Weaknesses of Tribal uprisings and Civil rebellions in pre-independence India
A revolt from an unlikely and traditionally non-violent quarter was the Sanyasi revolt on 1770. The activities of Sanyasis and their practices were understood by local Kings who never trifled with or interfered with the sanyasis’ coming and going in their kingdom. However, the British did not similarly understand. They imposed restrictions on pilgrimages to holy places, and made no exceptions for the wandering sanyasis. This led the sanyasis to respond violently; they planned and conducted multiple raids on the treasuries and factories of the East India Company. The uprising was ultimately crushed after extensive military action on part of the British.
Another major rebellion was the Santhal uprising which was led by the Murmu brothers against oppressive practices adopted by both the native zamindars, moneylenders and the British. The Santhals in the Rajmahal hills declared themselves independent, and it was a whole two years before the British conducted extensive military operations to bring the situation under control. Later, the British created a separate district of Santhal parganas in an attempt to pacify the Santhals and pre-empt future rebellions.
The Bhils are a tribe that revolted multiple times against the East India Company in the 1800s. The Munda revolt led by Birsa Munda was also a significant revolt. This revolt began as a religious rebellion, but had agrarian and political undertones. The South of India also witnessed a number of revolts led by the Raja of Vizianagaram, Diwan Velu Tampi of Travancore, the Poligars of Dindugal and Malabar and the hill tribesmen of Rampa in Andhra Pradesh.
Weakness of such movements
Though these early movements created a healthy culture promoting expression of local dissent against authoritarianism, they also faced certain limitations. Though as single events, these revolts were powerful and pervasive in their region; from the national perspective, they were localised and isolated events that didn’t capture the popular imagination of the nation at large. This limited the effect that these uprisings could have had. Additionally, most of these uprisings arose from dissatisfaction over local grievances, and the rest of the nation could not identify with the agitating persons and express empathy for their grievances. The uprisings were not revolutionary in ideas, thought or ideology, but were just external manifestations of protests over particular grievances. They presented no alternate solution to the public, and failed to galvanise them into action. The leaders of most of these uprisings were semi-feudal in character and hence, had a traditional, conservative outlook. Thus, they were easily satisfied if the British provided even minor concessions or agreed to their specific demands. Hence, no large scale reform of society was perceived or even demanded for by the people participating in these protests.
There were multiple tribal uprisings and civil rebellions from the 1700s to 1900. Name and discuss some such uprisings. What were the weaknesses of such uprisings?
