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{{Short description|Territory in British India}}

'''Kolhan''' was a territory administered by the [[British Raj]] in [[Singhbhum district|Singhbhum District]] in [[Bihar Province|Bihar]] with an area of 5,063 km². It was the country of the [[Ho people|Ho]] (''Larka-kols'') group of the [[Kols]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Department |first=Bengal (India) Land Records and Agriculture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLwdmAEACAAJ&newbks=0&hl=en |title=Final Report on the Settlement of the Kolhan Government Estate in District Singhbhum |date=1898 |publisher=Bengal Secretariat Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Prasad |first=Chandra Bhushan |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=JRuBUTxXrn4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=kolhan&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=kolhan&f=false |title=Final Report on Survey and Settlement Operations in the District of Singhbhum, 1958-1965 |date=1970 |publisher=Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=S. P. |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=SsZUsqlIFDEC&pg=PA55&dq=kolhan+state&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdsMui7LGBAxUe1DgGHUUGCrsQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=kolhan%20state&f=false |title=Conflict and Tension in Tribal Society |date=1993 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-7022-493-8 |language=en}}</ref> The population in 1872 was 150,904 people distributed in 883 villages. It is currently situated in the state of [[Jharkhand]].

[[File:Singhbum-Sairakela-Kharsawan.jpg|thumb|Kolhan in a 1909 map of [[The Imperial Gazetteer of India]]]]

In modern times, the [[Ho people|Hos]], [[Munda people|Mundas]], [[Bhumij people|Bhumijs]], [[Oraon people|Oraons]] and other aboriginal communities of Kolhan regions has demanded the formation of its own independent nation, '''Kolhan state''' or '''Kolhanistan'''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinha |first=S. P. |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=SsZUsqlIFDEC&pg=PA55&dq=kolhan+state&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdsMui7LGBAxUe1DgGHUUGCrsQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=kolhan%20state&f=false |title=Conflict and Tension in Tribal Society |date=1993 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-7022-493-8 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Reichel |first=Eva |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=ab73DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT306&dq=kolhan+state&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcheuO77GBAxULyDgGHRY3Dbc4ChDoAXoECAYQAw#v=onepage&q=kolhan%20state&f=false |title=The Ho: Living in a World of Plenty: Of Social Cohesion and Ritual Friendship on the Chota Nagpur Plateau, India |date=2020-08-10 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-066625-0 |language=en}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
Kolhan gets its name from the aboriginal [[Kol people|Kol]] inhabitants of the [[Singhbhum district]]. It is also known as the land of Kols ([[Ho people|Hos]] or Larka-Kols).

== History ==

=== Early period ===
Kolhan region was part of the [[Singhbhum district]] and was under the jurisdiction of the [[Raja]] of [[Porahat]]. [[Ho people|Larka-Kols]] and [[Bhumij people|Bhumij Kols]] were the first settlers of the region of Singhbhum. Singhbhum was named after their supreme god 'Singbonga' and Kolhan as the homeland of [[Kol people|Kols]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bihar District Gazetteers: Singhbhum |url=http://indianculture.gov.in/gazettes/bihar-district-gazetteers-singhbhum |access-date=2023-09-17 |website=INDIAN CULTURE |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=O’malley .l. S.s. |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.206887 |title=Bengal District Gazetteers Singhbhum, Saraikela And Kharsawan |date=1910}}</ref>

=== British period ===
[[British Raj|British]] relations with the area began in 1820 when it was a refuge for fugitives from [[Chhota Nagpur]]; the [[Ho people|Hos]] made incursions into neighboring territories much to the annoyance of the [[Raja]] of [[Porahat]] (or Sanjai-Porahat) and the landlords of northern Singhbhum (the zamindars of [[Kharsawan State|Kharsawan]] and [[Saraikela State|Saraikela]]). The British government made a treaty with the Raja of Porahat and helped him (and also the Rajas of Saraikela and Kharsawan) against the [[Ho people|Hos]] (1821), but they did not achieve the final purpose.

In 1836, the British government, following the advice of Captain Wilkinson, head of the [[South-West Frontier Agency]] (SWFA), decided to take the territory under its direct control. Colonel Richards entered the country with a significant force and secured the submission in 1837 of the Mundas and [[Manki#Peoples|Mankis]], who dominated 620 villages. With the territory and some [[Ho people|Ho]] (or Kol) majority parganas belonging to [[Raja]] of [[Singhbhum district|Singhbhum]] or of [[Mayurbhanj State|Mayurbhanj]], the separate territory of Kolhan was formed with capital at [[Chaibasa]]. The [[Manki#Peoples|Mankis]], head of the ''pirs'' (panchayat), were the in charge of the police and tax collectors of the Mundas and the Mundas were the head of the villages. There were no more incidents of insurrection until [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|1857]] when the [[Ho people|Hos]] joined the rebellion of the Raja of [[Porahat]]; the campaign to subdue the revolt of the Raja and the Hos ended in 1859.

=== Kolhan statehood movement ===
In 1952, thousands of [[Adivasi|Adivasis]] (aboriginals) from the [[Munda people|Munda]], [[Ho people|Ho]] and [[Oraon people|Oraon]] and other groups in [[Bihar]] demanded a sovereign and independent nation called Kolhan. On October 30, 1977, the leaders of the [[Ho people|Ho]] tribe, the Mundas and the [[Manki#Peoples|Mankis]] (Kolhan-Porahat Munda-Manki Sangh) met in assembly. On November 1, 1977, tribal leaders [[Narayan Jonko]], [[Christ Anand Topno]] and [[K.C. Hembrom]] formed the Kolhan Raksha Sangh (also referred to as Kolhan Raksha Samiti), with Jonko as president and Hembrom as secretary. On 30 March 1980, the party organized a massive tribal demonstration at Mangla Hat in [[Chaibasa]] to declare Kolhan statehood; according to the party, the district was never part of the [[British India]] and was therefore an independent state. The movement proclaimed independence on September 21, 1981, and declared a National Day on December 2, 1981, anniversary of the proclamation of the Wilkinson government, basis for ensuring that the territory was not part of British India; a letter was also sent to the headquarters of the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] in [[London]], signed by Narayan Jonko, titled head of Government of Kolhan. Jonko and Anand Topno visited [[London]] and [[Geneva]] presenting the case of the Kolhans. The [[Indian government]] arrested the Kolhan leaders in October and November 1981. The party began a campaign of terror against the opposition led by the politician and schoolteacher K.C. Hembrom, who ratified the proclamation of the independence of Kolhanistan, proclamation to which a great number of adventurers joined, but which was not effective; actions caused 8 deaths in Tonto market. It was the Kolhan Raksha Sangh (KRS) that designed a national flag of Kolhan and proclaimed independence, declaring September 21 (as of 1982) as the 'National Day of Kolhan'.

The tribal [[Kol people|Kols]] of [[Bihar]] again demonstrated violently in favor of independence in March 2000. The movement for a sovereign Kolhan nation resumed again in 2015 in the tribal district of [[West Singhbhum district|West Singhbhum]], 4 years after the formation of [[Jharkhand]].

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Uncategorized|date=September 2023}}

Kolhan (territory) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Creating a new article