Question

What were tribal revolts?

Answer 1

Hint: The most revolted communities and far more violent than any other community in India are Tribals including peasants. Few revolts have stood out among the numerous tribal revolts in British India. One of them was The Santhal ‘Hool’.

Complete answer:
 Revolutionary tendencies inspired Rebellions or Tribal movements or uprising in India.They wanted to make use of ill-tendencies that existed in contemporary tribal society and the situation to fight and eliminate evils. The Santhals who were living between Bhagalpur and Rajmahal rose in revolt against the outsiders or dikus in 1855-56.

The British Army brutally crushed their courageous insurrection. It shall be difficult not to underscore Birsa Munda Ulgulan or Great Tumult in the region south of Ranchi in 1899-1900 while providing anecdotal evidence of tribal uprisings. Alluri Sitarama Raju led the Chenchu revolt in the Nallamala Hills (1898), the upsurge of the Oraons of Chotanagpur (1914) and the fituri were also significant.

Zamindars and police left no option to the Santhals but to pay all the taxes and levies and also abuse them for their own property. There were several violent attacks done on the Santhals by the Karendias who were the representatives of the Zamindars. All the property, lands, and cattle of the Santhals were confiscated by the rich peasants. Exorbitant rates of interest were charged by the moneylenders.

The moneylenders were called exploiters by the Santhals and were also called “dikus”. In Jungle Mahal of north-western Midnapur, the Chuars lived. They also worked as paiks under local zamindars, basically farmers and hunters. Instead of salaries, they received tax-free land. They revolted when the Corporate imposed an enormous tax burden on zamindars and therefore paiks and the Chuars joined in. For around three decades from 1768-69 to 1799, the uprising continued.

In the Khandesh Region, the Bhil revolt took place by the native dwellers of the land. The king of Porath owed allegiance to the British in 1820. From the Ho segment of the Kols, he went on to collect taxes. To face British troops armed in modern weapons, the Kols took up traditional arms like bows and arrows.

Note: The cause of Tribal Revolts in India were shifting agriculture, hunting, fishing and the use of forest produce. The practice of settled agriculture was introduced with the influx of non-tribals into the traditional regions of the tribals. For the tribal population, this led to a loss of land. During non cooperation, Alluri seetha ramaraju led the tribal revolt from andhra Pradesh.