Millions of ordinary people made this country’s freedom struggle possible – and it was mainly rural Indians who rose in some of the greatest uprisings against the British Raj.

But many of us know little of these extraordinary freedom fighters, and even less about the women among them, whose collective efforts eventually gave India its Independence from colonial rule.

In this episode of PARI Podcasts, P. Sainath, PARI’s founder editor, talks about one of his most memorable experiences as a journalist – when he met Demathi Dei Sabar in Purena village of Paikmal block in Odisha’s Bargarh district, in 2002.

‘Salihan’, as she was called, was an Adivasi woman from Nuapada district of (the then) Orissa, who led a fierce revolt in 1930. She chased away the British officers who had shot her father (targeted for his anti-Raj activities) in front of their home in Saliha village. Armed with only lathis, Salihan, then 16, and her friends attacked the raiders and drove them away. “They destroyed our homes, our crops. And they attacked my father. Of course, I would have fought them,” she said.

You can read P. Sainath’s account of the interaction here: When Salihan took on the Raj

Himanshu Saikia composed the music and edited this episode.
Vishaka George

Vishaka George is Senior Editor at PARI. She reports on livelihoods and environmental issues. Vishaka heads PARI's Social Media functions and works in the Education team to take PARI's stories into the classroom and get students to document issues around them.

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Samyukta Shastri

Samyukta Shastri is an independent journalist, designer and entrepreneur. She is a trustee of the CounterMediaTrust that runs PARI, and was Content Coordinator at PARI till June 2019.

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Text Editor : Sharmila Joshi

Sharmila Joshi is former Executive Editor, People's Archive of Rural India, and a writer and occasional teacher.

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