Debt bond
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"
Meaning
A debt bond was a written loan agreement between a ryot (peasant) and a moneylender. Colonial courts could enforce it. In the 19th-century Bombay Deccan, many peasants could not read. They signed or put their thumb-print on bonds without knowing what was written in them. Moneylenders could add false sums or harsh terms, and courts upheld the paper. Over time, peasants came to see these bonds as symbols of an unjust system.
Example
During the Deccan Riots of 1875, angry ryots attacked sahukars (moneylenders) and seized and burnt their bonds and account books. They were destroying the written proof of their debts.
Don't confuse with
- Deed of hire: this was a special kind of document. In it, a peasant who had already handed over his animals or carts to a moneylender took them back on rent. A debt bond simply recorded a loan.
Related concepts
- David Ricardo
- Ricardian theory of rent
- Rentier
- Bombay Deccan
- Thomas Munro
- Ryotwari system
- Temporary settlement
- Mahalwari system
- Malguzar
- Deccan famine of 1832-34