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Colonialism, Christianity and the Tribes of Chhotanagpur in East India, 1845–1890

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 30; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00856400701499219

1479-0270

Joseph Bara,

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1 Brian Stanley, "'Commerce and Christianity": Providence Theory, Missionary Movement, and the Imperialism of Free Trade, 1842–1860', in The Historical Journal, Vol.26, no.1 (1983), pp.71–4; Gerald Studdart-Kennedy, Providence and the Raj: Imperial Mission and Missionary Imperialism (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1998). 2 M.A. Venkata Rao, 'The Denationalizing Effect of Christian Missions', in Organizer (30 Nov. 1953), reproduced in All India Arya (Hindu) Dharama Seva Sangha, Religious Banditry (Delhi: n.d.), p.52. A recent explanation of this line of thinking, Arun Shourie, Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes, Dilemmas (New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997) has greatly influenced the popular Indian mind in this respect. 3 The phenomenon of conversion, called 'mass movement' by some missiologists, was officially surveyed by the Protestant missionaries in the early twentieth century. See J.W. Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in India: A Study with Recommendations (New York: Abingdon Press, 1933). In respect of the outcastes, the subject has a number of scholarly works. See in particular John C.B. Webster, The Dalit Christians: A History (Delhi: Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1992); G.A. Oddie, 'Christian Conversion in the Telugu Country, 1860–1900: A Case Study of One Protestant Movement in Godavery-Krishna Delta', in Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol.XII, no.1 (Jan.–Mar. 1975), pp.61–79; J.W. Gladstone, Protestant Christianity and People's Movements in Kerala: A Study of Christian Mass Movements in Relation to Neo-Hindu Socio-Religious Movements in Kerala, 1850–1936 (Trivandrum: Seminary Publications, 1984); and Dick Kooiman, Conversion and Social Equality in India: The London Missionary Society in South Travancore in the 19th Century (New Delhi: Manohar, 1989). As for the tribes, the major tribes who converted were the Boros, Garos, Khasis, Kukis, Mizos and Nagas in the North-East; Kharias, Mundas, Santhals and Uraons in east India; and Bhils and Dangs in western India. Compared to the subject of outcaste conversion, scholars have not attended much to the area of tribal conversion. 4 Shourie, Missionaries in India: Continuities, Changes, Dilemmas, pp.205–6. 5 At times even Evangelicalists see this. Arthur Mayhew, for instance, talked of 'Christian forces at work in the administration of India and the mutual relationship of the British Government and Christian Missions'. See Arthur Mayhew, Christianity and the Government of India 1600–1920 (London: Baber & Gwyer, 1929). 6 See Niharranjan Ray, 'Introductory Address', and the comments of S.P. Sinha and D.R. Mankekar under 'Discussions', in K. Suresh Singh (ed.), The Tribal Situation in India (Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2nd rpr., 1990), pp.19, 620–1. 7 There is yet another viewpoint that takes Christianity as a 'civilizing, elevating, and ennobling agency' or as 'selected agents' emancipating the suppressed tribals. See P.K. Nundy, Assistant Master, in Report of the Chota Nagpur Mission in Connection with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for the Year Ending 30 September 1889, p.14; and S.C. Roy, The Mundas and Their Country (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1970), p.204. But even this viewpoint is not free from this assumption. 8 Andrew Porter, Religion Versus Empire?: British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700–1914 (Manchester: Manchester University Press), 2004. 9 Susan Visvanathan, 'The Homogeneity of Fundamentalism: Christianity, British Colonialism and India in the Nineteenth Century', in Studies in History, Vol.16, no.2 (2000), pp.221–53. 10 Porter, Religion Versus Empire?: British Protestant Missionaries and Overseas Expansion, 1700–1914. 11 Frederick S. Downs, History of Christianity in India, Volume V, Part 5: North-East India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Bangalore: The Church History Association, 1992); and Lal Dena, Christian Missions and Colonialism: A Study of Missionary Movement in North-East India with Particular Reference to Manipur and Lusai Hills 1894–1947 (Shillong,: Vendrame Institute, 1988), pp.10–12. 