Revolt of 1857 | Part 1

Objective

The main objective of the present episode is to acquaint the readers with the revolt of 1857 AD. Under this, the causes of the rebellion, its expansion, its leadership with special reference to Kunwar Singh, the suppression of the rebellion, the reasons for the failure of the rebellion and its consequences will be discussed.

Introduction

The two main tasks of the East India Company in India were imperial expansion and commercial exploitation. There was no limit to the greediness of the British. The cumulative effect of this entire policy adversely affected all classes in India except the merchants, brahmins and clerics, only the western educated classes in the cities who depended on the company for their livelihood.

The dissatisfaction and resentment of the Indians was being manifested from time to time in different parts of India in the form of military revolts or mutinies. Anglo-Indian historians have described military discontent and greased cartridges as the main and most important reason for the Great Revolt of 1857 AD. But this is not true. There were more pulps due to the rebellion.

The mutiny of the greased cartridges and the soldiers was just a spark which set fire to all the explosive substances that had gathered for political, social, religious and economic reasons and took the form of a forest fire.

Revolt of 1857

Reasons – Lord Dalhousie’s rule ended in India and in March, 1856 Lord Canning came to this country as Governor-General. The great Revolt of 1857 took place during his tenure. The reasons for this were the following-

1. Political reason – The fundamental reason for the Revolt of 1857 AD was political. After the Plassey victory of 1757 AD, the British established their empire in India by using all the good and bad means. In fact, Warren Hastings, Bellesley and Lord Dalhousie were empire builders in India.

As a result, the political freedom of Indians was abducted and their political and other privileges also ended. This gave rise to a sense of dissatisfaction among them, which was expressed in the Great Revolt of 1857 AD.

The arrival of the British in India was as a trader, the main objective of the East India Company, which was established in 1600 AD, was to trade in India. But later this company started taking keen interest in the politics of India.

By winning the battles of Nasi and Buxar, Kaladav made it sure that in future the British would be the destiny makers of India. In Warren Hastings, Wellesley and Lord Dalhousie, they conquered all the Indian princely states one by one by following the age imperialist policy.

The then political powers of India (Mughals, Marathas, Sultans of Mysore and Sikh Sardars of Punjab) were left watching. Historian Seeley has rightly said, “Never was a great deed done by the British so unintentionally and accidentally as the conquest of India.”

The Revolt of 1857 AD was also a response to the old imperialist policy. It should be remembered here that this reaction was not a new thing. Even before Revolt of 1857 AD, there were rebellions against the British here and there. Among these Kareli rebellion of 1816 AD, Kol rebellion of 1831-32 AD, Chadavi movement of 1831 AD, Bhonsla rebellion of 1849 AD and Santal rebellion of 1855-56 AD are noteworthy.

The British behaved very humiliatingly with the Mughal emperor. It is true that with the death of Aurangzeb (1707 AD), the Mughal Empire began to disintegrate, but Indians were impressed by the glory of that great empire. They looked at the Mughal emperor with fear and devotion.

Many Nawabs and kings were under the control and protection of the Mughal 1st emperor, albeit nominally, but the later Mughal emperors were considered the main center of Indian politics. Opportunistic organs first showed great respect to the Mughal emperors and when they saw that the Mughal emperors had become weak, they started dissecting them. He defeated the Mughal Emperor Shahalaya II in the Battle of Buxar (1764 AD) and imprisoned him.

By giving it to Kara and the district of Allahabad, the Company state obtained the Diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Not only this, the British also fixed an annual pension of Rs 26 lakh for Shah alam and brought it completely under their control.

This relationship between the Company and the Mughal emperor did not last. In 1771 AD, under the protection of the Marathas, the Mughal emperor sat on the throne of Delhi and handed over the districts of Kara and Allahabad to the Marathas.

On this, Hastings got angry and stopped the annual pension of 26 lakh rupees given to the Mughal emperor in lieu of Diwani of Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. Lord Dalhousie behaved very shamefully with the Mughal emperor. He wanted to destroy his title.

But he could not do so when the directors of the company refused. Not only this, Grays also started interfering in the family affairs of the Mughal emperor. Badurshah wanted to make his worthy son Jawanbakhsh his successor, but the Governor-General accepted Mirza Koyas as his successor against the wishes of the emperor and got him to accept that he would be called ‘Shah Jaha’ instead of the emperor, leaving the fort of Delhi empty.

