The Deccan Riots of 1875: Ryotwari, Debt and the Cotton Boom (Class 12 History)
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
In May 1875 ryots of the Bombay Deccan, starting at Supa near Poona, attacked moneylenders and burnt their account books and debt bonds. Behind the revolt lay a heavy ryotwari revenue demand, mounting debt, the collapse of easy credit after the cotton boom of the 1860s, and moneylenders' violation of customary norms.
Notice that four pressures on the ryots built up together and exploded at Supa in May 1875, hitting moneylenders' account books first.
Illustration drawn for QuestionBuddy.
Understand The Deccan Riots of 1875
Why this topic matters. Section 3-4 of Theme 9 is examined through the ryotwari system, the effect of the American Civil War on Indian ryots, the anger of ryots against moneylenders, the Limitation Law, and the Deccan Riots Commission. Sources include the ryot's petition from Mirajgaon and the deed of hire. NCERT sections 3.1-3.6 and 4, Sources 6-10.
1. The revolt (1875).
- Began at Supa, a large village and market centre in Poona district, on 12 May 1875.
- Ryots demanded the bahi khatas (account books) and debt bonds of sahukars (moneylender-traders), burnt them, looted grain shops and sometimes burnt sahukars' houses.
- Spread to Ahmednagar, and over two months across 6,500 sq km; more than thirty villages affected. Everywhere the same pattern; terrified sahukars fled.
- British officials saw the spectre of 1857: police posts set up, troops called in, 951 arrested; several months to restore control.
- Sources: a letter of the District Magistrate of Poona (16 May 1875: one house burnt, about a dozen gutted, 50 arrested); a report in Native Opinion (6 June 1876) on ryots posting spies and dispersing when officers came.
2. A new revenue system: ryotwari.
- The Permanent Settlement was rarely extended beyond Bengal. Why? After 1810 prices rose and Bengal zamindars' income grew, but the fixed demand meant the state got no share; so in newly annexed territories, temporary settlements were made.
- David Ricardo's ideas: a landowner should claim only the 'average rent'; any surplus above it should be taxed, or cultivators would become rentiers. Officials thought Bengal's zamindars had become rentiers.
- Ryotwari in the Bombay Deccan: revenue settled directly with the ryot; average income from different soils estimated, the ryot's paying capacity assessed and a share fixed for the state; lands resurveyed every 30 years and rates raised, so the demand was not permanent.
3. Revenue demand and debt (1820s-1840s).
- The first settlement (NCERT's timeline gives 1818; the text speaks of the 1820s) was so high that peasants deserted villages; collectors extracted payment with utmost severity: crops seized, fines on the whole village.
- After 1832 prices fell sharply for over fifteen years; the famine of 1832-34 killed one-third of the cattle and half the human population.
- Peasants borrowed to pay revenue and meet needs; by the 1840s officials found alarming indebtedness.
- By the mid-1840s officials admitted the 1820s settlements were harsh; demand was moderated; after 1845 prices recovered, cultivation expanded, but again with loans.
4. The cotton boom (1860s).
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Before 1860s | Three-fourths of Britain's raw cotton imports came from America |
| 1857 | Cotton Supply Association founded in Britain |
| 1859 | Manchester Cotton Company formed |
| 1861 | American Civil War; imports from America fell from over 2,000,000 bales (1861) to 55,000 (1862), less than 3 per cent of normal |
| 1860-64 | Bombay export merchants advanced money to urban sahukars, who lent to rural moneylenders; ryots got Rs 100 advance per acre of cotton; cotton acreage doubled |
| 1862 | Over 90 per cent of Britain's cotton imports came from India |
| Result | Some rich peasants gained; for the large majority, heavier debt |
5. Credit dries up (after 1865).
- The Bombay Gazette (1861) dreamt of India replacing the 'Slave States' as Lancashire's supplier; by 1865 the dream was over as American production revived.
- Merchants and sahukars stopped long-term credit and demanded repayment.
- Meanwhile the new revenue settlement raised demand by 50 to 100 per cent.
- With prices falling and cotton fields vanishing, ryots turned to moneylenders, who now refused loans.
