Pabna Peasant Uprising (1873-76) was a resistance movement by the peasants (“Ryots”) against the lords of the lands in Bengal (“zamindars”) in the Yusufshahi pargana (now the Sirajganj District, Bangladesh) in Pabna.
The Pabna rebellion was different from most contemporary peasant rebellions. This movement began as the peasants organised an agrarian league in May 1873 to resist the demands of the zamindars.
Pabna (now in Bangladesh) was a jute production and trading centre and was relatively prosperous. Here half of the cultivators had managed to win occupancy rights because of the Bengal Tenancy Act, 1859. But the zamindari rents had increased multiple times.
The zamindars tried to stop the peasants to get occupancy right and this was a reason of revolt there. The peasants were much more organised than in other revolts via meetings, appeals and marches. They moved to the court and challenged the zamindars, raised funds to pay for legal expenses, to meet the cost of legal battle. The movement was nonviolent to some extent but Zamindars were killed at some places and violence did happen.
