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The Language of Forests

(gahan vano me kaun bajata tali?
Ghane aranya me Birsa ki kartali.
Birsa bajata tali, samjhe har jiv,
Hai! Manusya na samajh!)

गहन वनों में कौन बजाता है ताली?
घने अरण्‍य में बिरसा की करताली,
बिरसा बजाता ताली, समझे हर जीव,
हाय! मनुष्‍य नासमझ!

Birsa Munda represents the human society that was an integral part of nature. He belonged to a society that still upheld the values of the Neolithic world - human beings were still the children of the Mother earth. Birsa Munda understood the language of nature. Unfortunately, however, the civilized society of his time did not understand his language.

Colonial rulers called him a wicked ape and their lackeys, the Dikus, found in him an arc enemy; and they together eliminated him in no time. After about a century of disappearance in the oblivion since his death suddenly he has been resurrected. Today it has become a fashion to call him ‘Bhagawan’. Every nook and corner of Jharkhand has worn the name of Birsa, starting from the airport to the shoe shops. But have we recalled his last words? Have we learnt the language of Birsa?

Birsa’s words were the words of humanity, his language was the language of nature.

During 1893 - ’94 forests around the villages of the Ho - Munda country were taken away by the British administration and turn them into ‘Protected Forests’ under the Indian Forest Act VII of 1878. The eternal bond between human and nature was thus severed mercilessly forever. Jeta Munda of Gudri, Rasha Munda and Moni Munda of Durkar Pir claimed resumption of the ‘old rights’. Birsa Munda himself led some villagers to Chaibas to submit a petition before the Deputy Commissioner. But nothing came out of that (K. S. Singh. The Dust Storm and the Hanging Mist. P.37). Throughout the colonial period the alienation of the Jharkhandi communities from their natural habitat and destruction of their forests went on. The rulers destroyed the forests to turn the forest land into cultivable fields for they wanted to generate more revenue; and for their lackeys hunting became the past time and trophies (Shikar kiye gaye pashuyon ke mund) of the games (shikar) decorated their drawing rooms. The trees were turned into railway sleepers, logs for the mines, timber for the building construction and furniture. Men of civilization killed the soul of the forest and turned it into a commodity in the capitalist market.

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