12 Downs, History of Christianity in India, Volume V, Part 5: North-East India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. 13 Eric Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, rpr., 1982); Fidelis de Sa, Crisis in Chota Nagpur: With Special Reference to the Judicial Conflict between Jesuit Missionaries and Government Officials (Bangalore: Redemptorist Publication, 1975). 14 Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in India: A Study with Recommendations, offers some glimpse of the reception side. Among recent works, Marine Carrin and Herald Tams-Lyche, 'The Santals, Though Unable to Plan for Tomorrow Should Be Converted by the Santals', in Robert Eric Frykenberg (ed.), The Christians and Missionaries in India: Cross-Cultural Communication, since 1500 (London: William B. Errdmans Co. and Routledge-Curzon, 2003), pp.274–94. 15 See especially Andrew Porter, '"Culture Imperialism" and Protestant Missionary Enterprise 1780–1914', in Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol.25, no.3 (Sept. 1997), p.387; G.A. Oddie, '"Orientalism" and British Protestant Missionary Constructions of India in the Nineteenth Century', in South Asia, Vol.XVII, no.2 (1994), pp.27–42; and Eugene F. Irschick, Dialogue and History: Constructing South India, 1795–1895 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994). 16 Irschick, Dialogue and History: Constructing South India, 1795–1895, p.10. 17 The early history of the two tribes is hazy. The Mundas (Kolerians) had been living in Chhotanagpur in pre-Christian times. The Uraons (Dravidians) migrating from South India joined them there around the beginning of the Christian era. In Chhotanagpur the two tribes became 'closely associated as regards territory, occupations, manners and even traditions … [with] past vicissitudes interwoven just as their present lives are'. F.A. Griegnard, 'The Uraons and Mundas: From the Time of their Settlement in India', in Anthropos, Vol.IV (1909), p.5. 18 Land was actually the bedrock of their socio-cultural life. The tribals believed that it was the home of their dead ancestors, who dwelt around them as invisible spirits. Based on a land-centred culture, the tribals evolved an egalitarian social life and a democratic system of governance. There was no concept of kingship or of rent. Only nominal chandas (voluntary contribution in kind) and some days of free labour were paid to the village headman and village council members in lieu of their services to the community. For a description of bhuinhar/bhuinhari see J. Hoffmann, Encyclopaedia Mundarica, Vol.II (Patna: Government Printing, Bihar, rpr., 1950), pp.512–20. 19 Chhotanagpur came under British rule in 1765 with the grant of the diwani of Bengal following the Battle of Buxer. But the first British officer entered the region only in 1772. 20 The British interest limited itself to the acquisition of nominal revenue from the local Nagabansi ruler and the strategic position of the region (on the south-west frontier of Bengal) against Maratha power. 21 J. Hoffmann, Encyclopaedia Mundarica, Vol.IV (Patna: Government Printing, Bihar, rpr., 1950) p.1442. 22 In 1823 a geologist, H.W. Voysey, surveyed the mineral resources. See W. King and T.A. Tope (comps), Gold, Copper and Lead in Chotanagpur and Adjacent Country (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1891), p.4. In 1827 S.T. Cuthbert, the Judge-Magistrate of Ramgarh Hill Tract, conducted a comprehensive survey of the region. See his report in S.C. Roy, 'Ethnological Investigation in Official Records', in Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol.VII, part IV (1931), pp.1–34 (hereafter 'Report of S.T. Cuthbert, 1827'). In the area of agriculture, the cultivation of opium, a prime commercial crop, was introduced to link Chhotanagpur to the 'triangular trade' between India, China and Britain. See Romila Thapar and Majid Hayat Siddiqi, 'Chotanagpur: Pre-Colonial and Colonial Situation', UNESCO, Trends in Ethnic Group Relations in Asia and Oceania (Paris: UNESCO, 1979), p.137. 23 Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India. 24 Lynn Zastoupil and Martin Moir (eds), 'Introduction', The Great Indian Education Debate: Documents Relating to the Orientalist–Anglicist Controversy, 1781–1843 (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1999). 25 'Report of S.T. Cuthbert, 1827', p.5. 26 Generally spelt 'Kol', it was used as a derogatory term for the two tribes by outsiders. 27 J. Reid, Final Report of the Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Ranchi (Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1912), p.25 (emphasis added). 