आजादी का अमृत महोत्सव

  From the contemporary records   it is noticed that the Madari sect of Fakirs and the Dasnami sect of Sannyasis used to move about in the 18th century Bengal on pilgrimage; but, except in the Company's correspondence or in some records of the British chroniclers, nowhere has it been mentioned that they were ‘nomadic bodies’ and lived on contributions by ‘violence’ under the ‘pretence’ of charity. On the other hand, from the earlier records   , it appears that these mendicants, on receipt of grant of land from the Hindu or Muslim provincial administrators, lived permanently in some parts of the country. It is also found that in the 18th century the Fakirs and the Sannyasis hired themselves as soldiers under the Mughal administration in Bengal and, after disbandment, settled as the disgruntled elements in most parts of North Bengal and some portions of East Bengal. Under the rule of the East India Company, they were gradually being merged with the discontented peasants and...