Question

Consider the following statements with reference to ‘Sanyasi Rebellion’.
1) It took place around Murshidabad and Baikunthpur forests of Jalpaiguri.
2) Sanyasis oppressed by the British policies retaliated by organizing raids on the company’s 3) factories and state treasuries under the leadership of ‘Majnu Shah’ and ‘Bhavani Pathak’ in West Bengal and Bihar.
4) The book ‘Neel Darpan’ gives details about ‘Sanyasi Rebellion’.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A) 1 and 2 only
B) 1 and 3 only
C) 1, 2 and 3
D) 2 only

Answer 1

Hint: A Sanyasi in Hinduism is a person who has renounced the world and is free from all attachments and worldly desires. He is detached from all the materialistic desires of this world.

Complete Answer:
In the 18th century, there were many sects of Sanyasis in Bengal who travelled from northern India to various religious places and shrines. Some of the Sanyasis were naga sadhus, i.e., those who had renounced clothes. But there were some other people who wore clothes and were also permitted to marry. The British didn’t like these wandering men and they called them by various defamatory names like ‘religious vagrants’, ‘gipsies of Hindustan’, etc.

Many zamindars in Bengal had fallen upon hard times owing to the steep tax rates after the British had acquired revenue rights in Bengal. It was the practice of the Sanyasis to collect charity and contributions from these zamindars during their religious travels. This was stopped when the zamindars found it too difficult to provide charities since after paying the British their due they were hardly left with anything substantial. The British imposed restrictions on the Sanyasis barring them from visiting holy places considering the Sanyasis looters.

The Sanyasis rose against the British and this marked the starting of the sanyasi rebellion. They raided state treasuries and the company’s factories. As a result of this rebellion, 150 unarmed sanyasis were killed under the orders of Warren Hastings in 1771. This rebellion was centred in the forests of Baikunthpur and Murshidabad in Bengal. Some prominent leaders of this rebellion include Majnu Shah, Bhavani Pathak, Musa Shah, Devi Chaudhrani, etc. The Sanyasi rebellion continued for about 50 years and was suppressed completely only in the 1820s.

Thus, option (A) is correct.

Note:
Anandamath, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel written in 1882, was set on the backdrop of the Sanyasi Rebellion. This book was banned by the British. On the other hand, Nil Darpan was a book about the indigo rebellion of the peasants.