The Trible Hero - Sidhu (Sido) and Kanhu

 The Trible Hero -  Sidhu (Sido) and Kanhu 

     Sidhu Murmu (Sido Murmu) and Kanhu Murmu were brothers who led the Santhal rebellion of 1855–1856. The Santhal rebellion was against both British rule and the corrupt zamindari system.

Early life

      Sidhu Murmu and Kanhu Murmu were born in a Santhal tribal family in a village called Bhognadih in the present day Jharkhand state of India. Sidhu Murmu was born in 1815 AD and Kanhu Murmu was born in 1820 AD. He also had two other brothers who played an active role in the Santhal rebellion, whose names were Chand Murmu and Bhairav ​​Murmu. Chand was born in 1825 AD and Bhairav ​​was born in 1835 AD. Apart from these, he also had two sisters whose names were Phulo Murmu and Jhano Murmu. The name of the father of these 6 brothers and sisters was Chunni Manjhi.

In 1832, a large area of ​​the Raj Mahal Hills was demarcated as Damin-i-Koh (present-day Santal Pargana). Santals migrated from Cuttack, Dhalbhum, Birbhum, Manbhum, Hazaribagh and started cultivating these lands as farmers. In 1830, the area was home to only 3,000 Santhals, but by the 1850s, 83,000 Santhals had settled on the land and converted it into paddy fields. This resulted in a 22-fold increase in the East India Company's revenue from the region.

However, as they began to do more agriculture, the Santhals began to be exploited by landlords. Unlike the Santhals, the British gave importance to individual competition rather than cooperation. The moneylenders of Bengal and the Banias of Bihar began selling goods from elsewhere, and many Santals, considering them foreigners, went into debt to buy them, usually by mortgaging their land. When the Santhals became unable to pay back the moneylenders, they became land owners and the Santhals became dispossessed landless farmers. Eventually, these acts of exploitation coupled with British tax policies and corrupt tax collectors worsened to such an extent that the Santhals became dissatisfied. In 1855, he led the Santhal rebellion, known as the Santhal Hool.

Dissatisfaction started deepening in different areas. Therefore, local tribals and non-tribals started protesting against the British rule from the time of 1853 itself. Meetings also started being conducted. As oppression and exploitation increased, anger against the British rule also increased among the local people. With time, different rebels like Dozens of revolutionaries like Sidhu-Kanhu, Chanku Mahato, Rajveer Singh, Sham Pargana, Baijal Sauren, Chalo Jolah, Rama Gop, Vijay, Garbhu etc. started opposing the wrong policies of the British by organizing the local people in their respective areas. Was. Among these, the loudest voice of rebellion was being led by Sidhu-Kanhu, this was the reason why Sidhu-Kanhu had emerged as the most powerful rebels in the entire jungle Terai. All the rebels contacted Sidhu-Kanhu and under the leadership of Sidhu-Kanhu and their brothers and sisters, a meeting of all the rebels and their supporters from the entire jungle terai was called on 30 June 1855 at Panchkathia, Barhet district Sahebganj. Sidhu was chosen as their leader in the meeting and it was decided to run a movement against the British rule under his leadership. After that, thousands of people, under the leadership of Sidhu-Kanhu, started an armed war against the British power, moneylenders, traders and landlords with the slogan of Hool-Hool, which is known as Santhal rebellion or Hool movement. The slogan of the Santhal rebellion was - "Do or die, the British leave our soil". More than 5000 tribals gathered in the meeting on 30 June 1855 in which Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand and Bhairav ​​were chosen as their leaders.

Martillo Tower, Pakur

Whereas among the British it was led by General Lord, who was equipped with modern weapons and ammunition. In this encounter, Inspector named Mahesh Lal and Pratap Narayan were killed, which created an atmosphere of fear among the British. To save themselves from the fear of Santals, the British built Martillo Tower in Pakur. Due to the British having modern weapons, the Santals were ultimately defeated in this encounter and Sidhu-Kanhu were hanged.

The army of Sidhu-Kanhu with bows and arrows could not stand against the modern weapons of the British. Sidhu was captured in August 1855 and hanged on a banyan tree at a place called Panchkathia, while Kanhu was hanged in Bhognadih.

Karl Marx had called this rebellion 'India's first people's revolution'. Even today, on 30th June, a development fair is organized by the government on Hool Day in Bhognadih and martyr Sido-Kanhu is remembered.

The trees of life that became agents of death

Memorial built in the name of Sido Kanhu

• Sido Murmu - Kanhu Murmu on Indian Postal Stamp. Indian Post also issued a Rs. 4 stamps in 2002 honoring them.

• The erstwhile Sido Kanhu University (S.K.U.), now rechristened Sido Kanhu Murmu University (S.K.M.U) was founded on 10th January 1992 by an act of Bihar Legislative Assembly. The University came under the Government of Jharkhand when the new state of Jharkhand was formed in the year 2000.

• Samuktala Sidhu Kanhu College is a rural, govt-aided undergraduate college affiliated to North Bengal University. It is a newly established college which started functioning since December of 2010.

• Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University is a public state university located in Purulia district of West Bengal, India. It was established under an Act of the West Bengal Legislature on April, 2010.
  
  
• Sidhu Kanhu Indoor Stadium is an indoor stadium in Durgapur, West Bengal,India. It was built by Durgapur Municipal Corporation (local governing body) and has hosted matches of Badminton, Table Tennis and other sports.

• Built-in the memory of Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, this park is located just a few kilometers from the Ranchi railway station. 

• The Sido-Kanhu Dahar at Esplanade in Central Kolkata is named after them.