‘Fractured’ Peasantry in Colonial Bihar in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: Reflections and Responses

Abstract

This article is an attempt at scrutinising the rural and agrarian structure through a caste framework in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Bihar, a period when Bihar was undergoing economic, environmental, social and political changes owing to colonial intervention. This article will highlight these everyday negotiations, forgotten struggles and exclusions that were carried on against the background of the importation of western science and technology, changing laws and encroachment on common lands. An intrinsic mechanism was used during the changing times to keep the hierarchical structure alive. Nevertheless, it led to springing up of various kisan sabhas, which aimed at voicing the opinions of the marginalised peasantry. New set of sources will capture different shades of peasant identities and a vast multitude of peasant politics that range from reformist to radical. When the oppression became unbearable, the peasants took agency and strived for collective action, mostly violent in nature. This work will bring to the fore case studies of rural ferment towards this order by low-caste and class peasants. This article will also elaborate on the reasons behind the survival of feudal relations of power juxtaposed over ‘modern’ structures.