contributed funds themselves or found it from friends whcne9'er th re w an occui n. How could they ask the people to pay when they and their kind could wdl afford to do 10 ? That teeJXled to be the argument. I had made up my mind not to accept anything from the Champa n ryots. It would be bound to be misrepresented. I w equally determined not to appeal to the country at large for fundi to oondu t t.hia inquiry. For that was likely to give it an all­lndi nnd political aspect. Friends from Bombay offered Rs. 15,000, but I declined the offer with thanb. I decided to get as much as was possible with Brajki;shore Babu'a help, from well-do-do Bihans living outJide Ch mp ran and, if more was needed. to approach my friend

r. P. J. Mehta of Rangoon. Dr. Meh r elilyagreed to send me WJ1 tever might be n eded. We were thus free from all anxiety on this

reo We w not likely to l"CQuire large fund .. as we were bent on erci ·ng the greatest economy in consonance with the poverty of

mparan. Indeed it was found in the end that we did not n cd My ) r m unto I l\a\'e lUI impression that we expended in all not In r tb tlU'te tho nd rupees. and. as Car as I rtmember. we saved

Ii w hundred rupees from what we had collected. tlnu~ curious ways of living of my companio in the early day,

con tnnt Iheme of rail} a.t their expense. ell of the vakils h d a lUVlUlt and cook, d therd"ore a tc kitchen, d they

n n h d dlcir dinn late as midnight. Though they 'd their wn ape their irregularity tried me, but ~ had become

friends there was no possibility of misundc:ntanding betwc:cn d the ~. ved my ridicule in good part. Ultimately it was

reed that the 'an sh uld be dispensed with, that all the kitchens Ih uld be ted, and that regular hours ahouJd be ohset'ved.

ON Tlll\&l.

Ita aD 'Wtt't: not \~ans, and as t kitcheua 'W uld ha e been ~ve. a. common vegetarian kitchen w decided u n. Il abo felt necessary to insist on simple meals.

t<"fbcsc a.rrangcmenta considerably reduced the ex- and ved us. lot of time and energy, and both these were badly needed. ",ods of peasants came to make their statements, ad they were tolloW«} by an anny of companions who filled the compound and garden to o -erflowing. The effort! of my compani os to ve me from omsluJ.n­eden were often of no vail, and J had to be exhibited for Jl)J's/uJn

at particular hours. At least five to seven voJunteen were required to take down statements, and even then some people had to go w y in the evening without bring able to make their statements. All these: .tatements were not ential, many of them being repetition!, but the people could nol be tisfied otherwise, and I appteci ted tb if feeling$ in the matter.

nThost who took down the statements had to observe certain rules. Each peasant had to be do ely cross-examined. and whoever failed to satisfy the test was rejected. This entailed a lot of extra time, but tnOIt 0{ the statemenu were thus rendered inconttovcrtible.

nAn officer from the C. 1. D. would always be present when thc:sc: ltatements were recorded. We might have prevented bim, but we h d decided from the very beginning not only not to mind the presence of C. t. D. officers, but to treat them with COurtesy and to give them all the infonnation that it Wat possible to give th m. This WIll fat from doing us any harm. On the contrary the very fact that the .tate-­mcnts were taken in the presence of the C. 1. D. officers made the

nts more fearless. Whilst on the one hand the e:xccaive fear of the C. I. D. was driven out 0{ the ptaSants' minds, on the other their plUenCe exercised a n tural teatraim on exaggeration. It was the bu$in of C. I. D. friends to entrap people. and 10 tbe peA.omnu had neceasari1y to be cautious.

«< I did not want to jrritate the planters, but to win them ewer by gentleness, I made a point of writing to and meeting !has of them

. ru whom aIJegations of a 1eri0Ul nature w e m de. I met the P1anteu' Auociation as well, placed the ryOUl' grievanas before them and acquainted myxlf with their point of view. Some of tJ e plante,.. hated me JOnle were ~ and a few treated me with courtesy."

Giving a pen"picture of bit coUcagues. Gandhi wrote thUl:

OANDHt 1M CHAIU'AllAN

"Brajkishore Babu and lUJendra Babu were a matchless pair. Their devotion made it impoaible for me to take a single step without their help. Th.c:ir dUciples, or their companiOJlll---.Sbambhu Babu, Anugraba Babu, .Dhami Babu, Ratnnavmi Babu and other va.Icil5-were alw y. with us. Vindhya Babu and Janakdbari Babu also came and helped us now and then. All these were BihariJ.

#, eaor Kripalani could not but cut in hia lot with us. Though .. i.ndhi he was more Dibari than a born Dibari. I have seen only a few workers capable of merging themselves in the province of their adoption. KripaJani is one of those few. He made it impossible fat'

nyone to feel that he belonged to a different province. He was my t.clceepct-in-chid. For the tim being he made it the end and .aim of

hi lift to sav me from darslum«eken. He warded off people, calling to hi. aid now hiJ unfailing humour, now hiJ non·violent threats. At nightfall he would take up hia oocupation of 11 teacher and regale his camp wons with his historical studies and observations, and quicken any timid visitor into bravery.

"Mazharul naq had regisc.ered his name On a standing list of helpers whom I might wunt upon whenever neeeasary, and he made a point of looking in once or twice a month, The way in which he associated with us m de u. feel that he was one of \II, though hia fashionable h bit pve l\ Itranger difti e.nt imp . on. II

The lill andhi'. helpers, according to a C. I . D. report com-priJcd: (I) Dharnidhar Prasad; (2) Ramnavrni Prasad; (3) C. F. Andre ; (4) MazllUUl Haq; (5) Polll'k; (6) Brajkiahore ahai; (7) hambhu tu'l'D.a; (8) Rajendra Prasad; (9) Anugraha. arain

iOSh i (10) Brahrna ri Aribhusan,"v bond of Gopalganj"; (1 I) P runath Tripathi, "outsider from, Shallabad district"; (12) D' dya nJ d amu; (IS) Oh dradwip arain; (14) Mr. Krlpalani, I diamissed profi r of uz.affa.rpur CoUqen

; (15) Ragbu­nandan Pruad, Hout&ider"; (16) Parmeshwar La!; (11) Gorakb P d ; (lS) G eah tt' h; (19) Ruban Sabai. ". dismj-o

tT r wah ~ 1." On April 21, nwnber of peasantl had com from long dis-

tan as they were und the itnp . on tb t orden in Gandhi', uld be t1 t da.y. Wben th y heard th t the with·

to no bound. The v. k of recording statements, n uointerru ed.

o T .. IAL

On April 221 in the morning, a wil"e ow received at the r u ashram from otihari: "Procc:eding$ withdrawn under Uutru lions from Govenunenl and official . :tan.ce to conduct inquiry p mised. Fed grateful to Government for withdrawal and istanoe. Bcing plendidly helped by local pleaden and otben. M of aym thy

and help rec:cived from many quarters which encouroagc feUow .. worken d self. During stay have already visited some villaga and seen

hu.n.d.teds of eyota. Officials have shown every court y tlll'Otqfhout inquity. No public agitation n~. Issues involved are tremend~ ously great. Hope place final conclusion before Government nd country. This may be published."

Conuru:nting on the telegram, Abstract Pj Inulli,lMl. marked (tconfi~ dential," published regularly by Bihar and Orissa Police. reproduced the following £rom Bombay Police Extract:

"M. K.. Gandhi's recent doings in Bihar have been given gr t

prominence here. apparently at his own up desire. to wh t

actually occurred I have only press reports to go upon, but it ap n to be a revival of his old 'passive resistance' g me with improved methods in the publicity departJllent. On the 22nd April in the morning a wire was received at the ashram from Gandhi from Moti­ban reading III rollows ... or course, <No public agitation,' CAn. be read in two 'Ways and will doubtl be given its perfectly innocent and hartn1ea meaning that the public need not be agitated in their minds bout the welfare of Gandhi or his mission, but it may abo be taken to imply that if all bad not gone smoothly 'public agitation.' in the more naturaJ and everyday cceptation of the term, would have been considered necessary and would have been forthcoming at the word from Gandhi. A leaflet giving a Oujarati tramlauon of th.iJ wire was printed and freely distributed in the city. Following u.p the wire, Gandhi supplied the local pr hero-and prob hly many other papers elsewhere-with a copy of his ltatemenl befo the court on the 18th April. He evidently intended the Je.ntimenlS expn:acd. in it to gain the widest publicity ... With the usual accom­paniment» of lip-loyalty and the profesaion of an ea er (but unful. filled) desire to submit to authority, it is a IUbtie method of inculcat.­ing the doctrine that dUobedience of official orden it quite jUltmed if the individual t.hinb he knows better OT believes he is working in a patriotic caUIC. His wide dissemination of such ideas ppea.n tl> be

OA DBI IN OBAIIPAaAN

highly objectionable and calculated to have a very bad effect. One Jocal effect of these events bas been the complete rehabilitation of Gandhi', reputation as a patriot of the first order, which bad been threatened with partial eclipse as the result of a movement which was gaining headway here to .diJparage him on account of his primitive manners and waya of life and mode of dress and his insistence OIl

v cula.n to the cxclwion of EngliJh in ordinary intercourse and as a vchicl of education."

1 DICTMENT

Tu living in the northern areas.. almost at th foot of the Him • yas. wanted abo to record their grievan but Motibati , • y approachable on ccount of the distance. andhi, then:f1 re~

decided to camp at 'Bettia~ the principal town in the northern rt

r Champaran. On April 22, Gandhi informt'Ci the collector that he was 1 Ying

Motihari or Bettiah by the afternoon train. t every .tation, n the • the ryots came from long distances for his darsllmt. At 5 p.D\. the

' 0 rea~d Bettiah. There was such a huge crowd waiting t the station that the train had to be stopped lOme way off from th plA ~ fonn to void any accident. As soon he alighted from his third~ class compartment, there w a deafening cry of jai and shower ftowers. Such enthusiaml Betililh h d never w:itn d her. •

Through the p . ng crowd Gandhi walked and look his t in arriage. The people unharnessed the ho and tried to pull the camage themselves. He curbed their enthusi m by threat rung to lea e the carri ge, if they permted. The people yielded d the h were again bam d. There was a de crowd of 10,000 oni oken lining both sidta or the main road and the could move but slowly and with greatest difficulry, 'U it Hazarirnal's dbat'lruUhala, wh re he camped throughout his • Y in Beuiah.

D the Collowin day G odhl met Mr. W. H. Lewis, the ub-divisional officer, and Mr. Whitty, the rna ger of tb .Betti h ~. The collector bad already infonne<l them about Gandhi'. .. n.

At Bettiah a large Dumber 0 tenants viailed ndtU's camp to giv their statements. The work at Motibari continued and the satem tI

which were recorded there W~ ICnt every nigbt to G ndhi c.h gh • mes".c~:r

Gandhi', camp at the dhannasbala hummed with activity. 0

cope with the ork; the Dum of . tantl had ro be in eased. Only urgent and OIU . were imm diately b ught t ndbj, who refttnd them to the offi ' or pllUlta'l for rell · f r planali n. He sent aJso hIa own men to inquire into the grieva~ on the .pol

48 OAlIJDBJ Uf CHAMPA_AN

and in lOme easel, he viJited the places hi.cnself to study the situation. The villagers clamoured for his tiarSMn but he satisfied their curio­

lilY only at fixed houn. There were no public prayer meetingl those days but he took his evening walb regularly and IOmetimes people followed him. During the walb he discussed with his assistants the qu tions that had arisen during the day and also fixed up the pro­gramme for the following day. He: walked briskly, barefooted and often ba.rehodicd.

The worlcen stayed with him in the dhannashaJa, day and nigbt. All bad to rite early. take their bath near a well, wash their clothes and fill up tb pitchers of watcT for drin1Ung purpose. They did not always haVi to draw water from the weD. for a number of tenants wen: often around to give a helping band. No one was allowed to keep a ICl'VaDt

because Gandhi wanted his colleaguea to be Idf·rdiant. For the wbole party of about twenty men there was only one: cook and the food

rved was simple. When Kuturba Gandhi joined the camp, she was put in charge of cooking. whereas Gandhi served the food. His own meal. con.silted of groundnutJ and datea. He took lOme mangoes during the n. He started eating c:en:als only when Kasturba.. took ~ge of the kitchen.

Apart from )ight breakIa.st, the workers took two meah every day, ne at cleven o'clock in the morning and the other at five in the venin . After th evening meab mOlt of the workers would fake a

long walk with Gandhi. The work of recording statements commenced by IUD. • d continued tiU Iunset. The workers took a short rest

aner the moming meals. The tAtemCllU were recorded in English and saveral copies were: made with the help of typist! who were stay­ing in lh dharmashaJ and working in the urvey Settlement Depart­ment. TIl y ffj cd their ktVic:cs free and v.mked during their JmUfe .h un. About 25,000 tenants gave their atatemenm-lO.OOO in full

d th briefly. Thousands of statements wen: typed and the were d posited in di{f; t placea for safety. diu worked the hardest. He studied statc::r:nen1S and carried on

corlUli1Oflden till late in the night and woke up early to cope with the b vy rk. He: alcpt and worked on the open terrace of the clharnwhal d ~cupied & space. three feet by aUt feet. in a pusage on the It .

n the tJilid day his stay in Beltiah. he visited the L&ubria

J X>lCTWB T

village in the com pan of Brajkishore Prasad who rec ttl tinton' ttatements. Mr. Lew' who happenc:d to be- there by the newly acquired boldn thJ ryou d th . give detailed statements. Gandhi m t fr. ie, the m

yrcah fa ry, and had a long discussi n ahout the ryo ' n \'&0

,jth him. He spent the night in the vill e and returned to Betti cn foot the next day.

On April 27 Gandhi went to see Rajku.rnar hukla', ho »harahwa hieb bad been looted b th tory 'aD

earlier. To ~eb the village he started on foot from railway station. He walked bout Ie miles in the and reached the village at about ten o'clock. He ocked to see the d.evaJtated condition of Rajkumar's p perty. A Jarge number of ryou gavc: tatements about the loot, describing in detail the vandal­ism. Gandhi went and saw Mr. A. C. Amman, the manager of Bdwa factory, who a terror to cuitiva.t n. andhi d bis U es spent th night with the villagcn nd th following m min th y all ~turned to Bettiah.

After his r turn from Bel G ndhi again w nt and w Mr. Lew.iJ d Mr. Whitty. The planters d the local officen were much u

by Gandhi', visit. Mr. Lewis was very ap reh ve before his imagination a terrible picture of a lik y di.t"ur

d co to the conclusion that the ry held the om . r peeL Mr. Lewis thought that ov rnm t musl to curb andhl'. activities. Gandhi disc d the new deY with . worken at great length. The workers thought th 1

Defence of India Act they all aUght be cxterned m and that the tho ands of, temenu they botd record

nfiscat.ed. dhi . that the Government might deal with them

50 O ... NDHI JIlt ca ..... p ... ll ... N

At about 8 p.m. Gandhi ~ved a copy of the report prepared by Mr. LcwU for lubmitting to the Government. Gandhi returned th report with ru. note the lame night. His note, dated April 28, addYCAed to Mr. LewiJ .aid:

"'I have your note or even date. I tbank you for baving sent me yOW' letter to Mr. Hcycock. for penuai. I pprec:iate the frankness that pervades it and it it on the whole a very fair summat')' of what bas happened between til.

(' /r4 to th guns, 1 think you are mewhat unn my offended. 1 menu cd the matter to 1 u on Mr. Hcycoc:k'. suggestion. and if you dmil the propriety of my having rpoken to you about the mattCt' 1 could not be blamed fot ~ving told the 'eved parties that there was • p babUity of lhcir g; {ling back their guns. This, if an .thing,

d n to er te .. good impression about yourself. an impression which, 1 m h ppy lc) y, I carried with me when 1 first met you and whi h I baw had no n to change since. There was certainly no interference on my part with your authority.

"I veJUur think that your deduction toO that in the estimation of the ryola 1 am IUpencding local auth rity is hardly warranu:.d by f1 ta. My tni.uion is to invok th help of local authority in their aid. and to .umulate its intc:n:st in them more fully than heretoJi •

Itt anticipate no tl'Ollbte be<:ause I always make it a point to seek atI inc.erview with th plant:en wherever I go, to tell the people that reU . to (l me not from me. but from the planten and the Govern­

d that they Ilre in no 0 we violence or top work, but it l\I as if there w: no inqlliry being made by IllCt bct-1lUS'C: the inquiry is abtoluldy opctl and tt.ended by the

n ti of the police department as \so th.e planters. "You ate 1 than lair to Babu Brajmhore p . d. Together with

£rom.Bib bt: is helping m vuy matt:rW1y. In ~ inquIry h baa 00 tus apart from me ; hence be and the other friends ha n t ca.Oed on ou. But I mutt lafe that their . canoe been of the

is in

INDlCTM&NT 51

conflict. 'with your statement '"B the plant~ be (1) is cd wbh great suspicion as their natural enemy.'

"1 want to serve my countrymen and the planters U rough the Government where their . tance is ne H

At the invitation of the. planters Gandhi went to MQt:ihari to ltend their meeting on May 2. There long d.iscu:ssion but nothing came out df it. On the follo'wing d y h · letunled to ltiah fter meeting Mr. Heycock, the District • tmte, and Mr. weeney, the Settletn t Officer.

The Government received official reports of G ndhi's activitie3 and abo letters of complaints from the planters wb spccted aerious trOuble.

