Blog – Learning Resources

June 15 2021

Baba Shahmal Tomar

Baba Sahmal Tomar was a rebel at the time of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, based out of the village of Bijrol, Uttar Pradesh. He led the Jats of Baraut in rebellion against the East India Company.

In June 1857, Sah Mal Singh seized 500 head of cattle, and collected escaped convicts and other locals and formed a force. On 18 July, British forces came under attack as they approached the village of Baraut. A group of fighters led by Sah Mal took up positions in a nearby orchard, and came under pressed attack by a Rifles unit. The Jat formation broke, and were attacked on the flank by mounted troops. Hand-to-hand combat ensued, during which Sah Mal was died.

June 1 2021

Lakshmibai, Jhansi ki Rani

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Lakshmibai, the Queen of Jhansi (19 November 1828 – 18 June 1858), was an Indian queen of the Maratha princely state of Jhansi.She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and became a symbol of resistance to the British Raj for Indian nationalists.

After the death of the Maharaja in November 1853, because Damodar Rao (born Anand Rao) was an adopted son, the British East India Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, applied the Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Damodar Rao’s claim to the throne and annexing the state to its territories. When she was informed of this she cried out “Main apni Jhansi nahi doongi” (I shall not surrender my Jhansi).

Rani Lakshmibai was determined to not give up on the Dominion of Jhansi and hence started assembling an army of rebellions, including women. She was supported by Tatya Tope and Nana Sahib. Lakshmibai gave a great fight to the British as the siege of Jhansi lasted for about two weeks. After a fierce war, when the British army entered Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai, tied her son Damodar Rao to her back and fought bravely using two swords in both her hands. She escaped to Kalpi and was accompanied by other rebellions. She then departed to Gwalior and a fierce battle was fought between the British and Lakshmibai’s army. Rani issued a proclamation: “We fight for independence. In the words of Lord Krishna, we will if we are victorious, enjoy the fruits of victory, if defeated and killed on the field of battle, we shall surely earn eternal glory and salvation.” Rani Lakshmibai, the Queen of Jhansi, dressed as a cavalry leader, was badly wounded; not wishing the British to capture her body. She had been buried with great ceremony under a tamarind tree under the Rock of Gwalior. Her tomb is in the Phool Bagh area of Gwalior.

May 31 2021

Mangal Pandey

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Mangal Pandey (19 July 1827 – 8 April 1857) was an Indian soldier who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857. In India, Pandey has been remembered as a freedom fighter against British rule. Mangal Pandey dared to refuse to use the cartridges with animal grease and rebelled against the British. When Major Hewson proceeded to take away his rifle, Mangal killed him and escaped from there. A fearful British army hanged him to death 10 days in advance on April 8.

May 29 2021

Dadabhai Naoroji

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) also known as the “Grand Old Man of India” and “Unofficial Ambassador of India” was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar and writer who was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom House of Commons between 1892 and 1895 and the first Asian to be a British MP. Naoroji is renowned for his work in the Indian National Congress, of which he was one of the founding members and thrice — in 1886, 1893, and 1906 — elected president.

Dadabhai Naoroji is regarded as one of the most important Indians during the birth of the nascent independence movement. In his writings, he came to the conclusion that the exertion of foreign rule over India was not favourable for the nation, and that independence would be the better path for India.

May 27 2021

Raja Nahar Singh

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Raja Nahar Singh (died 1858) was a great Jat ruler of the princely state of Ballabhgarh in Faridabad District of Haryana, India. They built a fort in Faridabad around 1739.

He was involved in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Nahar Singh, the Raja of Ballabgarh was 32 years old when he threw his small army into the fray against the British during the 1857 uprising. Refusing an offer to save himself by acknowledging British supremacy, he was hung in Chandni Chowk on 9 January 1858 and his estate was forfeited. He was charged by the colonial rulers for assisting rebellion with money, provisions and arms and by sending troops to Palwal, for taking it from the British Government in India. British sentenced him to “be hanged by neck until he be dead and further to forfeit all his property and effects of every description.” His state was taken over by the British and thus sun set on the Jat state of Ballabhgarh.

