So what did Birsa stand for? More than 125 years after his death, here’s a look at the tribal leader’s life, beliefs and legacy.

Who was Birsa Munda?

Birsa Munda is one of the most influential figures in the history of the Chotanagpur plateau, the mineral-rich region spanning Jharkhand and adjoining states.

Revered by many as “Dharti Aba” (father of the Earth), he is remembered for leading the Ulgulan, or the “Great Tumult” — a movement against colonial rule and “diku” (non-tribal outsider) zamindars amid the growing encroachment on Adivasi land and cultural institutions in the closing years of the 19th century.

Birsa’s influence, however, extended beyond the borders of the current Jharkhand state to the remote villages of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and more.

In his seminal study Birsa Munda and His Movement, historian K S Singh described Birsa as a religious reformer, social mobiliser and political leader who transformed the Munda tribal society.

Adivasi historian Joseph Bara similarly argues that Birsa cannot be understood merely as the leader of an agrarian uprising. Rather, he articulated a broader vision of Adivasi identity, autonomy and self-rule (Adivasi disum).

Bara notes that his prominence in mainstream political and public discourse grew significantly during the decades preceding and following the creation of Jharkhand in 2000.

Today, he is one of India’s most widely recognised Adivasi icons, occupying a central place in debates around Adivasi identity, land rights, religion and self-governance.

His early life and influences

Birsa Munda was born on November 15, 1875, in Ulihatu village in present-day Khunti district. His father, Sugna Munda, was also known as Masih Das after embracing Christianity. Sugna Munda is believed to have been associated with the Sardari movement, an earlier mobilisation by Munda and Oraon Adivasis against the erosion of traditional land rights and the growing influence of diku (outsider) landlords and intermediaries.

The penetration of Adivasi territories by outsiders had begun before British rule, but colonial land policies gave it unprecedented legal backing. Through measures such as the Permanent Settlement of 1773, the British empowered these revenue intermediaries to extract rent from lands traditionally governed under systems such as Khuntkatti. As customary rights eroded, many Adivasis faced growing indebtedness, land dispossession and forced labour, while village institutions lost control over their resources and affairs.

These developments became a major reason for agrarian unrest and resistance across Chotanagpur.

According to family accounts shared by Budhram Munda, a descendant of the family, Birsa spent parts of his early childhood at his uncle’s village before studying at missionary schools in Chaibasa.

During this period, he came into contact with Christian missionary education and was known by the Christian name “Daud”, which some family members also recall as “David”.

From resistance to statehood

The Ulgulan, led by Birsa Munda, reached its climax at Dombari Buru, a hill in a Khunti village, in January 1899. This was where thousands of Birsa’s followers gathered to assert their rights over land and challenge British authority, according to historian K S Singh.

Birsa Munda after his arrest in 1900. Wikimedia Commons

The British forces eventually surrounded the hill and fired into the crowd. In Adivasi memory, this was a massacre that killed hundreds, though official records estimate a much lower toll. Arrested on February 3, 1900, in the forests of Porahat after months on the run, Birsa Munda died in Ranchi Jail on June 9, 1900. Colonial records attributed his death to complications arising from cholera and chronic dysentery, though suspicions of poisoning have persisted among sections of his followers and in popular memory.

While the British may have crushed the uprising, Dombari Buru became a symbol of Adivasi resistance.

The episode compelled the colonial administration to initiate land reforms that culminated in legal recognition of Khuntkatti rights and later the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, 1908.

Bara writes that the aspiration for Adivasi self-governance articulated during Ulgulan was later channelled into the movement for a separate Jharkhand under Jaipal Singh Munda in the mid-1900s.

Religious views

Budhram Munda says that Birsa’s association with missionary education ended after a disagreement with church authorities over remarks about the Munda tribal community.

After distancing himself from Christianity, Birsa came under the influence of Vaishnavism for some time through a local guru of the village.

“He was jailed in 1885 for two years and, eventually, after being released, he started preaching his teachings towards life and nature…,” said Budhram Munda. Birsa was arrested by the colonial authorities on charges of breaching the peace, assembling crowds, and inciting people against the British government, Christian missionaries, and diku zamindars.

These teachings created a religious movement that came to be known as the Birsait faith, different from Sarnaism (the traditional tribal faith), Christianity and Hinduism.

His followers attribute various miracles to him and consider him a messiah, referring to him as “Bhagwan” and the aforementioned “Dharti Aba”.

Budhram Munda said: “Bhagwan Birsa never targeted any particular religion. He opposed both the outsiders from the caste society who were appointed as zamindars, and the Christian missionaries, as he saw them as part of the same system of exploitation,” he said.

Opposing the demand for delisting of Christian tribals from the ST list, Budhram Munda said that the descendants of Kanu Munda, the elder brother of Birsa’s father Sugna Munda, have followed Christianity for generations. He argued that Adivasi identity is determined by ancestry and community, not religion.

According to him, despite differences in worship, all Adivasis trace their origins to the same supreme creator, Singbonga.