On May 5 Mr. Cox and Mr. Jame30D, the representatives of the Charnparan branch oflndigo Planten' . tion, m t the Lieutenant-Governor at Ranchi to complain about Gandhi' inquiry.

The Lieutenant-Governor plained the attitude of the Govern­ment towards the p.rcsent aituation in Cha~paran. He rctnllJ'ked that Gandhi had no official recognition of any IOrt. It was . free untry, however, and the 10C&1 government were not in position to int .. fere with any m.i.uion of inquiry. He instanced, by way fillUitrati 11,

the inquiry made by Mr. C. F. Andrew. in Fiji. Government would have placed themselves in a false position by preventing the inquiry. They were. however, prepared to take cuon if anyth1l'l prejudicl&1 to the public safety occurred.

<'The ~ult of Gandhi', inquiry will nOt bind Government in ny way," be said. ''Th.e appoinonent or a commissi n is both UJ1nl!Cl!:!I!IlU~ in view of the ICltlement openuiollS nd objectio bie in that it 'W uld involve oJIkial recognition of Gandhi."

Mr. Cox aplained that they bad only mentioned .. conmil.a1~· to thaw that if it were considered a poaible way out of the difliculty the planLen would welcome one.

Mr. JamelOIl 'd that hi wu not now paying much tten· . n to the legal points in diJpute between the plan d ry ts,

such sJw4ltbu1ti ; he giving molt of his ttention to qUeltio or a more penonal nature, lUeh as labour raUll, tb all · empl y~ ment of chi.ldren in factory work, and 10 0. 'The chief • bow-ever. aroe t from the inquiri tbemsdvea. but from the l'act that

people at a whole were . worked up thro h the name of Mr. Gandhi.

S2 OAllfDHt JIIIf CIJAVPAIlAlif

Asked whether it would do any good to issue a general notice that Gandhi lw no official recognition or authority to Iettle disputes, the planterl did that IUCh a notice would never reach the people for whom it waI intended. or if it did, it would be explained away.

Mr. Cox laid that their interview with Gandhi had shown that he had no idea of liJtcning fairly to the European side of the question, H iOJtaDced the of th Belwa. concern where a/nxJIJ/Js had been taken with the rent {rom time immemorial Gandhi', only advice to the planter was that be bould rise :above mcn:CWllY conside:ratioas and ,pyc up obwabJ.

Mr. eox .tated that none of the Bettiab planters bad come to Ranchi with the deputation because they were afraid to leave their Ii ct.orie.. the people being in IUcb an excited frame of mind.

Adverting to the dan eraut nature of the present position, Cox and Ja.me:ton expJaiqed that the crop' were: now on the gound

d the telU)t of the present agi tion would be the rpread of a system of 'w resi lance. The ryotl would pay no rent and would neither give u)eir labour nor their l'tI. This would spell ruin (or the planteR. The general feeling mongst the local zarnindan and weU-diJposed people WlU amuemcnt that the r.itlmr should have allowed the pn::sent

f t.bi to come to p . Further inaction would confirm the beli that dhi had been sent by the Viceroy to supersede

the local dmininrution. ''''The people y that be could not be put in j 'il and that hiJ m' . n cannot now be .topped They see numerous couru of inquiry being held aU over the district and they are told they ha only t t th ir grievance. to andhi nd th y need not have anything m re to do whh the lact ri . Then: wiD be no improvement in the t 0 local Ii" 10 long Mr. Gandhi remains in the d,inriet, for th is CO l coming and g in between the leading local

. to of U portions of the district and r. Gandhi'. folLowen.u

Tb Li ut.enant- T P mised to review th whole situation but h emph . ed that it Uld be di lcu1t to e any aetion unl th! tarlBibl vid the misclU us u1 accruing from

paigrt. 6 andhi 'ved a fA:legr.un.from cPbenon, the

"et cn:tary co Government, from odu, infonnin him that the Han'ble Mr. W. Maud! • the evenu !ember. would be gaing to P tna on (ay 10 nd n:qu tina Gandhi to meet him t.hae.

1 OlCT ... .,.T 5S

On May 9, Gandhi accompanied by » ~kWl n: d reached PatDa to meet Mr. Maude. A1.tnaI aU the leaders of P tna d a large number of adrniren received biro at the 5 ti n. &om bere be .... 'eDt to Maz.harul H q's bouse. On Y 10 Gandhi b d intctw view with Mr. Maude for about two bours. Mr. I{ ude t.old him submit his report to the Government, who uld then consider w t action should be taken on it. He added that his inquiry had used great deal of excitement and uneaain amongst the planters. H

. d that the Govenu:nmt had confidence in Gandhi and QuId not mind if he carried on the inquiry bimself. But the lawyen who were working with him wen: old agitaton and they d joined him, not to help the ryots. but to serve their own sd6sb ends and to t an oppor­tunity to hine u lawyers. He, therefore, ed Gandhi to remove them.. andhi replied that he would tend the report on his return to Bettiah and would instead of detailed .tatementl, have their u:mmari recorded to ;ve time. N rd the removal of his co-w tken, h told Mr. M ude plainly that that was not possible.

On May 11 Gandhi returned to Bettiab. and began to wri his abort report based on the lengthy one prepared by h:iJ co-w tken. The detailed report had not only listed all th complaints but had given a brief summary of the voluminoUi ev'id ncc. G ndhi did not cite any evidence, but genen.11y staled that th compJainta were substantiated by proo.& in his possession. Gandhi'. ab rt report r d u follows:

"In accordance with the suggati n made by the Hon'ble Mr. ude, J beg to submit herewith the prdimi ry conclusions which 1 b ve arrived at as a result of the inquiry being made by m into the . conditioll.l of the ryota of Champaran.

"At the outset 1 would like to 'late that it t 'bIe for to give the UIUnlnOC which Mr. Maude would have liked m to ve given, namely. tb.a.t e vakil fricn who ba been islin me w · u1d be withdrawn. I lDust confi that this req hurt me d ply. It been made ever ' my arrival b . 1 have been told, that ii,

the withdrawal at the order of rc.movaJ trom the diItri~ that my preaence barmlc:a en gb nd thaI my bona jiit/u were UQw

qUCltioned, but that the ~ of the vakil friendl likely to create a'd.angetouI 'wabon'. I venture to submit that if I may be t:ru:sted to conduct m)'IClf deoorously, I may be equally trusted to

OANDIU 1" CBA'MPAllAN

cboote hdpm 0( the aame type as mytdf. I consider it a privilege to have the auociation in the difficult task before me of theK able. earnest and honourable men. It seemt to me that for me to abandon them is to abandon my W01'k. It must be a point of honour with me not to d.iIpc:nae with their help until anything unworthy' proved apinIt t.bem to my sat.iJfaction. 1 do not share th fear that either my presence or that or any fricru:1J can create a 'dangerous situation'. The danger, it any, must be in the C&UJeJ that have brought about the strained relation betw th planten and the ryoll. And if the C8U1C1 were J'CDlovcd, th e never need be any fear of a tcbngerolll .huatioo' aNing in Champ n'lO far the ryo are concerned.

"Coming to th immediate pUl'J'O'C of this representation I beg to .ta tbat n Iy 4,000 ry tI have been examined and their stalementl taken after careful croa eumination. Several villages have been viJitcd and many judgeme.nta of couru atudiC<l And the juquiry is, 'n my opini n, ClIp bI of IWtai.ni.ng the following conclusions.

"Factoriet or conoerm in tbe district of Champarao may be divided into two cl

lfTh that have never had incligo plantation and those that have. 1"fh, C ncerna thal have never grown indigo have exacted obWtlbs

known by various local n m equal in amount t least to the rent paid by th ryo . This cUon, although it bas been held to be ill 1, hat not allog ther topped.

"Tile indigo-growing ractoneJ have grown indjgo either under th tiMaJII;IJ '}'Item or klnuki. Th Conner bas been more prevalent and cauac:d th greatctt lW'dJhip, The type has varied with the P f time. tarting with indigo it has taken in i swe:ep all kin of cro . It may now be defined as an obligation pn:sum~ 10

l ch to the ry \', b l<ii.Qg bereby th ryot has to grow • crop on 3/20 t.h h Idi at th wiU of the 1 ndl rd for a ted considera­ti . Th p n to be n 1 warrant for it. The ryo have alw 14 u ht . t it and have only yielded fO force. Th. have DO

rttcivcd dequ t 'de non 14. r ,th 1CtVic:es. Wben, bowe"Vu. wing t the introdu ti of aynthede indigo the prior: of the local

product MI, the planters desired to cancel the indigo :t1ltt4r. They, them re, dt ... i a tn saddling the ~ upon the ryota. In 1 h Id Ian lb made the II pa ' , ~t is, damages to

lOOper i in consid of their . ving their

J DICTlillt T 5S

right to indi80 cultivation. This, the ryOtll claim, done under coercion. Where the ryotll could not find • hand-ootes nd mon deeds were made for payment in instalmenlS bearing intctat 1 12 ~ cent pa annum. In these the balAnce due 'has not been d 'bed as ~ that is. damage. but it bas been fieti . ualy treated an advance to the ryot for some purpose of his own.

"tn 1ftOobrni land the damages have taken the shape of sluutdtbulri s4ll4l, meaning enhancement of rent in Ii u of indigo cu1ti~tion. The enhancement a<XlOl"l'iing to the survey report has in the c:a.sc of 5,955 tenancies amoun cd to R&. 91,062, the p_re..enh neement figure being lU. 53,865. The total number of tenancies aft; ted is much larger. The ryots claim that th~ sliJJ4s were taken from them under coercioll. It is inconceivable that the ryota would agree to an e.n rro .. ous perpetual increase. in their rents againat freedom from liability 10 grow indigo for a temporary period, which freedom tbey were &t1"CDuously fighting to secure and hourly expecting.

"Where tawan has not been exacted the f: clOries have forced the ryots to grow oats, sugarcane or such other crops under the tinhUhia system. Under the tinkaJJria system the ryot has been obli tel to give his best land for the landI n) , crop': in lOme the 1 nd in front of his house: has been so wed ; he Iuu been obliged to giv biJ best time and energy also to it 10 that very little time has been left to him for growing his own CJ'Opi-bis meant of livelihood.

"The cart-bin: s.atl4s have been forcibly taken from th ryota Cor upplying carts to the factories on hire insufficient to er the

usual. outlay. Inadequate wages have been paid the ryota whue labour has been impreaed and even boys of tender age have made to work against their will.

"Ploughs of the ryots have been impressed and de,ained by the Ii ctori~ for days together for ploughing (actory lands for a trifling consideration and at time when they have required them for c:tIltivat· i ng their 0 :n lands .

.. DlUhIri has been Wen by tb · notoriously m.paid amUu out of the . ved by the laboure:ra often amounting to the fifth of their

daiJy wages and also out of the hire paid f; the carts and in lome villages the Cha.mars have been forced to give up to the factories the hides f tbe dead cattle belonging to the ryots. Against the car the Cbaman used to supply lhe ryOtl with shoes and I therstrapt for

56 GANDHI lit 01l4VP4ILA

ploughs, and their women bad to render ICr'Vicea to the latten' families at clu1dbirtb, Now they have ceased to Tender t:heIe valuable services. Some factories have opened bide godowns for the collection of .uch hidt::ll.

"Illegal fin , often 01 heavy amounts, have been irnpoeed by the (; ctori upon ryo who have f'IIOVed unbending.

~. Among th other (a«ording to the evidence before me) methods adopted to bend lb ryots to their will the planterl have impounded the ryou' ~tle, pelted peons in their houses, withdrawn from them barberi', dhobia', carpenters' and smiths' services, have prevented the we of tb village wc:Jh and puture lands by ploughing up Ute pathway and the lands ju in front of or behind their bomesteads, Nave brought or prom cd civilllUtJ or actual physical force and wrong­ful eonfincm nu. The plantCJ"J have sut'Cellfully used the institutions o tbe untry to enforce their will agaltllt the ryota and have not h itat d to upptcment them by taking the law into their own bands. The ult hal be n that the ryou have mown an abject belplcam , lucb as r have not witn in any part of India where 1 have tray U .

{They \" mcmben of the District Board and n under the ukidari ct and keepers of pounda. Their position as .uch

been felt by th ryo • The r ds which the latter pay for at the rate f I aIr an anna per rupee of rent paid by them are hardly available

to them. Their carta od bullocb which perhaJll mOlt need the roads re rarely allowed make use f \bem. That this it not peculiar to

amparan docs not in any way rni' te the grievanee. 1 am aware that th concerns which Ii nn exceptiOIlJ to the rule laid down but e t charge the I tetnen.ts made above are capable of p f.

"1 am ware tOO, that lhcrt arc lOme Indian zamindan who are (I. to the eht.rgo mad hove. Relief it tought fl in cheir

in th of th planters. Whilst thece can be no doubt mat the latter MYe inherit a vicioUJ stem. they with train mindl and superiar poaiti have rendered it t an et 'ence so that the ryots would nOt nl h ve bec:n u bie to raUe their beads above tu but would

\! sunk deeper still t d not \he Oovcmment granted protec-tion. But that prot ti been and provokingly slow has 0 . come too late to be ap recia.ccd by the 1")'0

r DICTM:£ T 57

nit is true that the Government await the ttlement Officer' .. report on some of these matters covered by this rep "-bon. It. . submitted that when the ryots are groani.n under the wei hl of op lion such as I have d ibc:d abo\''C, I\Jl inqu' by th eltlem t om Cl' is a cumbersome method. With him the grievan mentioned herein are but an item in an extensive settlement ope.r ti n. r docs his inquiry co er all the pain raised above. oreovcr grievances have been xt forth which are not like! to be dbputed. And they n:: 10 serious as to require an immediate rdief.

'That Utwon and sltllTaltlHslri sallas and t1bWllbs ha; been cted cannot be qu boned. I hope it will not be argued that the ryotll n be fully protected to tb by recourse to law. It is aubmhted tb t where there is whol Ie exaction eourts are not sufficient pro for the ryots and tb administrative p tection of the . kar supreme landlord is an bsolute n c 'ty.

"The wrongs re twofold. There are wrongs which re aCClornpltah d facts d wrongs which continue. The continuing wro n d to be stopptd at once nd a mall inquiry may be made s to past wron such damag and UwtJbl already taken nd sh4,o.hbuhi p ym.ent already made. The ryota should be told by prodam ti n and notices dUtributed b dcast among them that they re not only not bound to pay uW4bl, tawall and IMra/Wulri ch rgea but that they ought not to pay them, that the sirkar will protect them if y ttempt' made to enforce payment tbereo. They should futth r be informed that &hey are not bound to 1\ nda any penonal services to their 1 ndlonb and that they are free to sell their teT\'iCei to whomsoever they ctmo.e and that they an: not bound to grow indj , sugarcane or y 0 h r crop un1 they wish to do so and unless it is profitable to tbem. The Bettiah ~ 1 given to the factories should not be renewed until the wronp re rcdreued and abould, wh n renewed, pr perly e­guard '1'013' righta .

., AI \0 tJashtri it is clear that better paid and educated m n .hould .ubitifute the present h lden of reaponsib1e offices and that no countenance should be given to the diminution in ryo I wa by illegal exaction of tlattftri. t feel ,ute that the plant.en are quite capable of dealing willl the evil althougb it is in their Iansuar <as old as the Hirna1a '.

''The tyo*, being IC:CUred in their freedom it would be 00 10

OAl'fI1HU HI CIIAMPAJl.A,

necdlary to in~gate the question of inadequacy or otherwise of "the contideration in the indigo It#lIJJ and cart~bire sIIttas and the wages, Th ryo by common agreement should be advised to finish j di 0 or other c:rops fl the current year, But henceforth whether it is indigo or any other crop if .hould be only under a aystem of absolute free' will.

"It will be: observed that J have burdened the tatement with as lil11 aJ1'IVD nt poaibJe. But if it iJ the desire of the Government that I .hould prove anyone of my conclusions I .hall be pleased to tend th proo on which they are based,

''In conciwioD I would like to .tate that I have no desire to hurt th planten' feeling. I hay reed ed every courtay from them. 1klieving as I do that ryOtl are labouring under a gricvo wrong from which they ou ht to be released immediately, I have dealt u calmJy

ia possible for me to do 10, with th synem which the planters are w tking. 1 h ve entered upon my miJsion in the hope that they as EngJUbme1l born to enjoy tl1e fullest personal liberty and freedom will not f: 'I to riae to their ltatus and wiU not be grudging the ryots the lAme measure of liberty and freedom.

fIt am nding copies to the Commissioner of the Ttrhut DiviJion. the Uector of Champaran, th ubdivisional Officer of Bettiab, lhe M f tb Bettiah ~. the .ecretaries respectively f the

. tio and tbe Dj triet Planters' . tion. I m circul ting so among those leaden or pubuc; opini n in the

(~ounll"y wb h ve kept thcmadves in touch wilb the w rk being d De

by my II nd myself. The cot» a«: being marked 'not for ublieatioD" there is. no d ' re to invite a public disc i n unl

it ~c:omt'J btoJuteJy ne " J n hardly give the urance that I am t tbe dlspoaal or the ov rom t wb never m y presence rna be required."

