CBSE Class 10 Answered

The gomastha were the paid workers appointed by the Company officials to supervise weavers, collect supplies, and examine the quality of cloth. Three reasons for the clashes between weavers and Gomasthas:

• In pre-colonial period, the supply merchants had very often lived within the weaving villages, and had a close relationship with the weavers, looking after their needs and helping them in times of crisis.
• The new gomasthas were outsiders, with no long-term social link with the village and hence had no affinity with the villagers.
• They acted arrogantly, marched into villages with sepoys and peons, and punished weavers for delays in supply even beating and flogging them.
• The weavers lost the space to bargain for prices and sell products to different buyers.