CHAPTER VII

THE WORLD OF T ANAS

Histories of the Tana Bhagat movement as recorded by administrators,

missionaries and anthropologists, and theorizations by historians studying tribal protest

in Chhotanagpur, have remauted constricted by a shared realm of suppositions. Tribal

conflict is seen to be the result of the infiltration of 'non-tribals' into 'tribal' territory:

movements have been read as the resistance of 'aboriginals' against 'non-aboriginals',

or of the 'people of a lower civilization' against those of a 'higher civilization', or of

'insiders' against 'outsiders'. The implicit assumption is that while one can identify an

occasional borrowing of religious and cultural symbols by tribals from non-tribals, the

economic interests of these groups were inherently antagonistic. Tribal communities,

seen as almost homogeneous, were thus perceived to be united in an opposition to

alien and unacceptable elements that had entered their land. K.S. Singh identifies

therefore in the Tanas a 'peasant consciousness'; 1 B.B. Chaudhury finds an economic

basis to the 'rebel tribal consciousness'; 2 Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, drawing upon the

jundico-economic l~nguage of the colonial state, sees in the 'agrarian regimes in

Chotanagpur' 3 'a continuous conflict between landlords and tenants', 4 a 'class

struggle'. 5

1. Singh, 'Tribal peasantry, millenarianism, anarchism and nationalism', p. 36.

2 Chaudhury, 'The story of a tribal revolt in the Bengal Presidency', p. 55.
3. Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, 'Class conflict and agrarian regimes in Chotanagpur
1860-1950', The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 28, I, 1991.
4. Ibid, p. 35
5. Ibid.

172
 My study of the Tana Bhagat movement recognizes the importance of tracing

Oraon and Tana opposition to the zamindars, hamm and the British State, but it also

suggests that protest must be located \vi thin the intemal hierarchy of the communi:y

itself. In a tribal community in which the economic and secular aspects were closely

interlinked, the leaders- in this case the hhuinlwrs among the Oraons- were not only

till! holders of privileged tenures but also the sources of authority within the Oraon

society. As members of the panch and from amongst whom the pahan, pujar and

mahto were ~hosen, these hhuinhar-~ carved out for themselves a position that clearly

differentiated them from the less privileged sections of the Oraon community. British

intervention in Chhotanagpur, their administrative arrangements and agrarian

legislation, only intensified the already prevalent hierarchies of the tnbal structure. As

administrators identified in the agrarian population the leaders of the community, they

directly promoted the interests of a particular section of the Oraon tribe - the

hhuinhars. It was the special position of these hhuinhurs that the Tanas challenged

through their movement. The two seemingly disparate realms of Tana protest - an

opposition to the pahan and mahto, the world of spirits and ritual celebrations, and a

resistance to the landlords, hunia\ and the Raj -were thus, in reality, interlinked. The

Tanas articulated the ideology of a marginal group within Oraon society and

challenged those elements - tribal and non-tribal - that had forced them into

dependence and subordination.

In this chapter, I have classified the precepts of the Tana faith and analyzed

certain myths in order to understand the Tana opposition to the Oraon world of spirits,

sacrifice and festivity, and their selective critique of an agricultural and settled

economy; I have also examined Tana protest against the zarnindars and hanw' and

173
 .located the community in the agrarian terrain of Chho!anagpur. Lastly, i consider the

ambiguities in the Tana perceptions of the Raj.

THE PRECEPTS

At first the name Tana came into existence and then Tanaism came
and is proceeding to the villages from the Wcst. 6

Thus began one of the hymns of the Tanas. These rhythmical hha;ans took the

fonn of stories, questions and answers, or prohibitions and instructions, that would

inspire the adherents of the faith. The compositions indicate the origin and history of

the Tana movement, its doctrines, practices and rules of conduct.

As the Tana movement spread, inhabitants of village after village would gather

to learn the essentials of the faith. At the common boundaries of adjacent villages, the

men would meet, and in their .wbhm and panchayats they enunciated the 'Gospel of

7
Dhanne' or the 'Gospel of Lakshmi'. 8 From the outset, therefore, the Tana movement

became a collective enterprise, its ideals were consciously learnt and carried by word

of mouth. Teachings were imparted by an 'enlightened man' who became the 'head

teacher' and 'showed the way to all men'. 9 The guru taught the followers of the new

faith its doctrines and showed them the path to the 'True Religion', for he was

believed to have a link with Dharmes, the Supreme God of the Oraons. The Tanas

affinned that their faith had been disclosed to' the guru by God Himself.

6. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p 353.

7 Ibid, p 357
8 Ibid, p 356.

9 Ibid , pp 354-55

174
 For initiation into the Tana faith, it was necessary to keep 'carefully ... good clothes

on ... stand ... in a line with .. .faces eastward'. 1 Cleanliness and purity were essential as

the Tanas prayed to the God with folded hands, meditation being carried out in ''1c

morning and evening. The principal God to whom they prayed was Dhanne Baba or

Bhagwan Baba, and his name features in all invocation-.: In addition, a retinue of other

deities drllwn from the Hindu pantheon was mentioned: Suraj Baba, Chandar Baba,

Gunibani Baba, Tarigan Baba, lndra Baba, Brahma Baba, Ganesh Baba, Jagamath

Baba, Hindu Baba, Siva Saba, Jodhaji Baba, Ganga Baba, Jamuna Baba, Ram Baba,

Lachman Baba, Bharat Baba, Satrughan Baba, and Mahadeo. The German Baba was

also referred to in Tana hymns. The only female deity invoked is Dharti Ayo, also

referred to as Sita Ayo. What is interesting to note is that in the Oraon myths, Sita

Ayo is identified with Parvati, the consort of Siva, and is described as the wife of

Dharmes. Significantly, it was Dharmes whom the Tanas had in mind in their prayers,

even when they worshipped other Gods. The following extract may be quoted.

And we meditate on [Thy]

name; We invoke Thee by all
[rhyj names, We pray to Thee
by all Thy names, [emph. added]

0 Dharme Baba, we call

upon Thee; 0 Bhagwan
Baba, we pray in Thy name,
- Dharam, Dharam, Dharam;
blessed, blessed, blessed art
Thou. 11

Dharmes, then, is all important even when other Gods are invoked. In Tana

gatherings, prayers were conducted while facing the east, the direction traditionally

10. Ibid., p 355

11. Ibid., p 373.

175
faced in the propitiation of Dharmes. Dharmes would come from 'heaven', from the

'nether world', 'from out of the clefts of the earth.! 2 to promise to the Tan as 'religious

consciousness ... the happiness that religion brings ... all spiritual treasur .all things that

enrich the soul. .. [and] enable [the Tanas] to lead a pious life'. 13 Dhannes was all

pervasive. The Tanas asked him to visit their doors and yards, houses and families,

cattle-pounds, godowns and storehouses, their gatherings, meetings, congregations and

assemblies, their fairs and festivals. He was to visit the kachari (court) and police

station; he would accompany the Tana on the road and during joumeys, and when he

was sitting or standing. He would enter the heart and body, and even the bowels.l 4

In other words, Dharmes was present in every comer of the Tana universe, and even

within his devotees. The Tanas prayed: 'Our Baba is within our hearts and within our

body. Hence in streets and lanes do not call names'. 15

So powerful was the grace of Dhannes that under his influence 'even water is

milk and dust is incense ... even a clod of earth is fire'. 16 Dhannes would destroy the

'wicked men' and 'sinners', or the 'enemies of this world'; 17 he would end the f.: ali Y UK

18
or the Age of Sin. With his advent would begin the Sat YuK or the Golden Age.

... Come, 0 Baba bringing

Thy golden shield ...
(Thy] golden sym bois ...
Thy golden crown; come
Baba bringing Sat Yug ...

12. Ibid., p. 379.

13. Ibid., p. 390.
14 Ibid., p. 325.
15 Ibid.
16. Ibid., p. 389
17. Ibid., p. 390.
18. Ibid., p. 379

176
 Come Baba, bringing holy
rain, Come, Baba, taking the
shape of Dharam, come
Baba bringing [Thy 1golden
kingdom and golden altar.

Come Baba, bringing [Thy]

golden bench and golden
chair, 0 Baba, come with
[Thy] accoutrements complete;

Baba, come bringing [Thy]

golden castle;. come, Baba,
r I 'I
10r etern1ty.

What was the path that was to be followed in order to usher in this 'Golden Age'?

A movement that had spread over Ranchi, Palamau, Hazaribagh and parts of north

Bengal, and had spanned a considerable period of time, threw up doctrines that often

differed according to the location and needs of the congregation. Yet, certain essential

principles marked the Tana faith. And these were as follows. Ghosts and spirits were

to be purged, along with dains, matis and ojhas; the traditional leadership of the

pahans and mahtos was to be questioned; sacrifices, violence and non-vegetarianism

were to be abhorred: austerity and abstemiousness were to characterize religion and

society. Accordingly, socio-religious festivities were forbidden; embroidery and

ornaments were discarded; bonds between men and women beyond marriage were

discouraged. Pure thought and speech, knowledge, wisdom, understanding,

- intelligence, strength and peace were regarded as virtues to be inculcated. In addition,

the Tanas questioned their subordination to the zamindars, Brahmins, hania\',

Muhammadans, Christians and the British state.

19. Ibid., pp. 372-73.

177
 Through an analysis of Tana hymns and the proceedings of their meetings, I have

attempted to classify the precepts of their faith.

Spirits (hhuts)/GlliJsts(nwls)

I. One God should be worshipped, and ghosts and idols discarded.

2. To worship ghosts is sinful.
3. Boys and girls are forbidden to offer sacrifices to the sahhapati (chief ghost)
and other ghosts.
4. The wicked ghosts of the dancing place (akhra) and the sacred grove (jhakra)
should be driven away.
5. It is forbidden to take the names of the spirits of the dead (pachhalar) and to
sprinkle water in their name.
6. The khuntdant ghosts and the ghosts of the household should be banished.
7. To make offerings in the names of spirits such as Darha and Deswali IS
forbidden.
8. Observing Jankh Chandi and Pachgi Chandi is forbidden.
9. The Ulatgaria ghost who dwells where the three boundaries meet should be
driven out.
10. Spirits such as the churil, m ua and malech should be utterly destroyed.
11. The familiar spirits of the witches and wizards (dain hishahi) should be
driven out.
12. The buffalo-eating, ox-eating, ram-eating, goat eating, sheep-eating,
pig-eating, fowl-eating, kid-eating and sacrifice-eating ghosts are to be
destroyed.

Witches and Wizards (dain hishahi)/Practising Agents

1. The dain hishahr should not continue to exist.

2. The mali, Jeonra and <ijha should not remain.

Villag\. Officials: Priests and Headmen

I. On the full moon of Magh, setting in motion the gnnding stone during the
young men's Chandi Puja ceremony for the election of the headmen is
forbidden.
2. Moving the grinding stone in the name of the 'Old Lady of the Sacred Grove'
(Chala Pachcho) for the election of the headman (mahto) and priest
(pahanlnaega) is forbidden.

Sacrifices/Non-violence/Vegetarianism

1. To take life (jia) is forbidden.

2. Sharpening a knife or an axe is forbidden.
3. The sacrifice of a buffalo, ox, ram, goat or pig is forbidden.
4. Preparing the sacrificial rice (suri) and distributing it is forbidden.
5. The ceremonial feeding of fowl for sacrificial purposes is forbidden.

178
6. Killing fowl and pigs for marriage feasts is forbidden.
7. Eating fish, crab and flesh of birds, hens, pigs and goats is forbidden.
8. Hunting excursions (sikar) have been done away with.
9. Children are not to be vaccinated.
I 0. In marriages, the usc of vennili<'ll (stndur) is forbidden.

Alcoholism

I. Liquor .drinking is sinful.

2. Brewing, straining and distributing beer is forbidden.
3. To visit liquor shops is forbidden.

Religious Ceremonies/Festivities

I. All customs like performing the Danda-Katta ceremony are evil.

2. Festivals like the Sarhul, Kharia, Phagua, Khaddi, Magh, Chait, Jadura,
Karam, Jitia, Dashera, Sohrai and Deothan should not be celebrated.
3. Dancing in the akhra or dancing place is forbidden.
4. The former marriage ceremony and customs related to marriage are evil.
5. The amm khama ceremony or the name giving ceremony is forbidden.
6. Playing musical instruments such as the mandar, nagera, jhanfh and dhank
drums is forbidden.

Societal and Familial Relationships/Moral Conduct

I. The custom of young men and women residing m common dormitories

(dhumkuria) is forbidden.
2. Young bachelors and maidens should not interact wiihout restr;unt.
3. Lying down with one another and crou..:hing under the balks in uplallds and
lowlands in the months of Aghan, Pus, Magh and Phalgun when they go to
collect cowdung is forbidden for young men and women.
4. Friendship of the sangi and guiya forms is evil.
5. Mutual kissing and e1,1bracing, riding on one another by the Samdhi-Samdho
(parents of bride and bridegroom) are forbidden.
6. The use of embroidery, head-dress, jewellery and ornaments is forbidden.
7. Adultery is forbidden.
8. Wives should not be divorced.
9. To quarrel is forbidden.
10. To covet the goods of others is forbidden.
11. To steal is forbidden.
12. To be dishonest is forbidden.
13. Committing sin is forbidden.
14. The ungrateful and wicked will be punished.
15. One should bathe twice a day.

Relations with the non-Oraon world

I. Do not work for other castes.

179
2. Do not pay rent to the zam indars.
3. Do not work for zamindars as labourers or carriers.
4. Do not perform hcKtJri.
5. Do not cultivate land since it entails cruelty to cattle or Lakshmi.
6. Land, ifcul1'1ated, should be on hataia.
7. Do not pay clwuk idari tax to the British state.
8. Do not work as coolies for the govemment.
9. Oppose the Brahmins, haniao;, Muhammadans and Christians.
10. Recite mantras in the name of the German Baba.

lf Tana precepts were followed, an ideal society would be created. The utopian

world that the Tanas sought to achieve is expressed in the following hymn.

0 Baba, the Sat Yug

(the Golden Age) is flourishing,
0 Baba, flourishing.

0 Baba, Tanaism is marching on,

0 Baba,- marching on.

0 Baba, Devotion to Ram is

flourishing, 0 Baba, - flourishing.

