lesser known indian heroes

8/9/2019 Lesser Known Indian Heroes

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An in-depth study of the great rebellion of 1857will reveal that its known heroes are too wellknown, its unknown heroes are not known at

all while its lesser known heroes are onlyvaguely remembered as foot-notes of the text-books of history. Now when the nation iscelebrating the 150th year of its First War of Independence it is time to remember the un-remembered and pay our homage to all thosesoldiers, peasants, artisans, landlords andscholars who made a common cause with the

rulers and the chiefs to overthrow the foreignrule from the Indian soil. It is the participationof the common man which gives this greatupheaval a popular, a patriotic character makingit a national upheaval, unique in the annals of world history. More than a lakh of soldiers fell

in the various battles and became martyrs. Thenumber of civilians who laid down their lives tofree their motherland from the Brit ish barbarismis not exactly known. Although the rebellion waswidespread in regions such as Delhi, Avadh,Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, areas aroundAllahabad, Agra, Meerut and the whole of western Bihar, it is estimated that in Avadh alone

KK KHULLAR

1857Lesser known heroes of Indias

first war of independence

A couple of sepoys being hanged during the mutiny


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150,000 people were killed, making it a gloriouschapter in the history of Indian people. Therevolt produced many legendry heroes such asMangal Pandey, Rani of Jhansi, Tantia Tope,Nana Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal of Lucknowand Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur who have beena source of inspiration to the succeedinggenerations in their struggle for Independence.At the same time the upheaval produced menand women of rare valour who are not so wellknown such as Bakht Khan, the Commander-

in-chief of rebel armies, Rao Tula Ram of Rewari,Raja of Ballabhgarh, Nawab of Jhajjar, ShazadaFiruz Shah, Abdul Samad of Badli, Saadat Khanof Indore, Virangani Jhalkari of WomensRegiment of Jhansi, Amar Singh of Jagdishpur,Pir Ali of Patna, Udmi Ram of Libaspur (Delhi)and thousands of Gujjars and Jats and Rangarsand Meos of Rohtak, Hissar, Gurgaon and Karnalwho joined the rebels of their free will t o seetheir country free from the most inhuman ruleof the world history.Delhi and i ts adjoining regionsInnumerable legends and patriotic songs havegrown around these heroes. Countless peoplesing these songs doing their daily chores andat special functions such as festivals andmarriages. Delhi region was the foremost inshaking off the foreign yoke. The fall of Delhito the Meerut rebels on 11th May, 1857 wasfollowed by the immediate collapse of Companys administration in Delhis countrysidepopulated mostly by Gujjars and Rangars andJats and other pastoral tribes. In Rohtak, Hissar,Sirsa, Ballabhgarh, Jhajjar and in Delhi villagessuch as Kishengarh, Masoodpur and Mahipalpur.Panchayats were set up for administration andcollection of revenue. Rao Tula Ram, the AhirChief was a terror to the Britishers. He set upan independent government at Rewari andcollected revenue in the name of the MughalEmperor. The new government machinery wasbased on the age-old village republics of whichDelhi region was its home.

Writing on these village republics, CTMetcalfe observed: The village communities

are little Republics, having nearly everythingthey want within themselves, and almostindependent of any foreign relations. They seemto last where nothing else lasts. Dynasty afterdynasty tumbles down, revolution succeeds torevolution; Hindu, Pathan, Mughal, Maratha,Sikh, English are masters in turn, but villagecommunities remain the same. Although in

peace they had lots of differences thecommunities stood in one line against theBritish. Old feuds were forgotten and newbhaichara (brotherhood) relationships wereinvoked. At Sirsa the Bhatti Nawab of Raniadeclared war against the British and local leaderMohammad Azim assumed the leadership of therebellion. The Meos of Mewat in Gurgoan districtasserted independence and gave a tough timeto the British. But the main problem was thatthe rebels failed to establish a liberated area.

Rao Tula Ram escaped to Kabul where he diedafter some time. Raja of Ballabhgarh washanged. The Nawab of Jhajjar was hanged infront of the Red Fort with t he beat of a drumon 23rd December 1857 to create terror in themind of the civilian population. The whole of Delhi became a graveyard. There was none lefteven to bury the dead.

Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, the famousUrdu poet who is an eye-witness to the rebel lionin Delhi and the massacre of Delhi citizenrythereafter writes in diary called Dastabu : Thelapse of time from 11th May to 14th Septemberis actually four months and four days. Howeversince the town fel l on Monday and wasrecaptured on Monday, it is as if the city waslost and re-captured on the same day. Thevictors killed all whom they found on the streets.The noble men, in order to protect their honour,which was all that remained of them, stayedinside locked houses without food, withoutlamp, without light, without hope.

