Question:
What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent and why? (from 'Indigo')
What did the peasants pay the British landlords as rent and why? (from 'Indigo')
Updated On: Sep 24, 2026
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Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Recalling the Text:
Under the tinkathia system described in Louis Fischer's 'Indigo', peasants in Champaran were forced by British landlords to grow indigo on three-twentieths (3/20th) of their total land as a condition of their tenancy.
Step 2: Explaining Why:
The landlords wanted indigo because it was a highly profitable cash crop for the international dye market; peasants paid it as rent instead of money because the landlords compelled cultivation as a lease condition, benefiting from cheap forced labour and produce.
Final Answer:
The peasants had to grow and hand over indigo, cultivated on 3/20th of their land under the tinkathia system, as rent to the British landlords, because indigo was a highly profitable export crop and the landlords used their power as lease-holders to force this arrangement for their own commercial gain.
Under the tinkathia system described in Louis Fischer's 'Indigo', peasants in Champaran were forced by British landlords to grow indigo on three-twentieths (3/20th) of their total land as a condition of their tenancy.
Step 2: Explaining Why:
The landlords wanted indigo because it was a highly profitable cash crop for the international dye market; peasants paid it as rent instead of money because the landlords compelled cultivation as a lease condition, benefiting from cheap forced labour and produce.
Final Answer:
The peasants had to grow and hand over indigo, cultivated on 3/20th of their land under the tinkathia system, as rent to the British landlords, because indigo was a highly profitable export crop and the landlords used their power as lease-holders to force this arrangement for their own commercial gain.
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