Will have to pay tax and instead of one lakh, he will be given only fifteen thousand rupees for monthly expenditure. British

This diplomacy and misbehavior caused great discontent among the Muslims, especially in Delhi. Bahadur Shah’s court became the main center of the rebellion.

By ending the political rights of the native kings, the British exploited them economically. How Awadh was looted and the kind of inhuman treatment meted out to the women there is just unimaginable. Freedom lovers like Hyder Ali and Tipu of Mysore were put to an end.

Freedom loving and war loving Marathas were also honored ex officio. The Hindu dynasties of Tanjore and Karnataka were put to an end. Jhansi, Nagpur, Udaipur, Sambhalpur etc all got absorbed in the British Empire. So the British state

Against this rebellion broke out in 1857 AD.

As a result of the British conquest of India, the ancient political system completely collapsed. Before the conquest, the people of the upper class used to influence the policy of the state completely. They used to get the opportunity to go to higher positions.

They used to get huge jagirs for reward and service. He had many privileges. But with the disintegration of the native states, the position of the upper class people also suffered a fatal blow. From Sardars, Sawants and owners of small princely states to Hindu-Muslim kings and emperors, all the terrible conspiracies were employed. There were no prices for his promises and no faith in his treaties. This created a sense of dissatisfaction among them and they also became enemies of the British state.

While explaining the political causes of the Revolt of 1857 AD, we should not forget the responsibility of Lord Dalhousie. He was a very fierce imperialist governor general. He wanted to make the British state the paramount power in India.

For this, it was necessary that on one pretext or the other, India should merge the rest of the states which were not under the control of the British, in the company state. To fulfill this objective, he used force to conquer Punjab, Sikkim and the southern part of Verma.

Companies of Satara, Nagpur, Jhansi, Sambalpur, Jaitpur, Baghat and Udaipur were included in the state by using ‘Doctrine of caps’. Alleging corruption and misrule, annexed Awadh and Badhar and merged Tanjore and Karnataka with the company state by abolishing the post and pension. The above mentioned imperialist policy of Lord Dalhousie was strongly opposed.

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Peshwa, started trembling with anger. Dalhousie had included Jhansi State in the Company State by depriving Damodar Rao, the adopted son of Raja Gangadhar Raj of Jhansi. The Rani of Jhansi took revenge for this atrocity with great masculinity during the rebellion.

Similarly, the merger of Satara, Awadh and Nagpur caused great discontent among the Hindus. Due to these unproductive misdeeds of the British, an atmosphere of discontent and impoverishment was created in the country. Ultimately it erupted in the Revolt of 1857.

The unsatisfactory governance system of the British also gave rise to the rebellion. The British officers were unimaginative and short-sighted. He never tried to understand Indian problems and never established contacts with Indians. They used to insult the Indians even after getting the opportunity.

The governance system was inefficient and inadequate. Everything had grown too much and the managers were few. A lot of atrocities were done with the farmers in revenue collection. They were forced to do forced labor and had no means of airing their grievances. They belonged to the ruling class and their focus was always on the welfare of their nation. The profit-system was also flawed.

The feeling of racial discrimination prevailed in the entire administration. Due to this there was great dissatisfaction among the Indian public.

In these days, a rumor spread to avenge the defeat of the Crimean War (1855-56 AD). Russia is planning to attack India and Persia was ready to help it. This encouraged the Indians. It is said that at this time an astrologer predicted that the British rule would end after a hundred years

Plassey war took place in 1757 AD and since then till Revolt of 1857 AD, hundred years had passed. The people of India are now convinced that the days of farewell to the British have come.

2. Social reasons- With the expansion of the Company’s kingdom and the edge of the native states, a powerful British official class was born. It had a big bad effect on the Indian society. Indian social life got disturbed due to this. Due to the snatching of property, jagirs, titles etc. of many people of the upper class, their social dignity was hurt. Upper class people were neglected. If now the influence of the British officials increased. Indian society had no respect or sympathy for this fledgling British bureaucracy.

The imperialists used to say that while man’s burden is on the white people to make the uneducated, uncivilized and uncultured people of backward countries educated, cultured and cultured. The British also tried to impose their civilization-culture and education here after the victory of India.

