Bijolia movement
Peasant movement in Rajasthan
The Bijolia movement (Hindi: बिजोलिया आंदोलन) was a peasant movement in the Bijolia jagir of the former Mewar state (in present-day Rajasthan in India) against excessive land revenue exactions. Originating in the former jagir (feudal estate) of Bijolia (near the town of Bijolia in Bhilwara district), the movement gradually spread to neighbouring jagirs. Leadership to the movement was provided, at different times, by Fateh Karan Charan, Sadhu Sitaram Das, Vijay Singh Pathik, and Manikyalal Verma. The movement continued till 1941 after a bitter struggle lasting about half a century, gained national attention and resisted state oppression.
Origins
Land revenue and other taxes were the main issues behind the movement. Bijolia was a jagir in Mewar State, ruled by the Parmar jagirdar, one of the leading 16 nobles (solah umrao) in Mewar State. Peasant discontent started after the accession of Rao Sawai Kishan Singh ji to the jagir in 1894. "Rao Sawai" was the title given to the Jagirdars of the Pawar /Parmar dynasty who ruled on Bijolia; Rao Sawai Kishan Singh ji shuffled the administrative personnel of the jagir and the new officials were encouraged to realize more revenue from peasants. Certain taxis (lagat) which were formerly imposed under extraordinary circumstances for short periods were now made to last longer.
Early Phase (1897-1915)
In 1897, a delegation of peasants consisting of Nanji Patel of Berisal and Thakari Patel of Gopal Niwas went to Udaipur and attempted, in vain, to get an audience with the Maharana.
“Bijolia movement” enters the record as peasant movement in Rajasthan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bijolia, movement and Peasant can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16931004. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1894, 1897 and 1915.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bijolia movement” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.