P. A. Chacko SJ
Every year, on June 30th, Santal Tribal Rebellion Day is celebrated in India’s eastern state Jharkhand. The Santals call it Hul in their Santali language. It means rebellion. The Hul started on June 30, 1855 in eastern India.
A few steps prior to this historic event of 1855 will place the event in the right perspective.
The Santals are India’s largest homogenous tribe. Authentic historical records show that the Santal Adivasis were a migratory tribe. They belong to the Munda clan. The Mundas occupy central and eastern India.
The Santal tribals are found in Bengal, Odisha, Bangladesh and mostly in the Jharkhand state of India.
The Santals are mostly concentrated in the present day Santal Parganas, north eastern portion of Jharkhand state. The area, garlanded with the 100 mile long Rajmahal Hill Range, was already the abode of the Malto Hill tribe, a faction of the Uraons in Chotanagpur in the State of Jharkhand. Already around 300 BC, Greek historian Megasthenes makes a mention of this Malto tribe occupying the Rajmahal range.
Incidentally, Megasthenes was Greek Ambassador in the court of King Chandragupta Mauriya. He was also historian, Indian ethnographer and explorer. He authored Indica, an account of India in four books.
During their migratory exploration for convenient settlements, the Santals eyed the Rajmahal Hill Range and the plateau. The verdant hill range with its vast forested area and the sprawling countryside fired their imagination and could not resist an attempt to enter the area.
That was the time when the British were facing stiff opposition from the Malto tribe which resisted the White sahib’s encroachment into their area.
Some point out that, as a counter measure against the resisting Malto tribe, the British allowed the Santals to enter the area, clean the thick foliage for settlement and cultivation.
The period of their immigration into the area has been recorded as late 1780s or early 1790s. Slowly and steadily, their population swelled. It is said that, the Malto tribe felt caught between the British might and the ever-expanding Santal tribe. Hence, they withdrew into the hilly areas. Only since then, they were named Paharia, meaning hill dwellers.
The purpose of the British in allowing the Santals to enter the area was not all that holy. They had to counter the resisting Malto tribe. Secondly, they needed revenue to fill their royal treasury. Hence, they conducted survey settlement and apportioned plots to the locals with the sole purpose of extracting land tax.
The tribals were accustomed to barter system for getting their provisions and for various needs. But, the British needed land tax in cash currency. And, they cunningly invited moneylenders and pretty traders from Bengal to settle in the area to interact with the penniless tribals.
Soon the tribals got caught up in the web of exploitation by the blood-sucking money lenders, petty traders and unscrupulous tax collecting intermediaries.
When the people were unable to pay the ever increasing tax to the government, the British auctioned off their land. Thus Zamindari or Landlord system began to flourish. The moneylenders also claimed their pound of flesh. Hence, they too forced the Santals to part with their cultivable land for loan default.
Within four decades of their settlement in the Rajmahal Hill Range, the Santals felt suffocated as if they were in a never ending tunnel of exploitation and ill treatment by the money lenders, traders, police, corrupt government officials, and the neglect of the administration.
Most tribal movements have shown that a popular resistance get off the ground with the emergence of a messianic hero. The Santal Insurrection was no exception.
The heroes were four brothers of a Murmu family of Bhognadih village under Barhait Police station in the present district of Sahibganj in Jharkhand, eastern India. They were Sido, kanhu, Chand and Bhairav brothers.
On one moonlit night Sido had a vision from God, the Chando Baba. He was told in the vision to free his tribal brethren from all forms of exploitation.
Sido and his brothers called for a people’s assembly. On the determined day a large number of people assembled under a banyan tree at Panchkatia, five kilometres from Bhognadih. At the meeting Sido shared with them the vision and the purpose of the vision.
The group was told by the leaders that they should travel to the British Provincial headquarters in far away Calcutta, some 300 kilometres, to represent their grievances.
Soon there appeared the Officer-in-charge of Dighi Police Station and told the people to disperse. His order was responded with a counter order to treat him as enemy and have his head cut off.
With that bloodletting, the crowd shouted Hul, Hul meaning revolution. Then the crowd fanned out apparently towards Calcutta. They had to do it on foot.
On the way they broke open landlords’ and money lenders’ go downs and helped themselves with grain and other items. They were met with stiff resistance from landlords, money lenders and the police. Many lost their lives. Others moved on with sporadic activities.
On Nov. 10, 1855 the British proclaimed martial law. It lasted Till Jan. 03, 1856. With the martial law the soldiers loyal to the British quelled the six month revolt. Sido and Kanhu were caught and killed. Of the 60,000 tribesmen who participated in the rebellion, between 15,000 to 20,000 of them were killed. The tribals had only bows and arrows while the British had gun power.
It is also important to note that along with them in the fighting fray were Phulo and Jhano, the sisters of Sido-Kanhu brothers. Reports say that they entered a tent of soldiers and axed to death 21 of them.
The events that followed the rebellion were interesting. The British learnt that the tribes people could not be taken for granted. Another uprising could be more disastrous. So, they contemplated lasting solutions. That resulted in naming the areas as a new Division called Santal Parganas, bifurcating Bhagalpur Division.
Moreover, separate customary and tenancy laws were enacted. Separate courts were set up for dealing with cases. Camp courts at various market centres were organised with the Sub-divisional Magistrate as the presiding official.
With the new Santal Parganas Tenancy Act, the land owned by tribals or permanent settlers with ownership papers could not be sold, transferred or exchanged. Thus, the 1855 uprising had a salubrious effect.
The June 30 memorial event of the Santal Hul is meant to recapture the spirit of freedom from exploitation and oppression.
Critics point out that today the tribes people cannot afford to think of fighting with bows and arrows. They need to adopt different strategy in the face of modern day situations of poverty, exploitation and lack of development.
India’s constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right of education under article 21A of the Indian constitution has to be taken advantage of. It is pathetic to note that even today the educational delivery in rural areas is in doldrums.
Even when strict rules are there in the Tenancy act against land alienation, the reality is frightening.
The so-called development-oriented operations like business centres, quarrying and mining etc, have been displacing and pauperizing many people.
Today, the tribals can no more think of a modern day Messaiah or a visionary like Sido Murmu to lead them into a mass movement. Rather, literacy, education, capacity development, socio-political awareness, ability to understand problems and issues analytically and critically and honest social and political leadership should be the tools the tribals must adopt and employ for their genuine development.