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SAI International School
                                                   Session-2020-21
                                                       Class- VIII
                                                   Subject- History
                          Chapter-4 Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age
                                             Sub Topic : A Closer Look

                                                         NOTES

                                     Tribal groups from different parts of the country rebelled against-
               A Closer Look
                                       The changes in laws

                                       The restrictions on their practices

                                       The new taxes they had to pay
                                       The exploitation by traders and moneylenders


                                       Birsa was born in the mid-1870s and as an adolescent, he heard tales
               Birsa Munda
                                          of the Munda uprisings of the past and saw the sirdars (leaders) of the
                                          community urging the people to revolt.

                                       In the local missionary school, he heard that it was possible for the
                                          Mundas to attain the Kingdom of Heaven, and regain their lost rights.

                                       Birsa also spent some time in the company of a prominent Vaishnav
                                          preacher.

                                       Birsa started a movement and it aimed at reforming tribal society.

                                       He urged the Mundas to give up drinking liquor, clean their village, and
                                          stop believing in witchcraft and sorcery.


               Mundas Tribal           In 1895 Birsa urged his followers to recover their glorious past.
               Past
                                       He talked of a golden age in the past – a satyug (the age of truth)
                                       Where Mundas lived a good life, constructed embankments, tapped
                                          natural springs, planted trees and orchards, practised cultivation to
                                          earn their living.
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