Birsa Munda Jayanti 2023: 15 November, the birthday of Lord Birsa Munda, is a historic day for Jharkhand. Lord Birsa Munda’s father’s name was Sugana Purti and mother’s name was Karmi Purti. At an early age, Birsa Munda started a war against the British, which he maintained till his death. Birsa Munda and his supporters had freed the British. They fought a long struggle to protect water, forest, land and independence. Birsa, who sacrificed his life for independence, called for Ulgulan Revolution. The glory story of Lord Birsa Munda will continue to inspire for ages.
If we talk about the genealogy of Dharti Aba Lord Birsa Munda, his fifth generation is living in Ulihatu. The first name that appears in the genealogy of Birsa is Lakri Munda. Lakri Munda’s sons were Sugana Munda and Pasna Munda. After that Sugana Munda had three sons, one Konta Munda, Birsa Bhagwan and Kanu Munda. Konta and Lord Birsa did not have any sons and their lineage started from their brother Kanu Munda. Kanu had a son, Mongal Munda, who had two sons, Sukhram Munda and Budhram Munda. Budhram had a son, Ravi Munda and after that his dynasty ended there. On the other hand, Sukhram Munda has four sons, Mongal Munda, Jangal Singh Munda, Kanu Munda and Ram Munda. Kanu Munda has two sons, Birsa Munda and Narayan Munda.
The tribal society was burning in the furnace of exploitation by Indian landlords and jagirdars and the British rulers. Birsa Munda considered it necessary to organize the tribals at three levels to liberate them from the torture of exploitation.
In 1895, Birsa started a war over forest land with the landlord system and revenue system implemented by the British. He also declared war against moneylenders. This was not only a rebellion but also a fight to save identity and culture.
Birsa took up arms against the British because the tribals were crushed by both sides. On one side there was poverty and on the other side there was Indian Forest Act 1882 due to which the claimants of the forest were being evicted from the forest. Birsa started protesting against this socially, economically and politically and carried out raids.
On October 1, 1894, Birsa agitated against the British. The British government considered it a sign of danger and arrested Birsa Munda and put him in Hazaribagh Central Jail in 1895 for two years.
Birsa Munda is counted among the great patriots. Tribal Pride Day is celebrated all over the country on the birth anniversary of Lord Birsa Munda.
Lord Birsa Munda was arrested by the British on 3 February 1900 from Jamkopai forest of Chakradharpur. He died on 9 June 1900 at the age of 25 in Ranchi jail, where he was imprisoned. The British government announced that he died of cholera, although he showed no symptoms of the disease.