Read the following sequence about how the British saw Santhal villages. Step (A): Walter Sherwill sketches a village in the lower Rajmahal hills that appears peaceful, calm and idyllic. Step (C): Villages that had earlier seemed calm and peaceful now appear to the British as places of violent and savage deeds. Which of the following events is the missing Step (B)?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The rebellion of the Santhals against zamindars, moneylenders and the colonial state
Option (1) The arrival of the Santhals in Bengal as settlers hired by zamindars — Incorrect. The Santhals began to come into Bengal around the 1780s. This was long before Sherwill drew his peaceful village, so it cannot fall between the two steps.
Option (2) The demarcation of the Damin-i-Koh with boundary pillars — Incorrect. The Damin-i-Koh was marked out by 1832 as the land of the Santhals. It came before the sketch and did not change how the British saw the villages.
Option (3) The creation of the Santhal Pargana out of Bhagalpur and Birbhum — Incorrect. The Santhal Pargana was created only after the revolt, to conciliate the Santhals. It followed the change in British opinion and did not cause it.
Option (4) The rebellion of the Santhals against zamindars, moneylenders and the colonial state — Correct. The rebellion changed the British perception of the Santhals. After the revolt of 1855-56, villages once shown as calm looked violent to them.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.2 The Santhals: Pioneer settlers … “The rebellion changed the British perception of the Santhals. Villages that had earlier seemed calm and peaceful (Fig. 9.10) now appeared to have become places of violent and savage deeds.” |