TRIBAL INSURGENCY IN COLONIAL CENTRAL INDIA (1774-1930) BY LALITA MATHUR (PROFESSOR, DEPT. OF HISTORY) SAROJINI NAIDU GOVT. GIRLS PG (AUTONOMOUS) COLLEGE, BHOPAL. Our understanding of tribal insurgency in colonial India remains trapped between colonial historiography, from the standpoint of which tribal insurrections were violent infractions of public peace, mere “law and order” problems, and nationalist historiography, which is inclined to view them as lesser developed manifestations of nationalist and socialist sentiments. How then should tribal insurgency be analysed and represented? Tribal uprisings in colonial India are as old as colonialism itself. The phenomenon developed with the establishment of British rule in India in the mid-eighteenth century, and ended only when independence had been achieved. Historians have only broadly analysed non-tribal uprisings, but have, by and large, ignored the rebellions of these forest people, particularly in Central India i.e. present day Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This paper attempts to study the tribal mood, to critically analyse the goals, ideology and methods of organization, the types of movements, their strategies, repercussions and the significance of these rebellions in Central India. The British were primarily concerned with preventing their newly acquired dominions from disintegrating like the moribund empire of the Mughals under the impact of tribal insurgency. Tribal disturbances in many forms, and on scales ranging from local riots to warlike campaigns spread over many districts, were endemic throughout British The backbone of the rebellions. tribal uprisings and peasant movements. resentment and resistance at every stage.2 rule in India. These changes led to the disruption of the agrarian society. Thus they. localized revolts often took place because of local grievances. their mass base and striking power came from the rack-rented peasants. were often led by deposed rajas. My effort is to analyse these revolts in their historical perspective. involving armed bands of a few hundreds to several thousands. The major cause of all these rebellions taken as a whole was the rapid changes introduced by the British in the economy. The series of civil rebellions which run like a thread through the first hundred years of British rule. as also the old chiefs who had lost their principalities. although for short periods they acquired a broad sweep. merchants and moneylenders. causing prolonged and widespread suffering among its constituents. Above all. and the colonialisation of the economy and society. Peasants and artisans had their own reasons to rise up in arms and side with the traditional elite. ruined artisans and demobilized soldiers. These sudden. Increasing demands for land revenue were forcing a large number of peasants into indebtedness or into selling their lands. and ex-retainers and officials of the conquered Indian states. had personal scores to settle with their new rulers. My hypothesis is that tribal insurgency was the necessary antithesis to colonialism. This popular resistance took three broad forms: civil rebellions. This process produced discontent. administration and land revenue system. The proud zamindars resented this even more when they were displaced by rank outsiders – government officials. To aggravate the unhappiness of the farmers was the fact that not even a part of the enhanced revenue was spent on the development of agriculture or the welfare of the cultivator. nawabs or their descendents. Thousands of zamindars lost control over their land and its revenue either due to the extinction of their rights by the colonial state or because of the forced sale of their rights over land because of their inability to meet the exorbitant land revenue demanded. uprooted zamindars and landlords. bereft of any . The establishment of British power in India was a prolonged process of piecemeal conquest and consolidation. the colonial policy of intensifying demands for land revenue and extracting as large an amount as possible produced a veritable upheaval in Indian villages. The new landlords. Prominent among them were the Bhil uprisings of 1818-1831.3 paternalism towards their tenants. The new courts and legal system gave a further fillip to the dispossessors of the land and encouraged the rich to oppress the poor. Socially. Their resistance offered no societal alternative. The common people were also hard hit by the prevalence of corruption at the lower levels of the police. oppressed and tortured common people at will. judiciary and general administration. a British official. There was hardly a year without armed rebellion in one part of the country or other. This feeling of hurt pride inspired efforts to expel the foreigner from their lands. Such backward looking.” Another major cause of the rebellions was the very foreign character of British rule. The police looted. sporadic and disunited uprisings were incapable of overthrowing foreign rule. though separated in time and space. William Edwards. torture and jailing of the cultivators for arrears of rent or land revenue or interest on debt were quite common. blissfully unaware and oblivious of the modern world which had knocked down the defences of their society. They often bore the same character. The economic decline of the peasantry is reflected in the numerous famines that took place between 1770 and 1857. and they occurred in area after area as it was incorporated into colonial rule. It was centuries old in form. Like any other people. wrote in 