Revolt of 1857 and Himachal Pradesh
The Revolt of 1857 or First Indian War for Independence resulted due to the building up of political, social, economic, religious and military grievances against the British. It is also known as “Sepoy Mutiny’ which was first started by Sepoys of Barrackpur (Mangal Pandey) regiment due to the issue of the greased cartridge affair. People of the hill states of Himachal also took active part in this revolt. The regiment of the guards of Kasauli was first in the state who started this revolt. Raja of Bushahr, Shamsher Singh stopped to give Khiraj (a type of tax) to the British and maintained a policy of neutrality during the Revolt of 1857. Pratap Singh and Bir Singh of Kullu state were condemned to death and executed due to provoking the revolt in the state. The fort of Raja Pratap Singh was destroyed by the British and they also seized the state and stopped pension of widow Queen Ranputi.
In Shimla, around 45 revolutionaries along with their leader revolted against 200 British Sepoys. But at last, the British Government suppressed the revolt in Shimla and gave capital punishment to Subedar Bhim Singh. He escaped to Rampur-Bushahr, where he committed suicide after hearing the news of failure of the revolt.
Some of the hill chiefs helped the British to suppress this movement. These were as follows:
- Raja of Keonthal state provided shelter to the British at the mansion of Shimla and Junga. Therefore, he received the title of “Raja’.
- Rajas of Koti and Balsan states helped British.
- The state of Bilaspur helped British in Boileauganj and the Sirmaur state helped them in Bada Bazaar.
- Mian Jai Singh of Bhagat, Raja Bhajji of Dhami and Raja of Jubbal also cooperated with the British.
- Raja Shri Singh of Chamba sent his soldiers under leadership of Mian Avtar Singh to Dalhousie to accompany the British.
Read More: – Himachal Pradesh General Knowledge
