Post by kuldeepadhana on Oct 1, 2006 3:56:26 GMT -5
Indian rebellion of 1857
India's First War of Independence, termed Sepoy Riots by the British was an attempt to unite India against the invading British and to restore power to the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah. However, the resistance disintegrated primarily due to lack of leadership and unity on the part of Indians, as to cruel suppression by the British Army. It was a remarkable event in Indian history, marked the end of the Mughal Empire and sealed India's fate as a British colony for the next 100 years.
This web page is design to understand the important role that was played by the Gurjars in the rebellion.
Initial Stages
During the middle of the 19th century a Gurjar called Kalyan Singh (Kalua) had terrorized the British forces for years by his constant attacks upon them. Vijay Singh was land lord of Kunja-Bhagawan Pur Riyasat. He proclaimed himself Raja of the Riyasat, with Kalyan Singh as his army general. From 1822-25 they held a fierce armed protest against British. The place where Vijay Singh's fort was build is Kunja Bahadurpur.
Raja Vijay Singh started collecting Malguzari and extended his Riyasat beyond Meerut on one side and so is on other sides.
When British were transporting their treasury from Jawalapur to Saharanpur, it was escorted by 200 British Soldiers. Britishers never dared and whenever they did they were butchered and treasury looted. Same happened to this episode, most of the soldiers were killed and everything looted by Raja Vijay Singh's army under the leader ship of Kalyan Singh (Kalua), Kuda and Bhoora.
British forces planned to suppress this uprising. They commanded Gurkha Battalion for the task. In their first attempt they met the same fate, what they always met when fought against Raja Vijay Singh.
At last in 1824-25 British managed to conquer the fort with a vast Gurkha Regiment and planned attack. Raja Vijay Singh and Kalyan Singh lost the battle of life in saving the motherland.
Raja Vijay Singh's head and Kalyan Singh's waist (Dhad) were hung on the main gate of Dehradun Jail. Later the head was transferred to Thomson College (University of Roorkee); Skull was there at University of Roorkee (Now IIT Roorkee) till 1974.
Three-hour fight between a company of Gurkhas and a few hundred of Saharanpur Gujars in full revolt on 3 October 1824.
The Gujar version, the background is the resumption by the British East-India Company of the Gujar little kingdom of Manglaur - Haridwar in 1813 and the subsequent attempt of the Thakur (Baron) of Kunja, Kalyan Singh, to keep alive the tradition of Gujar leadership in the Upper Doab.
One cannot sum up the whole story without mentioning Kuda and Bhoora. Kuda and Bhoora also fought along with Raja Vijay Singh. In the British attack of 1824-25, Kuda was injured and laid down his life for the Mother Land in 1825 while they were again organizing an attack and recruiting army in Rishikesh. Bhorra continued the fight and build an army. He started Gurilla War against British troops. Later he was also killed in an encounter with British Forces.
In a single day 100s of natives (adult males) of Kunja Bahadurpur were hung by neck till death. If anyone is interested he may still visit the Huge Tree where they were hung. It is close to Roorkee, and one can still find the iron rings (Kunde) on the tree where people were hung.
When Bhoora and Kuda were recruiting their army people from Kunja-Bhagawanpur riyasat migrated to the jungles near Rishikesh, as a part of their army. There is a village Aurangabad near Haridwar court. People in that village are of Chauhan Gotra and are known as Rajputs, while they all know that they migrated from Kunja-Bhagawan pur Riyasat and were Gurjars.
There are no remains of the fort of Raja Vijay Singh now, so fierce was the British Attack. But as everything is well documented in the Records of Dehradun Gazetteer, Kunja Bahadurpur was awarded the Freedom Fighter Village status by Uttranchal Govt. There is a statue of Raja Vijay Singh in Kunja Bahadurpur, erected recently.
Kunja-Bhagawanpur and landhora riysasat were completely taken-over by British only in year 1859.
Revolt-1857
Most of the Gurjar Riysats like Ladhora, Prikishatgharh, Samther’s boundaries were reduced by the British. The Estates of thousands of villages were reduced to Taluka’s of only few hundreds of villages. Revolts in western UP (District Saharanpur) during 1821-1825 led to the killing of thousands of Gurjars. Many Gurjar were hanged and thousand of the Gurjars were given the life sentence. The whole Gurjars community considered the British as their rivals and was waiting for the appropriate time.