28 Joseph Bara, 'Tribal Beast or Tribal Man?: A Case for a New Concept of "Tribe"', in Social Action, Vol.52, no.2 (Apr.–June 2002), pp.121–33. The traditional colonial understanding of the tribals of east India was: 'The inhabitants were said to be robbers by profession, irreligious and savages by nature, worshipping none but crude village deities. They ate snakes and flesh of all kinds, drunk spurious liquor, and lived chiefly by plunder and by chase; their women were, in garb, manners and appearance, more like Rakshasas (monsters) than human beings. These races may be identified with Bagdis, Bauris and Bhumijs who swelled the ranks of the Chuars in the latter part of the eighteenth century'. L.S.S. O'Malley, Census of India, 1911, Vol. I, Part V: Bihar and Orissa (Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1913), p.234. 29 The British first learnt of this general advantage with tribal societies in the late eighteenth century while dealing with the Paharias, a tribal group in the north-east of Chhotanagpur. Subsequent missionary encounters with the other tribal groups, especially by William Carey and Bishop Heber, made it a common view, not only in respect of the tribes of this particular region, but even those of North-East India. See James Long (ed.), Selections from Unpublished Records of Government for the Years 1748 to 1767 (Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 2nd. ed., 1973), Appendix E, p.570; George Smith, The Life of William Carey D.D.: Shoemaker and Missionary (London: John Murray, 1855), p.120; M.A. Laird (ed.), Bishop Heber in Northern India: Selections from Heber's Journal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971), p.107; and N.K. Barooah, David Scott in North-East India, 1802–1831: A Study in British Paternalism (Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1970). 30 H. Ricketts, Selections from the Records of the Bengal Government No. XX: Papers Relating to South-West Frontier (Calcutta: 1855), p.37. 31 For details of the post-Kol Revolt reorganisation see J.C. Jha, The Tribal Revolt of Chotanagpur (1831–1832) (Patna: K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1987), Chaps. V–VI. 32 For his cordial ways Wilkinson remained etched in the tribal mind as 'Alkishun Saheb' up to the end of the nineteenth century. The town Kishenpur derived its name from 'Alkishun'. See Hoffmann, Encyclopaedia Mundarica, Vol.IV, p.1441. 33 The headmen were issued pattas (land ownership documents), which became the first recorded proof of land ownership. 34 The details on this are available in the report of John Davidson, Personal Assistant to the Political Agent to the Governor General. See S.C. Roy, 'Ethnological Investigation in Official Records', in Journal of Bihar and Orissa Research Society, Vol.XXI, part IV, pp.231–50. 36 Quoted in N. Kumar, Bihar District Gazetteer; Ranchi (Patna: Gazetteer Branch, Government of Bihar, 1970), p.465. 35 Reid, Final Report of the Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Ranchi, p.26. 37 William Adam, Third Report on the State of Education in Bengal (Calcutta: Bengal Orphan Press, 1838), p.222. 38 Wilkinson to Secretary, Board of Revenue, Bengal (2 August 1838), quoted in J.S. Jha, Education in Bihar (1813–1859) (Patna: K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1979), p.136. 39 Since 1825 the state–mission partnership there had been initiated by the Chief Commissioner of Assam, David Scott, a fervent Evangelist. See Barooah, David Scott in North-East India, 1802–1831: A Study in British Paternalism, pp.176–8. 40 Paul Streumer, 'Those Smiling Villages—An Inter-Disciplinary Study of British Imperialism and Nation Building: The Case of the Ho People in Eastern India, 1767–1875', unpublished PhD thesis, University of Leiden, 2003. 41 The leader of this group was Alexander Duff, the famous Scottish missionary. For Duff's strategy see Harashunker Dutt, 'On the Rise, Progress and Objects of the Free Church Institution in Calcutta', in Transactions of the Proceedings of the Bethune Society (Calcutta: Bethune Society, 1870). 42 In Bengal the leading member of this group was James Long of the Church Missionary Society. See for detail Geoffrey A. Oddie, Missionaries, Rebellion and Proto-Nationalism: James Long of Bengal 1814–87 (Richmond: Curzon Press, 1999); and Kenneth Ingham, Reformers in India 1793–1833 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956). 43 J.J. Weitbrecht, Protestant Missions in Bengal (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1844), p.335. 