Question

What was importance of birsa movment

Answer 1

Birsa Movement was led by Birsa Munda in areas of modern Bihar and Jharkhand

The Mundas were the frustrated tribal people who resorted to rebel several times in 1789, 1807, 1812, 1819 and 1832 in Bihar & modern Jharkhand. These revolts were because of the undue interference by the administration and the attitude of the landlords.

About Birsa Munda

The name of Birsa Munda (1875-1900) is cherished in India as one of the great freedom fighters. He raised the voice against the transformation of the tribal agrarian system into the feudal state around the Chhotanagpur area. In 1900, at the age of 25, he was captured by British and put into prison. He died most probably because of the torture in prison.

Today, Birsa Munda is a venerated figure in Bihar and Jharkhand. His name decorates the airport of Ranchi and Birsa Institute of Technology, Ranchi. The followers of Birsa Munda are called Birsait.

“Aranyer Adhikar” which means “Right to the Forest” was a novel of Mahashweta Devi Published in 1977. This novel was based upon the Munda Rebellion and Mahashweta Devi got “Sahitya Akademi Award”  for Bengali in 1979 for this work.

Answer 2

is remembered today in areas of Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh.[6]

The British colonial system intensified the transformation of the tribal agrarian system into feudal state. As the tribals with their primitive technology could not generate a surplus, non-tribal peasantry were invited by the chiefs in Chhotanagpur to settle on and cultivate the land. This led to the alienation of the lands held by the tribals. The new class of Thikadars was of a more rapacious kind and eager to make most of their possessions.

In 1856 Jagirdars stood at about 600, and they held from a village to 150 villages. By 1874, the authority of the old Munda or Oraon chiefs had been almost entirely effaced by that of the farmers, introduced by the superior landlord. In some villages the aborigines had completely lost their proprietary rights, and had been reduced to the position of farm labourers.

To the twin challenges of agrarian breakdown and culture change, Birsa along with the Munda responded through a series of revolts and uprisings under his leadership. The movement sought to assert rights of the Mundas as the real proprietors of the soil, and the expulsion of middlemen and the British. He was treacherously caught on 3 February 1900 and died in mysterious conditions on 9 June 1900 in Ranchi Jail. He didn't show any symptoms of cholera though British government declared that he died because of cholera. Though he lived for a very short span of 25 years, he aroused the mind-set of the tribals and mobilized them in a small town of Chotanagpur and was a terror to the British rulers. After his death the movement faded out. However, the movement was significant in at least two ways. First it forced the colonial government to introduce laws so that the land of the tribals could not be easily taken away by the dikus (outsiders). Second it showed once again that the tribal people had the capacity to protest against injustice and express their anger against colonial rule. They did this in their own way, inventing their own rituals and symbols of struggle.

Arrest and deathEdit

He was arrested on 3 March 1900 in Jamkopai forest, Chakradharpur while he was sleeping along his tribal guerrilla army which was fighting against British forces.[2] About 460 tribal people were arrested of which one was given with capital punishment, 39 were awarded for transportation for life and 23 for 14 years jail. Birsa Munda died in Ranchi Jail on 9 June 1900.[2]