AT FI R T HA D

ON receipt of Gandhi's report in y, the Government called for reports on the same from the ttlement Officer, the District Officen and the planters befo~ June 30, 1911. The planten we~ pertut'bed and ofticials believed that their uthority was undermined. Hectic d.forta were being mad to put Gandhi in the wrong and get him removed from Champaran.

me of the planters tried to befool Gandhi. They invited him to visit their farms and fact Ties in order to prove to him that the com­plainu were false. They abo claimed that their employees nd ryota would bear them out. When Gandhi did p y them a visit, they would caJ) his attention to the improvcmen they had ell'ectcd in the met.hods of agriculture. Some of their own servants. however, would report to the contrary, and even show the documents which went inn the planters.

One IUch planter, Mr. A. K Hohtwn. rna er of the Dhokraha factory, told Gandhi 'hat his ryots ere quite happy nd h d nothing to complain of; that jf G ndhi 10 desired, he could visit his te nd hear this from the ryo the:msdves. Gandhi aceepted the invi and a day wu fixed fot' his visit. There were v I complain me planter and Gandhi studied them refully be{,

which was about eight miles from :Betuah. On May 16 Gandhi ccornpanied by R ~endra Pr d d Kripalani

went to . wa. On the way lOme ryota met odhi and com 'ned that the planter had tutored a number of tenants to tell him II t tbey

'ere happy and the sahib wu a gentleman. "Is tbat not true ?" Gandhi asked.' 0," they . emph ti lIy. He then said, ('T U me what you want to say in the p nee of h pI tu, but let it be the t.ruth.··

In a small orchard about 300 tenanta mel Gandhi in lh p ce of • Holttum and Mr. Lewis. Mr. Holuum said that his tenat'l

did not labour under .ny dif5culti and Ga db! could V firy t.hiJ fact from th who had bled there. He then ea1lcd out art old man .-nd asked him to peak. Then, tUJ'lling to Gandhi, the planter said that the old man was bighly rupec:ted in the Jocality and Gandbi

60 O,ANOtU IN OHAMPA-ItA

.bould mten to him attentively. 0 t()()llC' bad the old man started ying that they were quite happy under the sahib than there was a

a loud protest from all aid : "'You ~ an old man. and ba e already one foot in the grave. Wby, then, art you taking this sin upon your h d ?~' The planter was thoroughly upeet. for he bad expected that only those tenants would tum up who would praise his management, and those who had any complaints would not only not attend the rocetin but would not even hav the courag to voice their grievances.

Gandhi reqUClted them to hold their peace and let the old man complete bit rtBtement; he would hear them 1a.tcr on, when their tum cam . The old man told his .tory. and was folJowed by a few morc, who also Jpoke in the same strain.

It w tim now r th othua to peak. They complained that the planter h d ill g 11y enhanted their rent on the plea of having ttled th In n new land, even though in tome no new land bad been made vajlabl. Tb pl · oter t once pointed 'out that they were Dot PClUUf' IR' the truth; for he h d taken expert legal opinion before he

d enhanced their rent. As matter of fact. he asserted. be bad tLied lb m n the land which was under lriJ personal cultivation­

land rom which be had JU tantial revenue and which he had made available for bit tcnan n their insistence and out of the kindn of his h ft.

ryo cried out in a body tbat they did not want thOle Iandt. that be should take them back and rei e them from the obligation

yin the enhanced rent. ''l, t the ..rub hi te what he can on hi lao J v no obj tion."

Mr. olt urn grily 'd, < If they do Dot like this, I would make them w indi ."

i milled nd id to tbe planter: .... Just a minute ou had 'd that It1mda .eulement had no connection whatsoever with indigo

by ti ti the urajJ dt y u w uld be able to make more t than you were now getting. In these cireu.ms.ta.nca it is a matter

lh r P It and good ruune to you if \l ck these lands and I'd lb tJ t {t t they evidently consider to be burden."

ter all, I have alao to li'VC." rcart t l this very meeting one of

e to

AT PIJtST BAND 1

even do justice to us. AU those who wear t3 are alike. fe d '/$ ago, the planter had my house looted. ege ble plants growing n the roof of my hutment were destroyed. Cattle were let 1 e in to fields, and my plantain trees W'et'e uprooted. You can see the: III

of this .mischief even now. When I prd'erred complaint before this magistrate, he, instead of acting on it. threatened me with e.,"

Mr. Lewis got Rei in his face ad shouted that the man telling .. lie. The complainant retorted that it was not he but the m: ' wbo was lying. In a buff the magistrate left the pi ce d dro w y in his car to Bettiah. ,Mr. Holttum too mounted his h and rode off to his ence.

After Mr. Lewis and Mr. Holttum bad left, G dIU r qu ted his NSistants to take down the .names of th who wished to sur-rend :r their hunda lands. The work continued up to sunset d then Gandhi .utd his parly went b cit to Bettiab.

On y 17 Mr. Holttum's t.enantJ from D laaba nd Loh . factories went to Gandhi at .Betf h to surrender their lumdo. 1 nd . Their names were taken down abo their aignatW'C3 d thumb ..un . Ill. About 500 tenants surrendered their Utai' 1 nds in two .days. In a letter to Mr. Holttum hi wrote :

"I thank you for having come to .carriage.

ltAIler you and Mr. Lewis had withdrawn. 1 t with the people <wbo must have numbered over 500 and lked to them. I told them that you wanted to do justice, tb t you were r dy take b clt the

ail land d that you considered that it was m re profi h\e y u to get -it back. I told them too that in your pinion the pc pie had taken the uraiJ. land from your prcdc r not nJy willin Iy b t

)IllOIt eagerly, that it w given to tho ry tI not in lieu of indi 0 culti -bon but that it was given in ordCl' to relieve the ry from liability .to mpply labour to the landlord. 1 further told them that you I d

own me y'. letter to r. Gourl y confinnin the view and finally to.ld tbcrn whilst on th' point that if they returned the ..urllil Iaod you expected them to grow indig gain bett e up the termi bon of the period r their cont eta, ured the that I uld plead with you that it would be quite unfair to k the

,ou to revert to indigo grow" (f. re to be prcsently tat$J). J then invited those who rued to abandon the tPmt t once. Itb h

62 OAHDHI Uf eRAVPAllA

they had paid for the full agricultural year. AI a result ewer 175 gave in their names there and then and men have been streaming in during the two dart. The total hal reached nearly 500 up to the time of writing. I enclOllle herewith a list of the names.

#lIn oing through the khalilms, the receipts and the amounts charged agai t the uraiJ land 1 find on 70 tenancies that on an average the ryo arc: paying you . 24-5--3 for every bigba of uraiJ land. The 1ars t amount c:harged is Rs.91-7-3 per bigba and the smallest is 'RI. 7-8-0 per bigba. Incidentally I obrerve that whilst 27 bigtw of kaslUland pay RI. 59--13-6, 27 bigbaJ of ,urmt land pay you Rs. 659-7-0. It kemI that in th vast majority of caJCS the ryots hold less than one blgba of ura;1 land. The ra fixed varic:a with the extent of their kasAl bolding and not with the quality of the Q1'aiJ. And they are paying much as RI. 1-8-() per rugha of kasM land in addition to from 'x annal to twelve ann per kalba of uraiJ. And the katluu of urail seem to vary with th big f ktuJd and in DO amounting to more than thr bthu per high&. The average worked out for fifty villag ra comes to one and a half ilia per bigba. This in my opinion hardly bean out Mr. Barclay's contention. It rather beal'$ out lhe ryOtl' contention that the acttlcment of uraiJ is another form of tinMthitJ and W8.I d igned to cover the J .ruJrered by the concern wh n th price of indigo fell. The ryolS iosiJlt that pure was

e lively put upon tl em to takc urail land. Their contention seems to be rnc out by thc l'eadita with which they ve come forward

lurrcnd r it. r the I ten yean the ryou have been paying what acc.ordil) to the hove view amouno to tawmr for not growing indigo. Aod tile concern bas re<:eived 11 that account an average of more than

. 100 per bi h.a of tittJ:4JJria. In the circwmtanccs and regard being had to the £ t that u believe it to be dvantagcous for you to n:ccive

tht' qrail land. 1 hope >. u ~iU not p for reversi n to indigo growit.

"I n tice t1 t in $Om have been ICUled on katbas ken out of the ktultJ Jand of the ryotJ. I venture to think that, if you . uld yoW' Y to pt my tion, take back the onriI

and Ii th f'u d wb ther eked on to the urGt or to

tb k4s1t1 I . d, of th points of dispute between the concern d th IT uld be ami bly settled and ou will have tet an

pl~ wW h ~ uld be d ~ Y fullowed by other planters.

AT FIRST RAND

"In desaibing the process adopted by the concern Cor reco 'cring losses on indigo from the ryo I have hitherto confined myael!'to your rntJhrri land. On Uti«o land you seem to have acoepted the m. followed elsewhere. You have taken hand-notes for the balance of I4W .

payable by the ryots bearing heavy rate of interest. I & t th t

the oubta.nding hand-notes may be ce1ted. The ryots (1 the e of peace and compromise should y nothing as to refund either on the Irwu/D abo\re referred to at' the tatlJtl1l a dy coUected and of which the band-notes represent the balance.

"As to the fines. 1 must c:onfo that there overwhelm.iJ evidcn e to show that they have been imposed on recalcitrant ryo . This <:ompl.aint is universal. 1 told the ryots that y u said that only n minal fines were imposed when the ryots cam to 01.1 for adj talent 0

their mut.ua.l quarrda and that you refunded these to th winD The ryo IUOlutdy prot . eel and said tha.t the fin even mu h

RI. 2S at a time and m I"C were imposed ror the Il00· lied o8i n against the concern.

"The ryo are equally finn in their compl int . t YOW' jamedat, Gokul . , and I would be pleased to place the evidence bd1 re y u if you will ca.re to go further into (he m ner.

< ith reference to the xuthod (I unci rsland only recently dopted) o charging fI permission to build Dew buildinp or to rebuild, y u ju.sti6ed the charge on the ground that the earth on the ryora' tene­ment belonged to the landlord and if the ry used it (1 r building putpOleS, they must pay for i. I find, on 1 king up lh n I Tenancy Act. that the law allows the ryOlJ to build wit 1.11 ny

interference from the landlord 10 long ... they build fOT the benefit or their holdings. It seems to me that the charge is not warran bylaw and I hope that you "ill wai it in future.

"Th remains then the q lion of cutting tr . The cci n the Tenancy Act dealing with the IUbj early .. 110 · the cultivator to cut without previous . ce to or pettxU . n of th landlord. But I und ta.nd that of late yeat'l the ndJordJ ve all 0'Ver bcc:n receiving half of l timber cu 1 do n ~-now whet r the \Om been proved; this is a larg qu · bon which n a . t settlement.

"J await papers pro.tniJed by you rcgardin the Kodai Pan. itatam Tewari I t.hink 36 OIl eleven kat: is III clerical en'f)r

OAttDHl Iff CHt..MPAlLAl'I

actuated by any ill wiU at aU, I ahould dissociate myself entirely from them and inWt upon their leaving the million. At the same time the dett:rmination to secure freedom (or the ryots from the yoke that is wearing them down is inflexibk.

"Cannot the Government secure that freedom? ThiI is a natural esclamation. My answer u that they cannot, in cases like this. without

h asaistance u affoTded to them by my mission. The Government madUnery is designedly .low. It mov~ must move, along the line of lealt raittance. Reforme,.. like myself who have no other axe to grind but the reform they aTe handling for the time being specialize and

te a. force which the Ci>vernment must reckon with. Reformen may go wrong by being overzealous, indi.acreet or indolent and ignorant. The Government may go wrong by being impatient of them or over-confident of their ability to do without them. I hope, in thia cue. neither catastrophe will take place and the grievances, which I have alr dy ubmitted and which are mostly admitted, wiU be ectivdy redressed. Then the planters will have no cause to {; or IUSpeet the mission of which 1 have the honour to be in charge and they will gladly ccept the assistance of volunteen who will carT)'

n th wotk r education nd sanitation among the villagen and t lin betw en them and the eyota. "Pr Y. excuse the length of this letter as also ita argumentative

c:l r. 1 could not a . d it. if I was to place my true position befl re you, In bringing the two matters which have n ·tat.ed this ommunication, 1 b \Ie 00 d 're to seek Ie 1 relief. But I uk you to

\lie u administrative influe:n.ce you can to preserve the friendly piri which hilherto prevailed ~ the kDlAis and my friends

and myadI. "1 do not wah to suggest that the kDtlri.s in qu bOn are responaible

if the • 1 1 U lhe uspicion of some or the ryots. I haY!: talked to hundred of thtm bout th fires. nley y that the ryotl arc not

ponsiWe (I r Utero. that they ba"e no c;onnccti n with the OD.

I dil pt this repudiation use we arc in . y tdllng the ryO&l th t this is not a mission of viol ce or rep . and that an thing . nth· r part c:tJl only delay rdiet .But if the kDtJris

h Id ponsible Ii r them, th may Dot to tablisb be een them and th ,. on. F'trcS ve taken place

• they will take pl oe Ii ever.

AT "lila" llANO 67

c:ithct party may blame the other without the clearest . Ie pmo&.

"There is talk too, about the Ii" of the planten being in danger. Surd thU cannot be serious talk. Any y, the miuion cannot render them leas safe than they are. The character of the mission is wholly against any such activity. It is designed to seek relief by se.lf- uffering, neva by doing violence to the supposed or real wrong..<Joer. And thia Jeaon bas ~ inculcated among the ryots in n and out of season.

ctLasdy, there is, I fear, ample proof of intimid don such .iJ described in the statements bereto attached. lntitnid tion ean only mean more trouble all round without meaning the llightest rd.i.ef to the planters in the shape of retention of the present yst m.

"I seek such help you can vouchsafe in the circumstances I have ventured to place before you.

~'l am sending a copy to Mr. Lewis." In the evening of May 20 Gandhi had a. disclWion with Mr. Lewis,

the subdivisional oificer. Mr. Lewis sent bis imp 'ON of the meeting in a report dated May 21 to the district rna . trate :

"1 asked Mr. Gandhi yesterday what he proposed to do, if he laW

the likelihood of disturbances becoming gen I, reminding him of his own words to me, wne.n I 6nt met him, that < t the first sign of disturbance, he would tum bit back on Champ .' He con ted me ying that 1 should quote him at having aa.id fat the first sign of disturbance on the part of thole on whom he relies, that is, the ryOtT : from which I gather and am confirmed by hiJ " p#ru opinion in the Saruawa fire that if diJturbancc:a occur, Mr. Gandhi will inevitably believe aU statements that the factory cawed them, nd di believe all statements tb t the ryota ~ reaponsibtc. If distutbancea occur, Mr. Gandhi says that he thinb it would ,till be hit duty to rema.in in the diJtrict to ltand by the ryotJ, unlCII, he added, he were forcibly removed: he would then hope by penona.l auffering to acl\ieve his object •••

"Mr. Gandhi believcJ, III he laY', that there u Government which is Dot Government of expediency, and that a Governr:nentl proc.eed on the line of least resistance. Mouldi.r\g hit plan on dlil theory of governmental action, hit intenti i.s to put up the trW cue 10 strongly that the Government will be bound to act on it. He doeI not cWm to be an impartial inv . tor: be ii, .. he lays, the

GANDHI t OHAW. · AIlAlf

representative of an interest, and that is the ryots'. 1 do not think that Mr. Gandhi bas any ideas of real co-operation with Government: IUc:eeu, to his mind, i. to be obtained not by co-operation with the Government, whic:h only fief his hand , but by p.reasure aD it, to force it in d fer to expediency to take the action he indicates. I believe tbia truly apr his view, and be thinks himself strong enough to

carry througb his p ~ect. If Mr. Heycock troogly recommended the application of the Defence

r 1 ndia Act in case Gandhi did not agree to quit Ohamparan. In a letter dated May 23, he wrote to the Commission of Tirbut :

«Mr. and hi'. inquiry is becoming more and mote dangerous to the peace of tbe district. To show that this is 10, J need only invite attention to Mr. Gandhi'. letter to me. I alJo forward a copy of Mr. ndhi'.letter to Mr. Holttum. This letter shows bow Mr. Gandhi is developing his position. His attitude is no longer one of inquiry but f interference. He is, u hi. letter ShOWl, inviting the ryoll to urrend the (.If'fDt land. and I.a placing certain terms before Mr.

Holttum Cor acceptance. The planters can tcareely be expected to counttnan n attitude of interference especia.Oy they are not parti to this inquiry, did not invite it and do no wanl it. Mr. Gandhi it taking up a ralae poIition, By JUggctting terms he' raising the h pel of th 1 ota without making it clear to them that he is not in a position to IleCUre cceptanc of his terms. Th result may be tesuion and Itrain d f, rand ibly disturbances . ..

a rt'Jlledy I would .ugg t opting one of the two alternatives t ft rth in ndhi'. letter .•• There can be no possible harm in urin -It. dhi that genuine grievances will be redressed if

ed, Mr. ndhi can be given every opportunity to put forward CCI u he is aware of, He has collected a of evidence

or ought to know by now what the problems are. I t that be be told this and cukcd L ve the district with

his ad ' until such time Go\'emment has had time to consider th points I'll ' and deal with them. If be well and good. If h d n t. b will, on the evid ce 0 hia letters, have proved

un nable d will, it the catTelpondence is published, claim to any sympathy from any bl man iC the In' ct is applied 1 it ould be pplied in the

I ' rdi ' so bl

AT IIlIUT HAND 6

On May 24, the commissioner wrote to the Chief Secretary t Govemment~

''When eyota have reached the atage of bandying abuse with II ctory supporten reprd1eu of a m.agistra.te·s pl1:$enCC and when fI crory buildings are. being burnt dO\\-ll, whether by h tile ryou or b f1 c:tory mnliu for purposes of their own, we are at a point at which th lDAy be collisions attended by 1 of life without further warning.

