Question

Which was the first tribal movement in India?

Answer 1

2. The Munda Rebellion:

One of the prominent revolts of nineteenth century tribal rebellions in the Indian subcontinent was the Munda Rebellion. This rebellion was led by Birsa Munda in the south of Ranchi in the year 1899. The “Great Tumult” aimed to establish Munda raj and independence.

Traditionally, the Mundas enjoyed a preferential rent rate known as the khuntkattidar, which meant the original clearer of the forest. However, in course of time, the Mundas realized that this system of khuntkattidar is being corroded by the jagirdars and thikadars who came as moneylenders and as traders.

This kind of land alienation started before the advent of the Britishers. However, after the establishment of the British rule, the movement into the tribal regions by the non-tribals increased. This, in turn, led to increase in the practice of forced labor or beth began.

The corrupt contractors have indeed turned the region into a recruiting ground for bonded labor. Another major change was that a number of Anglican, Lutheran and Catholic missions established their stand during the British rule. The tribal people became more aware of their rights due to the spread of education, which was provided by the missionaries.

The social cleavage between the Christian and non-Christian Mundas deepened due to which the solidarity of the tribals got diluted. Therefore, there were two reasons for the revitalization of the movement, one was agrarian discontent and the other was the advent of Christianity. The movement aimed to reconstruct the tribal society from disintegration, which was staring in its face due to the stress and strains of the colonial rule.

Birsa Munda was born in 1874. He was the son of a sharecropper. He received some education from the missionaries. In the year 1893-1994, Birsa under the Vaishnava influ­ence involved himself in a movement, which aimed to prevent the government from taking over the village wastelands.

In the year 1895, Birsa claimed to possess miraculous healing powers and declared himself as the prophet. Many people came to hear the new words from Birsa. Birsa criticized the traditional tribal customs, beliefs, and practices.

He encouraged the Mundas to fight against the superstitions, renounce animal sacrifices, stop taking the intoxicants, wear the sacred thread, and to continue the traditional tribal worship in the sacred grove. The Munda rebellion was essentially a revivalis movement that aimed to eliminate all the foreign elements from the Munda society in order to make it retain its original pure character.

The political and agrarian elements were then induced into the religious movement. Since 1858, Christian tribal peasants began to lead an offensive against the alien landlords and the beth begari system through lawsuits. This movement was popularly known as Mulkai ladai or Sardari ladai.

The total picture of the Birsa Munda’s religious movement changed with the Sardari movement. Though, initially the Sardars were not interested in Birsa, they came to seek his help due to his popularity and for providing a stable base for their movement. Though, Birsa was influenced by the Sardars, he was not a puppet of the Sardars and despite a common background of the two movements, they differed in their nature.

The Sardars wanted only the elimination of the intermediary interests whereas Birsa was aiming at attaining complete independence, both religious and political. The main objective of the movement was to claim the rights of the Mundas and make them the real proprietors of the land. According to Birsa, such an ideal agrarian system would be possible only if they are free from the European officials and missionaries, which later on can contribute to the establishment of the Munda Raj.

Fearing a conspiracy, the Britishers arrested Birsa in 1895 and jailed him for two years. After returning from jail, Birsa became a more furious agitator. There were a series of night-time meetings, which were held in forest during 1898-1899 in which Birsa alleg­edly advocated the killing of thikadars, jagirdars, rajas, hakims, and Christians.

The activists attacked the police stations, officials, churches, and missionaries. Though there was a sign of antagonistic attitude against the dikus, there were very few cases of attacks on them. In 1899, on Christmas eve,the Mundas attacked the churches, which covered an area of six police stations in the districts of Singhbhum and Ranchi.

In January 1900, rumors were spread that Birsas’ followers were attacking Ranchi. However, on January 9th, the rebels were defeated. Around 350 Mundas were arrested and among them three were hanged to death and 44 were transported for life. Birsa was also cap­tured and he died in jail in 1900.