Tribal Movements/Tribal Uprisings

Status of Tribes in Relation to the Mainstream Society

• Tribals are located on the fringes of the mainstream society and constitute the lower stratum.
• Tribals, Adivasis, Aboriginals were usually the original inhabitants of vast tracts in western, central, southern, eastern, and north eastern parts of the country.
• With the exception of the north east, they had been reduced to a minority with the influx of outsiders and exposed to rapid changes. Barring a few, especially the frontier tribes, most tribes had some form of contact with the mainstream society.
• The socio economic differentiation amongst them in comparison to the mainstream society was significantly less. The tribes were politically autonomous and had their own system of justice.

Economic Base of Tribal Population

Shifting agriculture, hunting, Fishing and forest produce form the mainstay of their economic base. Use of forest products and shifting agriculture were very important parts of the tribal economy. 

Causes of Tribal Movements

1. Imposition of Land revenue Settlement:
Expansion of agriculture by the non- tribals to tribal area or over forest cover let to the erosion of tribal traditions of joint ownership and increased the socio-economic differentiation in the egalitarian structure of the tribal society.

2. Work of Christian Missionaries brought about further changes in the socio economic and cultural equation of the tribals and the mainstream society plus in turbulent times, the tendency of the missionaries to refuse to take up arms or in discouraging people from rising against the government made the missionaries to be viewed as extension of colonialism and were often attacked by the rebels.

3. Increasing demand for good from early nineteenth century- first for the royal navy and then railways, led to increasing control of government over forest land. The establishment of the Forest department in 1864, Government Forest Act(1865)and Indian Forest Act in 1878 together established complete government monopoly over Indian forest land. Shifting Agriculture, a wide spread practice amongst the various tribal communities was banned from 1864 onwards on the reserved forest. Restrictions were imposed on the previously sanctioned timber and grazing facilities.

4. Extension of settled agriculture led to influx of non tribals in the tribal areas. These outsiders exploited them and extension of settled agriculture led to the loss of land by the tribals which reduced them to agricultural labourers.

5. Some of the tribal uprising took place in reaction to the effect of the landlords to impose taxes on the customary use of timber and grazing facilities, police exaction, new excise regulations, exploitation by low country traders and money lenders, and restrictions on shifting cultivation in forest.

6. The rebellions by the non-frontier tribals were usually reactions against outsiders (dikus), local landlords and rulers, the support provided to the later by the British administration and intervention by them in the life of the tribals. The indigenous names for these tribal movements were Meli, Hool and Ul-Gulan.

7. Introduction of the notion of private property- Land could be bought, sold, mortgaged which led to loss of land by the tribals. 

Tribal Revolts of Mainland

 Pahariyas’ Rebellion

• The British expansion on their territory led to an uprising by the martial Pahariyas of the Raj Mahal Hills in 1778.
• The British were forced to usher in peace by declaring their territory as damni-kol area.

 Chuar Uprising

• Famine, enhanced land revenue demands and economic distress goaded the Chuar aboriginal tribesmen of the Jungle Mahal of Midnapore district and also of the Bankura district (in Bengal) to take up arms.
• These tribal people were basically farmers and hunters.
• The uprising lasted from 1766 to 1772 and then, again surfaced between 1795 and 1816.
• The Chuars were prominent in Manbhum and Barabhum, especially in the hills between Barabhum and Ghatsila.
• In 1768, Jagannath Singh, the zamindar of Ghatsila, went up in arms, along with thousands of Chuars. The Company government capitulated.
•  In 1771, the Chuar sardars, Shyam Ganjan of Dhadka, Subla Singh of Kaliapal and Dubraj rose in rebellion.
• The most signifi cant uprising was under Durjan (or Durjol) Singh in 1798. Durjan Singh was the zamindar of Raipur from which he was dispossessed owing to the operations of Bengal Regulations. The revolt was brutally suppressed by the British.
• Other leaders of the Chuars were Madhab Singh, the brother of the raja of Barabhum, Raja Mohan Singh, zamindar of Juriah and Lachman Singh of Dulma.

 Kol Mutiny (1831)

• The Kols, alongwith other tribes, are inhabitants of Chhotanagpur. This covered Ranchi, Singhbhum, Hazaribagh, Palamau and the western parts of Manbhum.
• The trouble in 1831 started with large-scale transfers of land from Kol headmen to outsiders like Hindu, Sikh and Muslim farmers and money-lenders who were oppressive and demanded heavy taxes.
• The Kols resented this and in 1831, under the leadership of Buddho Bhagat, the Kol rebels killed or burnt about a thousand outsiders.
• Only after large-scale military operations order was restored.