6. The experience of injustice. Ryots were angry not only at debt but because moneylenders were violating customary norms:
- Norm: interest could not exceed the principal. One case before the Commission: over Rs 2,000 interest on a loan of Rs 100.
- Limitation Law (1859): loan bonds valid for only three years, to check accumulation of interest. Moneylenders turned it around: a new bond every three years, entering loan plus interest as new principal (Source 10).
- Other tricks: no receipts for repayments, fictitious figures in bonds, buying harvests at low prices, and finally taking over land, carts and animals.
- Deeds of hire (Source 9, 1873): a ryot 'sold' his carts and bullocks to the moneylender and then hired the same animals back at Rs four a month.
- Petition from Mirajgaon (Source 8): goods sold to debtors at 25 or 50 per cent above cash prices; produce taken but not credited; no receipts.
- Bonds and deeds became symbols of the new oppressive system: the British insisted on written, legally enforceable contracts; peasants signed or thumb-printed papers they could not read and feared the written word.
7. The Deccan Riots Commission.
- The Government of Bombay at first did not take the revolt seriously; the Government of India, remembering 1857, pressed it to set up a commission of enquiry.
- Report presented to the British Parliament in 1878: enquiries in riot districts, statements of ryots, sahukars and eyewitnesses, statistics on revenue rates, prices and interest, collectors' reports.
- Asked specifically whether government revenue demand caused the revolt, it concluded that it did not; the moneylenders were to blame.
- NCERT's lesson: official reports show a persistent reluctance to admit that discontent came from government action; they are invaluable but must be read with newspapers, unofficial accounts, legal records and oral sources.
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
Deeds and bonds appeared as symbols of the new oppressive system
NCERT, section 3.6: Explaining why rioters destroyed bonds and account books.
Connects the riots to the colonial legal order.
the interest charged could not be more than the principal
NCERT, section 3.6: The customary norm of 'fair interest' that broke down under colonial rule.
Explains the ryots' sense of injustice.
I have taken from you on hire under (this) deed
A peasant's deed of hire, November 1873 (Source 9): Hiring back the carts and bullocks he had sold to his creditor.
Shows how debt turned owners into hirers of their own animals.
the government demand was not the cause of peasant anger
NCERT, section 4, on the Deccan Riots Commission: The Commission's conclusion, which blamed moneylenders.
Example of official reluctance to blame government policy.
The Deccan Riots of 1875: key facts
- Ryotwari
Settled directly with the ryot Assessment average income from soils, ryot's paying capacity, state's share Resurvey every 30 years, with higher rates Demand not permanent Idea Ricardo, tax the surplus above the 'average rent' - Temporary settlements let the state share rising incomes.
- The road to debt
1818 (timeline) / 1820s (text): first, very high settlement 1832-34 famine kills a third of the cattle and half the people 1840s: officials find alarming indebtedness 1845 prices recover; cultivation expands on loans - Revenue could rarely be paid without a loan.
- Cotton boom and bust
1857 Cotton Supply Association founded 1859 Manchester Cotton Company formed 1861 American Civil War; imports from America fall from 2,000,000 to 55,000 bales 1862 over 90 per cent of Britain's cotton imports from India 1865 war over; credit stops; revenue demand up 50 to 100 per cent - Ryots got Rs 100 per acre; acreage doubled 1860-64. Most ended in heavier debt.
- Moneylenders' tricks
- Interest above the principal (over Rs 2,000 on Rs 100)
- New bond every three years under the Limitation Law (1859)
- No receipts for repayments
- Fictitious figures in bonds
- Harvests bought at low prices
- Deeds of hire for the ryot's own bullocks
- Customary norms broken; bonds became symbols of oppression.
- Revolt and enquiry
- 12 May 1875 Supa (Poona) ryots burn bonds and bahi khatas
- Spread: Ahmednagar, 6,500 sq km, over thirty villages
- Repression: police posts, troops, 951 arrested
- 1878 Deccan Riots Commission report to Parliament blames moneylenders
- Read with newspapers, petitions, legal records and oral sources.
