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PUBLISHERS' NOTE
Nil Darpan, a drama depicting the pitiable condition of Bengal under the tyranny of Indigo planters, is too famous a work to need any words of introduction. Yet the readers will find exhaustive information about the drama, its social and political background etc., in the Editorial Note that follows. Let it suffice to say that Nil Darpan, apart from its dramatic quality, is a rare historical document worthy to be read by all. As the father of the Bengali novel Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya pointed out, Nil Darpan was the first Bengali literary work to be translated into a number of European languages and to win laurels wherever it had been published. We take this opportunity of extending our sincerest thankfulness and gratitude to Dr. Subodh C. Sen Gupta M.A., P.R.S., Ph.D., Principal of Presidency College, who is too well-known a figure in Bengal's literary world to need an introduction. He took the trouble of going through the English rendering of Bankimchandra's biographical sketch of Dinabandhu Mitra, and found it faithful and happy.
EDITORIAL NOTE
The original Bengali drama was first published on the second day of the Bengali month of ASWIN, Sakabda 1782 (corresponding to 1860 A.D.) by one Mr. Ram Chandra Bhowmick from Dacca (now East Pakistan). A high Government official under the British, the author chose to remain anonymous. The title page carried a couple of lines which in effect meant that the drama had been written by a traveller who wanted to give a message of hope to the peasants in their struggle against the poisonous reptiles in the shape of rapacious Indigo Planters. The first English translation appeared in April or May 1861 (as per statement by Mr. C. H. Manuel, the printer). In the introduction it was pointed out that the author of the drama as well as its translator were natives; both were then in the employ of the Government. The title page of that edition is reprinted in the present edition. The second English edition was brought out in London by Simpkin, Marshall & Co., Ltd., in 1862. The second Indian edition of the English version was published in 1903 by Messrs A. N. ANDINI & Co., Calcutta. In this edition the text of the proceedings of the trial of the Rev. Mr. Long was added with all relevant documents, relating particularly to the trial and Indian and foreign newspaper comments thereon. It was compiled by Mr. Kumud Behari Bose and entitled “Trial of The Rev. James Long. And The of Drama Nil Durpan” with 'Indigo planters and all about them' as a sub-title. The compiler mentioned the name of the author in his preface but hastened to add that he was neither adding to, nor omitting anything from, what had emerged from the court-proceedings. The reason assigned was that he did not like to give occassion for another protracted and vexatious trial. In preparing the present edition I have followed the text of the second Indian edition of the translation. Every care, however, has been taken in the preparation of this edition to compare the text of the English version with that of the original Bengali, as published by the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Calcutta, which claims to have followed the text of the first edition. Therefore, the book presented in these pages is the first ever-faithful English edition of the original Bengali drama with the names of the author and the translator printed on the title page. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND NIL DARPAN was published a few years after India's first great struggle for national independence, miscalled Sepoy Mutiny by some historians. This mighty upheaval was followed by a series of skrimishes between the foreign Indigo planters and Indian ryots in different parts of Bengal, Behar and U. P. To the planters of those days indigo was worth more than its weight in gold, as until the introduction of tea-planting it was the most important Indian staple grown by foreign capital. In the opinion of the Directors of the East India Company, Indigo industry provided their servants in India with “a mode of remitting their fortunes to Europe which would be legal, advantageous and adequate.” The Nil Darpan thus reflects a great social upheaval in Bengal. But it is not merely an expression of the conflict between the British Indigo planters and ryots, rich and poor. The drama also brings out, subtly and yet effectively, the rift, and the division that occurred between the different classes in the society and between the different sections in Government as a result of this conflict. In fact, the rule of unmitigated tyranny unleashed by the Indigo planters on the soil of Bengal not only caused an active discontent amongst the people of Bengal; it moved the more sympathetic sections of the British in India, and met with serious opposition from the more thinking sections of the administrators here. As a matter of fact, the issue of Indigo caused a serious unrest among the rulers and the ruled—a section of the ruling class having already begun thinking if the Indigo issue was not going to bring about the end of British rule in India. From the very beginning, the planters were opposed by the missionaries, and later on, by a section of the civilians. The struggle that ensued and continued over a long period becomes manifest in the allegations brought by the planters against the missionaries and the British Indian civilians: 1. “How long would the missionaries remain in India, if they were not backed and protected by British bayonets? The planters, being now deserted by those who hold bayonets at their command, are, as a matter of course, thrown into the power of a hostile race who hate civilian, missionary and planter in equal degree, or perhaps the missionary the most and the planter the least. The mutiny gives conclusive evidence of the hatred borne by natives to all Europeans or indeed Christians—surely it is a very suicidal policy for one set of Englishmen to ruin another in a foreign country, and even the thinking portion of the natives must laugh at the house divided against itself and be full of hope that their time is coming to gain ascendancy, when they see Mr. Grant at his work.”
