Vasudev Balwant Phadke and the tribal revolts of Maharashtra

 

 

After the third Anglo-Maratha war the empire of British got established all over the Maharashtra. But in general the common people of Maharashtra did not accept the new and foreign rulers. The new rulers were not familiar with the traditions and the social structure of Maharashtra .Hence they revolted against the British. In this article we are going to see the various rebellions which took place in different parts of Maharashtra .

In Maharashtra the various tribes revolted against the British .They found this new ruler as interfering in their traditional rules. Various tribes like Gond, Bhil, Koli, Ramoshi and Mang went into rebellion against the British .

1)Bhil Revolt

Bhil tribes are known in history as warrior and brave people. They had fought in the battle of Haldigathi against the mighty Mughal army. In 1818 they revolted against the British .Trimbakji Thengle who was the friend of Peshwa Bajirao two and also a Maratha sardar had become succeeded in running away from the Thane jail. He then joined the Bhill tribes and organized a strong revolt against the British.

Bhill Naik who had united Bhills against the British was hanged by British on 1819. He was from Satmala

Dasrat and Dhanaji were the chief of Lature tribe. Although they had created terror in the mind of British their movement was crushed down as British had occupied the important territories surrounding the Latur and the southern area.

In 1822 the movement got deviated and some Bhills started looting and plundering people in the name of revolt. Some section of society got terrified with such activities .Captain Robins had put every efforts in crushing the movement and he also punished the leaders of the movement.

In the end British had tried some different methods to crush the Bhill uprisings . Bhills were offered Bails , jobs in army, pardoning of punishments, removal of all crimes .But they were unable to crushing down the revolt .

During 1822 and 1857 various revolts of Bhils were organised in different parts of Maharashtra.

2) Ramoshi Revolt

Ramoshi is a forest tribe who gave a stiff opposition to the British from time to time .When British came to Maharashtra there were 18000 Ramoshis in Maharashtra. Umaji Naik was the Hero of the Ramoshi Revolt .He organised a violent revolt against the British empire. He got arrested in 1831 and was hanged on 1^st Feb. 1832.

Chatursingh Naik was the leader of movement in Satara District. There was a constant terror of Ramoshi in the minds of British rulers.

3) Revolt of Gond tribe.

Gonds belong to adivasi tribe and with the help of them Rajesaheb Appasaheb Bhosale of Nagpur organised revolt against the British.

Vasudev Balwant Phalke

Vasudev was born on 4^th November 1845. His father Balwant and mother Saraswati were entrusted with the job of providing security to the fort of Karnala. Peshwas had given this responsibility to them.

But after the fall of Peshwa this fort also came under the control of British. Hence they have to move to Kalyan to obtain their livelihood.

Vasudev completed in primary schooling from the Government school in Kalyan.

Once he went to Missionary school in Kalyan and stand in front of the running class. Shrishastri Jambhekar was taking the class of English. Jambhekar asked Vasudev want he want, why is he standing here to which he replied that he wanted to learn English would you teach me?.

Jambhekar accepted him into his school and started  teaching him English.

Vasudev was in school when the revolt of 1857 took place. This was the first organised revolt against the mighty British empire. Started with the  sepoy mutiny the revolt spread to other parts of the country attracting large section of population from different walks of life.

Various rulers of princely states started supporting the revolt and also accepted the responsibility to lead it in their area. Nanasaheb Peshwe, Tatya tope, Rani Laxmibai, Bahadur shah Jafar were names of the leaders of the revolt.

During this time Vasudev used to tell his friends that when we grow up we will also fight against the British and will throw them out from our country. Hence we can see that the consciousness of fighting against the British empire had been formed in him during his childhood days.

After completing education Vasudev got married as per his father wish. He had also took up the job of Clerk at Account department in railways . But he was not happy with the condition of workers in the railways. He think that British officers were exploiting Indian workers and were not behaving properly with them. At the end he decided to quit the job at railway. In short time he got the job as head clerk in Grant Medical college.

Justice Ranade’s influence

During 1870 Justice Mahadev Govind Ranade had founded the Puna Sarvajanik Sabha. He was making awareness among people about the economic loss we are suffering due to British rule in India. He explained the theory of economic drain explaining how our own resources are being transferred to England through salaries and entitlements .

Vasudev got inspired with this and he decided to form his own organization . He founded “Yekyavardhini Sabha” which was basically a organization of youths .They were inspired by the thought that we should make awareness among masses and should tried to unite them to wage a strong war against the common enemy which was British rule.

Vasudev spread the network of his organization up to the remotest villages in Maharashtra .He started a school names “ Puna native school” with the sole purpose of starting a school which would provide National education to the common people . This school is today known as Bhave school.

Vasudev was not happy with the response he was getting from the educated masses . He thought that it is necessary to wage a armed rebellion against the British government .He went to Lahuji salve and with the help of him he learned the various skills of warfare.

During 1876-77 there was drought in Maharashtra. People have to suffer a lot due to this but the government did not came forward to help them. Vasudev decided to wage a war against the British . He got the support of various groups like Ramoshi, Dhangar, Bhil, Koli ,Mahar. With the help he gave a tough fight to British.

Vasudev was captured on 20^th July 1879 and put in jail at Aden. He was successful in fleeing from there but soon captured. He then went on to hunger strike where he died on 17 February 1883.

Vasudev Balwant Phalke is knows as “Father of Indian Armed Rebellion”.

His life and action inspired the new generations of revolutionaries in India