Lesson 1/45 min
Fakir-Sannyasi and Chakma revolts
In 1760 Chittagong came under the East India Company. The first big resistance to Company rule in Bengal was raised by fakirs and sannyasis. In 1763 they attacked the Company's factory at Dhaka.
The Fakir-Sannyasi revolt
- The first revolt after the Company gained power; the first resistance movement against the British
- Period 1760–1800 (the eighteenth century); area north and west Bengal and Bihar
- The books place the activity in Rajshahi, Bogura, Rangpur, Dinajpur and Dhaka
- Fakir leader Majnu Shah (also active in Mymensingh and Sherpur); died 1787
- Sannyasi leader Bhabani Pathak; the zamindar Devi Chowdhurani was in touch with him, and the books call the two the hero and heroine of the revolt
- Majnu Shah wrote to Rani Bhabani of Natore asking help against the English
- The government restricted the fakirs' movement and made carrying arms an offence; Warren Hastings took special measures to crush them
- The fakirs were finally defeated in 1800
Watch out: One printed question gives the fakir revolt as ‘1760 to 1840’, but the text of both books and Banglapedia end it in 1800. Remember 1760–1800.
Rangpur and the Madari fakirs
- The oppressive landlord blamed for the Rangpur peasant revolt: Debi Singh
- In Rangpur a rebel was called ‘Ding’ and a village head ‘Basaniya’ in the local speech
- The founder of the Madari fakir order was Zindashah Madar
The Chakma revolt
- Chittagong came under the Company in 1760; from 1761 it raised the revenue again and again
- In 1776, when the rate was raised further, the chief naib Ranu Khan declared revolt
- The Company sent troops again and again without success; in 1789 it made a settlement with the Chakma raja
- The books give the introduction of a money economy as the main cause
Watch out: Both books name the Chakma raja Joan Baksh (Jan Baksh Khan), and exams give him as the answer to ‘the Chakma raja who refused revenue’. Some sources say the raja during the 1776 resistance was Sher Daulat Khan (died 1782) and that Jan Baksh succeeded him.
Check yourself
Which was the first revolt against Company rule, and who was its fakir leader?
At a glance
- 1
The Fakir-Sannyasi revolt (1760–1800) was the first resistance to Company rule.
- 2
Fakir leader Majnu Shah (died 1787); sannyasi leader Bhabani Pathak; with Devi Chowdhurani.
- 3
Warren Hastings took special measures to suppress it; the fakirs were finally defeated in 1800.
- 4
The landlord blamed for the Rangpur peasant revolt was Debi Singh; a rebel was called ‘Ding’ and a village head ‘Basaniya’.
- 5
Chakma revolt 1776: chief naib Ranu Khan; a settlement with the Company in 1789.