Tea is Sparkling

Tea is sparkling.
“ Tea is the sparkling Subject of my Song,
Come, fairer Sex, and listen to my Tongue;
For, what you love so dearly, I defend,
And thus its Virtues to the World commend.
Before the Berry, Barly-Corn and Grape,
TEA arrived at its natural shape:
Which we can prove: For ev’ry Body knows,
The Leaf, before the Berry, always grows.
So, TEA thus flourish’d on its Parent’s Arms,
Before the Grape and Apple shew’d their Charms.
TEA is the Liquor of the Fair and Wise;
It cheers the Mind without the least Disguise: “

This is an extract from a poem on Tea written by
Duncan Campbell way back in 1735.

I do not intend to raise a storm over a cup of tea.
But the fact remains that the diverse accounts of the
history, origin and development of tea is an
indicator to the public obsession with ‘tea’.

The charismatic appeal of tea is irresistible.
Tea is a great leveller. Its popularity
can be measured in terms of its acceptability
to all sections of people cutting across the
barrier of caste, creed, religion, community,
rich or poor. Tea now occupies an unenviable
position in our life, society and nation.
In fact, it is an integral part of our culture.
As a symbol of warmth and hospitality, we
often take the help of tea to meet our
requirement. Such is its enviable position
that daily life without tea is almost
unthinkable.

It is difficult to trace the history and
origin of tea as it all goes back to a distant
past. However, it is generally accepted that
China is the indisputable home of Tea.
Tradition ascribes the discovery of the tea
bush to the Emperor Shin Nong, three
thousand years before the Christian era,
but today not many are inclined to vouch
for it.

According to a much later legend, quoted
by Samuel Ball, Tea was discovered in
the time of the Tsin Dynasty in the third
Century AD. In the reign of Yuen Ty in
the dynasty of Tsin, an old woman used
to go to the market place at the break of
the day, carrying a cup of tea on the palm
of her hand. The people bought it eagerly;
and yet, from the break of day to the close
of evening, the cup was never exhausted.
The money received she distributed among
the orphans and the beggars frequenting
the highways. This aroused suspicion in
the minds of the people who seized and
confined her in prison. However at night
she managed to escape and fled out through
the prison window with her little vase in
her hand.

Tea came to India as an after effect of the
great Industrial Revolution. Warren Hastings
realised that if the East India Company was
to prosper, it would have to promote industrial
development. Silk, cotton cloth, indigo and
several other commodities received his attention
and at the same time he devoted particular
efforts to the promotion of trade with Tibet
and other neighbouring countries.When tea seeds
from China began to arrive in India, Waren
Hastings had a selection of them sent to
George Bogle, the British emissary then
in Bhutan.Although nothing concrete came
out of this, he vigorously pursued the
matter.In 1778, Sir Joseph Banks was asked
to prepare a series of notes for the
East India Company on the cultivation of
tea in India. He began by discussing the
geographical limits within which satisfactory
tea could be produced and on the basis of the
experience of China and Japan, arrived at the
conclusion that black tea grew best between
the 26th and 30th parallel of latitude and
green tea between 30th and 35th.The process
was hastened with the refusal of the
Chinese Govt. in 1833 to renew the agreement
granting the East India Company the rights or
monopoly of British trade with China.
After the lapse of the treaty,the East India
Company took initiative for more vigorous
steps to establish a source of supply
from India. A Committee was appointed by
Lord Bentinck, the Governor General in 1834
to study “A plan for the accomplishment of
the introduction of tea culture in India and
for the superintendence of its execution.”

There is, however, some uncertainty as to
who really first discovered the tea plant.
The rival claimants for this honour of the
discovery were C. A. Bruce and Captain
Chartlon of the Bengal Army. But later on,
it was found that the first discoverer
of tea plant in India was Major Robert Bruce,
brother of C. A. Bruce who first found the
tea plant growing in Tezpur, Assam.

In Cachar, indigenous tea was first
discovered in 1855. But speculation
regarding the possibility of tea
cultivation in this district began soon
after its annexation to the British territory
in 1832. At the instance of Mr. Gordon,
Secretary, Tea Culture Committee, Captain Fisher
the then Superintendent, sometime in 1834
tried to contact people coming from the
province Yunun of China to learn from them
the conditions as regards soil, rainfall,
climate etc. required for the cultivation of
tea. Although, he could not collect enough
information he submitted a report stating
that Cachar would be suitable for the
plantation of tea. It is interesting that
Captain Fisher was not aware of the rampant
and wild growth of tea plants in the jungles
of the district.

