The Life and Times of Birsa Munda

The year: 1890-92. It was a time of turmoil when several Adivasis in the Chhotanagpur region were falling prey to the false preaching of the Christian churches and were forced to embrace Christianity. It was a ploy by the British to convert Adivasis into Christianity in an attempt to stem protests. Birsa Munda and his family also believed in the preaching initially and converted to Christianity. Soon, however, Birsa saw through the trickery and not merely did he convert to Hinduism again, he also convinced several Adivasis who had converted to Christianity to embrace Hinduism once again. It was this Birsa Munda who later became 'God' of the Adivasis and came to be regarded as 'Dharti-Aba' or 'Father of the Universe.' The British administration was jolted and in an attempt to nab Birsa announced a reward of Rs 500 for his arrest. The British trick worked and some greedy informers of the British captured Birsa when he was sleeping at night. This book, a biography of the great Adivasi leader, Birsa Munda, tries to capture some of the brave glimpses from the life of a daring revolutionary who gave up all he had to fight for the rights of his people and to ensure the freedom of his motherland.