Early Tribal and Civil Uprisings
★ Bengal and Eastern India
1. Sanyasi Uprising (1770)
- Sanyasis were Hindus naga and giri ascetics.
- The immediate cause of the rebellion was the restriction imposed on Sanyasis visiting holy places.
- Sanyasis retaliated by organising raids on company's factories and state treasury.
- Aandmath - written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee/Chatopadhayay. It is the story of a couple, Kalyani and Mahendra who got separated in the course of Bengal famine. Vandey Matram is composed inside this novel which was also the national song during the freedom movement.
2. Fakir Uprising (1776)
- Fakirs were wandering Muslim religious mendicants.
- Shortly after the annexation of Bengal and in the midst of Bengal famine, fakirs under the leadership of Majnum Shah revolted against the British.
- Fakirs often colluded with Sanyasis in raiding company's factories.
- Fakirs were supported by notable people like Chirag Ali, Bhawani Pathak and Devi Chaudharani.
- Devi Chaudharani, a novel- written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1884-85 mentioned about Fakir uprising.
3. Pagal Panthis (1830)
- Pagal Panthis were the semi-religious sect founded by Karam Shah in Northern Bengal.
- His son Tipu took up the cause of tenants against the oppression of Zamindars and British.
- He asked his followers not to pay the rent/taxes.
4. Ahom Revolt (1828)
- British pledged to withdraw from Assam after the first Burma war (1824-26) but they attempted to incorporate the Ahom territory into the company's dominion.
- It sparked rebellion under the leadership of Gomdhar Konwar. Finally, the company handed over the Ahom territory to their king Maharaja Purandhar Singh Narendra.
5. Kol Mutiny (1831)
- It happened in the area of Ranchi, Singhbhum, Hazaribagh and Palamu under the leadership of Buddho Bhagat.
- The reason of their revolt was large scale transfer of land from Kol headmen to outsiders like Sikhs and Muslim farmers.
- Kol rebels killed and burned about a thousand of outsiders.
6. Khasi Uprising (1829)
- East India Company wanted to built a road linking Brahmaputra valley with Sylhet.
- In pursuance of this objective large number of outsiders like Britishers, Bengalis and labourers from the plains flooded the area.
- Under the leadership of Tirath Singh, Khansi, Garo, Singhpo and Khamptis organised the revolt.
7. Santhal Uprising/Santhal Hool (1856)
- Santhal uprising was the most massive of all the tribal revolts.
- Santhals inhabited the region between Bhagalpur and Rajmahal hills, which they called 'Daman-i-koh'.
- Their main resentment was against the usurious people from Bengal. But they turned against the British government when they saw that the government officials were hand in gloves with the oppressors.
- They called these outsiders as 'Dikus'.
- Under the leadership of Sidhu and Kanhu, they rose in revolt.
- The leaders claimed that the Thakur had communicated with them and asked them to take up arms against the Dikus to usher in Satyug.
- The rebellion was suppressed with immense britality.
8. Pika rebellion (1817)
- Pikas were the traditional landed militia of kingdom of Khurda (Bhubaneshwar).
- When the Britishers started tinkering with the revenue system in 1803, farming community of Odisha rose in rebellion.
- British revoked the rentfree estates of Pikas. In this scenario, under the leadership of Bakshi Jagbandhu, Pikas forced the company forces to retreat from Khurda but later it was suppressed.
9. Chuar Uprising (1766, 1795)
- Area - Midnapore
- Reason - Famine, economic hardship and enhanced land revenue demands from the British.
10. Khond Uprising (1837-56)
- British attempted to put an end to Khond's practice of human sacrifice 'Mariah'.
- First they persuaded but later they tried to stop this practice by application of force.
- Under the leadership of Chakra Bisoi, Khonds revolted.
11. Fairazi Uprising (1838-57)
- Fairazis were the Muslim sect founded by Hazi Sariatullah.
- His son Dadu Mian tried to expel English intruders from the Bengal.
- He also supported the cause of the peasants who were exploited by the Britishers and the Zamindars.
12. Munda Revolt/Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900)
- Reason for the revolt was the struggle against the destruction of their system of common land holdings by the Britishers and their agents.
- Under the leadership of Birsa Munda, they revolted against the Britishers on the Christmas eve in 1899.
- Birsa Munda envisaged an ideal and just society which would be free from internal as well as European exploiters.
★ North India
1. Wahabi Movement (1849)
- It was an Islamic revivalist movement founded by Syed Ahmed of Rai Bareli, who was inspired by the teachings of Adbul Wahab of Saudi Arabia.
- He condemned the western influence on Islam and advocated return to pure Islam.
- Initially, it was directed against the Sikhs of Punjab but after the annexation of Punjab in 1849, they turned against the Britishers.
2. Kuka Movement (1840)
- It was founded by Bhagat Jawahar Mal in Punjab.
- Initially, it was a religious purification campaign but later after the annexation of Punjab, they turned against the British.
★ Western India
1. Bhil Uprising (1818 & 1846)
- Leader - Sewaran
- Region - Khandesh area of Western Ghats
- Reason - British occupation of Khandesh after which there was a fear of agrarian hardship.
2. Kol Uprising (1829-44)
- Kol Uprising happened in the Western Ghats.
- Kolis were the fishermen community.
- The company's rule brought a large scale unemployment and destruction of many forts of Kolis.
3. Ramosi Uprising (1822, 1825 & 1839)
- Ramosis were the hill tribe of Western Ghats.
- They were not reconciled to the British rule.
- Initially, they revolted under the leadership of Chittur Singh in 1822.
- Again in 1839, they revolted after the deposition of Raja Pratap Singh of Satara.
4. Gadkari Revolt of Kolhapur and Sawantwadi (1844)
- Gadkaris were the hereditary military class who garrisoned Maratha force.
- These garrison were disbanded by the British.
- Facing unemployment, they revolted.
★ South India
1. Revolt of Raja of Vizianagaram (1792)
- After the acquisition of Northern Sarkar by the British, they started to demand ₹3 Lakh from the Raja of Vizianagaram.
- Raja resisted the move but he died during the combat with the British in 1749.
- Later, British conciliated with his son.
2. Diwan Velu Thanpi's Revolt (1805)
- Harsh conditions were imposed on Travancore by the Lord Wellesly.
- Britishers also adopted a very high handed attitude towards the Nair community.
- In this scenario, Diwan Velu Thampi assisted by Nairs revolted against the British.
- Britishers handed Velu Thampi publicly to instill the fear among the people.
3. Rampa Revolt (1879)
- They were the hill tribesmen of Coastal Andhra.
- They revolted against the designs of British whereby so many restrictions were imposed on them in the name of forest regulations.
Nature of the Uprisings
- Though the uprisings were massive in number, they were localised.
- They were based only on the local grievances.
- Many a time revolts were backward looking, keen to restore the past practices.
- The leadership of the revolt was semi-feudal in nature.
- Those who were less recalcitrant (flexible) were pacified through concessions by the British.
- The fights were unequal in nature. Inhabitants fought with primitive weapons whereas on the other hand Britishers had sophisticated weapons.
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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own.
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