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DIFFERENT ADMINISTRATION SYSTEMS IN

JHARKHAND

MUNDA ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM

Villages were political unit under Mundas.

The Mundas had broadly three level of self-governing system at

1. Village level: The head of Munda village is called Munda. The traditional decision
making body is called as Hatu Dunub.
2. Cluster of village level: Decision making body is called as Sanga Parha Mauja and the
head is known as Manki
3. Community level: The decision making body is called as Munda Sangh and the post
holder is known as Munda Disum Raja.

Among the Munda community the decision making process is more people centered or
democratic which includes three sections i.e. Karyapalika (Administration), Vidhayika
(Parliament) and Nyayapalika (Judiciary) that exist from the level of village to community
level. Adivasi village/ Hatu is called small republic.

The traditional decision making bodies of the Mundas are hereditary in nature. The
Confederation of Villages consisted of ten or twelve villages. It was called Patti, chief of which
was called the Manki.

His duties were:

a. To settle disputes concerning land and other matters;

b. To settle questions of exceptional tribal interest within a village;
c. To settle peace between different villages with the help of a council of elders;
d. To collect chanda or rent and hand over it to the Raja.

The above system of governance is collectively known as the Munda-Manki system. Some
other officers in this system are:

Dakua (messenger), tehsildar, pahan, thakur, diwan (finance), daroga, lal (assistant), pandey
(interpret the rules of king), barkandaaz, etc.
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A national law, the Provisions of Panchayat (Extension to ScheduledAreas) Act., 1996 (PESA)
does recognize the traditional system of decision making process and stands for the people’s
right to self governance.

Jharkhand is the only state where Munda scheduled tribe of India dominates. Mundas call
themselves ‘Horoko’, normally they are also known as ‘Kol’. ‘Hat’ (market) has an important
role in their life but agriculture is main occupation. Youth’s house of the Mundas is known as
‘Gatiora’, ‘Akhara’ is a place where Panchayat is held.

Munda society is divided into clans. The residence of Munda tribe (22,28,661) is in Chhota
Nagpur plateau of Jharkhand area. They also inhabit other states like Odisha, West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar. They are known to marry outside their clan. According
to some historians, Mundas came to Jharkhand from Tibet. Munda tribe laid the foundation of
the Naga dynasty of this region.

Munda people of Jharkhand also follow the old age tradition of Patthalgari i.e. stone erection
in which the tribal community residing in the village buries a large inverted u shaped dressed
headstone on the head side of grave or entrance of village in which is inscribed the family tree
of the dead persons. Rita or Risa was the first tribal leader of Munda. He selected Sutiya Pahan
as the ruler of Mundas, who renamed the region of ‘Sutiya Nagkhand’. Sutiya had divided his
state into 7 gadhs and 21 parganas.

These 7 gadhs were Lohagadh (Lohardaga), Hazarigadh (Hazaribagh), Palungadh (Palamu)

Mangadh (Manbhum), Kesalgadh and Surgujgadh (Surguja).

Further, he divided these gadhs into 21 parganas:

The state formed by Sutiya Pahan was spread over the entire Jharkhand. • However, he could
not keep this state in a thread for long. First, due to the spread of Jainism and Buddhism and
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again due to the influx of outsiders in this region, new dynasties began to emerge in different
areas, in which Nagavansh was prominent.

MUNDA MANKI ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM (Ho Tribe)

In the areas of Pashchimi and Purbi Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan. They belong to the
Proto-Australoid group and speak the Kol or Larma Kol.

They follow their indigenous religious system called Sarna or Sarnaism. Their religion
resembles a great extent that of Santhals, Oraons, Mundas and other tribal people. Inter-tribe
and tribe-caste marriage are not permissible. It is treated as a social offence. There are many
types of marriage among the Ho, such as Andi, Diku Andi, Aportipi, Rajikhushi and Anade.

The Sun, Moon, Earth, river and mountain are the principal Bongas of the Ho. The Singbonga
is the chief Bonga of the Hos.

Their important traditional festivals are Maghe, Baha Parba, Rajasala or Raja Parba, Hero
Parba, Jamnawa Parba, and Kakwontanri and Kalam Parba, Sohrai and so on.

Their cluster area is Kolhan. There is a panchayat in Ho village, which resolves village disputes.
Serious allegations are brought before the gram Panchayat. Family disputes, village disputes,
property matters are also settled by the Panchayat.

The head of the village is Munda and his assistant is called ‘Dakua’.

Many villages comprise an inter-state panchayat, called the Peed, which is headed by ‘Manki’.
In the Gram Panchayat, all the heads of the families are involved in decision making. Munda
of all villages participates in the interstate panchayat.

At the present time, the existence of government panchayats is also seen in the ‘Ho’ region.
After the fall of Mughal rule, the British declared these areas in the district of Bengal.
Singhbhum continued to operate from Lohardaga in present-day Jharkhand state, but could not
recover tax from Singhbhum.

In 1830–32, there was a Kol rebellion in protest against tax collection, a settlement was reached
between the company and the tribals. The settlement resulted in Wilkinson Rule in 1837 AD.
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In 1837, Captain Thomas Wilkinson declared the governor as the agent of all the Munda
(village head) of Kolhan and as the king of their villages, and it was said that all Mankis and
Mundas would be hereditary as before.

After the British subjugated the Singhbhum region, it was announced that the Munda people
would collect one rupee tax from their village and deposit twelve ana of them as tax. Manki
will deposit the tax collected from his subordinate Munda people to the government treasury.
Small criminal cases were also included in the Wilkinson Rule. Through the Wilkinson law,
the British made a treaty with them, and their self-government system was recognized. “Ho”
struggled for his identity. Even today, this region is a vibrant land of tribal self government.

