Introduction:-

18th century was the golden epoch in the history of East India Company in respect of its penetration into the far-flung areas of Eastern India for colonial exploitation. The type of the expansionist activity was more or less same everywhere in Eastern India. Whether justified or not, the Company Raj took advantage of the internal dissentions of the region and on the plea of restoration of peace and order the British army was deputed, atrocities perpetuated and ultimately took hold of the local administration and established their tutelage.

From historical records it is known that the Bhumij people by cutting their ties with the Mundari group of people multiplied in Purulia, Bankura and Midnapur. Lands whatever they acquired were obtained from the Mandali tenures, Ghatwali tenures or the Bhuinhari tenures that were initiated as service tenures from the 16th century. After the occupation of Bengal by the Mughals, Todarmali Bandobasta was initiated under which the lands were divided in Bengal subah into three categories namely, Bangar, Parauti and Chachar, based on the fertility of the land and accruing revenue.

Lands in these districts, which were mostly constituted out of the upland from Chotonagpur plateau, had fallen also within the classification meant for revenue collection by the Mughal overlords. Most of the tribal people who earned their livelihood by tilling had to limit their activities on the Chachar type of lands. Usually they did not pay rents and 39  simply earned their food by simple avocation of tilling soil and harvesting the crops on marginal levels.

The Bangar and Parauti lands were under the control of the revenue racketeers who mostly had come from non-tribal groups and were employed by the Mughal administrators. Incidentally the frontier passes in Bengal, Bihar and adjacent areas were required to be guarded by certain powerful men.

The Hindu opportunist group also tried to penetrate the region in collaboration with this privileged group in order to undertake various economic pursuits like interest harvesting, employing the poor on minimum wages, depriving the labour of their legitimate dues for rendering services, taking away the surplus production on the plea of repayment by the incumbent of the loans previously taken, etc. The tribal overlords, as well as the Hindu exploiters had the same motive of economic gain.

In the beginning of the 19th century East India Company had tried to resettle their farming system by appointing revenue collectors from amongst the company's servants. These trend gathered momentum after the 1813 Charter Act, when a large number of company servant swarmed on the tribal areas in search of new farms or zamindari. Therfore a clash of interest cropped up between the Hindu farmers and the previously appointed tribal overlords. Local dissentions cropped up out of this situation.

Causes of the Bhumij Rebellions:-

• As an outcome of historical process through out the world, the tribal privileged group tried to organise their tribal brethren for the protection of their own rights and privileges. The Bhumij people in the history of subaltern Bengal had been depicted as the most struggling mass in view of their traditional role in various revolts, appertaining to agrarian grievances from the 2nd half of the 18th century.
• The chuars as tribals were called in the locality, were unified in the later half of 18th century under their ethnic brethren who acted as Manki, Bhuiyanhars, or Ghatwals for several ages. The first Chuar movement erupted and the British colonialists were on the wake to take advantages of the situation. Solutions in the internal problems of the Chuars, as the Bhumijes were called, were not available in the first quarter of 19th century.
• Needless to say that control of the military operations by the whites and the expanding exploitative pursuits by the Hindu Mahajanas were potent reasons behind
  the eruption of unrests in the area. In historical records abundant informations are available which reveal that the entire region of Dhalbhum and Manbhum was under the
  control of the advantageous detribalized group of the Mundari stock whom the neighbouring Hindu people designated as Chuar.
• Internal dissention of the region was so prominent that ultimately
  British intervention became inevitable. The zamindars of Patkum, Singhbhum, and Chatna all of whom were tribals were not in the habit of maintaining civilized relation with the king of Panchet. The matter came to such a height that Chatna zamindar ultimately had declared that he would rather quit the country and starve than would become a vassal of Panchet.
• Chuar Rebellion practically built the revolutionary base in tribal culture which ultimately sustained the momentum of the coming of the Great rebellion, that flared up
  in the year 1830-31, which was also known as Ganga Narayan Hungama.
• The colonial strategy to cow down the powerful tribal authority in frontier regions by introducing the system of Daroga was definitely a misconceived idea of the strategy of colonial expansion.

Course of the Revolt :- 

The Bhumij Revolt led by Ganga Narayan was virtually an extension of the chuar rebellion that started in the last quarter of the 18 th century. It was a fight of the deprived tribal community settled on the plateau of Chatonagpur for a long period. The source of deprivation was three fold.

First, the upper caste Hindus like Brahman and Kaysthya who came to these areas after taking services under the tribal chiefs and thereby acquired lands and other privileges.

The second source was the farmers; mahajanas, etc. who came in the wake of Company's attempt to resettle the revenue collection on the line of regulation of the Permanent Settlement .

The third source was the power who put their steps on the virgin lands, putting their hands on the soldiers of big houses of tribal lords like that of the Barabhum. Ganga Narayan's effort had directed in a way to uproot these three elements by a single blow, which was really an impossible task considering the organised strength of the colonial authority.

The tribal disaffection in the region was augmented by the policy of the colonial authority to come down heavily on the rebellion. Since the required number of white soldiers were not always available for military operations, efforts were taken on the part of the Company's servants to recruit irregular forces and to increase the number there of.

The upcountry men from neighbouring districts as well as some local non-tribals were enlisted in the army who had no scruple to loot whenever opportunities came. Troops stationed at Bankura tried to prevent any northward movement of the rebels.

Robert Francis was appointed as a commander who was instructed to act on the defensive unless the insurgents had attacked his force. In reality, these irregular forces sustained their operations by looting the property of the tribals living in these areas.

Depredations caused by the colonial army were so intensive that even the local chiefs were not spared. Naturally the common folk had no hesitation to side with the chiefs who made a call for their liberation. Thus ,Ganga Narayan's fighting for his personal interest had the support of the chuars.

However, Ganga Narayan was defeated and murdered not due to colonial operations but on account of certain internal reasons. Some writers felt that he had fled to Singbhum to seek the aid of Larka kols and on the way had been killed not by British troops or by any traitor among his followers but by the forces of Thakur Chetan Singh of Kharsawan.

Impact of the Bhumij Revolt :-

Stories of the Bhumij of Barabhum, Manbhum and other Jungle Mahals who came in thousands to assist the family of the late Raja Chetan Singh of Bishnupur to get back
its zamindari and they showed unprecedented enmity to the new purchasers of land there.

They stopped all collection and the ryots had to flee to the neighbouring paraganas. Both the Bishnupur and Midnapur estates remained a scene of murder and plunder throughout the first quarter of the 19th century.

Several battalions of regular troops were employed. This unrest and arrival of thousands of people from outside along with the activities of the thanadars virtually created situations of melting away of tribal regime through mass exodus.

The first penetration of the British colonialists started in the year 1767. Within 1832 through military operations as well as through diplomatic maneuvers East India Company became succes~ful to establish their centre of exploitation aided of course, by the nontribals and a small group of tribal people with vested interests.

Naturally the impact of the success of colonial force in Bhumij Revolt fell on directly in the extermination of the indigenous elements. We might be tempted to compare this situation with the hunting of the Red-Indians by the English colonialist in British colonies of Northern America. 

Virtually a tradition of killing and extermination was initiated thereby creating an atmosphere of crime. The resources of the area were nakedly exploited causing no development of the local inhabitants.