Tilka Manjhi, Thalakkal Chanthu, Budhu Bhagat would have remained unheard of to the old and new generations of Indians alike but for the efforts of two young authors by name Tuhin A Sinha and Ambalika.
An effort has been made by this duo to bring the lives and times of these tribal warriors and commanders to the public domain, hopefully for the first time in the history of modern India. A 166 page book “The Great Tribal Warriors of Bharat” encompassing the life sketches of 17 proud sons and daughters of India is the tribute by Sinha and Ambalika to these hitherto unsung souls on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence.
Though history books in schools and universities in the country are full of paeans to white-skinned George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, the curriculum is silent about the gallant and brave fighters in the sub-continent who staged the country’s first wars of independence. The tribals who were the inhabitants of the country’s dense jungles and worshipped nature were the first ones who sae through the evil designs of the occupiers to subjugate this great nation. While the natives were struggling to get into the administrative and military services of the Moghuls and the Britishers, the tribal warriors were the ones who challenged the mighty Moghuls and the Europeans who succeeded them.
The tribals who were the residents of dense jungles spread across the length and breadth of the sub-continent were the first ones who staged armed struggles against the British East India Company. Their feats in these battles fought with bows and arrows powered by indigenous intelligence would put the 1857 armed uprising labeled as Sepoy Mutiny into pale. It seems there were people in post-independent India who wanted to black out the great sacrifices made by these tribal warriors in their efforts to drive out the white masters. There is no justification in not telling the new generation about the unparallel achievements made by these tribal warriors,” says Prof P G Haridas, eminent historian, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala.
Tilka Manjhi (1750-1785), the chief of the Santhal tribe was known as the Robinhood of Jungle Terry (modern day Bhagalpur). Story of Tilka’s fight against the white oppressors who were exploiting the tribals to the hilt should be an eye-opener to the Indian public. All he stood for was freedom, dignity, and equality. It was the denial of these rights that made him took the traditional hunting weapons to teach the uninvited and exploiting guests a lesson. Thalakkal Chanthu, the tiger from Wayanad’d Kurichiya tribals, is a name that electrify the local residents even today. Though he lived up to only 25, Chanthu left behind a series of victories against the British East India Company in jungle warfare. He was the commander of Edachena Kunkan,, the commander in chief of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja and made the supreme sacrifice to save his boss as well as the King from the marauding army and preying eyes of their spies.
In days of yore, jungle warfare was not the prerogative of the male. If the number of women warriors featured in the book is any indication, our tribal ladies were no way inferior to men in fighting qualities. Helen Lepcha (1902-1980), Rani Gaidinliu (1915-1993), Dashriben Chaudhury (1918-2013) Putalimaya Devi(1920- 1984) are the names which would reverberate across campuses in India in days to come. As the saying goes, better late than never.
According to Kiren Rijiju, the union minister for law and justice who penned the foreword, the volume marks the evolution of the Adivasi contribution to the country.