Chapter-4 Tribals,dikus and the vision of A Golden age

Explanation:

The forest was an integral part of the shifting cultivators' lives. As a result, their lives were greatly impacted when the British enacted changes to forest laws. The British declared that forests were the property of the state and extended their control to all forests. Because they produced timber that the British wanted, some forests were designated Reserved Forests. People couldn't move around freely and couldn't grow jhum in these forests. As a result, many jhum cultivators were forced to relocate elsewhere in search of employment.

Explanation:

Tribal chiefs' powers changed under colonial rule.

• Before the British came to India, tribal chiefs were important people.

• They controlled the economy.

• They were entitled to manage and exercise control over their territories.

• They had their own policy in some places.

• They settled on the local regulations for managing land and forests.

The British significantly altered their roles and authority.

• They were allowed to rent outlands and keep their land titles over a group of villages.

• They were stripped of their authority as administrators.

• They were made to follow Indian laws by the British.

• In addition, they were required to discipline the tribal groups on behalf of the British and pay tribute to them.

• They lost the influence they had over their people previously.

• They were now unable to carry out their previous duties.

Explanation:

Many of the ideas Virtha encountered as a child had a great influence on him. He led a movement aimed at changing tribal society. He called on the Mundas to cleanse their villages, stop believing in witchcraft, and stop drinking alcohol. He often recalled the glory days of the Mundas, when they built dams, harnessed natural springs, planted trees and orchards, and farmed for a living. They didn't kill their family or friends. Her life was honest.

Virtha wanted to recapture this glorious past. This vision appealed to her, as the people of the region longed for a free life. They were fed up with the restrictions imposed on them and the colonial forest laws.

Explanation:

Due to their belief that the dikus missionaries, lenders, Hindu landlords, and the government were to blame for their plight, the tribals desired to expel them. Their resentment toward the dikus can be explained by the following facts:

• The British's land policies were dismantling their traditional land system.

• Their land was being taken over by Hindu landlords and financiers.

• Missionaries were criticizing the culture that they were used to.

  
  

Explanation:

The Santhals are one of the tribal groups with a well-organized social structure. The following were some of the tribal people's practices and ways of life:

The majority of the tribals are uninformed about the rest of the world and are content with their own traditions, convictions and culture.

Jewelry made from animal or forest products is popular among tribal women.

Tribals enjoy a wide range of dance and music styles.

Diverse activities are being carried out by the tribals:

They may have engaged in shifting cultivation.

Some people hunt and gather.

Some people kept animals.

They paid homage to nature's power. After independence, tribal life underwent significant transformations. They are now an essential component of society. Numerous steps have been taken by some for the improvement.

Explanation:

I will try to explain the following issues to British officials:

We adore the natural world and its surroundings.

We rely on the forest and the local resources to survive. We won't be able to meet our basic needs if you take away our natural rights to the forest, water, and land. Our economic activities, such as harvesting food, hunting, fishing, raising cattle, cultivating axes, and cultivating ploughs, will be disrupted.

Explanation:

Some people were hunters and gatherers, others were cultivators of jhum.

Some animals were herded.

Some chose to cultivate in settled areas.

Explanation:

This was due to the fact that settled peasants were simpler to manage and control than movers.

Explanation:

They did this to secure a regular source of state revenue.

Explanation:

The British desired timber from these forests.

Explanation:

They were confronted with the issue of a labor shortage.

Explanation:

It did this to guarantee a consistent supply of cheap labor.

Explanation:

They considered them to be their primary foes.

Explanation:

Birsa belonged to a Munda family, a Chottanagpur-based tribal group.

Explanation:

It appeared as though tribal customs were disappearing.

Their means of subsistence were in jeopardy.

It appeared that the religion was in danger. Birsa set out to find solutions to these issues.

Explanation:

He was said to have extraordinary abilities. He was able to multiply grain and treat all diseases.

Explanation:

The charges of rioting led to Birsa's conviction.

Explanation:

Dealers, moneylenders, ministers, Hindu property managers, and the English were the pariahs being alluded to as dikus.

Explanation:

The Central Provinces were the scene of the forest satyagraha in the 1930s.

Explanation:

In 1900, he died of cholera.

Explanation:

The Khonds primarily hunted and gathered. On a regular basis, they hunted together and divided the meat among themselves. They cooked food with the oil they extracted from the sal and mahua seeds and consumed forest-collected roots and fruits. They sold forest produce at local markets and made use of numerous herbs and shrubs from the forest for medicinal purposes. Forests were the foundation of everything they did.

Explanation:

In most cases, tribal groups had to buy and sell in order to acquire goods that were not produced locally. As a result, they were forced to rely on traders and moneylenders. Things that were for sale were offered by traders. They charged a lot for the goods.

The tribals used to get loans from moneylenders, which helped them meet their cash needs and increase their income. But the loans had very high interest rates. As a result, tribal people were always the victims of traders and moneylenders. As a result, the tribals viewed them as evil outsiders who contributed to their misery.

Explanation:

Gonds and Santhals, for example, were considered by British officials to be more civilized than hunter-gatherers or shifting cultivators. These tribal groups moved around and lived in the woods. They lacked a permanent residence. The British thought they were wild and primitive, so they had to be settled and civilized.

