During the British rule, Bhumijas of the Jungle Mahal area were called chuars (low caste people), their main occupation was hunting of animals and birds and farming in the forests, but later some Bhumij became zamindars and some started working as Ghatwals (feudal lords) and Paiks (soldiers).

Despite the ongoing famine, the Company continued to pressure local rulers, including the weakened Rajas of Bishnupur and Birbhum, as well as the old zamindars (who had been responsible for tax collection during the Mughal era), to increase revenue.

[9] In Bishnupur, hundreds of villages were entirely deserted, and even in the larger towns, fewer than one-fourth of the houses remained occupied.

[9] In 1767, the tribal revolt started in Dhalbhum and Barabhum and later spread to Manbhum, Midnapore and Bishnupur districts of Jungle Mahal.

Between 1788 and 1809, the Chuars and Paiks of the Bishnupur and Midnapore parganas revolted against the British East India Company under the leadership of Madhav Singha Dev.

[11][12] After the 1810 revolt led by Baijnath Singh of Dampara, which prompted the deployment of military forces, the Ghatwali system in Jaibalea, Bishnupur, was dismantled by East India Company.

[14] By Regulation XIII of 1833, the district of Jungle Mahals was broken up, and a new administrative unit known as the South-West Frontier Agency was formed.