NAGVANSHI ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM Naga Dynasty

Nagvanshi in Chhota Nagpur region was one of the important rulers of Jharkhand. The capital
of this dynasty was Khukra established by Phanimukut Rai.

He built a sun temple in his capital Sutiyambe (Ranchi district), in which the Brahmins of Puri
(Odisha) performed the purification task. Phani Mukut Rai was the first Nagvanshi ruler who
ruled Banta, Harjan, Badam, Ramgarh, Gola, Topi, Palani, Mankeri, Baruta and Keonjhar. Raja
Pratap Rai, the fourth Nagavanshi ruler, changed the capital from Sutiyambe to the banks of
the Chutia Subarnarekha.

The order of the capitals of Nagvanshi rulers was Sutiambe, Chutia, Kokhara, Doisa, Palakot
and Ratugarh.

The Haihayavanshi Raksels established their rule in Surguja, Chhattisgarh. • The Raksels
invaded the Nagavanshi ruler Bhimakarna with 12000 cavalry troops, but Bhimakarna defeated
the Raksels in the “Battle of Barna” and established his rule as far as Barwa and Tori (Latehar).

Phanimukut Rai, did not abolish the Parha system nor made any changes, but tried to expand
it. In the era of Nagvans also, the previous tax system, land system and government system
continued like all Mundas.

There was no change in this system from the first century to the 16th century. But the first
effective intervention in this tradition began from the Mughal invasion period, i.e., 1585 AD.
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The Mughal army began to keep an eye on the kings here and later it gradually assumed a
regular form, which came to be known as ‘Malgujari’. The practice of collecting taxes or goods
in the Nagvanshi period was not from the common ryots. Therefore, it was difficult for the
Nagavanshi kings to give the Mughal rulers the goods of the entire kingdom.

Maharajah Durjanashal of Chhota Nagpur Khas was imprisoned in 1616 AD and was kept by
Jahangir for 12 years in the fort of Gwalior. Durjanashal was freed from captivity on the basis
of consent to pay tax of six thousand rupees annually.

The tax on the Nagavanshi kings went on increasing. But there was no provision for taxing its
subjects. Because of which, Nagavanshi kings changed their ancient system and started
collecting taxes from the people. The vassal used to collect tax, but it was not given regularly.
It was given only when a Mughal emperor sought it. This irregular tax system was called
‘Nazarna’ or ‘Offering’. The arrival of the British came after the Mughals found Diwani in
1765. As soon as they arrived, these people placed the area under Fort William under the system
of Patna Council.

When no regular tax was received from this area till 1773 AD, then S.G. Hittley was appointed
the first civil collector for Chhota Nagpur Khas, but this too was not successful in tax collection.
In 1793 AD, the Raja-Maharajas were made zamindars on the pretext of permanent settlement
for regular collection of tax. Jagirdari system changed to Zamindari system. This was an
important change. With this system, the rule of the Mundas and Nagavansh, which had been in
existence since ancient times, came to an end and the British Raj system came into force. • The
King or the Maharaja remained a medium to collect taxes for the British, after which the law
and order of the British began.

PARHA PANCHAYAT ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM

Parha was formed by mixing several clusters, the chief of which was called ‘Parha Raja’.
Panchayat of Parha was called Parha Panchayat.

There were five executive officers in this panchayat, who worked under the king. These officers
were Diwan, Thakur, Pandey, Karta and Lal. All these positions were hereditary. The
nomination of the Parha king was by election.
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Manki and Parha Raja did not receive any revenue of any kind. On this basis, it is also called
cooperative system and not called Raj system. It was considered the highest judiciary,
executive and legislature of Munda.

The Parha head is called Manki. The officials of the Parha Panchayat are Parha Raja, Dewan,
Thakur, Pandey, Karta and Lal. Oraon Tribe’s Governance System. The Oraons are an
important and populous tribe in Jharkhand.

Oraon cleared the forests and made them cultivable land. Made huts in it. These first forest
cleaners were called ‘Bhuinhar’ to build the farm. Later, Oraon Jeths are called Raiyat. His
land was called Bhuinhar Bhoomi. Some called the villages inhabited by them as ‘Bhuinhar’
village. He was called ‘Pahan’ and the family he belonged to was called ‘Pahan Khunt’.

Pahan continued to do both administrative and religious work. Later a second chief was
selected to assist him. He was called ‘Mahto’.

The panchayat was formed to resolve disputes with the growing population in the village, in
which, all senior members were panchs and Mahato was its president.

The Parha, as it exists today, is a union community of several nearby neighbouring villages,
whose central organization is ‘Pariha Panch’.

The Padha is formed by combining 7, 12, 21 or 22 villages. The head of which is called ‘Raja’.
One of the villages in Padha is called Raja village, Dasre village as ‘Diwan village’ and the
third one ‘Panere village called Chauth village’. Kotwar village and the remaining villages
‘Praja village’. Every village has its own special function.

Dasara (Mahato) runs the village. They have no taxation, levy or any financial right. All
authority is embedded in Panchayats and Panchs, whose approval and consent can only do
something about it. The senior members of the village (panch) gather at akhara or other
designated place. Godait calls the complainant and the plaintiff on both sides. Witnesses are
heard from both sides. There is also the practice of swearing and rigorous scrutiny. Panches
are decided by consensus. It also works for the welfare. Human-inhumane, protection from
natural and supernatural threats, disasters, organizing cultural functions, such as potted dance,
mass poaching, etc., are the main functions of the padaha. In a special situation, a village may
leave one passage and join another, but there is no break with the old Padaha. It is called
‘Doodh-Bhaiya’ village. The inclusion of such Doodh Bhaiya villages leads to a larger
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organization or union than Padha, which is called ‘Antarpadha’. Now, Oraon has become a
government panchayat in villages.