Many of us, who are familiar with India’s capital, must have used the nation’s main international airport, Indira Gandhi International, at some point or the other. En route from the airport to the centre of the capital is a long and famous road, Rao Tula Ram Marg (‘Marg’ being the Hindi for street). Situated on this road is one of New Delhi’s finer higher education institutions, Rao Tula Ram University. All this begs the question, ‘who is this Rao Tula Ram?’ -------------------------------------------- ----- Rao Tula Ram was one of the great leaders of the Indian Uprising of 1857 against the colonial British forces. His story is one of rebellion and guerrilla warfare against the stronger and better-equipped imperialist forces of the British Army. He was born on 9 December 1825 in the well known Rao family in village Rampura in the district of Rewari (a two-hour drive south-west of New Delhi), in what is now Haryana. His father was Puran and his mothers name was Gyan. He was educated according to the then prevalent customs and he knew Persian, Urdu, Hindi and a small amount of English. In November 1839, Rao Tula Ram ascended the throne on the death of his father.In 1857, on hearing the news of rebellion at Meerut and other places, the people of the Rewari rose up in revolt. In the Rewari area, lead was given by Rao Tula Ram. His cousin Gopal Dev also stood by him. The forefathers of the Raos had helped the Marathas in 1803 in their fight against the British and as a result when the latter came out successful in the struggle, the British confiscated their land and gave instead an ‘istamarari’, or grant, of about 58 villages. This was a great blow to the Raos which shattered their position and made them unhappy with British Raj.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 04:22:48 +0000
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