Birsa Munda and Ahimsa

Fr. William Horo

(frwilliamhoro@gmail.com)

India celebrates Janjatiya Gaurav Divas on November 15 and re-members the contributions tribal communities and their brave martyrs made for the freedom of our country from the British Raj. Before Mangal Pandey, a sepoy in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry, started the famous Sepoy Mutiny on 29th March 1857, many Indians did lucrative jobs under them, and they enjoyed the power and privileges of colonial rule. But it was never the case with the Indian tribals. History bears witness that the Adivasis of India opposed the British Raj from the very beginning. In 1855, two Santhal Adivasi brothers, Sido Murmu and Kanhu Murmu, along with their sisters, Chand and Bairab, mobilized about 10,000 Santhals and declared a rebellion against the British colonists. In 1870, the Sepoy Rebellion came against the British. It was led by Baba Bhagirath Manjhi, Lal Hembram, and Palca Murmu. Then the Munda revolt, the biggest uprising against the British, began in 1899. It was led by a legendary figure, Veer Birsa Munda, and thus in his honour the Gaurav Divas is celebrated on 15th November, his birthday.

Basically, Birsa Munda was a religious leader. He had founded the Birsait religion for the Mundas. Like any other spiritual leaders of Asia, such as Siddhartha Gautama or Jesus of Nazareth, Israel, he too spent time in prayers and meditations before he ventured into his mission to set his people free from the British rule and zamindari pratha. Siddhartha Gautama meditated for 49 days under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya to reach enlightenment at the age of 35 and established Buddhism. Jesus, the founder of Christianity, spent forty days and nights in fasting and prayer before he began his public ministry of preaching the Kingdom of God. The authors, Tuhin A. Sinha and Ankita Verma, in their book, ‘The Legend of Birsa Munda,’ authenticate that he spent time in deep prayers and meditation for four years in the thick forests. He fasted and did penance to attain revelation from Singabonga, the god of the Mundas, to free his people from the atrocities of angrez sarkar, zamindars, and sahukars. 

Birsa did not pray in one place but traveled to different places in the forest. In his journey, he became a Good Samaritan to the needy. In the Khunti forest, one day his eyes fell on a bundle of clothes. When he unraveled the bundle, he found a boy of indiscriminate age tied and thrown to die close to a village. He carried the boy in his arms and reached him to the village. He took the child to a village-vaidya who treated him and saved him. In another instance, he tried to save a victimized woman of witchcraft, the blind faith, but the executioners were stronger than him. However, he learnt a lesson to reform his society from evil practices of witchcraft and such superstitious beliefs in the future. He also learnt some herbal medications for various sicknesses.

After his enlightenment, Birsa headed towards his adopted village, Chaldak. He was born in an obscure village, Ulihatu, currently in the Khunti district of Jharkhand state, on 15 November, 1875, of Sugna Munda and Karmi Hatu, and did his elementary studies at Salga Ayubhatu, his grandparents’ village, in a private school run by certain Jaipal Nag, a German (Lutheran) convert. When Jaipal found Birsa’s sharp and inquisitive mind, he recommended him to join the German Mission School managed by Reverend Lutheran and Reverend Kohl. When he was studying there, his parents migrated to Chaldak village. Thus Birsa went back to Chaldak to live in there.

On his way back to Chaldak, he visited a family whose child had a high fever. With the help of some herbal medicine, he cured the child. He was a son of the village sarpanch, Bir Singh Munda. The grateful sarpanch invited Birsa with his parents for a meal. Some respected members of the Munda community of Chalkad and neighboring villages were also invited. The sarpanch narrated the full account of Birsa’s miraculous healing powers to the gathering knew that Birsa possessed the divine power to heal people and started flocking to him for his darshan and hearing his discourses. and had a grand reception for him. The sarpanch announced in the gathering that Birsa had healed his son from fever. Thus the people knew that Birsa possessed the divine power to heal people and started flocking to him for his darshan and hearing his discourses.

