A peasant uprising in South Kanara (1830-31)

Abstract

An attempt is made to analyse one of the significant peasant uprisings that broke out in South Kanara District during 1830-31. These peasant disturbances are referred to as "Roots" in the administrative records of the British East India Company. The vital factor involved in these peasant uprisings was that of land revenue, which was a matter of conflict between the peasants and the Company Government. The peasants of South Kanara resisted the high land revenue assessment and exaction along with other grievances like salt and tobacco monopoly, introduction of law courts and stamps, customs and so on. The burden of taxes was particularly felt by the peasants due to the state of economic depression and the absence of lucrative market for agricultural products. In this sense these peasant movements may be considered as "tax rebellions", a phrase which Eric Stokes makes use of to define the nature of the peasant violence of 1857 in India. Though the peasants of the region fought against the oppressive system of taxation followed by the Company Government, they were not fighting against the British on political grounds. Political consciousness of the peasants had to be shaped from above, it came gradually among the Indian peasants under the impact of the nationalist movement; the intelligentsia acted as catalysts in bringing radical ideas among them.