Crown (a) Indigo Revolt - Before synthetic dyes were created, natural indigo dye was highly valued by cloth makers around the world. Many Europeans employed peasants to grow the indigo, which was processed into dye at the planters factories. The dye was then exported to Europe. The peasants were forced to grow the crop.
The British planter gave the cultivator a cash advance to help pay for the rent of the land and other costs. This advance needed to be repaid with interest. The planters forced the peasant grow indigo, rather than food crops. At the end of the season, the planters paid the cultivators low prices for their indigo.
Moreover, the small amount the peasant earned was not enough to pay back the cash advance with interest. So they fell into debt. However, the peasants again were forced to enter into another contract to grow indigo. The peasants were never able to clear their debts.
Debts were often passed from father to son. The Indigo Revolt began in . The rebellion began as a strike, as the peasants of a village in Bengal’s Nadia district refused to grow indigo any more. The movement quickly spread to the other indigo-growing districts of Bengal.
The revolt then turned violent. The peasants, both Hindu and Muslim, participated in the revolt, and women—armed with pots and pans—fought alongside the men. Indian journalists in Calcutta wrote articles about after the siege of Delhi, there was an attempt to seek the support of the neighboring states. Besides a few Indian states, there was a general lack of enthusiasm among the Indian princes to participate in the rebellion.
The Indian princes and zamindars either remained loyal or were fearful of British power. Those involved in the rebellion were left with either little or no sources of arms and ammunition. The emerging English-educated middle class too did not support the rebellion. One of the important reasons for the failure of the rebellion was the absence of a central authority.
There was no common agenda that united the individuals and the aspirations of the Indian princes and the