The heroic figures...
Here I would like to to throw the light upon
the heroic deeds, words, thoughts and life of our freedom fighters....
Chandra
Shekhar Azad
Chandra
Shekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 in Bhabra
village, in the present-day Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh. He was then called Chandra Shekar Tiwari His
forefathers were from the Badarka village near Kanpur
(in present-day Unnao District). His
mother, Jagrani Devi, was the third wife of Sitaram Tiwari, whose previous
wives had died young. After the birth of their first son, Sukhdev, in Badarka,
the family moved to Alirajpur State.
There is a monument of Chandra Shekhar Azad in his native village Badarka
There is a monument of Chandra Shekhar Azad in his native village Badarka
His mother wanted her son to be a great Sanskrit scholar and persuaded his father to send him to Kashi Vidyapeeth, Banaras to study. In December 1921, when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Non-Co-operation Movement, Chandra Shekhar, then a 15-year old student, joined.. As a result, he was arrested. On being produced before a magistrate, he gave his name as 'Azad', father's name as 'Swatantra' (independent) and residence as 'Jail'. From that day onward, having announced his name to be Azad (The Liberated) in court, he was known as Chandra Shekhar Azad among the people. Azad died at Alfred Park in Allahabad on 27 February 1931.
Bhagat Singh
Bhagatsingh (28 September 1907 – 23 March
1931) was an Indian socialist and a revolutionary. He is considered to be
one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement.
He is often referred to as "Shaheed Bhagat
Singh". (The word Shaheed means martyr (one meaning of the word is "someone who dies for
a particular cause.").
He was born in a Sikh
family. His family had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities
against the British Raj. When Bhagat Singh was a
teenager, he studied European revolutionary movements. He became attracted to anarchist and Marxist ideologies.
He became involved in numerous
revolutionary activities. He quickly gained prominence in the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) and became one of it's
chief leaders. Eventually, the name of the organization was changed to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). This
happened in the year 1928.
Lala Lajpat Rai was
killed at the hands of the police. Bhagat Singh wanted revenge for this incidence.
He became involved in the murder of the British Police Officer John Saunders. The
police tried to capture him. However, Bhagat Singh was successful in avoiding
arrest.
He made a plan to bomb the Central Legislative
Assembly. He partnered with Batukeshwar Dutt for this
task. He bombarded the assembly with two bombs. They were shouting slogans of revolution and threw pamphlets.
After the bombarding, they
surrendered. He was held on this charge in prison. He underwent a 116 day fast
in jail and so he did not have food for that long. He did this to demand equal
political rights for both British and Indian political prisoners. In response
to this determined protest, he gained nationwide support. He died on 23-
March – 1931
Rani Laxmibai
Lakshmibai, The Rani
Queen of Jhansi 19 November 1835 – 17 June 1858 known as Jhansi Ki Rani,
was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, was one of the
leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and a symbol of resistance to
British rule in India. She has gone down in Indian history as a legendary
figure, as India's "Joan of Arc. she was called by the name Manikarnika.
Affectionately, her family members called her Manu. At a tender age of four,
she lost her mother. As a result, the responsibility of raising her fell upon
her father. While pursuing studies, she also took formal training in martial
arts, which included horse riding, shooting and fencing.
Originally named Manikarnika at birth nicknamed
Manu, she was born on 19 November 1835 at Kashi Varanasi to a Maharashtrian
Karhade Brahmin family from Dwadashi, District Satara. She lost her mother at
the age of four. She was educated at home. Her father Moropant Tambey worked
at the court of Peshwa Baji Rao II at Bithur and then travelled to the court
of Raja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar, the Maharaja of Jhansi, when Manu was
thirteen years old. She was married to Gangadhar Rao, the Raja of Jhansi, at
the age of 14.
During that
period, Lord Dalhousie was the Governor General of British India. The adopted
child was named Damodar Rao. As per the Hindu tradition, he was their legal
heir. However, the British rulers refused to accept him as the legal heir. As
per the Doctrine of Lapse, Lord Dalhousie decided to seize the state of
Jhansi. Rani Lakshmibai went to a British lawyer and consulted him.
Thereafter, she filed an appeal for the hearing of her case in London. But,
her plea was rejected. The British authorities confiscated the state jewels.
Also, an order was passed asking the Rani to leave Jhansi fort and move to
the Rani Mahal in Jhansi. Laxmibai was firm about protecting the state of
Jhansi.
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After her marriage, she was given the name Lakshmi
Bai. Because of her father's influence at court, Rani Lakshmi Bai had more
independence than most women, who were normally restricted to the zenana: she
studied self defense, horsemanship, archery, and even formed her own army out
of her female friends at court.
Rani Lakshmi Bai
gave birth to a son in 1851, however this child died when he was about four
months old. After the death of their son, the Raja and Rani of Jhansi adopted
Damodar Rao. However, it is said that her husband the Raja never recovered
from his son's death, and he died on 21 November 1853 of a broken heart.
