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In order to advance
the class struggle for the seizure of power delving into one’s history helps
provide insights for the future. "Making History" by Saki is just such a
pioneering work in the country, as undertaken for the people of Karnataka. It is
an example that other nationalities in the country can also emulate. For, it
traces the roots of the enemies and friends of revolution, their nemesis,
history and traditions. As the Communist Manifesto put it "…….history of all
hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle". The present
class-struggle is a continuation of the past; no doubt at a higher and more
conscious plane.
Knowing ones history,
and utilizing it to arouse the masses helps advance the class struggle. The
reactionaries do it on a gigantic scale where reactionaries are glorified and
progressives are either condemned or ignored or distorted. The BJP and its Human
Resources Minister had been doing just this on a very big scale. So did the
British do this on as bigger scale. In the present context it is the BJP that
has been re-writing all history books, and glorifying traitors as the likes of
Veer Savarkar. It is only Marxists who can bring forward the genuine history and
expose these distorters and play up on the real heroes of the past. It is
precisely this that these two volumes achieve.
Volume I had traced
the history from pre-historic times in the region that is now Karnataka, ending
with the heroic battles of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan against the British
Colonialists. With the martyrdom of Tipu Sultan in 1799— slain in the
battlefield, while fighting the British colonialists — Volume I ended.
Appropriately this
book begins with a dedication to Com. Rajeshwari, who died a martyr continuing
that same battle — now against neo-colonialism. Raji, as she was fondly known,
worked tirelessly for the first volume. She was shot dead on March 20, 2001 by
the AP police. As the author says: "She wanted to see the future. She chose
to visit the villages of Andhra Pradesh where new democratic people’s power was
being forged. She wanted to study it, record it, and broadcast its prowess among
the masses of Karnataka. ….. On March 20, she sat beneath a tree. She was
pouring over her diaries. Shots rang out. She hid in a thicket. But they got
their filthy hands on her. Then it was short work".
This second Volume
starts with the crowning of the child king Krishna Raja Wodeyar III by the
British, immediately after the death of Tipu Sultan. This book records both the
treachery of the feudal rulers of Karnataka and their servility to the British,
as also the heroic uprisings of the peasantry against both the feudal lords and
the British — for the brief period from 1800 to 1857.
In Part I of the
book, entitled "Colonial Shock", it shows that well before the defeat of
Tipu Sultan, the British had already struck up many an alliance with ousted
feudatories. So, from 1770 itself, the heir of the Wodeyar dynasty struck secret
deals with the British to regain their kingdom. Lakshmi Ammani, the widow of
Krishna Raja Wodeyar II, promised fortunes to the British in return for the
Mysore kingdom. She wrote in 1791 "If however, it should happen by God’s
grace that we should be alive and the English conquer Tipu and restore to us our
kingdom, we shall pay the expenses of the English army to the extent of one
crore Pagodas".
Throughout the rule
of Krishna Raja Wodeyar III the Mysore kingdom fell deeper and deeper into the
clutches of the British due to the puppet king. Not only did the Wodeyar III
king pay handsome tributes to the British, but also supplied them with large
number of troops to suppress the peoples’ revolts, as that led by Rani Chennamma
in 1824. Even in 1857, when the revolt spread to all corners of the country,
this king faithfully served the British. As the book says "In a matter of
days, two different men — Tipu Sultan and K.R.Wodeyar III — whose mutual
dispositions could only be described as diametrically opposed; an opposition
which did not yield to the other even a hair’s width, making them absolute
historic opposites. One was a tiger that shook with patriotic anger and roared
and challenged the colonial order. The other was a meek mouse that quivered and
squeaked, clinging to the coat-tails of the colonialists".
The book then goes on
to outline exactly how the British collaborated with the feudal elements in
their rule in the Karnataka region. It says: "These feudal representatives
were cultivated over a long period before they ultimately signed up and
submitted, in exchange for privileges from the British. The palegara warlords
ousted by Haidar and Tipu and who had made good their escape, took refuge under
the British. They stretched out their arms to embrace colonialism, which was the
last force capable of keeping them alive as a class. In turn, these feudal
warlords were of great importance and politically expedient as props for the
British…. …. Thus with regard to Old Mysore there were two forms by which
colonialism integrated with feudalism. On the one hand in the heart of Mysore
territory, where the scourge of palegaras was eliminated, the few survivals were
pensioned off and made Patels of their former villages. On the other hand, in
the territory bordering Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where the palegaras were
relatively stronger, the campaign against them by Tipu Sultan being of
relatively late origin, they emerged as zamindars who not only paid, but also
collected taxes from the peasantry." The book then gives village wise
details of this arrangement.
