Tribal rebellions began simultaneously with the establishment of British colonial rule in India. The term “tribal” (adivasi) is also referred to by various names including indigenous peoples, aboriginal communities, and scheduled tribes.
Tribal communities had their own distinctive communal agricultural structures that differed significantly from non-tribal farmers. While farmers depended solely on agricultural land for their livelihood, tribal communities relied on both agriculture and forests. Tribal uprisings tended to be more violent in nature.
Tribal Rebellions After 1857
Colonial encroachment severed the deep-rooted relationship between tribal communities and forests. Tribal peoples practiced shifting cultivation through methods like “jhum” and “pandu,” rotating locations and land for farming. The colonial government, through forest legislation, prohibited or severely restricted jhum cultivation in reserved forests. New types of taxes were imposed on products manufactured by tribal communities. The triple burden of colonial intrusion, moneylenders, and revenue collectors disrupted the rhythm and balance of tribal society. Tribal peoples became agricultural laborers on their own ancestral lands and were forced to work in mines, plantations, and factories, or serve as coolies. Armed rebellion against British rule became their only viable option.
Colonial interference triggered several religious and socio-cultural reform movements among tribal communities. The Kherwar or Sapha Har movement of the 1870s initially promoted monotheism and social reforms. Religion served as a unifying force among tribal peoples. Tribal leaders were often religious figures who promised to usher in a new era through supernatural means. In 1868, the Naikda forest tribe of Gujarat attacked a police station in an attempt to establish a religious kingdom. In 1882, some Naga groups attacked the British under the leadership of a magician named Sambudan, who claimed to have made his followers invulnerable to bullets through magic.
Early tribal movements typically aimed to restore the previous social order. The second phase of tribal rebellion lasted from 1860 to 1920. During this phase, tribal communities also participated in nationalist and peasant movements. The third phase of tribal movements began after 1920, with leaders like Alluri Sitarama Raju, who were non-tribal.
The Munda (Ulgulan) Rebellion
The Munda tribe sustained themselves through communal farming (Khuntkatti) in Chotanagpur. The arrival of Christian missionaries began fragmenting traditional Munda society. Outside landlords, moneylenders, merchants, and contractors destroyed the communal farming traditions of the Munda community. Munda chiefs fought legal battles (Sardari struggles) in the 1880s to save their land.
Birsa Munda (1875-1900)
When justice eluded the Munda community through legal means, Birsa (1875-1900) emerged as a messiah in the 1880s. Birsa led the Munda rebellion against the British government. In tribal imagination, Birsa was a “Dharti-Aba” (Father of the World). The main center of Birsa’s armed rebellion was Khunti.
Birsa was born on November 15, 1875, in Ulihatu village in Ranchi district to a sharecropper family. He received some education from missionaries and later came under Vaishnava influence. Birsa was an accomplished flutist who created a single-stringed instrument called “tuila” from a gourd. In 1893-94, he participated in a movement to prevent the forest department from acquiring village wasteland. On October 1, 1894, he gathered all Mundas and launched a movement demanding tax exemption from the British. In 1895, young Birsa claimed to have had a divine vision and began proclaiming himself a prophet. Birsa prophesied that a catastrophe was imminent; there would be war with the “dikus” (non-tribals), and their blood would turn the land as red as a red flag.
Fearing conspiracy, the British government imprisoned Birsa for two years on August 24, 1895. After his release, Birsa began spreading political consciousness among tribal peoples under the guise of religious preaching. He organized tribal farmers on both religious and political grounds. Numerous night meetings were held in 1898-99, where Birsa spoke of a bygone golden age (Satyuga) and the dark age (Kalyuga) that had befallen them. In tribal imagination, Birsa was a messiah who could melt British bullets and make them flow like water. In 1898, the groundwork for anti-colonial rebellion was laid at Dombari Hill. On Christmas Eve 1899, Birsa declared rebellion.