When sepoys of Meerut camp revolted in 1857 under Dhan Singh Kotwal (Gurjar from Panchli Village) and elected the Delhi emperor Bahadur Shahan Jafar as their leader. Then Gurjars of western UP and Delhi region joined the rebellion and start fighting with the Britishers. Gurjars of Delhi siege the G.T. Road, Mathura Road and both banks of the River Yamuna. They ended the British rule for some period, disabled the postal system, stopped the transportation and killed both British officers and civilians. Gurjars looted their bungalows and burned them.
Soldiers of British army, employees of postal department, the ammunition, treasury etc whatever thing send to Delhi by the Britishers, Gurjars killed the officers and handed over the ammunition and treasury to Mughal King Bahadur Shah Jafar. Near Wazirabad in Delhi Britishers kept their ammunitions. According to the dairies of Nawab Mueenuddin, Gurjars looted the guns of Rupees one lakh from there and handed them over to King Bahadurshah Jafar. The Gurjars of Chandrawal village in Delhi under the leadership of Daya Ram Khari looted and then burnt the Metcalfe House. On 7th of June 1857, Gurjars looted 16 wagons of accommodation and ammunition of the British soldiers and handed them to Mughal Darbar. Sir William Mayur had written that the Gurjars of Delhi and Western UP region paid taxes to Mughal Darbar not to the Britisher’s East India Company.
Rao Umarrao Singh of Dadri declared himself as an independent king. He returned the pension and title of King back to the Britishers. He himself started collecting tax from the villages. To end the British rule he ordered to break the Jail of Bulandsahar. Police Stations and District court were burnt. Where ever the Britishers founded, they were killed. Gurjars of Nandwasia and Kapasia gotra in the Malagrh region were fighting with the Britishers under the leadership of Walidad Khan Pathan (the King of Malagarh fort). British rule was ended for few days form the whole Bulandsahar District. Bisan Singh and Bhagat Singh of village Chora, were controlling the region from Shahadra (Now in Delhi) to Surajpur (Now in Noida) were fighting along with Rao Umarrao Singh of Dadri. Kanhiya, Indra Singh from Atta village, Eman Singh of Asaawar village, Daria Singh of Janedpur, Surjeet Singh of Rajpur, Rambaksh of Gunpura were the main Gurjar leaders of the revolt in the Bulandsahar-Dadri region.
Gurjars of Meerut also drew their sword against the Britishers. Rao Kadam Singh of Parikishatgarh in Mawana Tahsil declared himself as independent King and destroyed the British army posts and police station in his territory. Gurjars of Bessuma and Enchi village played a major role with Rao Kadam singh.
Gurjars of Meerut cant region organize them self and stood in front of Britishers. Ghat Panchli, Bhupra, Nangla and Sikari were the most popular villages, who fought against battalions of the Britishers named as Khaki Risala, which was led by Major Williams and Dunlop. At last Gurjars were defeated after sudden attack of Khaki Risala, and all of the above mentioned villages were burnt by the Britishers and all the leaders were either killed or hanged. Gurjars in Hapud district and Gaziabad District did the same; they destroyed the district centers, police stations and each army post. They ended transportation of the Britishers on the Roads. Anchal Singh Gurjar was the main leader in the Baraut region.
Gurjars in district Saharanpur gave horrible time to Britishers from 1821 to 1825. On the whispers of the revolt they again stood in front of the Britishers. Gurjars of Lakhnauti, Gangoh, Nukad, Sarsava and Purkaji villages become very famous in the revolt. Budakhedi, Sodholi, Randhava, Fatehpur, Babupur and Sanpla were completely ruined by the Britishers but villagers continued their fight till their last breath. Umarrao Singh of Manikpur declared himself as independent king like Rao Umarrao Singh of Dadri and Rao Kadam Singh of Parikishatgarh and start attacking the Britishers. Umarrao Singh started collecting tax from its territory and appeal to push the Britishers out of the country. Gurjars attack Nakud and burnt the Tahsil and Jail, same they did in Sarsava. After that they attack Manglore and Purkaji and ended the British rule from there. British officers Spanki and Robertson took the army and start burning the Gurjar villages. Villages like Fatehpur, Sanpla, Sadholi, Randhawa, Budhakhedi and many more were completely destroyed but villagers continued their revolt with the Britishers.
