Ranchi
Every November, Birsa Munda is remembered across Jharkhand and India as a valiant tribal freedom fighter who led the Ulgulan (The Great Revolt) against British rule. Streets, universities, and government schemes bear his name. Yet, buried beneath the heroic accounts of his political struggle lies a far lesser-known story — that of Birsa, the spiritual rebel, who challenged not just the British Empire’s might but its religious and cultural control. His resistance began not with weapons, but with words, not on battlefields, but in the hearts of his people.
Admission In School And Baptism
Birsa Munda was born on November 15, 1875. After his initial education at Salga village in the now Khunti district under the tutelage of Jaipal Nag, Birsa Munda joined the German Lutheran Mission School in Chaibasa. The school, which was set up in 1868 but granted recognition by the erstwhile Bihar government on January 1, 1946, required conversion to Christianity for admission. He was baptised and called ‘Birsa David/Purty’ and later ‘Birsa Daud’.
Birsa is said to have studied in the school from Classes III to V – from 1885-1888.
But the missionaries’ constant criticism of tribal ways, their push for conversions, and their disregard for traditional customs deeply disturbed him. A teacher (Dr Nottrott) repeatedly disparaged the Munda sardars as “robbers” and “plunderers”. Birsa responded publicly and objected to this humiliation, which helped precipitate his expulsion.
Birsa’s father and other family members had earlier accepted Lutheran Christianity — but the conversion did not result in promised land-rights or social upliftment. Scholars note the sense of betrayal among the tribals.
Birsa and his family renounced their membership in the German mission thereafter, abandoned Christianity, and returned to their original tribal religious practices. Thus, the colonial mindset that dismissed tribal spirituality as “primitive” too was abandoned.
The Birth Of ‘Birsait’: A Faith Of Resistance
After leaving the mission school, Birsa returned to tribal religious traditions and eventually founded his own faith-movement, the “Birsait”, rooted in the Munda faith, advocating worship of his own tribe’s deity (Sing Bonga), monotheism, abandonment of witchcraft and superstition, and refusal to submit to external religion.
As per Kumar Suresh Singh, a former bureaucrat and author of ‘Birsa Munda Aur Unka Andolan’, Birsa started the Birsait movement in 1895.
Birsait was infused with a powerful message of self-respect, purity, and unity. People saw him as a preacher, healer, and prophet. Very soon, his followers began to call him “Dharti Aba” — Father of the Earth.
He urged his people to abandon superstitions, liquor, and blind submission to both British authority and missionary influence. He told them to believe in their own Dharti Mata (Mother Earth) and to reclaim their land and spirit from outsiders.
“We have our own gods, our own ways — the forests, the rivers, the hills — they speak to us. Why should we bow before anyone else’s God?” One oral tradition attributes this to Birsa.
According to A.K. Dhan, the author of ‘Builders of Modern India, Birsa Munda’: “Birsa’s faith in the Christian missionaries began to dim and this threw him into despair. He was able to convince other community members that there is not much of a difference between the missionaries and the British rulers and exploiters.”
The phrase “saheb, saheb ek topi hai” (all white men wear the same cap) attributed to Birsa refers to his equating British rulers and missionaries. It is a rare direct quote attributed to tribal oral memory.
Birsa’s stay in Chaibasa proved to be a turning point in his life, specifically between 1886-1894, when he began his efforts to participate in the agitations against the British for the rights of the tribals.
The Birsait movement quickly gained followers across the Chotanagpur plateau, among Mundas, Oraons, and other tribes. For them, Birsa was not merely a political leader — he was a divine messenger, blending religion and resistance into one. The British soon realized that his spiritual influence posed a greater threat than his armed band of rebels.
In his movement, Birsa targeted mission stations. Articles refer to mission houses of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches as being attacked in the 1899-1900 uprising.
The conversion of tribals to Christianity in the late 19th century wasn’t simply a religious change, it often entailed land-alienation, loss of customary rights and cultural erosion. Birsa’s rejection of missionary schooling signals how tribal identity and land-rights were deeply intertwined with religious autonomy.
The number of Birsait followers has, however, come down drastically with less than 400 families still following it.
Beyond Politics: The Cultural Legacy
Birsa died on June 9, 1900 at just 25 years of age. But his spiritual renaissance laid the foundation for a tribal consciousness that endures even today. His message of cultural revival became the soul of Jharkhand’s tribal identity, influencing later movements for land rights, forest preservation, and religious recognition — including the ongoing demand for official recognition of the Sarna religion.
In songs and stories still sung across Jharkhand’s villages, Birsa is remembered not just as a martyr but as the man who brought back faith to his people. At his birthplace, Ulihatu, and at Dombari Buru, where he once addressed mass gatherings, devotees continue to perform rituals blending ancient tribal worship with the values he preached — unity, purity, and pride in their heritage.
