Ranchi is the capital city of the Indian state of Jharkhand.Jharkhand
accounts for 40% of mineral resources of India.Alone Ranchi accounts for
50% mineral production of the state,nearing about 18% of nation's
mineral production.For this reason Ranchi is also called the Manchester
of the East. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement[1] for a
separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Orissa,
Western West Bengal and the present eastern Chhattisgarh. Jharkhand
State was formed on 15 November 2000 by carving out the Bihar divisions
of Chota Nagpur and Santhal Parganas.
The name Ranchi comes from "archi" an Oraon/Kurukh word for the farmer's
"baton" in use while ploughing. Before that up to 1927, this place
(Ranchi) was known as Rachi. The area was an agricultural locality and
Doranda ('duran' means song/sing & 'da ah' is water - Mundari words),
in between Hinoo & Harmoo River was a better known place for its
military base and garrison. The present Purani Ranchi was originally
known as the village Archi.
Ranchi is a prominent political, commercial, industrial, and educational
hub of eastern India.
History
Earlier the name of the district was Lohardaga. The old district had
come into existence after the creation of the non-regulation South –
West frontier as a result of the Kol rising in 1831-32. The name of the
district was changed in 1899 from Lohardaga to Ranchi after the name of
a small village now comprised within the headquarters station.
[edit] Early history
In ancient times the tract which corresponds to the district of Ranchi
and the neighbouring parganas was in the undisturbed possession of Munda
and Oraon tribes and was known to Aryans as Jharkhand or the 'forest
territory'. The entire tract was presumably beyond the pale of the
direct Hindu influence in ancient India. However, Jarasandh, the mighty
emperor of Rajgriha in the Mahabharat period might have exercised some
kind of loose supervision over the area. Similarly, Mahapadmanand
Agrasen of Magadh, who subdued the entire country up to Orrisa, might
have gained some control over Jharkhand as well.
Possibly, the area was included in the Magadh Empire during the reign of
Ashoka (273-232 B.C.). With the decline of Mauryan power, King Kharavels
of Kalinga led on army through Jharkhand and ransacked Rajgriha and
Patliputra. Later, Samudra Gupta (335-380 A.D.) must have passed through
the area on his expedition to the Deccan.
The Chotanagpur Raj is believed to have been set up in fifth century
A.D. after the fall of the imperial Guptas. Phanimukut was elected the
first king It is said that he was found by the Side of a tank under the
protection of a Nag (Snake). Hence the dynasty founded by him was named
the Nag Dynasty.
[edit] Mughal period
The Chotanagpur plateau was reffered to as Jharkhand by the Muhammedan
historians. Throughout the Turko-Afgan period (up to 1526), the area
remained virtually free from external influence. It is only with the
accession of Akbar to the throne of Delhi in 1556 that Muslims influence
penetrated Jharkhand, then known to the Mughals as Kokrah. In 1585,
Akbar sent a force under the command of Shahabaz Khan to reduce the Raja
of Chotanagpur to the position of a tributary. Kokrah was included in
the subah of Bihar, as mentioned in the Ain-I-Akbari.
After the death of Akbar in 1605. The area presumably regained its
independence. This necessitated an expedition in 1616 by Ibrahim Khan,
Fateh Jang, Governor of Bihar and brother of Queen Noorjahan, Ibrahim
Khan defeated and captured Durian Sal, the 46th Raja of Chotanagpur. He
was later released by the Emperor and allowed to resume his previous
position as an independent Chief. After that the relations between the
Moghul Emperors and the Kokra Chiefs continued to be somewhat friendly
and peacefully. A stipulated revenue of Rs. 6000/ was regularly paid.
In 1632 Chotanagpur was as Jagir to the Governor at Patna for annual
payment of Rs. 1,36,000.00. During the reign of Muhammed Shah (1719 –
1748). Sar Balland Khan, the Governor of Bihar, marched against the Raja
of Chotanagpur and forced his submission. Another expedition was led by
Fakhruddoula, Governor of Bihar in 1731. He came to terms with the Raja
of Ramgarh who owed allegiance to the Raja of Chotanagpur. The district
seems to have enjoyed almost an unbroken peace from 1624 when Durjan Sal
was released till the appearance of the British in 1772.