"As to the remedy to be applied Government may have to be prepared, should Mr. G ndhi decline to go. and decline to remov his assistants, for the arrest of himself and eight or ten oth and to take measures to prevent an influx of volunteers to take their pI e ...

"My own view, the Hoo'bte Mr. M ude knows, ia in fi vour f a commission constituted, first, to verify the alleged grievances. and, secondly, to suggest practical remedies. Such a comln' i n, if consti­tuted so that its conclusions will carry authority, will remove lhe rympatbies of all sensible men from Mr. G dhi, should he decline to accept its recommendations. I place thU point of view befOre ovem­ment.. because it is the course 1 favour rather than thl1t dvised y Mr. Heycoclc, but I am quite prepared to accept wh tever th deci­aion of Government may be in the matter. 1 would only I y.tT on the point in which we are aU agreed that the situation in rapidly d veloping dangerous tymptonu, and lOme remedial action is urgently ne ded."

The police report said that Gandhi w led to appoint IOrne mOl to remain in villages. The authorities were watching his activitiea with great anxiety. Mr. Lewis w Gandhi and reported the con lion to the district magUtTate:

"1 questioned Mr. Gandhi on the police ltatement. Ii replied that it referred not to an immediate scheme, but to a project that was at preac:nt only foreshadowed, the intention being t.o distribute the volunteers through the villagea, in order to teach edu bOA and IIUlitation to the ryou, and to afford them protection. ..

"Mr. Gandhi further gave me the CoUowing expreaion of his position. He said he realized that his presence in villa e wh e be was expect¢d and met by a number of people, did have the dll t: of causing a <commotion', a word which be c::arefuUy distinguished from 'distur· bance'. He claimed, thereon., to have proc:.uded with additional caution in his inquiry .•.

"Mr. Gandhi further claims to have: made every effort to keep bia

70 OANDIIJ IN OB AMPA"A

n free from aU polidcal c:on.necticm. His work, Mr. CandID Y', it to comprise the compilation of a detailed report:. Every effort

will, b knows, be made to secure copies of th.iJ tq)Ort for publication. Mr. Gandhi only ptoJ)OlCl to pemtit publication. if his endeavours to effi:c:t Cornu are inCruetuous.

''In my lut letter I may have laid too much ItreIS on certain points of change in Mr. Gandhi', actual methods. If these, coupled with

Dhokraha incidents, were made the ba&is fOT • uing a letter on Mr. Gandhi with a view to uking him to retire, the ground might n t be .ufficlently Ute under Government', feeL Mr. Gandhi still clainu that hit actio will be guided both by realOtulblenea and by • deIite to avoid dittur . .. I am inclined to think that if neceaw')' be would defer local t.oun and remain in Bc:ttiab and Motihari, if Government dc:aired it. He has Oil oecasiona asked me if I wisbed him to do 10. I have always refrained from giving him direc­tiona on thiJ point, limply telling bim that if disturbances did occur u • reault of hi. visit to any locality, I would bold him raponsible for tbem."

Tb planten were nervow about Gandhi', activities in Ownparan. Mr, Wilton, the tee:retary of the Bihar Plante:n' Association, wrote to the mmi' oner on May 26: ''In. view of the numeroua extra­ordinary rumoun now current in this diatrict concerning Mr. Gandhi

d h' inquiri • it would be in the public interest if the Government a proclrunation that the inveatigationa carried on by Mr. Gandhi

ad hi. ta are purdy private and have not the sanction of the Government ..

The lilt of 1'Umoun regarding Gandhi JUbmitted by the Plaoten' 1'UO""""· ... ti n . d: "( I) 'ID.at be has been sent by the Viceroy in

f the local utboritics; (2) That be can break the indigo 10 'den :e of tenancy im:spective of civil COUI1Sj (S) ilIat ryots under

tract to k carts tor plantetl need oot carry out their obligations; (4) Tb ,he will coll t from plantet1 all the Imottn. that has been paid to tb d n:twn it to tb ryo ; (5} That he can obtain redrat fOr any in where petitions are put in him now, but that b will n t r 0 to any petitions once be bas left this district; (6) ilIat the administration or tb district is going to be :madc over to nativt:l Ilk hi~ and that the whole planti.ng community ill going to be boliahed."

AT PI.ST HA D 11

The European , don, Bihar Branch. MU%afTarpur. the following resolution: "(1) That the presence of .fr. (; ndhi in hi tdf-imposcd mlaion bas been accompanied by unrest and crime; (2) That his continued pn:sence there is likely to be cl.Uaatrous to the welfare of the European! in Champa.ra.n and the peace of the di triet' (S) That they request the European Central . lion in Calcutta to press on the Govunment the absolute nett 'ty, if they wah to maintain law and order in Champara,n district, to h ve r. 0 ndhi and his assistants removed £rom there at once d th t there is great fear of lawl spreading to the neighbouring diatrie ."

In along letter to the Pimun'. Mr. Irwin. the manager or n indigo factory in Motihari, wTote:

"The whole movement is meretricious and Champaran has been selected for it. ., Champaran. with its large community of Europun zamindars, is eminently the place to.tart, with hopes of sue I a dasI omws cb.ts agitation. Mr. Gandhi, I believe, is a well.intentioned philanthrop' t., but he i5 a c:ranlr. and a fan tic and is too utterly obeeaed with his partial succeas in South Africa and hi. belief that be bu been ordained by Providence to be a righter of wron • to be able to realize ~t he is being made a cal', paw of by (I) plcaden, mukhtian, etc. who know that planters Kttle free. grati.t and for nothing at least 75 per cent of disputes &mon!JIt ryotl which would otherwise b~ grist to their mills; (2) ma~ans and moneylenders wbOdlC usurious dealinga with ryotl have been greatly checked nd who cannot now, owing to the action of the planten, acquire the debtors' best lands without the consent of the landJord. and (3) by Home Rule politicians who hope to demonstrate on the. for them, happy bunting-graund of Champaran, that officials nd oon-oiflclals go band in hand to opprea the population, and 10 prove that th district, and incid.entally all India. is misgoverned under the Britisb Raj. What do tbae people care tor the ryot ve to make Ole of him Cor their own. purp<WCI ? For the protecti of lh.e Champaran pi 0 n, one, and probably only one step is eaentially nec:essary, and 'tb t " the removal of Mr. Gandhi from the district. The e:xtreme forbearance of the planters baa so far prevented the outbreak of any very teriOUl

disturbances, but unless Government can see iu way to pro tiog them, they will unavoidably be forced in taking the tepl necc:uty for their own proccction.'·

']2 OANOlU IN C II A lII P A Jt A JiI

In introducing Mr. Irwin', letter to the readers, the PiIIItUr wrote : "Mr. Gandhi baa to far failed altogether to explain what parti­tar qualification he poaeIItI for instituting any mission of inquiry

in Bihar or elsewhere in India. Hit acapade at Benaret not 10 long ago ted that he was a gentleman of e.xtreJm!ly little discretion

d one cannot he:lp thinking it IOmewhat astonishing in the circum­.tances tbat the Bihar and Orissa Government should have permitted him 10 much licence. We now hear of him being asked by the Lieutenant-Governor to proceed to Ranchi to ace His Honour about the bampann affair. And meanwhile the good Pandit Madan Mohan M t· viy mwt needa consider that hi. pn:aence it urgently required in Bankipore to put things .traight. It iI high time, we think, that the Provincial Government took measures to discourage the activities r 1 roving commis ionen, whose interference in mattera which do

not cone m them and with wruch they cannot claim to have any .pedal compt"tence to deal d likely to result in far more hann than good. If rna: t~n require to be investigated it is the Local Govern­ment'. busin to appoint in own commission of inquiry, but while th . tance of noa-official Iadiant in the province concerned may

welcomed, there is fNery argum at to be urged againattbe interven­tion of u 'd rI."

1 QUIRY

ON MAY 29 Gandhi received a summons to wait on the Lieuterumt. Governor, ir Edward Gait, at Ranchi on June 4, 1917.

The sudden call alarmed Gandhi's colleagues. The distri t om bad not yet submitted their comments on Gandhi' report nd, tb fore, the call could not be for discussing that mauer. They suspected that be might not be allowed to return to Champaran from Ranchi. The planters and their supporters, the Anglo-Indian p ,h d be<:n repeatedly demanding Gandhi's removal from Bihar. The loe officials felt that their authority was underm1ned nd they too had sent aIanning reports to the higher uthorities. "The impression that Mr. Gandhi bas been sent by the king or by some other high authority to bold his inquiry has been creat d h re and he is regaro d as a new Hakim or Mulk.Ma}ilt," wrot Mr. Lewis in his confidenti J report. The workers wanted to prepare themselves for aU ventu li. ties and they discussed the future plan of tion. P ndit Mal viya was asked by wire to proceed to Patn (j r consult lion. Rajendr Prasad w deputed to Pam to discu the situation with tbe 1 d there. Gandhi called his wife and the youngat son to meet him in Ranchl.

00 June 2 Gandhi accompanied by Babu BrajkiAh re r ched Patna and disewsed the situation with prominen J d n: Mazharul Haq, Pandit Malaviya, Dr. Ansari and Rajendra Prasad. It decided that in case the Government took action a ' . t andhi. either Mazharul Haq or Malaviy should Ite charge of th work in Cb.amparan. The me d y Gandhi and Brajltishore d Id't for Ranchi, while Malaviya returned to Allahabad.

The workers divided thenuelvet into two group': one W POSLed at Motihari and the other at Bcttiah. It had been arranged that at lOOn as G ndbi's interview with tbe Licutenen~ mol' had taken pJaee, the w ers ,houJd be informed or the result by cxpreu t egram.

On June 4 at about 10 a.m. Gaodhi w nt for his ins.erview with Edward Gait. The interview lasted for about six boura a d Gandhi

reached his residence at 5 p.m., where bu Brajlcishore WIlt anxiously

7+ OANDHI TN OHAII.PAR.AM

waiting for the nCW1-. The workers were telegrapbically jnformed: "Today', interview satisfactory. meeting again tomorrow."

For two day, the Lieutenant-Governor discussed the situation in Cbamparan with Gandhi and wu to deeply impressed that he came to the conclusion that the problem must be tac:kled at once. He, therefore, aa.ked Gandhi to ~t the members of the Executive Council and apprise them f the situation. It was ultimately decided that an inquiry .committee .hould be appointed and Gandhi should be one of ita mben. andbi told Sir Edward Gait that be wanted to lead evidence before the com.mi.sIion on behalf of the ten.ants, and that he would not be ble to do that were be to become a memba. Sir Edward, however, maintained that. Gandhi could, and should, pi ce before the corruniuion whatever evidence and information had com into hil poueuion. He added that the c:omplaintl of the t nants h d been pouring in for many yean and that the Government officialJ had, Crom time to time, taken lOme kind of action and .ubmit~

d reporta. All these were treated ... secret documents; atill they would lJ be placed before the cotmniaai n. None but a member of 1\ commission could e them: iC Gandhi served ... a member. be would have the dvanta e of examining those papen and seeing Cor him­telf how Car his own conclusion. were supported by the Government official •. The Lieutenant«Governor persuaded Gandhi to be a member of the com.miJsion Md G ndhi agreed to serve on it, on condition that he .hould be free to confer with bis eo-worken during the progress of the inquiry. that Government should recognize that, by being a m mba of the committee, he did not c to be the ryots' advocate.

d t in cue the reNlt of the inquiry failed to give him tisfaction. h would be free to guide and dvi.se the ryo as to what line of etion they mould take, It aoo agreed l t the declsioOi arrived at h uld be treated ... confiden' I and tlat the Government alone h uld make them pubUc in duc coune. The names of other memben

re 110 ICtt.led, but their cotuent had not yet bc.cn ob ined, it d 'ded no to publish their names until such consent was obtained. n June 1 G dhi arrived t P tna. cc:ompanied by BraJIcishore,

and Dcvadas. In his honour • m~ting was arranged in the d a number of people in.cluding Pandit viya attended 1'CqU! to make a speech but h refu.Icd to do 10. Dctc:rib-

the un' the police report 'd:"He t on the Boor in front of

INQ_UlllY 75

the CODveners of the meeting ying he was one of the poor public and So could not make • speech. The whole meeting seems to ha. e been a failure and Mr. Gandhi's behaviour which is not undcntoocl at all seems to have caused a good deal of amusement-"

On the morning of the 8th he was surprUed to read in papers the Associated Preas message about the appointment of the commission. Be at once wired to the Lieutenant-Governor expressing hU utorUsh· ment, for he bim.sdC had ghren the details of the interview to nODe till after the arrival of Pandit Malaviya, that ia, late in the evening of the 7th. When he reached &ttiah in the afternoon, he showed the newspaper cutting to his colleagues and told them to await th~ official announcement. The n tionalist press was jubilant. the Anglo-Indian press was very lOre. The PilJnLtr of June 9 under "F cts and Fallacies about Mr. Gandhi" wrote:

"As was to have been expected the more irresponsible portion of the Anglo-Vernacular preu hu po1..lt'Cd forth the vials of its wrath upon our devoted head. becawc we h d the temerity to U in qu t1 n the wUdom of permitting Mr. Gandhi and h.iJ friends to prolong their investigations in Bihar. We were quite prepared for the ab we have received; we were not altogether tonished when certain editon of papen of whose existence we were but dimly WIU'C thougbt fit to draw our attention to their extraordina.ry capacity for vitupera* don; we had, however, hoped that something in the n ture of an argument would be forthcoming to justify in 10m alight degree 1I e course on which Mr. Gandhi and bia friends have embarked. ur expectations in this respect. have not been rea.lUed, and we cannot accordingly congratulate Mr. Gandhi on hiI champions in th P ca. lf be has nothing better to offer in his defence than these gentl men have urged on his behalf one can well undentaod the silence he hal continued to preserve. We ate UIured that be is .. g ntleman without fear and without reproach. The only imp!' . on we have of him it that be it .. man who shOWI more disc:tetion on lOme occasions than he docs on others.. Let us quote what we had to lay sixteen monLhl ago about certain {BenareI Univcnity} incident which Mr. Gandhi~. friends would apparently fain have us forget. ..

"Are we to conclude that the unfortunate Mr. Gandhi bas once more been the victim of a CCI'fain amount of miJundcntanding ? 1I.o the question I1ill a.ritcI whether a penon who iI 10 apt to be

76 OANDUI JJif CBAMPAllAN

miaundentood is the kind of individual to be given the lioence he bas been c::njoyins to meddle in other people'. aB'ain. *Mr. Gandhi: says one of his champioDl, 'il an Indian, Motihari is in his country, and the ryots are his countrymen,' while as for the planters of Bihar. 'their int t in thia land is limit.ed to the money they make hue. They are alien exploiters and make what they call out of the estates and the ryo .' Th&t i a familiar line of ttaJOning with the more extreme ICct10ru of ·the Anglo--Vema.cu1ar press th.eIe days when every effort baa be n made by Englishmen as well at Indiana to win for this country a pi ce of honour in the oouncila of the Empire. It is as well that Indians. in their fervour for political reform, mould DOt forget what they ow to 'lOjoumcn' who have 10 largely helped to bring India to its present atate of Pl'Olperity. It is as well too that it should be recognized that India it not the cxclUlive pteserve of the indigenous 1 wyet-politician and his jackals in the press. ThCTe is I(:ope in India for the legitimate activities of all cl of His Majesty's subjects, and if this cOllntry is to progress in the future as it has done in the past it wiU not be thtough any deninl of the jun claiml to consideration pr fI rred Other by Indians or Engli hmm. The planten of Bihar have rights no 1 than Mr. GaIldhi or any other Indian.. and it a th elementary duty of Covernment to see that the liberty of action of llY individual is not 10 employed unduly to prejudice the rights

h' fellow men. As for Mr. andhi', native country it is K.lLthiav."at' and we have yet to learn what spc . al qualificatiON he possesses for wtitutin inquiries into the labour conditions of Champaran. There

n be no d ubt at all that the investigations he has been conducting have aroused a COlt: • dern.ble mount of ill feding, .nd for this I'taIOD,

ir or no oth r, it w uld be better {or I concerned if he and his p ntly . ble mend the Pandit {rom the United Provineca

k emadves t once to their r peetivc: homes. It is to be hoped th t the official co • ·on of inquiry will soon be getting to !Tit nd that. it will be able to conduct its proceedin in the peace and

qui t tia.l f, proper ppreci_tion of the issues in dispute. Every alory, it bas . d, b It. m n1 if YOIl know where 100 for it. nd the moral of this to be that in aU similar circumstances. if

j ti . to be d De nd peace and order in _ province are not to be imperilled th . J\ce ro9ing however good-

ti n d, uld be a dio ewed."

