Tatya Tope alias Ram Chandra Pandurang was born around 1813 to an orthodox Deshasth Brahmin family in Poona and his father was Pandurang Rao Tope, an important noble at the court of the Peshwa Baji Rao II. He shifted his family with the ill-fated Peshwa to Bithur where his son became a close friend of the Peshwa’s adopted son, Nana Dhundu Pant. The other associates of Tatya Tope were Rao Sahib and Rani Lakshmi Bai. His traditional education in a political ambience fitted him for heroic deeds.
In the year 1851, when Lord Dalhousie destitute Nana Sahib of his father’s pension and Tatya Tope became an avowed enemy of the British. He co-operated with Nana Sahib in organizing an anti-British surge secretly in association with other aggrieved persons. On May 1857, when the political tempest was gaining impetus, he won over the Indian troops of the East India Company that was stationed at Kanpur and established Nana Sahib’s authority and became the Commander-in-Chief of his revolutionary forces. In the military encounters that followed, he emerged as a gifted mediator with a spectacular organizing skill and as an incomparable revolutionary warrior with lightning speed.
After the reoccupation of Kanpur by the British because of clang pitched battles and on being separated from Nana Sahib, Tatya shifted his headquarters to Kalpi to join hands with Rani Lakshmi Bai and rouse a revolt in Bundelkhand. He defeated the pro-British Raja of Charkhari and preceded towards Jhansi but was defeated by Sir Hugh Rose at the battle of the Betwa and prevented from reaching his destination. Subsequently, after Jhansi was taken into custody by the British, he was in retreat at Koonch and Kalpi.
At last, he reached Gwalior where he declared Nana Sahib as Peshwa with the support of the Gwalior group. However, before he could strengthen his position he was defeated by General Rose in a memorable battle in which Rani Lakshmi Bai endured martyrdom. The fall of Gwalior was a turning point in the career of Tatya Tope. Thereafter, he commenced his remarkable accomplishment of mutineer warfare over very vast regions of Central India namely, Malwa, Bundelkhand, Rajputana and Khandesh from the alcoves of the Vindhyas to the gorges of the Aravali, harassing and perplexing the British and their allies. Chase from June 1858 to April 1859 by nearly half of the British forces in India under their ablest generals enjoying the fullest support of their military intelligence, he outmanoeuvred them several times either by his astounding escapes from their military network or by perplexing counterstrokes even when defeated.
He could not be captured in the long-winded chase of about 2,800 miles horizontally and vertically through forests, hills, dales and across the distended rivers. At last, he was deceived by his trusted friend Mansingh at midnight on 8 April in the thick jungle of Paron and was hanged at Sipri on 18 April after a trial by a Court Martial. A man of greatest daring and a patriot of the highest order, Tatya Tope showed superabundant energy, desperate courage and infinite capacity to defy death during his brilliant military exploits in the freedom struggle and made himself immortal. He proved to be the cleverest, the most troublesome and a highly intangible enemy for the British in India.
In the year 1851, when Lord Dalhousie destitute Nana Sahib of his father’s pension and Tatya Tope became an avowed enemy of the British. He co-operated with Nana Sahib in organizing an anti-British surge secretly in association with other aggrieved persons. On May 1857, when the political tempest was gaining impetus, he won over the Indian troops of the East India Company that was stationed at Kanpur and established Nana Sahib’s authority and became the Commander-in-Chief of his revolutionary forces. In the military encounters that followed, he emerged as a gifted mediator with a spectacular organizing skill and as an incomparable revolutionary warrior with lightning speed.
After the reoccupation of Kanpur by the British because of clang pitched battles and on being separated from Nana Sahib, Tatya shifted his headquarters to Kalpi to join hands with Rani Lakshmi Bai and rouse a revolt in Bundelkhand. He defeated the pro-British Raja of Charkhari and preceded towards Jhansi but was defeated by Sir Hugh Rose at the battle of the Betwa and prevented from reaching his destination. Subsequently, after Jhansi was taken into custody by the British, he was in retreat at Koonch and Kalpi.
At last, he reached Gwalior where he declared Nana Sahib as Peshwa with the support of the Gwalior group. However, before he could strengthen his position he was defeated by General Rose in a memorable battle in which Rani Lakshmi Bai endured martyrdom. The fall of Gwalior was a turning point in the career of Tatya Tope. Thereafter, he commenced his remarkable accomplishment of mutineer warfare over very vast regions of Central India namely, Malwa, Bundelkhand, Rajputana and Khandesh from the alcoves of the Vindhyas to the gorges of the Aravali, harassing and perplexing the British and their allies. Chase from June 1858 to April 1859 by nearly half of the British forces in India under their ablest generals enjoying the fullest support of their military intelligence, he outmanoeuvred them several times either by his astounding escapes from their military network or by perplexing counterstrokes even when defeated.
He could not be captured in the long-winded chase of about 2,800 miles horizontally and vertically through forests, hills, dales and across the distended rivers. At last, he was deceived by his trusted friend Mansingh at midnight on 8 April in the thick jungle of Paron and was hanged at Sipri on 18 April after a trial by a Court Martial. A man of greatest daring and a patriot of the highest order, Tatya Tope showed superabundant energy, desperate courage and infinite capacity to defy death during his brilliant military exploits in the freedom struggle and made himself immortal. He proved to be the cleverest, the most troublesome and a highly intangible enemy for the British in India.