0 Baba, Religious instruction

is being given, 0 Baba,- being given.

0 Baba, God's grace is spreading,

0 Baba,- spreading

0 Baba, religious rites and

devotions are being practised,
0 13aba, being practised.

0 Baba, God's commandments

are being obeyed,
0 Baba, - being obeyed.

0 Baba, the name of God is

spreading, - 0 Baba, spreading.

0 Baba, the law of God is

being accepted - 0 Baba, accepted.

0 Baba, God's justice is

beginning to reign, - Baba,
beginning to reign

180
 0 Baba, the word of God is
being spread abroad,
0 Baba, spread abroad 20

II

MYTHS AND HISTORIES

The Tana Bhagat movement which represented a specif1c fonn of a critique of the

Oraon world had articulated the protests of the poorer sections of the agrarian

community. Their demands related, among other things, to questions of land, rent and

a variety of other fonns of dues which were extracted by the dominant landed

community constituted by zamindars, illaqw.uiars,jagirdars, hania\ and sahus, and by

privileged sections of the ryot community. Their protest was a critique of a history of

settl.!ment and peasant agriculture that veered around the plough, agricultural

festivities, elaborate customs and dancing. Their resistance was directed against the

hhuinhar-dominated traditional structure of hierarchy headed by the palwn and '''rrhto,

and to a world of spirits, witchcraft and sacrifices. It was an attachment to

pre-agricultural fonns that Jatra's affinnations inJicated: he had asked his followers

to give up ploughing of fields since , 1 entailed cruelty to cows and oxen, but did not

save the Oraons from famine and poverty. God would provide for them, he stated. A

single grain of rice would be enough to satisfy a person's hunger. Household

equipment, agricultural implements and ornaments were to be discarded as a part of

the purificatory acts that would welcome the millennium.

In Tana self-representation, the Oraons were placed in a world of oppression and

subjugation. Their degradation was connected to a history of settlement and peasant

 agriculture. The transfonnation of the Oraons from shifting cultivators to plough

agriculturists was seen as a process of decline, as a movement from a state of well-

being to a state of impoverishment. This was the context in which their subordination

was complete and their freedom lost. Their escape lay, therefore, in a renunciation of

the basis of their subjection. In their articulating opposition, the Tanas drew upon their

cultural resources, and mythical structures could provide the framework in which the

present was understood and analyzed, their reading of history and self-representation

situated.

Administrators, anthropologists and missionaries - spread over time and space -

had relied on oral informants and recorded these myths. Their texts, although made

possible through writing, nevertheless continue to be rooted within an oral tradition

and mythical categories. Interestingly, these myths continue to be a part of the

ongoing Tana oral tradition as I discovered during my fieldwork at Hutar, Ranchi. I

need to emphasize here that I do not intend to equate myth with history. But, instead

of establishing an opposition between the two, I treat myths as a fonn of the ordering

of historical consciousness within a historical context over a perioJ of time. The

mythic tradition suggests the ways in which the Oraons and the Tanas related to a

common history, and yet, did not homogenize it; the specific symbols drawn from

. hegemonic and popular traditions by the Tanas reflect the boundaries of their faith and

define the construction of Tanaism. What is important for me, however, is not the

fixed appearance of images and plots, or 'cliches', 21 that appear in different versions

of a myth. Rather, I analyse myths as a changing and creative cultural process; I study

21. Gyan Prakash, Bonded Histories: Genealogies of Labor Servitude in Colonial

India (Cambridge: 1990), p. 42. For an analysis of myths, refer to Gyan
Prakash's treatment of myths, pp. 38-62 and pp.192-200.

lSD
the transfonnations and improvisations that occurred during the many renditions of a

myth as the imagined past was recollected and reconstituted differently by the Oraons

and the Tanas.

I deal with two detailed accounts of Oraon tradition: the first was initially

recorded by S.C. Roy in 1915 and completed in 1928, while the second was recounted

to me in 1993, when I visited Hutar, a village in the district of Ran chi, on the

occasion of a wedding in a Tana family. The story begins "1th the history of the

Oraons in the Rohtas plateau, their entry into Chhotanagpur and finally, their

defilement and fall in ritual status.

Roy writes in 1915:

The Oraons say that they once dwelt on the Rohtas Plateau under a Raja or
king of their own tribe. The place was well fortified so as to defy the
strongest enemy. The Oraon had erected a stone rampart about a mile in
height, and the enemy long sought in vain to effect a breach. At length the
'Hakims' caught hold of a milk woman of the Ahir caste who used to supply
milk to the Oraon Raja, and who had therefore free access to the fort.
Inducements were offered to this woman to suggest to the enemy a
practicable means of occupying the fort. She accordingly advised them to
wait till the ensuing Khaddi or Sarhul festival when all the Oraon males were
sure to get dead drunk. This turned out to be correct and the enemy followed
her instructions and succeeded in entering the fort. Although the Oraon
women, who had been at the time pounding rice with their wooden pestles
to prepare bread for the Khaddi festival, came out with their pestles and
valiantly met the foe, these Amazons were soon overpowered. The Oraon
Raja and his subjects, it is said, fled the fort through a subterranean passage
known only to themselves. The enemy lighted huge torches 'each of which
consumed four maunds of oil', but they failed to discover their exit. 22

In 1928, Roy continues:

The Oraons of those days, it is asserted, knew no hhuts or spirits nor ate beef
or other unclean food, but were more clean in their habits and even wore the
janeu or the sacred thread. In order to elude the pursuit of the enemy, the
Oraons, it is said, took shelter in the houses of the Mundas whom they found
in occupation of the country, and concealed their own identity by discarding

22. Roy, The Oraons of Chota Nagpur, p. 26.

183
 their sacred threads and taking to the unclean food and habits of the Mundas
and adopting as their own the deities and spirits of the Munda pantheon. 23

The summary of the version narrated by a Tana and recorded by me is as follows:

The Oraon society was very simple. The people were vegetarian, they
followed the Hindu religion and they lived in Haldighati near Sind. The
Oraons pursued their own vocation and lived cordially, maintaining peace and
love. The Oraon deota was very pleased and the Oraons received sufficient
returns for whatever they did. When people cam, they also spend and the
expenditure took different forms. Some people started fermenting food which
led to the making of the haria drink. When the people fought with the
Mughals they fled to Rohtasgarh. Oraons were frequently under the influence
of haria. The Mughals decided to attack the Oraons when they were in a
drunken state. But Oraon females were very intelligent. They did not take
haria and followed devoutly their religion. Whenever the Mughals attacked,
they would dress like males and retaliate. The Mughals were in a qu:mdary:
How could the Oraons defeat them even when they were in an inebriated
state? They asked the old and the widows. Then, the old widows revealed
that the Oraon fighters were not males, but women who dressed and fought
like males, and returned to their places at night. We get the names of Lundri,
Champee and Singri as infonnants. Lundri was a goa/in while Champee and
Singri were adiva\is. Lundri disclosed that the Oraon warriors were females.
The enemies could verify her statement if they observed the warriors
carefully: unlike men who washed their faces with one hand, these women
washed their faces with both hands. The Oraons were thereafter attacked and
cut to pieces. Only one person survived who fled from Rohtasgarh and
reached Nagpur. The Mundas. who ate ox and cow meat, were the rulers in
Nagpur; they employed the boy as a cook and cut his hair. .. The Mussalmans
thought that they had become conquerors ... they cut a cow, a black cow, and
threw it on the road. The road was thus blocked and the deota was trapped
in that area. His purity was lost and he was taken to Mecca. Our ancestors
tell us that whenever the Hindu hhav starts rising in him, he cries out: 'If
there is any Hindu here, then please give me a drop of water'. Then, again,
a black cow is sacrificed there by the Mussalmans, and the deota becomes
quiet again.

As documentary evidence of the Tana belief that the1r deota had been carried bv

the Muhammadans to Mecca, the report of the Superintendent of Police, Dinajpur,

may be cited. The Sub-Inspector of Porsha had reported to him that 'the word

"German", referred to in the [Tana] mantras', could stand 'for the word "Jaban", that

23. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 313.

184
referred to the legendary image of Seo Mahadeh, which was said to have been kept

by the Muhammadans at Mecca.' 24

Religiosity and the loss of their deoto, a utopian past and 1 degraded present,

crucial battles and an unfortunate defeat -this is the pattern of the traditions outlined

above, a pattern that finds its parallels in the traditions of other lower castes and

tribes. The crux of the narrative is as follows. The original Oraon high status was

ritually polluted after they were forcibly evicted from Rohtasgarh. The unclean status

of the Oraons was a later accretion~ ritual defilement had occurred because of contact

with outsiders. Their ritually impure status was thus not innate but superimposed.

Their identity could therefore be reconstituted, their subordination questioned.

Reference to a 'fall from glory' indicated the Oraon recognition of the present, for it

was the endorsement of the moment that had made them accept their ritually impure

status. At the same time, by asserting that Oraon ritual impurity, rather than being

intrinsic, was the result of circumstances in a distant past, they were challenging at the

same time their present. They imbibed therefore the logic of existing urcumstances,

even as they contested the same.

The sharing of traditions points to a common Orauil identity that was collectively

shared by members of the community. Yet the myths of the Tanas and the Oraons

differed. Variations indicated the ways in which the Tanas recast their identities and

distanced themselves from the rest of the Oraons, despite sharing a common repertoire

of myths and legends. The differences in the ideals of the pristine past, in the

conceived histories and in the location of the causes of ritual impurity, signalled the

24. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 27th May, 1916.

185
processes through which the Tanas appropriated and opposed ideas from different

worlds.

The Oraon myth begins at Rohtasgarh where the Oraons, as settled agriculturists,

had lived a ritually pure and comfortable life. They were the envy of many a

non-Oraon people. The invasion of the 'Hakims' took place at the time of the

agricultural festival of Sarhul or Khaddi when haria drinking was the accepted means

of celebration for men. The women then remained alert and were the protectors of the

community. Oraon defeat was not because of their own weakness, but as a result of

betrayal by an outsider, an Ahir woman, wh~ let out the Oraon secret. Their

defilement occurred when they were forced to adopt the unclean practices of the

Mundas so as to escape from the enemy; worshipping hhuts or spirits, eating beef and

discarding the janeu were thus not a part of pristine Oraon faith, but were the

degrading elements of the present. The importance of the pollution 'cliche' and the

deturnination of status in terms of purity and pollution indicated Oraon contact with

a Brahmanical order that structured the understanding of their own status.

The Tanas, as a part of the Oraon community, shared this myth of their ancestors.

Yet, in it occurred changes in consonance with Tana beliefs that resulted in the

reconstitution of the myth itself. For the Tan as, Oraon history prior to their settlement

in Chhotanagpur, was a history of migrations in which Rohtasgarh marked only a

stage, albeit an important one. Their critique was of a society that did not believe in

frugality, in restrictions on diet and in abstinence from alcohol. The accumulation of

wealth, a concomitant of settled agricultural pursuits, had unleashed the process of the

degeneration of the community, and the Oraons eventually lost their religion, their

deota and their land Rohtasgarh. Oraon females who did not drink were, in Tana

186
perception, the devout followers of their religion. The root cause of Oraon decline,

though not the act of ritual pollution, is therefore placed within the community itself;

references made to the adiva,is Champee and Singri in the context of those who

divulged the Oraon secret reinforce this point. As a result of their defeat caused due

to their inebriated state, the Oraons lost their God to the Mussalmans who took the

deota to Mecca. The reference to the Mundas, in whose contact eventual defilement

occurred, was an insertion relatively inconsequential in the narrative. It is evident from

some references made by them that in the Tana conceptualization of their past,

anti-Islamic attitudes coalesced with Brahmanical influences. The Oraons in their

pristine form had pursued the Hindu religion; their god had been hauled to Mecca by

the Mussalmans; the deota periodically appealed to the Hindus for water. The 'Hakims'

in this version are the Mussalmans or the Mughals. In this construct, the proclivity of

the Tanas was towards a society that predated a settled agricultural one; their plea was

for a return to pristineness marked by simplicity of behaviour, mutual cordiality and

restraint from alcohol.

Ill

AGAINST ZAMINDARS, BANIAS, AND AN AGRARIAN ORDER

The Tana movement drew upon a collective Oraon identity and, at the same time,

distanced itself from some of the Oraon traditions and practices. To locate the

specific form of Tan a protest that appropriated and opposed elements from the Oraon

past and present, one needs to enquire into the structure of landed power in

Chhotanagpur, and the internal structure and dynamics of Oraon society. I study in

this section the various elements of Tana protest against landed elements and their

187
critique of Oraon agricultural pursuits. I seek to locate the Oraons within the agrarian

terrain of Chhotagpur where they encountered an oppressive system of landlordism,

and study the processes th: lHJgh which the already prevalent hierarchies in Oraon

society were strengthened and recast as a result of changin!! circumstances.

Colonial records, particularly settlement reports, reflected the rural scenario, and

reconstructed it as well. The intervention of the Raj altered and reconstituted tenurial

relations: administrative arrangements and juridico-legal structures dismantled rural

hierarchies and traditional methods of control and management. Lines of

communication hetween an outlying province and the metropolis introduced newer

socio-economic forces and forged a closer link between labour, capital and the market.

Transformations in the Oraon world need to be located within this context. The Tana

Bhagat movement, with its varying dimensions and dichotomies, must be seen against

this background.

From the outset, Tanas protested against landed elemc11ts. This protest took the

form of refusals to pay rent and offer heRari, assaults on the zamindar, forcible

cultivation of his lands and cutting of crops, and appeals to the State through the

submission of p~11nphlets, petitions and memorials. Their protest drew upon a longer

tradition of Oraon agrarian struggle. Cases of crop-cutting and refusals to pay rent or

perform heRari were common among hhuinhars, particularly after the Bhuinhari

Settlement of 1869. Appeals to revenue officials were frequent during the survey and

settlement operations. Submission of petitions and memorials were a part of the

agitation of the Sirdars and Christian ryots. At moments, then, the Tanas articulated

the feelings of outrage that were shared by other members of the agricultural

community against the infiltration of 'outsiders' into their land; it was this protest that

188
reinforced community solidarity. Jatra had decided that the Oraons and the Mundas

would come together, the smiths and the Kuhhir caste would melt into oue

community, and the Christians would constitute. a separate order. 25 On other

occasions, groups with whom the Tanas had shared a hannonious relationship and

socio-economic transactions were included as 'bonafide residents of the State'. The

Rajwars, Khairwars, Ghansis, Korwas Kidakus and Bar~ahs would be spared if they

joined the Tanas, the leaders at Sirguja proclaimed. 26 At times however, Tanas

expressed their links only with the Oraon people. Sibu threatened that 'the hands and

legs of all the people except the Oraons would be cut down'. 27

Jatra, in 1914, had insisted that his disciples were to do no work for zam indars,

or pay rent to them. The servants of the zamindars were harassed, refused any

assistance, beaten and turned out of the jungles when they went to cut wood. 28 Tana

opposition to Mussalmans, Brahmins, Bhabans, Rajputs, hania\ and Marwaris through

the years 1915-17 expressed their disapproval of those elements who had participated

in the inter-related credit and land markets and had wieldeJ power.

