Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of the Golden Age

1. Jhum or shifting cultivation was done on small patches of land in the forest areas.
2. The cultivators cut down the treetops to allow the sunlight to reach the ground.
3. Vegetation on the land were burnt to clear the land for cultivation.
4. The potash from the burnt vegetation was used to make the soil fertile. After cultivation the land was left fallow so that the soil could regain its fertility.

Birsa was deeply influenced by the ideas of many he came in touch with during his childhood and he aimed at reforming the tribal societies. He urged the Mundas to give up liquor, clean their village and stop believing in witchcrafts and sorcery. He also turned against the Hindu landlords and missionaries as he saw them as an outside force ruining the Munda’s way of life. He talked of the golden age in the past – satyug- when Mundas lived a good life, an honest life and built embankments and planted trees. The British arrested Birsa as his movement of setting up a government Munda Raj with him as head spread, and jailed him for 2 years. He still toured tribal villages and set up the Birsa Raj.