GS Paper 1
Syllabus: The Freedom Struggle
Source: Indian Express, Indian Express
Direction: No need to remember or overthink, just go through it once.
Context: In the Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed “Nari shakti”, and paid tribute to various women leaders.
Women Heroes
Rani Laxmibai |
· The queen of the princely state of Jhansi.
· Fought in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857 · Refused to cede her territory to Britishers because of the Doctrine of Lapse
|
Durga Bhabhi
|
Durgawati Devi, who was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, she helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders. |
Rani Gaidinliu
|
Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual and political leader who fought the British.
She joined the Heraka religious movement which later became a movement to drive out the British. Gaidinliu was finally arrested in 1932 when she was just 16 and later sentenced to life. She was released in 1947.
|
Rani Chennamma |
The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed rebellion against British rule (1824). Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt but was captured and imprisoned during the second assault by the East India Company. |
Begum Hazrat Mahal |
After her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah was exiled after the 1857 revolt, Begum Hazrat Mahal, along with her supporters, took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow. |
Velu Nachiyar (queen of Shivaganga estate, TN) |
She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s |
Revolutionaries
Mangal Pandey |
Mangal Pandey is believed to have sparked off the mutiny of Indian soldiers at Meerut that eventually became the great revolt of 1857. |
Tantya Tope |
Tantya Tope was a trusted lieutenant of Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II of the Maratha empire. Nana Sahib lost his ancestral rights under the ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ that disallowed adopted heirs of Indian rulers from ascending to the throne. |
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru |
Bhagat Singh, who was inspired by communist thought, anti-colonialism, and anti-communalism, was involved in the symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly. He was hanged by the British at the age of 23. Along with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were also hanged to death. |
Chandrashekhar Azad |
He gave himself the name ‘Azad’ and vowed never to be held captive; when cornered by police in his final moments, he chose to shoot himself. |
Ashfaqulla Khan |
Khan helped form the HSRA and was part of the Kakori incident. April 1927, Bismil, Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, and Roshan Singh were sentenced to death. |
Ramprasad Bismil |
Bismil was associated with the Arya Samaj from an early age. He started writing powerful patriotic poems in Urdu and Hindi under the pen names ‘Bismil’, ‘Ram’, and ‘Agyat’. He was executed at the age of 30. |
Mains Link:
Q. Explain how the upraising of 1857 constitutes an important watershed in the evolution of British policies towards colonial India. (UPSC 2016)
