What a 12 year old Bheel tribal girl called Kalibai of a small village did was unprecedented in the history. Dungarpur was a small state in Rajasthan. Very poor and backward it was. Its ruler Maharawal Laxman Singh was a very orthodox and narrow-minded person. He was dead set against education for commoners. In 1930s and 40s independence struggle was at its peak and parallel to it intense education campaign was also on. In Dungarpur ‘Seva Sangh’ was leading the campaign. Schools were being set up in villages and towns as a part of independence movement. Maharawal thought that if people and farmers got educated his feudal rule will get endangered. He wanted no education and public awareness in his state. Many schools set up in Dungarpur were functioning and attracting students. The ruler issued orders to his police department to get all the schools close down by force.
Then an incident occurred on 19th June, 1947 barely two months before India gained freedom. There was a primary school in a village called ‘Rastapal’ predominantly of Bheel tribals. The school had been set up by Nanabhai Khant, a freedom fighter. Sengabhai was the headmaster of the school. In compliance with the order of the ruler Maharawal, a police party reached the school along with a magistrate in a jeep. They ordered headmaster to shut down the school.
Nanabhai and Sengabhai refused to obey the order. The policemen beat them both with sticks and the school was locked up. Hundreds of men, women and the children were present there but no one protested in face of police terror. Nana and Senga were dragged away. Only a short distance off Nanabhai died. Sengabhai passed out. The police was determined to demonstrate its brutality to the village folk to terrorise them. A rope was tied around the waist of unconscious Sengabhai and the other end of the rope was knotted to the rear of the jeep. The police party got into the jeep and drove it dragging Sengabhai like a dead animal.
A Bheel girl called Kalibai used to study in that school. On that day she had absented herself to cut grass in a field nearby. She heard the noise and saw the crowd near her school. Curiosity brought her on the run to the scene. In shock she saw what was going on. Kalibai screamed, “Hey! Free my teacher sir! Free my teacher sir!!” The policemen ignored her screams.
Kalibai ran to her teacher’s body and cut the rope with her sickle. The jeep stopped and the policemen jumped off. They tried to retie the rope but the girl would not let them. She stood brandishing her sickle at them. Her brave act inspired the people and some moved forward from the crowd and stood by her side and the unconscious Sengabhai. Some one brought water at the command of Kalibai and she sprinkled water on the face of her teacher to revive him.
Meanwhile, the policemen kept abusing and threatening the girl as the latter continued to nurse the teacher. The police wanted to teach villagers a lesson. They started firing. Kalibai, many other women and some men fell to the bullets. It angered the men folk. Some of them began to beat drums in a way that declared battle in the tribal tradition. In reply more battle drums sounded which meant the people were coming to join the battle. The policemen now sensed danger and fled in their jeep. The tribals were racing to the scene of action with their weapons. From distance the battle drum sounds were echoing. The magistrate and the police had already fled.
The dead body of Nanabhai, injured Sengabhai, Kalibai and other women were carried on cots to the capital town of Dungarpur. The injured were admitted to the government hospital. For 40 hours the brave 12 year old girl Kalibai battled for life in the hospital and then became a martyr.
In memory of the brave girl who battled for her teacher the people laid a park. In the memorial park of Rastapal village the statues of Nanabhai and Kalibai stand to remind the people of the brave acts performed by common folk at various levels for the freedom of our country. Each year on 19th June a fair is held in this park to pay tribute to Nanabhai and Kalibai. The folk singers sing the songs of the sacrifice of the 12 years old Kalibai. The plays are staged to enact her story. The women of the village worship the statue of the girl in tribal tradition.
The people of Dungarpur and nearby areas consider Kalibai to be Eklavya of this age and inspire their children to emulate her example.
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