Barabhum

Barabhum was an estate in the wooded uplands of western Bengal, with Barabazar among its principal towns. Its hills and passes were guarded by ghatwals, hereditary holders whose duties bound them to the local rulers. The Bhumij people formed an important part of the population of this country, where the authority of estate holders met the demands of the East India Company.

In 1832 Ganga Narayan, a disappointed claimant to the Barabhum estate, raised a force among ghatwals and cultivators angered by the exactions of the estate’s diwan, Madhab Singh. After Madhab was killed, the insurgents attacked Barabazar and burned Company offices. Their rising spread through the Jungle Mahals, and government troops briefly withdrew to Bankura. The struggle grew from a family dispute into a much wider challenge to the authorities in the uplands.