Mahatma Gandhi, who was an apostle of peace and non-violence, agitated in Champaran district of Bihar in 1917 and then in Kheda district of Gujarat in 1918. Although the term 'Satyagraha' was coined in 1919, when the Anti - Rowlatt Act protests took place, Champaran witnessed this kind of non-violent protests for the first time.
The protests in Champaran took place as the British introduced farming of cash crops like indigo, which they bought at a low price for export. Opium was also extracted from the seeds of poppy, which was grown to export to China to fill the coffers of the imperialist rulers. The protests were against two decisions of the British, viz., forcing farmers to cultivate cash crops in place of food crops, which they earlier cultivated for sustenance, and payment of abysmally low wages to the growers. Rajendra Prasad, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Brajkishore Prasad, Acharya Kripalani and many others took part in the agitation with Gandhiji.
Satyagraha was actually a mass civil disobedience movement. Gandhiji set up an ashram and volunteers in scores joined his agitation. He then began cleaning up the villages, built hospitals and schools, induced villagers to remove untouchability and do away with the purdah system. After this, people became conscious of their rights and nonviolent protests were all they would do. This culminated in the arrest of Gandhiji. He was later released by an order of the court, after the agitators agitated gathered en masse in front of the police station and the court. Thereafter, Gandhiji was called Bapu across the country. The Champaran movement brought to heel the British rulers and their cohorts, the wealthy landlords; the poor farmers were subsequently paid remunerative wages and their farming right of the desired crops was restored.