Hello everyone today in this new post we are going to discuss one of the honorable freedom fighters Tilka Manjhi who devoted his whole life struggling to make India free from evils and make India United.
Tilka Manjhi or Tilka Murmu was a freedom fighter from the Santhal Tribe Society and is known to be the first among all the freedom fighters. Tilka Manjhi was remembered to be a devoted and fearless patriot and also a man with high respect towards others.
Tilka Manjhi was born on February the 11th 1750 in Tilakpur village of Bhagalpur district in Bihar. From his very childhood, Tilka Manjhi always displayed interest in many different kinds of activities. His parents knew that Tilka is selfless and would dedicate his life to help others.
Tilka Manjhi's family was recognized as the head of the village. They had an abundance of food and clothing. All the villagers obeyed and respected them. Tilka Manjhi's always father took care of the villagers. He would help the needy and the poor ones. As Tilka grew up, he inherited his father’s post as the head of the village. Since then he came to be known as Tilka Manjhi instead of Tilka Murmu.
By that time he was ready to bear and handle the responsibility of serving his fellow villagers as like his father.
It was at this time that the Britishers of Bihar region had started to reveal their evil atrocious nature. If Britishers had to build railway lines, the tribal people had to lose their land. If the Britishers had to construct roads, the tribal people had to abandon their villages.
Every new activity undertaken by the Britishers was funded by the taxes collected from the deprived people. The Britishers started ruling in a ruthless and evil manner.
The tribal people developed a feeling of revolt. At this time Tilka Manjhi was the leader of his village. Tilka was aware of the atrocities of the British people.
Only that he was not courageous enough to do anything about it at that time. Witnessing the people’s willingness to revolt against the British rule, Tilka was motivated to join hands with them.
Tilka started to travel to nearby and far away villages to discuss the plight of the victims of Britisher’s outrage. He would discuss how the ruthlessness of the Englishmen adversely affected the lives of the commoners.
The Britishers got words of this incident. Alerted, the Britishers ordered the sepoys to check the advancement of Tilka Manjhi’s army. The sepoys were ordered to kill these men. Tilka’s army attacked the Britishers. The Britisher’s retaliated with full force.
The modern arms and ammunition of the British Indian army suppressed the traditional weaponry of Tilka’s army. Hundreds of Santalis lost their precious lives.
Commissioner Cleveland was in power at that time. He was involved in looting treasures as much as he was interested in torturing women. Tilka was in search of an opportunity to have revenge on this tyrant.
Tilka held another meeting with his men where he made clear that the Britishers need to be confronted with a deadlier force. The Santals retaliated with a stronger force killing a large number of British men.
Tilka was a skilled tree climber and an archer. He used his skills to attack the British people from treetops. By this time Tilka had instilled fear in the minds of the British people. Full of rage, Commissioner Cleveland ordered to burn the houses of each and every Santals and turn the villages into ashes. And so it happened.
The Santhals started to fall. The survivors migrated to the jungles in search of a safe place to live. But the miseries of the Santals did not end here. They could not hide from the evil eye of Cleveland.
Tilka Manjhi vowed to take revenge. He gathered his men once again but this time he had to do things a little differently. He had to employ guerilla-like war tactics. The Santals once again attacked the Britishers like the guerillas The Britishers were not familiar with the guerilla-like warfare and hence retreated.
It was on January the 13th, 1784. Tilka was resolved to put an end to the agony of the Santals. Before sunrise, Tilka hid on a tree that was located a couple of yards away from where the Britishers stationed themselves. As soon as Cleveland stepped out, Tilka grabbed the opportunity, pulled the string of the bow, and released the arrow which went right through Cleveland’s chest. Cleveland was dead.
The Britishers were startled. They thought it’s high time they take actions to storm the jungle from all directions so that all the Santals can be taken captive and that Tilka can be captured. They hired spies to figure out which jungle Tilka Manjhi was residing in. The spies figured out that Tilka and other Santals had taken shelter in Tilakpur jungle.
The British army surrounded the Tilakpur jungle. There was a war between the Santals and the British army. Hundreds of Santals, as well as British men, lost their lives in this conflict. Tilka’s army had weakened due to a shortage of food in the jungle.
As a result, Tilka’s army was not capable of fighting for long. Tilka was captured and taken captive. The Britishers took a sigh of relief.
Now the Britishers started torturing Tilka Manjhi. He was whiplashed. He was given food mixed with mud and sand. Tilka Manjhi was tried and sentenced to death. The great Tilka was hanged till death from a banyan tree in full public view.
Before being hanged, the great Tilka Manjhi quoted that life is today and will not be tomorrow. And that is why they must not stop fighting for their rights and their lands. They must fight until they drive the foreigners away from their motherland.
Today Tilka Manjhi is remembered as a great leader. And people in India named a university after his name in order to show their respects towards his struggle and love for his country. There is a university in Bhagalpur named after Tilka Manjhi.
Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University
Article Credit: Santali Blog
CONCLUSION
I hope you liked this post and please stay tuned with us for such informational posts. You can also subscribe by email by providing your email to below subscription box. Thank You.
0 Comments