Tilka Manjhi
Tilka Manjhi
Tilka Manjhi is remembered in Jharkhand as the earliest martyr of tribal resistance to Company rule. Tradition places his rebellion in the Rajmahal and Bhagalpur belt in 1784 and his execution at Bhagalpur in January 1785.
Also called Jabra Paharia | Region — Rajmahal hills and Bhagalpur | Executed at Bhagalpur, January 1785
Who he was
- Known in popular tradition as Tilka Manjhi, also called Jabra Paharia
- Associated with the Rajmahal hills and the Tilapore forest tract
- Led hill and forest communities against Company revenue agents and their allies
- Remembered as the first organised tribal challenge to Company authority in this belt
- A university at Bhagalpur is named after him, which keeps the name in current affairs
What he is said to have done
- Attacked Company posts, treasuries and the grain of collaborating landlords
- By tradition he wounded the Bhagalpur Collector Augustus Cleveland in 1784
- Fought using guerrilla methods from forest and hill cover
- Was captured after a long pursuit and taken to Bhagalpur
- Executed in January 1785, by tradition hanged from a banyan treeबार-बार पूछा जाता है
An honest note on the evidence
- Popular and state accounts treat Tilka Manjhi and Jabra Paharia as the same person
- Some historians question that identification and note the thinness of contemporary records
- The 1785 execution at Bhagalpur is the detail most consistently repeated
- For exam purposes, write the standard version but do not invent extra dates
- Knowing that the debate exists is useful for a Mains answer, not for a Prelims option
Why he matters
| Aspect | Significance |
|---|---|
| Chronology | Predates the Kol, Bhumij and Santhal revolts |
| Target | Company revenue system and its local collaborators |
| Method | Guerrilla resistance from hill and forest |
| Memory | Treated as the first tribal martyr of the region |
| Legacy | Named institutions and state commemoration |
Placing him in the revolt sequence
- Paharia revolt — 1770s to early 1780s, hill chiefs of Rajmahal
- Tilka Manjhi — 1784 to 1785, same belt, single remembered leader
- Chuar revolt — late eighteenth century, Jungle Mahal side
- Kol revolt — 1831 to 1832, Chotanagpur core
- Santhal Hool — 1855 to 1856, Santhal Pargana
Terms tied to this period
- Damin-i-Koh — the reserved hill tract of the Rajmahal belt
- Hill Rangers — the armed corps raised from hill communities by the Company
- Sardar — hill chief, the unit the British bought off with allowances
- Diwani — the 1765 grant that gave the Company revenue rights in Bengal, Bihar and Odisha
- Jungle Mahal — the forest tract to the east where the Chuar revolt ran
तिल्का मांझी को जबरा पहाड़िया भी कहा जाता है। भागलपुर का विश्वविद्यालय उन्हीं के नाम पर है, इसलिए यह नाम करेंट अफेयर्स में भी लौटता रहता है।
Memory hook — Do saal ka jod — 84 me hamla, 85 me phansi. Aur jagah ka jod — Rajmahal me ladai, Bhagalpur me ant. Isse zyada tarikh yaad karne ki zarurat nahi.
Yahan confuse hote hain — Tilka Manjhi Santhal Hool ke neta nahi the.
✗ Tilka Manjhi led the Santhal Hool of 1855 | ✓ Hool ke neta Sidhu-Kanhu the; Tilka Manjhi 1784-85 ke hain
✗ Tilka Manjhi Kol Vidroh ke neta the | ✓ Kol Vidroh ke neta Buddhu Bhagat the
Exam pointer — JSSC CGL, JTGLCCE aur Jharkhand Police me ye naam seedha poochha jaata hai — sabse pehla adivasi shaheed kaun. JPSC isko vidrohon ke kram me rakh kar poochhta hai, isliye pehle-baad ka order pakka karo. Ek galat kram poore chronology question ko le doobta hai.
Ek nazar me
- Also called Jabra Paharia
- Region — Rajmahal hills and Bhagalpur
- Attack on Augustus Cleveland placed in 1784
- Executed at Bhagalpur in January 1785
- Method — guerrilla resistance from hill and forest
- Seen as the first tribal martyr of the region
- University at Bhagalpur named after him
- Comes before Kol, Bhumij and Santhal revolts
- Some historians debate the identification with Jabra Paharia
- Safe exam answer — 1784 rebellion, 1785 execution