UilQ_UJ V 71

'The SI.atmrttm of even dllte Wl'Ote : "It is stated that the Go rem.ment of Bihar and Orissa have decided to appoint a committ~ to inquire into the relations between the landlords and the tenants in the province. This coune has presumably been taken in consequ oct of the unauthorized investigations of Mr. Gandhi which appear to have caused a great deal of unhealthy ~citement' bere\'el' he w t

and to have disturbed the amicable relations between man indi 0

concerns and the ryotJ. Mr. Gandhi bas doubtlos a legal rigbt to study the land question or the indigo industry if he is 10 diaposed, but when his I'Clle&I'Cbes developed into proceedings resembling those of a tribunal, and the cultivators, collected in crowds by wily gitaton, came to lay their grievances before the ndoubtable champion of Indian rights, his tour became an obvious source of danger. Mr. Gandhi may be credited with the best intenti.ons. His self-denying life in South Africa and his strenuous figllt for justice (0 his fellow countrymen arc well mown and have earned for him the respect of all who know his history. But in dealing with a complicated agrarian situation which bas a b ckground of heated cont1'Oveny and ~ Jence it is not mo b to be well-meaning. It il higbly probable, mo~er, th t Mr. G ndhi bas been used for their own ends by persons who do not hi. disinteratcdn or his desire for justice. General muts the other day described himself a barbarian fr'Om the veldt, and his old antagonist, Mr. Gandhi, might employ the me hurnorow ggera­tion. Among the subtle pleaders and legal practitionen of Bihar h it a simple country cousin. and it is to be feared that he has been much imposed upon. At any rate, when arIOn and other exhibi.tions of viol en followed his inquiries it was clear that the Government could not remain passive lpectaton. They would have been jwtified in bringing his tour to an end, but thla tep wouJd have created a fahe imp ion, roJ' it would have .uggested that the Government wiJh to turn a blind eye to the grievances, real or imaginary, of the cultivatOR. The only way, t.hettfore, out of the difficulty is that Government .bould til Jdves institute an inquiry. Such an investi lion mUit necessarily be comprchc:nsive. It cannot be limited to the pardeular cl of grievances in . hicb Mr. Gandhi was intetemd. A rCltri . a of thll kind would imply thal only the relations between indigo pi ntc:n and ryoa were UDJatisfactory and would be an unm.erited refic lion upon thOle enga ed in one much-tried industry. There is no reum

78 OAl'fDHI JM CHAM !'AIlAH

whatsoever for supposing that cultivators on indigo mates are oppres­led while those who till the soil on ordinary zamindaris are treated with gen rosity and consideration... But, while the ryots have many and grav'C grievances, it does not follow thAt the cultivators are guile toikn and the landlords are exacting oppreaorl. Both the parties have complaints to urge against the existing law, which, indeed, in lODle iwtan.cea, militates against the praiseworthy enterprise of good landowners. A reaUy competent and careful inquiry is needed, and ought to be of benefit to aU claael of the agricultural community.·1

Acoording to the IUlUrante given to the Lieutenant-Oovemor Gandhi ItOppcd the taking of statements in Bettiah from Juno 7 and 1n Mouhari from June 12. n th 13th Gandhi wrote from Bet.tiah to Mr. McPhcnon, the Chief Secretary:

ttl w nt over to Motibari yesterday and formally stopped the taking of ltatcmenta. 1 have told the ryots that the Government are about to appoint committee of inquiry which is likely to commence its work about the middle of July next and which will listen to their tale in 10 far .. it m y be n ry. And I have told them that in view of the above-mentioned decision of the Government, it is no longer n eaary for me to take their statements.

" } IhiCting th h dquarters to Motihari wbere my work and th t of my colleagues will . t in studying and analysing the evid we have Lreacly collected and in putting it in a presentable form. b ryo will.till continue to com to us Cor information and sui DC. I do notice lhAt to aUow them to talk to us in ny manner they is t telief to them and they readily accept the advice tb t' given to them. They arc being told not to disturb the existing aituati. n pending the inquiry copt where it iJ manifi dy illegal and in no c:ase to take the law in their own hands.

t'l am n t I ving for Ahmed. d till the reaolution appointing th committee· published and the hot controversy going on in the p h aubsided Ii little. II you could pI drop me a wire as to

wh the ution is I.ikd to be gazetted. I lha1l be obliged. "P y ICfld all let~ rI to Motihari. after receipt of this. I am in

Bel . U d y to w (Thunclay).·· 'the paran . Enquiry Committee ow appointed by

th vernment of Bibar and in raolution dated the 10th Jun 1917 which was rd to tb prea on the 12th :

UlQ.1JUl y 79

"On various occasions during the past 6.f\y yean th relati or landlords and t.enants and :the circumstances a.ttending the growing <JC indigo in the Champaran district have been the use of considenble a.nxiety. The conditions under which indigo was cultivated when the industry was flourishing required djustment when it declined siJDulrancously with a. general rise in the prices of Coodgrainsi and it was pardy on tb.is account and partly owing to other loca.l ca th t

diaturbances broke outin certain indigo concc:ms in 1908. Mr. Gourlay was deputed by the Government of Bengal to in estigate the wet

or the disturbances; and hiJ report and recommend ti n.s weTe considered at a series of conferences attended by the loca.l officel'l of Government and the representatives of the Bihar PI oten'" • tion. AJ the result of these discussions revised conditions for the culti­vation of indigo calculated to remove the grievances of the ryota, were aa:epted by the Bihar Planters' As.sociation.

- tel n 1912 fresh agitation arose, connected not 10 much with tbe conditiolll under which indigo was grown as with the etlan of certain factories which wert reducing their indigo manufacture and taking agreements from their tenants for the payment. in lieu of incUgo cultivation, of a lump sum in temporarily-leased villages or of n increase of rent in villages under permanent lease. Numerous petitions on this aubject were presented from time to time to the local officers and to the Government; and petitions were at the .arne time filed by ryots of villages in the north of the Bettiah subdivision in which indigo bad never been grown, complaining of the levy of abwab or megal additiolll to rent by their leueb01ders. both Indian and uropean. The iaues raised by all these petitions related primarily to rent and tenancy conditions; and as the revision settlement of tbe district wu about to be underta.k:en. in the counc of which the I'dations ahting between landlords and tenants would come under detailed examina­tion, it was thought adviablc to await the report of the settlement officers before passing 6n.al orden on the petitions. The reviJion aettlemmt was started in the cold weather of 1913. On the 7m. April 1915 a resolution was moved in the local Legislative Council uking for the appointment of a mixed. committee of officiAb and non--ofJiclaJJ. to inquire into the complaints of the ryots and to JUggClt remedjel.

It was negatived by a large majority, including twelve out of th lixe.een non-official memben of cou.ocil prc:tent; on the und t.ha

80 OAlfDHl ur Ca ..... PA.A

the appointment of such a. committee at that ltage was unneu:aary, at the settlement officers were eng~cd in the collection of all the material required for the deciJion of the questions at issue. and an additional inquiry of the nature proposed would merdy have the dl"ect of further cxaccrbatin the relations of the landlord and the tenant, which were already feeling the .train of the settlement opera' Ill.

ff settlement operations have now been completed in the n rthem portion of the diltrict and are approaching completion in the remainder and a mus of evidence regarding agricultural conditions and the relatioN between la.nd1ords and tenants has been collected. A preliminary rcpon on the complaints of the tenants in the leued villagOi in the nol'lh of the Bettiah lubdivision in which no indigo is pwn has been n:ec:ived and action bas already been taken to prohibit the levy or illegal ceases and. in the eate of the Bettiah Raj, to review the terms of the 1 in whiclt the villa es coru:emed an: held. flu regards the complaints of the eyota in other pant of the district, the n.al report of the lCrttlement officer ha5 not yet been received, but

ttcent ev Dts have . n brougbt into prornin ce the whole question <>f the relations between landJorda and tenants and in particular the

king of grecments from the ryots for compensation or for enhanced rent in return for the abandonment of indigo cultivation.. In these circumltanceJ, d in deference to pracntations which have been l'eceived from vanoUi quarten that the time baa come when an inquiry by a joint body of officiah nd Jli n-oflicials mi t materially assist th local mment in coming to • decisi D on the problems which.

v , the Lieut nant-GovemoT-in-Council has decided. without w 'ling for the final re: of the settlement operatio , to refer the qt' U to a uuni~ of inquiry. on which all intucata

cd will 'be ted ...

HlIlor ;c 'harnparan

,t, • • "!IIQ tt •• • ••

fnlll Til I LA 1.

Luhl\3It"n' (fl, .. ,lrn

\ plollnll"', kUI, t."n

.. , E ..

:'i ._, E

1fT r~ it" <3. rt117 .p # ~o '!'f:H tr:tf./T

-{; t{i -T fl(, .;:t:I C",... ~ ff.:rr ~n ,# --J(/rj-T/t J tre,,(.!'l tr- «-.Z::rrP tII(7.i> /t' "1~.tfl~ ~~ t -~ ~"A"h · fV'X.r ..,.if Z,(iin?;f'·~ . R.f;otT1 cO,.,;r q .... 79 ~7T.{IY;i~

11(17 vc" r11 ?V /E

II", mil I .. tlh rill \II 1 \\h("f~ (, odh. ,,,ml', ... d and ... n III It'd h. ram •

,.. v

C"I

D. O. I"'~

!!.:lve 1.Iid your dGl!l.i - o(f.cie.l lett'lu oC

lhe :::lrd olIIJ :4tll bl.tant nI"",rdH Ule Ilh ar.&n IU tuatiOIl

b.Core Goyerr..,llt. ,he h 10 !:I.t t r il Wldtr lh.;'r COD-

,ider.,.tion d .. 1 d , , ,11 be "od as loon II the

~O" l Ueo', re ear t 'u il ex alod Ih\.dl,)" i, ne,hed.

It I ob.iou,ly l&,olsible (or ·~ovenl.lJlCnt to lilt'

act ioD htfon that Uonl lid a u lly illl)ono.h bl . that

arty 100~ planter Will be 10 lool ".b s t g Jo lythin

that _il l pre udloe t . 011"0 oC li s fellow- 11~l>tuo 1I1ln,

the CI.) itt.. :llill In CJI)%it LIOIl "lUi luJ It: b.u

of llw 00 .:'1.1.1 11 •

.. to add th t on th. r.lot, "ow btl • U.o

GcTeraa.nl t hink that It Wu Id do

to t ".. . any prohi'Hory actio!! a,;lIinlt I.r ~ dil l .. 1 10011

aa the 00 it t.o baTe ~l oi l ted P.'l f rapO!" t.

!OUTI I i no. rely ,

-!h. IIr1l1' b11 1. P. r,boad, 1. C. S ••

Co i •• ooar of t i rbpt Div1' OD,

• a I I & r pur •

. \ conhdc-nl.al kut'T (rum 'h~ ( lilt'(. n .. ut). Bihar (J(,vl"mm"nl.

'" Ill .. c;."mmmj!Jl>fT uf Tlrl,ul

1

l QUlk 81

I>cputy Secretary in the UWlCC Dc-p:artment of the Govenuntnt of 1 dia· .. Gandhi· '50' .... n • . --to

.S«ntary: £. L anner Esq. I.C.. ttlemeot ffi fT uth Bihar.

The tmns r re.Ceren of the COl'lU'lUtt« W'C!ff (I) to inquire into the rdatiO between lanclJ iocluding aU disputes arisi

82 OA DBI IJf CBAIIPA.AJf

prudent coune was to penmt Mr. Gandhi to proceed on his tour and to rilk the consequences. The inevitable results have happened, and to avert further diJturbanc:e the Govc:m.mcnt have been compelled to appoint a committee of inquiry. The tclection of members has been admirably made . . . lOme special qualification can be discovered in each member of the c:ommillee, not eKcluding Mr. Gandhi, whose appojntmC1lt it a bold and judicious Itroke."

lante" ('ngincer d against Gandhi a poitonous agitation. All IOrtI of 111 hood. appeared in the Anglo-Indian press agains him and hit WOlken. Mr. Irwin wrote in the PUmter: "But, sir, tbe genuine-n of Mr. andhi'. 'mUsion' w uld have been much 1 in doubt if . m thoda had been 1 th trieal. otwitJutanding his familiarity in n I nd and elsewbere with tbe minor amenities of wesf.em civiliza. lion, he (in bamparan at 1 t) discards th of head..a)vering

Jh ,Ii on the floor, aoo his own food and deeta to follow the foo te of th much greater philanthropist of 2,000 yean ; and

n a Ie t of his most devoted follow an -Hodble Member of Council who in his unregenerate (?) days wore English shoes nd semi-

licized clothing. abo now goes shod and head-coveringl and cook! h own food , etc. Firmly dealt with this agitation would

ve dl d • natural death, th le PurpoIC of it being to drive the non-fA ·' rUGn of th uropcan community OUl of the district and to

hand ov r to the cender roerci of the 1awy and mabajan the ryot l' wh weU1 10 rou m retricious IOlicitude is bein advcttisec:l'· o elhl t in r ply to the Pit:in#r :

hay hithertO rutty' ted the tcmptati n of either tin y ur fr. Irwin'. criticism of the humble work I am in paran. am I in to IUccumb now except with to a mat l' whi Mr. Irwin has thought fit to dwell upon

and" ut which he has nOl even taken tbe U'Ouble of being correcdy inti mled. I refer t his rem On my manner of dreasing.

'My t &mill riry with tb min r atru:nitics of western ci .. iliution· t ht me t respect my na . nat me; and it may interest

r. Irwin 1m that the d I w paml is th dnsa b \ e lw ys \\: m in cept t for very short period in

Indl 1 ~ It y P • in common with the rest of my c:oun.try~ men to the w of .erni. uropcan .dress in the couns and

wb ouw.de ~ thia • I ppcared before the Kathiawar

n'R.UlJl Y

courb now twenty-one years ago in prcclsdy the d 1 ~ in Cbamparan.

"One change I have made and it is that having ken to the occu­pation of weaving and -aricultul'e and having tak n the vow of swadeshi my clothing is now entirely hand.we en and 1\ nd and made by me or my fellow-work~ fr. Irwin's 1 tter u that I appear before the l)'otJ in .. dress I have temporaril spedally adopted in Cbampamn to produce an dIi t. The Ii t' that t wc:v the national dress because it is the most natural and the m t

becotning for AD Indian. I believe that our copyin of the uropean dress is a sign of our degradation. humiliation and our len. and that we arc committing a nati nat sin in dlsca.rding a which is best suited to the Indian c;lirnal and which for its simplicity. art. and cheapn .is not to be bealen on the face of the e rth and which answen hygienic requirements. H d it not been Ii r a fats pride and equally false notions of pres 'ge, nglisbmen here would long have adopted the Indian COItum . I may mention inc:.identally that I do not go about Champaran bare-h ded. J do avoid .hoet (t r sacred 1'eaSOns, but I find too that it ' more natural nd bealthier to avoid them whenever possible.

• I am sorry to inform Mr. Irwin Ilnd your read n that my teemed friend Babu Brajkishore Prasad, ' the ex-Hon'W Member of Council' • • till remains unregen.erate and retains the provincial cap nd n ver walla barefoot and 'kicks up' a terrible noise even in th hoUJc w are living in by wearing wooden sandala. He has niH not the C:OUfi e, in ,pire of most admirable contact with m , to clisurd hit mi­Anglicized dras and whenever he goes to e officials pUll hit 1 8' into the bifurcated garment and on his own adm' ion tortur biauelf by cramping hiJ feet in e1ut.ic tboes. J cannot induce him to bellev that his clienu won't desert him and the courts won't punish him if

ore his more becoming and J expensive dhoti. I invite you nd Mr. Irwin not to believe the atorie. that the latter hears about me and my friends. but to join me in the crusade agailllt educated Indiana abandoning their mannen, habiu and c:uatoms which are not proved to be bad or harmful. Finally 1 venture to warn you and Mr. Irwin that you and he will iJl-terVc the c:a. both of you consider is in danger by teI50D of my praence in Clwnparan if you continue ... you have done, to bate your Itricturc:t on unproved facta. I uk you t accep

84 GANDHI HI CHAMl'AllAN

my aaurance that I should deem myself unworthy of the friendship and confidence or hundredt of my English friends and associateS-not aU of them fellow era if in .imilar circumstances 1 acted towards them differently from my own countrymen.··

Regarding tb pI n t accuAtion that Gandhi still recorded the ryorl .tatem t5, the commissioner wrote to the Chief Secretary: #. tatemen have t been RCOrded by Mr. Gandhi 01" his assistants. Mr. ~ndhi·. . tan have been mainly oocupied in preparing a syno}»is tb cvid p1"CViously l'ecorded. Ryota constantly come to e Mr. Gandhi and bis . tanu-tbe line taken is to counacl

ti and teU them to await the urival of the committee. They ate 10 beirt told to 'tick to th 'r tat~ments and are being impressed with the n • ty of d . Dg 10. Pro Iy they arc keeping in touch with th ry by personal interviews and w . ge agtnw who come to

them. Although they do not go out into the moli " there' nothing to PI' v nt people ooming from the moli OJ to tee them. It m.ust be n:mcmbered t! that a great many people merely come 'Ii what is called • danh;o..' that is, to see Mr. Gandhi."

THE REPORT

ON JUNE 16 Gandhi proceeded to Ahmeda d to pend Ji d 'II t his ashram. and his assistants moved from Bettiab otih' to prepare the synopsis of the massive evidenc 10 £: coll ted, Tb statements of more than 8$000 tenants from bout 850 vilJ 60 factories bad been recorded under the supe.rvisi n of G ndbi. His

. tants had aUo coDected a large number of documen many which were jud eots of courts.

