Kunwar Singh

Kunwar Singh was nearly 80 years old and in failing health when the Revolt of 1857 reached Bihar. He took up arms anyway.

He fought for almost a year. A British writer later said it was “uncommonly lucky” for the British that he was not forty years younger.

1Who was Kunwar Singh?

He was a ruler of a small estate in Bihar.

• He was born on 13 November 1777 in Jagdishpur, Bihar.
• His father was Raja Sahabzada Singh and his mother was Panchratan Devi.
• He belonged to a branch of the Ujjainiya dynasty of Rajputs.
• A British judge called him a keen huntsman and horse rider.
• The same judge described him as very tall, with a broad face and an aquiline nose.
• Modern India sees him as a symbol of early nationalism.
• His father died in 1826.
• He then became the ruler of Jagdishpur.
• His brothers shared some of the land, and a dispute followed.
• The dispute was settled later.
• He married the daughter of Raja Fateh Narayan Singh of Deo Raj.
• Family litigation and debts hurt his finances.
• The British took over the management of his estate.

2What happened at Arrah?

He took charge of mutinous soldiers.

• He led the revolt of 1857 in Bihar.
• He was nearly eighty and in poor health.
• His brother, Babu Amar Singh, helped him.
• His commander-in-chief was Hare Krishna Singh.
• Some argue that Hare Krishna Singh was the real reason for his early success.
• On 25 July 1857 he took command of the rebel soldiers at Danapur.
• Two days later he occupied Arrah, the district headquarters.
• On 3 August, Major Vincent Eyre relieved Arrah.
• Eyre defeated his force and destroyed Jagdishpur.
• George Trevelyan wrote about the fight at Arrah in The Competition Wallah.

3Why did he cut off his hand?

A bullet wound put him at risk.

• His army had to cross the Ganges.
• Brigadier Douglas’s troops fired at his boat.
• A bullet shattered his left wrist.
• He felt the hand was useless.
• He also feared infection from the wound.
• He drew his sword and cut off the hand near the elbow.
• He offered it to the river Ganges.
• The image became one of the best-known stories of 1857.
• It stood for his refusal to let a wound stop him.
• He kept fighting for months after the injury.

4How did the campaign end?

He kept fighting until days before his death.

• He reached Lucknow in December 1857 and met other rebel leaders.
• In March 1858 he occupied Azamgarh in the North-Western Provinces.
• He repelled the first British attempts to retake it.
• He then had to leave Azamgarh.
• Douglas pursued him as he went back towards Arrah.
• On 23 April 1858 he won a victory near Jagdishpur.
• The British force was led by Captain Le Grande.
• He died in his village on 26 April 1858.
• His brother Amar Singh II took up the struggle.
• Amar Singh II ran a parallel government in Shahabad district.
• In October 1859 he joined other rebel leaders in the Terai plains of Nepal.

5How is he remembered?

Bihar treats him as a hero of early nationalism.

• India issued a stamp in his honour on 23 April 1966.
• Veer Kunwar Singh University at Arrah was set up in 1992.
• The Arrah–Chhapra bridge, the Veer Kunwar Singh Setu, opened in 2017.
• In 2018 his statue was moved to Hardinge Park, now Veer Kunwar Singh Azadi Park.
• Bhojpuri folk songs mention him.
• Jagdish Chandra Mathur wrote the play Vijay Ki Vela about his later life.
• Subhadra Kumari Chauhan mentions him in her poem “Jhansi Ki Rani”.
• In April 2022, Amit Shah announced a new statue at Arrah.
• About 78,000 national flags were waved at that announcement, a world record.
• A Veer Kunwar Singh Museum also keeps his memory alive.
• In the 1970s, young Rajputs in Bihar formed a group called the Kunwar Sena after him.
• An air show was held on his Vijay Divas, 23 April 2025.

6What are the exam traps?

Exams mix up his region and his age.

• His area was Bihar, around Arrah and Jagdishpur.
• Do not place him in Delhi, Jhansi or Kanpur.
• He was nearly 80, the oldest major leader of 1857.
• He died in 1858, not in battle.
• The hand he cut off was his left hand.
• Malleson named three Indian strategists of 1857: Kunwar Singh, Tantia Topi and the Oudh Moulvi.
• Amar Singh II was his brother, not his son.
• Read about the Revolt of 1857.
• Read about Tatya Tope and Rani Lakshmibai.
• Compare him with Mangal Pandey.