PEASANT RESISTANCE Jl Government*—by one of the most prominent architects of the British colonial rule in eastern India may help us understand the basic anti-colonial nature of the uprisings that took shape in Bengal across the second half of the 18th century. 1 Ashoke Mitra: 'Fifteen Decades of Agrarian Changes in Bengal* in Barun Deetal (ed). Essays in honour of Professor S.C Sarkar, New Delhi, 1976, pp. 394-395. 2 N K Sinha: The Economic History of Bengal, vol. 1, Calcutta, 1961, p. 18. 3 Minute of Warren Hastings in Council, 8th March, 1775. 4 W W Hunter: The Annals of Rural Bengal (reprint of 6th edition), Calcutta, 1965, pp. 21-22. 5 Letter from the President and Council to the Court of Directors, dated 3rd November, i772, para 6. 6 W W Hunter : The Annals of Rural Bengal (reprint of 6th edition), Calcutta, 196'f, p 26. 7 Letters from the Court of Directors to the President and Council in Bengal, dated 1 Oth April ] 7 71 and 28th August I 777. <¥ W W Hunter : The Annals of Rural Bengal{ reprint of 6th edition), Calcutta, 1965, p. 26. 9 Ibid, p. 28. 10 Letter from the President and Council to the Court of Directors, dated 12th February 1771, para 44. 11 For the traditional form of stratification between khud-kasht and pahi-kashit cultivators, see Satish Chandra : *Some aspects of Indian, village society in Northern India during the 18th century, .in Barun De et at (ed). Essays in honour of Professor S C Sarkar, New Delhi, 1976, pp. 245-264. 12 Hidayatullah Bihari : Hidayatu'l-QawaU, A.D. 1710 (India Office MS, 1.0. 1286, f. 65 a), quotf*d, by Irfan Habib in *Peasant and artisan resistance in Mughal India in Colloquium on International Labour Issues, Mav 1980, McGill University, Montreal pp. 12-14. 13 Letter from Boughton Rous, Supervisor ofRajshahi, dated 13th April, 1771, quoted in WW Hunter: The Annals of Rural Bengal (reprint of 6th edition), Calcutta, 1965, p. 44. 14 Letter from the President and Council to the Court of Directors dated 15th January 1773. 15 Letter from the President and Council to the Court of Directors, dated 1st March 1773. 16 Letter from Goodlad to the Committee of Revenue, dated 20th November 1782. 17 Letter from H Howorth, Agent of the Opium Contractor, to the Committee of Revenue dated 3rd March 1783. 18 Letter from Patterson to the Committee of Revenue, dated 3rd July 1783. 19 Letter from Patterson to the Committee of Revenue, dated 31st March 1783. 20 Letter from the Supervisor of Ra|shahi to the Controlling Council. 21 Extract from Revenue General Letter to the Court, dated 18th October 1774. 22 Zabanbandi of Dirjinarain, a chief leader of the uprising, enclosed jin a letter of Patterson. Proceedings of Committee of&evenue, 29 December 1783, 23 Report of the Rangpur Commission, Proceedings of Revenue pepanment, dated 29th March 1787. 24 Letter from Goodlad to Committee of Revenue, dated 27th January 1783. 25 Majnu Shaker Hakikat^ a long Bengali verse on Majnu Shah and the uprisings, was composed byjamiruddin Dafadar, a local poet ofBirbhum, in 1873, TOewanuscript has been recently printed as an appendix to Bidroht Fakir Nayak Majnu Shah fin Bengali) written by M'Abdnr