Baba Tilka Manjhi is a national hero. Tilka Manjhi also popularly known as “Jabra Paharia”. He was first Santal leader who took up the arms and raised his voice against English fought with them in the 1784’s, around 100 years before Mangal Pandey. So no doubt he was first freedom fighter of India. He made this movement a mass movement and circulated message written on leaf of Sal that “We must be united.” . He rose in rebellion against the misrule of the East India Company and shot dead the first collector of Bhagalpur Augustus Cleveland with bow and arrow from the top of banyan tree.The British surrounded the Tilapore forest from which he operated but he and his men held them at bay for several weeks.
When he was finally caught in 1784, he was tied to the tail of a horse and dragged all the way to the collector’s residence at Bhagalpur. There, his lacerated body was hung from a same Banyan tree to show example for such deeds. A statue to the heroic leader was erected at the spot after independence on one corner of Sandish compound and the mohala has also been named as Tilka Manjhi in his memory.
Also the Bhagalpur University was renamed after him Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University