Blog – Page 5 – Learning Resources

May 25 2021

Dhan Singh Gurjar

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.

May 15 2021

Ahmadullah Shah

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Ahmadullah Shah (1787 – 5 June 1858) famous as Maulavi of Faizabad, famous freedom fighter and was a leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah was known as the Lighthouse of Rebellion in Awadh region. He was a man of great abilities, of undaunted courage, of stern determination, and by far the best soldier among the rebels.

With being a practicing Muslim, he was also an epitome of religious unity and Ganga-Jamuna culture of Faizabad. In the rebellion of 1857, royalties like Nana Sahib and Khan Bahadur Khan fought alongside Ahmadullah.

May 13 2021

Kittur Rani Chennamma

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Kittur Chennamma (23 October 1778 – 21 February 1829)[1] was the Indian queen (rani) of Kittur, a princely state in present-day Karnataka. She belonged to the Lingayat community and received training in horse riding, sword fighting and archery from a young age. She married Raja Mallasarja of the Desai family at the age of 15. Following the death of her husband and son, Rani Chennamma adopted Shivalingappa in the year 1824 and made him the heir to the throne. Rani Chennamma was left with the state of Kittur and an uphill task to save it from the British. She led an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in 1824 in defiance of the doctrine of lapse in an attempt to maintain Indian control over the region, but was defeated and died imprisoned. One of the first female rulers to rebel against British rule, she has become a folk hero in Karnataka and symbol of the independence movement in India.

May 11 2021

Babu Kunwar Singh

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Babu Kunwar Singh (13 November 1777– 26 April 1858) was a leader during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He belonged to a family of the Ujjainiya clan of the Parmar Rajputs of Jagdispur, currently a part of Bhojpur district, Bihar, India. At the age of 80, he led a selected band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the British East India Company. He was the chief organiser of the fight against the British in Bihar. He is popularly known as Veer Kunwar Singh. He gave a good fight and harried British forces for nearly a year and remained invincible until the end. He was an expert in the art of guerilla warfare. His tactics left the British puzzled. In his last battle, fought on 23 April 1858, near Jagdispur, the troops under the control of the East India Company were completely routed, being injured he fought bravely against the British Army and with the help of his army drove away the British Army, brought down the Union Jack from Jagdispur Fort and hoisted his flag. He returned to his palace on 23 April 1858 and soon died on 26 April 1858.

May 9 2021

Dheeran Chinnamalai

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Dheeran Chinnamalai is said to be one of the commanders in the Polygar Wars, notably during the Second Polygar War that took place in 1801–1802. After Kattabomman and Tipu Sultan’s deaths in 1799, Chinnamalai sought the help of Dhondia Wagh and Maruthu Pandiyar and lead the local Pattakarars Polygars, notably Varanavasi Gounder and Vella Gounder of Erode, Chinnamalai’s sister’s husband Kumara Vellai of Perundurai, Appachi Gounder of Paramathi-Velur, Aravakurichi Periya Thambi, Somandurai Muchadayandi Vanaraya Gounder of Pollachi and the Naicker Polygars of Dhali, Virupakshi and Ramagiri among others, to attack the British at Coimbatore in 1800.
British forces managed to stop the armies of the allies and hence Chinnamalai was forced to attack Coimbatore along with the above Polygars of Kongu Nadu. His army was defeated and he escaped from the British forces. Chinnamalai engaged in guerrilla warfare and defeated the British in battles at Cauvery in 1801, Odanilai kangeyam in 1802 and Arachalur in 1804.
Chinnamalai was betrayed by his cook Nallapan and was captured by the British in 1805. Nallappan usurped the title of Nallasenapthi Sarkarai Manradiar with British support. He was hanged at Sankagiri Fort on 2 August 1805.

May 7 2021

Veerapandiya Kattabomman

vishaldevdhar29 Swatantra Bharat

Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and chieftain in Tamil Nadu, India. He fought against the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the British with the help of the ruler of the kingdom of Pudukottai, Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman, and at the age of 39 he was hanged at Kayathar on 16 October 1799.The historian Susan Bayly says that Kattabomman is considered a Robin Hood-like figure in local folklore and is the subject of several traditional narrative ballads in the kummi verse form. The site of his execution at Kayathar has become a “powerful local shrine” and at one time sheep were sacrificed there.