Nana of Cawnpore
| Nana Sahib | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 May 1824 Bithoor |
| Disappeared | 1857 (aged 32 or 33) Cawnpore (now Kanpur), British India |
| Title | Peshwa |
| Predecessor | Baji Rao II |
| Parent(s) | Narayan Bhatt and Ganga Bai |
Nana Sahib (born 19 May 1824 – disappeared 1857), born as Dhondu Pant, was an Indian Maratha aristocrat and fighter, who led the rebellion in Cawnpore (Kanpur) during the 1857 uprising. As the adopted son of the exiled Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II, Nana Sahib believed that he was entitled to a pension from the English East India Company, but the underlying contractual issues are rather murky. The Company's refusal to continue the pension after his father's death, as well as what he perceived as high-handed policies, compelled him to revolt and seek independence from company rule in India. He forced the British garrison in Kanpur to surrender, then executed the survivors, gaining control of Cawnpore for a few days. He later disappeared, after his forces were defeated by a British force that recaptured Cawnpore. He was led to the Nepal Hills in 1859, where he is thought to have died.
Nana was born on 19 May,1824 as Nana Govind Dhondu Pant, to Narayan Bhatt and Ganga Bai.
After the Maratha defeat in the Third Maratha War, the East India Company had exiled Peshwa Baji Rao II to Bithoor near Cawnpore (now Kanpur), where he maintained a large establishment paid for in part out of a British pension. Nana 's father, a well-educated Deccani Brahmin, had travelled with his family from the Western Ghats to become a court official of the former Peshwa at Bithoor. Lacking sons, Baji Rao adopted Nana Sahib and his younger brother in 1827. The mother of both children was a sister of one of the Peshwa's wives. Nana Sahib's childhood associates included Tantya Tope, Azimullah Khan and Manikarnika Tambe who later became famous as Rani Lakshmibai. Tantya Tope was the son of Pandurang Rao Tope, an important noble at the court of the Peshwa Baji Rao II. After Baji Rao II was exiled to Bithoor, Pandurang Rao and his family also shifted there. Tantya Tope was the fencing master to Nana Sahib. Azimullah Khan joined the court of Nana Sahib as Secretary, after the death of Baji Rao II in 1851. He later became the dewan in Nana Sahib's court.
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