Santhal Pargana

Topic: Peasant and Tribal Resistance under Company Rule · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Colonialism and the Countryside"

Meaning

The Santhal Pargana was a separate district set up by the British after the Santhal Hul (1855–56). It was made by cutting about 5,500 square miles out of the Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts and was run under special laws to calm the Santhals. Today it is a division of Jharkhand.

It matters because it shows that a revolt can lose on the battlefield and still change the law. It is one of the earliest examples of the colonial state giving a tribal community its own protected territory.

Explanation

Background: why a separate district was needed

• The Santhals were invited as pioneers (the first settlers who cut down forest and made fields) in the Rajmahal hills of the Bengal Presidency.
• They settled the Damin-i-Koh ("the skirts of the hills"). This was land the Company marked off for Santhal farming. [2]
• Within two decades, this land began slipping out of their hands. Three groups were squeezing them at once:
• The colonial state taxed land the Santhals had cleared themselves, and the taxes kept rising.
• Moneylenders (dikus) charged very high interest. Diku means "outsider" in Santhali. When a Santhal could not repay, the moneylender took his land.

• Zamindars (landlords) claimed control over the Damin area.

• By the 1850s, the Santhals saw zamindars, moneylenders and the colonial state as their enemies.

The revolt that forced the change

• 30 June 1855: Sidhu and Kanhu spoke to about 10,000 Santhals in Damin-i-Koh. They said Thakur Bonga (the great spirit) had ordered them to drive out the outsiders and set up Santhal rule. [2]
• The rebels declared their own government and vowed to "fight to the last drop of blood."
• The British struck back hard:
• Their army burned whole villages and killed thousands.
• Martial law (army rule in place of the normal courts) was imposed. [2]

• The fighting lasted about six months. An estimated 15,000–20,000 Santhals died. [2]

• Sidhu was caught in mid-August 1855 and hanged. Kanhu was executed on 23 February 1856. [2]

How the Santhal Pargana worked

• Territory: about 5,500 sq miles taken from Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts.
• Special laws: the district was not run like an ordinary Bengal district. It had its own rules.
• Aim: the British hoped that giving the Santhals a territory of their own would calm them and stop another rising.
• British view: the British called these administrative reforms. They said the reforms gave the Santhals more self-rule and some protection from exploitation. [2]

Results and later life

• The district was a structural concession, meaning a lasting change in how the area was governed and not just a one-time favour.
• It shows that colonial policy changed only when revenue and order were in danger.
• The Hul inspired other tribal communities to resist, and the protected district became an early model of special tribal administration.
• The name lives on: Santhal Pargana is now a division of Jharkhand.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: it was created soon after the Santhal Hul of 1855–56, under East India Company rule.
• Region: the Rajmahal hills and the Damin-i-Koh tract of the Bengal Presidency, carved from Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts. The area is now in Jharkhand.
• Key people:
• The leaders of the Hul were Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, their younger brothers Chand and Bhairav, and the sisters Phulo and Jhano. [3]

• Maharaja Mehtab Chand of Burdwan helped the British put down the rising.

• How we know:

• NCERT Class 12, "Colonialism and the Countryside" records the 5,500 sq miles, the two parent districts and the special laws.
• Government of India (PIB) records name the wider leadership and mark 30 June as Hul Diwas. [3]
• The Illustrated London News showed peaceful Santhal villages in 1851. After 1855 it showed "violent and savage deeds", burning villages and chained prisoners. These pictures show how the British explained the revolt to people at home.

Don't confuse with

• Damin-i-Koh: this was the tract the Company marked off for Santhal farming before the revolt. The Santhal Pargana was the district created after the revolt, taking land from Bhagalpur and Birbhum.
• 24 Parganas: this is a district of Bengal near Calcutta and has nothing to do with the Santhal revolt. "Pargana" is simply an old word for a revenue sub-division, so the shared word is a trap.
• Munda Ulgulan (Birsa Munda): this was a later tribal rising in the Chota Nagpur area. The Santhal Pargana came out of the Santhal Hul of 1855–56, not the Munda revolt.
• Hul Diwas (30 June): this marks the day the Hul began in 1855. It is not the date the Santhal Pargana was created.

Prelims Hooks

• The Santhal Pargana was created after the Santhal Hul (1855–56) from Bhagalpur and Birbhum districts. It covered about 5,500 sq miles and had special laws.
• Hul means "revolution" in Santhali. [2]
• Before the revolt, the Santhals were settled in the Damin-i-Koh of the Rajmahal hills. [2]
• 30 June 1855 was the day Sidhu and Kanhu addressed about 10,000 Santhals. It is now observed as Hul Diwas. [2][3]
• Order of events: Sidhu captured (mid-August 1855) → Kanhu executed (23 February 1856) → Santhal Pargana with special laws. [2]
• Trap: Maharaja Mehtab Chand of Burdwan helped the British, not the Santhals, both in the Hul and in 1857.

Mains Points

• Tribal protection began as a way to stop revolts. The Hul was crushed by force, yet it produced a separate district with special laws. The British acted to protect revenue and order, not out of goodwill. Use this to argue that tribal legal protection in India began as a counter-insurgency tool (a way of preventing future revolts).
• One problem, one territorial fix. The Santhals were squeezed by state taxes, diku debt and zamindari land claims at the same time. The root cause was that the Company turned land into something that could be taxed, mortgaged and sold, which tribal custom did not allow. The Santhal Pargana tried to fix this by keeping the area apart. The same pattern of exploitation came back in the Deccan Riots and the Munda Ulgulan.
• Continuity and change. Before 1855, the British praised the Santhals as pioneers and pictured them as peaceful (Illustrated London News, 1851). After 1855 they showed them as "savage". In the end, the British governed them under separate laws. This change shows how colonial knowledge built the idea of the "tribe" as a separate group that needed a separate system of rule.

Related concepts

• Diku
• Santhal rebellion
• Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu

Read more

• The Santhal Hul, 1855–56