Patharighat Uprising, 1894

No doubt the British appeared in Assam in the guise of saviours of the people suffering from a situation of chaos, lawlessness and oppression created by the Moamaria Uprisings and the Burmese invasions. But gradually people found from their experience that their main interest was extortion of revenue even to the detriment of the welfare of their subjects. Even Robertson in 1832 acknowledged the evil effects of the British revenue policies on the ryots. He found that its inhabitants emigrating, its villages decaying and its revenue annually declining. “The Court of Directors also accepted that “a deadful extortion had beggared the ryots and renderd a large portion of Assam waste.

The revenue policies of the British Government in India, both annual and periodical settlements, are not based upon any sound statistical data. The tax on never corresponded to any improvement in the economic condition of the people. The British kept on enhancing them very ten years. Above all, they were unmindful of the gravity of poverty and sometimes even starvation on the part of the people. The economic condition of the peasantry was worsened by the increase of moneylenders who ruined them to some extent. So. people belonging to different strata in society rose against such exploitations. It is quit clear from the large participation of Dolois and Gosains in the Raijmels, the mouthpiece of peasant revolts in Assam. Between 1861 and 1894 people expressed their uneasiness at the taxation and revenue policies of the British through the Jayantia Rebellion of 1860-62, Phulaguri Uprising of 1861. Patharughat Uprising of 1868, Rangia, Lachima and Sarukhetri Uprising of 1893-94 and finally the Patharughat Uprising of 1894. Even in the Phulaguri Uprising of 1861 the British lost the life of Lt.Singer.

The British had never learnt any lesson from the happenings of 1861-68. They increased the rate of revenue in each periodical reassessment. As per the reassessment of William Ward, the Chief Commissioner of Assam, the rate of revenue was increased from 70 to 100 percent in the Brahmaputra Valley. In 1892-93, the total revenue collected in the valley was Rs.32,64,605. In 1893-94, it rose to Rs. 43.50.170. The total increase was Rs. 10,85,565. In 1892-93, the collection of revenue in the district of Darrang was Rs. 4,96,682. In 1893-94, it rose to Rs. 6,48,820. The increase was Rs. 1,52,138. On the otherhand, total increase of surveyed lands were just 1,466 acres.

Rate of Increase in Patharughat Circle in 1893

There were cases of resignations of estates in the Assam Valley demets during 1884-90 and 1890-91 In 1892-93. the area relinquished in the Brahmaputrs Valley was 27.21 percent against 2381 in the previous year. In 1893-94, the percentage had fallen to 17:13. However, it donot indicate the lowering donan of the revenue demand of the government. The government took every precautions for the collection of the arrears remained throughout the Brahmaputra Valley On the 1 April 1891, total demand of revenue of the government in the district of Darrang was Rs. 4,85,673 of which Rs. 4,85,493 was realised. Total balance was Rs. 180. In 1892-93, the amount of arrears rosed upto Rs. 43.648.

In Darrang, though there was a decrease, on the whole, there was an increase in the number of notices of demand in the Mangaldai sub-division. Tehsildars had experienced difficulties in connection with the collection of revenue at enhanced rates. In some cases the aid of Millitry Police resrted to. However, the tehsildars of Kalaigaon did not find it necessary to issue any notices of demand. In 1892-93, seven estates were sold in Mangaldai Sub-division for arrears as against one during 1891-92.6

