People's Resistance Against British Before 1857 — Complete UPSC Notes

1. Categories of Resistance — Framework

The standard classification (after Bipan Chandra in India's Struggle for Independence and Sumit Sarkar in Modern India) groups pre-1857 resistance into five categories:

2. Sanyasi & Fakir Rebellion (1763–1800s)

The first significant armed resistance to EIC rule in Bengal — and the inspiration for Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath (1882), from which the song Vande Mataram originates.

2.1 Background

• The Great Bengal Famine of 1770 displaced millions; Hindu sanyasis (Dasnami Naga sadhus) and Muslim fakirs (Madariya sect) — who had moved seasonally between Bengal and the north — found their pilgrim routes blocked and their charity dwindling.
• The EIC restricted their movement, taxed their pilgrim halts, and treated them as vagrants.
• Joined by dispossessed zamindars, disbanded soldiers, and famine-stricken peasants, they turned to organised raiding of EIC outposts and revenue treasuries.

2.2 Leadership & Course

• Hindu leaders: Bhabani Pathak, Devi Chaudhurani (one of the rare named women leaders of the period), Majnu Shah's Hindu allies.
• Muslim leaders: Majnu Shah (chief fakir leader, killed in 1786–87); Musa Shah, Cherag Ali Shah.
• Active across Bengal and Bihar from 1763 to the early 19th century.
• Warren Hastings personally directed counter-operations.

3. Chuar Uprising (1766–1816)

One of the longest sustained civil rebellions — spanning fifty years across the Jungle Mahals of Bengal-Bihar (parts of present-day West Midnapore, Bankura, and Jharkhand).

• "Chuar" was a colonial pejorative for the local Bhumij tribals and the tribal-zamindar paiks (foot-soldiers) of the Jangal Mahals.
• Trigger: famine + the EIC's enhanced revenue assessment (1772 settlement) that displaced traditional zamindars and disbanded their paik militias.
• Leaders: Jagannath Singh of Dhalbhum (1769), Durjan Singh of Raipur (1798–99 — most famous phase), Madhab Singh, Lal Singh, Mohan Singh, Achal Singh.
• Peak: 1798–99 — Durjan Singh's revolt against the dispossession of the Bhumij zamindar of Raipur.
• Final suppression: only after the British administered the area as a separate jurisdiction (the Jungle Mahals district, 1805).

4. Rangpur Dhing (1783)

• Trigger: The oppressive revenue farmer (izaradar) Devi Singh, appointed for Rangpur (in present-day Bangladesh) by the EIC, imposed extortionate cesses (abwabs) on top of the revenue.
• Course: The peasants — Hindu and Muslim, headed by Nurul-din Baikuntha Nath (titled Dingadhipati, "leader of the rising") and Dayaram Sheel — refused to pay; raised an alternative authority; collected their own revenue.
• Significance: One of the earliest peasant uprisings against revenue-farming exactions; cited by Ranajit Guha as a classic example of "elementary peasant insurgency".
• Suppressed by the EIC in the same year (1783) but pressure forced removal of Devi Singh.

5. Awadh — Wazir Ali Khan's Revolt (1799)

• Wazir Ali Khan was the Nawab of Awadh briefly (Sept 1797 – Jan 1798); deposed by the British in favour of Saadat Ali Khan II.
• Pensioned to Benares; in January 1799 he killed the British Resident at Benares, George Frederick Cherry, along with several British officers (the "Benares Massacre").
• Fled to Rajputana; eventually surrendered to the British (1800); imprisoned for life at Fort William, Calcutta.
• His revolt highlighted the resentment of dispossessed Indian elites under Subsidiary Alliance arrangements.

6. Polygar Rebellions — Tamil Nadu (1799–1805)

The polygars (palayakkarars) were the warrior-chieftains of the Tamil country who had held semi-autonomous tracts under the Nayakas of Madurai and the Nawab of the Carnatic. The EIC, taking over the Carnatic from the Nawab (1801), demanded direct revenue and military submission — provoking sustained armed resistance.

6.1 Veerapandiya Kattabomman (1761–99)

• Polygar of Panchalankurichi (Tirunelveli).
• Refused tribute and attended a humiliating kachcheri (1798) only under duress.
• First Polygar War (1799) — defeated; captured at Pudukkottai; hanged at Kayathar on 16 October 1799.
• Statue at Kayathar; a foundational figure in Tamil nationalist memory.

