Revolting (historically) against the Rajas.. "Shah Mal and 26 leaders who were hanged on a banyan tree close to the village will be remembered.
it was a mutiny of sepoys which spread to former rulers of northern India. ..of the many forgotten accounts of peasants and commoners, who were an essential part of the rebellion, the widespread extent of peasant participation, .. the rebels were hanged, and their lands were confiscated, auctioned off and redistributed among those who were loyal. The villages that the British declared as baagi were the ones that had fought for independence, and which later faced heavy reprisals when the British regained control of the territories. ..records of 1858 sheds light on how the British attacked villages in Meerut. "The principal villages were successfully surrounded, a little after daybreak, by different parties told of. A considerable number of the men were killed; 40 taken prisoners, 40 of whom were consequently hung…." "But, the role of the peasantry in the uprising has been glossed over by bourgeois historians," ..known as sepoys, set off a rebellion against the British rule in 1857, often referred to as the first war of independence. Ordinary farmers took up arms to support them in the fight against the British, but their contribution has been largely forgotten." # Jai Guru You. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <dhamiltony...@yahoo.com> wrote : An important component of the 1857 uprising were the "thousands of spontaneous peasants' jacqueries [revolt] all over northern India," writes cultural historian Sumanta Banerjee, in his book http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40528129 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40528129