In Dastan-e-Ghadar (Story of the Rebellion),Zahir Dehlvi wrote : The English soldiers beganto shoot whomsoever they met on the way.Among the men of letters who remained in thecity, there were some whose equal has neverbeen born nor shall be born. Mian MuhammadAmin Punjakush, an excellent writer, MoulviImam Baksh Sabai and the 1400 persons of Kucha Chhelan were taken to Raj Ghat Gat e,shot dead and their bodies thrown into theJamuna. As for women they came out of theirhouses and killed themselves with their childrenby jumping into the wells. All the wells of Kucha

Chhelan are filled with dead bodies. My pen darenot write more. The citizens of the walled citycontinue to believe that the dead of KuchaChhelan were the real heroes who faced deathwithout fear and voluntarily than prostratebefore an unscrupulous victor. Death makes noconquest of them for now they live in thememory o f the i r peop le . Even Prof .


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Ramchandra, a God-fearing Christian, andPandit Kedar Nath, a God-fearing Hindu knownfor his charitable activities, were not spared.

In the words of Maulana Azad the mostimportant fact which attracts attention is thatIndia faced the trial of 1857 as a unitedcommunity. The struggle of 1857 took a nationaland a racial but never a communal turn. In thefight for freedom Hindus and Muslims stoodshoulder to shoulder. Their common effort, asa result of common life of centuries, was to

liberate themselves from the foreign yoke. Andthat is the message of martyrs of First War of Independence 1857.

If in Delhi the rebellion spread lik e wild fire,then in other places such as Muzzafarnagar,Saharanpur, Allahabad, Kanpur, Barelli,Banaras, Bihar and Jhansi it irrupted like avolcano. In rural areas, the spread was thefastest and fiercest where the peasantry cameout in large numbers against the oppressiverevenue system introduced by the CompanyLords. Peasants rebellion inIndia have been traditionallytax rebellion. Gujjars were theworst rebels through out therebellion. Between the riversJamuna and Ganga, awayfrom the GT Road, at Dadri,Sarsawa, Deoband, Bijnour,Moradabad and Rohilkhand,Gujjar turbulence was sointense that it seemed thecompanys rule has ended.According to one estimatemore than a million Gujjarsparticipated in the revolt. Aregular system of correspondence existedbetween the Gujjars living in different parts of the country. The participation of these pastoraland nomadic communities made the rebelliona truly peoples revolt. The Rangars and theRajput communities were out to prove that theRajput valour is not a thing of t he past. TheBritishers forgot rather conveniently that theKisan (peasant and cultivator) of the peace time

in India becomes a Jawan (solider) in war time.Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan had been a traditional Indianslogan.

An extra-ordinary fact stands out in themidst of the story of the great rebellions andthat is even the main rebel leaders regardedthe Mughal Emperor as their Badshah (King).Even those areas where the rebels established

their authority they rule d in the name of theMughal King. Rao Tula Ram of Rewariestablished his own government but collectedthe revenue in the name of the Delhi King.Nana Saheb declared himself a Peshwa atKanpur but under the Mughal authority. Thecoins were struck in the name of the Emperorand the orders were issued in the name of theDelhi Badshah. The date on the coins w ereboth in Hijri and Samvat as was the customin the Mughal Court. Nana Saheb was a brave

solider but his daughter Maina who was burntalive at Bithoor was equally brave. Peopleforgot their differences, communities setaside, their traditional rivalries the wholecountry faced their enemy as a unitedcommunity.Udmi Ram of Libaspur, Delhi , and AbdulSamad of Badli-ki-SeraiLibaspur is a Delhi village on way to Narela off bypass Karnal. The Britishers had establisheda camp at Sonepat. Each time they passed they

saw the handsome youth, avillage Jat named Udmi Ramwho had formed a group of strong-bodied Delhi Jats tocatch hold of the passingEnglish soldier and to finishhim off at an isolated spotwhere there is a Shani mandir today. One day Udmi Ramspotted out a cart carrying anEnglish family. He asked theman to come out, took him toa lonely spot and finished him.As for the English woman heasked a Brahamin lady to look

after her in a neighbouring village where shespent some good days among Indian women.But when the scales turned around and theBritish recaptured Delhi they surroundedLibaspur. Udmi Ram collected his men andfought with rural weapons such as spears,choppers and axes but was defeated. Arrestedhe was brought to British camp at Rai, tied to apeepal tree for 35 days without water or food

till he died a martyr. Similarly S eth RamjidasGurwala of Chandni Chowk who financed therebel movement at Delhi and its e nviron wasexecuted before his own shop where he sold

Gur (Brown sugar candy). Abdul Samad Khan,father-in-law of the Nawab of Jhajjar fought withthe British but lost at Badli-ki-Serai . He met aheros death.

