What was the characteristics of the Santhal rebellion?
Answers
The Santhals are a group of tribals largely concentrated in Bihar. They are mainly agriculturists. The first peasant movement which took place in India dates back to Santhal insurrection of 1855-56. This insurrection has reference to the establishment of the Permanent Land Settlement of 1793.
The settlement pattern initiated by the British took away lands from the Santhals which they had cultivated for centuries. The jamindars took land on auction from the British government and gave it to the peasants who took it for cultivation.
The jamindars and moneylenders and also groups of Europeans and government officers increased the land tax and oppressed the common peasantry. The Santhals were subdued to an extent that they decided to rise against the jamindars, moneylenders and traders.
In the beginning, following Permanent Land Settlement, the Santhals in Bihar did not resist much. They even took to limits of retreat and moved towards the borders of the plains of the Ganga at the very place where the competition for land was the keenest and the rents were the highest. This was unbearable for the Santhals. They took to insurrection.