Tribal revolutionary Tilka Manjhi whose valor story is part of tribal culture

Tilka Manjhi a Tribal freedom fighter about who we know very little. He was the first freedom fighter. Tilka means red-eyed angry person and Manjhi means Sarpanch. In this way, Jabra Pahadia, born in 1750 in Sultanpur village of Bihar, became famous as Tilka Manjhi because of his bravery.

He Fought for his Motherland

Jabra Pahadiya saw Britishers treating the people of the tribal community with cruelty. After the capture of Santhal Pargana, Chotanagpur, the British started collecting heavy taxes from the tribals. Due to this, the tribals started taking loans from the moneylenders to pay the rent, after not being able to repay the loan, the moneylenders would grab the land of the tribals along with the British.

He organized the people of the village against this exploitation and started preparing for the war. Tribal Leader inspired people to stand up against the British by rising above caste. Gradually his popularity started increasing in the tribal community and village.

There was a severe drought in Bengal in 1770 when the British started collecting double taxes from the people. Due to this millions of people died of hunger. All these things started increasing Tilka's anger.

Tribal Manjhi looted the treasure of Bhagalpur and distributed it among the poor and tribals. The British arranged a large army to fight Tilka, but in front of the bravery of the tribals, the British army defeated.

The British used many tricks to break Tilka's movement. They started giving greed like tax exemption, jobs to the tribal communities. But Tilka understood this trick, he did not accept the offer of the British.

Tilka Manjhi declared the last battle against the Britishers

In 1784, Tilka Manjhi declared the last battle against the Britishers. The tribals attacked the Bhagalpur headquarters and killed Cleveland. An order issued to catch Tilka alive or dead. Out of greed, one man told the address of Manjhi to the British. Tilka attacked in the middle of the night but he escaped.

The British started surrounding Tilka to suppress the war. The British succeeded in capturing them on 12 January 1785. Tilka hanged on 13 January 1785 at the age of 35.

Many freedom fighters in our country fought for freedom on their own but their bravery story not recorded in any book. Manjhi's valor saga is sung in the songs of Santhal tribals. Our salute to this lesser-known martyr.

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