Popularly known as Dharti Abba (Father of the Land), Birsa Munda is a very honoured revolutionary messianic tribal leader and freedom fighter of Jharkhand.
Birsa was born on 15 November 1875, and died on 9 June 1900 in Jharkhand’s Ranchi jail, suspected of poisoning.
Birsa’s birth anniversary falls in line with the date of the new Jharkhand’s statehood on 15 November 2000. It is indeed a very happy coincidence because Birsa can be said to be a remote founder father of Jharkhand’s statehood and advocate of tribal identity.
Birsa was born in Ulihatu of the then Lohardagha district of Bengal Presidency, now Khunti district of Jharkhand. With a short span of 25 years of his life, Birsa achieved much as a freedom fighter. For a short while he became a Christian and was educated in a German Mission school. But, soon he fell out with the missionaries and started his own religious faction called ‘Birsite’.
Around Christmas of 1899, with around 7000 men and women he heralded the Ulgulan (revolution). His area of operation was confined among the Mundas covering Khunti, Tamar, Basia and Ranchi.
Birsa’s call was for liberating land from the colonisers and landlords and freedom from paying land tax to the British government. His followers attacked and killed two police constables on 5th January 1900. Two days later, they attacked Khunti police station, killing a constable and destroying houses of local shopkeepers.
The British administration ordered Birsa’s arrest. Meanwhile, Birsa and his followers had taken a strategic camping spot at Dumbari Hill. He was arrested at Jamkopai forest in Chakradarpur 3 February 1900. 460 tribals were made accused in 15 different criminal cases, out of which 63 were convicted. One was sentenced to death, 39 to transportation for life and 23 to imprisonment of 15 years.
Birsa died in jail on 9 June 1900 by vomiting blood due to possible poisoning. Though his movement faded out following his death, one good outcome of the revolution was the declaration of Chotanagpur Tenancy Act of (CNT Act) 1908 which prohibits transfer of tribal land to non-tribals.
The CNT Act, and, later, the Statehood of Jharkhand were happy outcome of Birsa’s sowing the seed of tribal revolution in eastern India.