User:Dalfem/uda devi
Dalfem/uda devi | |
|---|---|
| Born | Uda Devi |
| Died | November 1857 Sikandar Bagh, Lucknow, India |
| Known for | Indian Rebellion of 1857 |
Uda Devi (Hindi: ऊदा देवी) was a warrior in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, who fought against the British East India Company. Uda Devi was from the Dalit Pasi community and is said to have been born in the village of Ujriaon in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.[1]
She was also known as Jagrani and was married to Makka Pasi. She became an associate of Begum Hazrat Mahal, wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah[2] and worked as commander in the women’s army. Her husband became a martyr in the battle at Chinhat. Uda decided to take revenge.[3] When the British attacked Sikandar Bagh in Lucknow under Colin Campbell, he was faced with an army of dalit women:
koi unko habsin kehta, koi kehta neech achchut abla koi unhein batlaye, koi kahe unhe majboot.
(Some called them black African women, some untouchable. Some called them weak, others strong.)[4]
Battle of Sikandar Bagh[edit]
Uda Devi took part in the Battle in Sikandar Bagh in November 1857. William Forbes-Mitchell, in Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny, writes of Uda Devi: "She was armed with a pair of heavy old-pattern cavalry pistols, one of which was in her belt still loaded, and her pouch was still about half full of ammunition, while from her perch in the tree, which had been carefully prepared before the attack, she had killed more than half-a-dozen men."[5]
W. Gordon-Alexander’s account of the storming of Sikandar Bagh by British troops states:[6]
In addition . . . there were . . . even a few amazon negresses, amongst the slain. These amazons having no religious prejudices against the use of greased cartridges, whether of pigs’ or other animal fat, although doubtless professed Muhammadans, were armed with rifles, while the Hindu and Muhammadan East Indian rebels were all armed with musket; they fought like wild cats, and it was not till after they were killed that their sex was even suspected.
Uda Devi herself is said to have climbed a pipal tree where she shot dead 32 or 36 British soldiers, based on varying accounts. One soldier spotted someone in the tree and shot the person dead, and only then it was discovered that she was a woman. It is said that even British officers like Campbell bowed their heads over her dead body in respect in recognition of her brave feat.[7]
The Pasis of Pilibhit come together on November 16 every year to commemorate the anniversary of Uda Devi's martyrdom.[8]
References[edit]
- ^ "Dalit History Month – Remembering freedom fighter Uda Devi". Dr. B. R. Ambedkar's Caravan. 4 April 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
- ^ "Uda Devi". Bharat Kosh: Gyan Ka Hindi Mahasagar. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
- ^ Gupta, C. (2007). Dalit 'Viranganas' and Reinvention of 1857. Economic and Political Weekly, 1739-1745.
- ^ Verma, San 1857, p 36
- ^ Safvi, Rana (7 April 2016). "The Forgotten Women of 1857". The Wire. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
- ^ Bates, Crispin (30 October 2013). Mutiny at the Margins: New Perspectives on the Indian Uprising of 1857: Volume V: Muslim, Dalit and Subaltern Narratives. SAGE Publications India. ISBN 9788132118640.
- ^ Pasi, Raj Kumar, Pasi Samaj ka Swatantrata Sangram Mein Yogdan, Pasi Shodh Evam Sanskritik Sansthan, Lucknow, 1998, pp. 7–20; Verma, San 1857, p 20.
- ^ "Dalit group recalls its 1857 martyr Uda Devi". The Times of India. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
Category:Indian women in war Category:Revolutionaries of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Category:Indian rebels Category:Women Indian independence activists Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh Category:History of Awadh Category:Dalit history Category:Dalit women Category:Dalit feminists Category:1857 deaths Category:19th-century Indian women politicians Category:19th-century Indian politicians Category:Women from Uttar Pradesh Category:Military personnel from Uttar Pradesh Category:People from Lucknow district Category:Activists from Uttar Pradesh Category:Dalit Category:Scheduled Castes