Birsa Munda is known as “Ulgulan” (Great Upheaval), and his rebellion is called “Ulgulan” (Great Revolt). He called for “the killing of contractors, landlords, officials, and Christians.” Birsa declared: “We will end Kalyuga and bring Satyuga… now we will fight the ‘dikus’ (non-tribals), and their blood will turn the land as red as a red flag.” Birsa also instructed that poor non-tribals should not be harmed. The Birsa movement aimed not merely to expel the dikus but to destroy their enemies, end British rule, and establish “Birsa Raj” and Birsai religion in its place. By January 5, 1900, the fire of rebellion had spread throughout the Munda region.
On January 9, 1900, thousands of Mundas sacrificed their lives fighting British forces at Dombari Hill. Birsa was captured on February 3, 1900, in Chakradharpur due to local betrayal. He died in Ranchi jail on June 9. Three hundred and fifty Mundas were tried, three were hanged, and forty-four received life imprisonment. The government recognized “Khuntkatti” rights through the Nagpur Tenancy Act of 1908 and banned forced labor. Birsa lives on in his people’s memories not just as a prophet of a small religious sect but, even more, as a folk hero.
The Rampa Rebellion
The Rampa region of Chodavaram in the hilly areas of the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh witnessed numerous rebellions. Local tribal peoples were oppressed by police persecution, increased timber and grazing taxes, prohibition of toddy production at home, restrictions on jhum (podu) cultivation, intrusion of moneylenders and creditors from the plains, and economic exploitation. Between 1839 and 1862, local mutadars (headmen) in the Rampa region staged several uprisings (fituris).
In the final years of the nineteenth century, commercial intrusion into the hills brought traders and moneylenders from the plains to the hilly regions. These merchants and moneylenders gradually seized tribal lands by confiscating the properties of indebted farmers and mutadars.
Koya tribals and hill chiefs called Konda Soras launched a “fituri” against the British in 1879-80 under the leadership of Tompa Sora. The main targets of Tompa Sora’s rebellion were mansabdars (officials), Englishmen, their police stations, and merchant contractors from the plains. The 1879-80 fituri aimed solely to free the hills from outside elements. With the help of six regiments of the Madras Infantry, the government massacred thousands of tribals. When police killed Tompa Sora, the Koya rebellion ended.
In 1886, Koya rebels rose again in Gudem under the leadership of Rajan Anantayya. Rajan’s followers considered themselves “Ramasandu” (Ram’s army). Rajan himself claimed that if given the opportunity, he was ready to play Ram’s role in driving out the English. He even sought assistance from the then-ruler of Jaipur to overthrow British rule.
Around 1900, Kora Mallaya claimed to be an incarnation of one of the Pandavas and that his infant son was Krishna’s incarnation. He declared that he would expel the British from the country and rule himself. Kora Mallaya told his followers that during war, he would transform their bamboo poles into guns and officials’ weapons into water through his magic.
The 1922 Rampa rebellion is also known as the “Manyam Rebellion.” A significant tribal struggle in the Rampa region was fought under the leadership of Alluri Sitarama Raju. It began in August 1922 and continued until Raju’s arrest and killing in May 1924. Alluri Sitarama Raju was inspired by Gandhi’s non-violent non-cooperation movement.
The tahsildar of Gudem, Bastian, attempted to force tribals to construct roads in the forest without wages. Additionally, there was discontent among mutadars who, before British arrival, were hereditary tax collectors and the actual rulers of the hills.
Alluri Sitarama Raju arrived from somewhere in 1915 and settled among the tribals. Raju was a charismatic ascetic, an astrologer, healer, and skilled military commander. Inspired by the non-cooperation movement, Raju established village panchayats and led anti-liquor campaigns. Raju claimed that bullets had no effect on him. During a raid on Damrapalli on September 24, 1922, rebels shot two British officers. In 1922, Raju formed a guerrilla squad of about 100 fighters and began attacking the British and their collaborators. Alluri Sitarama Raju’s rebel force enjoyed local hill people’s sympathy across approximately 2,500 square miles. Sitarama Raju was killed on May 6, 1924, and the rebellion ended in September 1924.
