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Study Material for Class 8 Social Science Our Past III Chapter 4 Tribals Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age
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Class 8 Social Science Our Past III Chapter 4 Tribals Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age
Class 8 Social Science Tribals Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age Exam Notes. Please refer to the examination notes which you can use for preparing and revising for exams. These notes will help you to revise the concepts quickly and get good marks.
Covers the following topics:
- Characteristics of the tribal societies
- How did tribal groups live?
- How did colonial rule affect tribal life?
- A closer look
Introduction
The British took over a large area under cultivation. They took over the political power and adopted the expansion policy. They encroached upon the natural habitat of the tribals. Which disturbed the tribals and resulted in wide spread revolts. The lands of the tribals were used for cultivating cash crops such as indigo, jute and poppy.
Who were the tribals ?
- The tribals are also called adivasis. They are the group of people united by common name and language. Mostly they lived isolated from the society and shared common territory and culture.
- India is the homeland for lot of tribes such Khands, Khasis and Santhals. The tribals lived in forests and hills and the landless tribals were forced to become labourers at a very low wage. The tribals were further exploited by the money lenders who forced them to work as coolies in mines and factories.
- The tribals have enjoyed freedom to such an extent that any move to restrict their freedom and rights was objected by them. The East India Company took away the forest lands and introduced them to traders. The tribal people who were depended on the forest for food and fodder had to witness the destruction of their livelihood and identity.
The Britishers with their ruthless expansion policy, put the tribals in miserable conditions which made them to revolt. The powerful revolts were as follows:
- Bhils in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
- Mundas in Bihar
- Kols in Maharashtra, Bihar, Bengal and Odisha
- Gonds and Khands in Odisha
- Mers in Rajasthan
- Khasis in Meghalaya
- Santhals in Bihar and Bengal
The discontent feeling made these tribals to revolt against the Britishers very soon
♦ CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRIBAL SOCIETIES
Most tribes had customs and rituals that were very different from those laid down by Brahmans.
These societies also did not have the sharp social divisions that were characteristic of caste societies. All those who belonged to the same tribe thought of themselves as sharing common ties of kinship. However, this did not mean that there were no social and economic differences within tribes.
♦ HOW DID TRIBAL GROUPS LIVE ?
♦ Tribes as Jhum Cultivators : North Eastern Region
♦ Some tribes practiced Jhum cultivation. This cultivation was done on a small piece of land. the cultivators cut trees and burnt vegetation, so that they could use the land there. They spread the ash from the fire which contained Potash, to make the soil fertile. Trees were cut with axe and hoe to scratch the soil, to make it fit for cultivation. Seeds were scattered on the field. Once harvesting of crops was done farmers shifted to another field. The cultivated field was left for some years so that it could regain its fertility.
♦ This was called Jhum or Shifting cultivation and was practised in the hilly and forested parts of north-east and central India. People of this tribe remained confined to forests only.
♦ Tribes as Hunters and Gatherers : Orissa and Central India
♦ In several regions, tribals got their livelihood through hunting and gathering produce. The Khonds of Orissa belonged to this community. They went for regular hunting and then divided the whole meat amidst themselves. They even ate fruits and roots collected from the forest. They used to cook their food with oil, which they extracted from the seeds of trees and malwa flower. Shrubs and herbs from the forests were used for medicinal purposes. Local weavers and leather workers depended on Khonds for supply of 'Kusum' and 'Palash' flowers for dyeing leather and clothes.
♦ People of forests got rice and grain in exchange for their valuable forest products. Some of them even worked in fields, carried loads or did some other odd jobs to earn their livelihood. If the supplies of forest produce shrank,
tribals had to face a lot of difficulties. However, Baiga tribes of central India lived only on the produce of the forest. They thought it as undignified to work as labourers.
♦ Tribal groups often bought products which were not produced in their locality. For this, they had to depend on traders and moneylenders who gave them loans at high interest rates. This reduced tribals into a state of debt
and poverty. Moneylenders and traders were thus, the cause of misery.
♦ Tribals as Herders of animals : North India and south India :
♦ Many tribal groups lived by herding and rearing animals. Tribals were pastoralists who moved with their herds of sheep. These may include Van Gujjars of Punjab, Labadis of Andhra Pradesh, the Gaddis of Kulu, and the Bakarwals of Kashmir.
♦ Tribals as Settled Cultivators : Chotanagpur Plateau :
♦ Many tribal groups, since the beginning of the 19th century, began settling down and cultivating their fields.
They started ploughing the land which was earlier not used by the tribals. Gradually. they even got rights over the land they lived on. It was the Mundas of Chotanagpur, who belonged to this class. Members of this class were considered as descendants of the original settlers. All of them had equal rights on the land. Within the same class, some people were more powerful than others. Powerful men, often rented out their land instead of cultivating it themselves.