Gandhi ao::ompanied by Dr. De f the J'etUnIed to Motihari on June 28 od ,pent Ji w d 'II in tudyin the evidence. On July 7 he reached Ranchi to attend a prdimin ry m ting of tbe committee on the 11 th to decide tb procedure nd nc of ita .inquiry. It was decided that the committee hould 't at tti h from July 17. The members were lodged at th luxurious gu t-hou th Bettiah Raj' Gandhi and hiI party s in th dharma.$hala- thclt old camp.

On July 15 a latge number of" nants . 'ted ttiah Cor dbi'. ",slum. There were no 1 than ten tho nd tenan on th 16th. Gandhi was busy studying the committe papen on th terra e of th dhannashal but he interrupted his work in order to m t the t tenants.. In a short lpeech, he explained to them that the committ had been appointed to redrcsa their grievances, that they -uJd not

o in large numbe.ra to the meeting place of t.h conuni,u • d Ii they had any compWnt to make they should do 10 before biJ 1U~· n.aI1'U

Written talements were rttcived from the Bihar Plante ... ' 1·"'''''''_ tion and two rna 11, on of an indigo and. the otb r of. n-indi

cern. from twenty-five ry • from Mr. Whitty, geT the lleltiah Estate, and £.rom Mr. ween , ttl nt m • Mr. Lewit,

ubdi . 'onal Offioer of Bettiah, Mr. , Com . 'on of Tarbut, and . Jo n. formerly ubdivisi 1 fflcer of Bettiah. The Bihar Landho1den' . tion was speclaUy invited to uhmic, a memorandum of its views, but replied that it wu not in poaeaion

the materials d the facb concerning the grariaD. ditiona in Cbatnparan and it was nat, therefore, in a position to IUbmit .. wri tten opinion.

OA.JCOBI n. CBAKPAItA.N

On July J 7 the examination of witnesses commenced t Bettiah. The committe used to meet at ) 1 a.m. in the hostel of the Bettiah Raj .wool. On behalf of the planten Mr. Pringle Kennedy, a well­known lawyer of MuzaffarpUT, was watcl1.ing the proc.ccd.ings. The tenants and Gandhi', assistants were admitted to the committee on tickets. The COITCipondenu f leading papcn were there to report the proceedi •. The ryDll used to come in Ncb large numbers that they lent Betdah a nutic look.

Mr. . w ey was the 6 t wi and his cxa.mination took the whole day. n July 10 Mr. Lewis w examined in the morning and Mr. Whitty in the ftemoon. On the 19th Rajkwnar hukla and

ant ut were examined on behalf of th tenanU. The committee did n t m ct on July 20; on the following day Mr. Ross. the proprietor f Ma.labia factory. and Mr. Gale. the manager of Bairi factory, . v; their evidence. On "he 23rd Mr. till, man er of thi factory,

and Mr. AI:n.mao. manager of Bdwa concern, appeared be{l re the colllJ:nh~- •

Th aix:th lilting of the committee took place at Motiha.ri and as in tdah 1 tge number of tenanu visited the town. On July 25 Mr. Heycoc:k, the Collector f Cbtinparan, Mr. Jameson, the repte. IICfl uve of the Planten' Association. and Mr. Hudson, the ma get of ~pore factory, were examined. On the 26th Mr. Irwin. the man get of Motihari Ii ctory. Willi c:xaxnincd d the committee

turned to ttiAh. n July 28 and the following day the membcrt of the committee

't nd h d inquiry at the P d Ku.ria. factories and th vi~. 0 infotmation given to th ta about the visit

f th c mtnitte t • vill 10 th3t the "III,8itat rIO might not get aile: d by the pl-.nten., of tutoring the vilb.gen.

r d' ction the motor-ean carrying the committee m611 l\ll'1l. me v' usembled in large numbcn and boldly

plied to qu lions. Th fl ry informed beforehand 10 th t th might.k! 'P th . pen in readin for inspe<:ti .

Tb committ · m t t ttiah on Jul SO and examined nuwiUe. r or bubani factory. and Mr. Brouc::be,

fOe members of th committee . ' ted th villages lahi fa r:y ana examined its papers. The following day the

of Dh kraba Ii were visited.

TB lI.&POIlT

On August 7 the committee enmined {ro. Uti n m n Rajpore factory. About five to • th wand villagen 11 d to grttt the committee memben. Similarly, three to four th tenants were present when the committee examined the man of the Peepra and Turkaulia fi Clories on the Srd d 4th of u On the 6th Rajghat Hardia f: ctory ~ vUited.

87

On August 14 Mr. J meson was gain examined the m get of the JaJaba factory. 0 m re evidence recorded aft~r this. Gandhi, bow'ever, placed before the committee the taternents of a number of tenants and a great many judgements Qf courts.

In all, eight public sittings were held t Bettiah nd Moti.hari t

which nineteen witnesses were examined, co isting of four 'Iern· ment officen, three r ptesentativ of the ry ,tbe represent U'lt of che Bihar Planters' .Association, and twelve maJUlgen ofindi 0 concerru. The oommittee membera also made loc;al. iov ti tiollS t 'ght concerns, where they cx.ami.ned in detail the rna together with the factory rqistel'l and accounts and the eyota who h d submitted writ en memoranda, and then made numerous inquiries from the large bodi of ryots tWembled to m t them. The voluminous 0 . I records also were studied. On the d ya when th committ did not examine wi or visit Yin gea there used to be. 'on G r con-'dering the evidence already reoorded. The commin e w rlted fi, • weeks.

The il'k of the committee for the time being to a 1 in ugun; the next sitting fixed to be held t Ranchi in ptetnbcr.

On August 16 Gandhi left for Ahmedabad, 1 ving Jendra · d, Ramnavmi Prasad nd Rajkumar Shukla in Champaran.

The ctivitiea of Gandhi', auinants were closely w tched by th police. "There have been no further diac Onl or negotiations with Mr. Gandhi n:gatd.ing the oontinuance of his Ill' 'on w rk in Cbamparan and Government would like to be kep w U inform d r the doingl of the mission camps which be is said to have left t tti b and otibari," wrote the CWef Secretary to Co . io er or Ttrhut on Sep mber 5.

Mr. Lewis, the ubdivilional Officer. reported ; "To enwre Govcmrnent aaion Mr. Gandhi had lim to Cl' te a

• t lion in Cbamparan which would thr'ult il)e}f on the notice of the Oovcmmcnt d make action imperative. This plan of etlan Ncceeded

88 OA]f1)Bl 1M CHAMPARAM

and th commi was appointed. ThOle who agree with Mr. Gandhi that the 'tuation required reform and that it wa.t necessary that inquiries .hould be public and that the Covtnunalt would not take up the queatioJU uol publicly forced would excuse the imperfections or the method 10 long u Mr. Gandhi', nWJl object to which para­moun importance was attached wa.t kept in view. From the more prejudicial 'tion of a local off teet I feci in face of th diffieultics

t hay. been creal d that I cannot too strongly condemn th lines n which th n w condu ted among an ignorant and credulous

people. f( in th gitation does not concern itself with local Indi n

zamindart, what · et'their d mands (or labour or abwab, it urn at on a dcfUliteJy anti.European character. RqlO have been brought to my noue of th type (rumour that is abroad. There must b now be • very Jarg number of l')'otJ wbo think that th factories re all to

1 down and the Europeans fi ced to t ve. There were alto rumoUI'I of th tines imposed n local European officials by tbe

mmitt e, owing to their misconduct in not li$tening to the ryOts. A rum ur is not negligible beca ridiculous. There is no story 10

ridicul u.s th t the ry tJ r the distriet will not believe i 1 frequently b ught to Mr. Candhi", notice that aU these rumours were circulated

hiI utte.ran in h' nam ,but he could do no trIO than to disclaim them. ~s Mr. dhi's presen in the district, it cu both wa : Ion h is h re his name can be used a peg r every fr h rumour, whit h his personal inftuen ,wbich is ~t. in the di f m cration...

" igtu fboy bog lut.:ve been appa.n:nt ever since the mission cam t ttiah: 1 bou b bet-n Ii bidden to work in the factory. Th di lt ' \U lion which I have tried to dtscribe is not

1 t equ.aJly ounced tbro bout th indigo minda.ri • but it is uffi ' endy era! to be

ClOtTUpt motivt:S. It is the inevitable result of Mr. G ndhi' inquiry which practically supplanted the official ...

"With rc:fere:nce to the suggestion that the conuni t should 10 It the closing of Mr. Gandhi', .. n a condition of their recornm • dations I take the view that Mr. G ndhi and aU his m' . n are mere pawns in the game. Were: Mr. Gandhi to th t be w uld vet' his connection with Cbamparan on th d y the recommend ti IU' Ut,

I would not ICe in that guarantee of ttled conditions. In the first place the local leaden among the eyota are now a f4 roe t reckoned with. They have ea.tcm of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and know their strength. In 1909 they went bout in mo brob the peace were run in. c:orivicted. They know now that boycott' a much m potent and less dangerous weapon. ndly, n promi e b Mr. ndhi would bind political India; there: \Ie been aeveral hints in the papers that Indian politicia have no intention f followin Mr. ndhl blindly; and an articl which ppeartd in th Amril. /J4l,(lJ' Palrika to the effect th 1 no great hopes wen: entertained of th committee'. find.inss bas a sinister ignilicance.

"1 rather doubt, thereCOl'e, whether much would ined by closing th door to Mr. ndhi. nor do I think w uld CVi r it. Memben of the commit even while dlaa do with Mr. have ex.pressed their belief in hU han y and . ncen ty. H often cl imed that he is no enemy of the planter and i mUo t

a:cure peaceable rd tions. Government now given proof oC i hoM fiiW in ventilating aU points of grievances. Would it nol preferable to inform Mr. Gandhi frankly of what local officel'l believe to be the development of the sit tion and 1 ve it to Mr. G n hi to prove that he is as good his word and is not working fi r the destruc­tion of the fa rics. but for a seulcmcnt points oC differenec? llbink it would be a mistake to drive Mr. Gandhi into oppoaiti n ..•

<ill after issue of the er:nm t orden. the 1 1 I en who n point to no grievance and merely as anti-Eur pean n continue to make the situation int crable, I can o1y recommend the p it of special powcn by 1 . tion to deal with them and confine their activiti .. Once the ventilation of all grievana:s js secured, there is no rcaJOn why troag and dfcctive m uta, whether critic:iud or not, should not be taken d maintained inn men wh limply create mischier.·~

90 OA1fDJU 11" CHAKPARAN

Mr. WhittYt the Manager of Bettiah Raj, pve his views "'on the situation created by Gandhi at present and in the futUl"C":

"Conditions are thoroughly 1.IJlSettled. It is generally believed that Mr. Gandhi has come with authority which override$ the ordinary civil authority ..• The ryot believes that the non-official European will be cleared out and be is waiting to see how he can best aecun: his own in 0 1 ( is n to rcaaure hint tha big changes are not coming and to d bing to give back the non-official European the prestige which was the chief in his wotk. ... Champaran is now in the c.ondition jn which tat may easily ltart a dan erous disturbance.

"Taking th.it view 1 dvocate abtolut Y definite pronouru:ements by ovenun t. on any qu tion in which the committee advises reform, and at the .ame time a refuaal, enforced by the me t measures, to ... }Jow a continua.nc of agitation. The civil uthorities mllSt tbemscJv introduce th chan recommended. Mr. Gandhi must be asked to

ccept. the °tu lion and to adviJe his followers to accept it, and leave (h district.

''If Mr. Gandhi and his helpen remain and continue Uu:ir mission r the recommend flOIlS of tb commit.tce have been given effect

to, the will be continued trouble which may grow serio at any time - d which will in any case nowly affect the position of the dm' tion d the EruopcanJ in India. "Tb is important European community with large financial

'ntcreJts in th . ThU community is in danger of bei broken by wUllStifi&bl agi non. Government m t giv it IUpport as fat it n.'

The • in his confidential

TH& RBPORT

likely to sit still and forgo this fint call OD their labour. tCampl inu· are being brought to Gandhi's representatives that fact ri compelling coolies to work for them. the complainan are t Id by these representatives not to work and to beat the fi ot • amllU with the result that there have been cases of rioting a1read ...

''There is Dot the slightlest doubt that the eyota w t td lh t they bad every right to drive their carts on the upper roads and th t they suddenly began doing so and UlIumed a very truculent d DOur if anybody tried to tum them off. I myself nearly bad a row with two carters one day who topped my car and were m t insolent nd de6.aot. Ho.wever, many carten have been P1"ClleCUted, rten have to a great extent thought better of it and givm up using the upper roads.

lC~tr. Gandhi also admitted to me that be had told eyou 1h t they should not pay sluzraAbuhi it was illegal this matter is .tub jNJJiu befol'C the High Court, he had no right to give any IUcb ord r. 1 h " on ODe or two occasions informed Mr. Gandhi th t the wild t 'orden' were being circulated in the dlMt, and also the wildest rum un; h denied havin put them in circulation and dmted th t hi. hel would do so without his orden. I do. not think he has taken y parti­cular .steps to counteract the many orden attributed to him, nor d be appear to cllic::ourage ryOtl concerned in criminal c:a.t from eornia to him to 'complain' instead of going to the courtl. n the contrary I am of opinion that villagen are encouraged to come in l him or bia . tants whenever they have a gri vane«:.. . t the Ii c.t ry. I am informed tha.t he bas given out that he or his reprtlCn tlVl ~-iU t'C.tnAin for a long time in the district to prol.eCt the ryota from lhe il etori I.

UAs regards the actual fricti nand iU feeling, andhi'. preaence in the district must tend to .increase thit as he evidenuy with to paralYIC labour and to undcnn.ine the auilioricy ofplantets. He has on 0CC&l1 tIS

offered to belp planten to get labour if they will a to p y his fates. ecd.less to say IUGh galling offer is refused by plantcn. His p

in the district it alJo mOlt derogat ry to tb offic::W adminiJ li , people openly saying he it above the c:olJeaor .. d police and taking their cueI to him first. • .

''The most ICriOUI result 0( Gandhi', million j . the pr ot .pint of lawl throughout the district; th vilJagm are ld by the agita­tOR that if they ar!! united. they can do. w t they like, meani that

92 GANDHI 1 CHA.,AltAN

TR It_PORT

for lint rMIrai, but t second mttltai the fl c ry had difficul c:arts. Some witnesses who :\"c evidence for him in

93

Settlement Court have had their dhobi d ha' m stopped, nd t present the factory can get nodling d ne. It is not a qu tion of ra as Mr. Lees already hi het rates than . The ttl in everyone' mouth is 'wc are ready to go to 'ail.' It is diffi ult to realize the rents too. Mr. Lees h to rue 500 rent suits . t n Ii 'bie quantity before."

"A boycott has set in/' wrote the commissi cr,' wlUch naturally varies in degree nd extent, and the effect of wbich will be rno fully seen when sowings begin in a nth or two months' time. But it . already in evidence, and only rtly e:tplained by grie ,nd goes beyond passive . nee, because it is enforced by th intimid. tion of ryo who wiU n go with the t."

The iotenti .n. be d, was t cause c neems t close own as they had to close down in.Ben many y rs . " It is on indigo cultiv ti n that the exactio oC aml4J have been felt. and it y be t1 t ryo wi5h to see an end of it under y synem. lD of the plant rs beUeve that 1 hour will never ~t ood rat ~ 1 , and Indian mpl yen rc id to be already ge.tt,ing alUCio at the rates ffered. whi til y

ex.:pect will be demanded (rom them also." The commissioner further wrote: " Mr. ndhi h or cl itnJ t.o

have the disinte ted m rive, the P to people have the Uti J motive, d the local men have the peno I motive, which is perna the most table f the three. It appears to me that Mr. C dhi with the best no -conformist intentio has let loose Ji which h control. or d~ not wish to control. Tb fol' 1 interestJ reinforced by the notion that the hib'~ time is p n tion is easy to spread in the circumstances of the w , accepted by the i rant ry tt. It is .trength d by Mr. peno 1 au . The right course lCetnI to m be to G . ndhi to go, jf he cannot be persuaded, d to I v ment the of removi g proved grievan. • mod ting exc:e.:s restoring good relado ."

commissioner concluded : "I think it uld be a fatal mistake to make too m h f I.h

difJkuhics experienc:ed by factoriel, beca that would only ltimu.1 agitation.. And fol' that reason I would this report and mel

OA D.l 1M CHAMPA_AM

be kept entirely secret by Government. But there it, 1 tbiDk, enough without making too free an admisIion of these difficulties, to imptUI upon Mr. Gandhi that b.is mitsion had bad deleterioUi ruulu in letting d... against cl ,that Government cannot allow these to continue, that whilst resolved on redreuing all grievanca. it will not .ulfer th c.oncenu and the property they represent to be damaged by unjUitifiable methods. If Government iI in • ~tiOD to make a pr0-

nouncement of ruch a policy I think a good deal of misundentanding 'Would be cl red away.

"If howey r Mr. Gandhi is resolved to pursue his mj ion, and his attitud it n t IUch aa to cou e th idea that he can be dfectively unfluenced, tben ther' t much to be gained by approaching him,

nd it w uld . m tter I t matt 11 take their count. In that event we can only combat illegitimate developmen I Ji r aa they can be com ted. by 1 ' ti te m I and giv as much consideration AI

can. be iv n to concenu that cannot immediately meet their obliga­ti N,llW uld, Ithink, v averydel t '0 dIi ifevenoneco~

w forced to I down. M er, th planters d e consideration for th for fa ce they reported to be ditplayin in circumstances o difficulty d irritation. A consid tion that appeals to me also it th t, wh t \Itt their fi ults nd th must be C01TeCted, it is only to t t our own peopl they can look for protection.

