That the freedom struggle began in 1885 when the Congress party came into being is a well-designed strategy to serve vested interests! If British called the struggle of 1857 as ‘Gadar’ (Insurrection), Congress underplayed it no less. However, through his writing, works and speeches in general and through his book The Indian War of Independence 1857 in particular, it was Veer Savarkar who for the first time drew the attention of the nation and reminded it that the 1857 uprising was Bharat’s first freedom struggle.
In this freedom struggle, apart from the freedom fighters from other regions of the country, it was Sangoli Rayanna from Kittoor (presently, Karnataka); Thampi Chempak Raman Velayudhan from Travankore (Kerala); Tikendra Singh from Manipur, and several others also fought valiantly against the British. But it was not felt necessary to tell the nation about them, as it was to be established that freedom was earned predominantly through peaceful ways ( Swaraj @ 75, Sangharsh Bharat Ke ‘Swa’ Ka by J. Nand Kumar).
Revolutionaries took recourse of armed revolution against the British even when Gandhi was promoting ‘Non-violence’ or Ahimsa. In the fore front among the revolutionaries was Jan Yoddha (People warrior) Tantya Bheel of Vanvasi (tribal) community.
Tantya Bheel, popularly called Tantya Mama, was born on 4 April 1842 in Barda village of Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh (MP). At a very young age he learnt archery from his father. He also learnt the baton-drill and sling-shot (dand sanchalan and Gofan). He was believed to have attained occult power as he grew older, and the people around began to worship him like a god.
It is said that because of this power he was able resolve the disputes in the Gram-Sabha. Organizing the villagers, he even motivated them to undertake farming themselves and become self-dependent. This put the landlords into discomfort; so much that one of them killed his father. Not only this the landlords hatched a conspiracy and had Tantya thrown into jail on the false charge of theft.
After this incident, he chose to leave his ancestral village and settled in the village of Sihora, located on the border of the then Holkar princely state. During this period, he came into contact with the great revolutionary hero of 1857, Tatya Tope. Deeply inspired by Tatya Tope, he carried the struggle for independence against the British into the remote regions of the dense forests.
When the British administration learned of his activities, it cunningly devised a plot through a local chieftain and succeeded in arresting Tantya along with his aide, Dollya. However, the two warriors did not remain imprisoned for long. As soon as they found an opportunity, both escaped dramatically by using the jail terrace to flee.
Thereafter, Tantya turned the regions of Khargon, Mandleshwar, and Maheshwar—now part of present-day Madhya Pradesh—into the central hub of his operations, subjecting the British government to severe and sustained difficulty. Left with few alternatives, the British eventually resorted to deception. They persuaded Tantya’s brother-in-law, Ganpat, to cooperate in a trap laid for his capture.
One day, when Tantya visited Ganpat’s house during the festival of Raksha Bandhan to have a rakhi tied by his sister, Ganpat secretly informed the police, leading to Tantya’s arrest.
Tantya was then put on trial in court, and in the end, the courageous Tantya Bhil was sentenced to death. He was hanged and attained martyrdom on 4 December 1889.