44 Reginald Heber to the Dean of St. Asaph, Fort William (16 December 1813), in Reginald Heber, Narrative from a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, Vol.III (Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corp., rpr., 1985), p.19. 45 Webster, The Dalit Christians: A History. 46 Laird, Bishop Heber in Northern India: Selections from Heber's Journal, p.107. Heber's idea belonged in the broad frame of the theory of Charles Grant, a former East India Company official and an Evangelical leader in Britain, who propounded the combination of Christianity with commerce in a booklet entitled Observations in the State of Society among the Asiatic Subjects of Great Britain and on the Means of Improving It, written in 1792 and published in 1797. The booklet, an influential document, was placed before the Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1813 at the time of the renewal of the Charter of the East India Company. It is found appended to the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Affairs of the East India Company, App.I (16 August 1832), pp.82–7. 47 B. Mather, 'Anglican–Lutheran Relations in Chotanagpur 1800–1917 with Special Reference to 1914–19: Their Historical Context and Theological Bearing', unpublished Master of Letters thesis, University of Durham, 1994, p.58. 48 Weitbrecht, Protestant Missions in Bengal, p.313. 49 E.H. Whitley, Historical Sketches: Chota Nagpur (Westminster: The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1901), p.1. 50 S.K. Patro and B.H. Mather, Anglican Church in Chotanagpur 1869–1969 (Ranchi: Diocese of Chotanagpur), 1969, p.1a. 51 Ibid. 52 Mather, 'Anglican–Lutheran Relations in Chotanagpur 1800–1917 with Special Reference to 1914–19: Their Historical Context and Theological Bearing', p.59. 53 Downs, History of Christianity in India, Volume V, Part 5: North-East India in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, p.39. 54 In this case a plea to the GEL mission authorities came from a German lady, whose doctor husband was murdered by the tribals. See 'History of Gossner's Mission in Chota Nagpur', in Report of the German Evangelical Lutheran (Gossner's) Mission in Chota Nagpur and Assam for the Year 1907 (Ranchi: 1908), p.1. 55 Haeberlin was Secretary of the Calcutta Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Later he made his son, Carl Haeberlin, join the Chhotanagpur GEL mission. 56 Dhangars, literally meaning inhabitants of dhangs or hills, were de-peasantised tribals ejected from their land by migrant landlords. They had been leaving Chhotanagpur in small groups in search of their livelihood since the early nineteenth century. 57 'History of Gossner's Mission in Chota Nagpur', pp.1–2. 58 Mather, 'Anglican–Lutheran Relations in Chotanagpur 1800–1917 with Special Reference to 1914–19: Their Historical Context and Theological Bearing', p.15. 59 Joseph Mullens, Ten Years of Missionary Labour in India between 1852 and 1861 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1863), p.40; and J. Cave-Brown, The Chota Nagpur Mission, Its History and Present Position (Calcutta: Thomas S. Smith, City Press, 1870), p.10. 60 Whitley, Historical Sketches: Chota Nagpur, p.9. 61 'History of Gossner's Mission in Chota Nagpur', p.2. 62 Whitley, Historical Sketches: Chota Nagpur, p.9. Curiously, even the lower-caste adherents of Kartabhaja, another non-Brahminical sect in Krisnagar District of Bengal, had a similar 'greatest longing…to have a vision of god' while considering whether to convert to Christianity around the same period. See G.A. Oddie, 'Old Wine in New Bottles? Kartabhaja (Vaishnava) Converts to Evangelical Christianity in Bengal, 1835–1845', in Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol.32, no.3 (1995), p.334. 63 They had learned to read under the influence of the Kabir Panth. Down to the late nineteenth century, according to K.S. Singh, there were Kabir Panthis in good number among the Mundas. See K.S. Singh, Birsa Munda and His Movement 1874–1901: A Study of a Millenarian Movement in Chotanagpur (Calcutta: Oxford University Press, 1983), p.48. 64 These features were characteristic of the non-Brahminical movements of India from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. They attracted the lower castes and later their beliefs became partially responsible for large-scale lower-caste conversions to Christianity in various parts of the country. In Andhra, one Yerraguntla Pariah, an adherent of the Ramanuja sect, led outcaste Madigas to Christianity. The Chuhras in Punjab were similarly group-led. Nearer Chhotanagpur, William Carey had his first convert in 1800 in Krishna Pal, a low-caste carpenter and follower of Karta Bhaja. See Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in India: A Study with Recommendation, pp.47–8; John C.B. Webster, Christian Community and Change in Nineteenth Century North India (New Delhi: Macmillan, 1976), p.48; Smith, The Life of William Carey D.D.: Shoemaker and Missionary, p.133; and Oddie, 'Old Wine in New Bottles?', pp.329–36. 