"1 th.ink, therdi re, that th y hould be encouraged to hold on long they all uld th boycott develop, and to contin to erciIe r. r , but ould fall uch support as Government can th m . nat unj tifi bl OJ thods. m r them are tallti

lilt! wildly at p nt takin the law into their own h cia, and if . n t 'ven, troubJ may Uy JUU , conditi os of

ummed up by sa)' th t altho b tb ed fl r l presen there are unjUitifiabl

But I b uJd, however, prefer to have my own d 1 think the circu ucb that it is her of . . t Champaran

for hi.mselI h w

95

"The whole matter is under Government', consideration ad ord will be passed as soon as the conunittee·. report wbich is expect shortly is received. It is obviousl impossible fur Government to any action before that event and equally inconceivable th l ny 1 planter will be so foolish to do anything that will prejudi th of his fdlow pla.nten while the committee are st111 in consul tion "ith leading memben of the eommunity,

"I am to add that on the fact$ now before them. Gowmunent think. that it uld do far more b rID than good to take ny prohibitory action against Mr. G ndhi as n the eommiu e ha submitte.

their report. • • Gandhi returned to Bihar after fi~ weeb' absenc , 'r ehlng Ranch;

on September 22. Sir Ed rei Gait, the Lieu nt·Govern f, t ~d Gandhi that if the committee submitted un nimous report, it would be y for til Government to t upon it. dhi w , th fore, anxio to have, as far ble, unanimity among th conunitt memben. This was a difficult : Would the p] nt ·· admit vall 1he complaino which had been made against them ? If n t, w uld G ndhi, who knew that til complaintl were w U f, unded, t

d p them ? The principal which lled ti redr out of the system of rin.lc4lJlia, shfll'aAiJum and abwab, ow th t ind' cultivation bad once again become a p Ii ble bUJin use the wat' with Germany. would th pl3Dte give it up? Would til surrender the annual income of lakbs of rupca which th y had managed to secure by way of enhancement Tent } ble by lh ryots ? And would tb y to r fund tbe Ia moun they d exacted from them ? All these ppeared to be im 'ble of liz· tion; but if that could not be achieved, the purpose of me conunit would be defeated. To get over the formidable obstael, ndhl .. at the very ou.tlet, told the committee t if ~he other membe gr d with bim, he w uld not illl ' t that it hould go into nd ex i opinion on the acts of 0PP 'on alleged aga t plantm. (I r if it did go into the allegan 1'1.1 0 the ryots. it d not. but p th true. If. however, the memben differed on this poiot and if ndhl felt bound to write a note on the oppreaion by pI Olen. he could put up a report JUpportcd by nu:h ' I body of i.rrefu bl evidence that it could not be chalLen d by anybody. If the othel' members took a contrary view in favour of we planters, every poin

96 GANDRI JIf CKAIIIPAJilAN

they would make would be contradicted by the reportJ of Government officials. Gandhi', luggestion was, therefore, accepted by the other members as well at tbe :rcpn:aentativc:s of planters. for it saved them from an awkward position, Gandhi gave this advice because he felt that tit exceaca 10 far committed and the sufferings 10 long borne by the tenant. could not be und ne at thi tage, and if their refutation could be effectively provided against, it was no use raking up the pal'-

The' conu:nittee met lleVeral umea and the managers of the three largett conc:ema-Mot.ibari, Turbulia and Peep.ra-were summo ed to aanchi for ditcuaion on sharallJJtslti on September 29. According 10 Mr. Irwin, manager of Motihari concern, an agreement was reached thus:

be eel to reconcile fr. Gandhi by inclUSing our concea­r former otTer having beeti rejected and withdrawn the 'on was on new lines. Mr, iy id, ~certainly not; the

position is jutt as we left it at Beuiah: and the withdrawal of our offer would p ce us in an utterly falae position as neither the Government. n r any clae would believe that we had done anything but resile from our own offe.r, Unfortunately we could not gainsay this. Knowing our Government aa we do we quite underatood that every advantage would be taken of Uli 10 we co:nsenred to let the offer stand. .Aftes-

ncU d' 'OIl Mr. Gandhi again refuted to accept 25 per cent, but he IBid tha.t be would cept any ad nee n that offer, Mr, orman of P ten tively ked him if he would accept 26 per cent, and to

ur lurpriJe, and I m t droit my deep chagrin. he ecepted. There n chi fI r it now to vi.ng clcnowled d our continued

Uability Ii l' 25 per t, it would ve merely haiMplitti.ng h Id out . toe per cent more. To show you how liberal it was : It mcaru to otihari Ltd. al 0 a remiJsion of rent amounting to

13,000 yearly, th capit:alized value of wbich' Rs. 2,60,000 to be given to not only !la" never w it, but who ba.ve: paid i r. t without a ~t suit ever having had to be institUted for a . 1 it · of it; and who all filed petitio in the ~t survey re ion pera to)' their rena were fair and equi bi ad mutually agreed upon. nd they were palled by m ttlem.ent met!' ,"

On Lh hOliti of the the erommt readily

THB RIlPOa T

they rcaliz.ed that the tUtkalAia was Illost bated by the ryots. to Gandhi, whatever the terms and cooditi illS under whi th titrJuItJAG system was abolished, it would be impossi 1 for th plant to continue long after its abolition because the system w groundtd on oppression; and if that oppression ceased. the planters could not stay. The effect of the bolition of tUtkaUtia and the fearl 1 which bad been engendered in the hearts of ill tenants could not but lead them to resist any oppression by the planters.

After prolonged di.scu5Sions the members f the inquiry commiu . gned a report on October S, 191 7 which was in fa our f th ry

The report and the evidence were pubr bed in two olum 1 0 • tin of 24 pages and 164 pag respective}, under th titl -'It rt

of the Committee on the Agrarian ditio in It contained the concl 'ons arrived at by th number of recommendati which, with a &in 1 unanimous.

From Ranchi Gandhi returned to Champaran. to r 11 th when he 1 Motibari for Bettiah m 400 pie were there at th station to see him off. Repo ' his weI me at th Beltiah railw y ltati n the C.I.D. note 'd:

"About 4,000 people were present. 0 soon r the train .topped than people began to ah ut 'Oandhiji k.i j i', 'andhi aha ~ ki jai'. There were baj41 (bands). d fla at the tion and all m (rom neighbouring nd distant vil including sen 1 f' and mukhtian were pretent. 1bcy showered fI n on Mr. dhi and I nd d him. There was a red c1 th .pread at the pI tfonn 11 r fr. andhi. Surajma1 Marwari of Bettiah bad brought hiJ p eton and a h of Puran Babu Raj, an engineer, was harn~. It it not undentood how Puran Babu lent his hone and why the railway tcrV&n allowed 10

much nub and show t the station. "Mr. Gandhi taken to Haurimal'. cihannadWa a~mpanied

by aU the villagen who bad come to him. Th dbarmaahala was nic:dy deccnted with ft , ftowen etc. Pi of red StUtu Wt'l'e tiu up in th air by means of rope with th following . The 6rit pic:cc of cloth had the word 'IW& " welcome, written on it. A ICCOnd pic:cc') ahiJa Wbr ki jai', jai to the justice-loving earbi, was.ewcd. On third I tma Gandhi ji ki jai' was ICWcd. On founh 'Sbri Bharat ta ki jai', jai. to other India, was JeWeCl

98 OA DII1 lJf OHAMPA.AN

and below it written 'Jin jano De dcsb jiwan aamarpaD brdir­wai amar-pad pa g-.i nij bans ujwat brliya', that is, thole who have .. crificed their lives for the benefit. of the country. they obtained ulvation and enlightened tbtu- generation.

"R.ajlru.mar bukla and Khendhcr Rai were in one caniage with Mr. ndhl', lu g "

A mammoth meting of villa en w expected on October 12th, be it w known that dIU w to nnounce t.be gist of the c milt '. rc:ct>mr:nendalions. Mr. Lewis w perturbed because the rec:.ommendati 01 bad not yet been pubUabed and be hi:msdf was unacquainted with them. Mr. Lewia met Gandhi and said that be tho h that hit nnouncc:mcnt. or the committee's recommendations would be c nttrued Gandhi', orden to the ryou. and that a Iteah crop of rumout'l w uld be started: while there would have to be a

ad pronouncement when the Government. resolutiom, possibly on d.ift1 rent lin , were . ued, Gandhi 'd in .reply that he bad the Lieul I ot- ern ,'I . ion to make the pronouncement in rd r to prepare the y for the Government resolutiom which were

to f; 11 w. and in particular to plain such unpopular claUICI as compu! ry sluzrahbuhi in pl ce of the IUrvlving tinA:al/Jia in a Dumber of neems.

ndhi pent Il c uple r hoUt1 'th ,LewiI, returned to the dbarmaa • nd de public announcement r the recommenda-tl . He left. Bcttiah tAt' n t day.

e pl nlen w uri us that the . uncement hould bave been mad to the ry previ< 'th to the publication of the report or tb of Vttnrneot order. wired to th Government:

dhl publid IUlO in rn.mjttee'. aU rec:.ornroendation ulval nt t enunent orden th y using t excitement

nd fC\! It &m n t ryots. W the Euro~ c:ornmunity ofCbamparan believe t: be goYmlcd in IU of aU law d rckr by Gandhi , by the. conunin '. ullwarrant.ble propoa.ls even though ·confirmed

by v roman which e c;on6d ti.aJ.1 anticipate that they will not be. We demand an imm . te mee' between our rep:IUCIltativc

d 10 e clal witb rull pow rcqu ted by Cbamparan branch . li in Old to nt disturbatt - .,

-utt1Ve!'ftt'B' declined to enter into ~ With the 6.ndinp of the oommiuce. Having C()Il.,

TBB •• PO.'"

Iidered the reoonuneodauona made in the report His Honour palled the following orden :

1. That the tiJIkldJrUr be abolism:d and considered Ulep.l. 2. That the contracts entered into between ry ts and indi

ooncems for growing indigo 01' other crop' will absolutely depend on their consent. That the terms of 1\1 contracts ahall nol be 01 than for three years. That the money which will be paid under ueh contracts ahall be according to the weight of th incllgo plants. When both the parties agree the pri on the 'ht wiU be deter­mined byarbitra ~t money should ot be paid at rate ~ than that fixed by the Plantc:n' • Ii from time to tim and approved by e commissioner. That no conttact win make any tenant U ble fol' growing indigo in any particular plots of b' land.

S. That the Turbulla, Motihan and P epl1l n agreed that th ,1t4TaA/Ju/tj by them will be r«tu up to 20 per cent in the cut of T ulia nCCl1l · nd by up to 26 per cent in the ease of Motihari d P ep from bt Aswin 1S25. In th of the two remainin c ecrns also, namely, Jallah and Simi where sluulllrbuhi hat been taken, it will be reduced by 26 per cent.

4. That in those concerns where sJmrlllrbtSlri has noC and the names of the ryou are entered on tm. i' n that they a.1'C bound to grow indi 0, these coruiitiOllJ will abolished and in lieu thereof slulrah6es1ri will after reduction at the rate stated abo and it will talr.c eIIi from lat Aswin 1325.

5. That the mana.gcr of the Bett.iah Raj will not renew the 1 or thole viUag in which IlIWt#I baa already been taken bu be can rc:ncw in cue where 2S per cent of the IIIwdn taken u rd"unded aDd that sb.aJl be diltribuied by that raj among the tC1WlU III a part of the IIlUJtIII refunded.

6. 'l'bat in thole lcaxd vii in which I4UHI1I has been taken, JO long as the run I«tNDf realized i. not refunded the Bettiah Raj should forgo Cor leVeD yeatlt Y ~t which

OANJ)JU 1M OKAIIIPARAK

may have been or may be granted in the Settlement Courts in the cue of those ryota from whom IaUNJIJ bas been taken. That all conc.erned arc: hereby informed that IIInotW are ill and that it is not necessary for any tenant to pay to hb n'UlJiA: or his amlIJ, on their demand, anything in excess of hit rent and ctsI finally entered in the Settlement Khatian. He is entitled to g a receipt for rent and cas without payment of any fees, tDIuJtir or lWabfJIUJ.

8, 11lat the Bihar Planters' Aaoc:iation will be n:qu ted to flX the minimum rate of wages of labourcra required by the

nd to aend thiJ rate to the cornm.issioner for

9. 'bar Plante • . tion will abo be requested

lot

"The conditions under which in' has been grown h been repeated'r under the DOtice of Government (! it' nearly . oommcncing from th time \ dispu in appointment of th Indigo C'..ommission as a ult of hieb indi rapidly disappeared in &ngal proper. In that inquiry the conditi ns in Tu-hut were more or 1 side' ue. It i tonishlng b 'W 'til in thaJe early times the caUlJ,C$ of complaint wue much the sam This was Ute state of affairs when Mr. Gandhi indu cd to visit th district and th presence and actions ofhimsetr and his . tnnts cr led a tension wbich rendered it n to ppoint the committee of inqwry and th recom.rnendations of which h vc resulted in the bill which 1 am laying before tb council.

"Government alon • and that only by legis! tion, can kill th rent rool of the disease, and I contend that history for 6fty yean nd m re has been building up a fol' drastic ion Government and th t

the findings of the l"C«nt committee. findings of which I n cd not set forth t length because they ve merely repeated once more what has been found time after time be(; re, have merely t lhe Ie ystone on the case for int.erf'erenc .

• ow the rool of the evil is the tillbthitJ 'Y*tern. A,:, tb commit have put it, the ti"klJllaia system h outlived its day d must perfo disappear ...

"Government have no desire to strilee blow at th indi 0 industry, Qor indeed, if they had. such a desire, could they achieve it through the provisions of this bill, for the simple r n that ifindigo U!llOund commercially it can be grown and manufi ctured on open bUiln terms and yet with a good profiL lfit is dependent on conditions which are unsound and oppressive the sooner it cfuappe from off the rac:e of th country the better it will be."

ir Ed rd Gait bad a large share in getting the committee m kc a unan.imous report and in getting the agrarian bill pused in ccord , with the committee'. recomm ndations.

The Cbamparan Agrarian ct .rec:eived the aacnt of the Govern • Galeral on May I, 1918.

After the war the prices of indigo dropped rapidly. the ind try ceased to be of any importan • and finally within a decade died out completely.

"I'fbe tiJthzJ1Ji4 &ytlctn which had been in existence for about a

102 GANDHI IN OHAMPARAN

century was thus abo1iJhed,'" observed Gandhi. "and with it the planters' raj came to an end. The ryots, who had all along remained crushed, now somewhat came to their own, and the superstition that the .tain of indigo cou1d never be washed out was exploded."

AFTER lATH

OUCK Cbamparan hurricane had blown and G dhi determined to barn th ryo • enthusiasm in b~ bout

revolution in the villages. One of the main reaso or th of the ryoo, he thou btl Yi ignorance: even if he sue ed

in c;uring some relief for the ryo they could not be ble to full benefit of it and they would be caught in fresh bonds. new

nscioumess aroused but whether this was a permanent cquisi. tion could not be . d for certain. 0 out . de agency could improve their lot um their ignorance was dispelled. Their mode of living required a change: dirt in the villa ) dirt n the roads. dirt. every­where. They had lost th capacity for organized work; th:y ould n t repair even a vill e road. vm en fell 11 prey to epid mia, there being none to advise them and there being no arra ment for their treatment. When they had some Ie' t.m:, they did t know how to utilize it. Men and women 8 oped and child neglected.

andbi got more perieo of mpa vinced that w r'k of II permanent na.ture 'W not im p per vill education. «The ryou' ignoran was pathetic. They either allowed their children to roam aboa or made them jJ from too to ni ht Ii r Ii coup! of coppers day. In tbJ d VI labourer'K did not c:xcccd en pic. a female', did not eJtCeed. six, a chikf". three. He who Jl'cceeded in earning Ii ur an:nu" day VI considered t fortunate.··

In consul · . n with his co-worken Gandhi decid to open pri ry schools in • villages. t of the conditioN with the villagers that they should provid the era with board and lodging while b' ool1eagues would to the other cspenaes. The vill fj lk d hardly

y cash in their bands, b t they could well m to provide food· tum. They e:xpr-caed th ir' contribut grain and other

raw matetiab. From w~ to get the a gr t problem. It diOkult

to find local ttachm ho Wi uld work for a bate allowan or wit ut nmuoeration. Gandhi'. idea was not to entrust children to common-

104 o ANDlH IN CD AMPARAN

place teachers. uTheir literary qualification was not so tISelltiaJ as their moral fibre."

Sometime before the inquiry committee had commenced its wori he had written to his friends. telling them the type of voluntcen he need ·d for ·thit new vcoture: t'Thci.r work will be tbe most important and lasting and, therefore, it will be the final essential stage of tbe miaion. The vo1untcen have to be grown up. reliable. bard-working men who would not mind taking the spade and repairin and makin roads and cl rung villa e caapools and who will in their dea1in with th it landlords guide the ryou aright. Ut montJu of such training cannot fail to do incalcul ble good the ryou, the worken and the country at large."

