In May and June 1875, peasants of Maharashtra, some parts of Poona (now known as Pune), and Ahmednagar districts revolted against increasing agrarian distress.
The rioters' specific purpose was to obtain and destroy the bonds, decrees, and other documents in the possession of the moneylenders.
After the civil war, the cotton demands fell drastically and moneylenders started recovering their money by charging high interests from ryots.
[2] As Indian agriculture was drawn into the world economy, credit, commerce, inequality and growth were interrelated.
The cultivators' distress resulted from falling agricultural prices, heavy taxation, and a sense of political powerlessness.
Someone betrayed Phadke to claim a bounty offered by the colonial government; he was arrested and deported to Aden, where he died of a hunger strike in 1883.