Tantya Tope

Tantya Tope

Ramachandra Pandurang Tope , known as Tantya Tope ( Marathi : तांत्या टोपे , Tāntyā Tope ; or तात्या टोपे , Tātyā Tope ; * 1814 in Yeola ; † April 18, 1859 in Shivpuri ), was one of the Indian leaders of the Indian uprising of 1857 .

He was initially adjutant to Nana Sahib and later opposed the British troops with a contingent of Gwalior-Solden . He also came to the aid of the Rani Lakshmibai when they joined the resistance against the British occupation of the Indian subcontinent. He was captured by the British in the spring of 1859 and hanged on April 18, 1859 .

Life

Tantya Tope was born in the village of Yeola in Maratha . He was the only son of Pandurang Rao Tope and his wife Rukhmabai, one of the noblemen at the court of the Peshwa of Pune , Baji Rao II. Pune was one of the more important Marathas principalities, but its ruler Baji Rao was dethroned by the British and in Bithur been exiled. His father moved to Bithur with his family after the Peshwa was deposed. There Tantya Tope became one of the closest friends of Nana Sahib, the Peshwas's adoptive son. However, Baji Rao II received a generous annual pension from the British until his death in 1851. On the other hand, the British refused to allow his adopted son and heir Nana Sahib to continue this pension payment.

After the outbreak of the uprising, insurgents turned to Nana Sahib with a request to take a leading role in the uprising. After initial hesitation, he initially agreed to lead sepoy troops on their way to Delhi. However, members of his court dissuaded him from submitting himself as a high-ranking Hindu to the Muslim mogul in Delhi. Papers found after the end of the uprising suggest that Nana Sahib was considering not only retaking the throne of his adoptive father, but also making neighboring principalities his vassals.

Tantya Tope took on a leadership role in the insurgent forces led by Nana Sahib and was instrumental in the siege of Kanpur . However, it is not clear to what extent he played a role in the massacre of the 73 women and 124 children who were slaughtered in Bibighar .

When British troops under Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn marched on Jhansi in March 1858 , Tantya Tope led 20,000 men in support of the Rani of Jhansi . In the battle of the Betwa , however, he was repulsed by Rose.

After Gwalior was retaken from the British, Tantya Tope waged a successful guerrilla war against British troops. He was betrayed by one of his own subordinates and captured by the British on April 7, 1859.

Commemoration

Statues today commemorate him near his execution site in Nana Rao Park and in his hometown of Yeola.

Single receipts

1. ↑ James, p. 234
2. ↑ A more detailed characterization of Nana Sahib can be found in Hibbert, pp. 172–177

literature

• William Dalrymple : The Last Mughal - The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857. Bloomsbury Publishing, London 2006, ISBN 978-0-7475-8726-2 .
• Saul David: The Indian Mutiny: 1857. Penguin Books, 2003.
• Don Randall: "Autumn 1857. The Making of the Indian Mutiny." In: Victorian Literature and Culture. 2003, pp. 3-17.
• Astrid Erll: Premediation - Remediation. Representations of the Indian uprising in imperial and post-colonial media cultures (from 1857 to the present). Trier 2007.
• Christopher Hibbert: The Great Mutiny: India 1857. Penguin Books, London [u. a.] 1988.
• Lawrence James: Raj - The Making of British India. Abacus, London 1997, ISBN 978-0-349-11012-7 .
• Dennis Judd: The Lion and the Tiger. The Rise and Fall of the British Raj, 1600-1947. Oxford 2004.
• John William Kaye: History of the Sepoy War in India. London 1864-1876.

Web links

• Biography of Tatya Tope (English)
• Biography of Tatya Tope (English)