Birsa had built a small hut for himself in a corner of their courtyard. He often confined himself in that room and prayed for hours. Due to the report of his miraculous cure of the boy suffering from fever, people came from far-flung villages to meet the young healer. He would pray with them, bless them with a soft touch, and at times, he would give them herbal concoctions that he had personally prepared. He also listened to those who wanted to speak to him. He counseled them; he advised them and thus lightened their burdens. Chalkad started booming with people. In his discourse, Birsa preached monotheism. He said that there is only one God. He is the Singabonga. It is better to worship him alone. All superstitions and archaic beliefs and practices were unnecessarily complicating their lives and keeping them away from a true and more meaningful form of faith. With his simple teachings, Birsa shed the extra baggage of borrowed cultural obligations from others.

Birsa taught that God does not need our gold and silver. He should be worshipped with small quantities of rice and other grains. For the dress code, he said that it was sufficient to wrap our entire body with a single strip of white cloth. He preached about every human dignity. He asked the people to be proud of themselves and their culture. He advocated for preserving their culture, land, forest, and the water. People thronged to Chalkad to get a glimpse of Birsa, to hear him speak, and the cult around him grew bigger with each passing day. He envisaged ushering the kingdom of equality in a peaceful manner. The Christians called him ‘Black Christ,’ and the Hindus claimed that he was an avatar of Lord Krishna. Birsa named his cult ‘Birsait’ and claimed to be ‘Dharti Aba,’ the protector of the land.

At that time there was a zealot group of Mundas. They called themselves Sardars. The Munda Sardars were fighting an armed revolt against the British, but their strikes were sporadic and unorganized, making them largely ineffective. Seeing the growing clout and popularity of Birsa, a handful of them, including Soi Munda, Jaun Munda, Martin Munda, and Manga Munda, approached him and requested he lead their movement. They asked him to turn his social movement into political activism against the British. Birsa wanted to lead his people towards a better future by peaceful means. He told them that a complete social reformation of people was a basic prerequisite before they could undertake a larger battle. He wanted an interior revolution through a change in mentalities. After the zealot group of Mundas had left the place, Birsa spent the night praying over their suggestions. In the meantime, he planned to organize a large gathering of Mundas to release a code of conduct he had written down for his followers.

The gathering was scheduled. People started thronging around Birsa in the large congregation. He taught them of their political rights and their right over the land. His clarion call was not surrender to the exploiters. We too are human beings, as they are, and this earth that they claim belongs to them is ours by right. We are children of this soil, and we must protect our motherland. He called for their unity for a decent life of dignity. Thus a sense of freedom was injected into the mind of the people. He gave a clarion call that dikus (outsiders), including the landlords, mahajans, Britishers, and the missionaries, were responsible for their pitiable state, and their fight for justice is against them. However, he wanted his movement to follow the path of ahimsa. His followers clung to his words as their only beacon of hope. The angrez sarkar wanted to arrest Birsa to quiet the uprising. The district collector issued orders against him. The order read that it was illegal to hold such a large meeting. In order to avoid further action, the meeting had to be dispersed immediately. But Birsa continued his meeting. “I am helping my people discover a better way of life,” said Birsa. “Why should the sarkar be bothered by that?” When his followers declared their resistance with arms if the government dispersed their meeting by force, Birsa exclaimed, “That’s not the way we can win this war!” He told the zealot Sardar very clearly, “We must discourage the people from resorting to violence, no matter what happens.”

When he was told of the definite plan of the authorities to come and disperse the crowd, Birsa said, “Let them come. Their presence here is not going to be justification enough for our people to use their arms. Everything must have a purpose, and mine is to peacefully lead our people towards a better future. I have no option but to give this endeavour my heart and soul. I will never doubt my purpose just because I see a threat looming in the distance.” “If the police resorted to lathicharge, people would fight back,” someone retorted to Birsa. To him, Birsa replied, “Then the new order, the new kingdom of equality that I envisage for them, must be ushered in peacefully.” In spite of opposition from all corners, Birsa kept his idea of non-violence in fighting against the British.

