The coming of the British to Saurashtra:

When India became free, there were over 200 princely States in Saurashtra alone! It would be interesting to know how the British made inroads into Saurashtra and gained supremacy over the States in Saurashtra. The following excerpts from the book ‘Saurashtra no itihas – 1807 - 1948’ (History of Saurashtra), by A.V. Jani, published by Darshak Itihas Nidhi (Darshak history fund), gives some idea of the same.

“…In the 18^th century, first the Mughals and then the Marathas, in order to collect Khndni (tribute) from Saurashtra, instead of keeping a permanent army [in the region], adopted the system of Chadai - invasion with army. This system was called Mulakgiri…

…The army of the Gaekwad came often to Saurashtra to collect Khndni (tribute/money)…

…By 1770, the Maratha rule had been established in Gujarat. As per the treaty of distribution of regions between Peshwa and Gaekwad, the work of collecting Khndni was done by their collective armies. Many a times they would invade every year…they had also increased the amount of Khndni a lot, they used to collect Khndni with force and threats…the Sates that refused to give Khndni or opposed used to be destroyed by them…

…The expense to maintain an army for such invasions was very high…the Mulakgiri army turned the regions through which it passed barren and the farmers suffered heavy losses… the sole purpose of the Maratha Mulakgiri army was to collect maximum Khndni… as a result, for the people [of Saurashtra] it was ‘pay up or invite destruction.’…

 …The British Government was aware that a large portion of the income of the Gaekwad was the Khndni collected from Saurashtra. [It so happened that] A part of the Khndni amount due to the Gaekwad remained outstanding. To collect that, help of British army was needed. Therefore they [Gaekwad] entered into a treaty with the British Government and kept three platoons of British auxiliary army and had also decided to send one platoon to Saurashtra if required…

…earlier too…in 1771, the British East India Company with the help of the Bhavnagar Maharaja had defeated the pirates of Talaja…in 1800 as per the British guarantee, collection of Peshwa’s Khndni from Ahmedabad and Saurashtra was given exclusively to the Gaekwad. In the mean time, due to the Vasai treaty, the British Government power became supreme in Gujarat. With that, the British got a foot hold in Saurashtra as Gaekwad’s friend and colleague…

…by the beginning of 19^th century, the Gaekwad and the Peshwa too did not remain very effective before the wide powers of the British… 

…Likewise many of the smaller States of Saurashtra for having suffered due to the army of the Peshwa and Gaekwad who collected Khndni and also fearful of the atrocities by the bigger States like Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Jamnagar, had requested the British company to provide protection and rescue them from such unjust - oppressive situation… 

…in 1807, it was found that getting involved in the matters of  Saurashtra was beneficial to the British and so Mumbai’s British Government gave them [British] permission to go to Saurashtra…

…Keeping in mind various scenarios, it was decided in 1807 that British resident Col. Walker along with British army and Gaekwad’s army with its commander in chief Vitthalrao would go to Saurashtra. The right to decide how much Khndni should each State of Saurashtra pay…was given to Col. Walker…  

…The Maratha army of the Gaekwad and the British army under the leadership of Col. Walker came to Saurashtra in the year 1807 and they made  continues efforts for a year to enter into a treaty regarding collection of Khndni with the royalty of Saurashtra and in the end, in the month of May 1808, they met with success…

…as per the special rules of inheritance of the Rajputs the total of Khndiya Kings was coming to153 [153 States liable to pay Khndni]…The treaty regarding the payment of Khndni with the 153 talukedars [revenue officers] is known as Walker treaty…with this treaty the total amount of Khndni [tribute to be paid every year] was Rs.9, 79,882 [there is no mention of how much of this was the share of the British]…

…Like this, with the exception of two States from all of Saurashtra, all the other states paid Khndni to the Gaekwad. These two States were Diu under the Portuguese and Jafrabad under the rule of Sidis of Janjira [Janjira is in today’s Maharashtra which has a famous fort]…

…Col. Walker lived in Saurashtra till the year 1809…He lived as British resident in Vadodara from 1802 to 1809…After him Capt. Kanark was appointed as the new resident of the British in Vadodara…After the departure of Col Walker, the administration of Saurashtra was under the Gaekwad’s commander in chief Vitthalrao Devaji. He was appointed as Saurashtra’s revenue commissioner…In Saurashtra the capital city of the Gaekwad was Amreli…

…Between 1807 to 1820, in the matters of larger States of Saurashtra like Porbander, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Jamnagar, there remained interference of the Gaekwad and the British power and the situation was such that only with the help of the collective armies of both (British and Gaekwad) it was possible [ for the larger States] to continue to retain their own power. They had to take the help of this collective army in order to drive out their enemies from their States. Therefore the British and the Gaekwad authority had become very effective in Saurashtra. It was likely that the power and the region of anyone opposing it could be snatched away…

