1Associate Professor, Department of History, Hindu College University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India, Email id: arbverma@yahoo.co.in
The first Satyagraha was launched by Mahatma Gandhi in Champaran in 1917, the district known for oppressive European indigo planters excessively exploiting indigo producing peasants in the region of Bihar in colonial India. The Champaran Satyagraha led by Gandhi transformed the nature of the Indian National Movement by involving ordinary masses as participants in the freedom struggle. In the process, a new public sphere was created that focused on non - literate, uneducated peasants, whose lives were marked by many differences. The Champaran peasants joined the Satyagraha voluntarily and during its course ceased to be strangers to each other thus becoming part of a new paradigm in the Indian National Movement. As Satyagraha progressed, it made Champaran turn into an exemplary community, tied together to shared commitments simply as satyagrahis.
Gandhi, Satyagraha, Champaran, European Indigo Planters, Champaran Peasants, Indian National Movement
