Matadin Valmiki was an Indian freedom fighter who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the

Indian rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. He was a

Valmiki Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि, ) is celebrated as the wikt:harbinger, harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic ''Ramayana'', dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on ...

worker in a cartridge manufacturing unit of

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 Southea ...

. He was the first person who sowed seeds of the 1857 revolt.

History

According to historical narratives, Matadin was a worker in a Cartridge manufacturing unit of East India Company. He was employed there as during those times working with leathers and skin of dead animals was considered as the occupation of low castes. The orthodox upper caste

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s used to consider them as "impure". One day

Mangal Pandey Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857. He was a sepoy (infantryman) in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment of the British East In ...

, a soldier in the company's service was asked for water by Matadin but due to age old belief of touching a low caste person as "polluting", he refused. Matadin thus made him realise that it is paradoxical that he is proud of his birth in a high

Caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

family, but still he bites the cartridges which are made up of the fat of cows and pigs with his mouth. This propelled both

as well as

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

soldiers of the company to raise the banner of revolt as, while the cow was considered as sacred for

s, the pigs were forbidden for Muslims. According to

Subaltern Subaltern may refer to: *Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power * Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer * Subalternation, going from a univer ...

historians as well as

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

activists, he should be recognised as the real face behind the revolt of 1857. This is because he was the person who made Mangal Pandey aware of the fact that their religious sentiments are being hurt knowingly or unknowingly by the British. Thus, he was first person who sowed seeds of the 1857 revolt.

Legacy

In 2015, Meerut Municipal Corporation named Hapur Adda crossing at Meerut as ''Shaheed Matadin Chowk'' as a tribute to him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhangi, Matadin 1857 deaths Barrackpore Revolutionaries of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Prisoners and detainees of British India

History

Legacy

See also

References