Maharaj Hirdeshah Lodhi || राजा हृदय शाह लोधी

 Maharaja HirdeShah Lodhi  ^[1](also known as Raja Hirdeshah Lodhi or  Raja Hirdeshah Judeo or राजा हृदय शाह लोधी ), was a Lodhi Rajput Ruler in 19th Century of Bundelkhand's Hirapur Princely State in Madhya Pradesh. Raja Hirdeshah Lodhi ruled the northern region of present-day Narsinghpur.^[2] He led an armed revolt against the British East India Company in 1842.

Biased historians gave the credit of waging the first war against the British to Mangal Pandey, whereas before him King Hirdeshah of Bundelkhand area Hirapur had kept the British watered to such an extent that even the throne of Queen Victoria sitting in London was shaken.

Revolt of 1842

Raja Hirdeshah ( also known as the "Narmada Tiger") was the main hero of the Bundelkhand Revolt of 1842. Although this rebellion was suppressed by the Company government, Hirdeshah again played a sacrificial role in the summer of 1857, in which his entire family was martyred. In the rebellion of 1842 against the British and in the summer of 1857, Raja Hirdeshah was supported by other Lodhi Rajput kings, talukdars, jagirdars and subjects of his fraternity and Gond kings and their subjects. British documents consider Raja Hirdeshah as the main culprit of the rebellion of 1842 and the mutiny of 1857, but his sacrifices and sacrifices are deliberately ignored by prejudiced Indian writers and historians.

In the next year, in the year 1840, Budhwa Mangal Mela was organized in Supa (Charkhari) village on the lines of Kashi's Budhwa Mangal Mela. In Supa, Lodhi Thakur Jagirdars of Supa, former king Mandanshah of Charkhari state and descendants of Vikat Rai used to reside. Lodhi Thakur landlords of Supa Took over all the responsibility of this fair. Many kings and jagirdars of Bundelkhand were secretly contacted and the purpose of this fair was explained. The fair was publicized clearly. In this fair Bundela Raja Parikshit of Jaitpur (Mahoba), Raja Hirdeshah of Hirapur, Raibahadur Bhagat Singh of Chirgaon Jhansi, Jagirdar Madhukar Shah Bundela ( a Shudra Catse which claim themselves as Kshatriya) , Jagirdar Jawahar Singh of Chandrapur, Amar Singh Mahato, Zamindar of Gohand (Rath) and Lodhi Rajput and Bundela of the area. The landlords participated in large numbers, together they secretly decided to fight against the British and prepared a plan. Raja Parikshat of Jaitpur (Mahoba) was elected the leader of the rebels of the northern Bundelkhand region.

The message of making the rebellion a success and establishing a people's rule was being carefully spread everywhere. Hirapur's King Hirdeshah, Narat's vassal Madhukarshah was lighting the fire of revolution by contacting the Sagar Narmada Territory area in the south of Bundelkhand. In this campaign, Gaur Samant Dillanshah of Madanpur (Narsinghpur) also became a rebel by taking along the disgruntled zamindars, land owners of his area, in this way the flame of rebellion started in the southern part of Bundelkhand. ^[3]

Struggle for freedom

Under the leadership of King Hirdeshah Judev, the company government bases were attacked, first took control of Gajpura outpost and chased away the British, but with complete preparation, the English army under the leadership of Captain Brown attacked Hiragarh. The rebel army evacuated the city. The English army demolished Hiragarh and looted the city. After the destruction of Hiragarh, Hiragarh came to be known as Hirapur. King Hirdeshah reached Tej Garh with the rebel army. Tej Garh was ruled by the ancestors of King Hirdeshah. Now a Lodhi Thakur Jagirdar of his lineage, he welcomed the rebel army and gave all kinds of cooperation. Raja Hirdeshah besieged Narsinghpur and chased away the British from there. Took many parts of Damoh, Jabalpur and Narsinghpur under authority. The rebel army kept moving forward, surrounded the district headquarters of Sagar and defeated the British and freed Sagar. Jabalpur was the stronghold of the British, their huge army was gathered there, so King Hirdeshah escaped from it and took the rebel army from one side and moved forward. The rebel army crossed the river Narmada, the farmers there supported them. The rebels searched and defeated the officers of the Company Government and brought them out. They went on getting towns and villages vacated by the British. The whites started trembling after hearing the name of King Hirdeshah. A reward of five hundred rupees was announced for his arrest. King Hirdeshah now went underground and started conducting guerilla war. The Company government was surprised that even after more than a year the rebels could not be caught. The rebels used to fight in guerilla mode. Along with this, the rebels used to know about the activities of the British, but the plans of the rebels could not be known to the officers of the Company Government. Big moneylenders used to give them food and used to warn them about the dangers. The fear of rebels was so ingrained in the people that no one used to speak against them. ^[4]

Reminiscing Sacrifice

The Ministry of Culture of the Government of India also pays tribute to him on his death anniversary.^[5]

