There was one such tribal hero in the history of British India from 1878 to 1889. Who had troubled the British and their sycophants.
The British gave him a death sentence on 4 December 1889.
Some people called this tribal a great hero as MAMA (uncle), while others called him a unique hero. Some called him a robber, while others called him a dacoit. Some praised him as a revolutionary, while others addressed him as the Robin Hood of India.
We are talking about Tantya Bhil, born in the Bhil tribal community of Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Yes, of Tantya Bhil, who is known as Tantya Mama.
Why did people call Tantya Mama by different names?
Tantya was one of those heroes of history who opposed the British atrocities and regimes. He fought against the British for 12 years. Because of his struggle, the local people considered him a tribal people’s hero. At the same time, the British government had declared Tantya a rebel, robber and dacoit.
Tantya was fearless and inquisitive since childhood. This feeling of his later made him an expert in arts like archery, horse riding, shooting etc. Tantya was greatly influenced by the revolutionaries revolting against the British during the year 1857. After which he started using his arts to stop the atrocities of the British.
Tantya uncle used to loot pro-British landlords and Shahukars
Other people influenced by Tantya started supporting him. He started organizing the people and probably emerged as a unique hero of the tribals. Tantya started looting the people along with the British and the landlords, Shahukars, sycophants and other associates working under their instructions. They used to distribute the loot they acquired among the poor, helpless and needy people.
Due to these exploits of Tantya, the local people considered him as the Messiah. People’s love, affection and respect for him kept increasing. This was the reason why they started expressing their respect by lovingly calling him Tantya Mama.
In the year 1874, he was sent to jail for the first time for theft. After imprisonment in the year 1878, Tantya lived in the forest and adopted guerrilla warfare policy. Due to this, he started emerging as an even more indomitable and courageous revolutionary who had troubled the British and their allies. After this the British started suffering heavy losses.
The fed up British tried several times to capture Tantya. But they always failed due to Tantya’s cunning mind and tricks. Especially after entering the forests, it became impossible to catch Tantya.
betrayed by own people
Tantya’s capture was proving to be quite challenging for the British. So they hatched a conspiracy, in which Tantya’s relatives were involved. Tantya could be captured due to the betrayal of his own relatives. The British kept him in the Central India Agency Jain, Indore. But seeing the rebellion of the people unhappy with the arrest of Tantya, he was brought to Jabalpur. Here he was tortured a lot and on 19 October 1889, the death sentence was announced and he was hanged on 4 December 1889.
Let us tell you that after the hanging, fearing the rebels, the British had thrown Tantya’s body near Patalpani railway station. Where currently his Samadhi is present at the same place. After the arrest of Tantya Bhil, he was called the Robinhood of India in the New York Times issue.