[edit] British period
The Diwani of Bengal , Bihar and Orrisa was granted by Emperor Shah
Alam-II to the East India Company in 1765. This Diwani included
Chotanagpur as a part of Bihar. The internecing quarrels and
depredations of the Raja of Gidhaur,the Raja of Ramgarh and the rival
claim between Gopal Rai and Chitrajit Rai for the Kingdom of Palamu led
the British take an active interest in the area. In 1771 captain Camac
attacked Palamu and put Chitrajit Rai as the Raja. The history of Ranchi
for sometime thereafter is interlinked with the history of Palamu,
Hazaribagh and Singhbhum.
During the operations of Captain Camac against the Raja of Palamu,
Dhupnath Shahi, Raja of Chotanagpur rendered useful service to British.
He acknowledged the authority of the company and offered to pay an
annual tribute of Rs. 12000 instead of Rs. 6000 fixed under the Muslim
rule. However, arrears in payment resulted in an expedition against him
in 1773, as a result of which an agreement was reached stipulating
enhanced payment of Rs. 15000 per year. The Raja was allowed to retain
his hold on the internal administration.
Captain Camac was succeeded in 1780 by Chapman, civilian administrator
of Chotanagpur. The so-called conquered provinces, were formed into a
district under the name of the Ramgarh Hill Tract in 1780 which lasted
till 1863. The district of Ranchi was not directly included in this unit
but was added under the designation of Tributory Mahal of Chotanagpur.
Chapman was at the same time the Judge and the Magistrate and Collector
of the district. There was an Adivasi insurrection at Tamar in 1789
which could be quelled only by the use of force. Sporadic disturbances
continued for six years more.
Disputes between the Raja and his brothers led to further disturbance in
1807-1808. A force was sent under Major Roughsedge. The Diwan of the
Raja who was primarily responsible for the trouble was apprehended and
jailed. The Raja paid up arrears of revenue and settled disputes with
his brothers. Six police thanas were also set up in 1809, marking the
beginning of end of the feudal authority of the Raja. This also marked
the induction of non-tribal revenue collecting agents who later
oppressed the aboriginal tenants.
The discontent among the tribal population evidenced in the earlier
insurrections, found an outlet in the Kol insurrections of 1831-32. The
immediate cause for it was the humiliation caused to Mundas by the Sikh
and Muslims Thikadars (intermediaries) in revenue collection. The Mundas
got together in Laukha village near Tamar and plundered and destroyed
many villages held in farm by Sikh and Muslim Thikadars. They were
overpowered by the forces led by captain Wilkinson in 1832.
Ranchi has attracted many Christian missions which have contributed much
to the growth of education in the district. The earliest Christian
missionaries reached the district in 1845 and the first conversions of
the tribal population to Christianity took place in 1850.
[edit] 1857 Movement
The 7th and 8th Native companies of the Ramgarh Battalion stationed at
Hazaribagh rose in revolt on 30 July. When news of this reached Col.
Dalton (who was then the Commissioner of Ranchi), he sent Lt. Graham
with two companies of the Ramgarh Light Infantry, thirty horseman and
two guns to disarm the regiment at Hazaribagh. Meanwhile, the insurgents
at Hazaribagh Started marching to Ranchi by the road via Badam. Getting
news of this, the infantry with Lt.Graham also rose against British
authority and lcommenced their return journey to Ranchi. Lt. Graham
proceeded to Hazaribagh with the cavalry which remained loyal to him and
reached there on the 2 August. The deserters from Lt. Graham’s contigent
returned to the army station at Doranda and successfully exhorted the
Sepoys there to rise against British authority .In view of this,
Col.Dalton left Ranchi for Hazaribagh. The insurgent troops at Doranda
burnt the offices and Courts of the district office and some bungalows
and set free the prisoners in jail. They expected the insurgents from
Hazaribagh to join them but when the latter did not reach Doranda, they
set out in the third week of September to join Babu Kuer Singh in
Shahabad. They were attacked and defeated on the 2 October 1857 at
Chatra under a British force commanded by Major English. Meanwhile, Col.
