Raja ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested f ...

Veer Fateh Bahadur Shahi was Raja of Huseypur Raj which is situated in today's Gopalganj district of

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. He belonged to the Baghochia clan of

Bhumihar Brahmin Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal. The Bhumihars claim Brahmin statu ...

s which controlled the Husseypur Estate, from which descended the Tamkuhi Raj and salemgarh estate of the

Kushinagar Kushinagar ( Hindustani: or ; Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is a town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is an important and popular Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha attained ''parinirvana''. Etym ...

district of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

and the Hathwa Raj of Gopalganj district.

Rebellion against the British

Fateh Shahi with the rulers of Dileepnagar Estate waged a 20 year guerilla war against the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

from 1767 onwards. He was swiftly deposed after this and fled into the forests with his followers where he waged a guerilla war against the Britishers.The rulers of Dileepnagar Estate helped Fateh Bahadur Sahi from backstage in guerilla war against the Britishers 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 and taking advantage of this, Fateh Shahi once again marched into Huseypur and killed his cousin, Basant Sahi who had been placed as the ruler of Huseypur by the EIC. His repeated incursions had crippled revenue collection in the area and exposed the weakness of British control in the locality. In 1777, after many successes, he marched on to the Company's Bairakh / military station, gained control of it and placed his own men in charge. In response, the British destroyed his fort and they noted that he had caused even more problems for them than the

Peshwas The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later ...

in Maharashtra. Following the rebellion of Chait Singh of

Benares state Benares or Banaras State was a kingdom and later princely state in what is today Uttar Pradesh, India. On 15 October 1948, Benares' last ruler signed the accession to the Indian Union. The state was founded by the local zamindar, Raja Balw ...

in 1781 he renewed his campaign against the Britishers or in other words the

. 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.

Legacy

Fateh Shahi's rebellion against the

was the first of many rebellions against the Britishers in

and

and the soon after that was followed by the

1857 rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...

. The saga of his struggle and fight against

is described in the poem ''Meer Jamal Vadh''.

References

{{reflist 18th-century Indian people History of Bihar People from Gopalganj district, India