Because Damodar
Rao was adopted and not biologically related to the Raja, the East India
Company, under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie, was able to install the
Doctrine of Lapse, rejecting Rao's rightful claim to the throne. Dalhousie
then annexed Jhansi, saying that the throne had become "lapsed" and
thus put Jhansi under his "protection". In March 1854, the Rani was
given a pension of 60,000 rupees and ordered to leave the palace at the
Jhansi fort.
She died
on 18 June, 1858 during the battle for Gwalior with 8th Hussars that took
place in Kotah-Ki-Serai near Phool Bagh area of Gwalior. She donned warrior's
clothes and rode into battle to save Gwalior Fort, about 120 miles west of
Lucknow in what is now the state of Uttar Pradesh. The British captured
Gwalior three days later. In the report of the battle for Gwalior, General
Sir Hugh Rose commented that the rani "remarkable for her beauty,
cleverness and perseverance" had been "the most dangerous of all
the rebel leaders".
However, the lack of a corpse to be convincingly
identified as the Rani convinced Captain Rheese of the so called
"bravest" regiment that she had not actually perished in the battle
for Gwalior, stating publicly that:"[the] Queen of Jhansi is
alive!". It is believed her funeral was arranged on same day near the
spot where she was wounded. One of the her maidservants helped with the
arrangement of quick funeral.
Because of her
bravery, courage, and wisdom, and her progressive views on women's
empowerment in 19th century India, and due to her sacrifices, she became an
icon of Indian independence movement. The Rani was memorialized in bronze
statues at both Jhansi and Gwalior, both of which portray her on horseback.
Her father,
Moropant Tambey, was captured and hanged a few days after the fall of Jhansi.
Her adopted son, Damodar Rao, was given a pension by the British Raj and
cared for, although he never received his inheritance.
Rani Lakshmi Bai
became a national heroine and was seen as the epitome of female bravery in
India. When the Indian National Army created its first female unit, it was
named after her.
Indian poetess
Subhadra Kumari Chauhan wrote a poem in the Veer Ras style about her, which
is still recited by children in schools of contemporary India.
In a prophetic
statement in the 1878 book The History of the Indian Mutiny, Colonel Malleson
said "...her countrymen will always believe that she was driven by
ill-treatment into rebellion; that her cause was a righteous cause; ..... To
them she will always be a heroine.
Tatya Tope
Tatya Tope also known as Ram Chandra Pandurang was
born in 1814 at village Gola in Maharashtra. His father, Pandurang Rao Tope
was an important noble at the court of the Peshwa Baji Rao-II. He shifted his
family with the ill-fated Peshwa to Bithur where his son became the most
intimate friend of the Peshwa's adopted son, Nana Dhundu Pant, known as Nana
Saheb.
In 1851, when Lord Dalhousie deprived Nana Saheb of
his father's pension, Tatya Tope also became a sworn enemy of the British. In
May 1857, when the political storm was gaining momentum, he won over the
Indian troops of the East India Company, stationed at Kanpur, established
Nana Saheb's authority and became the Commander-in-Chief of his revolutionary
forces.
After the reoccupation of Kanpur and separatoni from Nana Saheb, Tatya Tope
shifted his headquarters to Kalpi to join hands with Rani Lakshmi Bai and led
a revolt in Bundelkhand. He was routed at Betwa, Koonch, and Kalpi, but
reached Gwalior and declared Nana Saheb as Peshwa with the support of the
Gwalior contingent. Before he could consolidate his position he was defeated
by General Rose in a memorable battle in which Rani Lakshmi Bai suffered
martyrdom.
After losing Gwalior to the British, he launched a successful guerilla
campaign in the Sagar and Narmada regions and in Khandesh and Rajasthan. The
British forces failed to subdue him for over a year. He was, however,
betrayed into the hands of the British by his trusted friend Man Singh, Chief
of Narwar, while asleep in his camp in the Paron forest. He was captured and
taken to Sipri where he was tried by a military court and executed at the
gallows on April 18, 1859.
Nana saheb
A Maratha, one of the leaders of the First War of
Independence, Nana Saheb was born in 1824 to Narayan Bhatt and Ganga Bai. In
1827 his parents went to the court of the last Peshwa Baji Rao, who adopted
Nana Saheb, thus making him heir-presumptive to the throne.
Nana
Saheb was well educated. He studied Sanskrit and was known for his deep
religious nature. On the death of the last Peshwa, Baji Rao-II, in 1851 the
Company's Government stopped the annual pension and the title. Nana Saheb's
appeal to the Court of Directors was not accepted. This made him hostile
towards the British rulers. When the First War of Independence broke out, he
assumed leadership of the mutineers in Kanpur. After seizing Kanpur, which
had a small British garrison, Nana Saheb proclaimed himself the Peshwa and
called for the total extermination of the British power in India.
Kanpur
was recaptured by the British under General Havelock and the last serious
engagement (16 July, 1857) resulted in a total rout of Nana's forces. Nana
rode away to an unknown destination in Nepal in 1859 and probably perished in
the jungle.
Today We express our tribute to these freedom fighters
on the 67th anniversary of our independence day.
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