“Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi”, the name caught my attention as I landed there in the month of February. Never had I heard this name before.
“Why Birsa Munda airport? Who was Birsa Munda?” I was still caught up in my thoughts, when I met Ramesh, my chaperone from Jharkhand. So as not to look naïve, I started flaunting my residual knowledge from school days, as I had read that this region is mineral rich and therefore the mining belt of India. Among various steel plants.
All airs around me vanished into the thin air as soon as I made the mistake of asking Ramesh about Birsa Munda. Ramesh was highly offended and gave me blasphemous looks. “Madamji! He is not Birsa Munda; but Bhagvan Birsa Munda. He was the saviour of the Munda tribe. During British Raj, it was he who spearheaded the movement, and saved the tribal land from the corrupt zamindars and Britishers, who were into land grabbing practices. He also raised his voice against forcible conversions into Christianity, prevalent at that time, and was instrumental in reviving the traditional tribal culture which got completely lost during British rule.”
Ramesh spoke with proper pauses and emphasis at required places. I was looking at him with my eyes popped out and jaw dropped. I felt as if somebody had pierced a full-blown balloon. In a flash, I was brought down to earth.
Now it was his turn to flaunt his knowledge. Without pausing, he asked “Do you know about Sido and Kanho Murmu?” I gave him a blank look as if he was talking Greek. “Sido and Kanho Murmu? Who were they,” I asked naively. “Sido and Kanho Murmu were the leaders of Santhal rebellion. They revolted against the British colonial authority and the corrupt zamindari system in 1855-56. The Britishers invited Santhals to settle in the region and promised them land and economic amenities. But gradually, mahajans and zamindars, deployed by British, for tax collection, became corrupt and started lending money at exorbitant rates. On failure of repayment, their lands were taken, and they were forced into bonded labour. This sparked the Santhal rebellion.”
While being instilled by the well-articulated profundity, I was also enjoying the forest cover, magnificent hills, excellent road, and green tall trees all along the road, with red flowers in bloom. I wanted to enquire about those flowers, but deliberately chose not to break his sequence of thought by interrupting in between, as it sounded quite interesting.
“I am sure you would also not know about Chuar revolt as well,” he spoke in continuation. “Also known as Jungle Mahal movement, it was a series of peasant movements between 1767 and 1833, by the tribal inhabitants of the countryside, known as Bhumijas, surrounding the Jungle Mahal settlements.”
Jungle Mahal was a district, formed by British-conquered areas and some independent chiefdom around Birbhum, Bankura, Midnapore and the hilly region of Chota Nagpur, which is in West Bengal.
The main occupation of Bhumijas was hunting of animals and birds as well as forest agriculture. When the East India Company started collecting revenue for the first time in 1765 in Jangal Mahal district of Bengal, the Britishers’ ploy of water, forest, and land grab activities were first opposed by the people of Bhumij tribe and they revolted against the British rulers in 1769. When the Britishers asked who these people were, their unscrupulous landlords addressed them as Chuar (meaning rude or wicked in Bengali) out of hatred and contempt; since then, it is known as the Chuar Rebellion.
At this moment, he paused and I instantly grabbed the opportunity to satiate my curiosity about the beautiful red flowers adorning the trees. His face lit up suddenly. “Oh, these are trees of Palash. Also known as Tesu in North India, these make a beautiful yellow colour when left overnight in water, and are used to play Holi. It is the State flower of Jharkhand.”
By now we had reached our destination. Ramesh’s inputs were quite valuable as they gave me more insight into the historical perspective, and the sense of deep pride seeped into me.
Tourism seemed to be at a nascent stage, with hardly any tourists around. The awesome waterfalls and a rich heritage of temples and religious sites such as Baidyanath Dham, a Jyotirling in Deoghar and Dewri Mandir, a 700-year-old temple of Goddess Durga, Kali, in Tamar near Ranchi, to name a few, all looked unexploited and pristine. Moreover, the tribal culture and traditions are quite rich, unique and worth a study.
shikhashankarbhatnagar@gmail.com