Explanation:

The British established land settlements to guarantee the state a consistent source of revenue. As a result of these deals:

The British measured the land, established individual rights to that land, and established the state's revenue demand.

Some peasants were made landowners, while others were made tenants. Rent was to be paid by the tenants to the landowner, who in turn gave money to the state.

Explanation:

(a) In areas where there is a lack of water and the soil is dry, it is typically challenging to continue cultivating settled plough land.

(b) Jhum cultivators who turned to ploughing suffered frequently because their fields did not prevent high yields. As a result, the jhum farmers in north-east India insisted on maintaining their traditional methods.

(c) The English confronted broad fights. As a result, they gave them permission to continue shifting cultivation in some of the forest.

Explanation:

By modifying forest laws, the British prevented tribal people from living within forests. This resulted in an issue. The majority of the jhum cultivators left for other areas in search of work, resulting in a loss of labor force. Who would cut trees for transport logs and railway sleepers?

Colonial officials found a solution to this issue by granting jhum cultivators small plots of forest land and permitting them to cultivate them on the condition that those who lived in villages would work for the Forest Department and maintain the forests. In order to guarantee a consistent supply of low-cost labor, the Forest Department established forest villages in numerous locations.

Explanation:

In the country, a number of tribal groups were dissatisfied with the changes they were going through and the problems they were having under British rule. Finally, they rebelled against the exploitation of traders and moneylenders, new taxes they had to pay, and restrictions on business practices.

• From 1831 to 1832, the Kols rebelled.

• The Santhals rose up in 1855.

• In 1910, the central Indian Bastar Rebellion broke out.

• Maharashtra's Warli Revolt in 1940.

• One such movement was also led by Birsa Munda.

Explanation:

In 1897, Birsa was released. He then set out on a tour of the villages to get support. He woke people up by using traditional language and symbols, pleading with them to overthrow the dikus and the Europeans and establish a kingdom under his rule. The symbols of dikus and European power were the first targets of Birsa's followers. They went after police headquarters and holy places and struck the property of moneylenders and zamindars. As a representation of Birsa Raj, they hoisted the white flag.

Explanation:

Two factors made the Birsa movement significant:

It compelled the colonial government to enact laws to prevent dikus from easily acquiring tribal land.

It demonstrated once more that the tribal people were capable of opposing colonial rule and protesting injustice. Inventing their own rituals and symbols of struggle, they carried out this action in their own unique way.

Explanation:

There were many different kinds of activities performed by tribal people:

Jhum cultivation, also known as shifting cultivation, was practiced by some tribal people. This was carried out on a few small pieces of land, most of which was forest. Small areas of land were cleared out by the cultivators. The vegetation was then destroyed by fire, and the ash, which contained potash for soil fertilization, was spread. In order to prepare the soil for cultivation, they utilized tools like ax and hoe. The seeds were then scattered across the field. They moved to a different field when the crop was ready to be harvested. In the hilly and forested regions of north-east and central India, shifting cultivators were observed.

The term "hunter-gatherers" refers to tribal groups that hunted animals and gathered forest products. They considered forests to be necessary for survival. Such a group lived in Orissa's forests as the Khonds. On a regular basis, they hunted together and divided the meat among themselves. They cooked with the oil they extracted from the sal and mahua seeds and consumed fruits and roots. In exchange for their valuable forest produce, they received rice and other grains. In the villages, they occasionally carried loads and did other odd jobs like that.

Herding and rearing animals was how some tribal groups made their living. They were pastoralists who moved in accordance with the seasons with their herds of cattle or sheep. For instance, the Victim Gujjars of the Punjab hills, the Labadis of Andhra Pradesh, the Gaddis of Kulu, and the Bakarwals of Kashmir kept goats, respectively.

Some tribal people began cultivating land on their own. Instead of moving from one location to another, they cultivated their fields in the same location year after year. They began plowing and gradually gained ownership of the land on which they lived.

Explanation:

Birsa was born into a Munda family in Chottanagpur in the middle of the 1870s. He spent his childhood grazing sheep, playing the flute, and dancing in the Bohanda akharas. Birsa, then adolescent, witnessed sirdars—community leaders—urging the people to revolt and heard tales of previous Munda uprisings. Because missionaries inspired the Mundas to regain their lost rights, Birsa paid close attention to their sermons. He also enjoyed being with a well-known Vaishnav preacher. He began to value purity and piety and began to wear the sacred thread.

He made the choice to change tribal society. He urged the Mundas to abandon all of their bad habits, such as drinking alcohol. Here, it is worth focusing on that Birsa likewise betrayed evangelists and Hindu landowners. He urged them to bring back their glorious past. He referred to an earlier golden age in which Mundas had a very good life. They didn't kill their family and friends. Birsa desired to observe these characteristics once more in tribal society.

Birsa Munda's political goals made British officials frightened. As the development spread, the public authority captured him in 1895, sentenced him on the charges of revolting. He has also spent two years in prison.

After Birsa was delivered in 1897, he started to visit the towns to assemble support. He urged his supporters to eliminate the Europeans and dikus. He died of cholera in 1900, and the movement ended. But in the long run, it was important.