65 B.B. Chaudhuri, 'Society and Culture of the Tribal World in Colonial India: Reconsidering the Notion of "Hinduization" of Tribes', in Hetukar Jha (ed.), Perspectives on Indian Society and History: A Critique (New Delhi: Manohar, 2002), p.34. 66 Oddie, 'Old Wine in New Bottles?', p.329. 67 T.W.M. Marshall, Christian Missions: Their Agents, Their Method and Their Results, Vol. I (London: Burns and Lambert, 1862), p.502. 68 S.C. Roy observes that if Hinduism spreads at all among these tribals, it will be only in its simplified Vaishnavite version. See Roy, The Mundas and Their Country, p.99. 69 De Sa, Crisis in Chota Nagpur: With Special Reference to the Judicial Conflict between Jesuit Missionaries and Government Officials, p.70. 70 Quoted in 'History of Gossner's Mission in Chhota Nagpur', p.7 (emphasis added). 71 O'Malley, Census of India, 1911, Vol. I, Part V: Bihar and Orissa, p.55. 72 Report of the Chota Nagpore Mission for the Year 1863, p.4. This 'First Report of the Chota-Nagpore Mission before the Indian Public' is a valuable document in respect of the early missionary ways and the tribals. 73 Report of the German Evangelical Lutheran (Gossner's) Mission in Chota Nagpur and Assam, 1907, p.3. 74 Report of the Chota Nagpur Mission 1863, p.4. 75 'History of the Gossner's Mission in Chota Nagpur', p.7. 76 World Missionary Conference 1910: Report of Commission II (New York: Fleming H. Rivell, 1910), p.86. 77 Report of the Chota Nagpur Mission 1863, p.6; and W.W. Hunter, Statistical Account of Bengal, Vol. XVI, Districts Hazaribagh and Lohardaga (Delhi: Concept Publishing Company, rpr. 1975), p.440. 78 Differences between older missionaries and a new contingent of young missionaries led to a split. At the request of the former group, supported by their tribal adherents and by Commissioner Dalton, Bishop Milman of Calcutta appointed them as the missionaries of the SPG. See details in file 'Adoption of Chota Nagpore Mission 1868–1969', Bishop's College Library, Kolkata. 79 Whitley, Historical Sketches: Chota Nagpur, p.3. 80 Marshall, Christian Missions: Their Agents, Their Method and Their Results, Vol. I, p.505. 81 To capture the slow pace of the development of the Jesuit mission, see P. Ponette, The Dawn of Ranchi Mission (Ranchi: Catholic Press, 1992). 82 M. Vermeire, 'History of Barway Mission, Vol. I: The Lievens Period', mimeo. (Kurseong: 1943), p.5 (Jesuit Archives, Ranchi). For the life and works of Lievens see L. Clarysse, Father Constant Lievens, SJ (Ranchi: Satya Bharati, 1985). 83 De Sa, Crisis in Chota Nagpur: With Special Reference to the Judicial Conflict between Jesuit Missionaries and Government Officials, p.135; and Whitley, Historical Sketches: Chota Nagpur, p.32. 84 H. Josson (trans. L. Clarysse), The Mission of West Bengal (Ranchi: Catholic Press [1921] 1993), p.94. 85 Report of the Chota Nagpur Mission for the Year ending 30 September 1887, pp.2–3. 86 The mission was losing many of its adherents to the Jesuits or the 'real plague', as they called it. In 1889–90 alone it lost some 1,500 members. See A. Nottrott, 'Report on the Gossner Kol-Mission for the Year 1903', p.1 (Jesuit Archives, Ranchi); and The Indo-European Correspondence (26 Mar. 1890), p.293. 90 The Indo-European Correspondence (26 Mar. 1890), p.293. 87 The Indo-European Correspondence (26 Mar. 1890), p.292. 88 Letter from A. Stockman SJ (25 Mar. 1876) in The Indo-European Correspondence (1 Apr. 1876). 89 G.A. Oddie, 'Protestant Missions, Caste and Social Change in India, 1850–1914', in Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol.VI, no.3 (1969), pp.259–91. 91 L. Haghenbeek, 'Some Further Remarks on Fr. Lievens', in M. Vermeire, 'Lievens Documents from Contemporary Missionaries', mimeo. (Gholeng: 1957), p.88 (Jesuit Archives, Ranchi). Haghenbeek was a colleague and critic of Lievens. 92 Ibid. 93 E.T. Dalton, Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Secretary, Government of Bengal (25 Mar. 1859) in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I (Calcutta: Government of Bengal, 1890). 94 Ibid 95 'History of Gossner's Mission in Chota Nagpur', p.4. 