6.2 The Marudhu Brothers

• Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu (Sivaganga); allied with Kattabomman.
• Issued the famous "Tiruchirappalli Proclamation" (1801) from the Tiruchirappalli Rockfort — one of the earliest pan-Indian appeals against British rule.
• Captured and executed in 1801.

6.3 Second Polygar War (1801–05)

• Wider revolt of polygars across Tirunelveli, Madurai, Sivaganga, Ramnad.
• Crushed by Colonel Agnew; the polygar system abolished by the British.

7. Velu Thampi Revolt — Travancore (1808–09)

• Velu Thampi Dalawa was the Dewan (chief minister) of Travancore.
• Travancore had signed Subsidiary Alliance with the EIC (1805, under Lord Wellesley). The Resident Colonel Macaulay's interference and impossible subsidy demands provoked Velu Thampi.
• Jan 1809 — issued the famous Kundara Proclamation from Kundara, calling on the people to rise against the British.
• Combined with the Paliath Achan revolt in Cochin.
• Defeated; Velu Thampi committed suicide at Mannadi (1809).
• Travancore's resistance is among the strongest examples of a Subsidiary Alliance state turning against its protector.

8. Paika Rebellion — Odisha 1817

One of the most important pre-1857 uprisings, recently re-evaluated by Indian historians. The Government of India formally recognised the bicentenary of the Paika Rebellion in 2017.

8.1 Background

• Paikas were the traditional militia (Khurda Garh) of the Gajapati king of Odisha — peasant-soldiers who held rent-free land (nish-kar jagirs) in exchange for military service.
• Odisha was annexed by the British in 1803 (Wellesley); the EIC dispossessed the Khurda raja, resumed the paik jagirs, replaced cowrie currency with silver rupees (causing acute distress), increased salt prices, and imposed new revenue assessments.

8.2 The Rebellion

• Leader: Bakshi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar Mahapatra Bharamarbar Rai — the hereditary commander (bakshi) of the Khurda paika army, himself dispossessed of his Killa-Rorang estate by the British in 1814.
• Joined by the Kondh tribals and other peasant groups.
• March 1817 — paikas marched on the British headquarters at Khurda; captured Banpur, Khurda, Puri; killed many British officials.
• Supported by Mukunda Deva, the dispossessed Khurda raja.
• British counter-action: Major-General John Atkinson and Sir George Browne suppressed the revolt by mid-1818; Bakshi Jagabandhu evaded capture until 1825, surrendered, and died in 1829 in British custody.

9. Kutch & Other Western Revolts

9.1 Kutch Rebellion (1816–32)

• Triggered by British interference in Kutch's succession (1816); the British supported Bharmal II against Maharao Pragmal II.
• Followed by a Regency Council under the British Resident — heavy taxation and political reorganisation.
• Long-running tribal-feudal resistance; suppressed only by 1832.

9.2 Waghera Rising (Okha Mandal, 1818–20)

• The Waghera chiefs of Okha Mandal (Gujarat coast) resisted Gaekwad–British tribute demands.
• Crushed by 1820.

9.3 Kittur Rebellion (1824)

• Karnataka. Rani Chennamma of Kittur resisted the EIC's refusal to recognise her adopted son Shivalingappa as heir — a pre-Dalhousie application of the lapse principle.
• Defeated Captain Thackeray's force in October 1824 (the British political agent was killed) — a rare early defeat of the EIC by an Indian woman ruler.
• British retook Kittur in December 1824; Rani Chennamma imprisoned at Bailhongal Fort; died there in 1829.
• Her loyalist Sangolli Rayanna continued guerrilla resistance until captured and hanged (1831).

9.4 Surat Salt Agitation (1844)

• Mass protest against an increase in salt duty.
• British forced to roll back the duty — an early instance of successful mass civil pressure.

10. Tribal Movements — The Framework

Tribal uprisings have a distinct character that UPSC examiners reward when separated from civil rebellions.

10.1 Common Causes

• Encroachment on tribal land & forests by outsiders (dikkus) — moneylenders, traders, settled farmers.
• Imposition of British settled revenue in place of customary tribal land tenure (khuntkatti for the Mundas, the village commons for Bhils, etc.).
• Forest laws (1865, 1878) that restricted shifting cultivation, hunting, and grazing.
• Outside trader-moneylender penetration that converted tribal peasants into bonded labour.
• Christian missionary activity — variable: in some cases (Munda) Christianity supplied an organisational base; in others (Khasi, Naga) it was resented.

