Veer Surendra Sai The unsung freedom fighter of Odisha English essay
Answers
Explanation:
Surendra Sai, the great freedom fighter in the first
Indian struggle for independence in the 19th
century, is the least known and yet one of the
bravest and most valiant martyrs for the cause of
independence of the country. It is a pity that his
name has been omitted in many annals of this first
war of independence of India.
Surendra Sai started his revolt against the
British rule long before 1857 and continued his
guerrilla war against the British authority from 1857
till 1864 long after the struggle led by the Rani of
Jhansi, Tantia Tope, Kunwar Singh and others
had subsided. Surendra Sai was a prisoner in
British jail from 1840 to 1857 and then again from
1864 to 1884 being lodged in the final couple of
decades of his life in Asirgarh jail, far away from
the place of his birth. He was blind at the time of
his death. Not merely he alone, but practically his
whole family were valiant freedom fighters. His
uncle Balram died in Hazaribagh jail after 16 years
of jail life. His brother Chhabila was killed in an
encounter with the British army. Another brother
Ujjal was sent to the Raja Patnagarh to seek the
latter’s help in the fight against the British, but the
Raja betrayed Ujjal and surrendered him to the
British and Ujjal was executed. His other brothers
Udaut, Dhruba and Medini and his son
Mitrabhanu were also among the freedom fighters.
Surendra Sai was born on January 23rd,
1809 in his ancestral home at Khinda in the district
of Sambalpur. His father Dharam Singh was the
sixth in the line of succession to Raja Madhukar
Sai of Sambalpur.
Surendra Sai : The Great Freedom Fighter
Dr. S. Supakar
When in 1827, Maharaja Maharaj Sai
of Sambalpur died issueless, the British who had
earlier in the third Maharatta war got the suzeranity
over Sambalpur tried to put Rani Mohan Kumari,
the widow of Maharaj Sai on the throne of
Sambalpur. This gave rise to great resentment
among the people of Sambalpur, because the Rani
was mere puppet. The land rent was increased.
Drought brought misery to the people. In 1833
the British removed Rani Mohan Kumari from
the throne and put one Narayan Singh, a very old
Zamindar on the throne.
Narayan Singh was also a puppet and
Mr. O’ Melly has written about him as follows :
“He is described as having been perfectly
astounded when it was proposed to make him
Raja, so much so that he prayed the Agent not to
exalt him to so dangerous a position.”
It was very natural for the people to
resent such action of the British an Surendra Sai
naturally took the lead in the protest against such
arbitrary action of the British and against the mis-
rule of Rani Mohan Kumari and Raja Narayan
Singh. Surendra Sai was only eighteen years old
at the time of death of Maharaj Sai. He had been
trained in horsemanship and guerrilla warfare by
his uncle Balaram. Many Zamindars, Gountias
rallied round the leadership of Surendra Sai.
Prominent among them were Balabhadra Dau of
Lakhanpur, Kunjal Singh of Ghens; Karunakar
Naik of Jajpur (Kolabira) and others.
Though most people supported Surendra
Sai for his fight against the British, there were somehas to be attained
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