Birsa Munda, the radical Indian freedom fighter, religious leader and folk hero who spearheaded a tribal religious Millenarian movement that rose out of modern-day Bihar and Jharkhand in the late 19th century, thereby making him an important figure in the history of the Indian Independence movement.
BIRSA MUNDA (15 NOVEMBER 1875 – 9 JUNE 1900)
LIFE SKETCH OF BIRSA MUNDA
Birsa Munda known as Dharti Aaba (Father of Earth) is known to have mobilised the tribal community against the British and had also forced the colonial officials to introduce laws protecting the land rights of the tribals. Birsa Munda was born at Ulihatu in the Bengal Presidency (presently in Jharkhand) on 15th November 1875 into a Munda family. His parents were Sugana Munda and Karmi Hatu. Birsa Munda was an Indian tribal freedom fighter, religious fighter and a folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe. He spearheaded a tribal religious Millenerian movement that arose in the Bengal Presidency (now Jharkhand) in the late 19th century, during the British Raj, thereby making him an important figure in the history of the Indian Independence movement. The revolt mainly concentrated in the Munda belt of Khunti, Tamar, Sarvada and Bandgaon. His portrait hangs in the Indian Parliament Museum; he is the only tribal leader to have been so honoured.
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Birsa’s early years were spent with his parents at Chalkad. His early life could not have been very different from that of an average Munda child. Folklore refers to his rolling and playing in sand and dust with his friends, and his growing up strong and handsome in looks; he grazed sheep in the forest of Bohonda. When he grew up, he shared an interest in playing the flute, in which he became an expert. He went around with the tuila, the one-stringed instrument made from the pumpkin, in the hand and the flute strung to his waist. Exciting moments of his childhood were spent on the akhara (the village wrestling ground). However, one of his ideal contemporaries and who went out with him heard him speak of strange things. Birsa spent much of his childhood moving from one village to another with his parents. He belonged to the Munda tribe in the Chhotanagpur Plateau area. He received his early education at Salga under the guidance of his teacher Jaipal Nag. As he was sharp in studies, Jaipal Nag recommended him to join German Mission School and Birsa converted to Christianity and was renamed as Birsa David, which later became Birsa Daud. After studying for few years, he left German Mission School. The impact of Christianity was felt in the way he came to relate to religion later. Having gained awareness of the British colonial ruler and the efforts of the missionaries to convert tribals to Christianity, Birsa started the faith of ‘Birsait’. Soon members of the Munda and Oraon community started joining the Birsait sect and it turned into a challenge to British conversion activities.
CONTRIBUTION OF BIRSA MUNDA TOWARDS FREEDOM MOVEMENT
Birsa Munda Movement was the peak of the all tribal movements in India. Initially it was started as a religious purification movement and subsequently turned into a Revolt against the British Establishment. This movement can be compared with the contemporary Bauxer Revolt of China in 1890. Much before this movement, Munda Sardars of Chhotanagpur region were revolted against the British rule in 1820s and 1830s, mainly to protest against the breach into the socio-economic and political sphere of Munda Tribal Community by the British Administration, Police and Sahukars & Mahajans (Moneylenders). The main cause of concern for Munda tribe was Khuntkatti System (a kind of Common Land Holding System).
Birsa Munda Movement can be divided into three phases-
1. Phase – I (1890-1894): Birsa Munda was born in 1875 in Chalkand village, under Tamar Police Station in Ranchi district (now in Jharkhand). In the early period of his life he was under the influence of Christian Missionaries. But after coming into the contact of Anand Pandey (religious teacher), he turned into a Vaishnav.
In the first phase he focused on broadly three things-
• Purification of the members of the Munda Community and to free them from fanaticism, alcoholism and the practise of animal sacrifices.
• Inner Purification of the members of the community by inculcating ethical, integral and spiritual purity.
• Focus on oneness of god. For this purpose, he propagated that there is only one god for Mundas i.e. Singh Bonga. And Birsa Munda declared himself as the ambassador of Singh Bonga. He further preached that only he could free the community from the shackles of the outsiders and establish Munda Raj.
