Yogiindia at 14:33, 22 March 2026

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{{Short description|Raja of Husseypur in India}}
[[File:Maharaja Fateh Bahadur Sahi.jpg|thumb|Maharaja Fateh Bahadur Shahi]]
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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
'''Maharaja Fateh Bahadur Shahi''' was 99th Raja of [[Hathwa Raj]] situated in today's [[Gopalganj district, India|Gopalganj district]] of [[Bihar]] in [[India]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2017-05-03 |title=HATHWA |url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/h/hathwa.html |access-date=2024-03-06 |archive-date=3 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503223147/http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/h/hathwa.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> He relentlessly pursued his objective of driving them out for nearly three decades while waging a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against the British. The British used all of their might and resources to oppose him.<ref name="Vignettes from an age of war" />
He belonged to the [[Baghochia|Baghochia clan]] of [[Bhumihar Brahmin|Bhumihar]]s<ref name="YangYang1998">{{cite book|author1=Anand A. Yang|author2=Professor and Chair and Professor Golub Professor of International Studies Anand A Yang|title=Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Bihar|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xa8wDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA192|year=1998|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-21100-1|pages=192–193}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lethbridge |first=Roper |url=http://archive.org/details/goldenbookofindi00lethuoft/page/257/mode/1up |title=The golden book of India, a genealogical and biographical dictionary of the ruling princes, chiefs, nobles, and other personages, titled or decorated, of the Indian empire |date=1893 |publisher=London Macmillan |others=Robarts - University of Toronto |pages=257}}</ref> which controlled the Huseypur Estate, from which descended the Tamkuhi Raj of the [[Kushinagar]] district of [[Uttar Pradesh]] and the Hathwa Raj of [[Gopalganj district, India|Gopalganj district]].<ref name="Vignettes from an age of war">{{Cite news |last1=Sinha |first1=J. N. |date=21 May 2011 |title=Vignettes from an age of war |newspaper=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/vignettes-from-an-age-of-war/article2037700.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116005242/https://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/vignettes-from-an-age-of-war/article2037700.ece |access-date=16 November 2023 |archive-date=16 November 2023 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>

In the latter part of the sixteenth century, the [[Bhumihar Brahmin|Bhumihar]] line's descendants settled in Kalyanpur Kuari pargana in the northwest While Some Hathwa chronicles confirm that by the early seventeenth century, the line had gained enough prominence for the eighty-seventh raja to be bestowed with the titles of "'''Shahi'''" and "'''Maharaja Bahadur'''" by the Mughal Emperor [[Jahangir]] (1605-1627). This was due to the family's increasing authority coupled with the king's growing wealth and power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yang |first=Anand A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck4jmD7H34UC&pg=PA59 |title=The Limited Raj Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920 |publisher=University of California Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780520057111 |location=United States |pages=59}}</ref> After this the kings of his ancestry were acknowledged with those Honorific titles.

==Rebellion against the British==
{{See also|1781 revolt in Bihar}}
He collaborated with [[Mir Qasim]], who continued to provide military support to him in his battles against the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] Emperor from [[Munger|Monghyr]] to [[Buxar district|Buxar]] in Bihar; he opposed the Dewani powers that the British had gained over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa as a result of the [[Treaty of Allahabad]] in 1765.<ref name=":0" />

Fateh Shahi Along with the rulers of Dileepnagar Estate and Rajas of [[Bettiah Raj|Bettiah]] waged a 20 year guerilla war against the British [[East India Company]] from 1767 onwards.<ref name="Maharatna2007">{{cite journal | title=Explaining Chait Singh's Revolt in Bihar (1781): The Role of the Refractory Bihar Zamindars| author= Paramita Maharatna | journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume = 68| year=2007 | pages= 565–572|jstor = 44147866}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The British reached a compromise with the Bettiah after which he continued on his own.<ref name=":0" /> He was swiftly deposed after this and fled into the forests with his followers where he waged a [[Guerrilla warfare|guerilla war]] against the Britishers. The rulers of Dileepnagar Estate helped Fateh Bahadur from backstage in guerilla war against the Britishers.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVmaEAAAQBAJ&dq=fateh+bahadur+sahi&pg=PT92 | isbn=979-8-88833-371-6 | title=Brahmins Who Refused to Beg: Brief History of Bhumihars, "Ayachak" Brahmins of East India) | date=12 November 2022 | publisher=Notion Press }}</ref><ref name="YangYang1989">{{cite book|author1=Anand A. Yang|author2=Professor and Chair and Professor Golub Professor of International Studies Anand A Yang|title=The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ck4jmD7H34UC&pg=PA67|date=1 January 1989|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05711-1|pages=63–68}}</ref> In 1772, he marched into Huseypur and killed Govind Ram who was appointed as the revenue farmer for the East India Company. In spite of this the company continued to try and bring Fateh Shahi into their fold as he held much influence among the zamindars however he refused all such offers.