By 1918, memorials which claimed the rights of the Oraons to hold rent-free

lands as descendants of the original settler-. were submitted to the government by Jura

Bhagat. lanas had drawn upon the mythical histories of the Oraons: as the original

settlers and reclaimers of land, they were supposed to have the ultimate right over

25. W. Dehmlow, 'Ein falscher Prophet in Bahar- Barwe' (A false prophet in

Bahar-Barwe], Die Biene auf dem Missionsfelde, No.11, November, 1914, pp.
151-52.
26. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Police Branch, File No. p-
5R-3 of 1919.
27 Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.
28. Ibid.

189
land. The State was expected to intervene on behalf of the Tanas: the Raj was the

arbiter, its legal institutions were the altar of judgement, and submission of memorials

became a new mode of Tana appeal. Jura stated that he had filed a case before the

government claiming the ownership of the pafXanm of Khokhra and Decsa; if

successful, he promised, holdings would be free of every sort of pa\ ment.

Subscriptions at the rate of Rs. 17 per village were sought from Tanas in order to fight

the case. Hundreds of typed copies of the petitlllll were prepared and circulated. Tana

residents of Dana Kera Police Station in Lapsung refused to pay rent to the Maharajah

of Chhotanagpur on the grounds that their land was lakhift!}. 29 The same memorial

was submitted by Tana tenants of the Kairo Estate to Hansen, the Manager of the

Estate, against the Kairo thakurs, who they claimed, had usurped their rights to

property. The new proprietors, they hoped, would not take rent from them. 30

By late 1919, the memorial seemed to have legitimized acts of crop-cutting by

Jura and his followers. Tana 'tenants' on the estate of Baldeo Das Birla proclaimed

that they had obtained their Raj. Cutting and claiming the crops on haka,htlands with

the cultivator's consent was stated to be their right. A copy of Jura Bhagat's petition

to the government was produced by them along with an order stating that Jura's case

had been referred to the Revenue Department. 31 Similar cases were reported from

elsewhere. 32

29. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
VII, Patna, 27th July, 1918.
30. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
VIII, Patna, 14th June, 1919.
31. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.
32. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence,
Volume VIII, Patna, 25th October, 1919.

190
 The Tana Bhagat movement continued between 1919 and 1921 under the

leadership of Sibu and Turia Bhagat. Sibu threatened the zamindars Jagdeo Nand

Tewarry and Jagjiwan Nand Tewarry, and distributed leaflets, supposed to have been

sent by Bhagwan, in order to express his ideas.

It is no longer the Raj of the Zamindars. The earth belongs to pious men.
- Nobody should give any rent or chaukidari tax. The bania'l must not attend
bazars. They rob the men. Marwaris, may your cloth be burnt to ashes.
Mussalmans, may you perish! The vagabonds and their prostitutes will perish
as soon as Phalgun (the time of the Holi festival) comes. Brahmans, Rajputs,
Rajas and zamindars had nothing to eat when they came here, but now they
have become so powerful as to beat the Oraons and Mundas. Christians are
the lowest class. God says so. 33

When Sibu was arrested, the movement did not flag. Tanas continued their

movement under the new leader Turia, and refused to pay rent, perform begari or

work as labourers or carriers. They claimed that Oraons were forced to pay Rs 2 per

bigha while formerly they had paid only 4 to 8 annas. 34 Turia demanded rosad from

the zamindars: 200 maunds of arwal chawal, 20 maunds of dal anl2 maunds of spices

were reyuisitioned for the Gennan paltan. The zamindars were to provide the means

- of sustenance for an anti-zamindari campaign! 35

Meetings in 1919 reiterated similar demands. At Usku Serun, the non-paym(:nt of

rent was accompanied by a claim made to the zamindar of Tusmu for 8 maunds of

paddy and for the produce of his manjhihas lands. Under Turia's leadership, the

33. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.
34 Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
VII, Patna, 23rd March 1918.
35. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.

191
zamindar of village Chetar, Kuru, was assaulted. While Tanas declined to pay rent,

they were willing to allow zamindars cultivate land on hataia. 36

The story of Tan a protest expressed, at one level, the hostility of the lowest strata

within the Oraon agrarian community towards the existing power structure and forms

of domination. Their opposition was to a dominant landed community of zamindars,

illaquadars,Jagirdar.~ and hania'l; their demands related, among other things, to issues

of land, rent and a variety of other forms of dues. This antagonism towards the

zamindars and banias, and towards the existing power structure, fused with an

indignation against the agrarian system. Perceiving their oppression to be a

consequence of plough agriculture, they proposed a return to their past of shifting

agriculture and forest dwelling. Tana interest in land thus went beyond an anti-

zamindari campaign. What distinguished them from their community brethren was

their critique of a history of settlement and peasant agriculture. In their myths and

legends they had linked their subjugation and impoverishment to this history, a history

of their transformation from shifting cultivators to plough agriculturists. 37 In his

assertions, Jatra had indicated an attachment to pre-agrarian forms; his disciples left

their fields uncultivated, as they drowned their axen, hoes, ploughs, sickles and

baskets into the river. Jatra pronounced that large areas of land was not required for

cultivation. 'One or two small quadrangles' were sufficient for the maintenance of an

entire family: a handful of rice grains, if scattered on this land, would produce enough

to fill a grain attic. A grain of rice would fill a large earthen jug, and a split grain of

36. Ibid.
37. Refer to Section II of this chapter, pp. 181-87.

192
dal would fill the samc 38 Similar ideas were repeatedly emphasized by Tana gurus.

Preachers in Sirguja advised their followers to give up tilling of lands: a single plot

30
ofl:md would be sufficient for the whole ofOraon and Kishan populations. In 1919,

Sibu forbade his followers from cultivating land on the grounds that this inflicted

cruelty on cattle or 'Lachmi'. Cattle were let loose, stores of rice and paddy were
~-~

thrown away by Sibu's followers. God would feed the Oraons, Sibu proclaimed. 40

IV

LOCATING THE TANAS IN THE AGRARIAN TERRAIN OF CHHOTANAGPUR

The story ofT ana protest reflects a complex of seeemingly contradictory pressures

that co-existed within the movement. On the one hand, Tanas were against the

zamindars and bania,, and the exactions imposed by them; their demand was for

'raiyati' rights. At the same time, they opposed a plough agricultural society and the

hierarchies that it sustained. To comprehend the Tana vision of the past, their

grievances and aspirations, it is important to locate the community in the agrarian

terrain of Chhotanagpur, analyse the control of zamindars, thikadars and bania~ over

land and resources, and examine the changes introduced in the region by the colonial

state.

38. W. Dehmlow, 'Ein falscher Prophet in Bahar-Barwe' [A false prophet in Bahar-

Barwe], Die Biene auf dem Missionsfelde, "No.11, November, 1914, pp. 151-52.
39. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Police Branch, File No.
p-5R-3 of 1919.
40. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.

193
 Of the four categories defined by the settlement report - occupancy ryots, ryots

having khuntkatti rights, non-occupancy ryots and undcr-ryots 41 -the Tanas belonged

to the last two. Sibu's profile in this context is illustr;J'\e. A mere lad of twenty, he

was the son of Riba Oraon who had for his cultivation only I 1/2 rwwa, of land.

Formerly, he had worked as a dlwngar in village Batkuri and Supa 42 The agitation

of Tana 'tenants' of the Kairo estate against Baldeo Das Birl~ was the result of

objectionable practices ... of regularly settling hakmht land on sqjha

rents for short periods under the impression that occupancy rights
would not accrue, of realising ra'lid likhai at excessive rates and of
taking na:: rona or sa/ami from the tenants for the acceptance of
portions of arrear rents when they could not pay the full amount
due. 43

The 'raiyati land' or the 'regular rent-paying tenancies' which the Tanas occupied

were included in the rojhm that comprised the ullakar, challisa, murile chattisa,

ma<>war and korkar. Uttakar on lowlands (don) were denied the rights of occupancy.

Cultivators on the chat11sa lands that included don and uplands (tanr), enjoyed on the

other hand, occupancy rights independent of the length of occupation. In addition to

paying money rent and various cesses, the 'tenants' on chattisa were expected to assist

the landlord in the cultivation of his man;hiha<> and perfonn hegari. On the murile

chat lisa, chatlisa rents were to be paid, but cesses were exempted. Maswar lands were

/(D'Ir lands held in addition to the challisa: no rights of occupancy could accrue on such

land, rent was payable in kind and only for the year in which a crop was cultivated.

The don prepared from the tanr by the individual exertions of the cultivators was

41. F.A.B. Taylor, Final Report on Revisional Survey and Settlement in Ranchi
1927 -35 (Patna 1938), p. 42.
42. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.
43. Taylor, Final Report on Revisional Survey and Settlement, p. 54.

194
tenned korlwr. Those who had created korlwr could not be ejected under any

circumstance. Korkar land was exempted from rent for the first three years, after

which a half-rent was charged. So landlords continually sought to convert k, kar into

ullakar. 44

On these different categories of land, except on the murile chattisa, in addition to

rents that were to be paid, ryots had to perfonn customary praedial services. Tana

grievances centred around these two issues. They asserted that rents would not be paid

nor hegari performed. Land, if cultivated, would be on the hataia. In Chhotanagpur,

there was a variety of rent payments and praedial services. Several forms of produce

rent prevailed: the saika, the ma,war or kar, and the adhhataia or sajha. The saika,

levied on the zamindar's manjhiha'l and kha'l lands, was the most lucrative from the

landlord's point of view. A fixed amount of the produce was payable by ryots under

this system. On tanr land, the common form of payment was the mm'War, according

to which the ryots surrendered an amount of produce equivalent to the quantity of

seed sown by him. The adhhataia, the most acceptable by ryots, required that half tlic

produce be deposited as rent. 45

Praedial conditions included rokumats and hegari: Rakumats consisted of various

payments in kind and miscellaneous cesses or ahwahs. A fixed quota of the produce

of the tanr, included in each tenancy, was charged as a kind of produce rent. 46 A

variety of abwahs- dami, hatia-bhatta, ra'lid-likhai, dak musharo, neg, bardoch, sarai

44. Letter, dated the 8th April1875, Ranchee, from G.K. Webster, Manager of the
Chota Nagpore Estate, to the Deputy Commissioner of Lohardugga, CNAD, Vol.
I, pp. 43-44. Refer also to Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement
Operations, pp. 95-96.
45. Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, p. 91.
46. The most common kind of rakumats payable in kind were urid, sarguja, kapas,
gundli, dhan, straw and kher Ibid, p. 87.
chaul or nawa khani, and danr pancha - were gtven to the landlord on vanous

occasions and for different purposes: in support of his agent or the hlwndan and for

the maintenance of village officials like the Maharajah's Record Keeper, his dewan,

the Brahmin and the village police; at the time of his visits to the village for the

collection of rent; during festivals like the Dashera and the Dasai or on auspicious

occasions like marriage and rakhee.

Begari consisted of a number of days' labour given by the ryots to the landlord,

either for the cultivation of his khao; lands or as personal service. The incidence of

hegari was discriminatory. Certain privileged castes were ordinarily exempted from

hegari; some peasant communities like the Kurmis rendered services for a period

shorter than that for tribal communities. In a typical village in the district of Ranchi,

the following days of hegari were listed:

3 days' ploughing (har.)

3 days' digging (kori)
3 days' planting or sowing (rapni)
3 days' cutting (katni)
I day's threshing (misni)
I day's storing the grain (morahandhi)
I or 2 days' carrying the landlord's burden on his journeys (des hides). 47

In contradistinction to the ra.Jhar; or the cultivating tenancies were the manjhiha,

and hethkheta lands, belonging to the zamindars or lessee of the village. For the

cultivation of the manjhiha\ khar;, the zamindar was entitled to get help from his ryots.

Such help consisted usually of three days ploughing and three days cutting.

Alternatively, under the saika agreement, the land could be cultivated by ryots who

would give a certain quantity of produce to the zamindar. No length of occupation

47. Ibid., pp. 87-89.

196
gave the ryot any right on mmyhihm kluL\'. Hethkheta lands, set apart for service, were

48
granted to villagers who cultivated these individually or collcctivcly.

('pqfcntious relations between the zamindars and the ryots, reflected in the Tana

movement, had however a long history. In their perceived history, the Oraons and

Mundas were the proprietors of the soil who had gradually lost their lands to

outsiders. Their anger was directed particularly against the Muslims, Sikhs and others

who came to Chhotanagpur from the 1820s as horse-dealers, shawl and brocade

merchants. The previous Maharajahs - Nagvansis, Rajputs, Rautias, Bharmans and

Bhimans - granted land to them as convenient forms of payment for goods or for

services rendered. Rents, ahwahs and salami, imposed by this group on the ryots, were

much resented by the latter. 49 Enhancement of rents and rakumats were usually

effected by three methods: by subletting the villages to the thikadars with the sole

object of enforcing enhancements through their agency; by bringing fictitious suits in

the revenue courts against ryots for arrears of rent, and later suing them at these

enhanced rates; and through private arrangements with ryots whereby the latter were

induced to submit to and execute agreements and contracts at higher rates. 50

The newly established courts in Chhotanagpur became pliant tools in the hands

of zarnindars and often imparted a legal sanction to zamindari appropriations. The

courts as institutions were ineffective in safeguarding the rights of tribal communities.

Lawyers who faced a diversity of peoples, languages and institutions were ill-informed

about local conditions and the history of Chhotanagpur. Pleaders, agents or ministerial

48. Ibid, p 108.

49 No. 13, 'Resolution' by A Mackenzie, Secretary to the Government of Bengal,
Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, Unpublished, pp. 48-49, CRRL,
Ranchi.
50. Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, p. 100.

