Pariksha SaathiLesson 3 of 10 · Madhya Pradesh General Knowledge
Modern Madhya Pradesh: British Rule, the Revolt of 1857 and the Freedom Struggle
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British control
The Third Anglo-Maratha War brought central India under the British. At the battle of Mahidpur (Ujjain district) on 21 December 1817 the Holkar army was defeated, and by the Treaty of Mandsaur in 1818 Indore accepted British supremacy and gave up territory. Lands taken from the Marathas were organised as the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories, which were joined with Nagpur to form the Central Provinces in 1861 with Nagpur as capital; Berar was added to its administration in 1903, and the province was named Central Provinces and Berar in 1936. The princely states, including Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, Rewa, Dhar, Dewas, Datia, Orchha and Panna, were supervised through the Central India Agency, set up in 1854, whose Agent to the Governor-General sat at Indore.
1857 in Madhya Pradesh
The revolt reached the region on 3 June 1857, when the troops at Neemuch rose. On 1 July 1857 soldiers led by Saadat Khan attacked the British Residency at Indore, and the troops at Mhow followed. At Jabalpur the Gond king Shankar Shah and his son Raghunath Shah, who had written poems calling for revolt, were blown from cannon on 18 September 1857. Rani Avantibai Lodhi of Ramgarh in the Mandla region raised an army against the British and, when surrounded, took her own life on 20 March 1858; the Bargi dam is named Rani Avantibai Lodhi Sagar after her. Raja Bakhtawar Singh of Amjhera in Dhar was hanged at Indore in 1858.
The Jhansi and Gwalior connection
Rani Lakshmibai's Jhansi is now in Uttar Pradesh, but her last battles were fought in Madhya Pradesh. After the fall of Jhansi and Kalpi she joined Tatya Tope and Rao Saheb, and with the help of the Gwalior army they took Gwalior fort on 1 June 1858, while Jayajirao Scindia fled to Agra. She died fighting the force of Hugh Rose near Gwalior on 18 June 1858, and her samadhi is at Gwalior. Tatya Tope then led a long guerrilla campaign across central India until he was betrayed by Man Singh of Narwar, captured in the Paron forest and hanged at Shivpuri on 18 April 1859.
Tribal resistance
The Bhils and other tribes of the Nimar and Satpura forests resisted British rule for decades. Bhima Nayak, a Bhil leader of the Barwani region, fought the British during and after 1857 and was sent to the Andaman Islands. Tantya Bhil of Nimar, called the Indian Robin Hood, raided government treasuries and rich moneylenders and shared the loot with the poor; he was caught through treachery and hanged at Jabalpur in 1889, and his memorial stands at Patalpani near Mhow.
Satyagrahas in the national movement
The Jhanda (Flag) Satyagraha began at Jabalpur in 1923, when the authorities objected to the national flag being hoisted on the Town Hall; Pandit Sundarlal led it, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was among those arrested, and the movement spread to Nagpur. During the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, tribal people of the Satpura region broke the forest laws in the Jungle Satyagraha: Ganjan Singh Korku led it at Ghoda Dongri in Betul, and police firing at Turiya in Seoni district killed several satyagrahis. On 14 January 1931 British troops fired on a peaceful gathering at Charan Paduka on the Urmil river in Chhatarpur district, an event called the Jallianwala Bagh of Madhya Pradesh. In 1939 the 52nd session of the Indian National Congress was held at Tripuri near Jabalpur, where Subhas Chandra Bose, re-elected president after defeating Gandhi's candidate Pattabhi Sitaramayya, faced the crisis that led to his resignation.
Revolutionaries and writers
Chandrashekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 at Bhabra, a village of the present Alirajpur district now named Chandrashekhar Azad Nagar. A leader of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, he fell fighting the police at Alfred Park, Allahabad, on 27 February 1931. Makhanlal Chaturvedi, known as Ek Bharatiya Atma, edited the nationalist weekly Karmaveer and wrote Pushp ki Abhilasha. Pandit Ravishankar Shukla, Seth Govind Das, Dwarka Prasad Mishra and Pandit Sundarlal led the Congress in Mahakoshal, and Subhadra Kumari Chauhan of Jabalpur wrote the famous poem Jhansi ki Rani.
Princely Bhopal and its merger
Bhopal, founded by Dost Mohammad Khan, was ruled by four Begums from 1819 to 1926: Qudsia Begum, Sikandar Begum, Shah Jahan Begum and Sultan Jahan Begum, the last of whom became the first Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in 1920. Her son Nawab Hamidullah Khan resisted merging his state into the Indian Union after 1947, but the Vilinikaran (merger) Andolan forced the issue, and Bhopal became part of India on 1 June 1949, administered by the Centre through a Chief Commissioner; under the Constitution it became a Part C state in 1950.
Key facts
- Battle of Mahidpur (Ujjain district), 21 December 1817: the Holkar army was defeated; the Treaty of Mandsaur followed in 1818.
- Central Provinces formed in 1861 with Nagpur as capital; Berar added in 1903; renamed Central Provinces and Berar in 1936; Central India Agency (1854) sat at Indore.
- 1857 in MP began at Neemuch on 3 June 1857; Saadat Khan attacked the Indore Residency on 1 July 1857.
- Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah, the Gond king and his son, were blown from cannon at Jabalpur on 18 September 1857.
- Rani Avantibai Lodhi of Ramgarh (Mandla region) gave her life on 20 March 1858; the Bargi dam is named after her.
- Rani Lakshmibai died near Gwalior on 18 June 1858; Tatya Tope, betrayed by Man Singh of Narwar, was hanged at Shivpuri on 18 April 1859.
- Tantya Bhil, the Indian Robin Hood of Nimar, was hanged at Jabalpur in 1889; his memorial is at Patalpani near Mhow.
- Jhanda Satyagraha: Jabalpur, 1923, led by Pandit Sundarlal. Jungle Satyagraha, 1930: Ghoda Dongri (Betul) under Ganjan Singh Korku, firing at Turiya (Seoni).
- Charan Paduka (Chhatarpur), 14 January 1931: the Jallianwala Bagh of MP. Tripuri session of the Congress (near Jabalpur), 1939: Subhas Chandra Bose president.
- Chandrashekhar Azad was born on 23 July 1906 at Bhabra (Alirajpur); Bhopal merged with India on 1 June 1949.
Quick revision
Mahidpur 21 Dec 1817, Treaty of Mandsaur 1818; Central Provinces 1861 (Nagpur), Berar added 1903, Central India Agency at Indore; 1857 began at Neemuch 3 June, Indore Residency attacked 1 July; Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah executed 18 Sept 1857; Avantibai died 20 March 1858; Lakshmibai fell at Gwalior 18 June 1858; Tatya Tope hanged at Shivpuri 18 April 1859; Tantya Bhil hanged 1889; Jhanda Satyagraha Jabalpur 1923; Jungle Satyagraha 1930; Charan Paduka 1931; Tripuri 1939; Azad born Bhabra; Bhopal merged 1 June 1949.