The horrific ritual of human sacrifice practiced by the Kandhas upto the middle of the 19th century has been an indelible blot on the community. But the way they offered dogged resistance to the British for several decades, not withstanding their deprivation , they amply deserve kudos for their valiant fight.
The tribals played a stellar role in the Khurda Rebellion commanded by Buxi Jagabandhu against the British in 1817. There had been a smouldering discontent against British rule in the coastal areas of Orissa for several years, on the grounds of agrarian ,economic and political issues. It was a band of 400 Kandhas of Ghumusar, who sparked off the conflagration by entering the Khurda region to fight. Buxi Jagabandhu and his army joined there, and the revolt soon spread to Khurda, Tangi, Gopa, Bolagarh, Banapur, Pipili, Nayagarh and other places. They captured Puri in April 1817 and proclaimed restoration of the authority of the King, who had been deposed by the British. The revolt was so widespread and strident that the British considered their position in Orissa perilous. But gradually the rebellion fell through. Buxi Jagabandhu took shelter in Ghumusar and Boudh for some years from May 1818. The Rajas of Boudh, Ghumusar, Nayagarh and Dasapalla supported him and the Kandhas of these areas gave him protection till he surrendered in 1825.
Ganjam district, including Ghumusar, came under the possession of the British in 1865. The Bhanja Kings of Ghumusor did not brook interference from the British officers in their adminstrative affairs. The kings and the people began to resent the exploitative and oppressive behaviour of the officers. There were rebellion against the British in 1766, 1778 and 1801. Dora Bissoi, commander of Ghumusar force, spearheaded the revolt, off and on, from 1815 to 1835. In all these revolts, the Kandhas of Ghumusar, including the Uttar Ghumusar area of G.Udayagiri, took a leading part. The refractory Bhanja Raja, Dhananjaya Bhanja, was dethroned and the principality was annexed to the British empire on November,3,1835. The deposed Raja and Dora Bissoi fled to Udayagiri area. Rebellion spread like wildfire in the entire Uttar Ghumusar region. The British army had to confront with fierce resistance everywhere. Meanwhile the king breathed his last on December 31, 1835. The rebellion was crushed by the British with utmost brutality, According to John Campbell, " The two years campaign was of unexampled severity" from the reports of G.E.Russel, special commissioner for Ghumusar, a ghastly fact is inferred. "Numbers of : konds were shot like wild beasts, some were seized and hung up on trees. Their villages were everywhere laid in ashes."
Dora Bissoi fled to Boudh Kandhamal area with some of his lieutenants. He surrendered in 1837 and the Raja of Anugul handed him over to the British. Dora Bissoi died in 1846 at Gooty,near Madras, where he was a prisoner.
The Kondhas of Boudh-kandhamal area rose up in arms against the invading British as their land and liberty were at stake. They also resented the interference of the British in their social and cultural activities and religious rituals. In Boudh-Kandhamal Nabaghana Kanhar of Ratabari rose in revolt against the king of Boudh and the British in 1835. The king of Anugul extended his support and cooperation. His two years revolt came to an end when he, due to conspiracy of Sam Bissoi, a British supporter, handed over to the British some Ghumusar insurgents, who had taken shelter under him. His two sons, Bira and Maheswar, surrendered. On account of the organisational skill of Dora bissoi and Nabaghan Kanhar, the uprising had assumed a gigantic proportion in the Kandha inhabited areas. Hence the British government had to requisition military forces from Madras, Nagpur and Bengal Divisions to quell the Kandha rising.
There was some semblance of peace and tranquility in the area for some years. But the Kandhas, under the inspiring leadership of Chakra Bissoi, Bira Konhar and Madhaba Kanhar, made brisk preparation from 1844 to wage rebellion against the British. The rebellion again erupted in 1846 in both Boudh-Kandhamal and Ghumusar regions. It also broke extensively in Angul, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Sonepur and Dasapalla. The rebellion was fierce and sporadic in nature and as the area of operation was the vast expanse of inhospitable Jungle terrain,the insurgents could sustain the rebellion for a protracted period of 10 years, even in the face of superior military strength of the British. The Kandha insurrection fizzled out by 1856. S.C.Macpherson, John Campbell, Mac Vicar and Mac Neil were the military officers of the British army who successfully put down the tribal insurgency and terminated the practice of human sacrifice ,Meriah in the local parlance.
During this period of turmoil two tribal strongholds, Anugul and Kandhamal, were annexed by British in 1847 and 1855 respectively to their empire.
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