197
officers were often contemptuous of the communities whom they represented. The

remoteness of the courts and the lack of an effective communication system debarred

the ryots from attending court proceedings. 'It is the e\ .:ption for a raiyat who is

illegally dispossessed from his lands to complain', wrote Slacke and Lister:

... if he does, it is net-'>Cssary for him to induce a number of his co-villagers to

take the risk of incurring the enmity of the landlord, and to journey-perhaps
a hundred miles from home possibly at the season where the fields require
their care ... The Settlement Department has as a matter of fact found that the
majority of cases of dispossession from raiyati lands are not carried to the
courts at all, because of the certain expense and the uncertain issue and the
result has been that for a raiyat there is practically no security in the
enjoyment of what is his only valuable piece of property .51

In British perception, these 'zamindars' and 'raiyats' who constituted the two-tiered

society ofChhotanagpur, were'natural and sworn enemies' 52 whose economic interests

were seen to be irreconcilably conflicting. 'Aboriginals' were considered to be the

oppressed victims of the landlords' wrath. Nolan from the Revenue Department wrote,

' ... the spirit of antagonism between landlord and tenant is so strong, and so generally

diffused throughout the district, that it may at any time cause ;1 breach of the peace

on a large scale, while it entirely destroys the amity which should subsist between

classes closely connected by the ties of interest and neighbourhood ' 53 The 'Kol

insurrection' of I 832, and conflicts between landlords and their Christian tenants in

Sonepore and Busseea, were seen in administrative documents as reflecting the

51. 'Report on the grievances of Mundas in other than intact Khuntkatti villages in
the Ranchi District', by F.A. Slacke, Commissioner, Chota Nagpur Division, and
E. Lister, Settlement Officer, Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, pp.
91-92.
52. 'Note' by Rai Charan Ghose, Personal Assistant to Commissioner, Ranchi, 15th
March 1890, Papers Relating to Chota Nagpur Agrarian Disputes, Volll
(hereafter CNAD, Vol.ll], Unpublished, p. 43
53 Letter No.1258-491 L R , dated the 7th April 1890, Calcutta, from P Nolan,
Secretary to the Government of Bengal, Revenue Department, to the
Commissioner of the Chota Nagpore Division, CNAD, Vol. II, p. 48.

198
generalized animosity between zamindars and ryots. Only an enquiry into the land

structure and the settlement of rents and disputes could reverse Chhotanagpur's history

of agrarian disturbances, it was argued. As Davidson wrote, 'Efficient adm ,. 1stration

in this part of the country will be impracticable until the rights of the people have

been authoritatively recorded and steps have been taken to secure them in the

enjoyment of their rights by a comprehensive legislative enactment.' 54

British intervention thereafter took the fonn of enactments of legislative acts. The

Bhuinhari Act II (B.C.) of 1869 and the surveys that followed between 1869 and 1880

were the first major steps in this direction. The Act had intended to settle disputes that

were attributable to encroachments on the part of the landlord as well as of the tenant,

to bhuinhari claims of tenants that were denied by landlords, and to the exaction of

non-customary services from the tenants. 55 The Act hoped to solve land disputes and

agitations, protect the Oraons from the oppression of landlords, and ensure the rights

of zamindars. As Rakhal Das Haldar, Special Commissioner under the Chota Nagpore

Tenures Act, wrote:

The most unfriendly critic will probably admit that this undertaking
has been worthy of the great British Government; for the land
dispute in Chota Nagpore may be described as merely a continuation
of the ancient struggle for land between the aborigines and Hindus
and no Government anterior to the British had ever intended to
settle such disputes, extending over large tracts of country, with
justice fairness and impartiality. 56

54. Letter, dated 29th August 1839, from Davidson to Ouseley, in Roy,
'Ethnographical investigation', p. 11.
55. Letter No. T/15J, dated the 30th November 1889, Camp Hazaribagh, from W H
Grimley, Commissioner of the Chota Nagpore Division, to the Chief Secretary
to the Government of Bengal, CNAD, Vol. I, p. 140
56. Letter No 11, dated the 22nd May 1880, Ranchi, from Rakhal Das Haldar,
Special Commissioner under the Chota Nagpore Tenures Act, to the Deputy
Commissioner, Lohardugga, CNAD, Vol. I, p. 84.

199
 Of limited success however, this Act failed to afford security to the holders of

raJhm and did not demand the commutation of praedial services and hegari into

money payments. Further, the rights of the hhuinhar.. were made saleable, no

restrictions being placed either on mortgaging or leasing of hhuinhari land. The survey

and settlement operations in Ranchi that extended from 1902 to 1910, and the Chota

Nagpur Tenancy Act of 1908 were British attempts to address these issues. The

settlement operations sought to finalize a record of rights in order to settle the long

debated questions of praedial dues and services. The Act perfonned two functions: on

the one hand, by securing and granting occupancy rights to the vast majority of

tenants and protecting them from arbitrary rent enhancements and ejections at will by

landlords, it accepted individual property rights on land and thereby, widened the base

of the land market; at the same time, by disallowing the sale or penn anent transfer of

tenurial and tenancy rights, it sought to create a secure but unsalable right in the

raiyati land. 57 The implementation of the Act resulted, on the one hand, in a rise in

the price of land, an increase in the volume of land transactions and a greater number

of registered mortgages (hhugat handha and ::arpeshgi); on the other hand, a change

in the mode of landlord exaction. Once enhancement of rent was declared illegal, a

demand of salami became a means of increasing landlord extraction.

Mahajans, sahus and hania'i, zamindars, intennediate tenure holders and ryots,

lawyers and petty traders, entered the credit, tenurial and tenancy markets. While

zamindars had always been prominent in the land market, the class that emerged as

the single most important group in the land and credit markets comprised the sahus

57. Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra, 'Land and credit market in Chotanagpur, 1880
-1950', Studies in History, 6, 2 n.s., 1990, p. 166.

200
and hania,, the professional moneylenders and the village merchants. What attracted

this group to the land market was the social prestige attached to zamindari, control

over credit, and the importance of land as an area of profitable investment. There were

of course regional variations in the tenurial and tenancy markets: moneylenders

dominated in Hazaribagh, the zamindars in Palamau, while in Ranchi, the leading

group consisted of zamindari am/uhs, urban professionals and petty government

officials. 58 Significantly, ryots as a group emerged as a major contender particularly

in the tenancy markets, a point that will be elaborated upon later. The following tables

may be referred to in this context. The categorizations used in these tables, it is to be

noted, are problematic. The categories of 'mahajans' and 'zamindars and intermediate

tenure holders' are not mutually exclusive. Many included in the group of 'zamindars'

were of muhqjani background who were involved in money-lending activities. Despite

this understatement of mahajani control, the proportion of muhajans in the tables is

significant.

Social Origins of Buyers in the Tenurial Markets: Chotanagpur 1894-1913

Social group Number of Buyers Percentage of

total buyers

Mahajans II ,469 31.2

Zamindars and 11,624 31.6
intermediate tenure holders
Raiyats 10,780 29.3
Others 2,926 7.9

Total 36,799 100.0

Source: Annual Repon of A dministnition of Registrotion Department of Bengal, for the relevant years.
Note: Excluding years 1889,1892,1895,1898, 1899,1900, 1901,1904,1907,1908 59

58. Ibid.

59. Ibid, p. 173.

201
 Distnct-wisc Distribution of Social Groups who Bought Tenures Chotanagpur 188'\-lllll

Districts Total Mahajans a<; Zamindars as Ratyats as Others as

number percentage percentage percentage percentage
of of total of total of total of total
buyers buyers buyers buvcrs buyers

Hazaribagh 10,392 48 12 35 '\

Ran chi 3,842 18 49 16 17
Palamau 8,779 12 72 13 3
Manbhum 13,229 34 16 40 10
Singhbhum 557 33 21 20 27
Chotanagpur 36,799 31 32 29 8

Source: Same as table above.6<l

Social Origins of Buyers in the Tenancy Markets: Chotanagpur 1883-1902

So~ial group Number of buyers Percentage of buyers

Mahajans 15,019 24.4

Zamindars 1,628 2.6
Raiyats 42,776 69.6
Others 2,094 3.4
Total 61,517 100

Source: Fwenty Years Statistics (Rc;~istrolionj, (n d), Calcutta 61

District-wise Distribution of Buyers of Tenancies: Chotanagpur 1881-nagpur 1885-1913

Districts Total Mahajans as Zarnindars as Raiyats as O:;ers

number percentage percentage percentage percentage
of of total of total of total of total
buyers buyers buyers buyers buyers

Hazaribagh 7,363 40 2 .j 4
Ran chi 3,350 22 IS 53 10
Pal am au 320 15.9 19.7 56 8.4
Singhbhum 1,914 9.6 2.4 78 10
Manbhum 43,393 17.5 1.5 78.5 2.5
.-
Source: Annual Report on Administration of the Registration Department of Bengal, for the relevant
62
years
Note: The figures for Hazaribagh are years 1881 to 1903. Ranchi figures are from 1884 to 1903; they
include till 1891 figures for Pal am au also. Pal am au figures are for 1891, 1893-94, 1896-97 and 1903.
Manbhum figures are for 1881-88, 1890-91, 1893-94, 1903, 1905-06, 1908-09. Singhbhum figures are
for the period as Manbhum excepting the last four years.

60. Ibid, p. 174.

61. Ibid, p. 177.

62. Ibid

202
 As has been mentioned before, as a consequence of the Act of I 908, landlords

began to increasingly claim salami. Salami, recognised by custom, was a premium that

was taken by zamindars from ryots for the settlement of their hakmht lands;

alternatively, it was charged for the reclamation of jungles and wastelands in those

villages where the zamindar's prior permission was necessary for reclamation purposes.

The amount paid as salami depended partly on the position and advantages of the land

in question, but more importantly, on the sum that the tenant was willing to pay in his

eagerness to settle the land. While tenants did attempt to evade the payment of salami,

particularly in the second case, such payments were usually accepted by tenants in

Ranchi as an inevitable consequence of agricultural cultivation. Willingness to pay

high rates of sa/ami allowed outsiders to acquire control over land that could be

brought under cultivation. 63 This trend provoked widespread resentment as it violated

the almost universal custom that residents of the village had the first preference during

settlement of lands. This violation of custom, according to Mansfield, the Settlement

Officer, directly led to agrarian unrest and movements like those of the Tana

Bhagats. 64

The rights to the jungle was yet another contested domain between the zamindar

and the ryot, and between the Tana and his landlord. As under-ryots, Tanas were

opposed, at one level, to settled agriculture; their utopia was a return to a past of

forest dwellings and shifting cultivation. Under the circumstances, the attachment of

the Oraons to the forest, the integral role of the jungle in the rhythm of their life,

assumed increasing importance.

63. Taylor, Final Report on Revisional Survey and Settlement, p. 50.

64. Ibid.

203
 The rise in population, the multiplication of tenures, and the opening up of the

country by roads and later railways had already led to the partial disappearance of

fo: ~st area. As timber became a marketable commodity, landlords began to press their

rights as proprietors and imposed fees on the villagers- the hankaror hankati- for the

exercise of their customary rights. 65 The already latent conflict between the zamindars

and the thikadars on the one hand, and the ryots on the other, was aggravated with the

inception of settlement operations in Chhotanagpur and administrative efforts at

recording the customary rights of the landlords and the villagers to the jungle.

British officials viewed forests as commercially lucrative economic assets; ~uch

assets were to be protected and nurtured. The policy to be adopted was thus one of

conservation. The ultimate aim of the British in Chhotanagpur was to convert non-

culturable jungle into the exclusive preserve of the State. Settlement Officer Reid

expressed this opinion at the conclusion of settlement procedures in 1912. He

recommended that the State should acquire compulsorily about three hundred square

miles of non-culturable jungle, and entrust the same to the forest department to

manage. Within ten or fifteen years, he anticipated, this resource would be

remunerative. The surplus valuable timber would be sold to commercial companies;

timber would also be used by the villagers for fuel and agricultural purposes. In these

reserved forests, all existing customary rights should be extinguished, Reid suggested;

care would be taken to ensure a portion of jungle for the supply of fuel and wood and

for grazing purposes to village communities who had once enjoyed rights of the user

in the forests so acquired. With regard to the remaining non-culturable jungles, the

65. Letter No. 1348, dated the 3rd/6th February 1908, Ranchi, from John Reid,
Settlement Officer of Chota Nagpur, to the Director of Land Records, Bengal,
Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, p. 120.

204
Deputy Commissioner would be empowered, on the application of the landlord or a

majority of the ryots, to partition the jungle area amongst landlords 66

The first task befort the administrators was however to record the customary

rights of the zam indars and the ryots. They referred to English Jaw and to the 'rights

of common' called in Nonnan French 'Estowers' and in Saxon 'botes'; 67 they debated

over a range of issues surrounding conservation of forests. 68 Were customary rights

69
in forests 'a mere easement' that could be extinguished altogether by two years'

prevention', or were these rights based on 'immemorial custom' that required not less

than twelve years prevention before they could be scrapped? Were the fees imposed

by the zamindars on the villagers for the exercise of their rights legalised, and did the

payment of a fee indicate the abandonment of such rights on the part of the ryots?

What then were the respective rights of landlords and tenants to village-jungles

as delineated by colonial authorities? Reid wrote as follows. The landlord had the right

to take wood for his necessary uses and sell surplus trees after leaving sufficient for

the present and future needs of the tenants; he also held the right to reclaim lands by

66. Retd, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, p. 134.
67. No 28B, 'Advocate-General's opinion' by S.P. Sinha, dated the 28th May 1908,
Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, p. 126.
68. Refer to the following documents in Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers:
No. 25, Letter No. 1348, dated the 3rd/6th February 1908, Ranchi, from John
Reid, Settlement Officer of Chota Nagpur, to the Director of the Department of
Land Records, Bengal, pp. 119-120; No. 26, Letter No. 1504-D.S., dated the
21st March 1908, Ranchi, from John Reid, Settlement Officer of Chota Nagpur,
to the Director of the Department of Land Records, Bengal, p. 121; 'Copy of the
Ranchi Government Pleader's Opinion' by R.G. Chaudhury, for Government
Pleader, dated the 25th February, 1908, pp. 121-122; No. 28 A, 'Legal
Remembrancer's Opinion', by EP. Chapman, dated the 18th May 1908, pp.
123-125; No 28B, 'Advocate-Gener.al's opinion' by SP Sinha, dated the 28th
May 1908, pp. 125-126
69. Letter No. 1348, dated the 3rd/6th February 1908, Ranchi, from John Reid,
Settlement Officer of Chota Nagpur, to the Director of Land Records, Bengal,
Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, p. 120.