96 J.S. Davies, Senior Assistant Commissioner, Lohardaga, to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (15 Mar. 1859), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I; and Dalton, Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Secretary, Government of Bengal (25 Mar. 1859), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I. 97 This was strikingly different from the situation elsewhere in north India where landlords were overwhelmingly joined by the peasantry. See Joseph Bara, 'Tribal Education, the Colonial State and Christian Missionaries: Chhotanagpur, 1839–1870', in Sabyasachi Bhattacharya (ed.), Education and the Dispriviledged: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century India (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2002), pp.137–8. 98 See details of the landlords' backlash in 'History of Gossner's Mission in Chota Nagpur', pp.4–5. 99 Rev. H. Onasch and 15 other missionaries to Lt. Governor, Bengal (17 May 1876) in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I., p.16. 100 Scholars have either overlooked this movement or have failed to recognise its importance: the entire set of 'Subaltern Studies' ignores it. K.S. Singh, whose scholarship on the tribal movements of Chhotanagpur has been well known for over three decades, is more concerned to demonstrate that the Birsa movement was an 'advance' over the Sardari Larai movement and assigns the latter the role of second fiddle. See Singh, Birsa Munda and His Movement 1874–1901. Noted historian Sumit Sarkar, in his authoritative survey of popular movements in colonial India, explains the 'primary resistance' led by traditional chiefs in Chhotanagpur before the Sardari Larai movement and the 'revivalist' movement led by Birsa following it, but mentions Sardari Larai only fleetingly. See Sumit Sarkar, Popular Movement and 'Middle Class' Leadership in Late Colonial India: Perspective from Below (Calcutta: K.P. Bagchi for Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, 1983). 101 For the rise and details of the theory see Stanley, '"Commerce and Christianity": Providence Theory, the Missionary Movement, and the Imperialism of Free Trade, 1842–1860', pp.71–4. 102 Stokes, The English Utilitarians and India, p.55. 103 Report of the Chota Nagpore Mission 1863, p.10. 104 Dalton, Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Rivers Thompson, Officiating Secretary, Bengal (31 July 1871), in P.C. Roy Choudhury (ed.), Singhbhum Old Records (Patna: Secretariat Press, 1958), p.218. 105 For elaboration of the curriculum see Joseph Bara, 'Seeds of Mistrust: Tribal and Colonial Perspectives on Education in Chhotanagpur, 1834–c.1850', in History of Education, Vol.34, no.6 (Nov. 2005), pp.617–37. 106 During this period it was a general policy of the government to empower the peasantry to a limited extent through such education. The idea was to check the growing clout of the landlords in many regions. See Despatch No.49, Court of Directors of the East India Company, to Governor General of India in Council (19 July 1854), in J.A. Richey (ed.), Selections from Educational Records, Part II, 1840–1859 (New Delhi: National Archives of India, rpr. 1965), p.376. 107 Davies, Senior Assistant Commissioner, Lohardaga, to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (15 Mar. 1859), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol. I, p.3. 110 Report of the Chota Nagpore Mission 1863, p.13. 108 Report of the German Evangelical Lutheran (Gossner's) Mission in Chota Nagpur and Assam, 1907, p.6. 109 Onasch and 15 others to Lt. Governor of Bengal (17 May 1876), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.16. 111 Government of Bengal, General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of Bengal, 1864–65, p.244. 112 Dalton, Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Officiating Secretary, Government of Bengal (31 July 1871), in Choudhury, Singhbhum Old Records, p.219; and Government of Bengal, General Report on Public Instruction in the Lower Provinces of Bengal, 1872–73. 113 Report of Chota Nagpore Mission 1863, p.10. 114 Government of Bengal, General Report on Public Instruction, 1864–65, p.244. 115 Government of Bengal, General Report on Public Instruction, 1872–73, Appendix A, p.513. 116 Ibid. The Campbell scheme was named after George Campbell, Lt. Governor of the Province of Bengal from 1871 to 1874 and a champion of popular education. 117 Government of India, Report of the Indian Education Commission (Calcutta: Superintendant of Government Printing, 1883), p.511. 118 R.D. Haldar, Special Commissioner, to Deputy Commissioner, Lohardaga (22 May 1880), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.83; and H. Ricketts, Selections from the Records of the Bengal Government, No XX (Calcutta: 1855), pp.12–14. 