Meteor of the Night Sky

After the imposition of colonial laws restricting their access to the forest lands, the tribals of Andhra rose in revolt and threatened the hegemony of the British. Their leader was the great hero Alluri Sitarama Raju.

Alluri Sitaraman Raju - a postage stamp in his honour and his real picture; Source: HinduPost

Many people believe that civilisation moves in a very linear fashion. From hunter-gatherers, humans move to tribal structures to village life to cities to finally a global world. This thinking makes sense because those who move forward move through these steps. But the question is - does this movement happens equally everywhere and more so do people always move in the same direction?

It is like the grades in school, an unsaid undefined hierarchy because in our minds tribals are better than hunter-gatherers and city people better than villagers. This hierarchy is so obvious that we never stop to think whether it is right or not. In modern times, tribes are aware of the state structures and luxuries of cities. Not devoid of this knowledge they make a conscious choice to stay behind (in so-called civilized language) because they believe their ways are better than the so-called civilized people!

But how can we modern people living in posh apartments let a people stay behind and live under the shade of trees? We are so overwhelmed by our progress that we want everyone to be a part of it - willingly or unwillingly.

For this, we keep making endless efforts and it is not something very new. Such efforts have been made as far back in time as one can imagine! Even in the pacifist attitude of Asoka, his edicts shine with a hidden warning to the tribals to either live by his rules or what happened in Kalinga is known to all.

It is hard to imagine whether the problem of the modern world is tribals harming the forests or being a hurdle in their harming of the forest.

When the British government passed the 1882 Madras Forest Act, they had one simple notion - to exploit the forests. Tribals engaged in shifting cultivation made it difficult for the exploiters of resources to profit! For a tribe that loses their home, things become ultimate difficult as they are reduced to nothing, their leaders exploited as administrative machines and they reduced to daily wage-workers. Their identities gradually vanish in their toils.

But this did not happen for the tribes of Andhra.

For them, the light at the end of the tunnel was Alluri Sitaraman Raju, an educated sannyasi who roamed around the forests telling mythical stories about himself. Then people started telling more mythical stories about him. Eventually, they thought he was some messiah with magical powers.

His hatred towards the British was like a cherry on the cake. Myths of his invincibility made him the perfect leader.

Directing people's rage in the correct direction, he launched the Rampa Rebellion. In the garb of Gandhian non-violent methods, he prepared for an armed guerrilla uprising. As the colours of camouflage stood mixed, his men went ahead and raided police stations for ammunitions. Then they used these ammunitions to kill Britishers. The locals, wise and cunning that they were, stood unflinchingly on the side of Alluri no matter the incentives given.

Britishers kept dying and Alluri kept winning as the attacks unfolded. A Special Malabar Force was finally called to curb Manyam Veerudu, the hero of the jungle.

As the game of Tom and Jerry continued, Jerry was finally caught, tied to a tree and shot dead on 7th May 1924. But Tom's pocket was forty lakh rupees light after this entire operation.

The rebellion fell silent. A non-tribal had lighted the world of tribes. That light was now fading. The Rampa became a silent ground. The civilized ravaged the forests and left with us their legacy of continuously trying to make everyone equal, not in opportunities but outcome!