RANCHI, Jharkhand

Main Attraction: Lance Naik Albert Ekka

He was born 152 km away form the Capital of Jharkhand, Ranchi in jadi Village of Dumri block of Gumla district in 1942. It was a time when violent and non-violent movements were rife all over the country for independence.

Albert hated working as ‘Dhangar’. He joined the army and fought bravely in the China-Indian war of 1962. For his bravery he was promoted to Lance-Naik.

During this war Lance Naik Albert Ekka always gave a massage of heroism, of discipline, of patriotism and unmatched bravery. His gallantry and sacrifice are considered an epitome of the traditional bravery of Indian Soldiers, In fact, such a brave son is the pride of our motherland.

Brief History

Consequent upon the creation of Jharkhand state on 15th November, 2000, Ranchi got the privilege of becoming the capital of the state. As a result of which the destiny of the district of Ranchi changed drastically and all round development started to take place. Once upon a time Ranchi also used to be the summer capital of erstwhile Bihar state.

The district of Ranchi is one of the units comprising the south Chotanagpur division and forms the central part of it. Ranchi (M.Corp.) is the principal town and the headquarters of the district as also of the South Chotanagpur division as well as Jharkhand state.

Early history

Earlier the name of the district was Lohardaga as seat of the district was at Lohardaga. The old district had come into existence after the creation of the non-regulation of south-west frontier as a result of the Kolup rising in 1831-32. The name of the district was changed in 1899 from Lohardaga to Ranchi as a sequel to change in headquarters, after the name of a small village now comprised within the headquarters station.

In ancient times the tract which corresponds to the district of Ranchi and the neighbouring parganas was in the undisturbed possession of the 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, Mahapadmanad Ugrasen of Magadh, who subdued the entire country upto Orissa 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 Kharavela of Kalinga led an 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 Chinese traveler Hiuen-Tsang is believed to have journeyed through the Chotanagpur plateau in course of his travels to Nalanda and Bodh Gaya.

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 Naga Dynasty.

Muslim period

The Chotanagpur plateau was reffered to as Jharkhand by the Muhammedan historians. Throughout the Turko-Afgnan period (upto 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 Muslim influence penetrated into 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 Durjan 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 tribute of Rs.6,000/- was regularly paid.

In 1632 Chotanagpur was given as Jagair 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.

British rule

The Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was granted by Emperor shah Alam-II to the East India Company in 1765. This Diwani included Chotanagpur as a part of Bihar. The internecine quarrels led to 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, Hazaribag 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.12,000 instead of Rs. 6,000 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.15,000 per year. The Raja was allowed to retain his hold on the internal administration.

Captain Camac was succeeded in 1780 by Chapman, the first 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 an end of the feudal authority of the Raja. This also marked the induction of non-tribal revenue collecting agents who latter 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 Muslim 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 Christians missionaries reached the district in 1845 and the first conversions of the tribal population to Christianity took place in 1850.

1857 Movement

The 7th and 8th native companies of the Ramgarh Battalion stationed at Hazaribag rose in revolt on the 30th 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 horsemen and two guns to disarm the regiment at Hazaribag. This force left Ranchi on the 1st August. Meanwhile, the insurgents at Hazaribag started marching to Ranchi by the road via Badam. Getting news of this, the infantry with Lt. Graham also rose against British authority and commenced their return journey to Ranchi. Lt. Graham proceeded to Hazaribag with the cavalry which remained loyal to him and reached thee on the 2nd August. The deserters from Lt. Graham’s contingent returned to the army station at Doranda and successfully, exhorted the Sepoys to rise against British authority. In view of this, Col. Alton left Ranchi for Hazribag.

The insurgent troops at Doranda burnt the offices and courts of the district office and some bungalows and set free the prisoners in jail. The expected the insurgents from Hazaribag 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 2nd 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.

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 application 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 religious 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 noncooperation movement launched by Jatra Oraon and his associates soon spread even to Palamu and Hazaribag.

The district played an important role in the national freedom movement. Under the guidance of Ganesh Chandra Ghosh Ranchi became an important centre for the follower’s of Revolutionary Party. Ranchi was the venue of a meeting between Mahatma Gandhi and Sir Edward Albert Gait. Lieutenant Governor of Bihar and Orissa on 4th June and again on 22nd Sept. 1917 in the context of the Champaran Indigo planters repressive measures against the raiyats of that district. The Champaran agrarian law was subsequently passed under the name of Bihar and Orissa 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 5th 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 boycotted in 1927. On 4th 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 independence in 1947.