Birsa Munda: Freedom fighter-cum-religious founder

Fr. William Horo

Today is Janjatiya Gaurav Divas in India. Ever since the Government of India, under the statesman leadership of our Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, declared on November 15, 2021, the birthday of a tribal freedom fighter, Birsa Munda, is celebrated as the Janjatiya Gaurav Divas. It is a big tribute given to Birsa Munda for his great contribution to the freedom of India. He was born in an obscure village, Ulihatu, currently in the Khunti district of Jharkhand state, on November 15, 1875, in Sugna Munda and Karmi Hatu. He did his elementary studies at Salga Ayubhatu, his grandparents’ village, in a private school run by Jaipal Nag. Thereafter, he joined the German Mission School, managed by Reverend Lutheran and Reverend Kohl. To get admission to the school, as the rule was, Birsa converted to Christianity and was baptised as David Purty by Reverend Hoffman sometime in 1886. However, because of some disciplinary reasons, he could study only up to Cl. VIII, and he was dropped out.

Birsa had a frank and honest temperament. He was also quite sensitive and emotional. He was considered a rebel by his teachers, including Reverend Kohl. He did not compromise with the system, which downplayed tribal dignity. One day, during the morning school assembly, Reverend Kohl was tense. Some converted tribals in the villages were demanding from the Reverend their lost land in the hands of the zamindars, as they were assured at their baptism. He lost his cool and went on a tirade. “You tribals are an uncivilised, ungrateful lot of traitors. We tried to transform your lives by educating you and introducing you to a new religion that treats everyone as equal! But what do we get in return? You bite us like poisonous snakes. You attack us.” Birsa could stand the tirade. From his assembly line, he shouted, “We are not traitors! You are the traitors. You promised our land back from the zamindars, and you clambered to appease them back on your promise in order to get a donation for the church.” At the complaint of Rev. Kohl, Rev. Lutheran asked Birsa for a public apology, but Birsa did not oblige. With that incident and many other similar kinds in which Birsa differed from the missionaries, he was expelled from the school.

Birsa came home to Chalkad because his family had moved there to improve their economic condition. But it proved to be the worst place. The tribals’ lands were taken over by the zamindars with the help of the Angrez government. The tribles were working on their own land as slaves from dawn to dusk, earning hardly any money for a meal. Besides, their cattle or poultry products would be taken away by the zamindars at their will. At the arrival of Birsa, his parents were taken aback. Their dream of Birsa studying and getting a lucrative job under the Angrez government or as a zamindar was shattered. However, they reconciled with the situation. Sungna, his father, murmured, “We don’t know Singbonga’s plan for him. Like his bhaiya, Komta, he will earn something for the family.”However, Birsa could not stay long in his village. He was found guilty of stealing the anklets of a dead girl by digging her grave. For him, it was a superstitious belief to bury the dead with their gold and silver ornaments while people were dying of hunger. He had dug the grave, taken the anklets, sold them to a sahukar, and bought rice for the celebration of his baby nephew. However, the end does not justify the means. He realised that he was wrong and exiled himself into the forest.

Almost every civilization in the world believes that the mountains are God’s abode. Siddhartha Gautama left his princely life and got enlightenment under a Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, and is called Buddha. In the Biblical tradition, we find God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze and speaking with Adam and Eve. Birsa, too, got his enlightenment in the forest. Like any other Indian Rishi of the Himalayas, he too spent time in deep prayers and meditation for four years in the thick forest. He fasted penance to attain revelation from Singabonga, the god of the Mundas. One day Singabonga told him in prayer, “I have observed the misery of my people. I have heard their cry on account of the Angrez sarkar, zamindars, and sahukars. I want to free them from their bonds. You will go and set my people free.” Birsa also heard Singabonga saying to him, “If you believe that the future of your people can be better, choose what you think is best, whatever others may say.” Thus, Birsa was spiritually strengthened and was ready to venture out on his mission.

After his enlightenment, Birsa headed towards his village, Chaldak. On his way back, he met 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 and his parents for a meal. Some respected members of the Munda community of Chalkad and neighbouring villages were also invited. The sarpanch narrated the full account of Birsa’s miraculous healing powers to the gathering. He said 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. 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. 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 human dignity. He asked the people to be proud of themselves and their culture. He advocated for preserving their culture, land, forests, and water. People thronged to Chalkad to get a glimpse of Birsa and to hear him speak, and the cult around him grew bigger with each passing day. He envisaged ushering in 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 Aaba’ the protector of the land.