From above points it is clear that in this phase, he only focused on religious and social purification of the Community, and united them with the monotonous thought process.
2. Phase – II (1895-97): In this phase Birsa Munda gathered and united a group of 6000 members of the community in 1895. The three important aims for this group were-
• End of British Influence.
• Independence from outsiders.
• Establishment of Munda Raj.
To achieve the prescribed aims he called the members of the community to not pay the land revenue and neglect the authority of the Britishers over the Munda Tribe. For these activities, he was arrested by the police on 24th August, 1895. But he was released from the jail in 1898 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
3. Phase – III (1898-1900): This was the most violent and volatile phase of the movement, due to which this phase is known as a revolt and more popular. After the release of Birsa Munda in 1898, he again became actively involved in the activities against the government and outsiders. The members of the tribe attacked on British officials, Police Stations, Mahajans and Sahukars (Moneylenders), Christian Missionaries. Munda Revolt was mainly spread in the Khunti, Gumla and Ranchi regions. To contain the Revolt, British government started and administrative lockdown in the region. And suppression of the movement was carried on by the Deputy Commissioner, Street Field and within months the Revolt declined. For his active involvement in the movement he was again arrested on 3rd February, 1900 and after that on 30th June, 1900, he died from Dysentery in jail.
In the late 19th century, colonial India witnessed a massive upsurge in resistance movements led by Adivasi (indigenous people) in the eastern part of the country called Chota Nagpur.
These movements, including that led by the young tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda, happened against the backdrop of a history of exploitation, and land alienation. Although these issues predated the advent of the British Empire, they were augmented by the arrival of the colonial officials. With the coming of British administration, the existing system of feudal-landlordism, which was generative of apathy for the ‘original settlers’ in the area, was further entrenched by the legal-political edifice established by the empire. These laws brought about massive changes to the existing system of land governance. The new laws followed an imperial legal framework that worked on individual ownership, and rights. The changes were not just laid down in law, they also impacted the traditional system that had survived through collective ownership and oral history. Moreover, the legal-political changes penetrated the country’s social folds and disrupted the harmony that had been sustained for generations.
It was against this background of systemic violence witnessed by the Munda adivasi that Birsa Munda mobilised the tribal community and rose against the British, missionaries and the zamindars (landlords). He rallied people by employing a method of religiosity – where he declared himself as the prophet commissioned by the gods to retrieve the lost ‘Munda Raj’.
His methods are critically studied by the millenarian/messianic movement which often considers that the core of such movement lack a substantial agenda, and is led by the force of misguided liberation. However; recent scholarship has contested these views pointing out that such a notion fails to address the political consciousness of the community, and Birsa Munda in particular.
Birsa Munda was a visionary whose own experiences allowed him to understand what the people from his community were suffering. He did not only attempt to wage protests and lead anti-colonial movements, but envisioned a radical rupture in the historical continuity of oppression, dominance and exploitation. His rebellion was a representation of lived experiences of a Munda as a convert Christian, who was raised in a colonial state under a belief system that belittled his own. This was also at a time when tribal people were losing their history and culture. In fact, his rebellion left such an impression on the colonial state that officials were forced to introduce new legislation – the Chota Nagpur Tenancy Act – that ensured the protection of the Munda’s land rights. Unlike other rebellions that are documented in historical texts, Birsa Munda’s achievements have received little recognition. This is not to deny the works that do continue to tell of his struggles, but this story of the young tribal revolutionary certainly needs to be told more often. Even though the movement he led faded after his death on 9 June 1900 at the age of 25, Birsa Munda’s struggle continues in different forms and in a different time. This is especially important when we see how the historic legislation that came out of fight against oppression has been diluted.
Birsa Munda occupies a distinguished position as a peerless protagonist of tribal rights, a great patriot and a martyr in the long succession of heroes of the Chota Nagpur plateau. A constructive genius, he made the Munda people unite for their political emancipation and infused in them the spirit of nationalism. His followers formed themselves into a sect, worshipping him as a symbol of the aspirations of the people. (To be continued…)
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