INDIGO NOTES

Why is Rajkumar Shukla described as being ‘resolute’?

 He had come all the way from Champaran district in the foothills of Himalayas to
Lucknow to speak to Gandhi. Shukla accompanied Gandhi everywhere. Shukla
followed him to the ashram near Ahmedabad. For weeks he never left Gandhi’s side
till Gandhi asked him to meet at Calcutta.

Why do you think the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant?

Ans: Shukla led Gandhi to Rajendra Prasad’s house. The servants knew Shukla as a
poor yeoman. Gandhi was also clad in a simple dhoti. He was the companion of a
peasant. Hence, the servants thought Gandhi to be another peasant.

List the places that Gandhi visited between his first meeting with Shukla and his
arrival at Champaran.
Ans: Gandhi’s first meeting with Shukla was at Lucknow. Then he went to Cawnpore
and other parts of India. He returned to his ashram near Ahmedabad. Later he went
to Calcutta, Patna and Muzaffarpur before arriving at Champaran.

What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent? What did the British now
want instead and why? What would be the impact of synthetic indigo on the prices
of natural indigo?
Ans: The peasants paid the British landlords indigo as rent. Now Germany had
developed synthetic indigo. So, the British landlords wanted money as compensation
for being released from the 15 per cent arrangement. The prices of natural indigo
would go down due to the synthetic Indigo.

Why did Gandhi agree to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers?
Ans: For Gandhi the amount of the refund was less important than the fact that the
landlords had been forced to return part of the money, and with it, part of their
prestige too. So, he agreed to settlement of 25 per cent refund to the farmers.

Why do you think Gandhi considered the Champaran episode to be a turning- point
in his life?
Ans: The Champaran episode began as an attempt to ease the sufferings of large
number of poor peasants. He got spontaneous support of thousands of people.
Gandhi admits that what he had done was a very ordinary thing. He declared that the
British could not order him about in his own country. Hence, he considered the
Champaran episode as a turning- point in his life.
How was Gandhi able to influence lawyers? Give instances.
Ans: Gandhi asked the lawyers what they would do if he was sentenced to prison.
They said that they had come to advise him. If he went to jail, they would go home.
Then Gandhi asked them about the injustice to the sharecroppers. The lawyers held
consultations. They came to the conclusion that it would be shameful desertion if
they went home. So, they told Gandhi that they were ready to follow him into jail.

Q3. “What was the attitude of the average Indian in smaller localities towards
advocates of ‘home rule’?
Ans: The average Indians in smaller localities were afraid to show sympathy for the
advocates of home-rule. Gandhi stayed at Muzaffarpur for two days at the home of
Professor Malkani, a teacher in a government school. It was an extraordinary thing in
those days for a government professor to give shelter to one who opposed the
government.

Q4. How do we know that ordinary people too contributed to the freedom
movement?
Ans: Professor J.B. Kriplani received Gandhi at Muzaffarpur railway station at
midnight. He had a large body of students with him. Sharecroppers from Champaran
came on foot and by conveyance to see Gandhi. Muzaffarpur lawyers too called on
him. A vast multitude greeted Gandhi when he reached Motihari railway station.
Thousands of people demonstrated around the court room. This shows that ordinary
people too contributed to the freedom movement in India.

Why do you think Gandhi was not permitted to draw water from Rajendra Prasad’s
well at Patna?
Ans: The servants of Rajendra Prasad thought Gandhi to be another peasant. They
did not know him. They were not certain whether he was an untouchable or not. They
feared that some drops from his bucket might pollute the entire well. So, he was not
permitted to draw water from the well.

Q6. Why did Gandhi decide to go first to Muzaffarpur before going to Champaran:
Ans: Gandhi wanted to obtain more complete information about conditions than
Shukla was capable of imparting. Muzaffarpur lawyers, who frequently represented
peasant groups in courts, brief Gandhi about their cases.

Q7. Why did Gandhi chide the lawyers? What according to him was the real relief for
the sharecroppers?
Ans: Gandhi chided the lawyers for collecting big fee from the poor sharecroppers.
He thought that taking such cases to the court did little good to the crushed and
fear-stricken peasants. The relief for them, according to Gandhi, was to be free from
fear.
Q8. How did Ga n dhi begin his mission in Champaran ? How far did his efforts
prove successful ?
Ans: He began by trying to get the facts. First, he visited the secretary of the British
landlord’s association. He told Gandhi that they could give no information to an
outsider. Then Gandhi called on the British official commissioner of the Tirhut
Division. The commissioner tried to bully Gandhi and advised him to leave Tirhut.

Q9. How did Gandhi react to the commissioner’s advice? Where did he go and how
did people react to his arrival?
Ans: Gandhiji did not leave Tirhut division. Instead, he went to Motihari, the capital of
Champaran. Several lawyers accompanied him. At the railway station, a very large
crowd of people greeted Gandhi.