…In 1816, the Peshwa accepted the British’s auxiliary army project and in return for the expense of that army, gave up all their rights regarding Saurashtra through Pune treaty (1817) to the British. As per the condition of the treaty, Peshwa forfeited their rights over the Gaekwad by accepting the past dues of Rs 4 lacs and handed over their [share of] Saurashtra Khndni to the British. This is how Gaekwad became an independent King by separating from the Peshwa…

...moreover Peshwa were defeated by the British in 1818…the British became the rulers of the Peshwa States…the British became more powerful and the strength and powers of Gaekwad reduced…In spite of having collected a lot of wealth through Mulakgiri, they [Gaekwad state] had become a State with debt… a situation arose where in they too [Gaekwad] had to depend on the British mercy and help. Therefore in the end, in the year 1820, the Gaekwad gave away their right to collect Khndni from Saurashtra to the British powers...

...This is how the British became all powerful in Saurashtra. Later Junagadh too gave up its right to collect Jortalbi (tribute) to the British. As remuneration for the work of collection, the State of Junagadh gave 25% of the amount collected to the British…this is how British power became supreme in Saurashtra...

...This is how in 1820, the complete powers that Gaekwad enjoyed in Saurashtra came into the hands of the British. Therefore to look after the work of Saurashtra, the British Government established British agency in Rajkot and appointed as its first political agent Capt. R. Barnvel…

(Excerpts translated by me from Gujarati)

Forgotten Stories of Indian Soldiers During World War One

I was delighted to read the news in The Hindu yesterday morning that an Indian origin film maker in Paris, Mr. Vijay Singh is making a film based on the Indian soldiers who participated in World War-1 (WW-1)

For details of the film see:  

http://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/forgotten-stories-of-indian-soldiers-during-world-war-i/article6192545.ece?homepage=true

Regular followers of my blog may recall that I had made an entry titled ‘Mahatma Gandhi in Defense of Violence’, in which I have noted excerpts from Mahadevbhai Desai’s diary regarding Gandhiji’s appeal to the people of Kheda, Gujarat in particular to join the army for  WW -1. The details in Mahadevbhai’s diary show that Gandhiji had not received much response to his appeal. The diary also notes that many followers of Gandhiji were not in agreement with his call for army recruitment. However further information is not available in the same diary (volume-4) as to what was the final outcome, what happened to the people (though few in number) who responded to Gandhiji’s call and enrolled in the military to fight in the WW-1, etc.  In fact, this issue has not been covered much in the fifteen volumes of Mahadevbhai’s diaries that I have already read so far.

Mahadevbhai’s diary (volume-4) also notes the following:

(Gandhiji) “…The Government needs five lakh people for the army. Government will get such kind of people anyhow. If we give this many people, we will get credit…it is heard that many times recruiting agents are taking people, that also can be avoided. It is not any less powerful if we get the entire work of recruitment…”

On reading this, one was naturally eager to know about the response to the British agents drive for military recruitment. I was also keen to know how the Indian soldiers fought in foreign lands, their fate, the fate of the soldiers who survived, something about the families of the large number of soldiers who died, etc, etc. However, I was surprised to see that not much information is available about the Indian soldiers and their contribution/role in WW-1 in either the diary or some of the other important History books that I referred to as follows:

  

         1.  The Discovery of India, by Jawaharlal Nehru.

         2.  Glimpses of World History, by Jawaharlal Nehru. 

         3.  India’s struggle for Independence, by Bipan Chandra.

It is all the more surprising because all these books otherwise cover most of the small and big events of India including other aspects of WW-1. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that important information regarding the large number of Indian troops who fought in WW-1, or that Gandhiji himself appealed to the people to join the army for WW-1, the political intention behind the same, and related details are almost absent in some of the popular books of Indian History that I referred to.  

Even in the book “Rashtra no swatantrata sangram ane Gujarat (India’s struggle for freedom and Gujarat),” by Dr. Shantilal M.Desai, published by University Granth Nirman Board, Gujarat State; the reference to Gandhiji’s call for military recruitment in  Gujarat is limited as follows:

“ … Gandhiji went from Mumbai to Delhi and there in the convention concerning recruitment for the Great War he supported the resolution passed to extend support to the Government in the work of military recruitment…Therefore on returning from Delhi he made the Gujarat Sabha pass a resolution to support the work of military recruitment…It is noteworthy that during such big, small and diverse satyagrahas, Gandhiji and his colleagues continued to cooperate and support Government's war efforts fully.  ”

I therefore do feel that History has not given the importance that the Indian soldiers in WW -1 deserve, the political implication of joining the war efforts on India's struggle for freedom, etc. I somewhat agree with the film maker Mr. Singh when he says, “Everybody remembers India’s freedom struggle, but very few …would remember the contribution made by Indian soldiers during the World War I, about the role played by Indian soldiers during the World War I.” 

