Ranchod Vira | Ranchhod Vira

Ranchod Vira as Proclaimed Koli king

The Ranchod Vira (also spelled Ranchhod Veera), a Koli peasant leader from the marginalized Koli community in colonial Gujarat state of India, he proclaimed himself "king" in 1898 amid famine, plague, and agrarian distress. As a village priest and healer, he mobilized around 500 - 600 armed Koli peasants to challenge British authority and local elite exploitation, framing his revolt in terms of moral and ethical governance. His short-lived uprising in Chaklasi village, Kheda district, is a key example of subaltern resistance predating organized nationalism, highlighting how peasants reimagined sovereignty through religious and communal lenses.

Background and Early Life

The Ranchod Vira was born in a peasant Koli around 1848 in the village of Chaklasi (or possibly Chalali), located in the fertile Charotar tract of Nadiad taluka, Kheda district, Bombay Presidency (present-day Gujarat). This rural, agrarian setting on the central Gujarat plains was home to a tight-knit Dharala Koli (Talapada Koli) community that historically enjoyed rent-free commons for cultivation and grazing until colonial surveys in the 1890s eroded these rights. Little is documented about his precise birth circumstances or parents, as colonial records and oral histories prioritize his later activities over childhood. Kolis like Ranchod Vira traced their roots to pre-colonial Kshatriya-like autonomy, including armed protection of Vaishnava pilgrims along routes to sites like Dakor (home to the Ranchodji temple, a Krishna form that Vira invoked prophetically). By the mid-19th century, when Ranchod Vira came of age, the community faced forced labor, debt bondage to moneylenders (sahukars), and social exclusion, fostering a culture of oral resistance and bhakti (devotional) networks.

Ranchod Vira's Koli family mirrored the modest, extended households of rural Kolis, centered on agricultural survival and communal ties. Koli Ranchod Vira was married to Bai Kanku, who participated in his spiritual gatherings at the Mandwa (a makeshift canopy temple). They had at least one son, possibly named Saina Koli, who served as a disciple and tied kanthi malas (tulsi bead necklaces) to followers. Ranchod Vira Koli also lived with a young grandson, Shankaria Koli (about 12 years old in 1898), who later testified in his trial about drafting and distributing proclamatory letters. Extended kin included a nephew who frequented the mandwa for rituals, and Koli relatives who joined the 1898 uprising, some sustaining injuries, like gunshot wounds to the neck. Family labor sustained their tenancy, but post-revolt dispersal scattered descendants; by the early 2000s, oral accounts from Raghupura and Chaklasi villagers preserved memories of Ranchod Vira's kin as protectors, with no direct local lineages identified in interviews. His household intertwined with broader Koli marriage circles (gols), reinforcing claims to Kshatriya status amid colonial stigmatization.

Proclaimed as a Koli king

Ranchod Vira, the Koli peasant and self-proclaimed king from Chaklasi, Gujarat, dictated this proclamation letter (known as a patra in Gujarati) to his disciples Teja Bama and Rama Nara, who served as scribes. Dated around January 9, 1898, it marked the symbolic end of British colonial authority and the dawn of a new era under his rule. The letter invoked Hindu religious motifs, such as the arrival of satyug (the "age of truth" from Hindu cosmology, a time of moral purity and justice), while directly challenging colonial taxation and governance. It was handwritten and circulated to at least 21 nearby villages, often read aloud in community gatherings to rally support among oppressed peasants, particularly from the Koli communities. Copies spread virally despite colonial suppression, inspiring fear among officials who described it as a "seditious letter" that could incite wider unrest.

Koli rebellion ans resistance

The Koli rebellion peaked on January 12 when British Sub-Inspector Jagannath Shastri arrived in Chaklasi with a police contingent to investigate rumors of Koli revolt. Around 4:30 p.m., Ranchod Vira's armed Koli followers blocked the inspector, demanding he perform worship (puja) as a sign of respect and mocking him as a topiwallah (a "hat-wearer," implying a culturally alienated collaborator). Ranchod Vira refused direct dialogue, insisting on written queries to assert equality with colonial authority, a subversive act in a hierarchy that demeaned Koli peasants.

Tensions escalated when constables fired into the crowd, killing five Koli peasants of Baraiya clan (Gotra, Kutumb). In retaliation, Kolis chased the police: one constable was killed, and three others were stripped of their uniforms and weapons, which Ranchod Vira's Kolis claimed as trophies of sovereignty. The clash lasted mere hours but symbolized a direct assault on British prestige.

On January 13, colonial reinforcements 200 troops from the Fourth Bombay Rifles rushed from Ahmedabad (50 miles away) to suppress the revolt. Ranchod Vira escaped toward a neighboring village but was captured in the way. Police seized his belongings: weapons, the stolen uniforms, two letters (including the proclamation as Koli king), burned moneylenders' ledgers, religious books, 22 sheets of blank paper (for further missives), and a list of 21 villages under his claimed domain. The rebellion, lasting just four days, was crushed swiftly, with Chaklasi village placed under martial surveillance, including daily roll-calls for Kolis. After that British government imposed the Criminal Tribes Act on Kolis of Chaklasi village and nearby villages.