How to answer The Deccan Riots of 1875 questions
Expect 1-mark items on Supa, Ricardo, the Limitation Law and the Commission; 3-mark questions on ryotwari features or impact, the effect of the American Civil War, or measures to suppress the riots; 8-mark questions on rural indebtedness or the problems of official sources; and source questions on the Mirajgaon petition, the deed of hire or 'How debts mounted'.
- 1Open with the event: Supa, 12 May 1875; what ryots did; spread; repression.
- 2Explain ryotwari: why not the Permanent Settlement; Ricardo; direct settlement; 30-year resurvey.
- 3Trace the debt cycle from the 1820s through the 1832-34 famine to the 1840s.
- 4Explain the cotton boom and its collapse, with figures.
- 5Show injustice: broken norms, Limitation Law misuse, deeds of hire, petitions.
- 6Evaluate the Commission: findings and official bias.
- 7Conclude: the riot was against a system of revenue and credit, not just individual moneylenders.
The Deccan Riots of 1875 in real life
The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Easy credit, then a squeeze
Suppose a bank hands out easy loans to farmers to grow a crop whose export price is soaring; a year later prices crash, the bank recalls loans and the land tax doubles.
Which nineteenth-century episode does this match, and what was its outcome?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- During the American Civil War, Bombay merchants and sahukars gave Deccan ryots Rs 100 per acre for cotton.
- When the war ended in 1865, credit dried up and debts were recalled.
- The new revenue settlement raised demand by 50 to 100 per cent.
- Moneylenders refused fresh loans; in 1875 ryots revolted.
Answer: The cotton boom and bust in the Bombay Deccan, which left most ryots deeper in debt and led to the Deccan riots.
Memory hook: Boom lends, bust collects.
Signing what you cannot read
Imagine a borrower who puts a thumb impression on a long loan agreement in a language he cannot read, later finding clauses that let the lender seize his tractor.
Why did Deccan ryots in the 1870s come to fear bonds and deeds?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The British insisted on written, legally enforceable contracts.
- Peasants signed or thumb-printed documents without knowing the clauses moneylenders inserted.
- Through deeds of hire, they even paid rent for bullocks that had been theirs.
Answer: Because the written word became a weapon of the moneylender, backed by courts; burning bonds was an attack on that system.
Memory hook: Burn the bond, break the chain.
Tricks to remember The Deccan Riots of 1875
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
S-A-6-30-951
Supa, then Ahmednagar; 6,500 sq km; 30-plus villages; 951 arrests.
Use it when: Scale of the 1875 revolt.
1857-59-61-62-65
Association (1857), Company (1859), War (1861), 90 per cent from India (1862), War over (1865).
Use it when: Cotton boom chronology.
Three-year trap
Limitation Law: bond lasts 3 years, so the lender writes a fresh bond with interest folded into principal every 3 years.
Use it when: How a protective law was turned against ryots.
The Deccan Riots of 1875: solved examples
Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.
Example 1: Where it began · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
The ryots' revolt of May 1875 against sahukars began at:
(a) Mirajgaon in Ahmednagar
(b) Supa in Poona district
(c) Bhagalpur
(d) Dinajpur
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Supa, a market village in Poona district, on 12 May 1875; it then spread to Ahmednagar (1 mark).
Answer: (b) Supa in Poona district
Example 2: Features of ryotwari · 3 marks · Short answerBoard level
State three features of the revenue system introduced in the Bombay Deccan. (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Revenue settled directly with the ryot (1 mark).
- Average income from soils estimated; paying capacity assessed; a share fixed for the state (1 mark).
- Resurvey every 30 years with higher rates; demand not permanent (1 mark).
Answer: Under the ryotwari settlement, unlike in Bengal, the revenue was settled directly with the ryot rather than through a zamindar. Officials estimated the average income from different types of soil, assessed the revenue-paying capacity of the ryot and fixed a proportion of it as the state's share. The lands were resurveyed every 30 years and the revenue rates raised, so the demand was not permanent.
Example 3: Assertion and reason: Ricardo · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): British officials did not extend the Permanent Settlement to the Bombay Deccan.
Reason (R): Following Ricardo, they believed that income above the 'average rent' was a surplus the state should tax.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Ricardian ideas, along with the wish to share in rising incomes after 1810, led to temporary settlements such as ryotwari (1 mark).
Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
Example 4: A law turned upside down · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Explain how the Limitation Law of 1859 was meant to help ryots and how moneylenders turned it against them. (3 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Law: loan bonds valid for only three years, to check accumulation of interest (1 mark).
- Misuse: ryot forced to sign a new bond every three years (1 mark).
- Unpaid loan plus interest became the new principal, so interest compounded; Source 10 example (1 mark).
Answer: The Limitation Law of 1859 laid down that loan bonds between moneylenders and ryots would be valid for only three years, so that interest could not go on piling up over a long period. Moneylenders, however, made the ryot sign a fresh bond every three years. Each new bond recorded the unpaid balance, the original loan plus accumulated interest, as the principal, and a new round of interest was charged on it. As one ryot told the Commission, a series of such bonds over twelve years produced interest of more than Rs 2,028 on Rs 1,000, so the law ended up deepening debt.
Example 5: Source-based: a ryot's complaint · 4 marks · Source-basedHarder board level
Read the source (summarised for this page from a petition to the Collector of Ahmednagar, quoted in NCERT) and answer.
A ryot of Mirajgaon wrote that the sahukars had recently begun to oppress the villagers. Unable to meet household costs, they had to beg for money, cloth and grain, and got them only by accepting harsh terms in their bonds. Goods were charged a quarter to a half more than cash customers paid. The sahukars carried away the villagers' harvest promising to credit it, but never entered it in the accounts or gave any receipt.
(i) To which official and in what connection was this petition sent? (1)
(ii) Identify two ways in which the sahukars cheated the ryots. (1)
(iii) Why did such practices make the ryots so angry by 1875? (2)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- (i) The Collector of Ahmednagar; collected by the Deccan Riots Commission (1 mark).
- (ii) Any two: higher prices on credit; produce not credited; no receipts; hard conditions in bonds (1 mark).
- (iii) Customary norms violated; dependence on loans; written bonds enforceable in courts; credit refused after 1865 (2 marks).
Answer: (i) It was sent by a ryot of Mirajgaon, Taluka Karjat, to the Collector of Ahmednagar and forms part of the evidence collected by the Deccan Riots Commission. (ii) Sahukars charged 25 or 50 per cent more for goods sold on credit than to cash buyers, and they took away the ryots' produce without crediting it to their accounts or giving receipts; they also forced hard conditions into the bonds. (iii) Ryots depended on sahukars for their survival, yet moneylenders were breaking the customary norms of the countryside, such as the rule that interest should not exceed the principal. Their tricks were backed by written bonds that the courts enforced and that ryots could not read. When, after the cotton boom ended, moneylenders refused even fresh loans while the revenue demand rose, the ryots' sense of injustice turned into open revolt.
Example 6: Long answer: debt as a colonial product · 8 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
"The Deccan riots were a protest not merely against greedy moneylenders but against a whole colonial system of revenue and credit." Do you agree? Give reasons. (8 marks)
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The revolt of 1875 and its targets (1 mark).
- Ryotwari demand and its harsh collection (1 mark).
- Debt cycle: price fall, famine, borrowing (1 mark).
- Cotton boom: credit chain from Bombay merchants (1 mark).
- Bust: credit stops, revenue demand up 50-100 per cent (1 mark).
- Moneylenders' practices and the legal regime of bonds (1 mark).
- Commission's verdict and its bias (1 mark).
- Judgement (1 mark).
Answer: In May 1875 ryots at Supa in Poona district attacked sahukars, seized and burnt their account books and debt bonds and looted grain shops; the revolt spread to Ahmednagar and over 6,500 sq km. On the surface it was aimed at moneylenders.
But the roots lay in the colonial revenue system. The ryotwari settlement, shaped by Ricardo's ideas, settled revenue directly with the ryot and raised it at each resurvey. The first settlement was so high that peasants fled, and collectors seized crops and fined whole villages. After 1832 prices fell and the famine of 1832-34 killed half the people and a third of the cattle. Revenue could rarely be paid without a loan, and by the 1840s indebtedness was alarming.
