Everything about The Sannyasi Rebellion totally explained
The
Sannyasi Rebellion or
Sannyasi Revolt (
Bengali: সন্ন্যাসী বিদ্রোহ,
The Monk's Rebellion) is a term used to describe activities of
sannyasis and
fakirs, or
Hindu and
Muslim ascetics respectively, in
Bengal,
India in the late eighteenth century. It is also known as the
Fakir-Sannyasi Rebellion (ফকির-সন্ন্যাসী বিদ্রোহ). Historians have not only debated what events constitute the rebellion, but have also varied on the significance of the rebellion in Indian history. While some refer to it as an early war for
India's independence from foreign rule, since the right to collect tax had been given to the
British East India Company after the
Battle of Plassey in
1757, others categorize it as random acts of violent banditry following the depopulation of the province, post the
Bengal famine of 1770.
Early events
At least three separate events are called the Sannyasi Rebellion. One refers to a large body of ascetics both
Hindu sannyasis and
Muslim madaris, religious
fakirs that travelled from North India to different parts of Bengal to visit shrines. On route to the shrines, it was customary for many of these holy men to exact a religious tax from the headmen and
zamindars or regional landlords. In times of prosperity, the headmen and zamindars generally obliged. However, since the East India Company received the
diwani or right to collect tax, many of the tax demands increased and the local landlords and headmen were unable to pay both the ascetics and the English. Crop failures, and famine, which killed ten million people or an estimated one-third of the population of Bengal compounded the problems since much of the arable land lay fallow.
In
1771, 150 fakirs were put to death, apparently for no reason. This was one of the reasons that caused distress leading to violence, especially in
Natore in
Rangpur, now in modern
Bangladesh. However, some modern historians argue that the movement never gained popular support.
Clashes between the Company and ascetics
When the Company's forces tried to prevent the sannyasis and fakirs from entering the province or from collecting their money in the last three decades of the eighteenth century, fierce clashes often ensued, with the Company's forces not always victorious. Most of the clashes were recorded in the years following the famine but they continued, albeit with a lesser frequency, up until 1802. The reason that even with superior training and forces, the Company wasn't able to suppress sporadic clashes with migrating ascetics was that the control of the Company's forces in the far-removed hilly and jungle covered districts like
Birbhum and
Midnapore on local events was weak.
Legacy
The Sannyasi rebellion was the first of a series of revolts and rebellions in the Western districts of the province including (but not restricted to) the
Chuar Revolt of 1799 and the
Santal Revolt of 1831–32.
What effect the Sannyasi Rebellion had on rebellions that followed is debatable. Perhaps, the best reminder of the Rebellion is in literature, in the
Bengali novel
Anandamath, written by India's first modern novelist
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, from which the song
Vande Mataram was taken and declared to be India's National Song
(not to be confused with the Indian National Anthem).Further Information
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