By: Amitabh Dixit, Editor-ICN
TANTIA/TANTYA MAMA
Patalpani:
The Patalpani railway station (Station Code:PTP) is one of the local railway stations of Indore City in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The station consists of two platforms. The platforms are not well sheltered. It is the nearest railway station used for access to Patalpani waterfall, which is a well-known tourist spot near Indore. The waterfall is approximately 300 feet high.
On the train route (In Madhya Pradesh) from Khandwa to Mhow, everytrain stops to give a 1 minute salute to Tantya Mama Bhil. It is said that Tantya Mama was hanged and then her body was buried near thisis railway track.
Since then there were frequent train accidents here. In view of these accidents, the residents built the temple of Tantya Mama here and every train stops in front of the temple since then.
Tantya:
In Nimar region once a tall & thin sorghum plant in dried it is called ‘Tanta’ . The other meaning of this Tanta is “Fight” or “Quarrel”
India’s Robin Hood-Tantya Bhil or Tantya Mama:
A news published in “The New-york Times” on 10 November 1889 in which “TANTIA BHEEL” has been called “India’s Robin Hood”
It was further said in that news that the Tantya Bhil used to loot the British treasury and the money of the British aunts’ & bootlickers’ and distribute it among the needy and poor. He was the messiah of the poor. He suddenly reached out to help people at a time when someone needed financial help. He wanted to remove the distinction between poor and rich. He was the maternal uncle of everyone. Tantya Bheel is also known as Tantya Mama. The Mama Exhortation for him became so popular even that today every Bheel still feels proud in calling himself Mama.
It has been 72 years since our country got independence, but till date very little has been written on the revolt of the tribal people against the British rule in India. We find a vacuum in the history of India’s national movement due to this non availability of the facts related to the contribution of the tribal people in our freedom struggle. In order to fill this void, we must first take a closer look at the history of the tribal communities who fought against the British to protect their rights.
The revolt of the tribal’s started just after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and the struggle continued till the beginning of the twentieth century.
After the battle of plassey, when the British people were spreading their rule through company raj, People from outside plains i.e. moneylenders, traders and contractors started to enter the tribal areas. They were called Diku and were exploitors and deserved tribal hatred. British rule served as their protector. Apart from this, private ownership was recognized in the British law system by not recognizing the concept of collective ownership prevalent among the tribals, so that there was no delay in creating tension in the tribal society. Tribals also considered Christian missionaries as their opponents because; they were hurting the religious faith of the tribals.
The forest laws of the British government also made the tribals against the British rule. This situation was same in all the tribal areas of the country. As a result, the resentment of the tribals in the form of sporadic violent rebellions started appearing from the very beginning.
With their very limited means, they could continue the struggle for a long time because they had used the guerrilla warfare system in forest region and moreover socially they had strong bonding & unity among them. Apart from this, they were also very much worried about protecting their culture from outside influences.
All these things aroused the solidarity among them and they stood up against exploitation and foreign interference.
It is necessary to underline the role of tribal in the Indian freedom struggle against foreign power so that the coming generation may take inspiration from their sacrifices.
Today we are talking about one such tribal hero Tantya Bhil, who has sacrificed his life for the betterment of his people, but his people betrayed him and he got caught by British police.
To Be Continued…..