Q10. Where did Gandhiji want to go? What happened to him on the way? 
Ans: Gandhiji wanted to go to a nearby village where a peasant had been maltreated.
He had not gone far when the police superintendent’s messenger overtook him and
ordered him to return to town in his carriage. Gandhiji obeyed the order and returned
with him.

Q11. ‘In consequence, Gandhi received a summons to appear in the court next
day.’Which events of the previous day led to this state of affairs?
Ans: The police superintendent’s messenger served an official notice on Gandhi. It
ordered him to quit Champaran immediately. Gandhi signed a receipt for the notice.
He wrote on the receipt that he would disobey the order. Hence, he was summoned
to appear in the court.

Q12. What according to Gandhi was the beginning of the poor peasants’ ‘Liberation
front fear of the British’ ?
Ans: The next morning the town of Motihari was black with peasants. They had
heard that a Mahatma who wanted to help them was in trouble with the authorities.
They spontaneously demonstrated, in thousands, arround the courthouse. Gandhiji
called their action of protest as their liberation from fear of the British.

Q13. Why did Gandhiji feel that taking the Champaran case to the court was
useless?[Delhi 2014]
Ans: Gandhiji felt that taking the Champaran case to the court was useless. Because
the real relief for the peasants would come only when they become fearless. The
peasants were in acute panic.

Q14. What was the “conflict of duties” in which Gandhi was involved?
Ans: First, he did not want to set a bad example as a law breaker. Second, he wanted
to render the “humanitarian and national service” for which he had come. He
respected the lawful authority, but disregarded the order to leave to obey the voice of
his conscience.

Q15. What according to Rajendra Prasad, was the upshot of the consultations of the
lawyers regarding the injustice to sharecroppers?
Ans: They thought that Gandhi was a total stranger. Yet he was ready to go to prison
for the sake of the peasants. On the other hand, the lawyers were the residents of
nearby districts. They also claimed to have served these peasants. It would be
shameful desertion if they should go home then.

Q16. “Civil disobedience had triumphed, the first time in modern India.” How?
Ans: A case against Gandhi was initiated for disregarding government orders. The
spontaneous demonstration of thousands of peasants baffled the officials. The
judge was requested to postpone the trial. Gandhi refused to furnish bail. The judge
released him without bail. Several days later Gandhi received an official letter. The
case against him had been dropped. Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed.

Q17. What do you think, led Gandhi to exclaim “The battle of Champaran is won”?
Ans: Gandhi was ready to go to jail fighting against the injustice to the
sharecroppers. Many prominent lawyers had come from all over Bihar to advise and
help him. At first, they said they would go back if Gandhi went to prison. Later, they
had consultations. They told Gandhi they were ready to follow him into jail. This
support made Gandhi extremely happy and confident. This confidence led him to
exclaim that the battle of Champaran was won.

Q18. How did Gandhi and the lawyers try to secure justice for the sharecroppers?
Ans: They started conducting a detailed enquiry into the grievances of the peasants.
Depositions by about ten thousand peasants were written down. Notes were made
on other evidence. Documents were collected. The whole area came alive with the
activities of the investigators. The landlords raised loud protests.

Q19. What was the reaction of Gandhi and his associates when he was summoned
to the lieutenant governor?
Ans: In June, Gandhiji was summoned to Sir Edward Gait, the Lieutenant Governor.
Anything could happen. Gandhi met his leading associates before going. Detailed
plans for civil disobedience were chalked out in case he should not return.

Q20. What was the outcome of the four protracted interviews Gandhiji had with the
Lieutenant Governor? 
Ans: An official commission of enquiry into the sharecroppers’ situation was
appointed. This commission consisted of landlords, government officials and Gandhi
as the sole representative of the peasants.
Q21. Why did the big planters agree in principle to make refund to the peasants?
Ans: The official inquiry assembled a huge quantity of evidence against the big
planters. The crushing evidence forced the big planters to agree in principle to make
refund to the peasants.

Q22. What amount of repayment did the big planters think Gandhi would demand?
What did Gandhi ask? What amount was finally settled?
Ans: They thought Gandhi would demand repayment in full of the money they had
extorted from the sharecroppers. Gandhi asked only 50 per cent. The planters
offered to refund up to 25 per cent. Gandhi was adamant on 50 per cent. The
deadlock was broken when Gandhi agreed to a settlement of 25 per cent refund to
peasants.

Q23. HQW did the refund-settlement influence the peasant-landlord relationship in

Champaran?
Ans: Before the settlement of the refund, the planters had behaved as lords above
the law. Now the peasant saw that he had rights and defenders. He learned courage.
Within a few years, the British planters abandoned their estates. The peasants
became masters of the land. There were no sharecropers now.