205
cutting down jungle trees. The tenant, on the other hand, enjoyed the right to cut and

take wood, thatching-grass and bamboos, free of cost, for the present and future needs

of his family, for fuel, agricultural implements, building, repairing and thc :('ncing of

houses and fields; he could collect fruits from jungle trees and gather various other

kinds of forest produce for bona fide domestic purposes; he could cut down jungle

trees to reclaim culturable lands, he could exercise the rights ofjhumin~. of grazing

his cattle in the village jungles, and of firing the jungles situated on the top or slopes

of hills in order to improve the grazing and fertilization of the fields below? 0 While

the exercise of these 'customary' rights was seen to have contributed to a general

depletion of the forest cover, the leasing of forests by zamindars to contractors was

seen by Reid as the worst evil.

It is usual now a days to talk of the encroachments of the ryots in

jungle areas. Europeans and Indians alike are in fact so accustomed
to associate the idea of complete ownership with the term landlord
that they sometime fail to perceive that it is in reality the latter who
have encroached and by degrees deprived the village communities
of their ancient proprietary rights .. .The opening of the Purulia-
Ranchi railway and of the Bengal Nagpur Line which fringes the
southern portion of Gum Ia subdivision has already led, or is leading
to a more thorough deforestation than the present needs or even the
wanton destruction caused by all the raiyats of the district
combined. 71

Despite acknowledging the fact that tenants had 'joint interest in the jungles' with

the landlords, 72 the settlement authorities were unwilling to codify these rights. The

record of rights entered the jungles as gainnaJaroa khas of the landlord and recording

the customary rights of tenants only in the jungle khatiyan or khatiyan part II. Roy in

70. Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, pp 126-127.
71. Ibid, p. 127.
72. Ibid., p. 133.

206
a comprehensive report presented before the House on the 'deforestation of Chota-

Nagpur' discussed the consequences of British action.n Once jungles were recorded

as y,uir nuy(mllw kha, and the wood cutting rights of tenants were recorded in k lwtiyan

part 11, tenants could exercise these rights only so long as the landlords chose to keep

the jungle standing. Moreover, the landlords were free to sell the jungle or give

unrestricted jungle cutting leases to timber merchants and others, without any regard

to the recorded rights of tenants. The arena of conflict between landlords and ryots

was thereby widened .

... the number of either needy or greedy landlords began to grant

leases of entire jungles to timber contractors and others to the
prejudice of the tenant's rights. The tenants on their part being
alarmed and indignant at seeing their rights in jeopardy retaliated by
reckless and wasteful wood cutting in the assertion of their rights.
The suicidal race between landlords and tenants in a number of
villages to get the most out of the jungles in which both have
definite interest has naturally resulted in an extensive denudation of
the Ranchi forest 74

Repeated incidents occurred that expressed the overt defiance of the Oraons and the

Tanas to forest settlement operations. 75 As officials found themselves unable to

control the the demarcation of rights chalked out by British administrators, it was

argued that:

The mala fides of the cutting under discussion is evident from the
fact that it was in wild excess for any reasonable requirements or of
any customary right known. In fact it was in pursuance of a
concerted movement to establish a right or rather to create evidence
of a right to the only remaining jungle in the village in view of the

73. This thirty-five page report by Roy, which contains detailed references to other
reports on deforestation in Chhotanagpur as well, is found among RPP, Mil,
Ranchi.
74 Ibid.
75. Refer to 'Jaigi Uraon and others vs. Ervperor', AI/ India Reporter, Patna Series,
1929.

207
 approaching revisional settlement proceedings that the petitioners
and the other villagers deliberately defied the law 76

v
TANAS AGAINST BHUINHARS

The opposition to za_mindars and hania.\ tied the Oraons together as a community;

the conflict around hhuinhari rights split them apart. Tanas, as non-hhuinlwrs, tumed

against the hhuinhar Oraons. Who, then, were these hhuinhars whom the Tanas had

opposed, but never explicitly? What was the nature of conflict that arose within the

Oraons as a community? This section seeks to analyse the process of intemal

differentiation that occurred in Oraon society with the intervention of the British in

Chhotanagpur. The support extended to the hhuinhari community by the British, and

the codification and implementation of the Bhuinhari Act of 1869 had deepened not

only the conflict between the hhuinlwrs and the illaquadars, but had also created

differences between the hhuinhars and non-hhuinhars in Oraon society. The Tanas, as

non..:hhuinhars, now opposed the Bhuinhari settlement and those who were recognized

as exercising these hhuinhari rights.

In the agrarian terrain of Chhotanagpur, the hhuinhars, or those who held

hhuinhari lands, were a community that the British regarded as significant. Apart from

the 'tenures' of the zamindars (manjhihav) and the 'tenancies' of the ryots, the officials

had identified in Chhotanagpur a third 'class' of rights on land, the hhuinhari.

Bhuinhari rights, it was argued, were exercised by descendants of the original clearers

of the soil. Bhuinhari was held rent-free with only services attached to it, or at a quit-

76. Ibid.

208
rent. In this category were also included the hhutkhcta, dalikatari, pahnm and mahtor

tenures. Hhutkhcta, dedicated to the worship of spirits, was held by a hhuinhari khunt

(clan) for the propitiation of the family spirit, or by the pu',m, on behalf of the village

community, for the propitiation of village spirits. The dalikatan and pahnai lands were

also held by the pahan for the same purpose. Mahtoi lands were service tenures held

by the mahto or the village headman. 77

For the British who were accustomed to classifying the rural population into

'landlords' and 'tenants', understanding 'the peculiar land tenures' of Chota Nagpur' 78

and categorizing these was problematic, particularly since there operated in this region

older customary and community rights over land. Yet, for the administrators, even

what was customary, was to be fitted into their understanding of tenurial and tenancy

classifications. Hence, along with the privileged lands of the landlords, hhuinhari was,

on occasions, classified as 'tenures'~ 79 elsewhere it appeared, along with 'raiyati lands',

as 'cultivating tenancies'. 80 While seeking to resolve this discrepancy, Reid, the

Settlement Officer, wrote: 'They [the hhuinhari] are tenures under the law; but, for

practical purposes, they may be regarded as raiyati tenancies.' 81

Bhuinhari rights entered the perceived realm of custom that the British had

intended to recognize, contend with and preserve; those who exercised these rights

. were to be therefore protected. At a time when colonial administrators in

77. Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, pp. 96-97.
78. Letter No. 11, dated the 22nd May 1880, Ranchi, from Rakhal Das Haldar,
Special Commissioner under the Chota Nagpur Tenures Act, to the Deputy
Commissioner, Lohardugga, Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, p. 42.
79 Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, p. 121
80. lbid,p.118.
81. Ibid, p. 96.

209
Chhotanagpur were trying to detennine and uphold rental obligations and occupancy

rights based on custom, here was a community that symbolized the prevalence of

customary laws in Chhotanagpur. In keeping with this special positioll .n.:corded to the

hhuinhars, it was their voice that the administrators chose to hear. Hhuinlwrs were

viewed as the representatives of the 'Kols'~ a redressal of their grievances was seen as

a step towards amicable relations between zamindars and ryots. The premise of British

intervention in this context, their identification of the hhuinhars as the privileged

community among the Oraon ryots, was based on a link that the administrators had

est.ablished between claims to land, blood and family, and a history of migrations and

settlements. 82 Missionaries who had legitimized their position through active

involvement with tribal communities gave to official argument a sanction and support.

Anthropological theories attributed to this shared structure of thought a coherence and

credibility. The history and claims to land were perceived in the following manner:

the pioneer families - nuclear or extended - who had cleared the jungles were the

hhuinhars who held rent free land; the descendants of these original reclaimers of the

soil held privileged tenures and had a social precedence over later Oraon settlers; the

subsequent Oraon settlers were called jeth-ryots or ordinary ryots, depending on

whether they were earlier or later settlers. 83 History, perceived thus, authenticated a

hierarchical structure in tribal society and emphasized the need to know about

hhuinhari rights. Davidson's report of 1839 discussed in detail the customary rights

surrounding hhuinhari, the attachment of hhuinhars to their lands, and the need for

82. Neeladri Bhattacharya has shown in the context of Panjab how the codification
of customary law had consolidated a coparcenary community. Refer to his
'Remaking custom: the discourse and practice of colonial codification'.
83. Roy, The Oraons of Chota Nagpur, pp. 66-68.

210
investigating cases conceming the dispossession of such lands. 84 The 'Kol insurrection'

of 1832, directed against the enhancement of rent and hegari by lllikadar. and

mahajans was followed by the reinstating of the mankis and mundas - inevitahly

hhuinhar:~ - in their respective villages on reduced rentals. The 'great mass' of the

agricultural 'Kol' population was left largely unaffected by the reforms that followed

in Chhotanagpur. Similarly, Act II (B.C.) of 1869 was implemented, chiefly to define

and register the rights, privileges, immunities, and liabilities affecting the holders of

hhuinhari, to prevent the encroachment of landlords on such lands, and to restore their

property to hhuinhars wh? had been dispossessed of their lands within a period of

twenty years before the passing of the Act. 85

In this context, the missionary support to the hhuinhars merits attention.

Upholding primarily the interests of the hhuinhars or the 'original cultivators or their

heirs', 86 over those of the 'Gaura (cultivators holding only Rajhas)' 87 who held 'an

inferior title', 88 the missionaries argued that 'the Koles, especially the Bhooinhars, and

not only the Native Christians' were 'fearfully oppressed and wronged in different

pergunnahs by many of the jagheerdars and theekadars.' 89 As the first settlers and in

consonance with their consequent position in society, the hhuinhars could thus claim,

individually or collectively, rights over the sama\, some portions of the jungles or

84. Dated the 29th August 1839, from Davidson to Ouseley, in Roy, 'Ethnographical
investigation in official records', p. 11.
85. 'Note' by Rai Charan Ghose, Personal Assistant to Commissioner, Ranchi, dated
the 15th March, 1890, CNAD, Vol. II, p. 43.
86. An Inquiry into the Causes of the Land-Question in Chutia Nag pur, p. 10
87 Ibid., p. 11.
88. Ibid., p 10
89. Letter dated the 15th November 1867, Ranchee, from Reverend F. Batsch,
Senior of the Chota Nagpore Mission, to the Deputy Commissioner, Lohardugga,
CNAD, Vol. I, p. 11.

211
paltrm, lands set apart for the growth of thatching grass, the patra\ or topes of mango

or other trees, the haf"Rari and masna, the partiadid and pwtrkadun lands, their

homesteads, kitchen gardens and the haris or uplands closet. the homesteads. 90 Most

of the cases cited in missionary pamphlets and memoranda, and discussed in their

meetings and conferences, inevitably centred around the hhuinhars and their

grievances. 91 Significantly, the SinJar agitation that followed the hhuinhari s-ettlement

was initiated by a section of Christian hhuinhars who were members of the German

Lutheran Mission. 92 Commenting on the link between the hhuinhars and their

missionary patrons, Dalton, the Commissioner of Chhotanagpur, wrote' 'A reasonable

desire to be reinstated in bhuinhari lands actuated some, a dishonest wish to become

one of this favoured family of bhuinhars seized others. The next step was to profess

Christianity, and going up to Ranchi to the mission, they returned with their hair

puritanically cropped and ready to assert their rights and defy their landlords ..93

Constructed myths and the reality of British intervention thus vested on the

hhuinhars a unique position in Oraon society. At a time when land was becoming

increasingly valuable in Chhotanagpur, particularly in view of a decreasing arable

space and the consequent struggle over forest-land, the hhuinhars attempted to control

lands in order to counteract their economic insecurities. British policy helped in their

90. An Inquiry into the Causes of the Land-Question in Chutia Nagpore, pp. 24-27.
91. Refer to 'Memorandum of a discussion with certain representative ryots held on
15th March 1890', CNAD, Vol. II, p. 37, and An Inquiry into the Causes of the
Land Question in Chutia Nagpur, pp. 19-21.
92. No. I, T-J, 'Agitation among a Section of the Christian Kols of Lohardugga and
Singbhoom', dated the 19th November 1887, Camp Purulia, from C C. Stevens,
Commissioner of the Chota Nagpore Division, to the Chief Secretary to the
Government of Bengal, CNAD, Vol. I, p 129
93. Letter No.70, dated the 25th March 1859, from Captain ET Dalton,
Commissioner of Chota Nagpore, to the Secretary to the Government of Bengal,
CNAD, Vol.l, p. 1.

212
endeavours. As infonnants of local custom, they could reaffirm their dominance in

Oraon society, and at the same time, contest the rights of the zamindars to land

Moreover, the implementation of the Bhuinhari Act augmented, in addition to :'

conflict between the hhuinhars, and the zamindars and illaquadars, one between the

hhuinhars and non-hhuinhars, the privileged and the unprivileged, in Oraon society.

In the assertion of their rights, these hhuinhars were in a position to deprive the under-

ryots of their lands. The Tana Bhagat movement expressed, therefore, not only a

protest of Oraons against non-Oraons; it was as much a response to the tensions and

hierarchizations that arose within Oraon society. The Tanas, as non-hhuinhars, resented

the support extended to the hhuinhari community by the colonial State and its allies,

the missionaries; they were opposed to the Act of 1869 and to those who were

recognized as exercising these bhuinhari rights. The protest was however not always

overtly expressed. At one level, bhuinhars came together with the rest of the Oraon

community in a commonly expressed outrage against the 'outsiders'.

The Bhuinhari Survey had set out to place 'the entire relations between illaquadars

and bhuinhars on a satisfactory footing'; 94 paradoxically, what it achieved was to

convert the hhuinhari into a contentious realm between the two. It was not uncommon

for hhuinhars to combine and take forcible possession of lands to which, according to

their rights, they were entitled, and thereafter withhold the payment of all rents. While

active and solvent illaquadars protected themselves well enough by resorting to

criminal courts, illaquadars who were incompetent or poor, found themselves ousted

94. Letter No. 298-R., dated the 18th June 1860, Ranchi, from AWB Power,
Deputy Commissioner of Lohardugga, to the Commissioner of the Chota Nagpur
Division, Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, p. 34.

