Nana Sahib

He was an adopted prince whom the British refused to recognise. That refusal pushed him into the Revolt of 1857.

He was Nana Sahib. He led the siege of Kanpur, and then he vanished from the record. Nobody knows how his life ended.

1Who was Nana Sahib?

He grew up in the household of the exiled Peshwa.

• He was born on 19 May 1824 as Nana Govind Dhondu Pant.
• His father, Narayan Bhat, served at the exiled Peshwa’s court.
• The Marathas lost the Third Anglo-Maratha War in 1818.
• The Company then sent Baji Rao II to live at Bithur.
• Bithur lies near Kanpur, on the Ganga.
• Baji Rao II had no sons of his own.
• In 1827 he adopted Nana Sahib and his younger brother, Bala Saheb.
• His childhood companions included Tatya Tope.
• They also included Azimullah Khan and Manikarnika, the future Rani of Jhansi.
• Tatya Tope was his fencing master.
• Azimullah Khan later became his secretary and dewan.

2Why did the British deny his pension?

The British said an adopted son could not inherit it.

• Baji Rao II surrendered to the British in 1818.
• He got a yearly pension of Rs 8,00,000.
• He also held tax-free lands at Bithur.
• Baji Rao II died in 1851.
• The Company then stopped the pension.
• It said Nana Sahib was only an adopted son.
• Lord Dalhousie was Governor-General from 1848 to 1856.
• His Doctrine of Lapse did not allow adopted heirs to inherit a state.
• The Peshwa’s territory had been annexed in 1818, before the doctrine.
• So the Company used the doctrine’s logic to cut off the pension.
• Nana Sahib appealed again and again.
• He first used a British barrister, John Lang, in India.
• That failed, so he sent Azimullah Khan to London.
• The British government in London refused his case too.

3How did the siege of Kanpur unfold?

He first looked loyal, then he joined the rebels.

• In April 1857 he toured nearby cantonments, saying it was a pilgrimage.
• General Wheeler trusted him and put the Kanpur treasury under his guard.
• On 4 June sepoys at Kanpur rebelled.
• The British took shelter in two barrack buildings near the Allahabad road.
• The rebels first set off for Delhi.
• Nana Sahib took the magazine and the treasury.
• He then declared for the rebellion.
• He caught up with the sepoys at Kalyanpur.
• He persuaded them to return, promising higher pay.
• He said he wished to restore Peshwa rule.
• On 5 June he warned Wheeler to expect an attack.
• The attack began on 6 June 1857.
• By 10 June he led about 12,000 to 15,000 soldiers.
• The garrison held out for about three weeks, short of water and food.
• On 26 June Wheeler accepted a safe passage to Allahabad.

4What happened at Satichaura Ghat and Bibighar?

These were two separate killings, weeks apart.

• On 27 June the garrison marched to Satichaura Ghat.
• About 40 boats waited to carry them to Allahabad.
• Firing began as the boats pulled away.
• Most of the men were killed.
• Women and children were taken prisoner.
• Historians still debate whether this was planned.
• Some say it was confusion.
• Others point to guns and snipers placed along the bank.
• No firm evidence shows that Nana Sahib planned it.
• On 1 July he was proclaimed heir to Baji Rao II, with a 21-gun salute.
• The prisoners were moved to Bibighar, “the House of the Ladies”.
• About 200 women and children were held there.
• Havelock’s force was then advancing from Allahabad.
• Around 15 July the captives were killed at Bibighar.
• Their bodies were thrown into a nearby well.
• The British later used Bibighar to justify harsh reprisals.

5How did the British retake Kanpur, and where did he go?

He lost Kanpur and then slipped out of sight.

• General Henry Havelock reached Kanpur on 16 July 1857.
• Nana Sahib blew up the magazine and retreated to Bithur.
• British troops then looted and burned houses in revenge.
• Havelock later stopped the indiscriminate killing.
• Tatya Tope retook Kanpur briefly in November 1857.
• Sir Colin Campbell drove the rebels out in December 1857.
• The British burned the Bithur palace.
• They offered a reward of Rs 1,00,000 for his capture.
• In June 1858 Tatya Tope, Lakshmibai and Rao Saheb proclaimed him Peshwa at Gwalior.
• He crossed into Nepal around the Battle of Banki, on 30 December 1858.
• His last confirmed letter is dated 13 May 1859.

After 1859 the record goes quiet.

• British records say he died in Nepal, in 1859 or 1860.
• Those accounts conflict with one another.
• Rumours of his capture continued until 1888.
• Papers found in the 1970s suggest he lived as an ascetic in Sihor, Gujarat.
• They say he died there in 1903.
• These papers have not received official recognition.
• One book places him near Sitapur until 1906.
• That claim is not established.

6What are the exam traps?

Two massacres and three leaders are easy to mix up.

• Satichaura Ghat was on 27 June. Bibighar was in mid-July.
• They are two separate events at Kanpur.
• His grievance was a denied pension, not a lost kingdom.
• He was the adopted son of Baji Rao II, not a Peshwa by birth.
• His theatre was Kanpur.
• Rani Lakshmibai’s theatre was Jhansi.
• Tatya Tope served as a field commander alongside Nana Sahib.
• His death was never confirmed.
• The Doctrine of Lapse belonged to Dalhousie, not to Wellesley.
• Read about the Subsidiary Alliance and the Doctrine of Lapse.
• Read about Azimullah Khan.
• Read about Tatya Tope.