Post News Network
Baripada, August 10: Kanka-Kalia ranks very high in the list of freedom fighters of Mayurbhanj district who laid down their lives for the independence of the nation. They were hanged by the British government May 3, 1917 at a place which has now become a part of MKC High School here. Often people consider Kanka-Kalia as names of one or two persons. But the fact is the name represents three persons.
According to a local historian Dr Pashupati Mohanta, some British officers were passing in front of the house of Hindu Majhi and Mansingh Majhi of Betnoti. They asked a woman about the owners of the house. As the woman was the wife of the younger brother of Hindu and Mansingh, she couldn’t take their name as it was considered sin to utter elder brother-in-law’s name then. In santhali language she answered Kanka Hakanah Unia Odah (the residence of two brothers who are mad for the freedom of the soil). Since then, the Britishers started keeping vigil on them in the name of Kanka.
Kalia Mahanta was another freedom fighter who sacrificed his life during freedom movement. While the descendants of Kanka still live in Betnoti, none have survived in Kalia’s family. Only a martyrs’ memorial exists in his name.
Behind the scene events
Mayurbhanj ruler Sriram Chandra Bhanjdeo died inside a forest during a hunting expedition in February 1912. It was believed that the British rulers were behind the incident. King’s sons Rajkumar Purachandra Bhanjadeo and Pratap Chandra Bhanjadeo were minors then. Apparently, the two representatives of the then British government had a proposal before the council of ministers offering Rs 1 lakh and take up the administration in their own hands in lieu of the payment. However, they started exploiting the subjects by imposing 64 kinds of taxes after the council agreed to the proposal.
Meanwhile, the local youths were also forcibly inducted into British Army during the World War I which had infuriated the people of Mayurbhanj garjat province. The members of Prajameli (a mass movement against British rule) declared Hindu and Mansingh as their chief or king and Kalia Mahanta as minister. After troubled by the three for about three years, the British dispensation ordered their execution.
Dr Mahanta, a researcher on the rule of Mayurbhanj kings came to know about this startling fact from a book during a visit to Britain. Later, it came to the knowledge of locals.
Even as it has been more than six decades since independence, a proper road leading to the house of Kanka-Kalia is yet to be laid. Only a martyrs’ memorial has been erected by the locals and an intersection has been named after the three as ‘Kanka-Kalia Chhak’. The descendants of Kanka still worship the sword and the barrels of the guns used by the three freedom fighters.
