Titumir

In June 1830 a Bengal landlord named a tax on beards. The men who paid it were poor Muslim farmers.

Their teacher refused to pay and told them to do the same. That quarrel grew into a revolt, and a fort made of bamboo. The teacher was Titumir.

1Who was Titumir?

Syed Mir Nisar Ali was born on 27 January 1782. Sources name his village as Chandpur or Haidarpur, in rural Bengal. He studied at a local madrasa and became a hafiz, one who knows the Quran by heart.

He was also a good wrestler. For a time he worked as a bodyguard for a local zamindar. He was once jailed after a clash with zamindars over heavy taxes on farmers.

In 1822 he went on the Hajj to Mecca. There he met Syed Ahmad Barelvi. Barelvi was a revivalist who urged strict Islamic practice and jihad against Company rule.

Titumir came home and began to preach. He told poor Muslim farmers to give up customs he saw as un-Islamic. He also criticised zamindars as partners of the Company.

• Born 27 January 1782, as Syed Mir Nisar Ali.
• A hafiz, wrestler and former bodyguard.
• Hajj in 1822; met Syed Ahmad Barelvi.
• Preached to poor Muslim peasants of Bengal.

2What was the beard tax quarrel?

In June 1830 a zamindar named Krishnadeva Rai put a yearly tax on Muslim tenants who wore beards. His aim was to check the spread of Titumir’s preaching. Titumir told the farmers not to pay.

The zamindar answered with armed men, and a local mosque was burned. The Muslims hit back. Both sides complained to the police at Baduria. The magistrate at Barasat dropped the case.

That emboldened other zamindars. They set up similar taxes and jailed those who refused. The farmers went to court but got little help.

Titumir now urged armed resistance. The scholar Atis Dasgupta says a religious quarrel then turned into a class struggle against landlords and the Company. This is the key change to remember.

• June 1830: Krishnadeva Rai taxes bearded Muslims.
• Titumir tells farmers to refuse the tax.
• Other zamindars copy the tax; courts give little relief.
• Quarrel turns into a class struggle against zamindars and the Company.

3How did Titumir build his power?

Titumir moved his base to Narkelbaria and gathered an armed band. In October 1830 he declared himself the rightful ruler. He said the revenue should go to him, not to the Company.

Violence followed. His men raided a zamindar’s house and burned shops of moneylenders. The zamindars then joined hands with British indigo planters. The planters ran farms where many peasants were forced to grow indigo.

Titumir’s men beat a planter’s force at Mollahati. A zamindar’s forces were beaten too. In November 1830 a police party of about 120 men marched out under a joint magistrate. A force of about 500 rebels defeated it.

By 1831 the district was in turmoil. Titumir styled himself Badshah. His nephew Ghulam Masum served as his Senapati, or commander. Zamindars had to submit or leave their lands.

Most of his followers were poor Muslim peasants. Accounts differ on how many Hindu peasants joined him. Most zamindars, whatever their religion, opposed him.

• Base: Narkelbaria, near Barasat.
• Allies against him: zamindars and indigo planters.
• Police party beaten, November 1830.
• Title: Badshah; commander: Ghulam Masum.

4What happened at the bamboo fort?

Titumir’s followers built a fort of bamboo and mud at Narkelbaria. It was meant to stand against attack. The British could no longer ignore the revolt.

On the evening of 18 November 1831 a British column marched on it. It had cavalry, infantry and two cannons. Sources differ on its exact size and its officers. One account gives about 300 armed men.

The real attack came the next morning, 19 November. Cannon fire broke the fort in about three hours. Titumir was killed in the assault, at the age of 49. Many of his men died with him.

About 800 others were arrested and tried at Alipur. Ghulam Masum was hanged in front of the fort ruins. About 140 got prison terms. The British commander noted Titumir’s bravery in his dispatches. He also noted how long the bamboo walls had held.

• Fort of bamboo and mud at Narkelbaria.
• Stormed on 19 November 1831 with cannons.
• Titumir killed at 49.
• About 800 tried at Alipur; Ghulam Masum hanged.

5How is he remembered?

At the time, newspapers run by the English and by Bengali elites mostly called him a trouble-maker. Later writers saw him differently. Many now see him as an early rebel against both landlord and Company power.

The bamboo fort became a folk legend in Bengal. The novelist Mahasweta Devi wrote a novella called Titumir. In 1978 the playwright Utpal Dutt staged a play on him. Both tried to recover his story from the colonial record.

In 2004 a BBC poll ranked him eleventh among the greatest Bengalis of all time. Bangladesh issued a stamp for him in 1992. A naval base there bears his name. In India, a bus terminal at Barasat is named for him.

• Folk legend: the bamboo fort.
• Books and plays: Mahasweta Devi, Utpal Dutt.
• BBC poll 2004: 11th greatest Bengali.
• Honoured in both India and Bangladesh.
• Read about Tribal and Peasant Uprisings.

6What are the exam traps?

Do not mix Titumir with other movements.

• Titumir’s revolt was in 1831, 26 years before 1857.
• His movement is linked to Syed Ahmad Barelvi. It is not the Faraizi movement of Haji Shariatullah.
• The beard tax came from a zamindar, not from the Company.
• His title was Badshah, and his fort was of bamboo.
• Sources differ on troop numbers and fort-building dates.
• Compare him with Shah Mal.
• Compare him with Kittur Chennamma.