The colonial law and judiciary safeguarded the interest of the government and its collaborators- landlords, merchants, and moneylenders. Thus, the people left with no options, chose to take up arms and defend themselves. Similarly, the conditions of the tribal people were not different, the encroachment by outsiders into their independent tribal polity made them more aggrieved and violent.

Major civil uprisings before 1857 include:

• Sanyasi Revolt (1763-1800): The disastrous famine of 1770 due to the harsh economic order of the British compelled a group of Sanyasis in Eastern India to fight the British.
• Midnapore and Dhalbhum revolt (1766-74): The English took hold of Midnapore in 1760 and at that time there were about 3,000 zamindars and talukdars having cordial relations with their ryots. However, this harmonious scenario changed after the introduction of a new land revenue system by the English in 1772 and fuelled the discontent against the British.
• Poligars’ revolt (1795-1805): The problem started in 1781, when the Nawab of Arcot gave the management and control of Tinneveli and the Carnatic Provinces to the East India Company. This arrangement caused resentment among the poligars who had, for long, considered themselves as independent sovereign authorities within their respective territories.
• Paika rebellion (1817): The Paiks of Odisha were the traditional landed militia and enjoyed rent-free land tenures for their military service and policing functions on a hereditary basis. The English Company’s conquest of Odisha in 1803, and the dethronement of the Raja of Khurda had greatly reduced the power and prestige of the Paiks.

Major tribal and religious uprisings before 1857 include:

• Narkelberia uprising: Mir Nithar Ali (1782-1831) or Titu Mir inspired the Muslim tenants in West Bengal to rise against landlords, mainly Hindu, who imposed a beard-tax on the Faraizis and British indigo planters. The revolt later merged into the Wahabi Movement.
• Faraizi revolt: The Faraizis were the followers of a Muslim sect founded by Haji Shariatullah of Faridpur in Eastern Bengal. They advocated radical religious, social, and political changes. Shariatullah and his son Muhsinuddin Ahmad, popularly known as Dudu Miyan (1819-62) organised their followers with an aim to expel the English intruders from Bengal.
• Kol mutiny (1831): The trouble in 1831 started with large-scale transfers of land from Kol headmen to outsiders like Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim farmers and moneylenders who were oppressive and demanded heavy taxes. Besides, the British judicial and revenue policies badly affected the traditional social conditions of the Kols.
• Ho and Munda uprisings: The Raja of Parahat organised his Ho tribals to revolt against the occupation of Singhbhum (now in Jharkhand). The revolt continued till 1827 when the Ho tribals were forced to submit. However, later in 1831, they again organised a rebellion, joined by the Mundas of Chotanagpur, to protest against the newly introduced farming revenue policy and the entry of Bengalis into their region.

The above-mentioned uprisings alongside growing discontent amongst sepoys finally culminated into the revolt of 1857. Hence, it was not an instantaneous event, rather an amalgamation of various factors that resented the ruthless colonial rule. All these mutinies remained local and were brutally crushed by the East India Company, often inflicting terrible violence. But the legacy of these revolts proved to be of immense significance later.