As Birsa began to talk about the rules he had drawn for his devotees, he noticed a commotion at the far end of the crowd. Some of the devotees appeared to have converged in a group, and their angry shouts were loud enough to reach the front of the gathering. They were angry because a group of constables had come with a message that the meeting was against the law and that it should be cancelled right away. They were ready to kill the policemen there and then. However, Birsa sent his aides, Komta and Sarpanch Bir Singh Munda, who rushed to the place and managed to calm the rising temper of the crows and disperse the crowd surrounding the policemen. The policemen, unharmed but frightened out of their wits, quickly handed over the district collector’s order to Komta and left the scene.

After reading the district collector’s order, Dharti Aba said to his men, “They are going to come back with a bigger force, and if they still find us here, they will arrest me.” “We will never allow them to take you away,” shouted someone from the crowd. He further added, “We have our battle axes and our bows and arrows ready.” Birsa responded to him and said, “No. We shall do nothing of that sort. We shall not use our battle axes or our bows and arrows.” Another person from the crowd retorted to Bisra and said, “But Dharti Aba! We have borne the atrocities these people have committed against us for too long now.” But Birsa shook his head and said, “You cannot correct one wrong by committing another. That is not the answer. We will continue with our meeting, and if they wish to arrest me, then let them do so.” Birsa continued his meeting for two more days and shared the code of conduct with his followers.

Finally, Commissioner Smith dispatched a battalion of policemen for Birsa. The police came and charged at the Birsa’s devotees, who were attending to their Guru’s discourses. They were hitting the people with lathis and rifle butts as they tried to move towards Birsa. The devotees of Birsa confronted the police. They fought back hard with whatever they had—battle axes, stones, sticks, and their hands if they found nothing else. The confrontation lasted nearly two hours, and by the end of it, it was the police who were forced to retreat from the hill. Hours later, Birsa walked along the wounded, and his original sense of ahimsa hit him back. It proved to be the battle of Kalinga for Birsa. He felt sorry that the innocent blood was shed, and he decided to surrender himself.

Birsa Bhagwan sent a message to the commissioner that he was ready to surrender, and on the following morning he did surrender and was taken to Ranchi. After the due procedure, he was put in Ranchi jail by the district collector, Albert Wilkinson. Throughout the process of his imprisonment, he behaved gently. When the district collector announced various charges against him, such as multiple counts of proclaiming himself as God to the innocent people of that region, inciting the crowd against the Crown, obstruction of justice, and an assault of the policeman sent to his residence in Chalkad, and numerous complaints of terrorism and extortion, Birsa responded, “These are very complicated words, and they sound like very serious charges.” But all I did was simply talk to my people. How could I be prosecuted for that? He remained in the jail for two years and twelve days. Thereafter, he was released due to the lack of eyewitnesses for his charges.

As Birsa was coming out of the jail, the jail commissioner, Fordes, ordered him not to take either the footwear or the headgear. To that offense too, Birsa dealt very gently and said, “It does not matter.” Then, he took out a gamochha from the bundle and deftly tied it around his head like a headgear and walked out of jail. He was accorded a rousing welcome by his thousands of followers at Chaldak when he arrived. When it was reported that people had resorted to dacoity and loot to satisfy their hunger, Birsa shook his head in disapproval. However, the zealot Munda Sardars told him that fighting back was the only option for the people. After much hesitation, Birsa yielded to their persuasion and accepted to lead the arms revolution. He no longer subscribed to the idea of a peaceful reformation of the tribal society. And yet, in the depth of his gut, he was nonviolent.

