Sannyasi rebellion
The Sannyasi rebellion (Bengali: সন্ন্যাসী/ সাধু বিদ্রোহ, lit. 'monks' rebellion') was a revolt by the sannyasis and sadhus (Hindu ascetics) in Bengal, India in the late 18th century which took place around Murshidabad and Baikunthapur forests of Jalpaiguri under the leadership of Pandit Bhabani Charan Pathak. While some refer to it as an early war for India's independence from foreign rule, since the right to collect tax had been given to the British East India Company after the Battle of Buxar in 1764, other historians categorize it as acts of violent banditry following the depopulation of the province in the Bengal famine of 1770.[1]
Early events
At least three separate events are called the Sannyasi Rebellion. One refers to a large body of Hindu sannyasis who travelled from North India to different parts of Bengal to visit shrines. En route to the shrines, it was customary for many of these ascetics to exact a religious tax from the headmen and zamindars or regional feudal lords. In times of prosperity, the headmen and zamindars generally obliged. However, since the East India Company had received the diwani or right to collect tax, many of the tax demands increased and the local feudal lords and headmen were unable to pay both the ascetics and the English. Crop failures, and famine, which killed ten million people or an estimated one-third of the population of Bengal compounded the problems since much of the arable land lay fallow.[1]
In the eighteenth century, Pandit Bhavanicharan Pathak was the main hero of the 'Sannyasi Rebellion' against the British rule and exploitation in the land of Bengal. Sannyasi Rebellion was India's first anti-British independence struggle.
In 1771, 150 saints were put to death, apparently for no reason. This was one of the reasons that caused distress leading to violence, especially in Natore in Rangpur, (now in modern Bangladesh). However, some modern historians argue that the movement never gained popular support.[1]
The other two movements involved a sect of Hindu ascetics, the Dasanami Naga Sadhus who likewise visited Bengal on pilgrimage.[1] To the British, these ascetics were plunderers and must be stopped from collecting money that belonged to the company and possibly from even entering the province. It was felt that a large body of people on the move was a possible threat.[2]
Clashes between the Company and ascetics
From hundreds of years monks had been visiting North India and pilgrim sites. They also used to take some alms from zamidars. But after British imposed taxes on zamidars, it became hard for them to give alms to the ascetics. Sannyasis were burdened with restrictions as the British government thought they were plunderers & thugs. And thus rebellion began. Most of the clashes were recorded in the years following the famine but they continued, albeit with a lesser frequency, up until 1802. The reason that even with superior training and forces, the company was not able to suppress sporadic clashes with migrating ascetics was that the control of the company's forces in the far-removed hilly and jungle covered districts like Birbhum and Midnapore on local events was weak.[2]
Legacy
The Sannyasi rebellion was the first of a series of revolts and rebellions in the western districts of the province including (but not restricted to) the Chuar Revolt of 1799 and the Santhal Revolt of 1855–56.[2] What effect the Sannyasi Rebellion had on rebellions that followed is debatable. Perhaps, the best reminder of the Rebellion is in literature, in the Bengali novels Anandamath (1882) and Devi Chaudhurani (1884), written by India's first modern novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. The song, Vande Mataram, which was written in 1876, was used in the novel Anandamath in 1882 (pronounced Anondomôţh in Bengali) and the 1952 movie based on the book. The first two verses of Vande Mataram were later declared to be India's National Song (not to be confused with the Indian National Anthem).
In 2022, Telugu film producer and scriptwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad announced his upcoming project tentatively titled 1770: Ek Sangram, based on Anandamath and the Sannnyasi rebellion. The movie will be simultaneously made in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d Lorenzen, D.N. (1978). "Warrior Ascetics in Indian History". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 98 (1). American Oriental Society: 617–75. doi:10.2307/600151. JSTOR 600151.
- ^ a b c Marshall, P.J. (1987). Bengal: the British Bridgehead. The New Cambridge History of India. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 96. ISBN 0-521-25330-6.
