This article is written by Anindita Deb, a student of Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA. The objective of this article is to discuss the recent inclusion of the Paika rebellion in the school curriculum. 

This article has been published by Rachit Garg.

Introduction 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a commemorative stamp and coin recognizing the Paika Rebellion on December 24, 2018. In addition to the stamp and coin, the PM announced the establishment of a Paika Rebellion Chair at Bhubaneshwar’s Utkal University. The commemoration of the Paika Rebellion’s 200th anniversary was addressed in the Union Budget Speech for 2017-18. 

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Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy recently made the following recommendation regarding the Paika Rebellion:

“The 1817 Paika rebellion of Odisha could not be called the first war of Independence, but considering it as the beginning of a popular uprising against the British, it would be included as a case study in the Class 8 National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) history textbook.”

This article will focus on the Paika rebellion and what led to its inclusion in the school curriculum.

What is the Paika rebellion

The Paika Rebellion of 1817 was an armed rebellion by the Paikas of Khurda in Odisha against the British. Under the leadership of Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhara, the uprising took shape.

Who are the Paikas

In Odiya, the word “Paika” means “warrior/fighter.” Their fighting method, known as “Paika Akhada,” dates back to ancient Kalinga and was praised by King Kharavela. The Paikas of Odisha were a landed militia that served the Gajapati monarchs by performing policing duties. They also served as warriors, assisting the king in battle. They were categorised into the following categories:

  • Praharis were sword-fighting experts.
  • Banuas were excellent matchlock marksmen.
  • Dhenkias were the battlefront archers.

For the military services they provided to the kingdom of Khurda, they were given rent-free land.

Reasons behind the Paika rebellion

Soon after the British took over Odisha from the Marathas in 1803, they began to implement a system of administration that enraged Mukunda Deva II, the King of Khurda. The British quickly discovered his plot to mutiny in collusion with the Paikas, and he was torn apart. They subsequently took over the Paikas’ territory beneath the deposed King’s estate. Many further British actions, such as the introduction of a new currency system, abuse of the Paikas at the hands of company officials, and the ban on extracting salt from saltwater, sparked considerable discontent and hate. In 1817, a powerful party of 400 Ghumusar Khonds marched to Khorda and stated their intention to liberate Khorda and Ghumusar from British domination. The Paikas of Khurda joined the organisation as well. 

The rebellion was led by Buxi Jagabandhu, also known as Paika Bakshi, who was the commander of the Gajapati king of Khurda’s militia force. Khurda was a kingdom in the vicinity of Puri. He was one of India’s liberation warriors. 

The course of events that followed:

  • During their march to Khurda, the Paikas set fire to a police station and killed some East India Company officials. The Nayagarh, Kujang, and Kanika kings, as well as village headmen, peasants, and zamindars, gave their support to the revolt. Purl, Pipli Cuttack, and other regions of Odisha rapidly joined the uprising. 
  • The Paikas appeared to have taken control of the conflict and had some success at first, but they were defeated by the British in just three months. Some Paikas, on the other hand, engaged in guerilla warfare against the British, but the rebellion was put down by 1819. As a result, it lasted a year and a half until being brutally suppressed by the armies of the British East India Company.
  • Bakshi Jagabandhu, the Paika leader, surrendered to the British in 1825 after a series of defeats and lived as a prisoner in Cuttack till his death in 1829.

Outcome and repercussions of the rebellion

The Paika Rebellion’s outcome was disappointing, since the rebels engaged were sentenced to death or long-term imprisonment.

British officials created a panel to investigate the revolt. Following the Paika revolt, which was led by individuals from the Kandha and Koi regions, there were violent uprisings. The fundamental issue that arose with the Paika revolt was the revenue policy, which remained unchanged.

Lord Jagannath was projected as a symbol of Odiya unity during the revolt. Despite the fact that it was a brutal rebellion prior to the renowned Revolt of 1857, which challenged British Supremacy in India, it did not garner widespread support. The Prime Minister honoured and congratulated the descendants of families connected with the revolt on the 200th anniversary of the rebellion.

