Tilka Majhi
Tilka Majhi, according to popular accounts, was an Indian tribal leader who led a rebellion against British colonial rule from 1771 until his capture and execution in 1785. In these narratives, he is described as one of the earliest freedom fighters who organised local residents against the administration of the East India Company and is said to have assassinated Augustus Cleveland with a poison arrow, although contemporary records [|suggest otherwise].
According to historian Dinesh Narayan Verma, government records up to 1965 and early post-independence writings on tribal history, make no mention of a tribal leader [|named] 'Tilka Manjhi' or of his role in the death of Augustus Cleveland. He further noted that the first appearance of the figure 'Tilka Manjhi' came in 1970, in a book by Ramlakhan Prasad Gond, an engineer by profession, and concluded that Tilka Manjhi emerged as a historical personality without single historical evidence.
Since the 1970s, Tilka Manjhi has been featured in various literary works such as Mahasweta Devi's book Shaalgirah Ki Pukar Par. Several streets, institutions have been named after him.
Popular biography
According to collective memory, Tilka Manjhi was born in Tilakpur village of Sultanganj, Bengal Subah, traditionally identified as Santal, though some sources suggest otherwise. He had acquired the skills of archery, hunting wild animals, fording rivers, and climbing high trees in his childhood. His name, Tilka, means "person with angry red eyes" in Pahadia language was given due to his fierce nature. As a village head, he adopted the title "Manjhi," which signifies a leader in both Pahadia and Santal communities. Manjhi played a crucial role for worship and leading the Santal community. He was revered as Majhi Baba. His father name was Sundara Murmu. Tilka Manjhi took up arms against the British in 1784, predating the Indian Rebellion of 1857 by more than half a century. He organised the adivasis predominantly Santal to form an armed group to fight against the resource grabbing and exploitation of British.In 1784, the first armed rebellion occurred against the British, and was the beginning of the Santal revolt. It was due to a famine in 1770 and the consequences of the Court of Directors order influenced by William Pitt the Younger—the Court of Directors issued a ten-year order on the settlement of zamindari. This resulted in a minimal chance to negotiate between local zamdindars and Santal villagers. Majhi attacked Augustus Cleveland, the British commissioner lieutenant, and Rajmahal with a gulel. The British surrounded the Tilapore forest from which he operated, although 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 to the collector's residence at Bhagalpur. There, his lacerated body was hung from a Banyan tree.