I n d i a s F i r s t Wa r o f

I n d e p e n d e n c e t h r e w m a n y t i m e s m o r e

b r a v e m e n a n d

w o m e n t h a n t h e c o m b i n e d s t r e n g t h o f h e r o e s i n t h e F r e n c h

R e v o l u t i o n a n d t h e A m e r i c a n Wa r o f I n d e p e n d e n c e.


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Punjab Massacre at AjnalaPunjab was a problem state. Annexed only in1849, the Lawrence administration fully exploitedthe old rivalry between the Punjabi and thePoorbia. Yet there was a rising at Sialkot, atJhelum, Peshawar, Nowshera and Multan whereAhmed Khan of Khurral tribe revolted. He was

joined by other war-like tribes and for severaldays all communications between Multan andLabore were interrupted. They defeated theBritish in a number of skirmishes, but Lawerence

sent a huge force and Ahmed Khan died in thebattle, a heros death. Another leader MirBahawal Fatwana emerged but he too died in thebattle. The worst in Punjab took place at Ajnalanear Amritsar where the dis-armed armyrevolted at Mian Mir. The rebellion was crushedwith an iron hand. Rope being in short su pplythere, three hundred in all, were shot dead.Fredrick Cooper who styled himself as Hero of Ajnala boasted that his men had not wasted asingle bullet, a la Dyer statement at JallianwalaBagh. The tragedy of Black Hole was re-enacted,the number of mutineers who died of suffocationwas not recorded.Amazons of LucknowUnder the able leadership of Begum HazratMahal the women of Lucknow played a heroicrole. For full eight months the women rebels of Lucknow held the Compnays forces to ransom.Sir Gordon Alexander noted that among theslain at Sikandrabad there were a few AmazonNegresses. Who had fought like wild cats. Therewas a woman who, perched on a large peepaltree shot a number of Britis h soldiers and wasshot in return. The names of these brave womenwill never be known but what they did will neverbe forgotton. Lucknow was captured but neversubdued, broken but it did not bend.Womens Regiment at JhansiThere was also a womens regiment at Jhansiwhere Virangani Jhalkari played a role that wonher a permanent place in the history of Jhansi.When the fortunes of Jhansi were at a low ebband the British soldiers were firing from belowthe fort, Rani of Jhansi decided to leave the fort,

Jhalkari, originally a peasant women but now asoldier offered to disguise herself as the Rani,took a small unit of soldiers and left from thefront door while the real Rani left from the reardoor. Jhalkari was recognized by a traitor butbefore dying she had killed a number of Briti shsoldiers. Before her martyrdom she shouted :

Jai Bhawani.

Three l ions from BiharKunwar Singh and Amar Singh of Jagdishpurand Pir Ali of Patna are the three lions whotaught such a lesson to the British that theywere scared of them. In addition the Wahabiswere a great threat to the English forces. Whenthe captured Pir Ali was asked by theCommissioner Mr. Taylor whether he had anyinformation to give which might induce theGovernment to spare his life, with dignifiedcomposure such as our own people did not

main ta in , wr i t e s Tay lo r, in exc i t ingcircumstances, he confronted the questionerand replied: There are some cases in which itis good to save life, others in whi ch it is betterto lose.

The Jagdishpur brothers were of a differentmould. They literally fought like lions and calledthe British regiment a herd of sheep. When theIndian soldiers revolted at Dinapur on 25th Ju ly,1857 Kunwar Singh seized the opportunity andmade the whole regiment his prisoner, till 23rdAugust. In his anti-English expeditions in UP andMP he was accompanied by his brave Muslimwife Dharman Bibi. The British forces chasedhim perpetually. While crossing the Ganga hewas severely injured. He cut off his right armand offered it as his sacrifice to the MotherGanga. He was arrested in December 1859 anddied in jail in 1860. The King of Avadh honouredhim with a Robe of Honour.

After his death the struggle was carried onhis brother Amar Singh, his nephew RitbhanjanSingh, his tehsildar Harkishen Singh and hisfriend Nishan Singh. Mention must be made of Dilwar Singh and Srnam Singh. According to Dr.SC Sen in his book 1857 , the Rajputs of Shahabad were out to prove that the Rajputvalour was not a thing of the past. Individuallyevery rebel was defeated but they were victorsat last.

Shaheedon ki Chitaon par lage gay har barasmeley Watan par mitne walon ka yahi Quaminishan hoga (Fairs will be held on the pyres of the martyrs That will be the only nationalsymbol they leave behind.)

Indias First War of Independence threwmany times more brave men and women thanthe combined strength of heroes in the FrenchRevolu t ion and the Amer ican War o f Independence, tens of thousands of heroes,known and unknown and lesser known, thecountless martyrs who did India proud. n

The author of this PIB feature is a freelance wri ter.

lesser known indian heroes

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