1859 that the police were “a scourge to the people. The rebellions began as British rule was established in Bengal and Bihar. and were also localised in their effects. Its basic objective was to restore earlier forms of rule and social relations. economically and politically. but were wholly local in their spread. They were the result of local grievances. scattered. The petty officials enriched themselves freely at the cost of the poor. and isolated from each other. the Indian people too felt humiliated at being ruled by foreigners. the semi-feudal leaders of these rebellions were backward looking and traditional in their outlook. pushed up rents to ruinous heights and evicted them incase of non-payment. They still lived in the old world. but because they represented common conditions. The British succeeded in .” and that their oppressions and exactions form “one of the chief grounds of dissatisfaction with our government. Flogging. ideological and cultural content. These almost continuous rebellions were massive in their totality. not because they represented common national or common efforts. Above all. share-croppers and rack-rented tenants on the land they had earlier brought under cultivation and held on a communal basis. The historical significance of these uprisings lies in the fact that they established strong and valuable traditions of resistance to British rule. They had depended on the forest for food. taking recourse to fresh forest lands when their existing lands showed signs of exhaustion. Oppression and extortion by policemen and other petty officials further aggravated distress among the tribals. The revenue farmers and government agents also intensified and expanded the system of begar – making the tribals perform unpaid labour.4 pacifying the rebel areas one by one. In course of time. It recognized the tribal chiefs as zamindars and introduced a new system of land revenue and taxation of tribal products. The tribal uprisings were marked by immense courage and sacrifice on their part. They practiced shifting cultivation. fuel and cattle-feed. traders and revenue farmers as middlemen among the tribals. They also gave concessions to the less fiery rebel chiefs and zamindars in the form of assessments so long as they agreed to live peacefully under alien authority. The middlemen were the chief instruments for bringing the tribal people within the vortex of colonial economy and exploitation. The middlemen were outsiders who took possession of tribal lands and ensnared the tribals in a web of debt. it introduced a large number of moneylenders. forest lands and village common lands. The Indian people were to draw inspiration from these traditions in the later nationalist struggle for freedom. All this differed from region to region. but the complete disruption of the old agrarian . and brutal suppression on the part of the rulers. the tribals lost their lands and were reduced to the position of agricultural labourers. Colonialism transformed their relationship with the forest. They usurped the forest lands and placed restrictions on access to forest products. The colonial administration ended their relative isolation and brought them fully within the ambit of colonialism. The more recalcitrant ones were wiped out. The suppression of these rebellions was a major reason why the Revolt of 1857 did not spread to the south and most of western and eastern India. It refused to let cultivation shift to new areas. The colonial government changed all this. The tribals had cause to be upset for a variety of reasons. It encouraged the influx of missionaries into tribal areas. potters. bows and arrows. traditions and freedom.5 order of the tribal communities provided the common factor for all tribal uprisings. The tribals died in lakhs in this unequal warfare. When this happened. moneylender and revenue farmer disrupted the tribal identity to a lesser or greater degree. axes. carried on their war against those who were trying to interfere with their culture. washermen. Filled with hope and confidence. the tribal masses tended to follow these leaders to the very end. Fellow tribals were never attacked unless they had collaborated with the enemy. gwalas. not all outsiders were attacked as enemies. The rebellions often began at a point where the tribals felt so oppressed that they felt they had no alternative but to fight. This led to clashes with the colonial authorities. The warfare between the tribal chiefs and the British armed forces was totally unequal. They also often claimed to have magical powers. the power to make bullets ineffective. barbers. bonded labourers and domestic servants of outsiders. They were not only spared. carpenters. Most of these leaders claimed to derive their authority from God. religious and charismatic leaders – messiahs – emerged at this stage and promised divine intervention and an end to their suffering at the hands of outsiders. Often. and asked their fellow tribals to rise and rebel against foreign authority. often involving the entire population of a region. . but seen as allies. such as telis. The tribals saw themselves not as a distinct class but as having a tribal identity. On one side were drilled regiments armed with the latest weapons. for example. armed with primitive weapons such as stones. Often there was no violence against the non-tribal poor who worked in tribal villages or who had social relations with the tribals. This often took the form of spontaneous attacks on outsiders. nonetheless. the tribals began to move towards armed resistance and elementary organization. but they. In fact ethnic ties were a basic feature of the tribal rebellions. These uprisings were broad based. At the same time. believing in the magical powers of their commanders. spears. and on the other were men and women in roving bands. In many cases the rural poor formed a part of the rebellious tribal bands. At this level the solidarity shown was of a very high order. weavers. looting their property and expelling them from their villages. drummers. The colonial intrusion of the triumvirate of trader. 