Q24. Which other spheres besides political or economic fields received Gandhi’s
attention during his long stay in Champaran?
Ans:The cultural and social backwardness of the Champaran areas pained Gandhi.
He appealed for teachers. Several persons responded to his call. Primary schools
were opened in six villages. Kasturba taught the ashram rules on personal
cleanliness and community sanitation. With the help of a doctor and three
medicines, they tried to fight the miserable health conditions.

Q25.“This was typical Gandhi pattern” observes Louis Fischer. What do you learn
about Gandhian politics from the extract ‘Indigo’?
Ans:Gandhi’s politics was intermixed with the practical, everyday life of the millions
of Indians. This was not a loyalty to abstractions. It was a loyalty to living human
beings. In everything Gandhi did, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand
on his own feet and thus make India free.

Q26. How did Gandhi teach his followers a lesson of self-reliance?

Ans. During the Champaran action, Gandhi’s lawyer friends thought it would be good
if C.F. Andrews stayed on in Champaran and helped them. Gandhi opposed this idea
as it showed the weakness of their heart. Their cause was just and they must rely
upon themselves to win this unequal fight. They should not seek the support of Mr
Andrews because he happened to be an Englishman.
Laq

The real relief for them is to be free from fear”, remarked Gandhi. What do you
think, was “the beginning of their liberation from the fear of the British” ?
Ans. The sharecropper peasants had to grow indigo on 15 per cent of their holdings
and surrender the indigo harvest as rent to the landlord. When Germany developed
synthetic indigo, the British planters started extracting money illegally and deceitfully
as compensation from the peasants for being released from the 15 per cent
arrangement. The peasants were made to sign new agreements and pay money. The
planters behaved as lords above the law. Many peasants engaged lawyers at hefty
fees and went to courts.
The Muzaffarpur lawyers briefed Gandhi about the peasants for whom they
frequently represented in courts. Gandhi realised that these peasants were badly
crushed and fear- stricken. Freedom from fear was more important than legal justice
for them. Gandhiji was ready to court arrest for them. Thousands of peasants
demonstrated spontaneously around the court. The government had to release
Gandhi without bail. This voluntary uprising of the peasants marked the beginning of
their liberation from the fear of the British.

Civil disobedience had triumphed, the first time in modern India.’Relate the events
during Gandhi’s stay in Champaran that led to the triumph.
Ans. Gandhi had reached Motihari, the Capital of Champaran, to study the problems
of the sharecropper peasants. He was on his way to a neighbouring village, where a
peasant was ill-treated. On the way, he was stopped by the police superintendent’s
messenger and ordered to return to town. When he reached home, he was served
with an official notice to quit Champaran at once. Gandhi wrote on the receipt that he
would disobey the order. So Gandhi received a summons to appear in the court the
next day.
Next morning the town of Motihari was black with peasants. Thousands of peasants
demonstrated voluntarily outside the court. The prosecutor requested the judge to
postpone the trial. Gandhi protested against the delay. He read out a statement
pleading guilty. He asked the penalty. The judge announced that he would pronounce
the sentence after a two-hour recess. He asked Gandhi to furnish bail for that period.
Gandhi refused. The judge released him without bail. After the recess, the judge said
that he would not deliver the judgement for several days. Meanwhile he allowed
Gandhi to remain at liberty.
Several days later Gandhi received a letter. The case against him had been dropped.
Thus, civil disobedience had triumphed, for the first time in India.

“Indigo sharecropping disappeared.” Which factors do you think, helped to achieve

freedom for the fear-stricken peasants of Champaran?
Ans. Gandhi went to Champaran on receiving reports of exploitation of the poor
sharecropper peasants at the hands of British planters. He began by trying to get the
facts. The British landlords as well as the Commissioner of Tirhut were non-
cooperative. Lawyers from MuZaffarpur briefed him about the court cases of these
peasants.
Gandhi and the lawyers collected depositions by about ten thousand peasants.
Notes were made on other evidence. Documents were collected. The whole area
throbbed with the activities of the investigators and forceful protests of landlords.
The lieutenant governor summoned Gandhi. After four protracted interviews an
official commission of inquiry was appointed to look into the indigo sharecroppers’
condition. Gandhi was the sole representative of the peasants. The official inquiry
assembled huge quantity of evidence against the big planters. They agreed, in
principle, to make refunds to the peasants. After consultation, a settlement of 25 per
cent refund to the farmers was agreed on. This was a moral victory of the peasants.
They recognised their rights and learned courage.
Within a few years the British planters gave up their estates. These now went back to
the peasants. They became the masters of land. Thus, indigo sharecropping
disappeared.

