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COMMEMORATING THE 159 ANNIVERSARY OF SANTHAL REBELLION

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Santhals• The Santhal are the largest

indigenous people in India, who live mainly in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, and Assam. There is also a significant Santhalminority in neighbouring Bangladesh, and a small population in Nepal. The Santhals speak the Santali language.

SANTHAL POPULATION IN FOUR STATES

Next some more info on

Santhals.

….more on Santhals• The Santhal are primarily agricultural tribes. Although well educated Santhals, are

engaged in Government jobs as well private jobs. For the Santhals their religion,social structure, song, and dance are their way of life, and has been passed downthrough generations. The Santhals take pride in the Santhal Rebellion of 1855where thousands of Santhals under the leadership of Seedo and Kanhu Murmustood against oppression and fought against the mighty East India Company.Hundreds of Santhals sacrificed their lives and thousands were displaced fromtheir homes, as the rebellion was crushed with inhuman brutality by the Companyofficials. The Santhals commemorate 30th June, with great reverence and payhomage to their iconic leaders.

Next Background of the Rebellion.

Background of the Rebellion• It all began with the creation of Damin-i-Koh, the area surrounding the Rajmahal

Hills. In 1832 an effort was made by the British authorities to separate theterritories of the local zamindars and that of the hill men (paharias). Masonrypillars were constructed to mark the areas of these two territories, that of theplain land, which belonged to the zamindars, and the hills which belonged to thehillmen. Sandwiched between these two, basically the skirt of the hills, a hugeportion of afforested land lay unoccupied. The East India Company with theintention to earn revenue from this unused, unpopulated land invited theSanthals to occupy it. The Santhals at that time were scattered all-round Cuttack,Singhbhoom, Dhulbhoom, Midnapore, Bankura, Manbhoom, Barabhoom,Panchete, Chota Nagpur, Palamow, Ramgarh, Birbhum, and parts of Bhagalpore.The Santhals in these places were not happy with the new tax laws brought by thelocal zamindars, the promise of a new land, a new beginning motivated them tomake this great exodus.

Next Map of Damin-i-Koh

DAMIN –I-KOH MAP

Damin-i-koh

Next Massive Growth!

The Massive growth!• Although the migration had started from the 1790’s, from 1830’s it gained a new

momentum, year on year the Santhal population in Damin-i-Koh multiplied inextraordinary pace. The Damin-i-Koh was a massive extent of land measuringabout 1366.01 square miles, of which 500 sq miles were heavily afforested land;of this 254 sq miles were cleared by the Santhals for their own settlement.

In 1838 there were 3000 Santhals in Damin-i-Koh, who lived in 40 villages; by1851 they numbered about 82795 souls living in 1473 villages!

The Santhals were allowed a rent free usage for first three years, thereafter anentire village had to pay about 3-10 Rs per year as revenue, andsubsequently another five year settlement plan was made, which according tothe British records quite nominal. Nominal, yet when we compare the revenuegenerated from this we see a major profit. In 1837-38 the revenue collected wasRs. 6,682 and rose as high as 58,033 in the years before the rebellion!

Next Extortion of the

Oppressors

The Extortion of the Oppressors

Seeing the prosperity of the Santhals the moneylenders and zamindars werequick to cheat the Santhals for their profits. They offered short credits or loansand subsequently confiscated their lands. They even convinced the innocentSanthals to sell their surplus land, and using short term credits as baits theyvirtually got hold of their best lands and made the sellers utterly wanting for moreand more credits, until they were reduced to landless cultivators.

An important testimony to this atrocities is recorded in the statements of SirWilliam Le Fleming Robinson (later appointed as a Deputy Commissioner of theSanthal Parganas) who actually stamped out the bonded labour system doing afair bit of justice with the Santhals mentions, “…I have had a bond brought to mein which Rs. 25 was originally burrowed by a man who worked in his lifetime, hisson did ditto, and I released his grandson from any further necessity; it had beenrunning on for over thirty years, if I remember rightly!”

Next Demands of the Santhals

The Demands of the Santhals

• On 30th June before ten thousand Santhal men, the declaration of war against theopressors was announced. On the basis of these announcements, letters were draftedby Kirta, Bhadoo and Sunno Manjhee by Seedo’s order to the Commissioner, Collector,and Magistrate of Bhagalpore, The Collector and Magistrate of Birbhum, to severalDarogahs and zamindars from whom a reply was called within fifteen days. TheDeclaration of Independence or the Order of Thakur, no matter what you call itcontained the following demands-

• 1. The Revenue collection would be done exclusively by the Santhals and remittedto the State.

• 2. The rate of the revenue would be- Rs 2 for every buffalo plough, 1 Anna on eachbullock plough, a half Anna for each cow-plough, per annum.

• 3. The rate of interest upon money loaned will be 1 paise for each Rupee yearly.

• 4. The banishment of the all the moneylenders and zamindars from Damin-i-koh.

Next Lightening the Fuse

Lightning of the Fuse• On 7th July a massive body of Santhals appeared at Panchkhetia, a place little

north of Burhait. Hearing the news of this assembly the Darogah of Dighi or BuriBazar set out to meet them along with few armed police men. He may be calledupon to do so by the already fearing moneylenders who perhaps bribed thepolicemen to arrest the Santhals. However this proved to be dangerousexpedition, when he met Seedo and his men in Panckehthia, the Santhalsinformed him that they had come to levy a tax of Rs. 5 from every businessmanaround the place. After some heated dialogues, the Darogah angrily ordered theguards to bind Seedo, which turned to be a fatal mistake, this fueled the anger ofthe Santals and he was cut down by Seedo himself. About nine men weremurdered that day, as the shops and property of the shop keepers andbusinessmen were torched, any resistance was met with extreme vengeance andthis marked the beginning of the Santhal Rebellion.

