History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c44.97

v2.c44.97

We learn from a dispatch of the Government of Bengal in the Judicial and Revenue Department, No. 8 of 1837, dated the 11th February 1837, that on account of the disturbances in Bāmanghāṭi and Singhbhum, the mail was very often interrupted on the road to Bombay. Captain Wilkinson suggested that the *Pirs* of the Kols should be thoroughly punished and destroyed. He suggested the use of two regular battalions and a brigade of guns in addition to the Rāmgaḍh battalion and the irregular horse and the two brigades of guns attached to it. Wilkinson also suggested that all Kol *Pirs* should be taken directly under British Administration from the Rājās of Mayurbhañj and Singhbhum, the Kumār of Saraikela and the Chief of Kharsāwan and placed under a European officer with 500 men of the Rāmgaḍh battalion, a brigade of guns and a hundred horse at a cost of Rs. 30,400. These proposals were sanctioned by the Government of India on the 3rd of October and punitive measures carried out.