1. Check your understanding by unscrambling the answers given in brackets.
1. non-tribal merchants, middlemen and moneylenders (KUIDS)
2. the system of forced labour prevalent among the Mundas (BTEBGHEAIR)
3. Birsa Munda was supposed to possess these powers (PNTRASREUUAL)
4. the type of cultivation practiced by tribes in the forested areas (IIFTNSGH)
5. the tribal people who were against the Permanent Settlement (HLSAASNT)
Answers
Answer:
In 1895, a man named Birsa was seen roaming the forests
and villages of Chottanagpur in Bihar. People said he had
miraculous powers – he could cure all diseases and multiply
grain. Birsa himself declared that God had appointed him
to save his people from trouble, free them from the slavery
of dikus (outsiders). Soon thousands began following Birsa,
believing that he was bhagwan (God) and had come to solve
all their problems.
Birsa was born in a family of Mundas – a tribal group that
lived in Chottanagpur. But his followers included other
tribals of the region – Santhals and Oraons. All of them in
different ways were unhappy with the changes they
were experiencing and the problems they were facing under
British rule. Their familiar ways of life
seemed to be disappearing, their livelihoods
were under threat, and their religion appeared
to be in danger.
What problems did Birsa set out to
resolve? Who were the outsiders being
referred to as dikus, and how did they enslave
the people of the region? What was happening
to the tribal people under the British? How
did their lives change? These are some of the
questions you will read about in this chapter.
You have read about tribal societies last
year. Most tribes had customs and rituals
that were very different from those laid
down by Brahmans. These societies also
did not have the sharp social divisions that
were characteristic of caste societies. All
those who belonged to the same tribe thought
of themselves as sharing common ties
of kinship.