Gurjars in district Gurgaon, Karnal, Muzafarnagar, Muradabad and Bijnour emerged and revolted against the Britishers, and gave them a tough time by destroying police stations and district courts. Gurjars in Muradabad District ended the British rule from the Muradabad rural area that is why after the revolt ended, properties of Gurjars were distributed among the peoples who supported the Britishers. Many villages in Hasanpur and Phoolpur Tahasil in Muradabad District were rewarded to a Jaat family, who owned them up till 1947. In Balabhgarh (Harayana) the lands of revolutionary Gurjars were given to Rajputs who supported the Britishers in the revolt. Also Gurjars of Karnal District stood in front of the Britishers and gave them the toughest time but most populated caste ‘Jaat’ of Harayana supported the Britishers. That is why the regions like Rohatak and Jind were silent in the revolt.
Gurjars of Bijnour were fighting under the leader ship of Gurjar leaders Kadam Singh and Dulal Singh. In the whole revolt Gurjars were fight along with the Muslims, they forgot their rivalry and fighting with the Britishers as true sons of Motherland.
Gurjars in Mathura and Agra region also fought against Britishers and gave them a horrible period. That is why when the revolt ended, Gurjars properties were impounded. Out of them ten villages were rewarded to the Jaats of Hathras Tikam Singh and Govind Singh as they were loyal to the Britishers. An organized army of thousands of Gurjars under the command of Rao Devhans Gurjar occupied the 3/4th of Agra and Dholpur region and ended the British rule from there.
Gurjars in Ludiyana, Firozpur, Gujaranwala, Sialkot, Gujarat, Jalandhar, Kangada revolt against the British and tried to end the British rule but when the revolt failed Gurjars properties were impounded by the Britishers and rewarded it to their loyally.
Retaliation
The Indians called it Devil's Wind. The British adopted the old Mughal punishment for mutiny and sentenced rebels were lashed to the mouth of cannons and blown to pieces. It was a crude and brutal war, with both sides resorting to what can only be described as barbarism.
After British took control, whole villages were wiped out for apparent pro-rebel sympathies, Britishers send their army regularly in to the Gurjar villages. In Delhi Gurjar villages Chandrawal, Sarai Kale Khan were burnt and completely blown with cannon and all men, women and children were killed. Village Choda was ruined with cannon and all the villagers were killed on the spot and rest of 14 warriors were hanged at Lal Quila. In Maharauli region (Delhi) the Gurjars more than 12 years of age of Fatehpur village were ordered to shoot.
Hundreds of villages in district Bulandshahar were ruined by the Britishers. Gurjars fought with their full strength but they failed because of the latest weapons of Sikhs, Gaurkha and British companies. Britishers burnt the Gurjar villages and who ever found was either killed or hanged and impounded their properties, rewarded it to those who favored the Britishers.
In Bagpat region, for the loyalty of Dilip Jaat towards the Britishers, he was awarded 7800 Bighas of land, which was confiscated from Achal Singh Gurjar of Bagpat (1800 Bigha) and rest from all other Gurjars (6000 Bigha).
It is not possible to write description of all of the warriors and villages. Britishers attacked the Gurjar villages with their solders in districts Meerut, Mujafarnagar, Mathura, Dholpur, Agra, Muradabad, Bijnour, Karnal, Ludhiyana etc. The book “1857 ke Gurjar Shahid” by Ganpati Singh gives a good description.
When a widespread revolt started in the Frontier (Now in Pakistan) many tribes crossed the Indus and captured the lands of the Gurjars. In Mansehra the Swatis under Syed Jalal Baba captured the fertile lands and forests and pushed the Gurjars to poorer lands on the hilltops where there was no fertility of land. Thus gradually the other tribes got dominance. This is the story of the Gurjars in whole subcontinent; Gurjars are pushed towards infertile lands, most of the Gurjar villages after 1857 are established either at the banks of rivers or on the hills.
Dr. K. P. Shrivastava visitied Britain to gather the documents related to history of UP region and founded some documents which states that after 1857 many Gurjars were send to Maresius, West Indies etc. for life imprisonment.
