The history of the histories of 1857 is as interesting subject as the history of the events of 1857. It is very important to note how the events of 1857 were received and interpreted in different stages of our national movement. The events of 1857 did not find favourable mention in the writings of the intelligentsia of Bihar till 1920s. There are evidences of support for Kunwar Singh and others in Bhojpuri folk songs but in Hindi literature Kunwar Singh remained almost absent till 1922 when Iswari Prasad Sharma wrote favourably for him in his book. Clearly, this evidence supports my contention that modern Hindi literature discovered 1857 as a national movement in 1920s.[1] Like Lakshmi Bai Kunwar Singh became acceptable as a national icon for writers in 1920s. Interestingly one would find echo of Lakshmi Bai saga, so powerfully brought in Hindi literature by 22 years old young poetess from Jhanshi Subhadra Kumai Chauhan, in the literary representations of Kunwar Singh saga also. In this paper, I seek to prepare an account of various representations of Kunwar Singh in literature and historical accounts and then pose certain problematic. I have tried to argue that the nationalist intelligentsia had used the story of 1857 to advance their national ideological campaign in a particular stage of their struggle against the colonial rule. In this process they created various icons, and tried to popularize these icons among the common people. In this context, one can find the use of different heroes of different areas to use popular sympathy of the people of that region. In the changed context the addition of an icon was done as per convenience. Interestingly, the literature ignored 1857 rebels till the strengthening of Nationalism while the people of different regions revered, at least the local heroes of 1857. In the 1920s, the rebels became nationalist icons in literature thereby the popular histories made inroads into classical literature and history. Today, there is a possibility that the low caste heroes, ignored so far, will carve out more space with the strengthening of Dalitism. A scholar who had studied English literary responses to 1857 revolt had said that “the myth of Mutiny was ripe for exploitation and the British (novelists) took up the business of elevating and feeding British vanity”.[2] It has been suggested that in the twenties of twentieth century Nationalism of the intelligentsia had tried to arouse Indians against the British by evoking the memory of 1857 rebels.[3] In the 1990s and in this decade Dalit activists are selectively using the heroes of 1857 to build collective memory in the psyche of people whom they wish to mobilize politically. Badri Narayan sums up this by saying, “ The stories are narrated in such a manner that the Dalits imagine the story of the making of the nation in which they claim to have played a significant role.”[4]
Kunwar Singh had always been a hero for the people of Shahabad district where he had led an unsuccessful but heroic struggle against the British for more than a year. After his natural death his illustrious brother carried on the struggle and troubled the British somewhat like Tantia Tope. His military strategy and mobilisational efforts had been appreciated even by Engels.[5] Kunwar Singh’s novelty lies not only in military campaigns which had some successes also, but also in bringing people into the movement by systematic campaigns, military marches to the North and Central India, various efforts to keep his people happy with his rule and overall keeping the popular sentiments with his campaign. He was an old man when he decided to take the risk of going against the British and like Lakshmi Bai once decided he was all for the revolt with all his power. He was not a very powerful Raja as is generally believed. He was technically a Maharaj Kumar who worked under the Raja of Dumraon. With little resources but with great popularity he struggled against the British. His popularity can be gauged by Rajani Kanta Gupta’s observation made in 1880s when it was virtually impossible to praise rebel leaders. He wrote that whatever people say about the ‘Kanwar Singh’ ( Kunwar Singh) he was worshipped by the people of Bihar even after decades for his good deeds.[6] Nagendra Nath Gupta, who lived in the area Kunwar Singh came from, wrote a novel on Amar Singh in 1897 in Bengali which was translated by a famous Hindi writer into Hindi and later published by the most important Hindi press of India ,Khadagvilas Press in 1907. This book gives us some interesting insights into the time and its memory. It confirms that for Nagendra Nath Gupta had tried to project Kunwar Singh and his brother as patriotic and popular figures who had been betrayed by lowly born traitors.
