LAQ : Give an account of the Santhal Rebellion along with its importance

Question

Give an account of the Santhal Rebellion along with its importance.

Answer

Beginning of Santhal Rebellion : The Santhal Rebellion or Hool was an unrest that started in 1855 as a result of the demand for Permanent Settlement. It began as a fight to maintain the Santhals’ rights over the trees of the forest in the ‘damin i koh’ or foothill lands. The Santhals, who were a united and close-knit group, became angry when outsiders such as zamindars, moneylenders, and others started troubling them. The rebellion was initially restricted to the non-taxable lands, covering 1366 square miles, of which 866 square miles was surrounded by hills, and 500 square miles were agricultural land.

Characteristic of the Santhal Rebellion

1. The Santhal Rebellion began in 1855.
2. The Santhals were peace-loving forest dwellers living in a vast area between Rajmahal in Bihar and Murshidabad in West Bengal.
3. The rebellion was a response to the oppression of landlords, double-crossing leaseholders, and government policies to increase taxes.

Importance of the Santhal Rebellion

1. The Santhal Rebellion had far-reaching effects and spread rapidly across various regions.
2. The English army crushed the revolt, but the Government had to create a separate area called ‘Santhaldihi Paragana’ for the Santhal community.
3. The rebellion showed that even unarmed farmers could build resistance and turn it into a large-scale rebellion.
4. The rebellion spread to non-tribal people and lower-caste Hindus.
5. The Government created a separate reserve for the Santhal people and reserved parts of the forest land for them under the Forest Act of 1859.