Ho and Munda Uprisings (1820-1837)

• The Raja of Parahat organised his Ho tribals to revolt against the occupation of Singhbhum (now in Jharkhand). The revolt continued till 1827 when the Ho tribals were forced to submit.
• However, later in 1831, they again organised a rebellion, joined by the Mundas of Chotanagpur, to protest against the newly introduced farming revenue policy and the entry of Bengalis into their region.
• In 1899-1900, the Mundas in the region south of Ranchi rose under Birsa Munda.
• The Ulgulan was one of the most significant tribal uprisings in the period 1860-1920.
• The rebellion which began as a religious movement gathered political force to fight against introduction of feudal, zamindari tenures, and exploitation by money-lenders and forest contractors.
• The Mundas claimed Chhotanagpur as their area in 1879.

The Santhal Rebellion (1855-56)

• Continued oppression of the Santhals, an agricultural people, who had fl ed to settle in the plains of the Rajmahal hills (Bihar) led to the Santhal rebellion against the zamindars.
• The money-lenders who had the support of the police among others had joined the zamindars to subject the peasants to oppressive exactions and dispossession of lands.
• Under Sidhu and Kanhu, two brothers, the Santhals proclaimed an end to Company rule, and declared the area between Bhagalpur and Rajmahal as autonomous.

Khond Uprisings (1837-1856)

• From 1837 to 1856, the Khonds of the hilly tracts extending from Odisha to the Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts of Andhra Pradesh revolted against Company rule.
• Chakra Bisnoi, a young raja, led the Khonds who were joined by the Ghumsar, Kalahandi and other tribals to oppose the suppression of human sacrifi ce, new taxes, and the entry of zamindars into their areas.
• A later Khond rebellion in 1914 in the Orissa region hoped that foreign rule would end and they could gain an autonomous government.

Koya Revolts

• The Koyas of the eastern Godavari track (modern Andhra), joined by Khonda Sara chiefs, and rebelled in 1803, 1840, 1845, 1858, 1861 and 1862.
• They rose once again in 1879-80 under Tomma Sora.
• Their complaints were oppression by police and moneylenders, new regulations and denial of their customary rights over forest areas.  After the death of Tomma Sora, another rebellion was organised in 1886 by Raja Anantayyar.

Bhil Revolts

• The Bhils who lived in the Western Ghats controlled the mountain passes between the north and the Deccan.
• They revolted against Company rule in 1817-19, as they had to face famine, economic distress and misgovernment.
• The Bhils revolted again in 1825, 1831 and in 1846.
• Later, a reformer, Govind Guru helped the Bhils of south Rajasthan (Banswara, Sunth states) to organise themselves to fi ght for a Bhil Raj by 1913.

Ramosi Risings

• The Ramosis, the hill tribes of the Western Ghats, had not reconciled to British rule and the British pattern of administration.
• After the annexation of the Maratha territories by the British, the Ramosis, who had been employed by the Maratha administration, lost their means of livelihood.
• They rose under Chittur Singh in 1822 and plundered the country around Satara.
• Again, there were eruptions in 1825-26 under Umaji Naik of Poona and his supporter Bapu Trimbakji Sawant, and the disturbances continued till 1829.
• Generally the British followed a pacifi st policy towards the Ramosis, and even recruited some of them into the hill police.

Tribal Movements of the North-East

Khasi Uprising

• After having occupied the hilly region between Garo and Jaintia Hills, the East India Company wanted to build a road linking the Brahmaputra Valley with Sylhet.
• A large number of outsiders including Englishmen, Bengalis and the labourers from the plains were brought to these regions.
• The Khasis, Garos, Khamptis and the Singphos organised themselves under Tirath Singh to drive away the strangers from the plains.

Singphos Rebellion

• The rebellion of the Singphos in Assam in early 1830 was immediately quelled but they continued to organise revolts.
• Chief Nirang Phidu led an uprising in 1843, which involved an attack on the British garrison and the death of many soldiers.
• Some of the smaller movements were those of the Mishmis (in 1836); the Khampti rebellion in Assam between 1839 and 1842; the Lushais’ revolt in 1842 and 1844, when they attacked villages in Manipur.

Ahom Revolt

• The british had pledged to withdraw after the first Burma war(1824-26) from Assam but in contrast, the British attempted to incorporate the Ahoms territories in the company’s dominion after the war.
• This sparked off a rebellion in 1828 under the leadership of Gomdhar Konwar.
• Finally the company decided to follow a conciliatory policy and handed over upper Assam to Maharaja Purandar Singh Narendra and parts of the kingdom was restored to the Assamese king.