♦ British considered settled tribal groups like Gonds and Santhals as more civilized than hunter gatherers or shifting cultivators. British regarded those living in forests to be wild and savage and there was a need to make them settled and civilised.
♦ HOW DID COLONIAL RULE
AFFECT TRIBAL LIFE ?
♦ What happened to Tribal Chiefs ?
♦ Before British rule came to India, tribal chiefs were important people who enjoyed economic and administrative influence over the people. In several areas, they had their own police and local rules of land and forest management.
♦ With the coming of British, the rule and powers of tribal chief underwent a considerable change. They were allowed to keep their land titles and even rent out lands. However, they lost all their power under British rule. They even had to pay tribute to the British and lost considerable authority which they enjoyed earlier.
♦ What happened to the shifting cultivators ?
♦ The British did not like tribals who wandered from one place to another. They wanted to see them as settled cultivators. Settled peasants could be controlled easily. It even gave a regular source of revenue to the state.
The British therefore, introduced land settlement. It was to be done by measuring land, and fixing demand for the state. Some peasants were declared owners of the land while the others were tenants. Tenants had to pay rent to the owners, who in turn paid revenue to the state. The British effort to settle Jhum cultivation paid dividends. Scarcity of water, however, did give them some problems.
♦ The British effort to settle jhum cultivators was not very successful. In fact, jhum cultivators who took to plough cultivation often suffered, since their fields did not produce good yields. Facing widespread protests, the British has to ultimately allow them the right to carry on shifting cultivation in some parts of the forest.
♦ Forest laws and their impact :
♦ The life at tribal groups, was directly connected to the forest. So changes in forest laws had a considerable effect on tribal lives The British declared that forests were state property. Reserved forest produced timber which the British wanted. In these forests people were not allowed to move freely, practise Jhum cultivation, collect fruits or hunt animals.
♦ Once the British stopped the tribal people from living inside forests they faced the shortage of labour to cut trees for railway sleepers and to transport logs.
♦ Colonial officials came up with a solution. They decided that they would give Jhum cultivators small patches of land in the forests and allow them to cultivate these on the condition that those who lived in the villages would have to provide labour to the forest department and look after the forests.
♦ Many tribal groups reacted against the colonial forest laws. They disobeyed the new rules, continued with practices that were declared illegal and at times rose in open rebellion. Such was the revolt of Songram Sangma in 1906 in Assam and the forest satyagraha of the 1930s in the Central Provinces
♦ The problem with trade
♦ During the nineteenth century tribal groups found that traders and money-lenders were exploiting the tribals and making a good fortune for themselves For e.g. the silk agents in Hazaribagh gave loans to the Sanithal tribals who reared cocoons and collected the cocoons from them The growers were paid very low amount i.e. Rs. 3 to Rs. 4 for a thousand cocoons. These were then exported to Burdwan or Gaya and were sold at five times the price. The middlemen thus made huge profits. The Silk growers earned very little. Understandably, many tribal groups saw the market and the traders as their main enemies.
♦ The search for work :
♦ The plight of the tribals who had to go far away from their homes in search of work was even worse. Tribals were recruited in large numbers to work in the tea plantations of Assam and the coal mines of Jharkhand. They were recruited through contractors who paid them miserably low wages, and prevented them from returning home.
♦ A CLOSER LOOK
Through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, tribal groups in different parts of the country rebelled against the changes in laws, the restrictions on their practices the new taxes they had to pay, and the exploitation by traders and moneylenders. The Kols rebelled In 1831-32. Santhals rose in revolt in 1855. The Bastar Rebellion In Central India broke out In 1910 and the Warli Revolt in Maharashtra in 1940.
♦ Birsa Munda :
♦ Birsa was born In the mid-1870s. As an adolescent. Birsa heard tales of the Munda uprisings of the past and saw the sirdars (leaders) of the community urging the people to revolt. They talked of a golden age when the Mundas had been free of the oppression of dikus and ancestral right of community would be restored. They reminded people of the need to win back their kingdom.
♦ From the sermons of missionaries, Birsa heard that it was possible for the Mundas to attain the Kingsom of Heaven and regain their lost right. Birsa also spent some time in the company of a prominent Vaishnav preacher. He wore the sacred thread, and began to value the importance of purity and piety.
♦ Birsa was deeply influenced by many of the ideas he came in touch with in his growing-up years. He aimed at reforming tribal society. He urged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean their village. and stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery. Birsa also turned against missionaries and Hindu landlords. He saw them as outside forces that were ruining the Munda way of life.