[Brahmin and Pariahs: Pp 69-70]
2. “In the early days of Indian Empire our civilian went out of England—a mere boy—and he found himself at once a member of a dominant and privileged class. The millions of Hindusthan all bowed themselves to the dust before him. He was taught—and how soon is such a lesson learnt—to consider himself a supreme being to those around him. As the common phrase in India runs he was one of the heaven-born. After a few years of subordinate office, with a salary greater than that of the grey-headed barrister in judicial position at home, he became in some far-away province, the pro-consul of great sovereign company. He had no knowledge of law, either in its principle or its practice, yet he sat in judgement on the millions of mankind, and the Indian princes were his suitors. He knew little, if anything, of the principle of finance, yet he administered the finances as well as the judicial functions of his province. He was ignorant of the habits and customs of the people, and he had a bare smattering of their language, yet his fiat was practically without appeal in all cases, from a contest between two farmers to the confiscation of the possession of an ancient line of princes. He was irresponsible. No crime, however great, could ever be proved against him. In the history of the company there is scarcely an instance of a 'senior merchant' or a 'collector' having been publicly or privately dismissed from service.”
[Brahmin and Pariahs: P. 13]
But among the British residents of India there were men who were far-sighted enough to realize the dangers of letting the peasant discontent grow. Indeed some had been even moved by the ryots' plight. Amongst them were Sir J. P. Grant, once Lieutenant Governor of Bengal, W. Seton-Karr, a high official, Mr. Eden, once Magistrate of Barasat, and many others. Sir J. P. Grant was the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal from 1859-62 and had earned great fame by helping the passing of the Widow Remarriage Bill, and by lending his support to the cause of the Bengali ryots victimized by the Indigo planters. In the words of Macaulay, J. P. Grant was one of the "flowers" of the Calcutta society. According to the Hindu Patriot, "he has awakened in the raiyat a community of feeling for a community of suffering… …a spirit of independence… …" When two of our own great Indians, Raja Rammohun Roy and Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, expressed their appreciation of the 'constructive activities' of the Indigo planters, Mr. Eden, Magistrate of Barasat, submitted before the Indigo Commission a statement which set out inter alia: the following "As a general rule I do not think the residence of Indigo planters has improved to any great extent the physical and moral condition of the people." Rev. James Long was the most important of those who supported the cause of the ryot. He was a missionary with a clear head, a compassionate heart and a sociologist's outlook. He came to India in 1840 after spending his childhood in Russia. His writings reveal his concern for the poor and his love for humanity. While in Russia he took interest in her folklore. Before publishing this English version of the Nil Darpan, he collected folk songs set to tune and sung throughout Bengal, depicting the plight of the peasants engaged in Indigo plantation. He had so many pioneering works to his credit that he could claim the honour of being India's first sociologist. Rev. Long's statement as a defendant, and the evidence of a contemporary British Magistrate of Faridpur (now a district of East Pakistan) before the Indigo Commission are historically important. Along with the actions of J. P. Grant, Seton-Karr and others these two documents serve to show the attitude of a section of honest and intelligent Britishers to the vexed and burning Indigo question. Mr. E. Delatour, the then Magistrate of Faridpur, said before the Indigo Commission: "there is one thing more I wish to say; that considerable odium has been thrown on the missionaries for saying that 'not a chest of Indigo reached England without being stained with human blood.' That has been stated to be an anecdote. That expression is mine and I adopt it in the fullest and broadest sense of its meaning, as the result of my experience as a magistrate in Faridpur District. I have seen several ryots sent to me as a magistrate, who have been speared through the body. I have had ryots before me who have been shot down by Mr. Forde (a planter). I have put on record how others have been first speared and then kidnapped and such a system of carrying of indigo, I consider to be a system of Bloodshed". Rev. J. Long, in his statement to the court, put forward his reasons for publishing the Nil Darpan. As has already been said, Rev. Long's views were shared by a number of British officials who helped him to circulate