The Life and Times of Birsa Munda

The year: 1890-92. It was a time of turmoil when several Adivasis in the Chhotanagpur region fell prey to the false preaching of the Christian churches and were forced to embrace Christianity. It was a ploy by the British to convert Adivasis to Christianity to stem protests. Birsa Munda and his family also believed in preaching initially and converted to Christianity. Soon, however, Birsa saw through the trickery and not merely did he convert to Hinduism again, but he also convinced several Adivasis. They had converted to Christianity to embrace Hinduism again. It was this Birsa Munda who later became the "God" of the Adivasis and came to be regarded as "Dharti-Aba" or "Father of the Universe."
In an attempt to capture Birsa, the British administration was jolted and announced a reward of Rs 500 for his arrest. The British trick worked, and some greedy informers of the British caught Birsa when he was sleeping at night.
This book, a biography of the great Adivasi leader, Birsa Munda, tries to capture some of the brave glimpses from the life of a daring revolutionary who gave up all he had to fight for the rights of his people and to ensure the freedom of his motherland.