♦ In 1895 Birsa urged his followers to recover 'their" glorious past. Birsa also wanted people to once again work on their land, settle down and cultivate their fields.
♦ British got warned of the political aim of the Birsa movement which wanted to drive out missionaries, moneylender Hindu landlords, and the government and set up a Munda Raj with Birsa at its head. The movement identified all these forces as the cause of the misery the Mundas were suffering. British officials arrested Birsa in 1895, convicted him on charges of rioting an jailed him for two years.
♦ When Birsa was released in 1897 he began touring the villages to gather support. He used traditional symbols and language to rouse people against the dikus and the Europeans. Birsa's followers began targeting the symbols of diku and European power. They attacked police stations and churches and raided the property of moneylenders and zamindar. They raised the white flag as a symbol of Bisa Raj.
♦ In 1900 Birsa died of cholera and the movement faded out.
♦ The movement was significant in at least two ways First if forced the colonial government to introduced laws so that the land of the tribals could not be easily taken over by dikus.
Second – It showed once again that the tribal people has the capacity to protest against injustice an express their anger against colonial rule.
♦ CASE STUDY
♦ Khasi Rebellion
♦ Khasis inhabit the regions near Jaintia and Garo Hills. Khasis aimed to drive out lowland strangers from their land. They raided Gnawings in 1829 and killed a number of Britishers and Bengalis who were involved in construction activity in their region. With a strong force of about 10,000 Khasis under the leadership of Tirut Singh gave a tough time to British the British burnt many of their villages forcing them to surrender in 1833.
♦ Assam Rebellion
♦ Near the time when Khasis revolted, the Raja of Assam, Kumar Roopchand called upon Naga, Garo and Khanti tribe to revolt against the British. They killed a number of British officers but the superior weapons of British forced them to surrender in 1839.
♦ Naga Rebellion
♦ In 1844, Naga's revolted in Dimapur and killed many British officers. It took British force three years to I curb the rebellion.
♦ Kuki Rebellion
♦ Kukis lived in Manipur and revolted thrice between 1826 and 1849. They killed a number of British officers before their power declined in 1850.
♦ Tribal reveolts in Chotanagpur : Kol rebellion
♦ In 1820, the Kols of Chotanagpur revolted against the entry of British officers in their territory. They gave a stiff resistance to British officials before surrendering in 1827.
♦ Munda rebellion
♦ The Munda rebellion took place in 1830 against the new revenue and judicial administration introduced by the British. The rebellion spread to Ranchi, Palamau and Hazaribagh. They killed thousands of foreign settlers. The British were finally able to curb the rebellion by 1837.
♦ Santhal rebellion
♦ The Santhal rebellion took place in 1855-56. This rebellion was not as much against British as it was against oppressive zamindars and Mahajans. Two brothers, Kanhu and Sidhu, played a major role in this rebellion I by cutting postal and railway lines. They even attached European bungalows. The British however took swift action forcing them to run to the jungles. It took time before British curbed their rebellion by 1856.
♦ Manipur revolt
♦ In Manipur, the British declared war on 27 April 1891. This war was due to the misunderstanding between British and Princess of Manipur.
♦ When the king died, his eldest son Surchandra succeeded the rhrone which brought the two families against each other. In this family fight Surchandra was defeated and he took refuge in he British residency.
♦ The British interfered in the internal issue and finally arrested the new king, Tikendrajit and his supporters. In commemoration of this event a monument named Bir Tikendrajit Park was constructed
♦ Maghalaya Revolt
♦ The British wanted to link up the Brahmaputra and Surma valley for which they had to construct a link through Khasi hills. The British had imposed house tax in that area which was resented by the locals but it was suppressed by the British very soon
♦ In AD 1860 income tax was levied which invited another revolt but this time the revolt was heavy hence British had to take up seven regiments to suppress it. This revolt was led by U Kiang Nangbah, and he was captured and hanged publicly
♦ In AD 1872 another revolt broke out in Garo hills. The British sent troops to establish their control in the region. The people led by Pa Togan Sangma confronted the British army by using crude weapons but he could not match the Britishers and was finally defeated.
♦ Other Revolts
♦ The Kharwar or Sapha Har movement rose in 1874 under the leadership of Bhagirath Manjhi. The movement popularised the idea one god and brought social reforms. It attacked the British policies.
♦ The tribal movement of 1914 had nearly 26,000 tribals participants. The leader Jatra Oraon advised people to give up animal sacrifice, drinking and other social evils.
♦ He organised the people for a nonviolent protest against exploitation by moneylenders and the British. Jatra Oraon advised his members to oppose the taxes, however, the British suppressed the revolt.
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CBSE Class 8 Social Science Our Past III Chapter 4 Tribals Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age Study Material
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