Re: Saheb Kannada Movie Download Utorrent
Alesha Canant
Nana was born on 18 May 1824 as Nana Govind Dhondu Pant, to Narayan Bhat and Ganga Bai. After the Maratha defeat in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the East India Company had exiled Peshwa Baji Rao II to Bithur (near Kanpur), but the Company allowed him to maintain a large establishment paid for in part out of a British pension. Nana's father, a well-educated Deccani Brahmin, had travelled with his family from the Western Ghats to become a court official of the former Peshwa at Bithoor. He had married the sister of one of the Peshwa's wives, who bore him two sons.
Lacking sons of his own, Baji Rao adopted Nana Saheb and his younger brother Bala Saheb in 1827. Nana Saheb's childhood associates included Tatya Tope, Azimullah Khan and Manikarnika Tambe. Tatya Tope, Nana Saheb's fencing master, was the son of Pandurang Rao Tope, an important noble at the Peshwa's court, who had followed his sovereign into exile. Azimullah Khan later became Nana Saheb's secretary and dewan.
At that time, the British East India Company had absolute, imperial administrative jurisdiction over many regions throughout the subcontinent. The doctrine of lapse was an annexation policy devised by Lord Dalhousie, the British Governor-General of India between 1848 and 1856. According to the doctrine, any princely state or territory under the paramountcy of the imperial Company, as a vassal state under the British subsidiary system, would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either "manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir".[1] The doctrine supplanted the long-established legal right of an Indian sovereign without an heir to choose a successor. In addition, the British were to decide the competency of potential rulers. The policy was widely resented by Indians as illegitimate. The Peshwa's domains had been annexed in 1818 before the institution of the doctrine, but upon the death of Baji Rao II the Company used the doctrine to deny the previously paid pension to Nana Saheb, given that he was an adopted son.
At the start of mutiny, Nana Saheb professed loyalty to company officials in Kanpur and even provided volunteers to protect Europeans in the city.[2] It was planned that Nana Saheb would assemble a force of 1,500 soldiers to fight the British, in case the rebellion spread to Kanpur.[3]
On 6 June 1857, at the time of the rebellion by forces of the East India Company at Kanpur, the British contingent had taken refuge at an entrenchment in the northern part of the town. Amid the prevailing chaos in Kanpur, Nana and his forces entered the British magazine situated in the northern part of the town. The soldiers of the 53rd Native Infantry, who were guarding the magazine, thought that Nana had come to guard the magazine on behalf of the Company. However, once he entered the magazine, Nana Saheb announced that he was a participant in the rebellion against the Company, and intended to be a vassal of Bahadur Shah II.[4]
After taking possession of the Company treasury, Nana advanced up the Grand Trunk Road stating that he wanted to restore the Maratha confederacy under the Peshwa tradition, and decided to capture Kanpur. On his way, Nana met the rebel Company soldiers at Kalyanpur. The soldiers were on their way to Delhi, to meet Bahadur Shah II. Nana wanted them to go back to Kanpur and help him defeat the British. The soldiers were reluctant at first, but decided to join Nana when he promised to double their pay and reward them with gold, if they were to destroy the British entrenchment. His eldest son Baan Rao was killed in the resulting battle
On 5 June 1857, Nana Saheb sent a letter to General Hugh Wheeler informing him to expect an attack next morning at 10 am. On 6 June, his forces (including the rebel soldiers) attacked the Company entrenchment at 10:30 am. The Company forces were not adequately prepared for the attack but managed to defend themselves as the attacking forces were reluctant to enter the entrenchment. The Indian forces had been led to believe that the entrenchment had gunpowder-filled trenches that would explode if they got closer.[4] The Company side held out in their makeshift fort for three weeks with little water and food supplies, and lost many lives due to sunstroke and lack of water.