the edition of the Nil Darpan among the influential circles of the day. Speaking about W. Seton-Karr, President of the Indigo Commission and later Secretary to the Govt. of Bengal, planters were so angry with him that there was an attempt to put him up as the main culprit in place of Rev. Long. This attempt was foiled by Rev. Long who took upon himself the full responsibility for the publication of the English version. He stated his reasons before the Court thus: "I will now state the grounds why as a clergyman opposed to war I published the Nil Darpan. My Lord, four years only have elapsed since Calcutta was waiting in trembling anxiety for the result of the mutiny. Few could look with calmness on the future, while watch and ward were kept all night by the citizens. Many felt then, as I had felt long before, how unsafe it was for the English to reside in India in ignorance of and indifference to the current of the native feeling. The mutiny in common with the Afghan War has shown that the English in India were generally unacquainted with it; so a short time previous to the mutiny, the Santhal war burst out unexpectedly to the public. For a long period, thugge and torture prevailed in India without the English knowing anything of them. Had I, as a missionary, previous to the mutiny, been able to submit to men of influence a native drama which would have thrown light on the views of the Sepoys and native chiefs how valuable.. My Lord, the mutiny has passed away; who knows what is in the future. As a clergyman and friend of the peaceable residence of my countrymen in India, I beg to state the following as a motive for my editing such a work as the Nil Darpan. I, for years, have not been able to shut my eyes to what many able men see looming in the distance. It may be distant or it may be near; but Russia and Russian influence are rapidly approaching the frontiers of India. Her influence so manifest in Cabul 20 years ago, as shown in a recent parliamentary blue book, was beginning to be felt in India during the last mutiny". This apart, the peasants of Bengal did not allow the tyranny of the Indigo planters go unresisted. A missionary who lived in Nadia where the real drama of the Indigo tyranny was enacted wrote thus: They [the peasants: Ed] had divided themselves into about six different companies. One company consists merely of bowmen, another, of slingsmen like David of old. Another company consists of brickwallas, for which purpose they have even, as I hear, collected the scattered bricks about my own compound. Another company consists of balewallas. Their business is merely to send unripe bale fruits at the heads of the lattials. Again another division consists of thalwallas who fling their brass rice-plates in a horizontal way at the enemy which does great execution. Again, another division consists of rolawallas who receive the enemy with whole and broken well-burned earthen pots. The Bengali women do at times great execution with this weapon." [From a letter of Rev. C. Bomwetsch, dated 25.1.1860 to the Editor, Indian Field] The brief survey in the foregoing paragraphs helps to give the reader an idea about the social and political milieu in which the Nil Darpan was written. In fact it was written when Lord Canning, writing to the Home Government, said: "I assure you that for about a week it caused me more anxiety than I have had since the days of Delhi…and from that day I felt that a shot fired in anger or fear by one foolish planter might put every factory in lower Bengal in flames." Its impact on the different strata of the society was great. As the publisher of the English version of the Nil Darpan Rev. J. Long was imprisoned and fined. His fine was paid by that great son of Bengal, Kaliprasanna Sinha. Rev. Long's cell became a place of pilgrimage to both Indians and Europeans. THE DRAMA To come to the drama, NIL DARPAN is firmly based on facts. To use a modern phraseology, it is documentary in nature. Its characters and situations are largely drawn from real life. The hero, Nabin Madhab, and his brother, Bindhu Madhab, bear a marked resemblance to Bishnu Charan Biswas and Digambar Biswas of the Chowgacha village in Nadia, a district in Bengal. The kidnapping and torture of the peasant woman Khetramony in the play is a dramatic version of the kidnapping of Haramani, an event that caused deep and wide resentment in the country. Even the magistrates, referred to in the drama, represent real British officials with their identities suitably marked. The dialogue in the drama makes use of actual statements made by Government officials before the Indigo Commission [Ref. the dialogue of the Mukhtears in the Trial Scene of the play.] It refers to the actions taken by Sir J. P. Grant and W. Seton-Karr in favour of the ryots. The Nil Darpan has linked the names of Dinabandhu, Michael and Rev. J. Long for ever. It