Suppression, Trial, and Death

Koli Ranchod Vira's trial, held in the Sessions Court at Nadiad (Kheda district), was a colonial spectacle designed to delegitimize peasant sovereignty and reinforce Raj authority. Officially Criminal Sessions Case No. 61 of 1898, Imperatrix vs. Ranchod Vira and Others, it ran from July 5 to July 9, 1898, under Judge E.H.E. Leggatt. Ranchod Vira (Accused No. 1) and 10 Koli supporters were charged with multiple offenses under the Indian Penal Code: sedition (IPC 124A), conspiracy to wage war against the British Queen (IPC 121), exciting disaffection against the government (IPC 124A), rioting (IPC 147), unlawful assembly (IPC 141), assembling armed with deadly weapons (IPC 144), causing grievous hurt (IPC 325), and murder (IPC 302) stemming from the January events, including the proclamation of satyug, tax redirection, patra circulation, and police attack.

Proceedings were biased, relying on coerced confessions, informant testimonies from Patidar caste and Beitish government officials, and seized evidence. Key items included the patras (one declaring: "The temple of Ranchodji is coming into existence... The authority of the Government ceased... no one should pay the Government instalment"), weapons with bloodstains, and a cartridge case. Witnesses included supporters like Surta Ragha (who described building the mandwa and a "miraculous" deity encounter), Gema Mitha (wounded, admitted dictating letters but claimed beatings for his statement), and Meru Mitha (axe-wielder, testified to bhajans and processions); officials like Inspector Jagannath (who recounted the mockery as "topiwallah"); and Mukhi Kashibhai (who detailed the arrow attack). Ranchod Koli Vira pleaded not guilty, evasively admitting the procession ("Government Raj was at an end") and mandwa dues but denying violence or letter authorship, attributing actions to divine inspiration or others. He retracted earlier magistrate statements, claiming fear. Defense lawyer Shri Chhotalal emphasized religious motives over sedition, questioning miracles and prayers.

All 11 Kolis were convicted. Ranchod Vira received 14 years' rigorous imprisonment for rioting, conspiracy, disaffection, and hurt (not life, as sometimes misreported). Others faced harsher fates: Koli Salia Baji got death by hanging for murder; several Kolis received 7 - 10 years for armed rioting; lighter sentences (2 years) for weapons possession. An October 1898 appeal for commutation was denied. The trial exposed fractures: Koli peasants viewed Ranchod Vira as a dharma-restoring king, while colonials dismissed him as a delusional bhagat. It highlighted Koli grievances but reinforced CTA stigma, with proceedings documented in Maharashtra State Archives (Judicial Department, 1898, vol. 103).

Ranchod Vira Koli's death in prison

Ranchod Vira died on January 22, 1899 (some sources cite 1901), less than seven months after sentencing, in Ahmedabad Central Jail. Official records list the cause as unspecified illness, likely exacerbated by harsh conditions: malnutrition, overwork under rigorous imprisonment, and disease amid the ongoing plague. At age 51, Ranchod Vira's rapid decline symbolized the Raj's carceral brutality against subaltern leaders, no medical aid or family visits were noted. His death marked the effective end of the Koli movement, though oral memories persisted. No grave or memorial exists, but it underscores how suppression extended beyond the battlefield to bodily destruction.

Criminal Tribes Act on Kolis

The Criminal Tribes Act predated Ranchod Vira's 1898 Koli peasant uprising in Chaklasi, Gujarat, the Koli rebellion led by Ranchod Vira and his Baraiya Koli followers intensified its application. Colonial officials viewed the Kolis as a "Criminal Tribe" prone to unrest, using the CTA to suppress such subaltern resistance. Post-1898, the Act's enforcement escalated in Kheda district, where the rebellion occurred, blending punitive measures with agrarian control. Below are key developments, focusing on amendments, application to affected communities, and lasting impacts.

In Chaklasi, the epicenter of the Koli uprising, over 100 arrested followers (out of 500 - 700 Kolis) faced immediate CTA-style restrictions, including daily hajri (roll calls) and movement curbs under martial law. This targeted "criminal tribes" like the Kolis, stigmatizing them as threats to order.

Officials, such as Collector J.D. Atkins, framed Koli Ranchod Vira's movement as evidence of inherent Koli Fanaticism and criminality, justifying preemptive controls. Patidars were co-opted as informants, reporting gatherings and enforcing labor extraction (begar), which deepened caste hierarchies.

Initially, dozens of Ranchod Vira's core Koli supporters (those tried in Imperatrix vs. Ranchod Vira, 1898) endured CTA penalties like deportation to penal colonies (Andamans). This set the stage for broader criminalization, with underground circulation of Ranchod Vira's patra (proclamation letter) evading full suppression but fueling official paranoia.

In Chaklasi alone, over 2,000 Kolis more than half the local population were registered, facing the Act's harshest enforcement. District-wide, 250,000 Kolis (one-third of Kheda's agrarian workforce) were affected, treated as a monolithic "CRIMINAL" bloc. This was not just punitive but strategic: Patidars monitored Kolis, reinforcing exploitative landlord-tenant relations and preventing alliances with nationalist leaders like Gandhi (who arrived in Kheda in 1917).