Different Causes for Mainland and North-Eastern Tribal Revolts

The tribal movements can be analysed better if categorised into mainland tribal revolts and frontier tribal revolts concentrated mainly in the north-eastern part of India.

The mainland tribal rebellions were sparked off by a number of factors, an important one concerned with the tribal lands or forests.

The land settlements of the British affected the joint

ownership tradition among the tribals and disrupted their social fabric.

As agriculture was extended in a settled form by the Company government, the tribals lost their land, and there was an influx of non-tribals to these areas.

Shifting cultivation in forests was curbed and this added to the tribals’ problems. The government further extended its control over the forest areas by setting up reserved forests and restricting timber use and grazing. This was the result of the increasing demand from the Company for timber— for shipping and the railways.

Exploitation by the police, traders and money-lenders (most of them ‘outsiders’) aggravated the tribals’ sufferings. Some general laws were also abhorred for their intrusive nature as the tribals had their own customs and traditions. With the expansion of colonialism, Christian missionaries came to these regions and their efforts interfered with the traditional customs of the tribals. The missionaries, perceived as representatives of the alien rule, were resented

by the tribals.

The movements of the tribes of the north-eastern frontier were different from the non-frontier tribal revolts in some aspects.

For one thing, the tribes which shared tribal and cultural links with countries across the border did not concern themselves much with the nationalist struggle. Their revolts were often in favour of political autonomy within the Indian Union or complete independence.

Secondly, these movements were not forest-based or agrarian revolts as these tribals were generally in control of land and forest area. The British entered the north-eastern areas much later than the non-frontier tribal areas.

Thirdly, the frontier tribal revolts under the British continued for a longer time than the non-frontier tribal movements. De-sanskritisation movements also spread among the frontier tribals. The Meiteis organised a movement during Churchand Maharaja’s rule (between 1891 and 1941) to denounce the malpractices of the neo-Vaishnavite Brahmins. Sanskritisation movements were almost totally absent in the north-east frontier region in the colonial period.