Question

How many Bhils were killed in the Mangarh firing?
(A) 250
(B) 500
(C) 1000
(D) 1500

Answer 1

Hint: The Mangarh massacre was a brutal incident that took place in the year 1913, six years before the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place. Many people lost their lives and those who survived were badly injured. This incident took place at Mangarh situated in the Aravali hills region.

Complete answer: The people who lost their lives in the Mangarh firing incident belonged to the Bhil community. Bhil is a tribal community, most of the members of this community are found in the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. People of this community were harassed and were forced to work as bonded laborers. At that time the great famine had a huge impact on all the tribal communities as most of the victims were among them. Govind Guru, a social reformer who belonged to the Banjara tribe, took the initiative for his community and started working with the people of the Bhil tribe. He also started a movement for the Bhil community in the year 1908 which was known as the Bhagat movement. He encouraged them to fight for their rights and stop working as bonded laborers so that they could improve their standard of living. On the day of Kartik Purnima Govind and other people of the Bhil tribe had gathered to celebrate this day and also few rituals were organized. Britishers thought that they all gathered to plan a revolt against them and thus the firing took place which killed almost 1500 people of the Bhil community.

Note: It is said that more than one and a half lakh people of the Bhil tribe had gathered at Mangarh when this incident took place. It was R.E Hamilton, a british politician of that region who gathered forces and ordered for firing. His forces surrounded the hills from all sides and began firing from the machine guns and other weapons.