Rao Tula Ram

Rao Tula Ram was a chieftain of Rewari, in today’s Haryana. In 1857 he drove out the local British officer and took the town.

He armed 5,000 men and helped Delhi. When the revolt failed, he left India to seek foreign help.

1Who was Rao Tula Ram?

He was a young local chief when the revolt began.

• He was born on 9 December 1825.
• His birthplace was Rampura, a suburb of Rewari.
• He came from an Ahir family.
• His parents were Puran Singh and Gyan Kaur.
• His father died while he was young.
• He is also written as Rao Tularam Singh.
• He is called a king or chieftain of Rewari.
• Rewari today lies in Haryana, near the Rajasthan border.
• Narnaul, where he later fought, is also in Haryana.
• Haryana treats him as a state hero.
• In 1857 he was 31 years old.
• He belongs to the group of regional leaders of 1857.
• Others in that group include Kunwar Singh and Rani Lakshmibai.

2How did he take Rewari?

A small group struck, and then the force grew.

• On 17 May 1857 he deposed the local tehsildar.
• His cousin, Rao Gopal Dev, joined him.
• They had only four to five hundred followers.
• They occupied Rewari.
• He then raised a force of about 5,000 soldiers.
• He set up a workshop to make guns and ammunition.
• So his revolt was more than a local riot.
• It had the means to keep fighting for months.
• The date is only a week after the revolt began at Meerut.
• That quick start shows how fast news spread in northern India.

3How did he help Delhi?

He sent money and grain to the rebel capital.

• Rebel forces held Delhi under Emperor Bahadur Shah.
• Rao Tula Ram helped the emperor and those forces.
• He sent Rs 45,000 through General Bakht Khan.
• This was ten days before Delhi fell.
• He also sent about 2,000 sacks of wheat.
• He sent other needed supplies in large amounts.
• His gift reached Delhi only days before the British retook it.
• Grain and money are what feed an army.
• His help links two theatres of 1857, Rewari and Delhi.
• Read about Bakht Khan.

4What happened at Nasibpur?

He won the first charge, then lost the battle.

• The battle was on 16 November 1857.
• It was fought at Nasibpur, on the outskirts of Narnaul.
• His cousin Rao Kishan Singh led his forces.
• The first charge was irresistible.
• For a short time the British line broke.
• Rao Kishan Singh was his cousin.
• His other cousin, Rao Gopal Dev, had joined the first strike at Rewari.
• British forces scattered before it.
• Several British officers were killed or wounded.
• The British then hit back and won.
• Rao Tula Ram moved into Rajasthan.
• He joined Tantia Tope’s force for about a year.
• That force was beaten at the Battle of Sikar.
• Read about Tatya Tope.

5Why did he go abroad?

He wanted allies against the British.

• After Sikar he left India.
• He sought help from the Shah of Iran.
• He also approached Dost Mohammad Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan.
• He wrote to Alexander II, the Emperor of Russia.
• Iran had fought the British in the Anglo-Persian War of 1856 to 1857.
• Afghanistan had fought them in the First Anglo-Afghan War of 1838 to 1842.
• The Russian emperor was Alexander II.
• His aim was to find allies against the British empire.
• The seizure came four years before his death.
• His wives kept their own proprietary rights.
• No foreign help for him is recorded in these sources.
• The British confiscated his estates in 1859.
• His two wives kept their own property rights.
• He died in Kabul on 23 September 1863.
• He was 38.
• Sources say an infection spread through his body.
• In 1877 his title was restored to his son, Rao Yudhister Singh.
• The son was made head of the Ahirwal area.

6What are the exam traps?

Mixing up the theatres of 1857 is the usual trap.

• His base was Rewari, in Haryana.
• Kunwar Singh fought in Bihar.
• Rani Lakshmibai fought at Jhansi.
• His link to Delhi ran through Bakht Khan.
• He fought at Nasibpur, not at Kanpur or Jhansi.
• His path after defeat was rare.
• Most leaders were captured or killed in India.
• He went abroad seeking Iran, Afghanistan and Russia.
• He is remembered at an annual Shahidi mela at Rampura in September.
• India issued a stamp for him on 23 September 2001.
• Read about the Revolt of 1857.
• Do not confuse him with Hemu, another famous man from Rewari.
• Hemu rose to be Wazir under Adil Shah Suri, centuries earlier.
• A good book on him is K. C. Yadav’s Rao Tula Ram, from the National Book Trust.
• Read about Kunwar Singh.