The discovery of tea plants in Cachar in
1855 was not the result of any conscious
effort on the part of any individual.
Further research revealed that the plant
identified in the jungles of Cachar District
was the genuine tea plant. Mr. R.Stewart the
then Superintendent took the initiative and
located tea plants growing in abundance in
certain areas. Thereafter, the tea
plantation really took off in the district.
This brought a significant change in every
aspect of life. The impact has been so great
that the present district of Cachar is
considered as gift of tea industry.

Tea industry has wide ramifications.
It is just not possible to cover all aspects
of the industry in a small presentation like
this. Hence, I would like to confine myself to
a particular aspect, which has struck me as
highly interesting and unique in nature.
This pertains to methods of payment to large
labour-force of the tea gardens in the
beginning of the twentieth century when the
banking system in the sense we understand today
was totally non-existent. In this context, it
may be mentioned that Sylhet now in Bangladesh
and Cachar in undivided India were the
constituents of SVBITA. Let us see in
retrospect what methods of payment were adopted
by the garden management to pay off the labourers.

The 1906 Labour Enquiry Committee made an interesting
reference to this subject.

“Many gardens in Sylhet pay their labourers daily;
each morning tin tickets are issued for the work of
the day before; the shape of the ticket varies for
a whole hazri, a three-quarter hazri and a half
hazri. These tickets are cashed once a week,
but naturally have always money value on the garden.
The system is very popular on most gardens.
But there are some where it has been introduced
and subsequently discontinued at the request of
the coolies on the ground that it tempts them to
extravagance. These were probably gardens where
there was a settled well-to-do force. On the
Sonarupa Tea Estate the coolies even asked to
have their ticca pice, which are usually paid
daily, paid monthly. In the opinion of
the Committee the system of daily payments has
many advantages especially in the case of newly
imported coolies. The Committee would recommend
the more general adoption of the system,
particularly in the Assam Valley. It would
probably tend to make work on tea gardens more
popular, and it should at any rate be given an
extended trial for coolies during their first
year of residence, who have no capital laid by
with which to support themselves from month’s end
to month’s end. The coolie knows day by day exactly
what he is earning; disputes are settled on the
spot, and he is encouraged to turn out and work
by the feeling that his reward will be immediate.”

The Enquiry Committee of 1921 also dealt
with this matter.

“In many gardens in the Surma Valley, it is
the practice, at morning muster to pay for
the previous day’s work with brass tokens of
different face values; once a week the gardens
cash the tokens or pay commission to a
shop-keeper. These tokens to a large extent
take the place of current coin in the
neighbouring shops and bazaar. The Committee
have heard of cases where the tokens were not
honoured at their full face value by shop-keepers.
There is this advantage in the system that
a coolie knows what he has earned for a given
piece of work, as he gets a cash equivalent
at once. If care is taken to check abuses such
as discount being charged by shop-keepers,
their seems to be no objection to this old-
established system. It might be inconvenient
for gardens to keep a stock of small coin for
daily payments. Under this system ticca is
usually paid in a lump sum weekly. A Manager
in Sylhet informed Members of the Committee
who inspected his garden that the only
merit of the ticket system was that it
ensured a good muster every morning and in
this way conduced to better discipline.”


Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the
modalities of payment to the labour force
as they existed during that time would not
have been successfully implemented without
the active support of the local business
organisations of repute and standing.
One such organisation which formed an integral
part of the system was Pirdhan Routhmall & Company,
a business organisation of over 100 years standing
having been set up in 1896 at Srimangal in the
erstwhile district of Sylhet in undivided India,
now in Bangladesh. Srimangal was a small township
surrounded by many big tea gardens. This firm
had a close linkage with the tea industry since
its inception. It was a part in the system of
payments to the labourers by the garden management.
On the basis of an understanding between this firm
and the garden management brass tokens widely
acceptable within the limit of garden bazaars and
neighbouring town markets issued for the payments
to the labourers used to be converted to currency
by the firm on production of the token at their counter.
The garden management remained responsible for
settlement of such convertibility. The service
rendered by the firm was an effective bridge between
markets and garden managements. This was a big factor
in reinforcing the relationship between the firm and
SVBITA and developing an inseparable bond which still
persists without any interruption or blemish.



Thus tea flows freely like a sparkling river of life
connecting the past with the present and the future.
It bridges distances and links people. It not only
supports many lives but is a part of our tradition
and heritage. Let us salute ‘TEA‘


(H. M. Gulgulia)