Dalton returned to Ranchi on 22nd September with a contingent of force.
The courts were reopened and peace and order restored.
[edit] Main events after 1857
The infiltration of the British in the political horizon of Chotanagpur
also synchronized with a great socio-economic revolution. Agrarian
discontent against the imposition of begari (forced labour) and illegal
enhancement of rent by the intermediaries resulted in the Sardari
agitation, so called due to the instigation and leadership provided by
the Sardars. By 1887 the movement had grown and many Mundas and Oraon
cultivators refused to pay rent to the landlords. The Sardari agitation
(or Larai as it was called) was at its height in 1895 when a
socio-religious leader named Birsa Munda appeared on the scene. The
importance of his role in the social history of Ranchi is borne out by
the appllation of Birsa Bhagwan given to him.
The movement led by Birsa Munda was half agrarian and half religious, it
had a direct connection with agrarian unrest and also appeared to have
been influenced by Christian ideas. Birsa Munda was an apostate from
Christianity. His teaching was partly spiritual, partly revolutionary.
He proclaimed that the land belonged to the people who had reclaimed it
from forests, and therefore, no rent should be paid for it. He asserted
that he was the Messiah and claimed divine powers of healing.
Birsa’s crusade brought about an armed rising of the deluded peasantry
which was quickly suppressed. Birsa died in the jail in 1900.
A regious movement among the Oraons was initiated by Jatra Oraon of
Bishunpur police station in 1914. The Tana Bhagat movement, as it was
called, also had its genesis in agrarian issues and particularly the
economic disparity between Christian converts and the traditional or
sansari Oraons. The non-Cooperation movement launched by Jatra Oraon and
his associates soon spread even to Palamu and Hazaribagh.
The district played an important role in the national freedom movement.
Under the guidance of Ganesh Chandra Ghosh Ranchi became an important
center of work for the followers of Revolutionary party. Ranchi was the
venue of a meeting between Mahatma Gandhi and Sir Edward Albert Gait,
Lieutenant Governor of Bihar and Orrisa on 4 June and again on 22
September 1917 in the context of the Champaran Indigo planters
repressive measures against the raiyats of that district. The Champaran
agrarian law subsequently passed under the name of Bihar and Orrisa
Act-I of 1918.
The non-Cooperation movement in Ranchi district followed the pattern as
elsewhere in India. The movement caught the imagination of the people
particularly the Tana Bhagats and a large number of them attended the
Gaya session of the congress in December 1922 which was presided over by
Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das. These Tana Bhagats returned home deeply
impressed with the message of freedom Movement. Barefooted they used to
trek over long distances with congress flags in their hands and they
carried the message to the masses in the interior. They attended the
meetings organized by the non-cooperation workers.
On 5 October 1926, a khadi exhibition was opened at Ranchi in presence
of Sri Rajendra Prasad in the local Arya Samaj Hall. The Tana Bhagats
also attended it. This was a part of the constructive programme launched
by Mahatma Gandhi after he had suspended the non-cooperation Movement in
1922. The Simon Commission was boy-cotted in 1927. On 4 April 1930,
Tarun Singh (Youth league) of Ranchi organized a meeting in the local
municipal park which was attended by a large number of students from
different educational institutions. The leaders appealed to them to join
the Civil Disobedience Movement.
The Salt Satyagrah which was launched at the behest of Mahatma Gandhi,
received great response in Ranchi District. In the wake of the quit
India Revolution of 1942 the arrest of national leaders led to strikes,
processions, demonstrations and also disruption of the lines of
communications. The district took an active part in the Subsequent
events which led to country’s indepedence in 1947.