The Yuan-Juang Rebellion
Yuan-Juang tribals lived around Keonjhar (Jharkhand). Yuan tribals participated in the administration of Keonjhar state and Yuan chiefs were invited to royal occasions like coronations.
When the British eliminated Yuan privileges, it hurt the honor of Yuan chiefs. After the death of Keonjhar’s king in 1867, the British installed multiple persons on the throne. Yuan tribals rebelled under the leadership of Ranna Nayak against the king’s feudal lords’ arbitrariness and oppression, which was suppressed in 1868.
A second rebellion occurred in Keonjhar in 1891 under Dharani Nayak’s leadership. Dharani Nayak completely disrupted the state’s administrative system with local support. Keonjhar’s king had to flee and take refuge in Cuttack. The British suppressed this rebellion in 1893. On the western frontier, Santhals rebelled in Mayurbhanj in 1917, and Thadou Kukis in Manipur.
The Tana Bhagat Movement
The Tana Bhagat movement was initiated by Jatra Oraon (Jatra Bhagat) of Chapri Nawatoli in Gumla subdivision. The Tana Bhagat movement was essentially a Sanskritization movement. Jatra opposed witchcraft and magic and appealed for abstinence from begging, animal sacrifice, meat, liquor, and tribal dances. Tana Bhagats called for a return to jhum cultivation, non-payment of chowkidari tax to landlords, and cessation of plowing. The Tana Bhagat movement took on a millenarian form as rumors spread that a messiah was coming soon. This messiah was called Birsa in some places, “German” in others, and “Kaiser Baba” elsewhere. In the 1920s, Oraon activists participated in satyagrahas and demonstrations under Congress leadership.
Tribal Rebellions in Princely States
In the Himalayan forest areas of Tehri Garhwal in Uttar Pradesh, which was part of a princely state, and in Kumaon, which was under British administration, rebellions occurred against forest laws. In Tehri Garhwal, justice was first sought from the king following the old tradition of “thandak.” When the local king attempted to implement strict forest conservation laws, rebellions occurred in 1886 and 1904. When the rebellion turned violent in December 1906, the king had to appeal to the British for assistance. In Kumaon, peasants directly resisted the British by violating laws, stealing timber, and deliberately setting fires in reserved forests in opposition to the “utar” (begar/forced labor) system and arbitrary forest management.
The Murias of Bastar rebelled against the king in Jagdalpur in 1910. The Muria rebellion began over a succession dispute, but the main cause was recently imposed forest department laws restricting “jhum” cultivation and free use of forest produce. Rebel Murias disrupted communications, attacked police stations and forest department posts, set schools on fire, and attempted to besiege Jagdalpur city.
The Khond rebellion in Odisha’s Daspalla princely state in October 1914 also began with a succession dispute. During the Khond rebellion, rumors spread that war had begun and soon “no sahib would remain in the country” and the Khonds would have “their own rule.” In Bengal’s Midnapore district’s Jungle Mahal, Santhal peasants looted village markets and fish raised in ponds. Tribals of the Dang district in western India collected traditional “giras” (tribute) from villages settled in the Khandesh plains.
Bhils of Banswara, Sunth, and Dungarpur regions of Rajasthan rebelled, inspired by Govind Guru’s reforms (related to bonded labor). Govind Guru, a Banjara by caste, also called the “Dayanand Saraswati of tribals,” established the “Samp Sabha” in 1883 and “Lasadiya Panth” in 1910. The British army suppressed this rebellion on November 17, 1913, by killing 1,500 tribals at Mangarh (Banswara). Motilal Tejawat (1896-1963), the “Messiah of tribals,” established the “Vanvasi Sangh” and launched the “Eki Movement” at Matrikkundiya in Chittorgarh in 1921-22. Motilal surrendered in 1929 on Gandhi’s advice.
Keywords: Tribal rebellions India, Birsa Munda, Munda Ulgulan revolt, indigenous uprisings, British colonial India, Rampa rebellion, Alluri Sitarama Raju, tribal resistance movements, forest laws India, adivasi movements, Indian independence struggle, tribal history India