helped to launch the professional Bengali stage in its career. The actors and actresses taking part in this drama were in constant danger of being manhandled by the British officials. Two very well-known incidents, proving the force and power of this great drama, may be mentioned in this connection. A performance in a town of Sanjukta Pradesh (United Provinces), while in progress, had to be given up as the British army men rushed to the stage with drawn swords. On another occasion Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, the most courageous social reformer and the pioneer educationist of that age, while witnessing the play, was carried away by it to the extent that he took off one of his slippers and threw it at the head of Ardhendu Sekhar Mustafi who was playing the role of Mr. Rogue, an Indigo planter. The slipper was symbolic of the nation's reply to the atrocities of the Indigo planters. Never in his life did Ardhendu Sekhar receive better appreciation of his histrionic skill. These two incidents help to show the two aspects of this powerful drama. Obviously it could both bite and rouse. It is no mean drama that can, on the one hand, draw British swords out of their scabbards, and on the other, slippers off the feet of righteously indignant countrymen. Nil Darpan is indeed a magic mirror which reflects two faces: the face of the tyrant, and the face of the aggrieved victim of tyranny. From the point of view of mass appeal the first half of the drama is still capable of retaining complete grip over the audience. The second half probably required slight excisions and abridgements, here and there, from the productional point of view. As one of those who had helped to revive the play after an interval of more than 60 years, I can say that it has lost none of its old fire, its old magic. THE TRANSLATOR Before I conclude I feel it necessary to say a few words about the translation. Michael Dutt was probably the ideal man to undertake the job. He was a master of English language and he was probably at home in the patois in which the play was written—the dialect of the district of his birth. A few words here about this celebrated translator may not be out of place. On January 25, 1824, Madhushudan Dutt was born in Sagardari, a village in the district of Jessore. He got admitted in Hindu College in 1837 and was one of the brightest scholars of his college. He embraced Christianity in 1843 and came to be known as Michael Madhushudan Dutt. Michael Dutt acquired rare erudition in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Persian, besides English which he treated as his mother tongue for a long time—a language in which he thought, talked, wrote and dreamt. When he first started writing, it was in English, and his English translation of Ratnavali won him a great fame. In 1858 he joined the Police Court as its Head Clerk and Interpreter. During his work there he, at the request of his friends, wrote the drama Sharmistha, and it was staged with success. Since then Michael Dutt went on writing in Bengali and gave to the country dramas and poems of a rare quality which brought him an undying glory. Michael Dutt was the father of the Bengali sonnet and poem in Blank Verse. Tragedies, satires and lyrics are amongst his creations. In the meantime he had been to Europe and had returned as a barrister. It was Michael Madhushudan Dutt who formed the bridge between the culture of the East and the culture of the West. Speaking about him the great Bankimchandra has said: "There is a wind now blowing in our favour and we must hold our banner aloft—a banner on which is inscribed SRI MADHUSHUDAN." Speaking about the translation, we should refer to Rev. Long's public statement on 20.6.1861: "Coarse passages (and words, too: Ed) of the play had been expunged or softened in the translation." [Bengal under the Lieutenant Governors] For example, the name of the Indigo planter Mr. Rogue was translated as Mr. Rose (obviously for political reasons), and we have in this edition introduced Mr. Rogue (as in the original) as Mr. Rose (as in the first edition of the English translation) when he first appears on the stage, and later on, we have mentioned him as Mr. Rogue, following the original. Certain words and expressions have been wrongly translated. For example, Michael has translated Sarkiwalla [Spearman] as Soorkiwalla [brick-dust maker], and Bau [Bangle] as Bahu [daughter-in-law]. These are only two of many such inaccuracies. Michael Madhushudan has also left portions of the drama untranslated. It is rather difficult to explain these shortcomings. According to his biographers, the translation was the result of a solitary night's effort. Whatever it was, it cannot be denied that the translation bears in many places the mark of hurry. I am painfully aware of my limitation in the knowledge of English. Yet I have tried