Their civilizational culture was completely different. Indians could not assimilate it. He initially opposed their civilization-culture and education. They understood that the British were bent on destroying their civilization and culture. Not only this, some conservative and uneducated Indians also opposed the use of rail, post, telegraph and scientific research by Lord Dalhousie.

Some advanced and liberal British Governor-Generals adopted certain sophisticated Indian social mores For example, Lord William Bettinck prohibited sati, infanticide, human sacrifice etc. Legislation should be made to prohibit Similarly, Lord Dalhousie passed the Hindu Remarriage Act. (Hindu Widow’s remarriage Act) 1856 E. Provided legal basis to widow marriage.

Although these reforms were done for the benefit of the Indians, yet the conservative Indians opposed it. Historian Dodbell wrote, “Reforms which interfered with native customs were strongly opposed. Various differences like color, religion, manners etc. themselves separated the ruling class from the ruled class.

He did not interfere in the religion of the Indian people, but he indirectly contributed a lot in the propagation of Christianity. Financial assistance, state protection and encouragement were given to Christian missionaries. In the army, special emphasis was given for the promotion of Christianity.

On many occasions, the collector of the district used to preside over the assembly of Christian preachers. Maglies, Principal Director of the East India Company, made this statement in the British Lok Sabha, “God has entrusted the vast empire of India to England so that the banner of Christ may be flown successfully from one end of India to the other.

Every effort should be made that nothing should hinder the continuation of the great work of Christianizing all Indians in this country.” The Christian preachers were very defiant. He strongly condemned the idol worshiping Hindus. Even he used to openly condemn Hindu-Islam religions in front of the common people. They used to abuse their great men, incarnations and prophets.

In such a situation, Hindu-Muslims became staunch enemies of Christian missionaries. The Baha’i sect took a decisive part in spreading anger against the Christian preachers. Earlier the one who became a Christian used to be assured of his ancestral property.

But in 1856, by passing the Religious Distabilities Act, it was decided that whoever renounced his religion and became a Christian would not be deprived of the rule of succession. This facilitated the conversion of more and more people to Christianity (chirstianity). It was strongly opposed by the Indians.

The British started propagating Christianity through educational institutions. In many mission schools, the education of the famous Christian scripture Bible was started. Students were asked questions regarding Christianity. On the contrary, Hindus could not teach their religion in state schools because the state called itself secular. Due to this great discontent spread among the Hindus, not only this, many facilities were also given to those who became Christians. For example, after becoming a Christian, the state used to manage his education and his job when he grew up.

According to Hindu theology, the adoption of a son was considered absolutely necessary for a destitute person to attain peace in the afterlife. But Lord Dalhousie had prohibited the practice of adoption. The reason behind this lapsed policy of his was to usurp the native states. The Indians opposed it.

3. Economic reason- Economic reason was also responsible in the Revolt of 1857. British traders came to India. But in course of time, he became the creator of the fortunes of this place. They started economic exploitation only after Plassey victory in 1757 AD.

During the period of Diarchy in Bengal (1767-72 AD), the Company monopolized the trade there. Due to this, small industries and businesses suffered a lot. Not only this, even the fingers of skilled weavers were cut off.

In this way, the British not only destroyed the domestic industries here, but also tortured the skilled artisans in various ways. In 1858, Sir George Cornwell Levy, while giving his statement in Parliament, rightly said, “I confidently say that no civilized government that has ever existed on this earth has been so corrupt, treacherous and greedy as The Government of the East India Company in India from 1765 to 1784.

The East India Company started exploiting the Indians economically as soon as it set foot. Small and big businessmen here could not become their rivals. The British capitalists earned a lot of profit by investing their capital. 1857

Grooke Adams has rightly said, “Probably since the beginning of creation, no capital expenditure has yielded so much profit as the plunder of this India, for for nearly 50 years Britain was left without a rival. Plassey from 1694 to 1757 Till the conquest, the process of growth was relatively slow. Till 1765 and 1815, the process of growth was fast and unique. Undoubtedly, the British uprooted the wings of the golden bird India.

The corrupt employees of the company extorted arbitrary money from the people here and after getting retired, they used to return to their country with their lifetime earnings. Due to this, a large amount of India’s wealth went abroad. This economic exploitation policy of the British was opposed in the Revolt of 1857 AD.