213
by such combinations. Even when hhuinlum cases came to an end, the struggle for

rcffhas commenced.

As claim. and counterclaims were made, and memoranda and petitions that

. d . ,9'i
contained 'rarnblmg statements, Kol genealogies, an vague asserttons were

submitted, Hal dar referred to the 'imaginary' and often exaggerated pleas of the

hhuinhars for land .

.. .it is these men that have always been the most outrageous in their
demands about lands. They want nothing short of a revolution of a
state of things which had existed in Chota Nagpur certainly since
long before the country came under the British government, and it
seems as if they can only be convinced of the good intention of the
Government and their officers -if the Hindus were totally expelled
from the plateau of Chota Nagpur. .. It cannot be very far from the
truth when I say that, if all the lands claimed were added together,
the amount would probably exceed the total quantity of cultivated
and culturable lands within the pargana of the estate that were
brought under the operation of the Act. 96

By the time of the Revisional Survey in Ranchi, administrators had begun to

contest bhuinhari property rights.

It is, no doubt, true that the oldest bhuinhari tenancies were created before
the landlords established themselves in the country; but, it is certain that a
considerable proportion of the bhuinhari lands was reclaimed from the jungle
after . that event, and the proprietary right, therefore, cannot be said
historically to have ever belonged to these bhuinhars, and many of them
make no such claim save in the sense that all aborigines regard themselves
97
as owners of all the lands, which they or their ancestor reclaimed.

It is important to note in this context that the bhuinhars, as a community, were

not undifferentiated. The claims to land by the bhuinhars had also resulted in a

conflict within the community itself. While some among the bhuinhars were unable

95. Ibid, p. 34.

96. Letter No. 11, dated the 22nd May 1880, Ranchi, from Rakhal Oas Haldar,
Special Commissioner under the Chota Nagpore Tenures Act, to the Deputy
Commissioner, Lohardugga, Selections from Ranchi Settlement Papers, p. 47.
97 Reid, Final Report on the Survey and Settlement Operations, p. 96.

214
 to face the extortions by illaquada~. there were others who were successful in

claiming their lands. As a privileged group with landed property, this section was in

a position to counter the powers, if , .. Jiy to a limited extent, of the zamindars and the

hanias. These were the sections that had wielded power and social authority in Oraon

society. It may be suggested that these well-off hhuinlwrs were included within the

category of 'raiyats' who had entered into the tenurial, tenancy and credit markets of

98
Chhotanagpur. In the post-1908 period. these ryots, as moneylenders, consolidated

their control over the land market. The Revisional Survey of Ranchi brought out the

decisive significance of the emergence of this section of the tribal community: tribai

mortgagees were found to be almost as numerous as tribal mm1gagors. As the banking

Enquiry Committee's investigators had found, in village Tungaon, 'All the loans

excepting two have been taken from the munda or pahan roiyats or hhuinhars of the

village.' 99

While I do not have any direct reference to conflicts within the hhuinhar

community, the following extract that discusses the claims by Mundari khuntkallidars

holding an analogous position within the Munda tribe may be cited. This is an extract

from the tour diary of the Sub-divisional Officer, Ranchi, on the subject of the

'Representation of the Munda community regarding the recording of their burial

_.. grounds, lands and genealogical trees by the Settlement Department'. 100

98. Please refer to p. 201 of my thesis.

99. Report of the Provincial Banking Enquiry Committee of Bihar and Orissa, Vol.! I,
p. 822, quoted in Mohapatra, 'Land and credit market in Chhotanagpur', pp. 193-
194.
100. Letter No. 1265, dated Khunti, the 9th July 1929, from the Sub-divisional Officer,
Khunti, to the Deputy Commissioner, Ranchi, Selections from Revisional
Settlement Papers, Unpublished, p. 432, CRRL, Ranchi.

215
 The purpose of this insertion is to point to the problems faced by British officials

as they sought to detennine customary law, believed to exist from 'time immemorial',

and for which no evidence that was legally irrefutable could he found.

Extract from the tour diary of the Sub-divisional Officer of Khunti

for the month of April 1929.
18.4.1929.- Left Khunti 7 A.M. Went at Khatanga tola of Baridih to
hold a local inquiry in criminal complaints arising out of disputes
over a .mssandiri (burial ground) between rival septs of Mundas in
the village. These smsandiris are becoming a fruitful source of
dispute among the Mundas particularly in Khuntkatti villages where
the Mundas look upon them as their title deeds to prove that a
particular sept were the original settlers of the village by pointing to
some graves of their ancestors who were buried there several
generations ago. Owing to the advent of the Revisional Settlement
Operations and the consequent claims to be Khuntkattidars set up by
other septs in the village, criminal cases are every now and then
cropping up and apprehensions of breaches of peace are reported
when two rival septs become claimants to the Khuntkatti status and
both try to assert that !heir ancestors are buried in the .\msan by
forcibly placing stones in it over what were the graves of their
ancestors. The position about these .\a,.,andiris in very unsatisfactory
and the manner in which the settlement records then is vague and
leaves the door open for future litigation and trouble. None of the
graves or slabs bear any inscriptions or names to show whose graves
they are and as the common ancestor upon whom the clan or tribe
bases its claim to the Khuntkatti status was generally buried several
generations ago no positive proof can now be available as to the
identity of any such ancestor or his grave. No witness of that period
are now living and there are no documents; so none can speak from
personal knowledge and the whole thing is based on hearsay which
makes it very difficult indeed to arrive at a definite finding when
both sides or sometimes even move than 2 or rival factions or clans
claim a particular sa\san to be theirs exclusively. As the years roll
by the position is bound to get worse and worse. Much of this
indefiniteness and uncertainty could be obviated if the Settlement
Officers were to come to a definite finding and record explicitly in
the record-of-rights what particular septs, clans or tribes belonging
to which particular villages were entitled to or found to be actually
exercising the right of burial in each particular sa5sandiri. 101

101. Extract from the tour diary of the Sub-divisional Officer of Khunti for the month
of April 1929, Selections from Revisional Settlement Papers, p. 430-31.

216
 I would like to suggest in this context that such cases would find parallels during

the Bhuinhari settlement of 1869, and during later settlement operations. At a time

when claims to hhuinhari were .1bmitted and assessed, an internal differentiation

within the community itself was simultaneously taking place. A privileged group was

emerging from within the hhumhars that took advantage of a tradition-accorded

privileged status and the settlement operations to stake a claim as an upwardly mobile

group in the tenurial, tenancy and credit markets of Chhotanagpur.

What could be the results of such a development for the other sections of the

Oraon community? Once land moved into the possession of the hhuinhars from the

hands of'outsiders', the already prevalent hierarchies within the tribal community, the

distinctions between the hhuinhars and the other ryots, were intensified. Land, in a

rural economy, was not merely a material asset but also a source of power and

authority. The groups of 'non-occupancy' and 'under-raiyats' to which the Tanas

belonged, were in a particularly vulnerable position because they now came under the

social and economic control of select hhuinhars, and faced, in addition, the threat of

ejection. Bhuinhars, who participated directly in the cultivation of their lands, often

chose to replace these sections by members of their own families. Conflicts between

the privileged and the marginalized sections of the Oraon community, therefore,

became particularly marked after British intervention in Chhotanagpur. The difference

was not only at the level of wealth and control over resources, but also one of social

status and authority.

217
 VI

CLEANSING A WORLD OF SPIRITS, SACRIFICE AND FESTIVITY

While the Ta11as publicly critiqued the privileges of the 'outsiders', their opposition

to the sources of authority within the Oraon society needs to be constructed from a

careful analysis of their tenets, practices and ideology. The Tanas questioned the

supremacy of the pahan, panhham and mahto; they rejected the spirit world,

witchcraft, sacrifices and festivity; their search was for a past that predated a settled

agricultural economy. These facets, different and yet interlinked, were expressions of

an integrated Tana protest against social relations and hierarchy that were based on

claims to lineage and ownership of land.

The world of spirits was a primary focus of Tana attack. The blame for having

failed to alleviate the socio-economic conditions of the tribe was attributed to these

'powerless entities.JOZ who had been regularly propitiated by the Oraons. For the

Tanas, while the spirit world continued to be a reality, the attitude towards it had

changed. All spirits were considered to be evil, notwithstanding the former Oraon

hierarchization of these into beneficent and maleficent, powerful and the less powerful.

Spirits were therefore to be ousted from the Tana faith and the Oraon land. 'For the

men of the good and true religion, there are no spirits or hhuts', 103 the Tan as asserted.

Dhannes was the supreme God invoked against the spirits.

0, Baba, I think of Thee

mom and eve; do Thou drive
away and expel the ghosts
which we so long cherished

102. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p 341

103. S.C. Roy, 'A new religious movement among the Oraons', Man in India, 1, 1921,
p. 313.

218
 and worshipped ...
They will be driven away to
the banks of the Ganges; they
will be tied up in golden and
silver chains ...
. .. they will be utterly
ruined, they will be cast down
and swept away ...
Beyond the hills and mountains
they wi II be entrapped
in snares and they will enter
into gates and cages.
For ever and ever, 0 Father,
they will be tied up, they will
104
be shut up.

Matiao (ghost-finding) and the belief in hhuts were forbidden by Jatra who stated

that Dhannes had instructed him to cleanse the world of evil. By 1915, spirit-ousting

was a regular ritual practice. The ghosts and spirits specifically mentioned by the Tana

believers were the following: the pachhalar or the ancestor-spirits, Chala Pachcho or

the Old Lady of the Sacred Grove, the khunt- hhuts or tutelary spirits of the hhuinhari

khunts, the household-hhuts, Chandi, the m ua, malech, churil and ulatgurio hhuts, and

finally, the familiar hhuts of the dains and hishahis. The significance of these spirits

can be understood only by locating them within the belief system of the Oraons. In

the narrative that follows, I intend to focus upon the dual nature of the spirits and the

powers that they usually exercised, the retribution that was to follow when they were

ignored, and the importance of sacrifice as a method of appeasement.

Detailing and categorizing the constituents of the Oraon world of deota<i, hhuts,

and bonga'i are problematic. The narratives of our primary informants - the

anthropologists and missionaries - are structured by their frames of reference. Roy

who hierarchized the deota\ and spirits according to their powers and functions,

104. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, pp. 376-77.

219
 c:- d t I1ese as t I1e ' ru d e' an d ' prnmttve
c Iasstlle . . . ' rca Im of. 'magtc ' toe;
. ' an d ' pscu d o-sc1ence.
.

Dehon of the Roman Catholic Mission, on the other hand, divided the 'invisible world

of parasites in which the Uraons are living' into 'household-/- 11ils, sept hhuts, village

hhuts village devtas, wandering hhuts and common dev/a\"'. 106 Dehon, then, had

classified the hhuts in tenns of the social units to which they were attached: the

individual, the household, the sept, or the entire village. For Hahn of the GEL

Mission, the 'demonology of the Kols.tO? included hon~a, that were always

maleficent: those that caused cholera, plague, delirium, and madness, those that

dimitlished the fertility of the soil, prevented rain ~nd helped caterpillars and wonns;

and those that were less hannful and caused bad dreams, fear, and sneezing. 108 For

protection against spirits, one invoked the 'forces of a higher nature' or the 'symbols

of God'. 109

Oraons believed that 'the earth is full of spirits [as] the tree is full of leaves'. 110

As an integral part of their regulatory mechanism, spirits were attributed unique

powers not available to the living. The spirit world was sharply differentiated: the

more important spirits that could bring disease and death were regularly propitiated

by the Oraons in annual and important rituals; the others they appeased only under

duress and in special circumstances. The spirits were believed to be 'organically

105. Ibid., p. 1.
106. P. Dehon, 'Religion and customs of the Uraons', Memoirs of the Royal Asiatic
Society of Bengal, Vol. 1, No. 9, 1906, p. 138.
107. Ferdinand Hahn, Einfuhrung in das Gebiet der Kols-Mission [An Introduction to
the territory of the Kols-Mission] (Guttersloh: 1907), p 94.
108. Ibid , p. 96.
109. lbid,p.89.
110. Roy, The Oraons of Chota Nagpur, p. 107.

220
bound' 111 to the Oraons in a relationship of reciprocity and mutual interdependence.

While thepowcrful spirits were regarded as protectors of the community, these spirits,

in tum, depended on the Oraons for food and sustenance through the medium of

sacrifices. Unless propitiated and appeased, they caused disease, misfortune or death.

The spirit world thus combined in itself benevolent and malevolent traits.

The ancestor-spirits (pachhalar) were an important constituent of the Oraon world

of spirits. It was believed that the souls of deceased Oraons (except those who had

died unnatural deaths) entered into the community of ancestors on the annual Koha

Binja ('great marriqge') or Harbora ('bone drowning') festival. On this occasion, the

bones of the dead were ceremonially deposited in the clan kundi, sacrifices of fowl

and pigs accompanying the event. The welfare of their descendants and kinsmen was

the special concern of the pachhalar who possessed extraordinary powers. As a token

of gratitude, the Oraons propitiated these spirits at every feast and on every suitable

occasiOn. The pachhalar, along with their living descendants and kinsmen, were

regarded as constituting a united family or clan group; they were believed to live in

an underground settlement of their own near the village. The living and the spirit

worlds were thus not disparate, but organically bound together in a relationship of

interdependence and reciprocity. Death represented, not a break or an end, but only

a transformation of form; it freed the ekh or soul from jia or physical life.

Roy provides in this context an interesting anecdote.

I have been told by some Oraon school boys that when they told
their illiterate parents and other village-elders that Geography
teaches them that down below (meaning, in the antipodes) there is
a continent inhabited by human beings they expressed no surprise

111. Hahn, Einfuhrung in das Gebiet der Kols-Mission [An Introduction to the territory
of the Kols-Mission), p. 96.

221
 but merely corrected their school-going children by giving them the
further infom1ation that there are villages just like their own in the
nether regions below their feet, but only the houses there are more
substantial than those here on earth and that there are no :amindar:\
(alien landlords) there but the hakris (manorial houses) and garh,
(forts or palace) arc occupied by their own dead relatives. 112

In their conception of the pachhalar, the Oraons acknowledged the relations of

inequality in which their present was situated. Their ancestors, powerful as they were,

could thus live in a world free of zamindars and had, in fact, appropriated elements

that defined the zamindars' superior status: they lived in hakris and Rarhs, exercised

power and exhibited wealth.