The people of Darrang had learned the lesson from Kamrup. They took the law into their own hands. They determined not to yield to the will of the government and convened mels to resist the government demand. The mels launched upon a no tax campaign and the ryors were threatened with fine and excommunication in the event of their paying revenue to the government. Further they were warned with dire consequences against accepting auctioned property of their fellow villagers. The Raijmels were held in Patharughat, Sipajhar and Kalaigaon of Darrang for days together. The Raijmels held at Patharughat announced their decision to Rai Bahadur Bhabani Charan Bhattacharjee, the tehsildar of Pathrughat, that they would not pay revenue at the enhanced rate. Another mel was held in September-October 1893 at the initiative of Bhabani Charan Bhattacharjee and Didaruddin Azad Bora. Assistant Tehsilder of Patharughat. Mr. Ramson, Sub-Divisional Officer, Mangaldai was said to have attended the mel. In reply to the demands of the ryors, Ramson stated that he had no power to lower the revenue and assured them that he would inform the matter to J.D.Anderson, the Deputy Commissioner of Darrang. In the same mel, the next date for a mel was fixed at 28th January 1894. However, the mels were being held frequently in different part of the Patharughat tehsil. The peasants decided in their mels that they would meet the Deputy Commissioner and voice their grievances before him and appeal to him to stop collection of revenue. In contradition to official reports, all newspapers of the period upholh the point that the peasants at Patharughat had assembled to appeal the Government and not to rior and that initially they were all unarmed. The village headmen issued notices inviting ryots to attend the mel at Patharughat on 12th, 13th and 14th Magh or an Assamese month(i.c.26th,27th and 28th January 1894), as the Deputy Commissioner was coming and might be induced to lower the rates.” Apprehending further troubles, J.D.Anderson, Deputy Commissioner of Darrang and J.R.Berrington, Superintendent of Police, Darrang arrived at Patharughat on 27th January 1894. They were accompanied by a party of armed civil police consisting of 12 sepoys of Balipara guard and two head constables, Armed civil police. On the morning of the 28th January, the Deputy Commissioner deputed Berrington and his police force in the company of the tehsildar to attached property of ryots to which notices to pay had been issued. They succeeded in attaching the property of a man. But soon a large crowd of about 200 gathered who refused to disperse and interrupted them. Berrington and his party somehow managed to escape by firing his revolver into the ground. Four men were arrested. It is said that two men were inciting the crowd and two of them did not give satisfactory answers as to their residence. 8 About 1 p.m. on the 28th January, about 800 to 1000 ryots approached, by shouting Allah-hu-Akbar and Haribol, the rest house where Anderson was encamping. The ryots came up the road quietly enough and filled the whole of the space between the river Barnadi (Digoj) and the belt of the trees surrounding the rest house. The Deputy Commissioner met them and addressed them that they should not hold any more mels and that if any such mels were held, they would be dispersed by force. He also informed them of the orders of the Government of India as to the rates of revenue and assured them that any abatment sanctioned later would be made good for them. But the ryots remained firm, unwilling to move unless their demands were met. Thereupon, Berrington forcibly drove them to an openfield in front of the bunglow. Here a crowd of at least 2,000 was assembled. This time they came armed with bamboos, clods of earth. and anything else that they could lay their hands on. The ryots began to advance in extended order. On arrival of the sepoys, the excited ryots started throwing sticks, bamboos and clods of earth on the party under Berrington. Both Berrington and the Deputy Commissioner were also hit. Thus, the small police party was hemmed in from all sides. According to official records, the crowd was too large and strong to disperse and rioters by this time surrounded the sepoys. So, Berrington and his men under order of the Deputy Commissioner fired continuously at the crowd.

A semi contemporary Assamese metrical work Doli Puran, composed in the Purana style by a village poet namely Narottam Das provides a graphic description of the uprising at Patharughat. The incident of Patharughat is still remembered as the Doli-ran or battle fought with clods of earth by the people against the armed might of the rulers. There is a lot of controversy regarding the casualities in the firing at Patharughat. According to official report, the number of dead was fifteen and wounded were thirty seven; but the number of both was much higher according to eyewitness accounts. Berrington who served the order to fire at the crowd reported that it was impossible to ascertain the exact number of dead from a distance of 250 yards.” The Doli Puran, on the other hand stated that total number of dead was 140 and nearly 150 were seriously wounded. That the number of wounded was more than that officially reported is evident from the fact that special constables were asked to persuade the ryots to take their comrades to the Mangaldai dispensary. According to official reports, the ryots later hid their wounded for fear of being indentified by the government as having taken part in the uprising. Regarding the leadership of the uprising at Patharughat, the official sources stated they were predominately Muslims. The British officials on the spot determined it on the basis of the long beards of the leaders. No doubt, the area where the incident had taken place mostly inhabited by the Muslim people. But the mels were attended by various castes of the nearby villagers along with the Muslims. The incomplete list of martyrs given in the Patharughat Ran written by Dineswar Sarma indicated that both Hindus and Muhammadan people fought against the injustice of the British to the people of Darrang in the name enhancement of revenue.

No doubt, the government of British had letting loose a reign of terror in the name of dominating the ryots and punishing those who had been involved in the riots. In he issue of 24th February 1894, Bangavasi reported. “…… Great oppressions are being still committed on the raiyats. They are being sent to jail in numbers on the charge of having been implicated in the riots. Respectable people are being entisted as special constables and employed in collecting rents. The people do not any longer dare refuse rent…….” According to the Patharughatar Ran of Dineswar Sarma, the wounded ryots after their return from hospital were jailed for two to three months and a fine of Rs. 60/Rs. 70 was imposed on them. The official reports themselves said that principal leaders of the mels were appointed special constables and thus made to work against the mels. These special constables were also used in the collection of revenue. The Deputy Commissioner himself procceded to the Sipajhar tahsils and collected an amount of Rs. 2.354 in two days. Thus the peasant uprising of Patharughat was suppressed by the superio arms of the British. It marked the last large-scale organisation of the Raijmels and brought an end to the important role played by the mels. The Indian Nation in its issue of 21st April, 1894, described the grievances of the people as ‘real and not sentimental”. The paper commented that “people complain not of loss of rights and privileges, not of lowering of status, but of a material wrong in the sharp of enhancement of revenue”. The protests of the people had their echo in the Imperial Legislature. On March 1894, Rash Behari Ghosh questioned the new assessment, the repressive policy adopted by the local authorities and the appointment of respectable persons as special constables for the purpose of collecting taxes and attaching defaulters’ properties, the replies given by the government were vague and unsatisfactory. However, the government of India was forced to reduced the rates at first to 53 percent and later to 32.7 percent.