The British understood that India’s countryside could serve dual purposes: yield revenue and grow crops Europe needed. By the late eighteenth century, they used various methods to promote and expand cultivation of indigo, jute, tea, sugarcane, wheat, cotton, and rice in diverse Indian regions.

Does Colour have a History?

Origin of Indigo: This blue dye was derived from the indigo plant. 

• Largest Exporter: 19th-century Britain used the dye manufactured from Indian indigo plants, as India was the world’s largest indigo supplier then.

• Comparison: Paintings from India and Britain show a cotton print from the nineteenth-century. Both utilize the vibrant blue indigo colour.

Reasons for the Demand for Indian Indigo

Historical Usage: By the thirteenth century, manufacturers in Italy, France, and Britain used Indian indigo for dyeing. 

• Expensive: Limited quantities reached Europe, making it expensive.
• Woad vs. Indigo: Due to indigo’s scarcity and higher cost, European manufacturers initially used another plant called woad. 
  • More Utility: Indigo, however, was preferred for its richer hue, leading to its higher demand by the seventeenth century.
• Global Cultivation of Indigo: With relaxed indigo import bans, countries like France, Portugal, England, and Spain began cultivating indigo in their respective colonies.
• St Domingue Crisis: In the eighteenth century, French planters produced indigo and sugar in St. Domingue in the Caribbean.
• Rebolt: The African slaves working there rebelled in 1791, devastating plantations and killing planters. 
• Abolition of Slavery: By 1792, France abolished slavery in its colonies, resulting in the collapse of the Caribbean indigo plantations.

Reasons of Britain Turns to India

Increased Demand and Limited Supply: As existing indigo sources from the West Indies and America dwindled, the fast industrializing Britain saw a surge in cotton production, consequently increasing indigo demand.

• India as the Solution: To meet rising European demand, the British East India Company expanded indigo cultivation in India. 
  • By 1810, 95% of Britain’s imported indigo was sourced from India.

Profitable Indigo Production in India

Stakeholders: Company officials and commercial agents invested in indigo production. 

• Huge Demand: Many even left their jobs to focus on indigo business.
• New Businesses: The prospect of profits drew numerous Scotsmen and Englishmen to India as planters. 
• Credit Availability: They could also avail loans for indigo production from emerging banks and the Company.

How was Indigo cultivated?

Nij System: In this system, planters directly managed the land, either purchased or rented.

• Challenges:
  • Land Issues: Difficulties in expanding due to land constraints.
  • Clashes: Mobilising labour clashed with rice cultivation periods.
  • Investment Hurdle: Large-scale Nij cultivation required significant investment in ploughs and bullocks.
  • Ryoti System: Ryots, under contractual agreements, received cash advances to cultivate indigo.
  • Contractual Obligations: They were obligated to dedicate 25% of their land to indigo cultivation.
• Challenges:
  • Vicious Cycle: The debt cycle was perpetual, with low returns on indigo.

• • Land Availability: Fertile lands, ideal for rice, were often dedicated to indigo.
  • Unsustainable Cultivation: Indigo’s exhaustive nature left the soil unfit for subsequent rice cultivation.

Production Process

Setting and Process:

• Location: The villages cultivating indigo were typically situated near the indigo factories owned by planters.
• Harvest to Factory: Post-harvest, the indigo plant was transported to the vats present in the indigo factory. 
• The manufacturing process required three or four vats, each with a distinctive purpose .
• Step-by-Step Process:
  • Fermenting or Steeper Vat:
  • Process: Here, leaves from the indigo plant were soaked in warm water.
  • After several hours, as fermentation set in, the liquid started to boil and produce bubbles. Following this, the decomposed leaves were removed.
  • The resulting liquid was then drained into a vat positioned beneath the first one.

• Beater Vat:
  • In this vat, the liquid solution was consistently stirred and agitated with paddles.
  • The colour transformation was from green to blue during this stage.
  • Lime water was subsequently added to the mixture.
  • As a result, indigo separated in flake form. The clear liquid stayed on top while a muddy sediment (indigo pulp) settled at the vat bottom.
• Settling Vat:
  • The clear liquid was syphoned off.
  • The sediment, which is the indigo pulp, was moved to this vat.
  • Afterwards, it was pressed and dried, prepping it for sale. 

The “Blue Rebellion” and Its Aftermath

• Start: In March 1859, ryots in Bengal rebelled against growing indigo.
• Nature of Protest: Ryots refusing to pay rent to planters.
• Attacks on indigo factories with traditional weapons.
• Women participating with household utensils.
• Social boycott of those who supported planters.
• Resistance against the gomasthas and lathiyals.

Reasons for the Rebellion

Oppression: The system of indigo cultivation was extremely oppressive.

• Local Support: Zamindars disliked the growing influence of the planters and their forceful acquisition of land on long leases. 
  • So, many local zamindars and village headmen supported the ryots.
• Perceived Government Support: Post the 1857 revolt, the British government feared another uprising. 
  • The Lieutenant Governor’s tour and the magistrate’s notice in Barasat were misconstrued as signs of government sympathy.
• Intellectual Intervention: Intellectuals from Calcutta highlighted the plight of ryots and condemned the tyrannical indigo system.

Government Response

• Military Involvement: The military was deployed to safeguard planters.
• Indigo Commission: Established to investigate the indigo system.
• Found planters guilty of using coercion.
• Acknowledged the unprofitability of indigo cultivation for ryots.
• Advised ryots they could refuse indigo cultivation in the future.

Aftermath

• Immediate Impact: Indigo production in Bengal plummeted post-rebellion.
• Shift in Production: Planters moved their operations to Bihar.
• Synthetic Dyes: The discovery of synthetic dyes in the late 19th century impacted the indigo business.
• Champaran Movement: Mahatma Gandhi’s 1917 visit to Champaran initiated a movement against the indigo planters in Bihar.

Conclusion

Europe’s demand for indigo fueled British East India Company exploitation in India. While cultivation methods like Nij and Ryotwari systems yielded profits, they burdened farmers. The Indigo Rebellion exposed these issues, leading to reforms. However, synthetic dyes and Gandhi’s Champaran Movement ultimately sealed indigo’s fate.

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