Ramdayal Munda releases a book on Gaya Munda at TRI (below) on Wednesday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, June 24: Birsa Munda’s army of tribals was commanded by Gaya Munda, who led freedom fighters on a series of uprisings against the British. He was arrested and hanged secretly by the Empire.

Efforts to find the place where the legendary commander was hanged will start now.

“Only sketchy details of Gaya Munda are available,” said Prakash Chandra Oraon, the director of the state owned Jharkhand Tribal Research Institute (TRI) that commissioned the project.

“All we know is that Gaya Munda was born at Etkedih village under Murhu block in Ranchi district. But, neither the date nor the place where he was hanged by the British are known,” he said.

At a review meeting, TRI decided to sponsor studies to identify and record the lives of the tribal leaders who died fighting the British and give them their legitimate place in history.

“Gaya Munda was part of the Sardar Movement in 1850, the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 and the wave of uprising that began in 1890,” said Oraon.

He added that Subhash Chandra Munda, a history teacher and researcher at P.P.K.College, Bundu, would do the research.

Several trees in Ranchi and its adjoining areas were mute witnesses to the hanging of tribal leaders for taking on the might of the British. These men died unsung, as no records were kept by the Raj.

Oraon explained that after Birsa Munda’s arrest, his commander Gaya Munda, too, was arrested from somewhere in the Dombaru Hills. “Later going by the then prevailing practice, Gaya Munda was hanged from some tree. However, no records exist,” he said.

The only exception was Birsa Munda himself. The British recorded his arrest and incarceration at the then Ranchi Central Jail, located on Jail Road in the state capital.

“The legendary tribal was hanged and his body secretly disposed off under the cover of darkness,” he added.