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INCREDIBLE TOURISM
Chhattisgarh Travel
The
Marathas attacked Chhattisgarh in 1741 and destroyed the Haihaya power. in 1745
AD after conquering the region, they deposed Raghunathsinghji, the last surviving
member of the Ratanpur house. in 1758, the Maraths finally annexed Chhattisgarh,
it came directly under Maratha rule and Bimbaji Bhonsle, was appointed the rule.
After death of Bimbaji Bhonsle, the Marathas adopted the Suba system. The Maratha
rule was a period of unrest and misrule. There was large-scale loot and plunder
by the Maratha army. The Maratha officials were openly surrendering the interests
of the region to the British. As a result of this, the region became extremely
poor and the people began resenting the Maratha rule. Only the Gonds continued
to resist and challenge the advances of the Marathas and this led to several
conflicts and much animosity between the Gonds and the Marathas (Captain Blunt,
1975). The Pindaris also attacked and plundered the region in the beginning
of the Nineteenth Century.
The
First war of independence in 1857 was spearheaded in Chhattisgarh by Vir Narain
Singh who was a benevolent jamindar of Sonakhan. The British arrested him in
1856 for looting a trader's grain stocks and distributing it amongst the poor
in a severe famine year. in 1857 with the help of the solders of the British
Army at Raipur, Vir Narain Singh escaped form prison. He reached Sonakhan and
formed an army of 500 men. Under the leadership of Smith, a powerful British
army was dispatched to crush the Sonakhan army. The British succeeded after
a prolonged battle and Vir Narain Singh was arrested and later hanged on the
10th December, 1857. He became the first martyr from Chhattisgarh in the War
of independence. Vir Narain Singh's martyrdom has been resurrected in the 1980's
and he has become a potent symbol of Chhattisgarhi pride.
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