- ^ 'RRR' writer K V Vijayendra Prasad to write film based on Bankim Chandra's novel 'Anandamath'
- v
- t
- e
- Colonisation
- Porto Grande de Bengala
- Dutch Bengal
- East India Company
- British Raj
- French India
- Portuguese India
- Battle of Plassey
- Battle of Buxar
- Anglo-Mysore Wars
- Anglo-Maratha Wars
- Polygar Wars
- Vellore Mutiny
- First Anglo-Sikh War
- Second Anglo-Sikh War
- Sannyasi rebellion
- Rebellion of 1857
- Radcliffe Line
- more
and ideologies
movements
- Partition of Bengal (1905)
- Partition of Bengal (1947)
- Revolutionaries
- Direct Action Day
- Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy
- The Indian Sociologist
- Singapore Mutiny
- Hindu–German Conspiracy
- Champaran Satyagraha
- Kheda Satyagraha
- Rowlatt Committee
- Rowlatt Bills
- Jallianwala Bagh massacre
- Noakhali riots
- Non-cooperation movement
- Christmas Day Plot
- Coolie-Begar movement
- Chauri Chaura incident, 1922
- Kakori conspiracy
- Qissa Khwani massacre
- Flag Satyagraha
- Bardoli
- 1928 Protests
- Nehru Report
- Fourteen Points of Jinnah
- Purna Swaraj
- Salt March
- Dharasana Satyagraha
- Vedaranyam March
- Chittagong armoury raid
- Gandhi–Irwin Pact
- Round table conferences
- Act of 1935
- Aundh Experiment
- Indian Legion
- Cripps Mission
- Quit India
- Bombay Mutiny
- Royal Air Force strikes
- Coup d'état of Yanaon
- Provisional Government of India
- Independence Day
- Praja Mandala movement
- Lucknow Pact
- All India Kisan Sabha
- All-India Muslim League
- Anushilan Samiti
- Arya Samaj
- Azad Hind
- Berlin Committee
- Ghadar Movement
- Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
- Indian National Congress
- India House
- Indian Home Rule movement
- Indian Independence League
- Indian National Army
- Jugantar
- Khaksar movement
- Khudai Khidmatgar
- Swaraj Party
- more
reformers
- A. Vaidyanatha Iyer
- Ayya Vaikundar
- Ayyankali
- B. R. Ambedkar
- Baba Amte
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- Dayananda Saraswati
- Dhondo Keshav Karve
- G. Subramania Iyer
- Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty
- Gopal Ganesh Agarkar
- Gopal Hari Deshmukh
- Gopaldas Ambaidas Desai
- Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
- J. B. Kripalani
- Jyotirao Phule
- Kandukuri Veeresalingam
- Mahadev Govind Ranade
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Muthulakshmi Reddy
- Narayana Guru
- Niralamba Swami
- Pandita Ramabai
- Periyar
- Ram Mohan Roy
- Rettamalai Srinivasan
- Sahajanand Saraswati
- Savitribai Phule
- Shahu
- Sister Nivedita
- Sri Aurobindo
- Syed Ahmad Khan
- Vakkom Moulavi
- Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
- Vinoba Bhave
- Vitthal Ramji Shinde
- Vivekananda
activists
- Abul Kalam Azad
- Accamma Cherian
- Achyut Patwardhan
- A. K. Fazlul Huq
- Alluri Sitarama Raju
- Annapurna Maharana
- Annie Besant
- Ashfaqulla Khan
- Babu Kunwar Singh
- Bagha Jatin
- Bahadur Shah II
- Bakht Khan
- Bal Gangadhar Tilak
- Basawon Singh
- Begum Hazrat Mahal
- Bhagat Singh
- Bharathidasan
- Bhavabhushan Mitra
- Bhikaiji Cama
- Bhupendra Kumar Datta
- Bidhan Chandra Roy
- Bipin Chandra Pal
- C. Rajagopalachari
- Chandra Shekhar Azad
- Chetram Jatav
- Chittaranjan Das
- Dadabhai Naoroji
- Dayananda Saraswati
- Dhan Singh
- Dukkipati Nageswara Rao
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale
- Govind Ballabh Pant
- Har Dayal
- Hemu Kalani
- Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi
- Jatindra Mohan Sengupta
- Jatindra Nath Das
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- K. Kamaraj
- Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi
- Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan
- Khudiram Bose
- Shri Krishna Singh
- Lala Lajpat Rai
- M. Bhaktavatsalam
- M. N. Roy
- Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi
- Mahadaji Shinde
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mangal Pandey
- Mir Qasim
- Mithuben Petit
- Mohammad Ali Jauhar
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah
- Muhammad Mian Mansoor Ansari
- Nagnath Naikwadi
- Nana Fadnavis
- Nana Saheb
- P. Kakkan
- Prafulla Chaki
- Pritilata Waddedar
- Purushottam Das Tandon
- R. Venkataraman
- Rahul Sankrityayan
- Rajendra Prasad
- Ram Prasad Bismil
- Rani Lakshmibai
- Rash Behari Bose
- Sahajanand Saraswati
- Sangolli Rayanna
- Sarojini Naidu
- Satyapal Dang
- Shuja-ud-Daula
- Shyamji Krishna Varma
- Sibghatullah Shah Rashidi
- Siraj ud-Daulah
- Subhas Chandra Bose
- Subramania Bharati
- Subramaniya Siva
- Surya Sen
- Syama Prasad Mukherjee
- Tara Rani Srivastava
- Tarak Nath Das
- Tatya Tope
- Tiruppur Kumaran
- Ubaidullah Sindhi
- V. O. Chidamabaram
- V. K. Krishna Menon
- Vallabhbhai Patel
- Vanchinathan
- Veeran Sundaralingam
- Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
- Virendranath Chattopadhyaya
- Yashwantrao Holkar
- Yogendra Shukla
- more