The Rampa Rebellion of 1922, also known as the Manyam Rebellion, was a

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

uprising led by

Alluri Sitarama Raju Alluri Sitarama Raju (4 July 1897 or 1898 – 7 May 1924) was an Indian revolutionary, who waged an armed campaign against the British colonial rule in India. Born in present-day Andhra Pradesh, he was involved in opposing the British in res ...

in Godavari Agency of

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. It began in August 1922 and lasted until the capture and killing of Raju in May 1924.

Background

The Rampa administrative area, situated in the hills of what are now the Godavari districts of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, comprised around and had a mostly

population of approximately 28,000. They had traditionally been able to support their food requirements through the use, in particular, of the podu system, whereby each year some areas of jungle forest were burned to clear land for cultivation. The

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

authorities had wanted to improve the economic usefulness of lands in Godavari Agency, an area that was noted for the prevalence of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

blackwater fever Blackwater fever is a complication of malaria infection in which red blood cells burst in the bloodstream (hemolysis), releasing hemoglobin directly into the blood vessels and into the urine, frequently leading to kidney failure. The disease ...

. With the 1882 Madras Forest Act authorities took control of the forests, mostly for commercial purposes such as produce for building railways and ships, without any regard for the needs of the tribal people. The act restricted the free movement of

Adivasis The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

in their forest habitats, and prevented them from practicing their traditional form of agriculture called podu. A 1923 government memorandum recorded one Agency Commissioner's opinion from June of the previous year that "the country had suffered from too severe restrictions on jungle clearance, that various restrictions had been overdone and much population and food grains lost for the sake of forests of doubtful value". The tribal people of the forested hills, who now faced starvation, had long felt that the legal system favoured the

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

s (estate landowners) and merchants of the plains areas, which had also resulted in the earlier Rampa Rebellion of 1879. Now they objected also to the Raj laws and continued actions that hindered their economic position and meant they had to find alternate means of livelihood, such as working as

coolie A coolie (also spelled koelie, kuli, khuli, khulie, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a term for a low-wage labourer, typically of South Asian or East Asian descent. The word ''coolie'' was first popularized in the 16th century by European traders acros ...

s. In particular, they objected to attempts at that time to use them as forced labour in the construction of a road in the area. Simultaneously, there was discontent among the muttadars, who had been hereditary tax collectors and ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' rulers in the hills prior to the arrival of the British. They had acted on behalf of the rajas, the actual rulers who lived on the plains, and essentially had unlimited powers until the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

subsumed them into the colonial administration, leaving them as bureaucrats with no substantive power at all and no automatic right of inherited position. Their economic status was now dictated entirely by

policy, where previously they had enjoyed the flexibility to levy and to cream off tax income and to use the land of others as they saw fit. Where once the tribal

hill people Hill people, also referred to as mountain people, is a general term for people who live in the hills and mountains. This includes all rugged land above and all land (including plateaus) above elevation. The climate is generally harsh, with s ...

and muttadars would have been antagonists, they now shared a common foe.

Revolt

Raju was a charismatic sannyasin, believed by many tribal people to possess magical abilities and to have an almost messianic status. He saw the overthrow of colonial rule in terms similar to a millenarian event and he harnessed the discontent of the tribal people to support his anti-colonial zeal, whilst also accommodating the grievances of those muttadars who were sympathetic to his aim rather than merely narrow-minded in their pursuit of a revived status for themselves. This meant that his followers were mostly from the tribal communities but did include some significant people from the muttadar class that at one time had exploited them, although many muttadars were ambivalent about fighting for what Raju perceived to be the greater good. It was the prevalent diseases, to which the tribal people had acquired a tolerance, that hindered the Raj suppression of the rebellion. It broke out in August 1922 and took the form of

guerilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tac ...

, ending in May 1924 with the capture and shooting of Raju.

Background

Revolt

References

Further reading