In contrast to the ancestor spirits were the spirits of those who had died unnatural

deaths. The mua and the ma/ech were the spirits of those persons who had died of

hunger, starvation, strangulation, hanging or of some other violent cause; the churil

or ulatguria was the hhut of a woman who had died during pregnancy or childbirth,

or within a few days of it; the haghouts were the ghosts of those who had been bitten

I<) death by tigers. These hhuts were essentially malevolent; they needed to be ousted

by the mali, ojha or deonra. Unnatural deaths, as uncontrolled events, were believed

to have brought about an unexpected break in the natural cycle of life, death and

regeneration; these spirits were thus treated with disdain. For example, the churil was

believed to be hankering after a mate. Oraons proclaimed that this spirit carried a load

of coal on its head, imagining it to be its baby, and pursued any man passing by its

grave. It was with the object of preventing such spirits from moving about that the

feet of women dying at the time of childbirth were broken, turned backwards and

thorns inserted in the soles of the feet.

112. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 36.

222
 Besides the hhuts of the dead, there were in the Oraon pantheon of spirits

different categories of deotas and hhuts. /)colas like Chala Pachcho or Sama Burhia,

and r.f111ts like Darha and Deswali comprised the tutelary deities and spirits of the

Oraon village, to whom periodical sacrifices were offered by the pahan on behalf of

the village community. _!he most important ritual at the annual spring festival of

Khaddi or Sarhul was in honour of Chala Pachcho; fowl, sheep, goats and pigs were

offered as sacrifices to her. The sama or the grove of sal trees in every village was

considered to be the sacred spot of Chala Pachcho; after the Sarhul festival, the

village-priest inserted sal blossoms into the thatches of the houses in the village ~o

that every family would be blessed with an abundance of foodgrains in the coming

year. The attributes and functions of Chala Pachcho clearly indicated that she was in

origin a nature deity, representing the spirit of vegetation and fertility.

Darha-Deswali were believed to guard and protect the village from incursions of

spirits from outside; their seat was 011 or near the boundary of every Oraon village.

These spirits required elaborate and expensive sacrifices for propitiation; if not

provided with the appropriate sacrifices at the appointed time, men and cattle were

afflicted with calamities.

The khunt-hhuts or clan spirits of each different branch or khunt of the bhuinhars

- comprised yet another group of spirits that the Tan as sought to oust. The bhuinha~

believed that clearing the jungles for establishing villages involved a disturbance of

the spirits residing there. These spirits therefore needed to be propitiated by the

hhuinhari families. Occasionally, the pahan was also asked to offer sacrifices. The

khunt-hhuts looked after the health, crops and other belongings of their k hunts; in case

of a delay in propitiation, the hhuts would strike with disease or misfortune.

223
 The non-hhuinlwr Oroans had in place of the khunt-hhuts their own guardian

spirits to which each family provided offerings, even if it was separated from the

parent family. Included within this group of spirits '' rc Bamda Pachcho or Bar

Pahari, Chigri nad and the Goesali nad.

Chandi, a female deity invoked by young Oraon bachelors, was propitiated for

success in hunting and war. On a full moon day during the month of Magh, the young

bachelors assembled along with the pahan and his wife at the akhro by the side of

their dhumkuria, in order to elect for the puja of Chandi the bachelors' pahan. Other

ceremonies were also performed by the bachelors' pahan for propitiating the deity.

Pugri hhuts and dain kuri hhuts were spirits adopted by individuals for a specific

purpose; the votary secretly made periodical sacrifices to the spirit. Dains or hishahi.,

who were believed to have been bom with the 'evil eye' (nqjar gt~jar) and 'evil mouth'

(hai-hhak or hhak-nisan), or were said to have acquired their art through a secret

course of training, adopted pugri hhuts called hishahi nad or dain kuri hhuts, the

Oraons argued. To counteract the dain-bishahi, the Oraon appealed to.a mali, deonro

or ojha, who once again depended on a pugri hhut for assistance.

It was this spirit world that the Tanas sought to oust through their chants and

invocations. The spirits were not seen as a part of a system that sustained the rules

and norms of the community, and protected it from evil. Dharmes had emerged as the

sole protector, only he could ensure prosperity and abundance. The nature of the spirit

world, as the Oraons had perceived it, was thus transformed by the Tanas who denied

its dual nature of beneficence and malevolence, and denounced it as wholly evil. By

denying the relationship of reciprocity between the 'living' and the 'dead', the Tanas

marked a sharp break from prevalent Oraon customs.

224
 The Tana ousting of spirits was accompanied by extensive campaigns of witch-

hunting, and a rejection of the mali, f~jha and deonm. Since Oraon society associated

the lowest category of hhuts with dain-hishahis and malis, the Tana rcnunciatio1 of

the spirit world led also to the rejection of the latter. Living in a world of witchcraft,

the Oraons feared dains, submitted to the power of dains, but also, at the same time,

sought to restrict this power by purging their society of these Jains. The Tanas played

upon this widespread fear of, and anger against, Jains. In 1915, the district of Ranchi

recorded no less than twelve cases of the murder of persons suspected of practising

witchcraft. It was reported that 'the Bhagats coerced the non-Bhagats by declaring their

women to be witches'; 'in Chainpur, they have declared one woman in each non-

Bhagat house to be a Jain-hishahi'. 113 Many of the denunciations of women as

witches occurred in the course of spirit-driving operations. A case was described as

follows:

... a meeting of Uraons was in progress at which mantras were being recited
and considerable religious excitement prevailed. The deceased who had
previously been charged with practising witchcraft, was beaten to death in her
house in the presence of her husband. The culprits when they joined the
assembly were seen to be carrying pieces of the woman's brain which they
licked from time to time. 114

The role of the mali in Oraon society, it needs to be pointed out, was not always

considered to be negative. The inhabitants of a village would sometimes collectively

approach the mali to conduct sacrifices in order to ward off disease, witches and

maleficent spirits.

113. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
1165of1916.
114. R. T. Dundas, Report on the Administration of Police in the Province of Bihar
and Orissa for the year 1915 (Patna: 1916), p. 12.

225
 Sacrifices, usually elaborate affairs, were an integral part of Oraon worship.

Amidst long chants and prayers, when liquor was offered and fowl, pigs, goats, oxen

and buffaloes sacrificed, the pahan, hhaRal or mali propitiated the deities or spirits on

behalf of the village, clan, family or an individual. The sacrificial blood, along with

vermilion and oil, was sprinkled on the stone or on other visible symbols of

representation. As worshippers and the worshipped shared a common meal, sacrifices

affirmed a bond between the spirits or the deities on the one hand, and the Oraon

family, clan or community on the other.

The Tana faith forbade this practice. Whetting a knife or an axe for sacrificial

purposes was censured and the Tanas were asked not to take life for sacrificial or

dietary purposes. The colour red that reminded one of vermilion or blood was

abhorred, and children were prevented from being vaccinated. Alcohol used for ritual

purposes or at festivities was denounced, its brewing, straining or distribution

disapproved of. Fven the f)anda-katta ceremony that was dedicated to Dharmes,

. officiated by the mali and declared in the Oraon legend of genesis as being prescribed

by Dharmes himself, was rejected by the Tanas. The Danda-katta ceremony had

formed an essential part of the Oraon ceremonies of birth, marriage and death, and of

their hunting and agricultural festivals. Further, Oraon customs and ceremonies with

regard to name-giving, ear-piercing and eating the first rice, along with important

festivals like Sarhul, Kharia, Phagua, Khaddi, Karam and Sohrai were forbidden by

Tana gurus. They opposed, in addition, sexual union outside the bonds of marriage,

dancing and singing at the akhra, the playing of musical instruments, the holding of

.Jalra,, and bedecking the self with jewellery, tattoo marks and clothes with coloured

borders.

226
 VII

ON TANA LEADERS AND FOLLOWERS

Dur:11g the propitiation of the spirit world through sacrifices, and in the arena of

festivals, Jatms and ritual celebrations, the pahan or hai}{a, the hhandari or pujar and

the mahto were the central figures. The pahan was responsible for making periodical

sacrifices to the hhuts, nads and Jeota'l on behalf of the Oraons. The pu.Jar or panhham

helped the pahan in the exercise of his official duties. The mahto was the

representative of the village in its dealings with the landlord, the government

authorities and other non-Oraon elements. 115 These offices were necessarily the

exclusive preserve of the members of the hhuinhari khunts. While the pahan ordinarily

belonged to the pahan khunt, the pujar almost always to the p14ar khunt and the mahto

to the mahto khunt, in villages where these khunts were small, hhuinhars of other

khunts were also known to have been elected to these posts. Even the majority of the

spirits were believed to belong only to members of the hhuinhari khunts. The khunt-

hhuts were the spirits displaced from the land during the reclamation of soil by the

early hhuinhars and could therefore be propitiated only by them. The Harhom

ceremony dedicated to ancestor-spirits was a ceremony exclusively of hhuinhars, as

also were the rituals dedicated to Chala Pachcho, Darha and Deswali. 116 Chandi was

. invoked during the election of the pahan and was appeased to strengthen his office.

Even the household,..spirits that belonged to the non-bhuinhars were to be invoked in

the presence of the pahan. Inherent in the Tana opposition to Oraon popular practices

is an opposition to the traditional sources of authority in the Oraon community. The

115. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, pp. 68-71.

116. Ibid, p. 67.

227
implicit Tana antagonism towards hlminlwrs assumes an added significance when we

consider that their movement occurred around the time of settlement operations, during

which the hhuinhars were accorded a privileged status over "1c later Oraon settlers;

and the pahan, p19ar and mahto, regarded as the natural leaders of the people, had

emerged in British perception as the informants of custom and tradition. Interestingly,

tradition had accorded to the mahto and pahan the joint right to settle vacant ryoti

lands, 117 and this further aggravated the conflicting interests of the hhuinlwrs and non-

hhuinhars. The Tana irreverence towards rites and ceremonies that aimed at ensuring

safety at important moments of an individual's life and at each stage of the economic

pursuits of the community, indicated, therefore, a resistance to the symbols of

authority which had upheld the structure of the Oraon agrarian and settled economy.

A similar refrain was expressed in the Tana refusal to accept the jurisdiction of the
~
panch that was constituted by hhuinlwrs. Their disputes and differences were required

to be settled by a mandali or congregation, and later by the panchayat; Tanas not

abiding by the decisions of the mandali were excommunicated. 11 x The pahan and

mahto were as much against the movement that had sought to challenge and dismantle

their authority. It was reported, ' ... the mahtos and pahans of the village affected did

not join, and disapproved of the attitude of the younger men; they were afterwards

found useful in checking the whole movement.' 119

What had distinguished the Tana Bhagats from the pahans,pujars and mahtos was

their unexceptional and obscure socio-economic backgrounds: Jatra was a mali, Sibu

117. Roy, The Oraons of Chota Nagpur, p. 71.

118. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No
54 of 1925.
119. 'Oraon Unrest', RPP, Mil, Ranchi

228
a dhangar, as were the Bhagats of village Panchadoomer in Palamau. 120 To claim

social precedence, a marginalized group had to struggle for an alternative structure of

hierarchy in Oraon society. The link with Dham1es or Bhagwan had legitimized th

authority of the Tan a gurus and enabled them to appropriate extraordinary powers for

themselves. Jatra, who claimed that he had received a divine massage from Dharrnes,

appropriated for himself the status of a deity; he would obey none other than

Dharrnes; 121 he claimed miraculous powers to cure fever, sore eyes and other diseases.

Particularly significant was the retribution that would follow if his orders were

disobeyed: those who did not join him would be struck dumb. 122 This claim to

authority from Dharmes, and the consequent arrogation of divinity, was more

prominent under Sibu: Bhagwan was said to be communicating with him through

letters. Pieces of foolscap were produced; inscribed on these pages were the Divine

Orders. Sibu was destined to be the leader of the world, the Raj would retum to the

Oraons, and a change in the order of things would commence with the approaching

festival of Holi. God had instructed Sibu to leave his family, tour the world and

reform the people; he had become a bhagwan after the death of Sukra, an event which

he had predicted. 123 Sibu assigned to himself greater powers than Jatra did. While

God was to intervene on behalf of Jatra, Sibu as the ultimate dispenser of justice,

threatened to cut off the hands and legs of all except the Oraons. 124 A greater

120. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence,

Volume V, Palamau, 28th May, 1916.
121. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
54 of 1925.
122 Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 324.
123 Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.
124. Ibid.

229
n1ilitancy was thus sanctified by a more vigorous claim to the source of the

community's strength -a link and communication with Dhannes. Jatra and Sibu thus

combined in themselves the roles of a preacher who could reveal the true path, a

healer who could cure disease, a prophet who could exercise divine powers and a

deliverer who would be the harbinger of a new age. Their places of stay became

pilgrimage spots flocked by the followers of the faith. Their belief that their movement

was authorized by God gave it a spiritual justification. Threats and murders, refusals

to pay rent and taxes, the cutting of crops, the demolition of the symbols of authority,

and public proclamations of the intents of the dissidents were part of a campaign that

claimed for itself divine sanction.

A similar claim to Dhannes' intervention took place in one of the villages in the

tea-estates of Jalpaiguri: a sheet of paper found in a house was taken to indicate that

one of its residents had been 'chosen' as a preacher of the new faith. The paper was

the cover of a catalngue of Messrs. R.E. Dietz and Co. of Greenwich, Laight Street,

New York, U.S.A. 125 Written messages as graphic evidence of divine support

indicated also the generalization of a new sensibility. Writing was the preserve of the

socially privileged. For a non-literate society that was not cognizant with writing as

an art, but was acquainted with the importance of education in mission schools, the

circulation of tenancy laws, the manipulation of records by zamindars and money-

lenders, and the importance of written appeals in law-courts, the written word was an

expression of power, sacred and magicai. 126 Writing, as a symbol of dominance, was

125. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence,

Volume V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 11th March, 1916.
126. For the importance of writing in peasant insurgency, refer to Ranajit Guha,
Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonia/India (Oxford: 1983 ), pp.
52-55.