Next The First Movements

The First Movements

BhognadihAt this place on 30th June,1855 war on landlords, police and their operatives was announced infront of 10,000 Santhals by Seedo and Kanhu.

Panchkhatiya BazarOn 7th July Seedo, Kanhu and their rebel army cut down Mohesh Dutt, Naib Suzawal and eight others following the latter's attempt to arrest the rebel leaders.

Pirpiyanti

Major F.W. Burroughs, sent to subdue the Santhals. were defeated near Pirpaintat Pialapur on 10th July, 1855!

Kadamseir

Few miles south of Pakur at Kadamsair the rebels assembled and put into arson the house of Rajah of Ambar.!

Palsa

The Santhal rebel army arrived here on 14th July.!

MaheshpurA major battle took place between the Santhals and Mr. Toogood's 7th NI regiment, about 200 Santhals were killed and wounded. Seedo and Kanhuwere wounded but not mortally.

RaghunathpurBy 24th of July the troops had arrived in Burhait and defeated the Santhals in this place. Seedowas treacherously handed over to the Bhagalpore troops.

Next Massive Growth!

Skirmishes against the Company

Santhals Weapons of War

THE SANTHAL WEAPON OF WAR

Extremely deadly weapon at a range of 60-70 yards.Can be termed as, ‘the silent killer’.Maximum range of 200 yards

British Weapons of War

THE BRITISH WEAPONS OF WAR

1853 Pattern Enfield RifleMuzzle velocity900 ft/s (270 m/s)Maximum firing range2,000 yards (1,800 m)

Repeating rifle used by the railway engineers manufactured from Liege,Belgium.

British Retaliation

British RetaliationThe first move against the Santhals was made by the

Magistrate of Murshidabad, Mr. Toogood. However the revoltcontinued to spread and villages and towns fell to theSanthals. Towards the end of July 1855 more troops weremobilized by the Bengal Government. Eventually the Santhalswere surrounded from all sides, they couldn’t break thecordon which in some places were 10-12 thousand strong. In10th November martial law was proclaimed and it was only byJanuary 1856 the rebellion finally quelled.

British Brutality

British BrutalityThe Rebellion was quelled with inhuman brutality, the Santhals were

forcefully evicted from their homes, women and children alike, theirhouses were smashed and crushed by elephants supplied by nativeprinces. Leaders were hanged in open mostly in trees todemonstrate the power of the Company officials and to spreadhorror and fear in the minds of the Santhals. The Company troopsshamelessly fired upon their enemy fighting only with bow andarrow, which is reflected in the statement by Major Jarvis,’ it wasnot war; they did not understand yielding. As long as their nationaldrum beat, the whole party would stand, and allow themselves tobe shot down. Their arrows often killed our men, and so we had tofire on them as long as they stood. When their drum ceased, theywould move off a quarter of a mile; then their drums beat again,and they calmly stood till we came up and poured a few volleys intothem. There was not a sepoy in the war who did not feel ashamedof himself.’

Next Martyrs

Martyrs Kanhu Murmu was arrested on 30th November,1855 along with

other comrades were arrested while fleeing towards Hazaribagh,following their arrest they were brought to Opurband. He wasarrested by Sirdar Ghotwal of Konjra. He was executed by hangingon 23rd February 1856 at 2.00 o’clock in his own village.

Seedo Murmu was captured by betrayal and his trial was conductedfirst by the Session Judge of Bhagalpore- Mr William Bell and thenthe case was referred to Nizamat Adalat for the final verdict by theNizamat Judges. He (Seedo) and other accused were presented inthe Nizamat Adalat on 4th December, 1855 and on the same daythe death sentence was awarded to Seedo. After the verdict AfterSeedo and Moocheea Sonthal (another leader) was hanged atthe“Baboopore, at the scene of their murders.”

Next Creation of Santhal Pargana

The Creation of Santhal Parganas.

Following the Rebellion an enquiry was made by the Companyofficials and it was found that the Santhals have some genuinegrievances. The act of XXXVII of 1855 was passed, whichremoved from the general laws and regulations, the districtcalled Damin-i-koh and other districts which were chieflyinhabited by Santhals. It was composed of four sub-districtsDumka, Deoghar, Godda, and Rajmahal (including Pakur)which were collectively called as Santhal Parganas.

Next New System

The New SystemThese sub-districts were placed under a Deputy Commissioner and

four Assistant Commissioner, who were given jurisdiction in civiland criminal cases. The police was abolished and the duty wastransferred upon the villager themselves, the headmen of eachvillage being held directly responsible. A direct communicationbetween the ruler and the ruled was established through theselaws-

No intermediary between Santhals and the AssistantCommissioner.

Complaints could be made verbally without the need of writtenpetition.

To carry out the criminal proceedings through the hands of theSanthals themselves.

Next Major Uprisings after

Hul

MAJOR UPRISINGS AFTER HUL OF 1855 Kherwar movement in 1874 under the leadership of Bhagirath Manjhi. In

the words of Bhagirath Manjhi,’ No human being created the Earth, nohuman being has cleared the land but ourselves, no human being butourselves has a right to share the produce.

Jitu Santhal's Movement in Malda, 1924-1932, Jitu Santhal of Maldadistrict launched a widespread movement which included hundreds oflandless and shared-cropper Santhals to fight for land. Santhals are anagricultural community and land occupies a central place in the Santhalway of life. The stage of revolt was set because of injustice done by theJamindars and their operatives to snatch the land of the Santhals,around 25,000 acres of land from the Santhals were confiscated by themoney lenders, touts or Jamindars.

That’s the End!