May 25 2021

Dhan Singh Gurjar

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Dhan Singh Gurjar, also known as Dhunna Singh, was the Indian kotwal (police chief) of Meerut, who participated in the 1857 rebellion and led initial actions against the British East India Company in Meerut. On 10 May 1857, a rebellion against the East India Company rule broke out in Meerut during the 1857 uprising. As the kotwal of the city, Dhan Singh’s job was to protect the city. However, many of his officers deserted his force on that day, either to join the rebellion or to escape the rebels’ fury. Dhan Singh and several other policemen later deserted the police force (kotwali). He is believed to have led thousands of villagers from all across the Meerut district to the city’s jail. According to the official records, the rebels released 839 prisoners from the jail. These prisoners were among the rebels who participated in the siege of Delhi.

May 23 2021

Maulvi Liaquat Ali

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Maulvi Liaquat Ali was a Muslim religious leader from Allahabad (Prayagraj). He was one of the leaders in the revolt against the British in 1857, in what is now known as the First Indian war of Independence, or the uprising of 1857. He was a religious teacher, an upright pious Muslim, and a man of great courage and valour. He was a humble and simple man but when he took the reins of the freedom struggle, he became a dreadful enemy of the British.

Maulvi captured the Khusro Bagh and declared the independence of India Khusro Bagh became the headquarters of the sepoys under Maulvi Liaquat Ali who took charge as the Governor of liberated Allahabad. however, the Mutiny was swiftly put down and Khusro Bagh was retaken by the British in two weeks. Liaqat Ali was sentenced to life in prison at Port Blair, in one of the Cellular Jail in Andaman Islands. He was tried and sentenced to death, but died in captivity in Rangoon on 17 May 1892.

May 21 2021

Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy (24 November 1806 – 22 February 1847) was an Indian freedom fighter. He and his commander-in-chief Vadde Obanna were at the heart of the rebellion against the British in 1847, where 5,000 peasants rose up against the British East India Company in Kurnool district. They were protesting against the changes introduced by the British to the traditional agrarian system in the first half of the nineteenth century. These changes include the introduction of the ryotwari system and other attempts to maximize revenue through exploiting lower-status cultivators by depleting their crops and leaving them impoverished. He killed over 3,000 British people during the course of the revolt. On 22 February 1847, he was executed in Koilkuntla in front of a crowd of over 2000 people. British kept his head on the fort wall in public view until 1877.

May 19 2021

Sangolli Rayanna

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat, Uncategorized

Born: 15 August

Died: 26 January

Sangolli Rayanna (15 August 1796 – 26 January 1831) was an Indian military Shetsanadi (Sainik) and warrior in the Kittur princely state of the Karnataka. He was the Shetsanadi of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma and fought the British East India Company till his death.

Sangolli Rayanna participated in the 1824 rebellion and was arrested by the British, who released him later. He continued to fight the British and wanted to install the adopted son of King Mallasarja and Rani Chennamma, namely Shivalingappa as the ruler of Kittur. He mobilised local people and started a guerilla type war against the British. He and his guerrilla army moved from place to place, burnt government offices, waylaid British troops and plundered treasuries. Most of his land was confiscated and what remained of it was heavily taxed. He taxed the landlords and built up an army from the masses. The British troops could not defeat him in open battle. Hence, by treachery, he was caught in April 1830 and tried by the British; and sentenced to death. Shivalingappa, the boy who was supposed to be the new ruler, was also arrested by the British. Rayanna was executed by hanging from a Banyan tree about 4 kilometers from Nandagad in Belagavi district on 26 January 1831.

May 17 2021

Umaji Naik Khomane

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat, Uncategorized

Krantiveer Narveer Raje Umaji Naik (7 September 1791 – 3 February 1832) was an Indian revolutionary who challenged the British rule in India around 1826 to 1832.He was one of the earliest freedom fighter of India.He fought against East India company and company rule.

Soon after the fall of Maratha Empire Umaji raised a tiny army against the British. His anti-British manifesto asked the country-men to fight against the foreign rulers. To capture him, the British Government announced a bounty of 10,000 rupees. Betrayed by a Ramoshi named Nana Raghu Chavan British arrested him, enquired then hold him guilty and hanged till death on 3 Feb 1834. He gave a message to the British and British forces came to arrest him. Though he fought against them, the forces sent were able to arrest him. After his capture, he was hanged in Pune.