Birsa Munda was an Indian tribal independence activist, and folk hero who belonged to the Munda tribe. He spearheaded a tribal religious millenarian movement that arose in the Bengal Presidency in the late 19th century, during the British Raj, thereby making him an important figure in the history of the Indian independence movement. The revolt mainly concentrated in the Munda belt of Khunti, Tamar, Sarwada and Bandgaon.
Photograph from S. C. Roy's The Mundas and their Country
Birsa Munda statue by Nabhendu Sen at Naya More, Bokaro Steel City, Jharkhand
Birsa Munda captured and conducted to Ranchi(1890).
Birsa Munda on a 1988 daak ticket of India post
The Munda people are an Austroasiatic-speaking ethnic group of the Indian subcontinent. They speak Mundari as their native language, which belongs to the Munda subgroup of Austroasiatic languages. The Munda are found mainly concentrated in the south and East Chhotanagpur Plateau region of Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. The Munda also reside in adjacent areas of Madhya Pradesh as well as in portions of Bangladesh, Nepal, and the state of Tripura. They are one of India's largest scheduled tribes. Munda people in Tripura are also known as Mura.
Munda men, Dinajpur District, Bangladesh
1903 Group photo of Mundas in Chota Nagpur.
Birsa Munda rebellion in 1800s
Mundari dance