Amar Shaheed Veer Ganga Narayan Singh is called the hero of Bhumij rebellion. The revolt against the British by the Bhumijs in more than 60 years, from 1767 AD to 1833 AD, has been called the Bhumij rebellion. The British have called it the 'Hungama of Ganga Narayan' while historians have also written it as the Chuad rebellion.[1] In 1765 AD, Shah Alam, the emperor of Delhi, gave the Diwani of Bengal,Bihar,Orissa to the East India Company. Due to this exploitation of the tribals started, then the Bhumijs revolted against British.
Chuad literally means dacoit or robber. Many historians such as J.C. Jha, E.T. Dalton, W.W. Hunter, H.H. Risley, J.C. Price, S.C. Roy, Bimla Saran, Surjit Sinha, etc. have called Bhumij as Chuad. Bhumijs have always raised their voice against injustice, and fought.
Vivek Narayan Singh, the king of Varahbhum, had two queens. Two queens had two sons. After the death of King Vivek Narayan Singh in the 18th century, according the traditional Bhumij custom, only the son of Badi had the succession. But a long family dispute started after the British nominated the son of younger queen as the King of Varahbhum, as per the British custom. The local Bhumijs supported Sardar Lakshman Singh, son of badi rani. But he could not stand in front of the British support and military aid received to the King. Lakshman Singh was evicted from the state. Lakshman Singh was appointed the Jagir of Bandhdih village for his livelihood, where his job was only to take care of Bandhdih ghat.[2]
Lakshman Singh was married to Mamta Devi. Mamta Devi was humble and pious in nature. But she was a staunch opponent of British tyranny. Lakshman Singh had three sons Ganga Narayan Singh, Shyam Kishore Singh, Shyam Lal Singh. Mamta Devi always encouraged her two sons Ganga Narayan Singh and Shyam Lal Singh to fight against the British.
In 1765, the East India Company started atrocities on the poor farmers in Jungle Mahal because it had acquired the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar, Orissa from the Mughal emperor Badshah Shah Alam of Delhi and started taking new measures to collect revenue. For this, the British government made a law to collect more revenue from the land of Bhumij in Manbhum, Varahbhum, Singhbhum, Dhalbhum, Partkram, Midnapore, Bankura and Vardhman etc. Salt tax, Daroga system, land sale law, arrival of moneylenders. Make rules related to forest law, land auction and Dahmi system, revenue collection and succession. Thus by all means, the British exploitation of the tribals and poor peasants went on increasing.
The expelled Lakshman Singh had settled in the village of Bandhdih and tried to get the kingdom and struggled to become the King. But later he was arrested and sent to Medinipur Jail where he died. Ganga Narayan Singh was determined to take revenge on the British against the law related to exploitation, oppression on poor peasants in Jungle Mahal area.
With the call of time, the people of that area became aware and united under the leadership of Ganga Narayan Singh and raised slogans against the British. He explained every policy of the British to every caste of Jungle Mahal and organized them to fight. Due to this, discontent increased in 1768, which took the form of a strong struggle under the leadership of Ganga Narayan in 1832. This struggle has been called by the British as, 'Ganga Narayan Hungama' and historians have written it under the name Chuad rebellion.
Ganga Narayan was the first to fight against the British rule and exploitation policy, who first formed the Sardar Gorilla Vahini army. On which their was support of every caste. Dhalbhum, Patkum, Shikharbhum, Singhbhum, Panchet, Jhalda, Kashipur, Vamani, Vagamundi, Manbhum, Ambika Nagar, Amiyapur, Shyamsundarpur, Phulkusma, Ranipur and Kashipur's Raja-Maharaja and Zamindars had got the support of Ganga Narayan Singh. Ganga Narayan Singh attacked and killed the Diwan Varahbhum and British broker Madhav Singh at Vanadih on April 2, 1832. After that along with the Sardar Vahini, the court of Varahbazar muffasil, the office of the salt inspector and the police station were set on fire.
The Collector of Bankuda, Russell, arrived to arrest Ganga Narayan Singh. But the Sardar Vahini army surrounded him from all sides. All the English army was killed. But Russell somehow escaped to Bankuda after saving his life. This movement of Ganga Narayan took the form of storm, which trampled the British regiments in Chhatna, Jhalda, Akro, Ambika Nagar, Shyamsundarpur, Raipur, Phulkusma, Shilda, Kuilapal and various places of Bengal. The impact of his movement was vigorous in places like Purulia in Bengal, Vardhman and Medinipur districts of Bankura, entire Chotanagpur (now Jharkhand) of Bihar, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundergarh in Orissa etc. As a result, the entire Jungle Mahal was out of the control of the British. Everyone started supporting Ganga Narayan Singh as a true honest, brave, patriot and social worker.
Eventually the British had to send an army from Barrackpore Cantonment, which was sent under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Kapoor. The army was also defeated in the conflict. After this Ganga Narayan and his followers expanded the scope of their action plan. The commissioner baton of Bardhaman and the commissioner hunt of Chotanagpur were also sent but they too could not succeed and had to face defeat in front of the Sardar Vahini army.
From August 1832 to February 1833, the entire Jungle Mahal remained disturbed at Chotanagpur in Bihar (now Jharkhand), Purulia in Bengal, Vardhaman and Medinipur in Bankura, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundergarh in Orissa. The British tried in every way to suppress Ganga Narayan Singh, but the British could not stand in front of Ganga Narayan Singh's cleverness and fighting skills. The commissioners of Vardhadman, Chotanagpur and Orissa (Raipur) escaped after being defeated by Ganga Narayan Singh. Thus the struggle was so fast and effective that the British were compelled to withdraw the land sale law, inheritance law, excise duty on lac, salt law, jungle law.
At that time Thakur Chetan Singh of Kharsawan was running his rule in alliance with the British. Ganga Narayan Singh went to Podahat and Singhbhum Chaibasa and organized the Kol (Ho) tribes there to fight against Thakur Chetan Singh and the British. On February 6, 1833, Ganga Narayan Singh attacked the Hindshahr police station of Thakur Chetan Singh of Kharsawan with the Kol (Ho) tribes, but unfortunately died on the same day while fighting against the British and the rulers till the last breath of his life. Thus, on February 7, 1833 AD, a mighty, mighty warrior who took iron against the British, the Chuad rebellion, the hero of the Bhumij rebellion, Veer Ganga Narayan Singh, left his indelible mark and became immortal among us.
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