The Hul was crushed under martial law by early 1856, Sido and Kanhu were executed, and the Santhal Parganas were made a separate district.
01The meeting at Bhognadih
The Santhals had cleared the forests of the Damin-i-koh below the Rajmahal hills, only to fall into debt to moneylenders who charged ruinous interest and took their land, while the police and courts sided with the creditors. On 30 June 1855 the brothers Sido and Kanhu Murmu called a great gathering at Bhognadih. Thousands came; the brothers said that Thakur, the supreme being, had told them to end the oppression. The Santhals marched, killed moneylenders and a police officer, and attacked indigo factories and Company posts across the region.
02Bows against muskets
The rebels fought with bows, axes and drums, and held much of the country between Bhagalpur and Rajmahal for months. In November 1855 the Company declared martial law and sent regiments. Villages were burnt, and estimates of the Santhals killed run into many thousands. Sido was captured and hanged in 1855 and Kanhu in early 1856. The Company then created the Santhal Parganas as a separate district with its own rules. Santhals keep 30 June as Hul Diwas.
The Hul forced the Company to give the Santhal country its own administration and land protections, and it stands with 1857 as a great armed rising of the people against Company rule.