A tribe is viewed, developmentally or historically, as a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states. A tribe is a group of distinct people, dependent on their land for their livelihood, who are largely self-sufficient, and not integrated into the national society.

Various Tribal uprisings during the British rule in India:

There were various tribal revolts during the British rule in India but the two revolts which shook the British were Santhal rebellion and Munda rebellion.

Santhal rebellion (1855-1856) -

• Santhals were the tribal-peasants of Birbhum Bankura, Singhbhum, Hazari etc.
• Problems faced by santhals - exploitation by zamindars and mahajans, high rate of interest, intermediaries of zamindars, sexual exploitation of tribal women, forced labour. Sido and Kanho were the leaders of the santhals. When the movement started it was directed chiefly against the Mahajans and traders. Later on, the Santhals also attacked the police , white planters, railway engineers and officials etc showing clearly that the movement was anti-colonial in nature.

Munda rebellion (1899-1900) -

• The Munda tribe of Chhota Nagpur Plateau face similar problems. The influence of Christian missionaries complicated the matters.- Birsa Munda, the leader urged the killing of Europeans, jagirdars, Rajas,hakims and christians. They held a series of meetings, tried to burn down churches, attacked police. Finally, the rebels were defeated and Birsa was captured. Later, in 1908, their struggle bore some fruits when ' Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act' was passed which recognised joint ownership of property and banned forced labour.

Other notable Tribal uprisings: -

• Pahariyas' rebellion by martial Pahariyas (1778, Rajmahal hills); against the British expansion on theirs land.
• Chuar uprisings (1776) against the rise in demands and economic privatisation by the British.
• Kol uprisings by the Kols of Chhotanagpur led by Buddho Bhagat (1831) ; against the expansion of British rule and transfer of their land to outsiders.
• Ho uprisings led by Raja Prabhat (1827) - Singhbhum and Chhota Nagpur - against occupation of Singhbhum by the British
• Rebellion by Ho and Munda tribes (1831) against farming revenue policy.
• Kandh uprisings (in hilly regions of extending fromTamil Nadu to Bengal, in Orissa) against interference in tribal customs and imposition of new taxes.

Tribal uprisings in the North East: -

• Khasi's revolt against the occupation of hilly region
• Ahom's revolt against non-fulfilment of pledges by the Brish
• Kuki's revolt against the British policies of recruiting labour durinng the First World War.
• Heraka cult- led by Gaidinliu.

The various British policies which caused dissent among the tribal population were:-

• Imposition of Land Revenue Settlement: Expansion of agriculture by the non-tribal 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.
• Work of Christian Missionaries brought about further changes in the socio economic and cultural equation of the tribal 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.
• Increasing demand for goods 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.
• Extension of settled agriculture led to influx of non tribal in the tribal areas.These outsiders exploited them and extension of settled agriculture led to the loss of land by the tribal which reduced them to agricultural labourers.
• Restrictions on shifting cultivation in forest.
• 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.
• The rebellions by the non-frontier tribal 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 tribal.
• Introduction of the notion of private property- Land could be bought, sold, mortgaged which led to loss of land by the tribal. It eroded the tradition of joint ownership like the khunti katti tenure in Chhotanagpur.