Birsa Munda
Birsa Munda was a valiant freedom fighter who was born at Ulihatu in the Bengal Presidency (presently in Jharkhand) on 15th November 1875 into a Munda family. His parents were Sugana Munda and Karmi Hatu. His childhood was spent in a typical Munda style amidst poverty.
He got converted to Christianity and became Birsa David/Daud in order to receive an education from a missionary school.
During the 1890s, he started speaking to his people about the exploitation done by the British on the Indian. The British agrarian policies were stifling the tribal people and disrupting their way of life which was hitherto peaceful and in tune with nature. Another problem was that of cultural belittlement of the tribal people by the Christian missionaries.
The Mundas had followed the Khunkhatti system of joint landholding. The British replaced this egalitarian system with the Zamindari System. Outsiders entered the tribal landscape and started exploiting them. In their own turf, they became forced labourers. Poverty descended on them like a strangling chain.
In 1894, Birsa announced his declaration against the British and the Dikus (outsiders) and thus began the Munda Ulgulan. This is a very important rebellion of the tribal people among the various uprisings of the tribals and peasants in India in the 19th century.
Many Mundas, Kharias and Oraons accepted him as their leader. Birsa advocated the tribal people to shun the missionaries and revert to their traditional ways. He also asked people not to pay taxes.
He was arrested in 1895 and released after two years. In 1899, he resumed his armed struggle along with the people. He razed police stations, government property, churches and houses of Zamindars.
The British caught him in 1900 from Jamkopai forest, Chakradharpur. Birsa Munda died on June 9th 1900 while lodged at the Ranchi jail aged just 25. Authorities claimed he died of cholera although this is doubted.
