Sannyasi rebellion

The Sannyasi rebellion (Bengali: সন্ন্যাসী/ সাধু বিদ্রোহ, lit. 'monk's rebellion') was a revolt by sannyasis, sadhus (Hindu ascetics) against the rule of the British East India Company (EIC) in Bengal (1763-1800) . In the Eighteenth Century, Pandit Bhavanicharan Pathak was the main hero of the 'Sannyasi Rebellion'. A colonial district gazetteer describes Bhavani Pathak as a native of Bajpur in Rangpur district, active as a leader of dacoits in league with Majnu Shah during the late eighteenth century.https://archive.org/details/dli.csl.3048

A large body of Hindu sannyasis travelled annually from North India to different parts of Bengal to visit shrines. Enroute to the shrines, it was customary for many of these ascetics to be bestowed with religious grants from the headmen and Zamindars or regional landlords. In times of prosperity, the headmen and zamindars generally obliged. However, since the East India Company had received the diwani or right to collect tax, tax demands on zamindars increased, and the local landlords and headmen were unable to pay both the ascetics and the British. The East India Company viewed these Hindu ascetics with suspicion and treated them like bandits. In 1771, 150 ascetics were executed by the EIC authorities.

This led to widespread revolt by Sanyasis of Bengal and Bihar. Many disgruntled Bhumihar zamindars, foremost being Raja Fateh Bahadur Shahi of Husseypur and Raja Jugal Kishore of Bettiah, lent active support with men and money to the Sanyassi rebellion, which smouldered for several decades. Sannyasi Rebellion was India's first major anti-British independence struggle in India. Perhaps, the best reminder of the Sannyasi rebellion is found in the Bengali novels, Anandamath (1882) and Devi Chaudhurani (1884), written by India's first modern novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. The song, Vande Mataram, which was written in 1876, was used in the book. Vande Mataram was later declared as India's National song. While some refer to it as an early war for India's independence from foreign rule, since the right to collect tax had been given to the EIC after the Battle of Buxar in 1764, other historians categorize it as acts of violent banditry following the mass deaths in the province in the Bengal famine of 1770.