Question

What were the circumstances which led to the eventual collapse of indigo production in Bengal?

Answer 1

The ryots in Bengal got fed up with the coercive methods the planters used with them and finally refused to grow indigo. They became violent. They not only refused to pay rents to the planters, but also attacked indigo factories armed with swords and spears, bows and arrows.

Meanwhile the local zamindars and village headmen also began to favor the indigo ryots. They mobilized the indigo peasants and fought pitched battles with the lathiyals, the lathi-wielding strongmen maintained by the planters. In other places even the zamindars went around villages urging the ryots to resist the planters. Worried by the rebellion. the government brought in the military to protect the planters from assault. and set up the Indigo commission to inquire into the system of indigo production.

The commission held the planters guilty and criticized them for the coercive method they used with indigo cultivators. It declared that indigo production was not profitable for ryots. The commission asked the ryots to fulfill their existing contracts but also told them that they could refuse to produce indigo in future. After this revolt, indigo production collapsed in Bengal.