(THE GIST OF PIB) Tribal leader TilkaManjhi

[February-2022]

The Nation is remembering revolutionary freedom fighter and tribal leader TilkaManjhi on his 272nd birth anniversary.

He organised Adivasis into an army and led the famous Santhal Hool in 1784 against the exploitative British.
In 1770, there was a severe famine in the Santhal region and people were dying of hunger. TilkaManjhi looted the treasury of the Company and distributed it among the poor and needy.
Inspired by this noble act of Tilka, many other tribals also joined the rebellion. With this began his Santhal Hool, the revolt of the Santhals. He continued to attack the British and their allies.
From 1771 to 1784, TilkaManjhi never surrendered. Tilka Majhi attacked Augustus Cleveland, an East India Company administrator and fatally wounded him.
The British surrounded the Tilapore forest from which he operated but he and his men held them at bay for several weeks.
When he was finally caught in 1784, he was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged all the way to the Collector’s residence at Bhagalpur, Bihar, India. There, his lacerated body was hung from a Banyan tree.