Due to the destruction of Indian industries, most of the people of the country started working on the land. The land was not so much that everyone could live. So lakhs of people became useless. Lord Batik had definitely increased the revenue of the English government by encroaching on the Belgan lands, but by usurping this only means of sustenance of thousands of people, their economic condition became pathetic.

Twenty thousand zamindaris in South India were confiscated on the recommendations of the Inam Commission appointed by Dalhousie five years before the rebellion. This made the problem of unemployment even more serious. Similarly, thousands of soldiers and civilians became useless as a result of the merger of the native states. The socio-economic structure of the entire country became unbalanced. People got tired of the British misrule.

A sense of dissatisfaction was also growing among the general public against the British rule. The British had sucked them in like a leech. Farmers were moaning due to high rate of land revenue, unlimited economic exploitation of landlords, atrocities on them by the government and landlords etc.

The recovery of revenue was very strict. Those who had arrears of goods, their land was auctioned, they were evicted. Not only this, they were forced to pay the outstanding goods even after selling them. Malguari was also recovered during natural outbreaks like famine, epidemic etc. Due to this, the feeling of dissatisfaction became strong in the public.

4. Military reason- A policy of discrimination was adopted between British and Indian soldiers in relation to promotion and allowance etc. Often British soldiers were given more salary, higher rank and allowance than Indian soldiers, even if they were not qualified. The highest pay of an Indian subedar in the infantry was less than even the lowest pay of a new European recruit. 1857

Indian soldiers had no hope of promotion even if they were qualified. The British looked at them with equal suspicion and did not give them high positions. He also got less allowance. There was a lot of dissatisfaction among the Indian soldiers due to these views.

British army officers used to behave humiliatingly with Indian soldiers. At the time of the parade, the British officers used to even abuse the Indian soldiers. His self-respect was crushed. Not only this, in the battlefield only Indian soldiers were put in front of the ammunition and the British soldiers remained behind. Due to this, Indian soldiers used to have a large number of casualties.

Indian soldiers considered crossing the sea against their religion. For this reason, he refused to go to war in 1856 AD. On this in 1856, the General Service Crimea Entetment Act was passed. By this, it was arranged that only those who are always ready to go everywhere will be reinstated in the army.

This caused a lot of discontent among the upper class Indian soldiers as they considered traveling by sea against their religion. There is a vivid example of the soldiers of Bengal who refused to go to the Burma war (1824-26 AD). Another order was issued stating that soldiers would also have to pay duty on stamps for their letters. Apart from these, some such rules were also made which hurt the spirit of the Indian soldiers.

In the army, Hindus could not apply Tilak, could not wear cap and could not keep braid and it was prohibited for Muslims to keep beard and moustache.

In 1856 AD, the number of Indian soldiers was two lakh thirty three thousand and the number of organs was only forty two thousand. The army division was done in a very wrong way. In many places like Delhi and

There were only Indian soldiers in Allahabad. Between these two was the British Regiment at Danapur. These days England was busy in the wars in Crimea, Persia and China. In India only Indian soldiers were in abundance and it was natural for them to have a feeling of ‘power awareness’. 1857

With the incorporation of the princely states into the Company State, the princely army was disbanded. From this Many soldiers became useless. Sixty thousand soldiers became useless in Awadh alone. These people rebelled

Supported Of 1857 Revolt

The immediate cause of the Revolt of 1857 was the greased cartridge incident. A new type of cartridge was introduced to fill the Enfield fifle. A rumor spread among the people that the fat of both cow and pig was found in it. This deeply hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu-Muslim soldiers. His blood boiled and he started shaking with anger.

The gunpowder food was ready long ago, this incident of cartridge acted as a match between the two. In this way, a volcano suddenly erupted due to dissatisfaction, whose huge flames lit up on seeing the land from Sutlej to Namkee.

Organization of Revolt of 1857 AD In organizing the Revolt of 1857 AD, the name of Peshwa Bajirao’s adopted son Nana Sahib and his lawyer Azimullah Khan are leading. Apart from these, Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah, Veer Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur (Bihar, Shahabad) and Tantya Tope were also prominent leaders of the rebellion.

The main objective of organizing the revolt was to expel the British from India by revolting under the leadership of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah. The names of Nawab Wajid Ali of Awadh and Maulvi Ahmad Shah of Faizabad are also noteworthy.