10.2 Common Features

• Charismatic leader, often with messianic claims (Birsa Munda as "Birsa Bhagwan"; Sidhu and Kanhu Santhal as divinely commissioned).
• Use of traditional weapons (bow, axe, sling); occasional looting of arms.
• Targeted attacks on dikkus, moneylenders, contractors — not just British personnel.
• Suppression by superior British arms; reform legislation often followed (Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908; Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1876).

11. Bhil & Kol Uprisings

11.1 Bhil Revolts (1818, 1825, 1831, 1846, 1858)

• The Bhils of the Western Ghats (Khandesh, Maharashtra–Madhya Pradesh–Gujarat border) had been semi-autonomous for centuries under their own chiefs.
• After the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1818), Khandesh came under British rule; British interference in customary rights and the introduction of forest laws provoked repeated risings.
• Leaders: Sewaram, Bhagoji Naik (1850s–60s).
• Final flare-up during 1857.

11.2 Kol Uprising (1831–32)

• The Kols (also called Ho-Mundas; the Kol confederacy included Mundas, Hos, and Oraons) inhabited Chotanagpur.
• Trigger: transfer of Kol headmen's lands to outside Sikh and Muslim farmers by the British administration; harsh moneylender exactions.
• Leaders: Buddho Bhagat (the principal leader, killed 1832), Joa Bhagat, Singray Manki, Bindrai Manki.
• Coordinated attacks in 1831–32 across Chotanagpur; about a thousand outsiders killed.
• Crushed; led to the creation of the South-West Frontier Agency (1834) — a separate British administrative arrangement for tribal areas.

12. Khasi, Singpho, Ahom & Other North-East Risings

12.1 Khasi Rebellion (1829–33)

• Leader: U Tirot Sing (Syiem / chief of Nongkhlaw).
• Trigger: British road-building between Brahmaputra and Sylhet through Khasi territory — promised friendship was violated.
• Tirot Sing led a coordinated Khasi-Garo-Singpho-Karbi resistance from 1829.
• Captured 1833; died in captivity at Dacca (1835).

12.2 Singpho Rebellion (1830–39)

• Singpho/Jingpo of Upper Assam; resented British annexation after 1826 Yandabo Treaty.
• Suppressed by 1839; recurrent flare-ups thereafter.

12.3 Ahom Rebellion (1828–33)

• The Ahom nobility, dispossessed after Yandabo (1826), revolted.
• Leaders: Gomdhar Konwar (1828); Dhananjoy Burgohain, Piyali Phukan, Jeuram Dulia Baruah.
• British compromise: Upper Assam restored to Ahom prince Purandar Singh as a tributary (1833) — a rare instance of partial concession.

13. Santhal Hool 1855–56 — The Greatest Pre-1857 Uprising

The Hool (Santhali for "uprising") is arguably the largest and most consequential pre-1857 tribal revolt. The Government of India observes 30 June as Hul Diwas.

13.1 Background

• Santhals had migrated to the Damin-i-Koh (the hill country between the Rajmahal Hills and the plains of Bhagalpur–Birbhum) in the early 19th century, settling under a British promise of self-government in 1832.
• By the 1850s the area had been overrun by dikku outsiders — Bengali zamindars, Marwari moneylenders, EIC police, railway contractors (the Calcutta–Delhi railway was being surveyed through Santhal territory).
• Debt-bondage (kamiouti), revenue exactions, and judicial harassment had reduced Santhals to virtual slaves.

13.2 The Hool

• Leaders: Four Murmu brothers — Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand, and Bhairav; and two sisters, Phulo and Jhano.
• 30 June 1855: Sidhu and Kanhu convoked a gathering of about 10,000 Santhals at Bhognadih; declared the abolition of British rule and a Santhali raj from the Damin to Calcutta.
• About 60,000 Santhals took up arms; about 20,000 are estimated to have been killed by the British in suppression.
• Major engagements at Pirpainti, Maheshpur, Bagphor, Rajmahal.
• Suppressed by November 1855 – early 1856; Sidhu was hanged; Kanhu was captured and killed.

13.3 Aftermath

• Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1856 — created the Santhal Parganas district; restricted transfer of tribal land to non-tribals; recognised customary law.
• This is one of the earliest instances of British legislation responding to tribal grievances — a partial victory in defeat.

14. Munda Ulgulan — Birsa Munda 1899–1900

Although chronologically after 1857, the Munda Ulgulan is conventionally treated alongside pre-1857 tribal uprisings because of its character. UPSC frequently asks about Birsa Munda.