By 1775, the British had been experiencing many problems in the region,<ref name="YangYang1989" /> so the British then designated Mir Jamal as their superintendent of the Huseypur revenue.<ref name="Vignettes from an age of war" /> The East India Company promised his cousin Babu Basant Sahi the throne if he would capture or kill him.<ref name=":0" /> Basant Sahi had been placed as the ruler of Huseypur by the EIC but Fateh Shahi once again marched into Huseypur at night with a thousand [[cavalry]]men on May 3 in response to reports that the enemy was camped at Jadopur, close to Huseypur, and arrived at the enemy camp just before daybreak. After murdering his cousin Basant Sahi and Mir Jamal in the ensuing violent battle, he fled into woods.<ref name="Vignettes from an age of war" /> Even though two companies of [[sepoy]]s were stationed in the neighborhood to keep an eye on him, this nonetheless transpired. After Basant Sahi's head was severed, it was given to his widow. The Widow together with 13 of his aides, whose husbands also perished in the fight, committed [[Sati (practice)|sati]].<ref name="Vignettes from an age of war" />

His repeated incursions had crippled revenue collection in the area and exposed the weakness of British control in the locality.<ref name="YangYang1989" /> In 1777, after many successes, he marched on to the Company's barrack / military station, gained control of it and placed his own men in charge.<ref name="YangYang1989" /> In response, the British destroyed his fort and they noted that he had caused even more problems for them than the [[Peshwas]] in [[Maharashtra]].<ref name="Pandey2000">{{cite journal | title=Truth Fears No Test| author= Manager Pandey | journal=Indian Literature |volume = 44| year=2000 | issue= 1 (195) | pages= 12–23|jstor = 23342974}}</ref> Following the rebellion of [[Maharaja Chait Singh|Chait Singh]] of [[Benares state]] in 1781 he renewed his campaign against the Britishers or in other words the [[East India Company]].<ref name="Maharatna2007" />
[[Maharaja Chait Singh|Raja Chait Singh]] of Banaras attempted to use the anti-British riots in [[Bihar]] during his insurrection in August 1781. He supported his relative Fateh Shahi in his mission to assassinate the British and their sepoys. The zamindars of [[Padrauna]] and Narrowneys, along with the raja of Bansgaon Estate (Dileepnagar Estate), the rajas of Huseypur and [[Majhauli Raj|Majhauli]], formed a formidable alliance. Fateh Shahi had covert support from a number of [[Saran district|Saran]] zamindars. They raised a force of 20,000 men at Munjoora in October, and they pillaged and took control of the Company's military outpost at [[Baragaon, Varanasi|Baragaon]], which had been set there to repress Fateh. Fearing for his life, [[Saran district|Saran]] Collector Grome turned to the anti-Fateh group inside the royal family, led by Dhujju Singh, a close friend and protector of Basant's younger son, for assistance. Together, they forced Fateh to flee into the jungle after engaging in a violent battle with him. His fort in Huseypur was destroyed. [[Warren Hastings]] at [[Banaras]] called for Dhujju as a reward, and he was adorned with a gold cloth [[Khelat (Battle honour)|khelat]]. But out of fear of a widespread uprising against them in the area, the British dared not punish a single one of Fateh's supporters.<ref name="Vignettes from an age of war" />

The rebellion led by him along with others were eventually defeated and the Britishers reasserted their rule in Bihar after his forces were defeated in the battle.<ref name="Saha78">{{cite journal | title=The Revolt of Raja Chait Singh and its repercussions in Oudh and Bihar | author= D.N Saha | journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume = 39| year=1978 | pages= 740–744|jstor = 44139419}}</ref> He later established [[Tamkuhi Raj Assembly constituency|Tamkuhi Raj]] approximately 109 kilometers from Husseypur, northeast of modern-day [[Kushinagar district|Kushinagar]] within the Kingdom of [[Oudh State|Oudh]], seeing the growing influence and power of the [[East India Company]]. Maharaja Fateh Shahi changed his tactics and around 1789, he ceased his rebellious ways and handed the administration of the state to his sons .<ref name=":0" />

==Legacy==
Fateh Shahi's rebellion against the [[East India Company]] was the first of many rebellions against the Britishers in [[Bihar]] and [[India]] and the soon after that was followed by the [[Indian rebellion of 1857|1857 rebellion]]. The saga of his struggle and fight against [[East India Company]] is described in the poem ''Meer Jamal Vadh''.<ref name=Pandey2000 />

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:18th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:People from Gopalganj district, India]]

Fateh Bahadur Sahi - Revision history

Yogiindia at 14:33, 22 March 2026