Nationalist movement or peasant rebellion

The Paika Rebellion was one of the peasant uprisings that occurred in India during the British East India Company’s military expansion. Because these revolutions frequently clashed brutally with European colonialists and missionaries, their resistance is sometimes regarded as the first expression of resistance to colonial control — and hence as “nationalist.”

Inclusion of the rebellion in school curriculums and related controversies

Odisha has been demanding since 2017 that the state’s rebellion be recognised as the country’s first war of independence. At present, the 1857 Indian Mutiny, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, is considered the first fight of independence against British rule. Although the Odisha Paika revolt of 1817 cannot be considered the first battle of independence, it would be incorporated as a case study in the Class 8 National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) history textbook, stated the Union Culture Minister on December 2, 2021.

What was Odisha’s demand

The Odisha state cabinet, led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, passed a proposal in 2017 to formally encourage the centre to recognise the Paika rebellion as the country’s first battle of independence. “I request the Government of India to consider this proposal positively,” Patnaik wrote to the-Home Minister Rajnath Singh, “so that the people of India appreciate, in the correct perspective, the events that led to the Indian freedom struggle and our historic independence from foreign rule.” 

The uprising was portrayed as a mass agitation and “the first struggle for freedom in the country against foreign rule in which the people of Odisha had actively participated” in the state cabinet’s recommendation. At President Ram Nath Kovind’s foundation stone laying ceremony for the Paika revolt memorial in Barunei in 2019, Chief Minister Patnaik reaffirmed his request.

Centre’s response to the demand

In consultation with the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, now called the Ministry of Education, the Centre had evaluated the suggestion and investigated the matter. The Paika Rebellion, according to ICHR recommendations, cannot be considered the first war of independence, the Union Culture Minister told the Rajya Sabha.

However, considering that the rebellion which started in 1817 continued till 1825 and “is one of the beginnings of popular uprisings against the British in India”, the minister declared that it would now be included in the curriculum of Class VIII history textbook of NCERT.

Is the centre “saffronizing” the education sector

In a statement, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chairman Vaiko said that the BJP-led central government is attempting to ‘saffronize’ the education sector in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. In his statement, he said that RSS’s ‘Hindutva‘ ideals are being ingrained in school and college curricula.

He further claimed that chapters on federalism, human rights, nationalism, and secularism, as well as chapters on Indian Democracy, Social Organization, and Social Processes in the sociology course, had been eliminated entirely from the 11th-grade political science curriculum. The RSS’s ‘Hindutva‘ concepts, such as Vedas, Upanishads, Smritis, and Puranas, he stated, have been incorporated into the syllabus. 

He also expressed his displeasure with the significance given to the Ramayana and Mahabharat, and said that Muslim rule in India has been neglected, with Muslim kings being referred to as “invaders.”

He further stated that teachings on Dalit politics, which were formerly included in the curriculum, had now been deleted.

“The Hindu Maha Sabha’s head, V.D. Savarkar called the 1857 soldier’s revolt the ‘First War of Independence.’ What Savarkar described is already part of the lesson. Prior to that, the Bengal Sanyasi Rebellion, Odia’s Paika Rebellion, and Tamil Nadu’s Vellore Revolution had not been included.” Vaiko went on to say that the partition of Bengal in 1905 and the events surrounding it were illegally deleted.

Conclusion

The Paika rebellion is a landmark in the history of the freedom struggle in India. Even though it was the first rebellion against British rule in India, ICHR has given no reasonable explanation as to why it cannot be considered the first war of independence and why the revolt of 1857 is considered to be the first war. Besides that, there are several rebellions, as mentioned by Vaiko, that have not even been mentioned in the school curriculum and students know nothing about them. What is taught in schools is only a chunk of the vast history of our country, and creating a bias on the history taught to students in school is a condemnable move. 

References

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