A Santhal family in the Damin-i-Koh in the 1840s borrowed money from…

The correct answer is Option (4) → The moneylender took over the land they had brought under cultivation

Option (1) The zamindar asserted control over the land they had cleared in the Damin — Incorrect. Zamindars were asserting control over the Damin area as a separate pressure on the Santhals. A debt owed to a diku was recovered by the moneylender himself.

Option (2) They were pushed up into the dry and rocky upper hills — Incorrect. The dry, rocky upper hills were where the Paharias retreated. The Santhals settled and farmed the lower slopes of the Damin.

Option (3) They were moved into a new territory carved out of Bhagalpur and Birbhum — Incorrect. The Santhal Pargana was carved out of Bhagalpur and Birbhum only after the Santhal Revolt of 1855-56. The colonial state created it to conciliate the Santhals as a people.

Option (4) The moneylender took over the land they had brought under cultivation — Correct. The dikus were moneylenders. They charged high interest and took over the land when debts remained unpaid, so the family would lose its fields.