The cotton boom tied ryots more tightly into a credit chain built for British needs. When the American Civil War cut supplies after 1861, Bombay merchants advanced money through urban and rural sahukars, and ryots received Rs 100 per acre of cotton; by 1862 over 90 per cent of Britain's cotton imports came from India. When the war ended, credit was withdrawn and debts recalled, just as the new settlement raised the demand by 50 to 100 per cent. Moneylenders now refused loans.
The moneylenders' conduct was also shaped by colonial law. The British insisted on written bonds enforceable in courts; the Limitation Law of 1859 was turned into a device for compounding interest; deeds of hire made ryots rent their own bullocks. Customary limits on interest broke down: one case showed Rs 2,000 of interest on Rs 100. Bonds and deeds became symbols of a new oppressive order.
The Deccan Riots Commission, asked whether the government's demand had caused the revolt, blamed the moneylenders instead, showing official reluctance to admit the role of policy.
I therefore agree. Ryots attacked sahukars because they were the visible face of a system in which colonial revenue, export-driven credit and a new legal regime combined to keep them in debt.
Where students lose marks in The Deccan Riots of 1875
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Confusing ryotwari with the Permanent Settlement
Both are British revenue systems.
Wrong working
Under ryotwari the revenue was permanently fixed with zamindars.
Right working
Ryotwari settled revenue directly with the ryot, with resurveys every 30 years; the demand was not permanent.
Do this: Ryot-wari = with the ryot.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks.
Mistake: Saying the cotton boom made ryots rich
Reading only the export figures.
Wrong working
Cotton exports made Deccan ryots prosperous.
Right working
Some rich peasants gained, but for the large majority cotton expansion meant heavier debt.
Do this: Boom for merchants, debt for most ryots.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Getting the Limitation Law backwards
Not explaining the misuse.
Wrong working
The Limitation Law allowed moneylenders to charge unlimited interest.
Right working
It limited bonds to three years to check interest, but moneylenders forced new bonds folding interest into principal.
Do this: Purpose, then misuse.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Accepting the Commission's verdict uncritically
Not evaluating the source.
Wrong working
The Commission proved moneylenders alone caused the riots.
Right working
The Commission blamed moneylenders, reflecting official reluctance to blame government revenue policy.
Do this: Add 'official source, official view'.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks.
Exam tips
- Asked in: 2025 board paper 61/2/1 Q30(a) (8 marks, the ryotwari system and rural indebtedness in the Bombay Deccan); 2023 board paper 61/1/1 Q26 (3 marks, how the American Civil War affected ryots); 2025 board paper 61/4/1 Q26 and 2026 board paper 61/5/1 Q26 (3 marks, ryotwari's impact on or exploitation of ryots); 2025 board paper 61/6/1 Q27 (3 marks, features of ryotwari); 2026 board paper 61/1/1 Q26 (3 marks, British measures to suppress the riots); 2024 board paper 61/5/1 Q33 (4-mark source, the ryot's petition); 1-mark items such as 2024 61/3/1 Q16, 2025 61/4/1 Q15, 61/5/1 Q16, 61/6/1 Q15-16 and 61/7/1 Q15, 2026 61/3/1 Q21, 61/4/1 Q21 and 61/5/1 Q15 and Q21. Answers here are our own.
- For the American Civil War question, use the figures: 2,000,000 to 55,000 bales; Rs 100 per acre; acreage doubled; 90 per cent by 1862.
- For anger against moneylenders, stress violation of customary norms, not just debt.
- For sources, name the Commission and its official bias.
- NCERT gives 1818 (timeline) and the 1820s (text) for the first Deccan settlement; quoting 'the 1820s' with the text is safe.
Practice questions on The Deccan Riots of 1875
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
In which year was the report of the Deccan Riots Commission presented to the British Parliament?
(a) 1859
(b) 1865
(c) 1875
(d) 1878Hint
Three years after the revolt.
Answer
(d) 1878.
Q2 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level
What was the effect of the famine of 1832-34 on the Deccan countryside? (2 marks)
Hint
Cattle, people, stocks.
Answer
It wiped out a third of the Deccan's cattle and half of its people; survivors had no agricultural stocks, and unpaid revenue balances mounted.