In fact, it would not be wrong to say that for Hindi writers who mostly came from upper caste backgrounds the revolt of 1857 was a wrong moment in which many ill advised people unreasonably revolted and brought misery for the countrymen.[7] Brajnanadan Sahay, leading Hindi writer of Bihar, wrote a ‘ullala’ on 20 June 1997 saying that “Hind anand apar hai” ( the country is full of happiness). Mahant Baba Sumer Singh compared Queen Victoria with satis ( revered women) like Draupadi, Kunti, Anusuyya and others. Kamalanand Singh ‘Saroj’ wrote ‘Shri Edward Battisi’ in 1902. These kind of eulogistic poems were written with the sincere belief that the British rule was good for India’s progress. Bihar Bandhu, leading newspaper of Bihar summed up this attitude well when it wrote that the British took the responsibility of ruling India on sympathetic grounds as this country was in extremely bad shape.[8] It is important here to note that not all were so insensitive to the heroes of 1857. We find evidences of poems composed in Bhojpuri which saw the heroes like Kunwar Singh very differently from the Hindi intelligentsia. In this context, Tofa Rai’s ‘Kunwar Pachasa’ can be cited which was a collection of poems in Bhojpuri.[9] Radhavallabh Joshi wrote ‘Vipraballabh’ which was sympathetic to the heroes of 1857.[10] But, these should be considered exceptions.
Scholars have laboured hard to explain why the writers did not want to refer to 1857. Most of them refer to the fear of Government as the primary reason why writers , inspite of keeping sympathy for the rebels in their hearts, feared to speak about them in open. Once the mass movement began in Gandhian phase these writers started speaking for the revolt.[11] This does not seem an adequate explanation as we find quite unnecessary criticisms of the revolt and its leaders in the writings of some of the leading writers of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One can see references of this kind in the writings of Sadanand Mishra, Radhacharan Goswami, Premghan, Shivanandan Sahay, Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi, Braj Ratna Das and others. Gyan Pandey , a historian, gives us a far more convincing reason for their approach by saying that, in the nineteenth century context it was a dangerous moment when ‘order’, ‘progress’ and ‘improvement’, three most important concerns of the Hindi intelligentsia were threatened.[12] This becomes obvious when we review the socio-cultural and political ideas of the intelligentsia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bihar. Seeing extensive literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in which the writers were tried to strengthen forces of a social order which had been anti-Muslim and believers in Varnashram dharma ideals.[13] For most of them, Muslim rule was a dark phase of Indian history and the coming of the British replacing the barbaric Muslims had been a welcome change. For these writers 1857 could not have inspired much as this was based on Hindu-Muslim unity and there was hardly anything in its progress in different parts of Northern India that might have given the orthodox writers the feeling that caste ideals were not disturbed. Badrinarayan tells us that “in folk culture the Revolt of 1857 is not described as a struggle of caste, religion or specific class. In the popular perception, it is imprinted as a war of liberation from foreign oppression, and humiliation. The communal and caste harmony was much evident in this struggle.”[14] He gives us a list of leaders who are repeatedly referred to in Bhojpuri folk literature as heroes of 1857 which include names like Ranjit Yadav, Zulfikar, Maiku Mallah, Dharman bi, Ibrahim Khan, Lakhiya ( a lower caste woman), Rajjab Ali and Miyan Khan. Songs of chivalry of many Muslim and lower caste heroes are quite common in the folklores. One may find Panwara (chivalry songs) of Zulfikar Khan, Ibrahim Khan, Rajab Khan, Umed Ali in Bhojpuri folklores. Even today, the folklore about Khudabaksh and Ghaus Khan (the supporters of Lakshmi Bai) are sung with respect. Badrinarayan adds : “ In the folklore of Bundelkhand many narratives describing the brave deeds of Jhalkhari Bai, a lower caste woman, are available. Further, a deep influence of this Revolt is observed in the lower caste popular cultural forms of Dhobi, Kumhar, Luhar, etc. Historical narratives of 1857 reveal that lower castes in the Bhojpur region were no less involved in this war of independence. There is a popular Dhobi Geet (song), in this region.”[15] This kind of list of heroes in which Yadav, Mallah, Khan, Lakhia would have been just too much for Hindi writers whose list include hardly any name beyond Dwija names in the period of our discussion.[16]
Two very important sources for the history of the intelligentsia of Bihar in late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries- Bihar Darpan and ------ also do not give any details of anybody among educated people who had dared to say anything about the revolt days. Perhaps the most significant pointer towards this is the example of Babu Ramdin Singh, a proud Rajput who wanted to arouse feeling of pride among the Kshatriya ( Rajputs). He had brought out a magazine Kshatriya Patrika which highlighted glorious history of the Kshatriyas. Had he nourished any sympathy for Kunwar Singh and his struggle he would have had referred to him or at least had enlisted his name among the Rajput greats of Bihar. He did not do that.
