Ramachandra Pandurang Tope

8/8/2019 Ramachandra Pandurang Tope

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/ramachandra-pandurang-tope 1/3

Ramachandra Pandurang Tope (1814 - 18 April 1859), also known as Tatya Tope (pronounced Toh-pey), was an Indian leader in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and one of its finest

generals. He was a personal adherent of Nana Sahib of Kanpur. He progressed with the Gwalior contingent after the British reoccupation of Kanpur and forced General Windham to retreat from

Kanpur. Later on, he came to the rescue of Rani Laxmi Bai. However he was only defeated by

General Napier's British Indian troops, after betrayal by his trusted friend Man Singh. He wasexecuted by the British Government at Shivpuri on 18 April 1859.

EARLY LIFE

Born in a village Yeola in Maharashtra, he was the only son of Pandurang Rao Tope and his wife

Rukhmabai, an important noble at the court of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao II. His father shiftedhis family with the Peshwa to Bithur where his son became the most intimate friend of the

Peshwa's adopted son, Nana Dhondu Pant (known as Nana Sahib) and Maharaja MadhavSinghji.

In 1851, when Lord Dalhousie deprived Nana Sahib of his father's pension, Tatya Tope also became a sworn enemy of the British. In May 1857, when the political storm was gaining

momentum, he won over the Indian troops of the East India Company, stationed at Kanpur (Cawnpore), established Nana Sahib's authority and became the Commander-in-Chief of his

forces

FIGHT AGAINST BRITISH

Nana Sahib's forces attacked the British entrenchment in June, 1857. General Wheeler'scontingent incurred heavy losses as a result of successive bombardments, sniper fire, and assault.

The slow supplies of food, water and medicine added to the misery of the British Forces whodecided to surrender, in return for a safe passage to Allahabad. Nana Sahib agreed to this and

made arrangements as best as he could. At the Satichaura ghat, rebel sepoys not under NanaSahibs command attacked the departing British troops to settle old scores. General Wheelers men

were either killed or captured. The surviving British women and children were moved from theSavada House to Bibighar ("the House of the Ladies"), a villa-type house in Kanpur. British

retaliation occurred as Company forces started approaching Kanpur, and Nana Sahib's bargainingattempts failed (in exchange for hostages). Nana Sahib was informed that the British troops led

by Havelock and Neill had indulged in violence against Indian villagers and were continuingwith this violence as a 'tactic' .Nana Sahib, and his associates, including Tatya Tope and

Azimullah Khan, debated about what to do with the captives at Bibighar. Some of Nana Sahib's

advisors had already decided to kill the captives at Bibighar, in retaliation for the murders of Indians by the advancing British forces. Some sepoys were ordered to kill the women andchildren who were being held, but they refused. The task of the slaughter was carried out by two

or three butchers from the town aided by others unknown. Three women and three childrensurvived by hiding under the corpses of their friends. When discovered they were thrown alive

into a well along with the deceased. The details of the incident, such as who ordered themassacre, are not clear as no 'real' records exist.



Capture and Death

After losing Gwalior to the British, Tope launched a successful guerrilla campaign in the Sagar

and Narmada regions and in Khandesh and Rajasthan. The British forces failed to subdue him for over a year. He was, however, betrayed into the hands of the British by his trusted friend Man

Singh, Chief of Narwar , while asleep in his camp in the Paron forest. He was defeated andcaptured on 7 April 1859 by British General Richard John Meade's troops and taken to Shivpuri

where he was tried by a military court.

Tope admitted the charges brought before him saying that he was answerable to his master Peshwa alone. He was executed at the gallows on April 18, 1859. There is a statue of Tatya Tope

at the site of his execution near the present collectorate in Shivpuri town in Madhya Pradesh.

Shri Tatya Tope was not executed as per the research, truth and facts unearthed. the man who

was executed instead of Tatya Tope was either Sujan Singh Subedar by one version or NarayanRao Bhagwat by other version.



Documents

Ramachandra Pandurang Tope