Looking back: two Odisha uprisings

Between chapters, the book pauses to look back. Part 1 showed that the Great Rebellion of 1857 was not a one-off, but the peak of a long history of resistance. Here are two more examples, both from Odisha.

The Paika Sangram began at Khorda. In 1803 the Raja of Khorda helped the East India Company; in return his lands were annexed (taken over) and his religious authority over the Jagannath Temple was taken away. Resistance led by the royal teacher Jayee Rajguru ended with his execution in 1806.

Then came the tax policy. The British taxed even revenue-free lands that had been given to local officers and soldiers for their service, so the Paikas, Odisha's traditional peasant militia (farmer-soldiers), lost their hereditary rent-free land.

Salt prices rose, and the Company abolished the traditional cowrie currency (shells used as money), forcing payment in a new one. Peasants and tribal communities alike lost their land and livelihoods.

Buxi Jagabandhu, the hereditary military commander of Khorda, gathered the Paikas and tribal groups. The rebels took Puri and restored the Raja's authority, and the temple priests declared the end of British rule, using Lord Jagannath as a symbol of Odia self-rule.

The British imposed martial law (army rule) and stopped the main uprising by May 1817, but Buxi Jagabandhu fought on with a guerrilla campaign from the forests and hills. Even after he surrendered in 1825, revolts went on into the 1830s. It is remembered as a broad 'people's movement' of peasants, tribal communities, religious institutions and local leaders together.

The Sambalpur Uprising lasted from 1827 to 1862, one of the longest regional resistances in eastern India. It began when the British refused to accept Surendra Sai as the rightful ruler, took over the state, and imposed heavy land tax that united landlords and peasants alike.

It peaked during 1857, when Surendra Sai, freed from prison, led the resistance with his brothers Udanta Sai and Chhabila Sai, turning hilltops into forts. At Kudopali in December 1857, fifty-seven fighters under Chhabila Sai died. The British never defeated the movement in battle: they used deception to arrest Surendra Sai, who died in prison after 37 years of captivity.