Revolts in Bengal and Eastern India

i. The Sanyasi Revolt:

The establishment of British rule in Bengal after 1757 and the new economic order it brought spelt ruin on zamindars, peasants and artisans alike. The famine of 1770 and the callousness on the part of the Company’s stooges were seen as a direct impact of alien rule. The restrictions imposed on visits to holy places estranged the Sanyasis.

The Sanyasis, with a tradition of fighting against oppression, espoused the popular cause and organised raids on the Company’s factories, state treasuries and valiantly fought against the Company’s armed forces. Only after prolonged military action could Warren Hasting’s contain Sanyasi raids.

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The East India Company’s official correspondence in the second half of the 18th century referred many times to’ the incursion of the Nomadic Sanyasis and Fakirs, mainly in northern Bengal.

Even before the great famine of Bengal small groups of Hindu and Muslim holymen travelled from place to place and made sudden attacks on the store houses of food crops and property of the local richen and government officials. Though the Sanyasis and Fakirs were religious mendicants, originally they were peasants, including some who were evicted from land.

The growing hardship of the peasantry, increasing revenue demand and the Bengal famine of 1770 brought a large member of dispossessed small Zamindars, disbanded soldiers and rural poor into the bands of Sanyasis and Fakirs.

They moved around different parts of Bengal and Bihar in bands of 5 to 7 thousand and adopted the guerilla technique of attack. Their target of attack was the grain stocks of the rich and at later stage, government officials. They looted local government treasuries. Sometimes the wealth looted was distributed among the poor. They established an independent government in Bogra and Mymensingh.

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ii. Kol Rising:

The Ko’is of Chhotanagpur resented the transfer of land from Kol headmen to outsiders like Sikh and Muslim farmers. In 1831 the Kol rebels killed or burnt about a thousand outsiders. The rebellion spread to Ranchi, Singhbhum, Hazaribagh, Palamau and western parts of Manbhum. Order could be restored only after large-scale military operations.

The Kols of Singhbhum for long centuries enjoyed independent power under their chiefs. They successfully resisted all attempts made by the Raja of Chota Nagpur and Mayurbhanj to subdue them. British penetration into this area and the attempt to establish British law and order over the jurisdiction of the Kol Chiefs generated tensions among the tribal people.

As a result of British occupation of Singhbhum and the neighbouring territories, a large number of people from outside began to settle in this area which resulted in transfer of tribal lands to the outsiders. This transfer of tribal lands and coming of merchants, money-lenders and the British law in the tribal area posed a great threat to the hereditary independent power of the tribal chiefs-

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This created great resentment among the tribal people and led to popular uprisings against the outsiders in the tribal area. The rebellion spread over Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Palamau and Manbhum. The target of attack was the settlers from other regions whose houses were burnt and property looted. The insurrection was ruthlessly suppressed by the British militia.

iii. Santhal Rising:

The Santhals of Rajmahal hills resented the ill-treatment at the hands of revenue officials, oppression of the police and exactions of the landlords and the money-lenders.

The Santhals rebelled in 1855 under the leadership of Sidhu and Kanhu, declared the end of the Company’s rule and declared themselves independent. Extensive military operations brought the situation under control in 1856. The Government pacified the Santhals by creating a separate district of Santhal Parganas.

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The Santhals were inhabitants of the districts of Birbhum, Bankura, Murshidabad, Pakur, Dumka, Bhagalpur and Purnea.

The area of maximum concentration of Santhals was called Daman-i-koh or Santhal Pargana. When the Santhals cleared the forest and started cultivation in this area the neighbouring Rajas of Maheshpur and Pakur leased out the Santhal villages to Zamindars and money-lenders.

Gradual penetration by outsiders in the territory of the Santhals brought misery and oppression for the simple living Santhals. In Calcutta Review of 1856 a contemporary writer depicted the condition of the Santhals in the following words:

“Zamindars, the police, the revenue and court alas have exercised a combined system of extortions, oppressive, exactions, forcible dispossession of property, abuse and personal violence and a variety of petty tyrannies upon the timid and yielding Santhals.

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Usurious interest on loans of money ranging from 50 to 500 per cent; false measures at the haut and the market; willful and uncharitable trespass by the rich by means of their unmetered cattle, tattoos, ponies and even elephants, on the growing crops of the poorer race and such like illegalities have been prevalent.

iv. Chuar Rising:

Famine, enhanced land revenue demands and economic distress goaded the Chuar aboriginal tribesmen of Midnapur district to take up arms. The Rajas of Dhalbhum, Kailapal, Dholka and Barabhum organised a revolt in 1768 and followed a scorched-earth policy. The disturbed conditions continued till the end of the century.

v. Khasi Rising:

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The East India Company occupied the hilly region between Jaintia in the east and Garo hills in the west. The English also planned a military road to link up the Brahmaputra valley with Sylhet and brought a large number of Englishmen, Bengali’s and other labour to complete the project.

Tirat Singh, the ruler of Nunklow, resented the intrusion into his territories, won over the support of the Garos, the Khamptis and Singhpos in a bid to drive away the lowland strangers. The insurrection developed into popular revolt against British rule in the area. The superior English military force suppressed the revolt in 1833.

vi. Ahoms’ Revolt:

The Ahom nobility in Assam accused the Company’s authorities of non-fulfilment of pledges of withdrawal from their territory after the conclusion of the Burman war. The attempt of the English to incorporate the Ahoms’ territory in the Company’s dominion sparked off a rebellion. In 1828 the Ahoms proclaimed Gomdhar Konwar as their king and planned a march to Rangpur.

The superior military power of the Company aborted the move. A second revolt was planned in 1830. The Company followed a pacific policy and in 1833 handed over upper Assam to Maharaja Purander Singh Narendra and a part of the kingdom was restored to the Assamese Raja.