ASSINGNMENT-2

PAGAL PANTHI MOVEMENT

(1825-1850s)

SUBMITTED BY- ARYMA BRAJESH YADAV

ROLL NO. - L19BALB057

BATCH- BA LLB (H)

Subject- SCIOLOGY

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 INTRODUCTION

Permanent settlement was introduced in 1793 by Lord Cornwallis. It was an agreement between
the East India Company and Bengali landlords. This made Bengal a brutal place for peasants
because Zamindars were hitherto to collect of revenue; they were recognized as owner of soil but
had no ownership rights over land. Zamindars were allowed to keep force and maintain order in
their districts and this encouraged them to levy heavy taxes on peasants.1

Pagal Panthi Movement was one of the movements against the oppressive nature of Zamindars
and the British. The main objective of Pagal Panthi Movement was the resentment of the
peasants against the oppression of zamindars because of the introduction of ‘abwabs’2 in the
tribal areas of Sherpur, Bengal (bordering modern day Meghalaya and Bangladesh).

Under Karam Shah, it was mainly a religious movement, but under Tipu Shah (Karam Shah’s
son) it became a political movement against the oppressive zamindars and British, They were
against the oppressive tax regime of the British. Karam Shah’s philosophy was of religious
harmony and non-violence incorporating tenets of Sufism, Hinduism and animism. But under
Tipu Shah, they revolted against the British government by organising peasant rebellions.
(Pandey S.K.2002:4)

1
Guha, A. (1982). Ideological Roots of the Permanent Settlement . Economic and Political Weekly .

2
taxes

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 OUTLINE

In the initial days of the movement, it was a socio-religious movement because of the brutal
nature of the British but over time, the movement, took on a religious tone as Karam Shah
analyzed the people needs of respect and equality. He propagated the idea of human-equality,
non-violence and to unify people of a different faith. This led to a conflict with the ideas of
religious orthodox leaders. These orthodox leaders referred to these new faith people like the
followers of the ‘mad sect’ and called this movement as ‘PAGAL PANTHI MOVEMENT’.

Karam Shah was the founder of the Pagal Panth- a semi religious. Pagal Panthis were a mixture
of the Hinduism, Sufism and Animism, which became prominent in Bengal in initial years of
19th century. The peasants of the area resisted the collection of illegal abwabs3 by the zamindars
and opposed the new revenue settlement i.e. Permanent Settlement. In the tribal areas around
Mymensingh and Sherpur (now in Bangladesh), the local Garo and Hajong communities were
brutalised so badly that Karam Shah a local sufi fakir lead a peasant uprising.

Despite the backlash, the movement survived the death of Karam Shah in 18134, and became
even more aggressive under his son Tipu Shah, who took the movement to a different phase. He
was motivated by both religious and political motives and took up the cause of the tenants
against the oppression of the Zamindars. Tipu captured Sherpur in 1825 and assumed royal
power. The insurgents extended their activities to Garo Hills. The area remained disturbed till the
1830s and 1840s. (M Delwar, 2012)

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TAXES
4
Gktoday

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Tipu Shah proclaimed that no unilateral ownership of land could be allowed, as God had created
humans as equals, thus granting every human an equal right to the lands. Those who forced
peasants to pay taxes and oppressed them lost the moral right to rule over others. Ruling in the
name of Allah, Tipu Shah enforced religious laws and encouraged tax resistance. 5 The new spirit
gradually spread over the whole region and took the shape of an armed insurrection.

A severe clampdown followed and in 1824, Tipu Shah was finally arrested. He died in prison in
1852. After Tipu Shah (1852) Janku Pathor and Dobraj Pathor took the leadership of the Pagals
and organised another resistance movement against zamindari oppression. The rebels declared
themselves rulers of the area. The zamindars, government officials and the police took shelter at
Mymensingh. For a time it appeared that the company government had ceased to exist. But peace
was eventually restored by giving concessions to them in rent rate. Negotiations and
compromises between the rebels and the British helped forge peace and further concessions to
the cause of the peasants. Later, British launched a massive military operation to suppress Pagal
Panthis and this led to end of this movement. After some time the movement was forgotten by
the people and the movement found a little mention in the history.(M Delwar, 2012)

5
Banglapedia(national encyclopaedia of Bangladesh)

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 WHY A SOCIAL MOVEMENT NOT A PROTEST?

