Yuvraj Pratap Singh of Kullu

Most accounts of 1857 focus on Delhi, Lucknow, and Kanpur. Far up in the Himalayan valley of Kullu, a young royal led his own revolt, and paid for it on the gallows within weeks.

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Timeline

• June 1857: Yuvraj Pratap Singh leads a revolt against British rule in Kullu, in present-day Himachal Pradesh.
• The Negi of the Seraj region supports his uprising.
• He and his companion, Vir Singh, are arrested by the British.
• 3 August 1857: Both men are hanged at Dharamsala.

Must Know

• Yuvraj Pratap Singh was a royal of Kullu state, in present-day Himachal Pradesh.
• In June 1857, he led a revolt against British rule in Kullu.
• The Negi of the Seraj region backed his uprising.
• He was arrested alongside his companion, Vir Singh.
• Both men were hanged at Dharamsala on 3 August 1857.

Good to Know

• His title, “Yuvraj,” marks him as heir to Kullu’s ruling family, not a commoner leading a spontaneous protest.
• His uprising broke out in June 1857, within weeks of the wider revolt’s outbreak at Meerut in May.
• Local commemorations still honour him as a martyr of 1857, including annual tributes by community groups in Kullu.
• Little else about his revolt survives in the historical record. Most detailed 1857 documentation focuses on the plains and major cities, not the Himalayan hill states.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Which local chieftain backed Pratap Singh’s 1857 revolt in Kullu?

The Thakur of Simla

The Negi of the Seraj region

The Rana of Bushahr

The Wazir of Chamba

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Great to Know

• His revolt shows 1857 wasn’t confined to the Gangetic plains. Even a remote Himalayan hill state saw its own royal heir rise against British rule.
• His swift execution, within weeks of the uprising, reflects how quickly the British moved to crush revolts in smaller, less-defended states.
• That his own state’s Negi chieftain backed him shows the revolt drew on existing local power structures, not just outside agitation.
• His thin historical record is itself telling. Many regional 1857 leaders outside the major battlegrounds left little documentation, yet still paid with their lives.