In 1898, Birsa and his warriors planned to attack the Khunti police station. They learnt that the officer Streatfield, in charge of the station, was on his way back to Khunti from Ranchi. A woman cadre of Birsa, as pre-planned, deceived him on his way and slit his throat. Three men came to the police station and forced open the door of the police. The policemen handed over to them the keys of their armory. They collected all the arms and ammunition they found. “What shall we do about the money we found in the armory?” one of them asked Birsa. “Leave it where it is,” Birsa ordered. “We shall take the horses,” he added. “What about these three policemen?” another fighter queried Birsa. “We have nothing against them, so just leave them tied up outside the police station,” said Birsa. Thus in the midst of the battle, too, Birsa’s non-violence was visible.

The retaliation of the Angrez to the killing of the police officer Steatfield and to the attack of the Khunti police station was dreadful. They employed Robert Singh, the zamindar of Torpa, and two eleven-year-old twins, Chamru and Dubga, were kidnapped and killed. Birsa and his warriors were upset and angry. Gaya Munda told Birsa, “Why do we have to spare their lives when they are so merciless and callous with ours?” In his reply, Birsa said, “This is why I had initially advised against killing people. We did not spare Officer Streatfield’s life, and now this bloodshed will go on.” Birsa was caught in a dilemma of violence against non-violence. Even if he longed to do things peacefully, he knew that he had reached a point of no return. Then, he decided, like Arjuna in the Mahabharata Kaurava army, to do his duty, his dharma, and not think about anything else. Finally, he gathered himself and took charge of the situation.

In 1899, Birsa’s fighters created mayhem by throwing fire on the Britishers’ Christmas parties in several places such as Khuti, Karra, Torpa, Tamar, and other districts of Ranchi and Singhbhum and shouted, Abua Disshom Re! Abua Raj. In the first week of January 1900, there was a fierce battle between the Angrez police, led by DPC Brown, and the rebels. In the battle, Gaya Munda, the lieutenant of Birsa, was killed. But the rebel protected their fort on Ektedih Hill with increasing fervor. The number of uprisings picked up against the British administration. Birsa had been forced into hiding, but the ulugulaan stayed true to its course, with his followers being led by able Sardars like Donka and Majhia Munda.

The superintendent of police, Thomas Roche, and DCP Brown decided to nab Birsa. He managed to buy off a Sardar named Saugi Munda, who informed them that Birsa was hiding in the Sael Rakab hills. In the second week of January 1900, the British troops marched towards Sael Rakab. As they approached the hills, DCP Brown called out to Birsa to surrender and bid him to come for dialogue. But the rebels shouted, Abua Dishoom Re Abua Raj, and a volley of stones and arrows rained down from the hill. The British troops too marched forwards, and there was a pitched battle, with both sides determined to not give in. Finally, the Commissioner ordered DCP Brown to open fire. The British troops did open fire and nearly 400 Munda rebels were arrested, but Birsa himself had escaped them yet again. After the battle of Sael Rakab, the angrez sarkar had launched a massive manhunt for Birsa, who was fast growing weary of living a fugitive’s life. He had lost all his comrades and friends in the war, but he thought that the blood of martyrs was the only offering the tree of freedom would accept. He whispered to himself, ‘Enough of running and hiding,’ and he camped in Rogoto village with his aides, Bharmi Munda, Komta Munda, and Moina Munda. The British had declared a Rs 500 cash award for anyone who would help them to arrest Birsa. The angrez were tipped off and led in the afternoon to the Rogoto camp. SP Roche’s men overpowered the guards and captured the three aides of Birsa.

However, Birsa was nowhere to be found. The three aides of Birsa were ready to suffer any severe scourging, but they wouldn’t share any information about their leader. When SP Roche and his men were about to come away, the SP spotted a small hut a little far away from the main one. He opened the rudimentary door of the hut with his bayonet and found Birsa seated cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the hut. Birsa lifted his eyes towards him with a serene smile. He offered his hands for handcuffing without any exchange of even a word. The SP ordered his head constable to handcuff him, and thus it brought close the struggle the British had to capture Birsa.