Where did the revolt of Birsa Munda take place ?
Ranchi
The Munda rising took place in the Ranchi region — option 3.
The movement. Known as the Ulgulan, the “Great Tumult”, it ran from 1899 to 1900 in the Munda country of the Chhotanagpur plateau — the districts of Ranchi and Khunti, then part of Bengal Presidency and later of Bihar, and today in Jharkhand.
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Leader | Birsa Munda (1875–1900), called Dharti Aba, father of the earth |
| Name | Ulgulan, the Great Tumult |
| Years | 1899–1900 |
| Region | Ranchi and Khunti, Chhotanagpur |
| End | Birsa captured in February 1900 and died in Ranchi jail in June 1900, aged 25 |
Why they rose. The Mundas held land under the khuntkatti system, a collective tenure by the descendants of those who had cleared the forest. Under Company and Crown rule this was steadily undermined: outsiders known as dikus — landlords, moneylenders, contractors — acquired rights over Munda land, and tenants were reduced to labourers owing forced labour, or beth begari. Forest laws restricted customary use, and missionary activity was resented as a further intrusion.
What Birsa did. He combined religious and political appeal, preaching a purified faith, taking the title Bhagwan, and calling for the expulsion of the dikus and the establishment of Munda Raj. The revolt was suppressed, but the government conceded its central demand: the Chhotanagpur Tenancy Act of 1908 recognised khuntkatti rights and prohibited the transfer of tribal land to non-tribals — a protection that remains in force and remains politically live.
Why the other options fail. Champaran in north Bihar is the site of Gandhi’s indigo satyagraha of 1917; Ballia in Uttar Pradesh is remembered for Chittu Pandey’s parallel government during Quit India in 1942. Neither has any connection with the Mundas.
His memory : Birsa’s portrait hangs in the Central Hall of Parliament, and 15 November, his birth anniversary, is observed as Janjatiya Gaurav Divas and is also the foundation day of Jharkhand.
Hence, the answer is Ranchi.
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