I therefore look forward to the film by Mr. Singh which will throw some light on this crucial part of Indian History of which very less is known.

Struggles of people of Gujarat against the British before and during 1857 revolt

It would be interesting to read the following excerpts from the book Rashtrano Swatantrata Sangram ane Gujarat (National Struggle for Independence and Gujarat) by Dr Shantilal M Desai, published by University Granth Nirman Board, Gujarat State regarding the early struggles within Gujarat against the British.  

“...The English rule was established fully in India with the end of the Peshwa rule in the year 1818…In Surat, the English had established its office and had started trade in the year 1612…In 1844 the Government of Mumbai increased the tax on salt from half a rupee to one rupee. The people of Surat disapproved of such a big raise at a time. The people opposed the increase in tax in a very strong but peaceful manner. Through public meetings and rallies there were demonstrations against the raise. For three days continuously, markets were shut from 29 to 31^st August. Approximately 30,000 people participated in this [protests]. The protests were totally peaceful…This whole matter reached the Governor. Looking at the mood of the people and as per the opinion of those in power, the salt tax was reduced to half and this is how the English first came across the mood and the strength of the people of Hind to protest peacefully. This very strength of the people to protest peacefully became a huge and unparalleled means of Satyagraha in the coming forty years.

“The second incident that conveyed the strength of peaceful protest came within the next four years itself. In 1848, the Government introduced Bengali weights in Gujarat and with that once again the people of Surat opposed it with rallies, public meetings and closures. Once again the Government gave in and the peaceful protests of the people proved victorious.”

The 1857 revolt and Gujarat

“Gujarat felt the echo and sparks of the huge revolt in North India. Its impact was felt mainly in the North and East Gujarat. Nandod, Dahod, Godhra, Reva bank (Narmada bank), Mahi bank and Lunavada joined the revolt. Few attempts for the success of the revolt were also undertaken in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Bharuch and prayers were undertaken for its success also. Sepoys [soldiers] in Ahmedabad also made an attempt at revolt. Experiments in guerrilla warfare were undertaken in North Gujarat, Panchmahal and Charotar.  On 6^th of July the Thanedar (head of a police station) of Dahod, Captain Buckle was attacked. In this the Mamlatdar, Muslims, Zamindars and about five hundred people joined hands. The revolt lasted for six days. Godhra too burnt… But in some time, those revolting stepped back. Fifteen revolutionaries were arrested, of which four were killed through canons, nine were imprisoned and one was sentenced to Kalapani.

“It was the sepoys [Soldiers] of Ahmedabad who raised their head first. On ninth July, seven soldiers of the mounted regiment attempted to take over the ammunition store. But as the other soldiers did not cooperate, they did not succeed and had to flee. The English chased them, fired at them and all seven were hanged. A similar attempt was made by the gunners of the ammunition depot. Those who went to take the custody of the canons became nervous and as a result that team was also caught. Out of them five were blown away by canons, three were shot dead by guns and thirteen were hanged. In this way in Gujarat too the soldiers also contributed in whatever small way they could. 

“Rajpipla kept up the pride. Saiyad Muradali, the Mamlatdar [revenue officer] of Nandod, Sindhi Jamadar [Head constable], about four hundred soldiers, and sepoys of Bharuch assembled there. They roared ‘Chalo Delhi’ [March to Delhi] and there was a feeling that the English rule has come to an end…

“In the matter of the royal throne of Lunavada, the heirs had an animosity with the English. The words of the heir Surajmal carried weight in the area. On receiving the false news that he was in hiding in the village of Pala belonging to charans [a community], the English burnt down the whole village! In North Gujarat, Disa, Samdi, Palanpur and Sirohi too did not stay behind during the revolt…In central Gujarat, Charotar showed its strength. The chief of village Anand, Garbaddas was incensed at the news of the destruction of the Charan village Pala by the English. With the cooperation of the heads of villages nearby and other people, he started the village security army. The reason for doing this was because the English were destroying the standing crop of the farmers, robbing villages and terrorizing everyone. The soldiers of the village security army of Garbaddas attacked the white soldiers when they were asleep. They released the cows kept for the food of the whites, cut the tails of their horses, and the whites had to flee. This caused widespread alarm in Kheda district…

“…while the 1957 revolt across the country had nearly ended, its echo continued in Gujarat till 1958. Bhils [tribal people/indigenous tribe], continued to revolt. Rupa Nayak and Keval Nayak of Panchmahal attacked Narukot…Tatya Tope had also come to Gujarat at that time…due to treachery Tatya Tope was captured and with this in 1859, Rupa and Keval Nayak had to surrender to the English.”

[Translated from Gujarati by Me]

Note: The second part that would dwell further on 1857 revolt and Gujarat will be put up next week on the blog.