As the news of advances over the British garrison spread, more rebel sepoys joined Nana Saheb. By 10 June, he was believed to be leading around twelve thousand to fifteen thousand Indian soldiers.[5] During the first week of the siege, Nana Saheb's forces encircled the attachment, created loopholes and established firing positions from the surrounding buildings. The defending Captain John Moore retaliated and launched night-time sorties. Nana Saheb then withdrew his headquarters to Savada House (or Savada Kothi), which was situated around two miles away. In response to Moore's sorties, Nana Saheb decided to attempt a direct assault on the British entrenchment, but the rebel soldiers displayed a lack of enthusiasm.[4]
The sniper fire and the bombardment continued until 23 June 1857 One of the driving forces of the rebellion by sepoys, was a prophecy that predicted the downfall of East India Company rule exactly one hundred years after the Battle of Plassey (23 June 1757).[6] This prompted the rebel soldiers under Nana Saheb to launch a major attack on the entrenchment on 23 June 1857. However, they were unable to gain an entry into the entrenchment by the end of the day.[citation needed]
On the morning of 27 June, Wheeler's column, consisting primarily of unarmed civilians and including more than 300 women and children, emerged from the entrenchment. Nana sent a number of carts, dolis and elephants to enable the women, the children and the sick to proceed to the river banks. The Company officers and military men were allowed to take their arms and ammunition with them, and were escorted by nearly the whole of the rebel army.[5] They reached the Satichaura Ghat by 8 am. At this ghat, Nana Saheb had arranged around 40 boats, belonging to a boatman called Hardev Mallah, for their departure to Allahabad.[7]However, Nana Saheb's rebels had deliberately placed the boats as high in the mud as possible to delay the boarding, and the Europeans found it difficult to drift the boats away.[8] Wheeler and his party were the first aboard and the first to manage to set their boat adrift. At this point three shots were fired from the direction of Nana Saheb's camp, which was the signal to initiate the attack. The Indian boatmen jumped overboard and started swimming toward the banks.[citation needed] However, according to Mowbray Thompson, one of the few survivors of the massacre, before the boatmen jumped overboard they had "contrived to secrete burning charcoal in the thatch of most of the boats", which set some of the boats ablaze.[9] Though controversy surrounds what exactly happened next at the Satichaura Ghat, the departing Europeans were attacked by the rebel sepoys, and most of were either killed or captured.[5]
Some of the Company officers later claimed that Nana had placed the boats as high in the mud as possible, on purpose to cause delay. They also claimed that Nana had previously arranged for the rebels to fire upon and kill all the Europeans.[citation needed] Although the East India Company later accused Nana of betrayal and murder of innocent people, no definitive evidence has ever been found to prove that Nana had pre-planned or ordered the massacre.[10] Some historians believe that the Satichaura Ghat massacre was the result of confusion, and not of any plan implemented by Nana and his associates.[11] Nevertheless, the fact that sniper fire from cannons pre-positioned along the riverbank was reported on the scene might suggest pre-planning.
Whatever the case, amid the prevailing confusion at the Satichaura Ghat, Nana's general Tatya Tope allegedly ordered the 2nd Bengal Cavalry unit and some artillery units to open fire on the Europeans.[4] The rebel cavalry sowars moved into the water to kill the remaining Company soldiers with swords and pistols. The surviving men were killed, while women and children were captured, as Nana did not approve of their killing.[12] Around 120 women and children were taken prisoner and escorted to Savada House, Nana Saheb's headquarters during the siege.
The rebel soldiers also pursued Wheeler's boat, which was slowly drifting to safer waters. After some firing, the European men on the boat decided to fly the white flag. They were escorted off the boat and taken back to Savada house. The surviving men were seated on the ground, as Nana's soldiers got ready to kill them. The women insisted that they would die with their husbands, but were pulled away. Nana granted the British chaplain Moncrieff's request to read prayers before they were killed.[13] The British were initially wounded with the guns, and then killed with the swords.[5] The women and children were taken to Savada House to be reunited with their remaining colleagues.
The surviving women and children, around 120 in number, were moved from the Savada House to Bibighar ("the House of the Ladies"), a villa-type house in Kanpur. They were later joined by some other women and children, the survivors from Wheeler's boat. Another group of women and children from Fatehgarh, and some other captive women were also confined in Bibighar. In total, there were around 200 women and children there.
Nana Saheb deputed a tawaif (nautch girl) called Hussaini Khanum (also known as Hussaini Begum) to care for these survivors. He decided to use these prisoners in bargaining with the East India Company. The Company forces consisting of around 1,000 British, 150 Sikh soldiers and 30 irregular cavalry had set out from Allahabad, under the command of General Henry Havelock, to retake Cawnpore and Lucknow. Havelock's forces were later joined by the forces under the command of Major Renaud and James Neil. Nana demanded that the East India Company forces under Havelock and Neil retreat to Allahabad. However, the Company forces advanced relentlessly towards Cawnpore. Nana sent an army to check their advance, and the two armies met at Futtehpore on 12 July, where General Havelock's forces emerged victorious and captured the town.
b1e95dc632