Early Resistance: Civil, Peasant and Tribal Uprisings

Resistance before nationalism

Long before the Indian National Congress, Indians resisted British rule in many local ways. Deposed rulers, zamindars, peasants, artisans, tribal communities and religious groups rose in revolt against high revenue demands, loss of land and forest rights, moneylenders and foreign interference. These uprisings were local, scattered and often led by traditional elites, and they were crushed. But they show that colonial rule was never fully accepted, and they prepared the ground for 1857 and later movements. UPSC regularly asks to match a revolt with its region and leader, so this lesson groups them clearly.

Civil rebellions (led by deposed rulers and zamindars)

Tribal movements

Tribal communities depended on forests and shifting cultivation. British forest laws, the entry of outsiders (dikus) – moneylenders, traders, landlords – and missionaries threatened their land, customs and autonomy.

Birsa Munda's birth anniversary, 15 November, is observed as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas since 2021.

Peasant movements

The Wahabi movement

Inspired by Shah Waliullah and led in India by Syed Ahmad of Rae Bareli, the Wahabi movement aimed at religious purification and called for jihad first against the Sikh kingdom of Punjab and then against the British. Patna was its centre. It was crushed through a series of trials in the 1860s (the Ambala and Patna trials).

Common features and limits

• Local grievances – land, rent, forest rights – rather than a national programme.
• Traditional leadership – chiefs, religious figures, deposed rulers.
• Religious idiom: many leaders claimed divine sanction, which helped mobilise but also limited unity.
• Violence and tribal or community solidarity, which the British met with brutal repression.
• Outcomes: the British often passed protective laws afterwards – the Santhal Parganas Tenancy arrangements, the Bengal Tenancy Act 1885, the Deccan Agriculturists' Relief Act 1879 and the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 – showing that resistance forced policy changes.

These revolts lacked a modern idea of the nation. Yet they kept alive a tradition of resistance that nationalists later celebrated, and they showed the deep economic distress caused by colonial policy.

Case study: the Santhal Hul in detail

The Santhals had moved into the Damin-i-Koh area of the Rajmahal hills from the late eighteenth century, clearing forests and settling as cultivators. The Company encouraged this because it brought new revenue. But the area soon filled with zamindars, moneylenders, traders and police from outside. Loans were given at interest rates of 50 to 500 per cent, and debts passed from father to son. Santhals lost their land and many were forced into bonded labour.

In June 1855, at Bhognadih, about 10,000 Santhals gathered under the brothers Sidhu and Kanhu, who claimed a divine command to drive out the outsiders. They attacked moneylenders, police posts and railway workers and declared the end of Company rule in their area. The rebels were armed with bows and arrows, and martial law was declared. The army crushed the revolt by early 1856, and thousands of Santhals were killed. Sidhu and Kanhu were captured and executed. The government then created the separate Santhal Parganas district with simpler administration and protections against outsiders. The Hul is remembered on 30 June as Hul Diwas.

Case study: Birsa Munda's Ulgulan

The Mundas had a system of khuntkatti, under which land cleared by the founding families was held jointly by the lineage. From the mid-nineteenth century, outside thikadars (contractors) and jagirdars took control of this land and demanded forced labour. Christian missions offered help but did not restore the land. Birsa Munda (1875–1900), educated briefly in a mission school, began as a religious reformer, asking Mundas to give up liquor and sacrifices and to worship one god. He soon called for an end to the rule of the British, landlords and missionaries and declared a Munda Raj. In late 1899, his followers attacked police stations and churches. The movement was crushed in early 1900 at Dombari hill, and Birsa died in Ranchi jail in June 1900. His movement led to the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908, which recognised khuntkatti rights and banned forced labour. Jharkhand state was created on his birth anniversary, 15 November, in 2000.

Why the British could defeat them

The uprisings were isolated in time and space, so the British could move troops from one region to another. Rebels had traditional weapons against rifles and artillery. Leaders were often captured or bought over, and the absence of links with the educated middle class meant there was no wider political support.

Mains practice question

Q. "Tribal uprisings in colonial India were primarily a defence of land and forest rights." Discuss with examples. (150 words)

Framework: tribal economy; colonial forest laws and dikus; Santhal Hul, Munda Ulgulan, Khond, Rampa; religious and identity aspects; repression and protective tenancy laws; legacy (Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, Fifth and Sixth Schedules later).

Quick self-test

1. Who led the Santhal Hul? *(Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu)*
2. What is "Ulgulan"? *(Birsa Munda's great tumult, 1899–1900)*
3. Who led the Paika rebellion? *(Bakshi Jagabandhu)*
4. Which law followed the Pabna movement? *(Bengal Tenancy Act, 1885)*