to fill up the lacuna with my translations and to amend Michael's translation when lapses were patently evident. The defects have been mended in the present edition, and it may be said that an honest attempt has been made to publish here a full-bodied translation of the Nil Darpan with all errors corrected and all omissions made good. Originally we thought of placing the mistakes and the corrections side by side in the body of the drama, but on further thought we have, for the sake of uninterrupted reading of the drama by our readers, refrained from doing so. The drama with all mistakes corrected may be now read without difficulty but at the end of the book an appendix is being given, containing a comparative study of such mistakes occurring in the first and second editions of the translation, and the corrections made in the present edition, the third Indian edition. Footnotes explaining difficult words or expressions belonging to the dialect of the original have been given here for the convenience of the readers. At the end of the book is given an English translation of the biographical sketch of Dinabandhu Mitra by Bankimchandra Chattopadhaya. This task of bringing out a new edition of the translation of the Nil Darpan has been quite a venturesome and arduous task, and if it were not for the help of my friends I should have failed in performing it. I express my grateful thanks to Sri Hemendra Prosad Ghosh, doyen of Bengali Journalism, for having allowed me to use his valuable library for this work. Last of all, I must express my heartfelt gratitude to Sri Sailesh Sengupta who has helped me throughout the work as a co-editor.
INTRODUCTION
by Rev. J. Long
The original Bengali of this Drama—the Nil Durpan, or Indigo Planting Mirror—having excited considerable interest, a wish was expressed by various Europeans to see a translation of it. This has been made by a Native; both the original and translation are bona fide Native productions and depict the Indigo Planting System as viewed by Natives at large. The Drama is the favourite mode with the Hindus for describing certain states of society, manners, customs. Since the days of Sir W. Jones, by scholars at Paris, St. Petersburgh, and London, the Sanskrit Drama has, in this point of view, been highly appreciated. The Bengali Drama imitates in this respect its Sanskrit parent. The evils of Kulin Brahminism, widow marriage prohibition, quackery, fanaticism, have been depicted by it with great effect. Nor has the system of Indigo planting escaped notice; hence the origin of this work, the Nil Durpan, which, though exhibiting no marvellous or very tragic scenes, yet, in simple homely language, gives the "annals of the poor"; pleads the cause of those who are the feeble; it describes a respectable ryot, a peasant proprietor, happy with his family in the enjoyment of his land till the Indigo System compelled him to take advances, to neglect his own land, to cultivate crops which beggared him, reducing him to the condition of a serf and a vagabond; the effect of this on his home, children and relatives are pointed out in language, plain but true; it shows how arbitrary power debases the lord as well as the peasant; reference is also made to the partiality of various Magistrates in favour of Planters and to the Act of last year penally enforcing Indigo contracts. Attention has of late years been directed by Christian Philanthropists to the condition of the ryots of Bengal, their teachers, and the oppression which they suffer, and the conclusion arrived at is, that there is little prospect or possibility of ameliorating the mental, moral, or spiritual condition of the ryot without giving him security of landed-tenure. If the Bengal ryot is to be treated as a serf, or a mere squatter or day-labourer, the missionary, the schoolmaster, even the Developer of the resources of India, will find their work like that of Sisyphus—vain and useless. Statistics have proved that in France, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, the education of the peasant, along with the security of tenure he enjoys on his small farms, has encouraged industrious, temperate, virtuous, and cleanly habits, fostered a respect for property, increased social comforts, cherished a spirit of healthy and active independence, improved the cultivation of the land, lessened pauperism, and has rendered the people averse to revolution, and friends of order. Even Russia is carrying out a grand scheme of serf-emancipation in this spirit. It is the earnest wish of the writer of these lines that harmony may be speedily established between the Planter and the Ryot, that mutual interests may bind the two classes together, and that the European may be in the Mofussil the protecting Aegis of the peasants, who may be able "to sit each man under his mango and tamarind tree, none daring to make him afraid."
THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE I present "The Indigo Planting Mirror" to the Indigo Planters' hands; now, let every one of them, having observed his face, erase the freckle of the stain of selfishness from his forehead, and in its stead, place on it the sandal powder of beneficence, then shall I think my labour successful, good fortune for the helpless class of ryots, and preservation of England's honour. Oh, ye Indigo Planters! Your malevolent conduct has brought a stain upon the English Nation, which was so graced by the ever-memorable names of Sydney, Howard, Hall, and other great men. Is your desire for money so very powerful, that through the instigation of that vain wealth, you are engaged in making holes like rust in the long acquired and pure fame of the British people? Abstain now from that unjust conduct through which you are raising immense sums as your profits; and then the poor people, with their families, will be able to spend their days in ease. You are now-a-days purchasing things worth a hundred rupees by expending only ten;—and you well know what great trouble the ryots are suffering from that. Still you are not willing to make that known, being entirely given up to the acquisition of money. You say, that some amongst you give donations to schools, and also medicine in time of need—but the Planters' donations to schools are more odious than the application of the shoe for the destruction of a milch cow, and their grants of medicine are like unto mixing the inspissated milk in the cup of poison. If the application of a little turpentine after being beat by Shamchand,[1] be forming a dispensary, then it may be said that in every factory there is a dispensary. The Editors of two daily newspapers are filling their columns with your praises; and whatever other people may think, you never enjoy pleasure from it, since you know fully the reason of their so doing. What surprising power of attraction silver has! The detestable Judas gave the great Preacher of the Christian religion, Jesus, into the hands of odious Pilate for the sake of thirty rupees; what wonder then, if the proprietors of two newspapers, becoming enslaved by the hope of gaining one thousand rupees, throw the poor helpless of this land into the terrible grasp of your mouths. But misery and happiness revolve like a wheel, and that the sun of happiness is about to shed his light on the people of this country, is becoming very probable. The most kind-hearted Queen Victoria, the mother of the people, thinking it unadvisable to suckle her children through maid-servants, has now taken them on her own lap to nourish them. The most learned, intelligent, brave, and open-hearted Lord Canning is now the Governor-General of India; Mr. Grant, who always suffers in the sufferings of his people, and is happy when they are happy, who punishes the wicked and supports the good, has taken charge of the Lieutenant-Governorship, and other persons, as Messers. Eden, Herschel, etc., who are all well-known for their love of truth, for their great experience and strict impartiality, are continually expanding themselves lotus-like on the surface of the lake of the Civil Service. Therefore, it is becoming fully evident that these great men will very soon take hold of the rod of justice in order to stop the sufferings which the ryots are enduring from the great giant Rahu, the Indigo Planter.
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- ↑ Shamchand is an instrument made of leather, used by the Planters for beating the ryots.