Next the book traces
the "Social premises for the birth of a comprador class". It says "On
being pensioned off or ‘settled’ these feudal forces or their progeny who had
directly received sannads from the British branched off either into the
bureaucracy or into colonial trade, often the first form of trade being
money-lending. This differentiation in the community of landlords, achieved over
several years of British administration and trade, produced the first set of
comprador merchants and bureaucrats. To this source of the emerging compradors
the puppet kings must be included". The book shows that the bulk of the
trader-compradors were marwaris who had ousted the local traders, while the bulk
of the bureaucrat-compradors were kannadiga Brahmans who dominated the bulk of
the top posts. The other source of compradors was from the British Indian army,
as those from Kodagu.
The book goes on to
then describe the emergence of the new colonial state in India and its
horrifying impact on the lives of the masses. The disbanding of Tipu’s huge army
of 1.4 lakh regulars and 1.8 lakh militiamen, created overnight a vast army of
the unemployed. A large number were Muslims, and till today one sees them living
in squalour and deep poverty as the dregs of society. Agriculture too was
paralysed: land was taxed instead of the yield; ryotwari was introduced;
crumbling feudalism was propped up; tanks and canals ruined; money-lending at
usurious rate grew and the original "takavi" system collapsed; — and thereby the
entire rural masses were pushed in to acute poverty, while the ruling elite and
British made fortunes. The rising home market in Karnataka was thereby crushed.
The seeds of capitalism that were growing with in the womb of feudalism during
the times of Haidar and Tipu were snuffed out.
Interestingly during
this new period of ‘modern’ British rule all forms of religious bigotry was
encouraged of both Muslims and Hindus; caste oppression was intensified;
patriarchal exploitation was enhanced, and liquor was made freely available.
The boon to the
people: famine, cholera and plague spread like wild-fire. Yet plunder continued
unabated. And then came the reaction, covered in PART II of the book: THE
GLORIOUS ARMED STRUGLES AGAINST COLONIALISM (1800-1857).
The resistance to
colonial rule was intense. After the death of Tipu armed struggles continued to
break out against the exploiters. Making History says: "Starting their
struggle in 1799 just a few days after the government of Tipu was destroyed,
insurrections continued till 1857 and culminated as part of the all-India
torrent to dislodge the aggressors. Our brief record demonstrates the outbreak
of armed struggles in 1799-1802 when there were several; in 1806, 1810-11, 1819,
1820, two in 1824, 1829-30, 1830, 1837, 1840, 1841, 1849 1852 and a few in
1857-58. The struggles were quite spread out and in the space of every few years
there was a serious conflagration. The struggles were essentially of three
types: The first were by the former members of Tipu’s army. The second type was
that led by the feudal lords. These former palegaras were successful in
mobilizing their armed retainers who had served them and constituted the
soldiers of the feudal army. The third form, the slowest to assume shape and yet
the most persevering was that type, the struggles of which were led by members
of peasant stock and whose fighting force was composed basically of the
oppressed peasantry."
In the first category
the book outlines two — that of Dhondia Waug’s insurgent army (1799-1800) and
that of that of the Vellore insurrection led by Tipu’s sons.
Dhondia belonged to
Shimoga though he was a part of Tipu’s army he was imprisoned in 1794, having
ambitions to set up his own kingdom. On the fall of Srirangapatnam he was set
free with the other prisoners. He immediately contacted the other sardars in the
service of Tipu and formed an army. He declared himself king of Shimoga. He then
went about planning the overthrow of British power in Mysore. The book says: "Starting
his military offensives in June 1799 itself, only two months after Mysore’s
fall, Dhondia gained possession of extensive territory which included most of
Shimoga, Chitradurg, Dharward and Bellary districts within a year". His
forces grew within a year from 200 cavalrymen to 80,000 at its peak. He never
gave battle in the forts maneuvering his forces in the countryside gaining new
recruits in the process. "Dhondia was obviously adopting the tactics of
mobile warfare, using an extensive terrain that stretched across a few thousand
square kilometers of woods, valley and plains; preferring field operations to
that of cloistered warfare. Ironically it was the massive growth of his forces
that led to his downfall as he was then unable to use guerrilla warfare
effectively. On Sept 10, 1800 Dhondia died giving battle to the British on the
banks of the Krishna."
The Vellore
insurrections was a revolt of the disaffected soldiers of the British army —
most of whom were from the oppressed castes. Tipus sons were incarc-erated in
the jails there. In the first offensive 14 British officers were killed and 76
injured. It was the first time in India that sepoys had revolted and killed
their own European officers. In retaliation the British used extensive brutality
massacring over 800.
