Question

What accounts for the anger of the tribals against the dikus?

Answer 1

The word “dikus” means outsiders. Dikus were the people who made the tribal people dependent upon them, thereby causing them a lot of misery and suffering. These outsiders were composed of traders and moneylenders who would come into the forests to sell the goods not produced within the forest, buy forest produce and offer cash loans. Often these loans came at the price of very high rates of interest. These loans ultimately forced the tribals into a vicious cycle of debt and poverty. The traders would buy goods from the tribals at very low rates and sell the same products at high prices, thereby making huge profits. For these reasons, the tribals considered the trader and the moneylender figures to be their main enemies; hence, they referred to them as the evil outsiders.
The colonial government too was looked upon as an external evil force that sought to destroy their livelihoods and their familiar ways of life. The British alienated the tribals by forcing shifting cultivators to practise settled cultivation; implementing forest laws to prevent their access to the forest land and the forest produce; demeaning the power and authority of tribal chiefs, and demanding tributes. As a result, there was considerable anger towards the British as well.