SOCIAL MOVEMENT

Social movements can be defined as "organizational structures and strategies that may empower
oppressed populations to mount effective challenges and resist the more powerful and
advantaged elites"6.

Charles Tilly defined social movements as a series of contentious performances, displays and
campaigns by which ordinary people make collective claims on others.(Tilly,2004) He argues
that there are three major elements to a social movement:

• Campaigns
• Repertoire
• WUNC displays

CAMPAIGNS

A campaign is a planned set of activities that people carry out over a period of time in order
to achieve something such as social or political change.7

In this movement Karam Shah and Tipu Shah campaigned against the idea of the
introduction of Permanent Settlement in Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh), they were the
self- designated claimants who were claiming rights of the peasants because after the
introduction of Permanent Settlement the zamindars were in there exploitive nature and
because of that peasants were suffering heavy losses. Since Karam shah did not discriminated
on the basis of the religion, he included Hindu, Muslim and Animism in the campaign and

6
Deric., Shannon (2011-01-01). Political sociology : oppression, resistance, and the state. Pine Forge Press. p. 150.
7
Collins dictionary

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 that is why, the orthodox religious leaders called them ‘Pagal’ and called the movement as
‘Pagal Panthi’.

Social Movement Repertoire

After the death of Karam Shah, tipu shah took the movement to a greater pace against the
British. The sect started gaining success and after some time they established their own
independent administration in Sherpur and started ruled there for 2 years. The administrative
body used to have public meetings with the peasants so that they can understand what the
problems peasants are facing. The result of this was that after some time the ‘Pagal Panthi’ had a
negotiation with the British to reduce the taxes.

WUNC

WUNC [worthiness, unity, numbers, and commitment] Participants' concerted public

representations of WUNC on the part of themselves and/or their constituencies call them WUNC
displays. (Tilly, 2004)

• WORTHINESS- Pangal Panthi movement was the only ray of hope of the peasants
living in Mymensingh and Sherpur. After the implementation of Permanent Settlement in
Bengal, Zamindars were in there worst form and because of that people living in those
areas had no option other than paying irrational taxes to them. Because of this movement
people of Mymensingh and Sherpur got a way to get out of this trap. Hence, this
movement had a lot of worth for the people living in those areas.

• UNITY- The orthodox religious leaders disagreed with the ideas of Karam Shah i.e.
people of different religion (Hindu and Muslim) coming together to go against the policy
of the British. But insipte of belonging to different religion they had unity within
themselves.

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• NUMBERS- since it was a movement of 1825, it was difficult to analyze in how many
number were those mad peasants was but capturing Sherpur and ruling the area for two
years implies that they were in good number.

• COMMITMENT- The pagal panthi’s were committed to their goals that is why after the
death of Karam Shah the movement did not end but became even more aggressive and
they made British do what they wanted i.e. reduction in taxes.

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 CONCLUSION

THIS MOVEMENT SHOWS HOW PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT RELIGION ARE

CRITICIZED BY THE COMMUNITY. BUT IT ALSO SHOWS HOW PEOPLE OF
DIFFERENT RELIGION CAN STILL FIGHT TOGETHER FOR THEIR RIGHTS;
THIS MOVEMENT IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF ‘UNITY IN DIVERSITY’. THIS
MOVEMENT ALSO SHOWS THAT A FIGHT CAN BE FOUGHT IN A NON-VIOLENT
WAY AND IN A VIOLENT WAY AS WELL, IT DEPENDS ON THE PERSON HOW
HE/SHE WANT TO CARRY OUT THE SAME.

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 BIBLOGRAPHY

ARTICLES AND BOOKS

1. Banglapedia(national encyclopaedia of Bangladesh)

2. Live History India
3. Deric., Shannon (2011-01-01). Political sociology : oppression, resistance, and the state.
Pine Forge Press. p. 150.
4. COLLINS DICTIONARY
5. GK TODAY
6. Jagran Josh
7. NCERT

WEBSITES

8. unacademy.com/lesson/pagal-panthi-revolt-1825-50-and-indigo-riots-bengal-1859-
60-in-hindi/KJ87NH1X
9. http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Tipu_Shah