Regarding the second
type of armed rebellions they were mostly of the small feudatories who were
deprived of their kingdoms who rose in revolt in Aigur, Koppal, Bidar, Bijapur,
and the most famous one of Chennamma in Kittur in 1824. The Kittur garrison had
a large force. On behalf of the British Thakeray sought to enter with a force of
250. They were not allowed to enter. Chennamma decided to attack them at the
gate itself. In a surprise attack she annihilated the entire force and took 40
prisoners. But latter in battle she was caught and imprisoned, dying at a young
age in 1829.
But these wars by the
feudatories continued in many places with a notable one being in Bidar in 1852.
But the most
significant uprisings were of the third category of the peasants that targeted
both the feudals and the colonialists. The book traces three major uprisings —
that of Sangolli Rayanna’s guerrilla war (1829-30) again around Kittur area; the
Nagar peasant Insurrection (1830-33); and Kalyanaswamy’s Armed Uprising (1837)
of Kodagu area.
The Kittur
principality encompassed parts of Belgum, Dharwad, and Uttara Kannada districts
and was covered on its western part by the Malnad forest tract. Sangolli Rayanna
had joined Chennamma’s army. But his lands were confiscated, and of what
remained it was heavily taxed. He taxed the landlords and built up the army from
the masses. He used guerrilla methods to attack government property; burnt land
records and extracted the loot from notorious landlords and bureaucrats. Finally
he was captured and hanged. At the time of being hanged he said "My last wish
is to be born again in the country to fight against the British and drive them
away from our sacred soil".
The Nagar was a wide
scale peasant insurrection that had spread to various parts of Karnataka. From
Shimoga and Chikmangalur it spread to Uttara Kannada, Chitradurg, Tumkur, Hassan,
Mysore, Mandya and Bangalore. Like with the Sangolli uprising, in the Nagar
revolt the peasantry located its anti-feudal anti-colonial aspirations within a
political framework. They recognized Budibasappa Nayaka as the heir of the
Ikkeri kings and sought the restoration of Ikkeri rule over Nagar.
The struggle took
place in three waves: The first was that of mass struggles; the second, of mass
action, and, the third, when armed struggle predominated.
The mass struggle
started in early 1830 and assumed a host of forms. The most important of these
was the "koota" or simply "gathering". The koota was a
broad forum to organize the peasant masses. The kootas spread from Nagar
(town in Shimoga district) to Bellary, and even as far as Mysore. Budi Basappa,
a cultivator was its leader, who claimed the Gadi of Nagar. He appointed Manappa
as his "commander-in-chief. As the movement built up on Aug.23 1830 at a huge
rally, a peasant charter was passed and signed by those assembled. It said:
· The peasant
organisation must be built everywhere.
· The struggle
must be advanced till the demands are accomplished.
· Government
officials must be prevented from entering the village.
· Revenue
payment to the government must stop.
· The
government must recognize that the "tiller is the owner" of land.
· Land must be
returned to those tenants who had forfeited it.
And as the movement
gained momentum it changed to forms of mass actions — officials, bureaucrats
were attacked. Manappa built up a fighting force of 200 men. As the book
recounts: "The mass actions which were directed against the Amildars, corrupt
bureaucrats and reactionaries in the villages. Amildars who feared the wrath of
the people either fled or surrendered to the groundswell. By the end of 1830, as
the phase of mass action began to conclude, they often culminated in the seizure
of the Amildar’s offices by the insurgent peasants and the collection of all
revenue was annulled by the new authority in power."
Then from Dec.14 1830
began the Raja’s reign of terror, which resulted in the peasant movement taking
the form of guerrilla war. A guerrilla army was built with detachments varying
in size from 20 to 200. The norm was 40. They beat back the raja’s offensive.
They captured the Nagar fort; but retreated into the forests on the night before
British troops entered. As a major section of enemy forces moved to other areas
of combat, they attacked the fort, killed its occupiers and re-took it. In this
way the Nagar fort changed hands six times. Each time they appealed to the towns
people who joined them in large numbers. The guerrilla army was given secret
training in Brahmagiri, Ulavi, Chennagiri, Chandragutti, Sonale and Sasehwalli.
As the battles intensified enemy troops mutinied and joined the guerrillas.
Enemy officers were targeted.
The British was
unable to stem the growth of the armed struggle. Finally they were able to crush
it by infiltration and killing of the leadership. By 1833 the bulk of the
leadership were captured and killed and the movement died down.
The book is a
must-read book for all practitioners of class struggle. It draws heavily for its
guidance on the writings of Marx on India and Mao for an approach. In an
"interregnum" it deals ideologically with those who refer to the British
introducing capitalism. We still await Volume III, which no doubt will cover the
crucial period of British India history in the region of Karnataka.
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