230
thus appropriated by the Tanas as a tool of empowerment. The link of the word with

Dhannes had only enhanced its importance in Tana perception; it could be

counterpoised to the traditional markers nf authorit 111 a tribal society.

The austerity of the camps set up by Tana leaders added to the aura of religiosity

that distinguished the Bhagat leaders from their followers, and from the rest of the

Oraons. Most huts in Sibu's camps were whitewashed and a white flag was planted

in front of his house. Flags, usually coloured, were Oraon 'totemic symbols' to which

the pahan offered sacrifices. 127 The Tana selection of white as a colour indicated an

affinity with Dharmes. 128 Maya's residence was surrounded by a plastered ground,

about three feet wide. Some huts were erected and white-washed, and about a

thousand earthen pots and chulha'l in a neighbouring grove, provided for the seven

hundred odd Tanas who had gathered there from several thana\ in the district, to

worship their guru. Dhonwa Oraon of Gamhara, Burmu, yet another local Tana guru,

lived away from the village.

In yet another display of his authority, Sibu adopted a practice new amongst his

people. He chose to be carried on his jahaj - 'a cot over which bamboos had been

twisted to form a kind of canopy'. 129 Sibu thus patterned himself on the zamindar who

embodied in his person and actions power over his subordinates. Thus, even as he

resisted the zamindar, Sibu had appropriated the practices of his Hindu overlords. The

logic of a cultural system that had relegated him to the margins of society was

selectively employed by Sibu to redefine his status. Emphasizing the importance of

127. Roy, The Oraons of Chota Nagpur, p. 342.

128. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 21

129. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.

231
having a bath twice a day, 110 of wearing the .Janeu, 111 or of keeping Oraon women

in purclah, U 2 and expressing the necessity of purificatory acts in case a Tana

inadvertently stepped on the shadows of non-Hind --., 1:1:1 were reflections of a similar

process. Yet, the meaning of the shared practice or symbol could have had entirely

different implications for the two communities. For example, when Tanas began

wearing the sacred thread, they uttered the name of Dharmes; there was no

concomitant Brahmanical ceremony of investiture. 134

The response of the followers to their Bhagat leaders was in confom1ity with

notions surrounding the 'worship of the worthies' in rural India. The deification of the

'worthies' was based, among other things, on the purity of the life they had led and on

130. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Hazaribagh, 22nd January, 1916.
131. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 399.
132. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, 24th June, 1916.
133. Bihar and Orissa Government. Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, 27th May, 1916.
134. Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 399.
For the relevance and critique of the concept of Sanskritization in the context of
the Tana Bhagat movement, and for related issues like the spread of
Vaishnavism and Brahmanical influences in Chhotanagpur, refer to my M. Phil
Dissertation, 'Reordering a World: The Tana Bhagat movement in Chotanagpur
(1914-22)', Jawahartal Nehru University, 1992. The literature that may be
referred to is as follows: Kunal Chakrabarti, 'Anthropological models of cultural
interaction and the study of religious process', Studies in History, 8, 1, n.s.,
1992; David Hardiman, The Coming of the Devi (Delhi: 1987); Hermann Kulka,
'Ksatriyaization and social change: a study in the Orissa setting' in his Kings and
Cults: State Formation and Legitimation in India and Southeast Asia (Delhi:
1993); Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture (Chicago 1956); Surajit
Sinha, 'State formation and Rajput myth in tribal Central India', Man in India, 42,
1962; M. N. Srinivas, Religion and Society among the Coorgs of South India
(London: 1965); M. N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India (Berkeley and
Los Angeles: 1966); McKim Marriot, 'Little communities in an indigenous
civilization', in his Village India (Chicago: 1955).

232
tI1e1r . powers.' 11 "
. ' approve d tI1aumaturg1c sb ' pre d.1ct10n
1 us . o f .Sukra ' s dcat I1

corroborated his claims to extraordinary powers; this had detennined his acceptance

among the Tanas. No force could challenge his authority, or confine h1.o~ in prison

against his will. It was believed by the Tanas that Sibu 'will return to them and that

the world belongs to him, and the British Govcmment will give the Raj up to him' . 136

British administrators were quick to recognize the dangers of such a belief The

Deputy Inspector General, Crimes and Railways, reported in April 1919, 'On being

asked what they were doing, the Oraons only pointed to their leaders, Maya Oraon and

Sibu Oraon ... unless the movement receives a check and the followers are made to

realise that their so-called leaders are not Bhagwans (Gods) and incapable of being

punished, I fear a serious spread of the movement.' 137 So strong was the Tana faith

in the leadership that after Sibu's arrest, the Tana congregation that awaited his return

had actually increased in number.

The Tan a movement had developed by 1919 an organizational and institut; 0nal

network. While the arrest of Jatra in 1914 had led to the temporary withdrawa of the .

movement, the arrests of Sibu and Maya were followed by a new group of leaders

taking over: Naya Oraon of Murma, Sukra Oraon of Kuru and Singha and Debia

135. William Crooke, The Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India (london:
1896), pp. 183-96. Refer to Shahid Amin, 'Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur
District, Eastern UP, 1921-22' in Ranajit Guha (ed.), Subaltern Studies Ill (Delhi
1989), p. 29.
136 Ibid.
137. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.

233
Oraons of Mandar. 118 By October 1919, a Tana encampment was set up at Tikri under

the leadership of Turia who claimed to be a follower of Sibu. 119 The hierarchical and

pyram ida I structure of authority that had developed enabled Sibu, after his release, to

once again regain the mantle of control. Jatra, despite the welcome accorded to him

by his chelm, had faded into oblivion.

Despite the institutionalization of the movement, the boundaries of the community

could never be rigid. The Tana preceptors were hardly ever prominent members of the

Oraon community; their influence rested on their charismatic appeal and the dreams

that they held out for the deprived sections of the community. When promises

remained unfulfilled, many of the Tanas left the faith; but there were others who

joined the movement hoping for their Raj. Disputes often occurred between the new

and the old members. Threats were issued to those who wished to revert to old

practices; and non-Bhagats were coerced into accepting the tenets of Tanaism. In

1916, in the Ghaghra jurisdiction of Ranchi where the movement had started in 1915,

the Oraons returned to their old customs; 140 in Garhwa, Bhandaria and Latehar in

Palamau, they began to drink again; 141 in Bhanderpur, they were reported to be

buying pigs and fowl again. 142 Santhal chaukidars from the Doars noted that in about

six weeks of the outbreak of the movement there, Tanas had relapsed into their old

138. Ibid.
139. Ibid.
140. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Ranchi, 22nd January, 1916.
141. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol
V, Palamau, 5th September, 1916.
142. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 13th May, 1916.

234
habits. 143 In Bcro, it was recorded that about twenty-five Oraons, former Tanas, had

initiated an anti-Bhagwani movement 144 and that disputes had arisen between the

sympathizers and non-sympathizers of the Bhagwanis. 145 Even Tanas, who had

remained within the fold of the faith, were divided into conflicting groups. The

Superintendent of Police, Jalpaiguri, reported that while the 'new party' denied

knowh!dge of any mantra in which the word 'Gennan' had occurred, the men of the

'old party' said that they did sing such mantras. 146 Evidently, when the 'Gennan Baba'

had failed to deliver the goods, converts who had joined later decided to invoke a new

set of gods.

It was probably m order to protect themselves from outside interference and

detection, and to mark their distance from non-believers, that the Tanas debarred

outsiders from attending their meetings. They gathered in jungles or lonely fields at

night, offered prayers from midnight to dawn, and sang songs in their own

language. 147 Sentries !,'tiarded their meeting places, and no one was allowed to

approach 'within sight or hearing ..! 48 The local chaukidar was instructed not to come

near Tana encampments, but to call out from a distance. 149

143. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 24th June, 1916.
144. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Ranchi, 10th April, 1916.
145. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Ranchi, 17th June, 1916.
146. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 3rd June, 1916.
147. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 15th May, 1916.
148. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 27th May, 1916.
149. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol
V, Palamau, 15th May, 1916.

235
 And yet it was necessary to expand the frontiers of the faith. For a movement that

lacked social sanction among many in the Oraon community, coercion was one of the

methods adopted to bring members to the 1.1ith. Those who did not comply with the

regulations of the Tana faith were forbidden the use of wells, their wives were

declared to be witches, 150 their fowl and pigs were killed. 151 In an incident that

occurred at Mithapukur, Sana Oraon who had refused to join the movement, even after

having been threatened with assault, was attacked by Nathu under the orders of Samra

152
Oraon of Baldipukur. The power of Tana threats is revealed by the case of one

Charua Oraon who killed his wife and attempted to commit suicide. The Tanas had

warned him that the Germans were henceforth to rule the country and if he did not

recite the name of the German Raj, their God would take away his life. Charua, who

did not recite this mantra, was constantly abused, and he, therefore, decided upon the

stated action. 153 What was particularly resented was the renunciation of faith by

erstwhile Tanas who now chose to revert to their fanner customs. When K;lll_ji Oraon

wished to withdraw from the movement after join1ng it, the Tanas filled up his well

and threatened to kill him . 154 The Sub-Inspector of Latehar reported that the Oraons

of Hutar, Satang and other villages had decided to consult their guru in village

150. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Palamau, 11th April, 1916.
151. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Palamau, 15th May, 1916.
152. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 27th May, 1916.
153. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Bihar S. B., 19th February, 1916, and 'Die Aufstandsbewegung unter den
Uraos in Chota Nagpur und Bhutan'(The rebellious movements among the Uraos
in Chota Nagpur and Bhutan], Allgemeine Missions Zeitschrift, Book 8, August,
1916.
154. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, 15th April, 1916.

236
Jhinkichatti, Lohardagga, in order to complain against the Oraons who were going to

drink liquor prepared by the .mtuils (hanias). 155 Interestingly, the Tanas were in turn

regarded as unclean and refused the use of wells by the non-Ora< . " 156

Dissemination of Tana ideas depended for its effectiveness on an alert and

appropriately motivated organization. The propagation of the new code involved, at

every stage, the participation of the Oraons of several villages, and an increasing

number of Oraons came to be bound by the Tana faith. At Palamau, dallim were seen

to bring a few leaves from a karam tree which they would leave at a village, after

which they would move on to the next village on being given fresh leaves. 157 Often

ritually important objects of Brahmanical forms of worship were borrowed by the

Tanas in their mode of visual and aural transmission: Sibu moved about in the village

ringing bells and blowing the conch. 158

Collectively transmitted rumours and prophecies were powerful vehicles of

mobilization. Rumours that predicted imaginary battles between Gods and men in

which the Oraons would be victorious because the gods would fight for them, and the

hopes that propitiated goats would tum into deliverers, shifted reality to utopia. While

discussing the patterns for the communication of ideas, tile Superintendent of Police,

Jalpaiguri, reported that the Tana doctrine was being taught by Oraon bead-sellers as

ordinary preachers were afraid of the police. These bead-sellers visited different hats,

155. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Palamau, 12th March, 1916.
156. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 1st April, 1916.
157 Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol.
V, Palamau, 16th January, 1916.
158. Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
86 of 1919.

237
villages and tea-gardens, and under the pretence of selling beads, explained the new

doctrines. 159 The hut or the market place was the focal point for cconom ic

transactions and social interaction; tea-gardens were niches where migrant labourers

flocked. Such spots were ideal for verbal exchanges and for the dissemination and

transference of information.

What is striking about Tana operations is the element of ritual performance. This

was an important medium through which the objectives of the movement were

transmitted among the followers, and communal ties strengthened. The vigorous

movements during the spirit-ousting drive, the arra~gement of propitiants in a circle,

the ritual of choosing an article as an emblem of the hhul and transferring this emblem

beyond the boundaries of the village, the discarding of utensils, tools and ornaments

as signifying the expelling of negative forces - these were the visual signs of the

'transmission of insurgency'. 160 Similarly, the hymns sung by the Bhagat leaders in

the form of questions, answers, stories and injunctions were part of the Tana mode of

performative pedagogy.

The programmatic thrust of the Tana Bhagat movement was marked by references

to Oraon cultural traditions and history, and yet by an opposition to the bhuinhu~ and

their practices. It was also marked bv a conflict with non-Oraons who had entered

their country and a simultaneous appropriation and adaptation of those practices that

had reached them through a process of interaction with different cultures. These two

trends were of course interlinked. Even as the Tanas drew upon the Oraon and other

159. Bihar and Orissa Government, Police Department, Abstract of Intelligence, Vol
V, Extract, Bengal Abstract, 3rd June, 1916.
160. Ranajit Guha discusses the different methods of the 'transmission' of
'insurgency' in a tribal society. Refer to Guha, Elementary Aspects in Peasant
Insurgency, pp. 220-77.

238
worlds, the practices and traditions that were appropriated were inevitably transformed,

since it was the present, in conjunction with their heritage, that mediated Tana actions.

Thus, even when they disavowed and negated select1 ~ Oraon practices, the break with

their past could never be complete. Spirit-worship and the role of the mali, for

example, were denounced by the Tanas. Paradoxically, the procedure adopted by the

Tanas to expel the hhuls was an adaptation of the traditional methods of spirit-ousting

in Oraon society. At their nightly meetings in 1915, the Tanas would sweep the

ground and brush each stone and bush with their tamarind twigs in order to drive out

the hhuts. 161 This action was akin to that of a mali who passed a broom over the

patient's body several times from head to foot, and then on all sides, to get rid of a

disease-causing hhu1. 162 More significant was their choice of ancestor-graves as

centres for mobilization. As the Superintendent of Police, Ranchi, reported, 'There is

a grave near the encampment at Tiko and the Bhagats pour water on this daily,

alleging that it is the grave of an Oraon who was killed in a massacre of Oraons b'

zamindars hundred years ago and they are now receiving the spirit of their

forefathers.' 163 Invoking ancestor spirits was a hallowed Oraon practice that the Tanas

had renounced. Yet, invoking only those ancestors who had been a part of a history

of resistance to the zamindars, was an act that indicated the imbricated realms of the

past and the present.

161. Tea District Labour Association, Handbook of Castes and Tribes, p. 28

162 Roy, Oraon Religion and Customs, p. 206
163 Bihar and Orissa Government, Political Department, Special Section, File No.
1165 of 1916.

239