119 Ricketts, Selections from the Records of the Bengal Government, No XX, pp.12–14. 120 Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Under-Secretary, Government of Bengal (31 Jan. 1868), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.9. 121 For details see Reid, Final Report of the Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Ranchi, p.35. 122 Ibid.; and Hoffmann, Encyclopaedia Mundarica, Vol.II, p.520. 123 Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Bengal (30 June 1880), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.76. 124 'Note', Personal Assistant, to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (15 Mar. 1890), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes, Vol.II, p.44; and Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Bengal, to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (7 Apr. 1890), in ibid., p.51. The government finally conducted the survey between 1902 and 1910 following the Birsa movement (1895–1900) and, on the basis of the findings of the survey, it passed the Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 to protect the tribals, which continues to this day. Reid's Final Report of the Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Ranchi covers the same survey. 125 'Resolution of the Government of Bengal' (4 June 1885), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes, Vol.I', p.118. 127 Rev. F. Batsch to Deputy Commissioner, Lohardaga (15 Nov. 1867), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.11. 126 D. Schwerin, 'Control of Land and Labour in Chota Nagpur, 1858–1908', in D. Rothermund and D.C. Wadhwa (eds), Zamindars, Mines and Peasants: Studies in the History of an Indian Coalfield and its Rural Hinterland (New Delhi: Manohar, 1978), pp.53–4. The petition is available in Anonymous, 'The Kols of Chota Nagpore', in Calcutta Review, Vol.XLIX, no.XCVII (1869), pp.133–5. 128 Streumer, 'Those Smiling Villages—An Inter-Disciplinary Study of British Imperialism and Nation Building'. 129 Whitley, Historical Sketches: Chota Nagpur, p.32. 130 'William Minz aur Purna Prasad Kispotta par Nalish' ('Case against William Minz and Purna Prasad Kispotta'), Gharbandhu (15 June 1887), pp.96–8. 131 Onasch and 15 others to Lt. Governor of Bengal (17 May 1876), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.16. 132 Gharbandhu (15 Aug. 1879), p.143. 133 See a summary of the contents in Gharbandhu (15 Feb. 1890), pp.28–31. 134 Rev. C. Lievens SJ, Director of the Catholic Missions in Lohardaga District, to His Grace The Most Rev. Dr. Paul Goethals SJ, Archbishop of Calcutta (19 Feb. 1890), Lievens Documents File (Jesuit Archives, Ranchi), p.9 135 Ibid., p.5 (emphasis in original) 136 Josson, The Mission of West Bengal, p.57. 137 Ibid., p.9. 138 The Indo-European Correspondence (22 Jan. 1890), pp.76–7. 139 See for instance ibid. (22 Jan. 1890), pp.76–7; (29 Jan. 1890), pp.103–4; and (26 Mar. 1890), pp.291–2. 140 Ibid (22 Jan. 1890), p.76. 141 Vermeire, 'A History of Barway Mission, Part I: The Lievens Period'; and Lievens to Goethals (19 Feb. 1890), Lievens Documents File, p.4. 142 See details of the complaints in de Sa, Crisis in Chota Nagpur: With Special Reference to the Judicial Conflict between Jesuit Missionaries and Government Officials, pp.188–200. 143 Secretary, Revenue Department, to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (7 Apr. 1890), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.II, p.48. 144 See the report in 'Papers relating to the Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.II, pp. 140–3. 145 Quoted in Lievens to Goethals (19 Feb. 1890), Lievens Documents File, p.1. 146 Vermeire, 'History of Barway Mission, Part I: The Lievens Period', p.20. 147 Lievens to Goethals (19 Feb. 1890), Lievens Documents File, p.9. 148 Gharbandhu (30 Apr. 1890), p.45; and Vermeire, 'History of Barway Mission Part I: The Lievens Period', p.14. 149 Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Bengal, to Commissioner, Chota Nagpore Division (7 Apr. 1890), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.II, p.50; and Lievens to Goethals (19 Feb. 1890), Lievens Documents File, pp.7–8. 150 See for instance de Sa, Crisis in Chota Nagpur: With Special Reference to the Judicial Conflict between Jesuit Missionaries and Government Officials. 151 Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Bengal to Commissioner, Chota Nagpore Division (7 Apr. 1890), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.II, p.50. 