In the end, Nana Sahib and Alimullah Khan toured the country on the pretext of pilgrimage with the aim of organizing the rebellion and encouraged the native princes, people and soldiers to revolt. The landlords and moneylenders gave a lot of money to the rebels. Lotus flower and chapati were fixed as symbols of rebellion. The lotus flower was distributed among the soldiers and chapatis among the people of the villages.

The Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah and the Empress Begum Zeenat Mahal agreed with Nana Sahib’s plans. Secret meetings started happening in Red Fort and Delhi city. On the call of Alinvi Khan, the Hindus swore by the water of the Ganges and the Muslims swore by the Quran that they would die only after driving the British out of India.

Alinvi Khan activists left Calcutta disguised as sages and fakirs and went to every cantonment in northern India to kindle the fire of rebellion. Revolutionaries also established their contact with government employees and there was no police station or office where the message of revolution did not reach. Maulvi Ahmad Shah of Faizabad traveled from Lucknow to Agra holding meetings and rousing people to revolt.

The rebellion was planned in such a way that the British should be destroyed all over India on a single day. The day of this great destroyer was kept on May 31, 1857. The plan of the rebellion was to kill the British, break the jails and free the prisoners and take control of Durga, arms houses and gunpowder. Will go The surprising thing is that the British did not have any information about this great rebellion in advance.

Expansion of Revolution-Dum Dum: Unfortunately, the rebellion started before the fixed time (May 31, 1857) due to some reason. First of all, the first spark of revolution ignited in Barrackpore Cantonment of Bengal. Indian The soldiers refused to use greased cartridges.

On March 23, 1857, a soldier named Mangal Pandey mutinied and killed Saryum. Mangal Pandey was made a prisoner on this and on April 1857 he was given life sentence. After this, the country of number nineteen and thirty-four was abolished.

Meruth: The soldiers in Meerut had a big pani. Some of the soldiers here also refused to use the live cartridges. On this, on May 9, 1857 AD, uniforms and weapons were taken from some of them and they were taken prisoner. This incident agitated the rest of the soldiers and civilians. 1857

On May 10, in the early morning, they along with other citizens broke the prison gate and freed the captive soldiers. After this, the revolutionaries left for Delhi to kill him. From here the Revolt of 1857 took shape.

Delhi On May 11, 1857, two thousand Indian cavalry soldiers reached Delhi. There he killed many OZ officers. The revolutionaries took control of the Red Fort of Delhi and hailed the Mughal emperor and requested him to run it. Bahadur Shah assumed the leadership.

After this, the revolutionaries, in which the citizens of Delhi were also included, tried to take control of the home (megnzine) after them. On this, the British set fire there, due to which there were hundreds of revolutionary casualties. Delhi became completely independent and Mahadurshah’s flag started flying over it.

Elsewhere, the spectacular success of the revolutionaries in Delhi boosted the spirits of the revolutionaries. The wave of revolution engulfed the whole of North India. In Kanpur and Lucknow, he took a very fierce form in the revolution and declared himself Peshwa.

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi in Bundelkhand and a Maratha Brahmin named Tantya Tope in central India led the Katikaris. In Bihar, Veer Kunwar Singh started wreaking havoc on the British. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi fought bravely with the British.

Jatya Tope and Forojsha were very skilled in the Guerrilla Guru-system. On July 15, 1857, on the orders of Nana Sahib and Tatya Tope, two hundred and eleven female children were murdered in a building called Bibigarh in Kanpur and their bodies were thrown into a well.

Due to this massacre of Kanpur, India and England started trembling with anger. Similarly, gruesome massacres took place in other places as well. Rails and wires were broken at many places. The jail was raided and the treasury looted. For a while it seemed that the British Empire in India was nearing its end.

Suppression of the Revolt of 1857 – In the beginning, the Revolt was extremely sinister and fierce. The Governor and Lord Canning was at first nervous but soon he decided to crush the rebellion. He summoned troops from The and Bombay provinces and sent John Lawrence to Punjab and Henry Lawrence to Lucknow.

There were one lakh twelve thousand soldiers in the English army and three lakh ten thousand soldiers were recruited in India. Army also came from Punjab. When Lord Canning presented himself to suppress the rebels with such a large army.

