The extortionist and oppressive economic and administrative policies of the British East India Company had led them to face a series of military revolts across the country in 1857-58; now dubbed as the First War of Independence. Perhaps the most challenging and difficult part of the revolt for the Britishers was the military expeditions led by the zamindars of Awadh and Bhojpur region; and the man single-handedly responsible for giving nightmares to the British regime in the region was Babu Kunwar Singh, the old zamindar of Ara-Jagdishpur, a Parmar Rajput estate.

On his accession to the throne of Jagdishpur estate; which had registered several rebellions against Shirqis, Afghans, Mughals, all throughout its history; Kunwar Singh brought in a new era of peace and prosperity. Bazars were built, wells and tanks dug up; and the most unique of all his policies was his planned afforestation. Kunwar Singh developed and protected jungles on an extensive scale and new plants were reared up, which later in days of his expeditions, acted as a stealth refuge to the rebels and an insurmountable barrier to the British. ^[1]

The Britishers had already seen the rebellious nature of Kunwar Singh in 1845-46 when he, along with various other zamindars of Bihar, plotted to overthrow the regime. Kunwar Singh even went over to the Hindu Raja of Nepal to tell him of “the acts of suppression committed by the Europeans”, to which the Raja had promised to “come down and erase the names and marks of the Europeans from Hindoostan.”

Unfortunately for the natives, the plot was discovered by the Britishers; but they didn’t take any action against Kunwar Singh owing to his incredible popularity among his people. Letter exchanges between Mr Elphistone Jackson, Magistrate of Shahabad, and the government (dated January 22 & 28, 1858) reveal that the British feared an uprising of the masses if they proceeded to arrest Babu Kunwar.

With the news of the Meerut uprising, the earlier brewing anger against the Britishers burst out in open, and the 7th, 8th and 40th Bengal Native Infantry at Dinapur revolted on the 25^th of July. The revolting forces later on proceeded to Arah and were joined by Kunwar Singh on the 26^th of July. Kunwar had kept his intentions of revolt secret, so much so that the Commissioner of the Patna division, who believed that none could be trusted but the Christians, wrote that he was convinced of Kunwar Singh’s good faith. Even when he received the news of Kunwar’s uprising, he held his own government responsible for it.

Kunwar Singh’s joining of the revolt might have been a shock to the Englishmen but it wasn’t a hasty move. Kunwar Singh was taking calculated steps as it was his instigation which resulted in the jail uprisings at Arah, Patna, Gaya, Banaras earlier and now the Dinapur revolt. As the Magistrate of Arah, HC Wake, realised later when he said, in a January 28, 1858 letter, that it was Kunwar Singh’s mind which kept the Rajputs quiet until the right time and kept the lower castes in good behaviour to fool the Britishers.

Kunwar Singh employed four important methods to defeat the British at the battlefield and beyond – Suddenness, Feigned retreat, Parting of the forces and Rumour mongering. Eventually, all four of these thoughtful tricks proved to be key in outmanoeuvring the British army throughout the year.

When Kunwar Singh freed Arah on July 27, 1857 with the Dinapur revolting regiments, secrecy was the prime element that aided him in catching the Britishers off the guard. The suddenness of his attack stunned the British. Although Captain Dunbar did hasten a force of 500 to stop Kunwar Singh on July 30, it was a little too late. This defeat, with 185 Englishmen and 25 Sikhs dead, was the most demoralising one for the British, having no parallel in the mutiny’s history. Kunwar Singh’s critic, S.P. Kumar, has termed this battle of Arah as a “Plassey like Indian victory”.^[2]

The defeat of Dunbar led to panic among the Britishers. William Tayler, notorious for his July hangings of Patna, believed this rise of Kunwar Singh to be a first rate crisis for the British Empire in India. Tayler, ‘the lion of Patna’, was so afraid of Kunwar Singh that he ordered all Europeans to congregate at Patna and to send their women to Calcutta.

Kunwar Singh, however, was short on ammunition and had no cannons. If it were not for his lightening speed and the surprise factor, he would have lost the battle. As seen later, against Major Vincent Eyre in the successive battles of Bibigunj on the 3^rd of August, Arah on the 5^th and Jagdishpur on the 12^th, Kunwar Singh had to retreat to the jungles. Major Eyre wreaked havoc on Jagdishpur, destroying temples and palaces in revenge and confiscating Kunwar Singh’s property.