The Yugantar Party organs and the Ghadar Party publications made rebel leaders like Lakshmi Bai and Nana Saheb very popular among its leaders but Kunwar Singh could not get adequate attention. But, in Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s book he was given some importance. By the early 1920s Kunwar Singh was known as a rebel leader who led the people of Jagdishpur against the British. But, the subsequent iconization in Hindi literature and writings made him a Bihari icon comparable to Jhansi ki Rani of Lakshmi Bai.
In 1920 there was no book available in Hindi which can be considered history of 1857. A publisher of Calcutta, then the most important centre of Hindi publications, lamented over this and he gave the assignment of writing a book on the history of 1857 on a prolific writer from Arrah, Bihar, Ishwari Prasad Singh. Before Ishwari Prasad Sharma could complete his history book on 1857 two other books on 1857 history came out from Calcutta. Of these early books on 1857 we find a clear indication that these writers had not tried to relate their interpretations with those of the Ghadar Party. Rather the main source of their information had been the five volumes of Rajani Kanta Gupta who himself based his descriptions on the English writers although in a different language. This attitude towards 1857, however, started changing in the late twenties with the publications of articles in Prabha, Chand ka Phansi Ank, Hindu Punch ka Balidan Ank, Pandit Sundarlal’s history of India and the book of poem on Lakshmi Bai by Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. In the thirties came Risabhachandra Jain’s novel Ghadar which boldly defended the rebel leaders.
In Bihar, similar trends can be noticed. Like the iconization of Lakshmi Bai we find the iconization of Kunwar Singh. As Lakshmi Bai turned out to be a symbol of the pride of Bundelkhand in general and Jhansi in particular, Kunwar Singh was depicted as a symbol of pride of Bihar in general and Arrah in particular. The similarities are too obvious to be ignored. One can see the poem written on Kunwar Singh by a respectable poet Manoranjan Prasad of Dumraon who was the principal of Rajendra College:
“Tha boodha par veer bankura Kunwar Singh mardana tha,
Masti kithi chhidi ragini , aazadi ka gana tha,
Bharat ke kone kone mein, hota yehi tarana tha,
Udhar khadi thi Lakshmibai, aur peshwa Nana tha,
Idhar Bihari Bankura, khada hua mastana tha.
Assi barson ki haddi mein jaga josh purana tha
Sab kahte hain Kunwar Singh bhi, bada veer mardana tha.”
Directly taking the inspiration from the poem of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan this poem contains these lines:
“Khaul uthi san sattavan mein sabka khoon purana tha,
sab kahte hain Kunwar Singh bhi bada veer mardana tha,
Bangale ke Barrackpore mein, aag droh ki sulgai,
Lapte uski uthi zor se, Dilli aur Merrut dhai,
Kashi uthi



[1] I have dealt with this question elsewhere. See
[2] Shailendra Dhari Singh, Novels on the Indian Mutiny (New Delhi: Arnold Heineman India, 1973), p. 73.
[3] I have tried to argue this elsewhere. See Hitendra K. Patel, "Aspects of Nationalist Response to 1857 in the Early Twentieth Century," Modern Historical Studies (Calcutta) 4 (March 2007).
[4] Badri Narayan, Ibid.
[5]
[6] See his ------------
[7] I have discussed the Hindi intelligentsia response in details elsewhere. See
[8] Ibid. , p. 261.
[9] Ibid. , p. 281.
[10] Radhavallabh Joshi was born in 1831 and died in 1901.
[11] Ramvilas Sharma, Bhagwan Das Mahore and others have maintained this view.
[12] Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India, Delhi: OUP, 1992, p.117.
[13] I have dealt with this aspect in detail in ‘Communalism and the Intelligentsia in Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Bihar’ ( PhD thesis, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 2006).
[14] Badri Narayan, Popular Culture and 1857: A Memory Against Forgetting, Social Scientist. v 26, no. 296-99 (January-April 1998), p. 89.
[15] Badri Narayan, op. cit., pp. 89-90.
[16] See