Peasant Movements: The Jagirdari System and Its Resistance

Structural Root: The Jagirdari System

The jagirdari system was the engine of agrarian unrest across 19th–20th century Rajasthan. Jagirdars held land grants from ruling princes in exchange for military service. They collected revenue directly from peasants with no legal oversight or limit. Common forms of extraction included:

• Lagaan: Land rent, arbitrarily revised upward without notice
• Begar: Unpaid forced labour — peasants compelled to provide free labour to jagirdars and their guests, including carrying loads, tending horses, and construction
• Rekh: Fixed annual tribute beyond regular rent
• Lags-baags: Miscellaneous cesses levied on life events — births, marriages, deaths, religious festivals
• Chamara and similar special levies: at Bijolia alone, 84 separate illegal cesses were documented

Peasants had no security of tenure, no recourse to courts against jagirdars, and no legal protection under princely state law — which uniformly protected the feudal order.

Bijolia Peasant Movement (1897–1941)

The Bijolia Movement in Mewar's Bijolia jagir (present Bhilwara district) was India's longest-running peasant agitation, spanning 44 years across three distinct phases.

Phase 1 (1897–1915): Passive Resistance

Led by Sadhu Sitaram Das. Peasants of the Dhameria caste community refused to pay a new cess imposed on the occasion of the jagirdar's daughter's marriage. The protest remained localised and non-violent.

Phase 2 (1916–1923): Organised Agitation

Vijay Singh Pathik (real name Bhoop Singh) arrived at Bijolia in 1916, sent through the network of Bal Gangadhar Tilak's associates. He brought organisation, documentation, and national networking. Key contributions of Pathik:

• Documented all 84 illegal cesses in writing — the first written record of jagirdari exploitation in Rajputana
• Organised the Uppramal Panchayat Board as a coordinating body for the peasant community
• Publicised the agitation nationally through "Pratap" newspaper (Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi's Kanpur paper)
• Corresponded with Gandhi, Tilak, and later Nehru, linking Rajputana's agrarian struggle with the national movement

A partial settlement was reached in 1923 when Mewar state agreed to reduce some cesses and acknowledge peasant grievances.

Phase 3 (1927–1941): Renewed Agitation under Manikya Lal Verma

When Mewar failed to implement the 1923 agreement, Manikya Lal Verma revived the movement under Congress aegis. The agitation was finally settled in 1941 when most of the 84 cesses were abolished — 44 years after the movement began.

Significance of Bijolia: First organised peasant movement in Rajasthan; first written documentation of feudal exploitation in Rajputana; connected agrarian grievances with the national freedom struggle; produced future political leader Manikya Lal Verma (later Chief Minister of Rajasthan, 1954–56).

Begun Peasant Movement (1921–1923) — CRITICAL FACTUAL NOTE

The Begun Movement operated in the Begun jagir of Chittorgarh district (Mewar). It was led by Ramnarayan Chaudhary — a Congress activist later associated with peasant organising across Rajasthan. This movement must not be confused with Bijolia: Vijay Singh Pathik led Bijolia, Ramnarayan Chaudhary led Begun.

Peasants at Begun refused to pay illegal cesses and perform begar from 1921. The critical event was the Gomenda firing on 13 July 1923: when peasants gathered at Gomenda village in defiance of the jagirdar's prohibition, the jagirdar's men fired on the assembly. Two peasants — Roopaji and Kripaji — were killed. This became Rajasthan's equivalent of the Jallianwala Bagh in agrarian movement memory.

The state inquiry commission (1923) blamed the peasants for "unlawful assembly" — a finding widely denounced by Congress leaders including those attending the All India Congress Committee. The movement eventually led to partial redress but demonstrated both the violence of jagirdari oppression and the structural bias of princely state justice.

Shekhawati Peasant Movement (1930s)

The Shekhawati Movement in Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts targeted the thikana system — a layer of sub-jagirdars within Jaipur state called thikanedars who were functionally autonomous landholders imposing heavy levies on the dominant Jat peasant community.

Key figures and events:

• Ram Narain Chaudhary and Haridev Joshi: principal organisers
• Sardar Harlochal Singh: supporter from the Jat community leadership
• Sikar Peasant Conference (1934): drew 50,000+ farmers; demanded abolition of begar and reduction of all illegal cesses
• Nehru's visit to Shekhawati in 1936–37 gave the movement national visibility
• In 1938, Jaipur state banned certain cesses following sustained agitation, marking a partial victory

The Shekhawati movement is significant for involving the Jat community — which formed the backbone of Rajasthan's agricultural economy — and for its urban-rural links through the Shekhawati business community (many Marwari traders supported the movement's moderate demands).

Bundi, Alwar, and Mewar — Other Centres of Unrest

Beyond the three major movements, jagirdari unrest spread across multiple princely states:

• Bundi: Peasant unrest in the 1920s–30s, partly connected to Congress organising
• Alwar: Meo Muslim peasant unrest and the Mewat movement in the 1930s, with communal dimensions
• Mewar broadly: Beyond Bijolia and Begun, agrarian tension was endemic across Mewar's jagiri areas throughout the 1920s–1940s

The Chandawal Incident of 1942 — directly asked in RPSC Mains 2024 — was part of the broader Rajasthan peasant resistance linked to the Quit India Movement. At Chandawal in Pali district, peasants resisting jagirdari oppression during the Quit India agitation period were confronted by state forces; the incident is documented as a flashpoint connecting peasant unrest with the national independence movement.

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