After the mmitt had made ita repon. Gandhi found time to emb rlt. on the new ntute and on November 8. 1917 be returned to Cbamparan with turba in th capacity of a voluntcu. Ifu· public p 1 for v luntary leachCl'll received a ready response from

M htta, Gujarat and KttrIlataL Mr.. Avantib.bai Ookhale and Mrs. Anandibai Valshampayan came respectively from Bombay and p . &1waheb Soman and Pundalik Katgade w Idlt by Gan a-dh 0 Desphande {rom Kcsrnatak. Gandhi called from the Sabarmati

hrain his IOn eva(\aJ, Cbhotalal d urendranath. Mahadev Desai nd han Parikh with tb it'- wiv t in Uu:ir lot v.ith him. Avantikabai d A ndlbai were educated enougb, but Durgabai

d nibeb.n Parikh bad thing more than a bate knowledge of uj rau. d turba n even that. How were they to I truct \h~ cbildn::n in fUndi? G ndhi Wned \0 them tlult they were

ted to t ch tbe ilclren not grammar and the three R's 10

much leanlin and good manners. He further explained that even regards I tte then: not so t difference between Guj ci,

Hindi nd thl they Un 'ned, and in the primary cl at te, the t chit) f tl c rw:lim tI of the alp bet and nUll1e:rals

not difficult matter. But he did not want to stop t providing for primary u ti n. Th Ula Vi • 'tary. the lanes full orruth, the wclh surrounded y mud and stink nd c:ourtyard! unbearably untidy. The older people badly n~ed education in cleanlillCll. They

'en:: all $uITerin fi m \ 'ous skin So it was decided to do much Ie u possible and to penetrate every dc~t

oftl eirU:

AFT8RMATH lOS

Doctors wen: needed for this work. Gandhi requested the ;:owo,rVllnl'll.

of India Society to send Dr. Deva, who re diLyoffered his sel'\'i f4 t'

Iia months. The teacheD-men and women-had aU to work under Dr. Deva.

All of them had cxp instructions not to concern themscl wic.h grievances gainst planters or with politics. People who had ny com­plaints to make were to be referred to Gandhi. "I had s that, e en where the end might be political but where the cause non-political, one damaged it by giving it a political peet and helped it by k ping it within its non-politicallinlit. The Cbamparan truggle was a proof of the fact that disinterested service of the people in any spbere ultimately helps the country politicaUy."

Gandhi told r. Whitty, Ma er of Bettiah ~, that his wish now was "to utilize his position and any gratitude he b earned from the ryots to introduce sanitary id and improve sri ultund methods." He hoped that in t.rus humanitarian rk he should get the help of planters and that in their villages he should open ools. As the pLantera withheld theiT C(H)peration, G nelhi de 'ded to open alChool at Barharwa Lakbansen, bout 20 miles to the t of Motibari, • village ofBettiah ~I not ttached to any r. clory. bu Shiv Gun Mal gave his hoUle for the JCbool and promised monetary help al . There on November 14. 1917 Gandhi opened hit first school in mp .ran. The school put in charge of Mr. Baban Gokbale, n cngin his wife Awantibbai Gokhalc. an educationist, d Dcv das, youngest 100.

In a letter to Mr. Merriman. District . trate, pann, Gandhi worte :

"t think that 1 <> ht to keep you informed of my din. Havi t'C'Ccived an olier of a ready-made .chool in a Kham vill 1ft, J opened one today in Barbarwa I.akhansen near Dab. I have put chert the beat volunteer teachers from among thOle who have om red til it

. ce. They are Mr. and Mrs. Gokhale from Bom y. They have their independent m , and Mrt. kbaJe w d .ing educational work in Bombay. The nature of the work they will d I have alteady described to you. I am hoping with the . lAnce, if pouible. of the beads of the ~cti ncema to open aimilar schoola, 0 e jA th Pceprah IeMJ and another in Turkaulia tIIlt4t. and I hOpe to open OM

in the Belwa tUMJ. AI tho attempl is in the nature of an experiment.

OAND'RI IN OBAIfPAAAN

.... .,TEIUlAT,Jl

ttl simply m ntioned the incident in order that advanced a little m e in my experiment, I may l)!Qlpathy and help in a department in which aU l"eIe:I"\It.

107

'Dr. DeVIl. who is a qual.ified nd e.xperienced au d ph . ci and Seactary of the Servants of India 'elY, came on uCll'l y. His services have been L t for this work by th lOciety. H has with three more volunteers includin lady from Prol1 Wid • Home. Dr. Deva. will chiefly rupervise th medi thew rk.

aI may tate th I aU be a y from aha a fortnight. bu Brajkisbo Prasad will rep t roe in my bsence. II

In his confidential report dated 'ovember 24. District • rate, wrote to Mr. Monbead, ofT'trhut:

4rThe general situation geta no easier, rather the rev • The

immediate and pn:aing trouble centra round the question r paymen~ oC renta to.factories. There is a 8eneral c mplaint from planters that

GAKDllt 11'1 C.HAYPAItAK

they are unable to get in.rcnu. 1 do not ICC any immediate prospect of the ce.ation of the praent trouble. Meanwbile the position of the local officcn is an extr mely difficult one. The planter assertJ that ex.istin obligatio are still binding. The ryot, relying on the verna­cular notices, claims tbat the obligation to grow indigo, and all resultant obligations, ar add letter, and refuses either to grow indigo, IrJuaki

laglUl or to pay any tent. He docs not ppreciate the ,ubtle distinc­tion belWe(n an executive order nd a legislative enactment. To sum up, the general I;tu ti 0 appean to be a TCa'Udescenoe of excitement (lOillcidi with Mr. ndhi', return and the announcement of the

vemment raolu' n. ndhi is again with • though he bas just written to inform

is gain away ftrr a fortnight. He has been very active inee b rrived early in th month. He has Jtarted founding ICbools.

I solicit in ti to the ltitude to be adopted to Mr. Gandhi nd his aeh band hy 'en propaganda. Am I to en.c:oura.ge him in

m. Vi k her. re tiJfyin myself of its c:hant.cter, or am I to adopt a n unal attitude ?

"1 am not prepared J yet to make any comments either on the instru tion given by rum or on the character of his fi Uowen. I know

thing. ut th hl. Pc:nonally I think that if they are genuinely int r ted in th mat they profi ) they will soon get sick or trying

h hy . to the Bibari culti tol'. Mr. Gandhi is trying to 'ption for his sch la t but h.a.s been met with a very modified

etltb . m troOl locallnd' in this tespe L • Simil rly I uJd lilt instru tions to my ttltude: with regard

dhitJl th iviti. He is not confining himself to b}'8iene l matte nly. He h been making pc:nonal inquiriCi

t which h at founded dool. Mr. dhi

in

APTEllMATB 109

Clwnparan, ignorant.. ill-balan~ and prone to untrUlhfuln Mr. Gandhi hi.mself, quite posslbly claims to be imparti • .t but the im. partiality of many of his • tan.ts is open to pici . Mr. dhi bas, 1 bcliC\'e, given ce that he could Iy iot ncrt in where he believed the T)'Ot bad been clearly ·i timized. But I submit Mr. Gandhi's judgement is Iallibl. It appean to me guit impossible to make such distinction betWttD TIl«: pra . ee must be countenanced in all the for id on this point.

"With regard to the importation of volunteers Ii m.Bel UlIl

Gujarat and Bombay, I should like to be informed of the ltitude of Government. Mr. McPherson in a letter. d ted July 2() 1917, to Mr. Hcycock intimated Heycock. to inform Mr. andhi tru t h (Heycock) 'not aware of the attitude ovt.rruru'.nt will dept towards the importation of volunteeri'. y I now inquire if th Government will communicate to me their ttitude?"

On ovember 30 Gandhi wrote to the dinri t JllA' t Ii m Motihari: "Dr. Deva tells m that in BWtharwa nd th IUtTOU •

villages nearly fifty pet' ent the popul tion is ufferin from fI er which often prov fatal Our workers rendering 1 the . dley can."

H w the worken peD trat.ed the viUtlgc:s d h w th y did th uplift work is dCllCribed by Gandhi lhWl:

"AI. far as was 'ble we pI ccd ch seb 1 in charg - of one man and 0 woman. These volunteers h d to look nfter mcd.i I reU f d sanitation. The womenfolk I d to be approached throu h W III n.

"Medical relief w very simple affair. tor oi), quinine and aulpbur ointment W re tb only dru provided to the v lunt . If the patient mowed a furred. tongue Qr complained f c; ti lion. castor oil adtninistercd, in c:uc of fever quinine was given aft an opening dose of castor oil, and th lulpbur ointment was pplied in c:QC of boils and itch after thoroughly w }uD8 the affected partl.

o patient was permitted to take hom medic • e. WhCI'eVcr there lOme complication Dr, Deva conrulted. Dr. .. UICd to v' 't

Cacll centre on certain fixed days in the k. "Qpite a number f people availed themselY1 of this airnpl ~ lief.

This plan ofwork will nol JCCJD ttange when it is tem bered that the p.revaili.ng ailmcots were few ud amenable to simple treatmC(lt, by 00

110 OANDHI IJf CHAlIPAllAN

means requlnng expert help. A$ for the people the arrangement anawered excellently.

"Sanitation. was a diflicu1t affair. The people were not prepared to do anything themse]v . Even the field labouren were not ready to do their own JCavenging. But r. Dcva was not a maD easily to late heart. He and the volunteers concentrated their energies on making a village ideaily lean. They nvep the roads and the courtyarda, cleaned out the welt., filled up the pools near by, and lovingly persuaded the villagers to 1i1Ue. volunteen from amongst themselves. In some villages they thamed t people into taking up the work, and in OtMn the people w 10 th' tic that they even pr pared roads to enable my car to go from pia to p ceo awe t experiences w e not wunixed with bitter onea of people", apathy. I nmember some villa en frankly cxp . in their dislike 11 r thU work."

andhi Ipread hi" activities further by opening one more school at M dhuban on January 11, 1918. It wu mainly conducted by the inmal of the bann ti hram : Mr. and Mrs. Nathari Parikh, Mahad v D and his wiG Durgabai and AnancUbai of Poona.

V. • Randiv and J. B. KripaJani also worked

n

A'TBllMATB III

The sari J am wearing is the only one 1 have. Ho am 1 t VI it ? Tell Mahatmaji to get me another sari, and I shall then p mist t

bathe and put on clean clothes every day!' The volunteers by their selflea work endeared themsdv to the

people. This was not to the planters' liking. One night the school at Bhitharwa was set on fire and reduced to h . ThU act of incendiar­ism was believed to have been done by a planter. but imte d of w til the time on inquiry. the teachers and the villagen built brick bouse in place of the burnt straw hut .

.AU through the plantcn tried to get dhi removed from Champaran and launched a mali . ous propa da throo h th 10-Indian p . Mr. Irwin who led the eampaign wrote a lett in h ShJUsman dated January 12. 1918, mowing even turba. In reply Gandhi wrote 10 letter from Motihari on J ury 16:

uMr. lrwin'.latest letter published in your issue of the 12th' tant compels me to court the h pitality of y ur columns. So long your corre.pondent confined himself to matte:n di.m:t.ly am ring himselt his representations did not much matter, the real Ii cu w much within the knowled e of the Govcm.ment and thOle who ace concerned with the agrarian qu tioo in Champaran, within mine. But in th letter under notice, be b travelled outside h' juNdicti rn it were, and unchivalrously attacked one f the: m t. inn . on the face of the rth (and this 1 say althou h wile) and has unpard bly r Cerred a qu moment I mean, the cow protection qu :lion, wjtbou~ taking the precaution as behoves a g ntt of a.soertaining fl at lint band.

liMy dc:lrca to the G u- bini bba h could b ve 'Iy obtained upon application to me. This t I du Co me I

betw 0 man and man. Your corteS ndent of'making a united attaclc on saNb /0, (their landlo ) wh bter and t

(lOWI daily.' This presuppoJeI I addres&in a comparatively mic:rc.oopic audi nee of the plantcn' eyota. fact it that the audience was com~ chiefty of the non-ryot • But I bad in mind a much bigger audience, and not merely the few usand beater'll before me. I Ipoke under a full DJC of roy respooaibility. The qu lion of cow protcetioo is, in my opinion, large as the empire to which Mr. Irwin and J belong. 1 know that be it a proud ther of a young lad of twenty-four. who baa recd~ by hit gallantry the unique honour of

112 GAKDflJ IN CH AM PAR.AN

Christian or the omedan to on co pl.a.y my humble part to preventing ncb b'Ophe d I tb

fr. Irwin fi having provid~ mc with n opportuoity orin ritin him. and your readen to help me in m nus" D. The • " . n y fail to prevent co htu. But there' no n why by dent plodding and t practice it sh u1d D t ueceed in howing the foUr, the stupidity and the inhumanity of comtnittin the crime of k:i1ling t'; low human be' or thi e of vi fi low anim I.

t( mu on behalf of the inn ot cow. A word only .f1 r my innocent wife wbo will QC'I."eI' even know the ng your ttespondent

d ne ber. If Mr. Irwin uld eqj y the honour of being introduced to her he will soon find out that ,G dhi U ''')ple woman, aim t. unlettered, who knows nothing of the two fa mentioned by him. even as I knew n thing of th~ until very recently ;ad 10m tim.e after the tstabliahement of the rival bazar. referred to by Mr, Irwin. He will then further ute himself that odhi has h d no hand in its establishment and it totally incapable of managing uch a b.u r. Lastly b will at once learn that Mrs. Gandhi's time is upied i cooking for d aerving the t chen conductin ICbool eatabli hed in the deMI ' 0 qu . on, in distri ting. medical rclicf d in JOovin amo t the women of the tWun with a view to giving th an id of aimple hygiene. Mrs. Gandhi, I may dd, n t 1 mt tb art of making speech addreuing 1 tten to the pros.

<I to th t of the letter, the 1 'd [he better. It iJ 10 full of palpable m.is:representatio that it is difficu1t to deal with them with sufficient sclf-f"tItraint. I can nly y tIm trying t the besl of my bi1ity to fulfil the obliga , D, 1 Id mys If under, f pr un goodwill between planters and ry ,and if 1 faU i\ "I uld t be du to 'aIlt of effi rtI on my part, but i.t would be Iy, if not entirely, due to the mischiev pro da Mr. Irwin ' carryi on y and 10m others sub rosa in Cham jn rder tD nullify the of the report publiahed by the ' n Committee, whi brougbt into being not U . Irwin Ii "ly I ellS at my requ t, but by the agitation carried on, your filea would demonstrate, by Mr. Irwi and his friends the An lo-lndian ' tion. If he ' • be will abid by his written word. voluntarily nd after full . 0 and delibmltion, given by him • ncbi."

The Io-Indian p pea 1Iy lb PWfIMr and tbe SlaJtJm41I

8

mainly gave the news of the war and 'they were acared by the .«cues of \he .Wes mel the 1'CVolution in Ruaia. The only nCWI they gave about India was regarding the bappeni.ngJ in Ohamparan. It r ther eurioUi that they sided with Gandhi during the South Afiic;an mugjJ1e nd wrote editoriab in sympathy with the indentured labour, but in th of Cbamparan they put an their weigbt on the . de of the pl.nt~ and c;uried on virulent propaganda against Gandhi. The nati naJiat p bad not realized the importance of the South African Itr\I :le but now they sided with the ryotJ in Cbamparan and gave ita full support to G dbi. ~ ying tribute to Gandhi, the nationalise prea quoted the apt article by Pro r G.ilbert Murray published in th Hib6trf JOU1tI4l of January 1918:

"Let m take t..d y instance of this battle betwem a soul and .. t, • very curious instance. 'becaute it is a1mM impoaible wi ut m kn wled than Il10ft people in gland possess to y

waa wron and who ri ht-tp in power should be very ean:ful how they deal with • man

who CAI'CI nothing for lenSual pIe ure, nothing for riches nothing for comfort 01' praltc 01' promotion, but is simply detennined to do what he bell to be right. He is a dange:toul d uncomfortable enemy bccaUIC b.UI body, which you can alwa)'l conql.ler gi~ you 10 little pureb upon hia 1Oul" •.

By his ae.Ul and indomitable courage dhi put new life into th ryo of n. In February 1918 be bad to rush to Ahmed bad 1.0 1 d the textile labourc:n on trike there and the diI cd peaunrs in Khed His hope of putting 00 Inlctive work on perman t foodn t fulfilled. t voluDteen bad 0 me for temporary period" I uld not secure any m re from ou ide, and

neDl h norary work from 'bar were not .wi1abl . & lOOn

at my in Cbamparan fwished, crt outaide, which had been P in the m tim d me .way. The few months' work

deep root that irs influence in on ot.l!tVt~ even today", wrote Gandhi in his

tC) the Cbamparan

A'TaItMATH 115

all India knows. It ~ a DWS m ement wbi renWn_ed ·vi ent from tart to finish. It affected 0\.'e1' twenty lakN of

The tcDtred round one ,rpeci6c g1'i ce hi century old. Tb had been ~ violent revolts to t rid or the gri ceo They auppreaed. Tb non-violent remedy su eel in fWl in . months. The' of Champaran e politic:alJy

without an direct. em rt. The tangible p f th d th 0( no-violence to l'ettl(IVl: their grievance d~w th III to the Uotum::ss

d they \Ie a good coouat of thenuclv durin tb civil d' , obedience campaigns.·-

In Champaran. where the in . ent days did penance, G ndhl realized the .. on of his life and 11 .rged a we pon by whl India could be made free.

U. A. S. ANGALORE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.

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