152 Vermeire, 'A History of Barway Mission Part I: The Lievens Period', p.24. Yet a new wave of conversion in the post-1890 period occurred in Biru, especially among the Kharias, a branch of the Mundas, and in the neighbouring Jashpur princely state south of Chhotanagpur, where Uraons lived. 153 Hoffmann, a German, mastered the tribal system and problems even more thoroughly. When the government, prompted by the Birsa movement (1895–1900), ordered a survey and permanent settlement of the whole land and labour issue of the tribals (1902–1910), it could not ignore the authoritative knowledge of Hoffmann. The Chotanagpur Tenancy Act 1908 included his note on the tribals' bhuinhari rights as an appendix. 154 These began with the 1855 report of Henry Ricketts, Visiting Member, Board of Revenue, and culminated in the report of R.D. Haldar, Special Commissioner to the bhuinhari survey of 1880. In them, the tribals' cultural rights and identity were recognised. Haldar's note entitled 'An Account of the Village System of Chota Nagpur' appended to his report, and ethnological writings, especially E.T. Dalton's Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal (Calcutta: Superintendant of Government Printing, 1872), became authoritative data. 155 Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Secretary, Government of Bengal (25 Mar. 1859), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.1. 156 Anonymous, 'The Kols of Chota Nagpore', p.122. 157 Schwerin, 'Control of Land and Labour in Chota Nagpur, 1858–1908', p.53. The summary of the numerous petitions and details of these events are available in Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Chief Secretary, Government of Bengal (19 Nov. 1887), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I. 158 Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Bengal, to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (7 Apr. 1890), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, pp.48–9. 159 Petition dated 25 March 1879 of '14000 Christians' to Commissioner, Chota Nagpur, in S.C. Roy, The Mundas and Their Country, pp.162–3. 160 Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Chief Secretary, Government of Bengal (19 Nov. 1887), in 'Papers Relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.126. 161 Mullens, Ten Years of Missionary Labour in India between 1852 and 1861, p.43. For a more intimate account of the 'sublime' participation of the tribals in a Sunday service as witnessed by visiting Bishop Henry Cotton in 1864 at Ranchi central church, see Cave-Brown, The Chota Nagpur Mission, Its History and Present Position, pp.24–6. 162 Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of Bengal to Commissioner, Chotanagpur (7 Apr. 1890), in 'Papers relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.II, p 50. 165 Undated (but before 1887) petition by two former students of the Lutheran Mission School, in John MacDougall, Land or Religion?: The Sardar and Kherwar Movements in Bihar 1858–1895 (New Delhi: Manohar, 1985), Appendix B2, p.261. 163 J. Hoffmann, Encyclopaedia Mundarica, Vol.V (Patna: Government Printing, Bihar), pp.1449–50; and Haldar, Special Commissioner, to Deputy Commissioner, Lohardaga (22 May 1880), in 'Papers relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol.I, p.82. 164 C.C. Stevens, Commissioner, Chotanagpur, to Chief Secretary, Bengal (19 Nov. 1887), in 'Papers relating to Chotanagpur Agrarian Disputes', Vol. I, p.129. 166 Petition to Lt. Governor of Bengal (1881), in ibid, p.262. 167 Porter, '"Culture Imperialism" and Protestant Missionary Enterprise 1780–1914', p.387. 168 Sarkar, Popular Movement and 'Middle Class' Leadership in Late Colonial India; and K.S. Singh, Birsa Munda and His Movement 1874–1901. There are indications, which have escaped scholarly attention, that the Munda and Uraon psyche of the time was, apart from being anti-landlord while seeking rehabilitation of their original identity and rights, also anti-British. See Joseph Bara, 'Modern Education and the Rise of Self-Identity among the Mundas and Oraons 1839–1947', unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Delhi, 2002, Chap.VI. 169 M.N. Srinivas, Social Change in Modern India (New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1977). 170 Ramachandra Guha, Savaging the Civilized: Verrier Elwin, His Tribals, and India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999). 171 The proponent of this theory was sociologist G.S. Ghurye in his The Aborigines—So-Called—and Their Future (Poona: Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, 1943). His ideas greatly influenced the political leadership, including A.V. Thakkar, an associate of Mahatma Gandhi, who played a crucial role in tribal matters.