14.1 Background

• The Mundas of Chotanagpur held land under the customary khuntkatti system (collective village-clan ownership), which the British and incoming Hindu-Muslim zamindars systematically eroded.
• The Mundas had revolted earlier in the 1820s, 1830s, and 1850s; the Birsa-led Ulgulan was the climax.

14.2 Birsa Munda (1875–1900)

• Born 15 November 1875 at Ulihatu (Khunti district, Jharkhand).
• From the late 1880s, preached a syncretic monotheistic religion — combining Munda tradition, elements of Vaishnavism, and Christianity — and declared himself "Dharti Aba" ("Father of the Earth") and the "Bhagwan".
• 1895–96 — early imprisonment for incitement.
• 1899–1900 Ulgulan ("Great Tumult"): Birsa called for the restoration of Munda Raj; ordered cessation of rent payments; targeted dikkus, missionaries, and police.
• Captured 3 February 1900 at Jamkopai forest; died in Ranchi jail on 9 June 1900 (officially of cholera; many believe poisoned).

14.3 Outcome

• Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 — restricted transfer of tribal land to non-tribals; recognised khuntkatti rights.
• Birsa Munda is now recognised as a national hero; his portrait hangs in the Indian Parliament; 15 November is Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas (since 2021).

15. Other Major Tribal Revolts

16. Wahabi Movement

The Wahabi Movement was the most organised Islamic revivalist–political movement of 19th-century India. UPSC tests it as a religious reform movement that became anti-British.

16.1 Origins

• Founded by Syed Ahmad Barelvi (Rae Bareli) (1786–1831), influenced by Shah Waliullah's reform tradition and by the Wahabi school of Arabia (which he visited on Hajj, 1822).
• Goal: restore "pure" Islam by purging bidat (innovations); establish dar-ul-Islam by overthrowing non-Muslim (British, Sikh) rule.

16.2 Course

• Main base at Sittana in the North-West Frontier (in present-day KP, Pakistan); fought against the Sikh kingdom of Ranjit Singh from 1826.
• Syed Ahmad Barelvi killed at the Battle of Balakot (6 May 1831) by Sikh forces.
• Movement continued under his successors — Wilayat Ali and Inayat Ali of Patna (the "Patna School"); Maulana Karamat Ali.
• After 1857, the British shifted focus to the Wahabis; the Great Wahabi Trials (1864–71) at Ambala, Patna, Malda, Rajmahal effectively crushed the organisation.

16.3 Significance

• Network of cells stretching from Bengal to the North-West Frontier — one of the earliest pan-Indian organised resistance networks.
• Spread the idea of jihad against British rule even before 1857.
• Articulated economic grievances of Muslim peasants and ulema dispossessed by zamindari reforms.

17. Faraizi Movement

The Faraizi Movement was a parallel Bengali Muslim revivalist-cum-peasant movement, distinguished from the Wahabis by its localism and tighter peasant focus.

17.1 Founder — Haji Shariatullah (1781–1840)

• Born in Faridpur (East Bengal); spent twenty years in Arabia.
• Returned to Bengal in 1818; preached return to faraiz (obligatory religious duties) and the abolition of innovations.
• Forbade veneration of pirs, Sufi tomb worship, and Hindu-influenced practices.
• Declared India dar-ul-harb (an abode of war); Friday prayers and Eid prayers prohibited until restoration of dar-ul-Islam.

17.2 Dudu Mian (Muhsinuddin Ahmad, 1819–62)

• Shariatullah's son; converted the movement into an organised peasant front.
• Divided East Bengal into circles (khalifats), each under a khalifa.
• Slogan: "Land belongs to him who tills it" — refused payment of illegal cesses to (mostly Hindu) zamindars and indigo planters.
• Repeatedly imprisoned by the British; died in 1862.

17.3 Titu Mir (Mir Nisar Ali, 1782–1831)

• Sometimes grouped with Faraizis, sometimes with Wahabis; he was a disciple of Syed Ahmad Barelvi but operated in Bengal.
• Organised Muslim peasants in 24-Parganas against Hindu zamindars (who had imposed a "beard tax" on Wahabi-style Muslims) and indigo planters.
• Built the famous bamboo fort at Narkelberia (1831).
• Killed in November 1831 when British forces stormed his bamboo fort.