Delhi: Lord Canning sent his commander-in-chief Aison (Anson) from Shimla to Delhi for the conquest of Delhi. But on the way he died of an epidemic. now sir henry in his place Barnard (Sir Henry Barnand) was appointed. Brigadier Wilson also came on the way with a huge army. At the end of May, his combined army reached near Delhi. 1857

Bahadur Shah’s army kept pushing him back. But the British army continued to protest fiercely and kept moving forward. The revolutionary army started losing courage due to lack of capable leadership. The English army blew up the Kashmiri Darwaza and captured Delhi after six days of fierce fighting. Bahadur Shah was taken prisoner and his son and grandson were shot.

Bahadur Shah was exiled and sent to Rangoon. He died in 1862 AD. The British treated the people of Delhi very mercilessly and made thousands of them shot dead. Historian Malson states, “No more unnecessary and merciless tyranny was committed than this. It was a terrible mistake as well as a crime.” The enthusiasm of the revolutionaries cooled down after Bahadur Shah was imprisoned. Now they do not see any leader capable of governing India 1857

Allahabad: Colonel Neil came to Allahabad after Banaras. It was in the hands of the rebels but the fort was still in the hands of the British. Colonel Neel did not have to face much difficulty in re-conquering Allahabad. Here also the drama of gruesome massacre was repeated. Awadh and other districts of Uttar Pradesh with Allahabad as the center The rebellion could also be suppressed. 1857

Awadh: The rebels in Awadh were led by Maulvi Ahmadshah and Begum Hazrat Mahal. The rebellion in Lucknow had taken a gruesome form. The rebellion started here on 30th May, 1857. The English commander Sir Henry Lawrence had failed to suppress the rebellion and had died. After this, Brigadier English bravely faced the rebels. After a few days, Havelock and Outram also reached with their forces to help him.

After three fierce battles these sons entered the Residency. Meanwhile, Colonel Neel died in Lucknow and Sir Colin Campbelli, who had come to England as the Commander-in-Chief, came to Lucknow. He mercilessly suppressed the rebellions of Awadh and Rohilkhand.

He got great help in this work from Jung Bahadur of Nepal. The British captured Lucknow on March 31, 1858. At the end of March, Canning announced that all but six talukdars would be stripped of their land. Terrified by this, the talukdars continued to wage guerilla warfare. On the other hand, rebels like Nana Sahib, Hazrat Mahal etc. made Bareilly their center. But soon Bareilly was also occupied by the British. This demoralized the talukdars of Awadh as well and they laid down their arms in May, 1858.

Kanpur: On June 26, 1857, Kanpur was occupied by Nana Sahib. In July Haiblak attacked Kanpur and captured Kanpur after a fierce battle of four days. He killed innumerable men, women and children there. In Nabanwar, under the leadership of Tantya Tope, twenty thousand revolutionary soldiers of Gwalior attacked Kanpur and captured Vidham, the commander there.

On 28 November, after defeating Kanpur, he regained his authority. Unfortunately, on 6th December, Campbell badly defeated the revolutionaries and re-captured Kanpur.

Jhansi: Lord Dalhousie had included Jhansi in the company state. The widow Rani Lakshmibai there was about twenty years old. After taking over the kingdom of Jhansi, Lakshmi Bai arranged to pay five thousand rupees annually on behalf of the company.

But Lakshmibai refused and assumed the leadership of the revolution in 1858. Under his leadership, the revolutionaries took control of Bundelkhand and its adjoining region. Sir Sugh Rose was sent to suppress revolution in Bundelkhand. In January, 0 AD he started from Mhow.

On 3 April he besieged Jhansi. The queen herself got down to run the army. By tying her adopted son Damodar on the horse’s back behind her, she fought the English army for eight days with great enthusiasm in heroic attire. Other heroines were also supporting the queen. Many British soldiers were killed.

Seeing the bravery of the queen, the British started biting their fingers. Meanwhile, Tantya Tope also went to help the queen with an army from Gwalior. He was defeated on the banks of the Chetwa river on 1 April. The last attack of the enemy on Jhansi took place on 3rd April.

Some traitors met the enemy and opened the gate. As a result, the British got the right on the fort. On the night of 4th April, the Rani started towards Kalpi with some of her followers. At this time Tantya Tope, Nawab of Banda, Raja of Shahgarh and other revolutionary leaders were present in Kalpi.

