Revolt of Bihar in 1781 (First battle of freedom fought against the British government before Mangal Pandey)
A few years ago the Biju Janata Dal (regional political party in the Indian state of Odisha) demanded that the Centre must declare the ‘Paika rebellion’ as the first war of the Indian independence struggle. As the Paika Bidroha (Paika Rebellion) of 1817 took place nearly 40 years before the 1857 revolt. But the Union Minister of State for Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal refused this demand for obvious reasons.
But is the 'Palika rebellion' the first war of independence? Let's find out.
We have always been told that the first war of Independence was fought in 1857. It is true though this rebellion started a fire in Indians and encouraged them to fight for their independence. But there were many wars fought by the kings of pricey states before 1857. And among these kings, one name comes at the top, Raja Narayan Singh. He lit the fire among the Indians against the British years before that of the great soldier Mangal Pandey. He had made life so miserable for the Britishers that In the book 'Early English Administration' by J. Reginald Hand, he referred to him as the first enemy of the British in the chapter powerful zamindars.
Raja Narayan Singh is said to be born in 1746. He was the king of Siris-Kutumba (one of the 565 princely states of undivided India) now in the Aurangabad district of Bihar. At that time they had their own Army, estate, people, and treasury. He was the descendant of Prithvi Raj Chauhan. In 1249 his ancestors Raibhan Singh and Harbajan Singh killed the Shivpur Char Kharwar king (Kol Munda Kul) and captured their region. In 1765, Raja Narayan Singh became the king after his uncle Vishnu Singh.
After a few years in 1770, Britishers sent Shahmahal of Tilothu, Rohtas to collect the Malguzari tax of 1.75 lakh. He refused to pay taxes to the British when there was famine in the area. East India Company gave the order to arrest the king and capture his region to the Provisional Revenue Committee. Colonel Barker destroyed his fort Pawaigarh.
Later when Major Crawfurd was sent by EIC to take revenue from Raja Chet Singh of Ramnagar, Banaras. They ordered Raja Narayan Singh to arrange boats for their army to cross the Sone river. Raja made a plan with boatmen and drowned Britishers in the river. Major Crawfurd was then forced to change route and travel to Rohtas, where Raja Narayan Singh had collected a large body of “matchlock men” to resist the invader with the nawab of Sasaram Kuli khan.
Later he helped Chet Singh to fight against the Britishers with an army of 300-400 highly trained men for the gorilla attack with Pitambar Singh, Beechu Singh, Kuli khan, Iqbal Ali Khan and many more renowned names. They fought in the Kaimur mountains Rohtas.
From 1770 to 1786 he fought many fights with the British army and when East India Company realised that they can't capture Raja Narayan Singh they sent him an invitation of peace and took him into custody by fraud.
On 5th March 1786, he was sent to Begam haweli, Dhaka, Bangladesh for Kala Pani. Later in 1792, he was released but couldn't survive and 2 years later in 1794, he died.
This was the story of our first freedom fighter who revolt against the British and lit the first spark for freedom in the country. It's not that history never remembered him. Many historians mentioned him in their book including the Parsion writer Gulam Hussain Khan he has written about him in his book Siyar-ul-mutakherin. But after India got independence, gradually people forgot his name. Now neither the country remembers him nor his villagers.
Some part of his fort Pawaigarh still stands in a dilapidated state in the village Pawai, Aurangabad, Bihar. Now, people use this fort for defecation and intoxication. Hardly anyone in the village would know about the fort.
Photo gallery of the fort
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