At that time, there was a zealous group of Mundas. They called themselves Sardars. The Munda Sardars were fighting an arm-revolt against the British, but their strikes were sporadic and unorganised, making them largely ineffective. Seeing the growing clout of Birsa, a handful of them, including Soi Munda, Jaun Munda, Martin Munda, and Manga Munda, approached him and requested to lead their movement. They asked him to turn his social movement into a political one against the British. Birsa wanted to lead his people towards a better future through peaceful means. After much hesitation, Birsa believed in Ahimsa, so he yielded to their persuasion and accepted to lead the revolution. Thus, he gave his movement a more coherent political focus. People started thronging around Birsa in the large congregation. He taught them their political rights and their rights over the land. His clarion call was not to 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 mother. He called for their unity for a decent life of dignity. Thus, a sense of freedom was injected into the minds of the people. He gave a clarion call that dikus, including the landlords, mahajans, Britishers, and missionaries, were responsible for their pitiable state, and their fight for justice was against them. His followers clung to his words as their only beacon of hope.

The Angrez sarkar wanted to arrest Birsa to quell the uprising. The district collector, Albert Wilkinson, issued orders against him in 1895. 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. Finally, Commissioner Ivan Smith dispatched a battalion of policemen to Birsa. The police came and charged Birsa’s devotees who were attending their Guru’s discourses. They were hitting the people with lathis and rifle butts as they tried to move towards Birsa. His men 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 with the wounded, and his original sense of ahinsha hit him back. It proved to be the battle of Kalinga for Birsa. He sent a message to the commissioner saying 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 for two years and twelve days.

During his sojourn in jail, Birsa’s land experienced a great famine. (1896–1897). People were dying of hunger and diseases. The Angrez government had abandoned them entirely. The babus continued demanding taxes. People were disoriented. They had taken up looting and dacoity to fulfil their needs. Birsa organised them again. He reignited the fire in the hearts of his people. He gave them faith once again that they could fight for their pride, their self-respect, and their right to live a decent life. He told them that they were not slaves and should not behave as such. Our land and our lives belong to us alone. Remember that you are Mundas, proud children of Mother Earth. He declared not to pay the land tax. When the people were ignited, Birsa burned an effigy of Queen Victoria and told the people that hereafter the Queen would rule no more with them but they would govern themselves. He formed a core group of Gaya Munda, Moina Munda, Komta Munda, Bharmi Munda, and Donka Munda around himself and waged war against the British Raj. He gave the slogan, ‘Ulgulaan!’

In 1898, under the leadership of Birsa, his warriors created an atmosphere of fear among the British. The Ulgulan fighters of Birsa waged a guerrilla war against the British. In Khunti Forest, they killed a British officer, Streatfield, in 1898. Then they attacked the Khunti police station and took away the arms and ammunition. In 1899, they 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 shouting Abua Disshom Re! Abua Raj. In December 1899, Birsa shifted his base to Ethedih, in the village of Gaya Munda. In the first week of January 1900, the Angrez police, led by DPC Brown, attacked them. The fighters fought back, and there was a fierce battle with the Angrez police. In the battle, Gaya Munda, the lieutenant of Birsa, was killed. However, a number of uprisings picked up against the British administration thereafter. Birsa had been forced into hiding, but the ulgulan 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. They 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 Birsa to surrender and bid him to come for dialogue. But the fighters shouted ‘Abua Dishoom Re Abua Raj’ and a volley of stones and arrows rained down from the hill. 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 kill nearly 400 Munda fighters and arrest others, but Birsa himself had escaped them yet again. After the battle of Sael Rakab, the Angrez sarkar launched a massive manhunt for Birsa, who was fast growing weary of living a fugitive’s life. One day he whispered to himself, ‘Enough of running and hiding’ and he camped in Rogoto village with his aids, Bharmi Munda, Komta Munda, and Moina Munda, thus organising the fight again.

The British had declared a Rs 500 cash award for anyone who would help them arrest Birsa. The Angrez were tipped off and led in the afternoon to the Rogoto camp, where the fighters were resting at that time. SP Roche’s men overpowered the guards and captured the three aids of Birsa. However, Birsa was nowhere to be found. The three aids of Birsa were ready to undergo any torture, but they wouldn’t share any information about their leader. Finally, the SP spotted a small hut a little far away from the main camp, and there he found Birsa seated cross-legged on the floor in the middle of the hut. Birsa lifted her eyes towards him with a serene smile. He was ready to be handcuffed without any exchange of even a word. The SP ordered his head constable to handcuff Birsa, and thus it brought to an end the struggle the British had to capture him. He was jailed again in the Ranchi jail and kept in an isolated cell. In his cell, Beer Birsa Munda, the beloved hero of all Adivasis, breathed his last on the morning of June 9, 1900.