2. Pattabhishek Mahotsava of Bhairamdeva. all these movements were eventually put down by superior force.ibid. The Muria Rebellion ( 1876) 6. The Forest Satyagraha in the Central Provinces ( 1930). The Bhumkal in Bastar ( 1910) 8. The Halba . Epigraphia Indica. While the British realized that it was not possible to carry on administration successfully among a people seething with discontent. The Maria Rebellion( 1842-1863) 4. It was only in the twentieth century that the movements emerging out of this discontent were marked by a new feature: they were more deeply influenced by. 2. relating to the suppression of the Halba Rebellion. IX. 166. Dongar inscription of Daryadeo. Epigraphia Indica. The Koi Revolt ( 1859) 5. . We can therefore conclude by saying that peasant and tribal discontent against established authority was a familiar feature of the 18th and 19th centuries. and in their turn. The Tarapur Rebellion (1842-1854) 3. The Rani’s Rebellion (1878-1882) 7. which occurred between 1774 and 1825. Bhopalpatnam and Paralkote Revolts .6 The major revolts that took place in the colonial Central India between the eighteenth and twentieth century were as follows: 1. BIBLIOGRAPHY (1) ARCHEOLOGICAL SOURCES ( A ) Epigraphics 1. had a marked impact on the ongoing struggle for national freedom. 20th Oct. used by the British during the 1910 Rebellion. (II) Unpublished Sources 1. 1785-86 ( Bengal) Abstracts of Letters received from Bengal.7 3. 1932. The C. Minutes of the Court of Directors.RB ( ed. particularly the rule of Mahipaldeo and Bhupaldeo. ( C ) Numismatics (1)Gold Medal awarded to Sardar Bahadur Nizam Shah of Kujru in 1912 on his suppression of the 1910 Rebellion. Nagpur) – 21 volumes. Nagpur. Abhujmar.CB (ed. Vol.) Parmara Inscriptions in the Dhar State. (B) Sphragistics 1.) Inscriptions of the Central Provinces and Berar. 3. 2. The Chhattisgarh Divisional Records ( Civil Secretariat. Seals of Bhyrodeo in Ghasidas Museum. New Delhi. 4.1. Secret.2.1789. Lele. (2)Silver medal awarded to Baijnath Negi of Barsur in 1912 on his suppression of the 1910 Rebellion.Civil Secretariat Bundle Correspondence. Dhar State Historical Series.The National Archives. Foreign.P. Coat of arms. Hiralal.1783-10th Aug.4. Political and Home Department Proceedings: the above volumes cover a large part of the period under study. Vols. Raipur. 2. 2. (III) Archival Sources 1. MSS Records: Secret Consultations 1783-85 ( Bengal) Public Consultations !783-86 ( Bengal) Revenue Consultations. piled in a ditch of Kaccapal village. . Abstracts of Despatches to Bengal. The Nagpur Residency and Secretariat Records Covering the period 18121874) are a very valuable source of information. Hobsbawm. Oxford University Press. Sambhalpur. 3.Desai.Haimendorf. 86A. 6. Caste and Religion in India. Raigarh and Bastar. Delhi. Manchester University Press. Interviews with several elderly persons of Bastar. World Press. Delhi.XXLIV. Eastern States Agency Records ( 1858-1947): These files contain various Acts and Laws in force. ( These files contain Reports that various rebels have been expelled for their participation in anti-government activities). Reports. 1965. Von Furer: Tribes of India. Orders – Published/Unpublished. 2. 4. SECONDARY SOURCES 1. Calcutta. valour and sacrifices of Gunda Dhur and other prominent rebel leaders of the Bhumkal of 1910. 1788.1982. 1977. Annual Administration Reports of Kanker. 4.Yogesh: Adivasi Bharat ( Hindi). 3.Atal. Other folk songs which refer to the 1910 rebellion and present the story of British oppression in Bastar.Guha. Secret Despatches. Indore and Bhopawar. Rajkamal Prakashan.SB: Civil Disturbances during British Rule in India ( 1765-1857). Minutes of the Board of Control. Jashpur. C.Chaudhuri. (V) Oral Records 1. Ranajit: Neel Darpan: The Image of a Peasant Revolt in a Liberal Mirror. Oct. sung by the Bhatras in Netanar region of Bastar.1974. This song commemorates the heroism. 2. Raipur. EJ: Primitive Rebels. Letters from the Board of Control to the Court of Directors.8 Minutes of the Secret Committee.1955. 3. 1959. Letters. File No.Macmillan India Ltd.1/1800-2014-1859. who had heard legends from their forefathers of incidents regarding tribal retaliation to British oppression.2). London. Manuals. 5.Central India Agency Records. . Bhumkal Geet: the folk song on the 1910 Bastar Rebellion. Journal of Peasant Studies ( vol. AR: Tribes in Transition in Romesh Thapar(ed) Tribe. (IV) Notes. Serial No. Temple. Indian Historical Review. Epigraphia Indica.1966.Stokes.9 7. Civil and Criminal Judicial Reports 5.Cambridge. 9.Eric: The Peasant and the Raj. 2. 7.Cambridge University Press. Bhopal). Calcutta.S:Papers Relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of Central Provinces left in MSS (ed) R. 8.Nandini: Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthroplogical History of Bastar( 1854-2006). 1866. Oxford University Press. 8. 10. 6. Govt.Sundar. 10. Printing Press. 3.ICHR.ASI. REPORTS. District Gazetteers. UK. 1978. 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