| Names |
BIRSA MUNDA |
| Date of Birth |
November 15, 1875 (Ranchi, Jharkhand, India) |
| Date of
Death |
June 09, 1900 (Jail, Ranchi, Kharkhand, India) |
|
Profession / Traits / Activities |
Indian tribal freedom fighter and a folk hero |
| Special Achievements
/ Events |
- He was behind the Millenarian movement
that rose in the tribal belt of modern day Bihar, and
Jharkhand during the British Raj, in the late 19th century.
- An important figure in the history of the Indian
independence movement.
- Inspired by the seniors of his community, he started
participating in the movement against the British
Raj because of the restrictions imposed upon the
traditional rights of the Mundas in the protected forest.
- Soon he, as a young man, started claiming to be a
messenger of God and the founder of a new
religion invoving one God for all. Within a short time he
won many followers from different communities.
- British colonial system intensified the
transformation of the tribal agrarian system into feudal
state.
- As a consequence, the aborigines had completely lost
their proprietary rights, and had been reduced to
the position of farm labourers.
- So the revolts and uprisings were
started against the authorities by the aborogines under the
leadership of Birsa, seeking expulsion of the middlemen and
the British.
- Birsa was arrested on 3rd February, 1900,
jailed and died on 9th June, 1900 under
mysterious circumstances.
- He aroused the mind-set of the tribals
and mobilised them in a small town of Chhotanagpur to
protect their rights.
|
| Awards &
Accolades |
- His portrait hangs in the Central Hall of
Indian Parliament, the only tribal leader to have been so honoured.
- His birth anniversary is still celebrated by
tribal people in as far as Mysore and Kodagu districts in Karnataka,
and official function takes place at his Samadhi Sthal, at Kokar
Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.
- A number of organizations, bodies and
structures named after him, notably Birsa Munda Airport Ranchi,
Birsa Institute of Technology Sindri, Birsa Munda Vanvasi
Chattravas, Kanpur, Sidho Kanho Birsha University, Purulia, and
Birsa Agricultural University. The war cry of Bihar Regiment is
Birsa Munda Ki Jai (Victory to Birsa Munda).
- In 2008, Hindi film based on the life of
Birsa, Gandhi Se Pehle Gandhi was directed by Iqbal Durran
based on his own novel by the same name.
- Another Hindi film, "Ulgulan-Ek Kranti (The
Revolution)" was made in 2004 by Ashok Saran, in which 500 Birsaits
or followers of Birsa acted.
- Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, writer-activist
Mahasweta Devi’s historical fiction, "Aranyer Adhikar" (Right
to the Forest, 1977), a novel for which she won the Sahitya Akademi
Award for Bengali in 1979, is based on his life and the Munda
Rebellion against the British Raj in the late 19th century; she
later wrote an abridged version Birsa Munda, specifically for young
readers.
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