Chuar Uprising

Famine, enhanced land revenue demands and economic distress goaded the Chuar aboriginal tribesmen of the Jungle Mahal of Midnapore district and also of the Bankura district (in Bengal) to take up arms.

These tribes people were basically farmers and hunters.

The uprising lasted from 1766 to 1772 and then, again surfaced between 1795 and 1816. The Chuars were prominent in Manbhum and Barabhum, especially in the hills between Barabhum and Ghatsila. They held their lands under a kind of feudal tenure, but were not strongly attached to the soil, being always ready to change from farming to hunting, at the bidding of their jungle chiefs or zamindars. In 1768, Jagannath Singh, the zamindar of Ghatsila, went up in arms, alongwith thousands of Chuars. The Company government capitulated. In 1771, the Chuar sardars, Shyam Ganjan of Dhadka, Subla Singh of Kaliapal and Dubraj rose in rebellion. This time, however, they were suppressed.

The most significant uprising was under Durjan (or Durjol) Singh in 1798. Durjan Singh was the zamindar of Raipur from which he was dispossessed owing to the operations of Bengal Regulations. In May 1798, his followers, a body of 1,500 Chuars, indulged in violent activities in Raipur to halt the auction of the estate of Raipur. The revolt was brutally suppressed by the British. Other leaders of the Chuars were Madhab Singh, the brother of the raja of Barabhum, Raja Mohan Singh, zamindar of Juriah and Lachman Singh of Dulma.

(The term ‘Chuar’ is considered derogatory by some historians who call this the Revolt of the Jungle Mahal, instead.)