After months of wandering, Kunwar Singh turned to Lucknow where the Shah of Awadh presented him with a robe of honour, 28 thousand rupees and a firman for the Azamgarh district. Kunwar Singh, aided by the firman and a new force at Faizabad, started anew.

Kunwar Singh not only improved his supplies and logistics, but also brought a new technique to his arsenal – feigned retreat. On March 22, 1858; when Captain Milman attacked his forces near Atrauli, Kunwar Singh initially staged a retreat. Milman thought he had scored an easy victory and his forces lay relaxed. Suddenly Kunwar Singh’s force dashed into the unaware Britishers, eventually crushing them. Kunwar Singh’s profound knowledge of the dense forest equipped with suddenness of his guerrilla attack neutralised Milman’s cannons. His forces were routed and his Indian servants deserted him. Milman later would team up with Captain Dames only to fail again. The town of Azamgarh now lay tight in Kunwar Singh’s hands.

Lord Canning, shocked with Kunwar’s unexpected comeback, then ordered Lord Mark Kerr to immediately press upon the Rajputs. Lord Kerr faced Kunwar Singh on April 8, 1858 but had to fall back with his guns to the Azamgarh fort.

Kunwar Singh was expertly employing both guerrilla tactics and magnanimous pitched attacks whenever it suited him. He would retreat, attack, hide and part whenever the situation demanded.

When Sir Lugard was sent to rescue Lord Kerr, Kunwar Singh parted his force into two – one under himself, which headed towards Ghazipur, and another under Nishan Singh at the Tanoo river bridge, which stopped Sir Lugard. Later both the forces joined together. Kunwar Singh employed the same tactic when Brigadier Douglas attacked him – parted his force into three detachments. The first detachment engaged Douglas despite being heavily outnumbered. Douglas’ forced pressed it for four miles back and then, getting tired, rested for a while – and Kunwar Singh utilised this opportunity to attack with the other two detachments. Douglas was defeated and forced to retreat. Kunwar Singh continued on his way and crossed the river Ghaghra to rest at Manohar village.

Here he was again attacked by Douglas and had to lose some elephants and munitions. Staring at the difficulty, Kunwar Singh once again parted his force into several small units which took different routes eventually to meet at a common point. This tactic turned the tide and Douglas was left with no way to pursue all the parties.

Another smart tool which Kunwar Singh employed to win over the mighty British was rumour mongering. While crossing the Ganga, Kunwar Singh discreetly circulated a rumour that he would be crossing at Ballia. The British establishment immediately stationed their forces at Ballia; but to their utter embarrassment, Kunwar Singh was crossing at Shivpur Ghat, eight miles away. This completely stunned the British machinery. Throughout his way, Kunwar Singh tricked and fooled the Britishers to make way for his victory. His march was such that “even his opponents speak of his masterly retreat across the Ganges”^[3]. He showcased such brilliant adaptation and military manoeuvring as is rarely seen in Indian history.

The War of 1857 was generally described as a mere military revolt but it was not so in the Ganga doab. As a contemporary British military officer narrates, the revolt quickly became a national insurrection. “The Rajpoot villages in Bihar, those in the districts of Benares, Azimgarh, Goruckpore, in the entire Doab, comprising the division of Allahabad, Cawnpore, Meerut and Agra, in the provinces of Rohilkhand and Oudh, shook off our rule and declared war against us”^[4]. When fighters were being tried at Muzaffarpur in September 1858, one of them proclaimed that “the supremacy of the English and the Company was at an end, that it was now Koonwar Singh’s reign.”

Kunwar Singh finally managed to reach his destination; and in the consequent battle of Jagdishpur, April 23, 1858; Babu Kunwar Singh won back his homeland from the Britishers within his lifetime. Three days later the old Rajput, who had managed to defeat the British in all corners with his wit and grit, took his last breath; and thus ended the epic saga of this genius military mind.

Our history books have not done justice to the hero that Veer Babu Kunwar Singh was; let us vow not to let his legendary military expertise and success go unmentioned and unremembered.

 

References:

1. Biography of Kunwar Singh and Amar Singh by K.K. Datta; Pg 21.
2. Kunwar Singh’s Failure in 1857
3. Two Months in Arah in 1857, Pg 58
4. The Mutiny of the Bengal Army Pg 53