English commander Hugh Rose attacked Kalpi as well and captured it on 24th May. Even on this, the courage of Lakshmibai and Tantya Tope did not break. The other revolutionaries agreed to the advice of the queen to attack Gwalior. The revolutionaries captured Gwalior. Meanwhile Smith and Hugh Rose besieged Gwalior.

On June 17, 1858, a fierce battle took place between the English forces and the revolutionaries. The queen gave a unique introduction of her bravery here too. Unfortunately, at the same time her horse fell into the drain, she was hurt and the heroine passed away from this world. Her devotee slave, Ramchandra Rao cremated the queen by making a pyre of grass.

Tantya Tope fled to the south. But the English army followed him. For about ten months, the English army kept running its plants. In the end, the traitor and his old friend Mansingh got him imprisoned in Alwar during the night on April 7, 1859. This brave patriot was hanged on 28th April. Nana Sahib fled to the jungles of Nepal where he died.

Bihar: The Revolt of 1857 particularly affected Bihar. On July 3, there was a rebellion in Patna under the leadership of Mira Ali, but it was soon suppressed by the Sikh army. Mir Ali was arrested and hanged. Similarly there was a rebellion in Danapur also but the British gave him medicine.

Veer Kunwar Singh had a major contribution in the Revolt of 1857. He was born in 1782 AD in a village named Jagdishpur in Shahabad district. His father’s name was Sahebzara and mother’s name was Pancharatna Kunwari. His ancestors belonged to the famous Larsar Kshatriya dynasty. After the death of Sahibzada in 1827, Kunwar Singh came to power.

The annual income of his princely state was three lakh rupees. They used to pay an annual tax of one lakh fifty eight thousand rupees to East India. Before the Revolt of 1857, he was a supporter of the British Empire. The then commissioner of Patna, Taylor, called him ‘dignified’ ‘brave’ and ‘loyal’

The burden of It increased so much that in 1854-55 AD, the Government of Bengal took over the responsibility of looking after his princely state through the Collectorate of Shahabad. Taylor called Kunwar Singh but he could not meet Taylor due to illness and old age. Only then Taylor came to know that Kunwar Singh was propagating discontent and mistrust against the British.

In 1845-46 AD, at the Sonpur fair, Kunwar Singh had prepared a plan for the liberation struggle by consulting among the people of the same religion. In this he had the blessing of Puroda Purush Nana Sahib. Had traveled from West India on the pretext of pilgrimage. He had made a plan to drive the Firangis out of this country.

In 1857, this long-awaited rebellion broke out. First of all, on June 12, 1857, in Rohni (Deoghar) in Bihar, three native soldiers who revolted were hanged.

Kunwar Singh’s representatives Harkisan Singh and Rangdal Singh went to Danapur Cantonment. The soldiers of the native platoon were full of secret talk. The English officers lost faith in the native soldiers. It was decided to disarm them. On July 25, 1857, early in the morning, as soon as there was an order to deposit arms in the cantonment ground, they openly rebelled.

Mukti Vahini started towards Jagdishpur. On July 26, he reached Arrah and took possession of the treasury and opened the jail and freed the prisoners. The number of Mukti Vahini Bagris increased to ten thousand. He reached Jagdishpur and saluted Kunwar Singh and accepted him as his leader.

The army that went from Danapur under the leadership of Dunwar to suppress the rebels had an encounter with the Muktivahini at Gangi Nala. Dunbar was killed and almost his entire army was destroyed. Kunwar Singh was declared the ruler. Meanwhile, the British commander Apar chased them away and took control of Jagdishpur.

By now the news of Ara’s incidents had reached far and wide. Almost the entire Bihar came under the grip of the liberation war. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Kunwar Singh and he had become the focal point of everyone’s hopes and aspirations. After leaving Jagdishpur, he reached Nokha and entire Sasaram joined him.

Meanwhile, two yagi troops of Ramgarh military cantonment army also joined them. Now they started towards Uttar Pradesh. On August 26, 1857, he reached Vijaygarh near Mirzapur. This created panic among the British. Hoisting the flag of liberation struggle at Ramgarh, Robertsganj, Reewa, Banda etc., Kunwar Singh reached Kalpi where the Gwalior army met him.

In December 1857 AD, Kunwar Singh and the army team of Gwalior jointly fought the British army in Kanpur. But he did not get success. Kunwar Singh reached Lucknow. There the Nawab of Awadh gave him ten thousand rupees and also gave him the order of the princely state of Ayamgarh.