Q3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Why did the cotton boom of the 1860s increase the debt of most Deccan ryots instead of making them prosperous? (3 marks)
Hint
Advances, end of war, revenue.
Answer
During the boom, export merchants advanced money to urban sahukars, who lent to rural moneylenders, so ryots took large advances (Rs 100 per acre of cotton) and long-term loans. Only some rich peasants gained; most simply borrowed more. When the American Civil War ended and American production revived, Indian cotton exports fell, merchants and sahukars stopped credit and demanded repayment, and at the same time the new revenue settlement raised demand by 50 to 100 per cent. Ryots were left with large debts, falling prices and no fresh credit.
Q4 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder board level
What measures did the British take to suppress the Deccan revolt, and why did they react so strongly? (3 marks)
Hint
The memory of 1857.
Answer
As the revolt spread, officials saw the spectre of 1857. Police posts were set up in villages to frighten peasants into submission, troops were quickly called in, and 951 people were arrested, many of them convicted. Even so it took several months to bring the countryside under control. The Government of India, worried by the memory of 1857, also pressed the Government of Bombay to set up a commission of enquiry.
Q5 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): The Deccan Riots Commission found the government's revenue demand to be the main cause of the revolt.
Reason (R): The Commission collected statements of ryots, sahukars and eyewitnesses and statistics on revenue, prices and interest.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.Hint
Whom did it blame?
Answer
(d) A is false but R is true: the Commission concluded that moneylenders, not the government demand, were to blame.
Q6 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Suppose you are a ryot who signed the deed of hire of November 1873. Explain how your relationship with your bullocks and with the moneylender has changed. (3 marks)
Hint
Owner to hirer; receipts.
Answer
I have handed over my two carts with iron axles and four bullocks to the moneylender in payment of my debt, so I am no longer their owner. To keep cultivating I have hired the very same carts and bullocks back from him at Rs four a month, and I have accepted that without a receipt in his handwriting I cannot claim to have paid. I now pay rent for animals that were mine, and the moneylender holds both my property and a legal document he can enforce in court, which makes me even more dependent on him.
Q7 · 4 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Using the case of the Deccan, explain the problems historians face when they rely on official sources to write the history of peasants. Suggest how they can overcome them. (4 marks)
Hint
Who asked what, and what else to read.
Answer
Official sources reflect official concerns. The Deccan Riots Commission was specifically asked whether the government's revenue demand caused the revolt and concluded that it did not, blaming moneylenders; NCERT notes that colonial records repeatedly show reluctance to admit that discontent arose from government action. Officials' language may also carry prejudice: a magistrate's report calls rioters offenders and records losses mainly from the sahukars' side. Such records still give rich detail, such as statements, prices and interest rates, but they must be read against other evidence: newspapers like Native Opinion, petitions written by ryots, legal records such as deeds of hire, unofficial accounts and, where possible, oral sources.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.What were bahi khatas?Show answer
Account books of moneylenders and shopkeepers.
2.Who was a sahukar?Show answer
Someone who acted as both a moneylender and a trader.
3.How often were ryotwari lands resurveyed?Show answer
Every 30 years.
4.By how much did the new revenue settlement after the boom raise the demand?Show answer
By 50 to 100 per cent.
5.What did the Limitation Law of 1859 say?Show answer
Loan bonds between moneylenders and ryots would be valid for only three years.
6.How many people were arrested during the 1875 revolt?Show answer
951.
The Deccan Riots of 1875: frequently asked questions
What were the Deccan riots of 1875?
A revolt of ryots in the Bombay Deccan, beginning at Supa near Poona in May 1875, in which peasants attacked sahukars and burnt their account books and debt bonds.
How did the American Civil War affect Indian ryots?
It created a cotton boom with easy credit, but when the war ended credit dried up, debts were recalled and revenue rose, leaving most ryots deeper in debt.
Why were ryots angry with moneylenders?
Moneylenders refused loans after 1865 and broke customary norms: excessive interest, new bonds every three years, no receipts, fictitious accounts and seizure of property.
What did the Deccan Riots Commission conclude?
That the government's revenue demand was not the cause of the revolt and that moneylenders were to blame; historians read this as an official view.