(a)

Kanpur

Tantya Tope

(b)

Madhya Pradesh

Shahmal

(c)

Bihar

Kunwar Singh

(d)

Uttar Pradesh

Gonoo

(A) Rani Lakshmi Bai

(I) Arrah

(B) Nana Sahib

(II) Awadh

(C) Kunwar Singh

(III) Jhansi

(D) Birjis Qadr

(IV) Kanpur

Shah Mal lived in a large village in pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh. He belonged to a clan of Jat cultivators whose kinship ties extended over chaurasee des (eighty-four villages). The lands in the region were irrigated and fertile, with rich dark loam soil. Many of the villagers were prosperous and saw the British land revenue system as oppressive: the revenue demand was high and its collection inflexible. Consequently cultivators were losing land to outsiders, to traders and moneylenders who were coming into the area.

Shah Mal mobilised the headmen and cultivators of chaurasee des, moving at night from village to village, urging people to rebel against the British. As in many other places, the revolt against the British turned into general rebellion against all signs of oppression and injustice. Cultivators left their fields and plundered the houses of moneylenders and traders. Displaced proprietors took possession of the lands they had lost. Shah Mal’s men attacked government buildings, destroyed the bridge over the river, and dug up metalled roads – partly to prevent government forces from coming into the area, and partly because bridges and roads were seen as symbols of British rule. They sent supplies to the sepoys who had mutinied in Delhi and stopped all official communication between British headquarters and Meerut. Locally acknowledged as the Raja, Shah Mal took over the bungalow of an English officer, turned it into a “hall of justice,” settling disputes and dispensing judgements. He also set up an amazingly effective network of intelligence. For a period the people of the area felt that firangi raj was over, and their raj had come.

Shah Mal was killed in battle in July 1857.

(1) Why did Shah Mal raise his voice against the Britishers?

(2) How did Shah Mal support rebels of the Revolt of 1857?

(3) How did Shah Mal show his network of intelligence?

Rebels and The Raj - The Revolt of 1857 and Its Representations

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Causes of the Revolt

10.3 Spread of the Revolt

10.4 Role of Leaders

10.5 British Suppression

10.6 Representations in Colonial Accounts

10.7 Legacy of the Revolt