Write about Birsa munda revolt
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Birsa Munda (1874-1900), the son of a sharecropper who had received some education from the missionaries came under Vaishnava influence and in 1893-94 participated in a movement to prevent village wastelands from being taken over by the Forest Department. In 1895 Birsa, claiming to have seen a vision of god, proclaimed himself a prophet with miraculous healing powers. Thousands flocked to hear the 'new word' of Birsa with its prophecy of an imminent deluge. The new prophet became a critic of the traditional tribal customs, religious beliefs and practices. He called upon the Mundas to fight against superstition, give up animal sacrifice, stop taking intoxicants, to wear the sacred thread and retain the tribal tradition of worship in the sarna or the sacred grove. It was essentially a revivalist movement, which sought to purge Munda society of all foreign elements and restore its pristine character. Christianity influenced the movement as well and it used both Hindu and Christian idioms to create the Munda ideology and worldview.