Mir Nisar Ali Titumir - Symbol of Rebellion

The struggle of Titumir is a bright chapter in the background of the movements against the British.

He is an inspiration for all the uprisings against oppression in this Indian subcontinent. Even for the Bengali liberation war of 1971 and the Bengali struggle against the ruling class.

His bamboo fortress became an icon against the injustice and unjust exploitation of the rulers.

His real name was Syed Mir Nisar Ali, His father Syed Mir Hasan Ali, was a renowned wrestler during his younger age.

Titu Mir was born in a peasant family on 27 January 1782 in Chandpur village, in North 24 Parganas district (currently in West Bengal, India). At the age of 18, he became a hafiz of the Holy Quran.

In 1821 he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he met the renowned Islamic cleric and revolutionary leader Syed Ahmad Barelvi, he inspired him to free his fellow countrymen from un-Islamic practices and foreign domination.

After his return from Makkah, He traveled extensively and saw the atrocities of the officials of the East India Company, Zamindars, and Mahajan.

Being heavily influenced by the Wahabi movement, he preached pure Islam amongst the Muslims and advised them to refrain from practicing shirk and bidaat.

He started to organize the peasants of his native village against the zamindars and the British authority by opposing several discriminatory measures, including taxes on mosques and the growing of beards.

Titumir filed multiple complaints to the East India Company against the oppression of the Zamindars but got no result. Then he appealed to the youth to rise and fight against oppression.

Titumir raised his army with his followers. He trained indigenous people with bamboo sticks and indigenous weapons and prepared them for an armed conflict with Zamindars.

With an army of five thousand men, he built a bamboo fort at Narkelbaria in October 1831. By that time the followers of Titumir were believed to have grown to 15,000.

He trained his followers in armed struggle surrounded by a wall of bamboo stakes filled in with mud cladding and sun-baked bricks.

He then declared independence from British rule and soon established his control over the districts of 24 Parganas, Nadia, and Faridpur.

The strength of zamindars and the forces of the British met with a series of defeats at the hands of Titumir's men as a result of his quick strike-and-retreat guerrilla war.

The British, reinforced with a large army and artillery, launched a concentrated attack on November 14, 1831. Titumir was killed and his bamboo fortress was broken to pieces.

His followers were either killed or captured. After a lengthy trial, Titumir's nephew and second in command Golam Rasul was hanged.

Titumir lost the battle but his struggle against the mighty British army left a great inspiration for future generations. Titu Mir’s legacy continued among oppressed people and he became an icon of anti-colonial movements.