Q4. How did Gandhi work for rural uplift during his stay in Champarant
Ans. Gandhi wanted to do something to remove the cultural and social
backwardness in Champaran villages. He appealed for teachers. Two young
disciples of Gandhi, Mahadev Desai and Narhari Parikh and their wives volunteered
themselves for work. Several others responded from distant parts of the country.
Mrs. Kasturba Gandhi and Devdas, Gandhi’s youngest son, arrived from the Ashram.
Primary schools were opened in six villages. Kasturba taught the ashram rules on
personal cleanliness and community cleanliness. She also talked to women about
their filthy clothes.
Health conditions were miserable. Gandhi got a doctor to volunteer his services for
six months. Only three medicines were available: Castor oil, quinine and sulphur
ointment. Anyone who showed a coated tongue was given a dose of castor oil;
anybody with malaria fever received quinine plus castor oil; anybody with skin
eruptions received ointment plus caster oil.
Thus, Gandhi never contented himself with large political or economic solutions. He
worked for total uplift of villages and the poor sections of the society.

Q5. ‘Self-reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound
together.’ Elucidate on the basis of reading ‘Indigo’ by Louis Fischer.
OR
‘The Champaran episode was a turning-point in Gandhi’s life. Explain with examples
from ‘Indigo’ by Louis Fischer.
Ans. Gandhi stayed in Champaran for a long time. The Champaran episode was a
turning point in his life. It was during this struggle in 1917 that he decided to urge the
departure of the British.
Champaran episode did not begin as an act of defiance. It grew out of an attempt to
make the sufferings of large numbers of poor peasants less severe. Gandhi
concentrated on their practical day to day problems. He analysed the root cause of
the problem-fear, and tried to eradicate it. The voluntary demonstration of the poor
peasants against the government for putting Gandhi in trouble was the beginning of
the end of their fear of the British.
In everything Gandhi did, he tried to mould a new free Indian who could stand on his
own feet and thus make India free. He taught his lawyer friends a lesson in self-
reliance by opposing the involvement of C.F. Andrews, an Englishman in .their
unequal fight. His help would be a prop. This would reflect their weakness. Their
cause was just and they must rely on themselves to win the battle. Thus self-
reliance, Indian independence and help to sharecroppers were all bound together.

Q6. Justify the appropriateness of the title ‘Indigo’ to this extract.

Ans. The title ‘Indigo’ is quite appropriate, to the point and suggestive. It at once
focuses our * attention on the central issue-the exploitation of the indigo
sharecropper peasants at the hands of cruel British planters. They compelled them
through a long term agreement to raise indigo on 15 per cent of their landholding
and surrender the entire indigo harvest as rent.
After the development of synthetic indigo by Germany, the British planters extracted
money from the peasants as compensation for being released from the 15 per cent
agreement. The peasants who wanted their money back had filed civil suits. The
planters who behaved as lords above the law and were dreaded by the poor were
obliged to surrender part of money and with it part of their prestige.
The extract also points out the work done by Gandhi and his associates to improve
the economic, political, cultural and social fife of the indigo sharecroppers. Their
education, health and hygiene also received due attention. The plight of indigo
sharecroppers, then- struggle under Gandhi’s leadership and ultimate victory when
Indigo sharecropping disappeared from important landmarks. Thus, the title ‘Indigo’
is highly suggestive and apt.

Q7. What impression do you form about Gandhi on reading the chapter ‘Indigo’ ?
Ans. The chapter ‘Indigo’ pays a tribute to the leadership shown by Mahatma Gandhi
to secure justice for oppressed people through convincing argumentation and
negotiation. Gandhi had a magnetic attraction and great persuasive power. He could
draw people of all classes to himself and make them partners in the freedom
movement. Even ordinary people were inspired to make contribution to the freedom
movement.
Gandhi emerges as a champion of the downtrodden and the oppressed. Rural uplift
was his favourite programme. His knowledge of legal procedure and respect for law
is also highlighted. He does not want to be a lawbreaker. At the same time he wants
to render the humanitarian and national service in obedience to the higher law of our
being, the voice of conscience. He also appears as a polite and friendly person.
Gandhi’s ability to read the minds of others made them speechless. He believed in
self-reliance, just cause and purity of means to achieve India’s Independence.

Q8. Why is the Champaran episode considered to be the beginning of the Indian
struggle for Independence? [All India 2014]
Ans. The Champaran episode began as an attempt to ease the sufferings of a large
number of ’ peasants. He got spontaneous support of thousands of people. Gandhi
declared that the British could not order him about in his own country. Under his
leadership, the peasants became aware of their rights. Raj Kumar Shukla, a farmer of
Champaran helped him a lot in bringing about the change. Other peasants too fought
courageously and contributed in their own way to the movement. It resulted in their
winning the battle of Champaran. The effects of Gandhi’s method of non-violence
and non-cooperation proved very fruitful in this movement. Hence, it can be said that
the Champaran episode is the beginning of the Indian struggle for independence.