Rana Beni Madhao of Raebareli a forgotten freedom fighter

By Mohsin Atique Khan

The imperial government, when annexed the Lucknow Nawabi Sultanate peacefully without any hue and cry in 1856, its confidence increased and it started sucking the blood of the people more vigorously and finally in 1857 the volcano which had been building up for a long time erupted throughout the country. The people of Oudh rose in arms declaring the 12 year old Birjees Qadr of the erstwhile Nawabi family as the king of Oudh under the supervision of Begum Hazrat Mahal who set an example for Brave leadership. Rana Beni Madhao of Baiswara was one of those chieftains of Oudh who declared Birjees Qadr as their Raja throwing the yoke of British slavery and fought bravely giving a tough fight to British army. His father’s name was Ram Narayan Singh and he was the Talukdar of Shankarpur, a large estate in Baiswara, which included the town of Raebareli also. He had maintained a permanent force of five thousand brave men. In Raja Hanumant Singh’s words “he was a man of great possessions, credit and influence, and of good repute.”62 He fought against the British bravely throughout the freedom struggle of 1857-58 and received the title of “Diler Jang” from Begum Hazrat Mahal who appointed him the Muntazim-e-Ala of Jaunpur and Azam Garh by a royal decree (Shahi Farman) on 17th August 1857.63 Rana Beni Madh, for quite some time between May and June of 1857, held control over the Lucknow-Kanpur road with a people’s army of eighty five thousand men. General Hope Grant set out in his pursuit on 25th May from Jalalbad and reached Jasanda trying to find his trace but no encounter happened between the duos as Beni Madhao had moved to Shankarpur. Taking note of the revolt of Beni Madhao, Lord Clyde detailed four brigades to carry out the operation in Baiswara under the leadership of General Hope Grant who was directed to attack the Shankarpur fort from the north, while Wetherall from the east, Pinckney from the south and Evelegh from the west. Hope Grant laid a siege to the Shankarpur fort from all sides except west as Evelegh took some time to defeat the rebels at Mowrawan and Simri and could not make it on time to Shankarpur. Rana Beni Madho, who was in the fort along with an estimated fifteen thousand followers, was asked by Hope Grant to surrender. But Rana refused to surrender; saying proudly that he would yield his fort as he could not defend it but would not yield himself as he belonged to his king. He evacuated the fort in the night along with his followers and left the town taking the ill-fated western route to Daundia Khera but on the way he suffered a defeat on the hands of Evelegh who was on his way to Shankarpur. However, he escaped successfully to Daundia Khera. Meanwhile Lord Clyde, who came to know about the direction of Beni Madho, took Eveleghs’ Brigade with him and marched towards Daundia Khera and attacked the fort on 24th November. Rana Beni Madho suffered a shattering defeat and lost all his guns, but escaped successfully and retired to Nepal Tarai.64 In Nepal, he stayed with Begum Hazrat Mahal in Deo Garh, but the Deewan of Deo Garh betrayed them and Rana Beni Madho kept on fighting along with his remaining army of 250 men till he was martyred in 1859 in the battle. His family i.e. his brother Jograj Singh, his widow and his 14 year old son remained in Nepal till December 1859, and then they were granted some land in Sitapur for livelihood by the government.65 When the peace was restored, the estate of Rana Beni Madho was transferred to Digvijay Singh of Morarmau who had helped those British men who ran away from Kanpur and Daundia Khera during the mutiny.66 The other reason of transferring Rana’s estate to Digvijay Singh was that there was a rivalry between his father Raghunath Singh and Rana Beni Madho over the use of the title of Rana which was considered a dignity however Rana Beni Madho was successful in securing the use of this title for himself by purchasing a recognition from the royal court for his exclusive right to the title. The khans of Satanpurwa: A Historical and Socio-cultural Account, by Mohsin Atique Khan, page no. 40-41