Birsa Munda was a religious leader and folk hero from the Munda Tribe of the Chhota Nagpur Plateau area, whose spirit of activism is remembered as a strong mark of protest against British rule in India.
He spent his childhood surrounded by Christian missionaries, whose main mission was to convert as many tribal people as possible. Advised by his teacher, Birsa got admitted a German Mission school where he was forced to convert to Christianity and renamed as Birsa David. After studying for a few years, Birsa left the Mission School, and left for Chaibasa, which had a lasting influence in his life.
Birsa is credited for reviving the traditional tribal culture which was mostly negatively affected by Christian missionary works. Many tribals under his sect had already converted to Christianity. He opposed and criticized the church and its practices such as levying of taxes and religious conversions. He himself became a preacher and a representative of their traditional tribal religion, and soon, he built up a reputation of a healer, a miracle-worker, and a preacher. He also founded a new religion, Birsait.
Munda also participated in anti-missionary and anti-establishment activities between 1886-1890, in Chaibasa, and started a movement called ‘Ulgulan’, or ‘The Great Tumult’.