Prisoned

As soon as the East India Company first established its foothold in Nagpur, it took control of the forts of Damoh, Sagar and Mandla. By 1820, after gaining control over most of the region, the British formed the Sagar Narmada Territory under the Governor General and placed the region under one of its agents. During this period, Jawahar Singh Bundela of Sagar and Madhukar Shah of Narhut protested against the confiscation of their property through military revolt. Led by Raja Hirdeshah of Hirapur, this revolt spread to Narsinghpur, Sagar and then Jabalpur. Hirdeshah organized all the Thakurs of the region and revolted against the British. Raja Hirdeshah was taken prisoner on 22 November 1842.^[6]

1857 Revolt

The revolt of 1857 received widespread support in the rural areas north of the Narmada. Apart from the chieftains who led the movement, a large number of land-guzars, peasants and even labourers also participated in it. The main reason for this was that Bundela, Lodhi and Gond leaders had support in their respective tribes and communities.^[7]

In the Revolution of 1857, all the Lodhi Rajput people of Central Province joined the war against the British (R.V. Russell-1916). Dr. Suresh Mishra writes on page 11 of his book 'Rani Avantibai of Ramgarh'^[8] that "During the Bundela rebellion of 1842, the Sagar-Narmada Lodhi Thakur jagirdars took active part in the revolt that took place in the region. Hirdeshah of Hirapur in Narsinghpur district and Madhukar Shah of Sagar district were prominent among them. This legacy of Lodhi Rajput resistance against British rule became more vocal in 1857 and was led by Rani Avantibai of Ramgarh. In fact, Hirdeshah was the main historical source of inspiration for the Central Province's War of Independence-1857.^[9]

The Bundelas of Sagar received support from Hirapur's King Hirde Shah Lodhi and Narsinghpur's Gond Sardar Delan Shah. ^[10] In this freedom struggle, Raja Hirdeshah was martyred on 28 April 1858 while fighting, while one of his brothers Sawant Singh Judev was martyred in the war of 1857 and the other brother Gajraj Singh Judev was also arrested while fighting the British and died in 1858. He was also hanged in the middle and Raja Hirdeshah Judeo's son Prince Mehrban Singh was martyred on 20 December 1857 while fighting the British.

Related Letters

Some historical letters related to Hirdeshah Lodhi are preserved in the Madhya Pradesh Museum . The letters were written by the then Governor General of the East India Company to the then General Stephen, including the military chief of the Sagar Division.

In the first letter dated 9 November 1842, the General sought information regarding the character and activities of Bundela rebel leaders, in the second letter a reward has been announced for the arrest of Raja Hirdeshah's associates. - In another letter, the military chiefs of Sagar, Narmada region and Bundelkhand have been requested to search for Raja Hirdeshah of Hirapur.

Hirapur Princely State

There were 1883 villages under Hiragarh state of King Hirdeshah Judev Lodhi. They had 80 big guns, 100 small guns, 200 gurabas, 7 elephants, 1600 horse and cavalry soldiers, 21686 foot soldiers, 500 saris (camels), 200 mules. His descendant, Raja Koshlendra Singh Judeo, was given only one hundred acres of land by the Madhya Pradesh government out of the total land taken away from his forefathers, that too has been taken back by the Forest Department. Today he is living as a simple farmer. ^[11]

References

1. ↑ Mahotsav, Amrit. "Raja Hirdeshah Lodhi". Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of Culture, Government of India (English में). अभिगमन तिथि 2024-05-15.
2. ↑ "THE ICONS MADHYA PRADESH IS HONOURING".
3. ↑ University of Edinburgh, Crispin Bates (30 Jun 2008). Adivasi Insurrections in India: the 1857 Rebellion in central India, its wider context and historiography (PDF) (English में). United Kingdom: Bates, C. (2008). पपृ॰ 15–17.
4. ↑ Sharma, Prof. Pankaj. HIRDESHAH OF HIRAPUR, THE HERO OF THE 1842 REBELLION (PDF). आइ॰एस॰एस॰एन॰ 2394-6326.
5. ↑ "A humble tribute to Raja Hirdeshah Lodhi - the great warrior of Bundela revolution of 1842". twitter.com/MinOfCultureGoI.
6. ↑ Sharma, Prof. Pankaj. HIRDESHAH OF HIRAPUR, THE HERO OF THE 1842 REBELLION (PDF). आइ॰एस॰एस॰एन॰ 2394-6326.
7. ↑ by (2017-10-17). "Revolt of 1857 in Madhya Pradesh". MPPCS Exam Preparation (अंग्रेज़ी में). अभिगमन तिथि 2024-05-16.
8. ↑ Thakur, Rajiv. Ramgarh ki Rani Avantibai | Rani Avantibai of Ramgarh: Rani Avantibai aur Ramgarh (Hindi में).
9. ↑ Sharma, Prof. Pankaj. HIRDESHAH OF HIRAPUR, THE HERO OF THE 1842 REBELLION (PDF). आइ॰एस॰एस॰एन॰ 2394-6326.
10. ↑ "Revolt of 1857 in Madhya Pradesh, Major Events, Leaders in MP". Testbook (अंग्रेज़ी में). अभिगमन तिथि 2024-05-16.
11. ↑ Sharma, Prof. Pankaj. HIRDESHAH OF HIRAPUR, THE HERO OF THE 1842 REBELLION (PDF). आइ॰एस॰एस॰एन॰ 2394-6326.