The Deccan Riots and their Commission

On 12 May 1875, ryots in Supa, a large village in Poona district, attacked the shopkeepers and moneylenders (sahukars), and burnt their account books and debt bonds.

The revolt spread to Ahmednagar, over 6,500 sq km, and more than 30 villages. Everywhere the pattern was the same: ryots demanded the bonds and burnt them, and attacked those who refused. 951 people were arrested.

Why were ryots so angry? They felt that the moneylenders had broken customary norms: they charged interest that grew larger than the original loan (the principal), kept false accounts, and gave no receipts for repayments.

In 1859, the British passed a Limitation Law, which said that loan bonds were valid for only three years, to stop interest piling up over long periods. But moneylenders turned it around: they made ryots sign new bonds every three years, including the unpaid interest as new principal.

The government appointed the Deccan Riots Commission, whose report was presented to Parliament in 1878. It concluded that the moneylenders were to blame, not the government's revenue demand. As an official report, it must be read with care: it protected the government's own interests. Bonds had become the symbol of injustice.