18. Kuka (Namdhari) Movement

• Founded by Bhagat Jawahar Mal (Sain Sahib) in 1840 in Punjab; carried forward by his disciple Baba Ram Singh (from 1857).
• Originally a religious reform within Sikhism (Kuka = those who shout religious slogans loudly, kuk = scream); over time became socio-political and anti-British.
• Reforms: Banned cow-slaughter; opposed caste hierarchy; encouraged inter-caste marriage; rejected Brahminical rituals; encouraged women's education.
• Political programme: Boycott of British goods, courts, schools, postal service — anticipating Gandhian non-cooperation by half a century.
• Malerkotla incident (Jan 1872): About 65 Kukas attacked Malerkotla Nawab's officials over cow-slaughter; Cowan, Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana, blew 49 of them from cannons without trial — one of the most brutal British reprisals.
• Baba Ram Singh deported to Rangoon (1872); died there in 1885.

19. Sepoy Mutinies Before 1857

19.1 Vellore Mutiny (10 July 1806)

• The first major sepoy mutiny against the EIC.
• Trigger: New dress regulations (1805–06) under Sir John Cradock: turbans replaced with a leather cockade-helmet that looked European; Hindus forbidden caste-marks and earrings on duty; Muslims required to trim beards. Sepoys saw this as forced conversion.
• Added grievance: the sons of Tipu Sultan were held at the Vellore Fort and were rumoured to be plotting.
• Pre-dawn 10 July 1806 — Indian sepoys killed about 14 British officers and 100 European soldiers; raised Tipu's flag.
• Crushed within hours by Colonel Robert Rollo Gillespie from Arcot.
• About 350 sepoys killed; ringleaders blown from cannon; the dress regulation withdrawn; Cradock recalled.

19.2 Barrackpore Mutiny (Nov 1824)

• 47th Native Infantry Regiment refused to embark for Burma (First Burma War) because Hindu sepoys regarded sea voyage (kala pani) as caste-polluting and were not paid the customary bhatta (foreign-service allowance).
• Suppressed by Sir Edward Paget — cannonade against the unarmed sepoys; about 180 killed; the regiment disbanded; ringleaders hanged.
• Mangal Pandey's regiment (34th NI) of 1857 was raised from the survivors of this disbanded regiment — a direct line to 1857.

19.3 Other Sepoy Disturbances

• 47th NI Regiment, 1849, at Wazirabad — refused to serve in the Punjab.
• 22nd NI, 1844 — at Sindh; mutiny over bhatta.
• 66th NI at Govindgarh (1850) — over General Service Enlistment Order.
• 38th NI, 1852 — at Berhampur, refused to march to Burma.
• All foreshadowed the grievances that exploded in 1857.

20. Significance & Why These Resistances Failed

20.1 Significance

1. Mass-based: They were the first mass uprisings against British rule, involving peasants, tribals, soldiers, dispossessed elites, and religious leaders.
2. Geographically wide: From Travancore to Assam, from Sindh to Bengal.
3. Continuity of resistance: Demonstrated that British rule was contested at every stage of its consolidation, not accepted passively.
4. Legislative concessions: Some movements (Santhal, Munda) succeeded in winning protective legislation (Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act 1856; Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908).
5. Cultural memory: Created a tradition of resistance that the Indian National Congress (1885) and later mass movements drew upon symbolically.

20.2 Why They Failed

1. Localism: Each rising was confined to its region; no inter-state coordination.
2. No common ideology: No nationalist vision — most resistance was either restorationist (dispossessed elite wanting old order back) or revivalist (religious community reasserting itself).
3. Military weakness: Outdated weapons; no artillery; no industrial base.
4. Leadership constraints: Charismatic leaders (Sidhu, Birsa, Velu Thampi, Kattabomman) were eliminated; movements rarely survived their death.
5. British counter-strategies: Divide-and-rule (Hindu vs Muslim, tribal vs zamindar); legislative concession + suppression combination; effective intelligence (C.A. Bayly's Empire and Information).
6. Class fragmentation: Civil rebellions led by dispossessed elites alienated peasants who suspected they would be exploited again; tribal revolts could not attract peasant support.

20.3 Historiographical Note

• Colonial historians dismissed these as "lawless disturbances" or "fanatical outbreaks".
• Nationalist historians (R.C. Majumdar, V.D. Savarkar) often saw them as precursors to nationalism — though Majumdar was cautious about calling 1857 a "first war of independence".
• Marxist / Subaltern historians (Bipan Chandra, Ranajit Guha, K.S. Singh, David Hardiman) read these as authentic class/community struggles with their own internal logic, not merely "stages" of nationalism.
• Recent scholarship emphasises tribal and peasant agency — the capacity of these movements to articulate their own demands, not just react to colonialism.

21. Previous Year Questions — UPSC Mains & Prelims

Prelims-style

Mains-style (GS Paper 1)