User:Brajesh verma

Jaurah Paharia, the bandit appointed by East India Company

By: Brajesh Verma

Jaurah Paharia, the bandit of 18th century of Rajmahal hills, (presently situated in the eastern part of Jharkhand state in India) who had been appointed as the commander of 1300 armed forces having bows and arrows by General Sir Eyre Coote in 1782 was the first government servant under the East India Company in this region.

The social scientists are now trying to find out the real history of Jaurah Paharia, popularly known as “Jabra Paharia” by the locals today.

The Paharia, a primitive tribe, community has been claiming that ‘Jabra’ was none other than but Tilka Manjhi, the famous legendry character of the region, who had fought against the British rule in the last decade of 18th century at a time when the then collector of Bhagalpur, Augustus Cleveland, was trying to bring the Paharia in the folds of East India Company.

The contemporary travelers and the writers of the Santhal Parganas and Bhagalpur Gazetteers like Francis Hamilton Buchanan and LSSO’ Malley had however not mentioned the name of Tilka Manjhi in their books. But the name of Jaurah Paharia is mentioned in the British texts.

The Gazetteer of Santhal Parganas written by Malley says, “The next year in 1782 the enrolment of the corps of archers was sanctioned by General Sir Eyre Coote. The strength of the corps was about 1300 and the men were armed with bows and arrows, their commandant being one Jaurah, once a noted bandit, who according to Cleveland was the first inhabitant of the hills to enter the service of Government.” (Page-40)

Bishop Heber, who had visited Bhaglpur in the last decade of 18th century, has written that Jaurah was “the Rob Roy or, perhaps the Roderic Dhu of the Rajmahal, the most popular of all others among his own countrymen and the most dreaded by the landlords.

e.o.m