Mangarh Hills: National Monuments Authority(NMA) Chairman Shri Tarun Vijay recently submitted a report to the Minister of Culture on declaring Mangarh hillock in Rajasthan as a monument of National Importance as a tribute to 1500 Bhil tribal freedom fighters.

Key Highlights:

• The report was submitted by him and his team to the Minister of State for Culture Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal at Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.
• This report carries relevant details about the Mangarh hillock and recommendations by National Monuments Authority.

Mangarh Hillock:

• Mangarh Hillock is a hillock in the Aravalli range located in Banswara District, Rajasthan.
• It is situated near the Rajasthan-Gujarat border.
• It is a site of a tribal uprising where a massacre of over 1500 Bhil tribal freedom fighters took place in 1913.
• Hence, this place is also known as the Adivasi Jallianwala.

History:

On 17 November 1913, a gathering of local Bhils numbering about 1500 were brutally killed by the British army when they refused to disperse.

• The Bhils present were supporters of social reformer Govind Guru who was influenced by social reformers like Dayanand Saraswati.
• Govind Guru had led the “Bhagat movement” in the late 19th century among Bhil tribes in an effort to ’emancipate’ them by prescribing, among other things, adherence to vegetarianism and abstinence from all kinds of intoxicants.
• The Bhils rose in rebellion against the oppressive policies of the British.
• They began opposing taxes imposed by the British and forced labour imposed by the princely states of Banswara, Santrampur, Dungarpur and Kushalgarh.
• The British and princely kingdoms, worried by the tribal revolt made the decision to crush the uprising.
• Govind guru was captured and exiled from the area.
• He was imprisoned in Hyderabad jail and released in 1919 on grounds of good behaviour.
• But as he was exiled from his homeland, he settled in Gujarat where he died in 1931.