On March 22, 1858, Kunwar Singh defeated the English army at Atraulia. He also got control over Ayamgarh. Now he moved towards Banaras and defeated Lord Mark. In the meantime, the British army chief Lagarde moved towards Azamgarh with a large army from Lucknow to help Mark. Kunwar Singh left two thousand soldiers under Nishan Singh and himself left for Ghazipur.

Lagai’s army was about to reach Azamgarh after crossing the Tanu river bridge. Kunwar Singh sent a group of his army to fight Lagard’s army on this bridge. He himself proceeded towards Ghazipur along with the rest of the army. Lagarde followed this contingent for twelve miles. On April 17, 1858, the forces of Douglas and Kunwar Singh fought in a village named Nachde. The defeated Douglas had to retreat. virgin

Singh crossed the Ghaghra via Nagra and Sikandarpur and reached Manohar village in Ghazipur and rested there for a short night. Douglas suddenly attacked Kunwar Singh’s army there in the morning. Kunwar Singh had to retreat leaving some weapons, ammo and logistics.

His army was crossing the Shivpur Ghat about a mile below Ballia, the British army reached there as well. By this time the entire army of Kunwar Singh had crossed the Ganges. Only one last raft remained. Kunwar Singh was in this boat. When his boat was in the middle of the ghat, at the same time a bullet of an English soldier hit his right hand.

To prevent the poison from spreading throughout the body, Kunwar Singh cut off his right hand with a sword and presented it to Ganga Maiya. Wrapping a cloth on the wound, he crossed the Ganges. He reached Jagdishpur on April 22, 1858. A fierce battle ensued between Captain Lou Grand and his Mukti Bahini forces. Li And was defeated and killed.

Most of his soldiers were also killed and only a few of them somehow reached Ara after saving their lives. Kaljapi victorious Kumpchar Singh hoisted the green flag of independence on the fort of Jagdishpur on April 23, 1858 AD. Meanwhile, he died on April 26, 1858. In the Revolt of 1857 AD, the example of Babu Kunwar Singh is found who defeated the British at many places.

Even after the death of Veer Kunwar Singh, the lovers of freedom continued the war. These included Amar Singh, Harkisan Singh, Jodhan Singh, Ali Karim and others. His activities puzzled company officials for months. Some of them established a parallel government in Jagdishpur. Amar Singh kept roaming here and there while continuing the war. But in December 1859, he was caught and imprisoned in Gorakhpur Jail. He died on February 5, 1880.

At the same time British supremacy was also challenged in Chhotanagpur, Manpur, Singhbhum and Palamu. In July 1857 AD, the 7th and 8th native infantry were sent from Patna to Hazaribagh, the artillery battalion of Ramgarh was stationed in Ranchi. Ramgarh’s army was also kept in Chaibasa and Purulia.

At the end of July 1857 AD, the native army of Hazaribagh revolted. Lieutenant Graham was ordered to suppress the rebel soldiers of Hazaribagh with two companies of Ramgarh infantry. Their leader was Jemadar Madhav Singh.

The rebel soldiers immediately left for Ranchi to join other rebels. Donda and Dorang came under the control of rebel sepoys under the leadership of Jai Mangal Singh. They looted the local treasury and freed the prisoners from the prisons. Although some zamindars of the area tried to stop the rebels from advancing, others supported them.

Thakur Vishwanath Shahi of Barakar and Murkunda’s grandson Ganpat Rai supported the rebels. On August 5, the army of Ramgarh located in Purulia and Chaibasa also revolted. On September 11, his friends from Doranda went to support him. Zamindar Bhola Singh supported him in Chowdia. From there they went to Chatra through some canopy.

Perhaps his intention was to join Kunwar Singh’s army in Rohtasgarh via Palamu. On October 2, 1857 AD, the rebels had to fight fiercely with the English army under the leadership of Major English at Chatra. The British were defeated in this.

Jamadar Madhav Singh avoided being arrested. The company government had announced a reward of one thousand rupees for his capture. Jaymangal Pandey and Nadir Ali Khan of Ramgarh Battalion and two other local leaders were caught and presented before Major Sprinson on 3 October.

His case was tried and he was sentenced to death. Vishwanath Sari and Ganpat Pandey also ran away for some time.

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