- The series of civil rebellions were often led by
deposed rajas and nawabs or their descendants, uprooted and impoverished
zamindars, landlords and poligars(landed military magnates in south India).
- The major cause of all these civil rebellions taken as
a whole was the rapid changes the british introduced in the economy,
administration and land revenue system.
- Another major cause of the rebellions was the very
foreign character of British rule.
- From 1763 to 1856, there were more than forty major
rebellions.
- Displaced peasants and demobilized soldiers of Bengal
led by religious monks and dispossessed zamindars were the first to rise up in
the sanyasi rebellion made famous by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel
Anand Math, that lasted from 1763 to 1800.
- Chuar uprising took place in five districts of Bengal
and Bihar from 1766 to 1772 and then again from 1795 to 1816.
- In South India, the Raja of Vizianagaram revolted in
1794, the poligars of tamil nadu during 1790’s.
- Dewan velu Thampi of Travancore organized a heroic
revolt in 1805. He was publicly hanged even after he was dead.
- Bhil uprising took place during 1818 – 1831.
- The Kittur uprising, led by Chinnava, took place in 1824.
- The sattara uprising took placein 1841.
- Among the numerous tribal revolts, the santhal uprising
was the most massive.
- The santhals who live in the area between Bhagalpur and
rajmahal, known as Daman-i- Koh, rose in revolt; made a determined attempt to expel
the outsiders – the dikhus – and proclaimed the complete annihilation of the
alien regime.
- The santhal tribal heads were called as majhis and
parganites.
- The kols of chottanagpur rebelled from 1820 to 1837.
- The hill tribesmen of Rampa in coastal Andhra revolted
in March 1879 against the depredations of the government – supported mansabdars
and the new restrictive forest regulations.
- The rebellion of the Munda tribesmen, led by Birsa
Munda, Occurred during 1899-1900.
- Birsa, born in a poor share copper household in 1874,
declared himself to be a divine messenger. In 1899 he proclaimed a rebellion to
establish Munda rule in the land and encouraged the killing. He was captured in
1900 and he died in jail in June 1900.
Source: Compiled from India's struggle for Independence chapter 2(Civil Rebellions and Tribal Uprisings).