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Sengar are a clan of Rajputs mainly found in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh states of India.
THE LAST REPUBLIC OF THE HINDUS
Many proofs have come to light of the existence, in the distance past, of the republican form of Government in India, and in fact is now so well established that it is not in the least necessary to enumerate them here. There were many republics in India about the beginning of the Buddhistic Period- particularly in several of those tribal areas which surround the birth -place of the great man- Siddarth Gautama, the Buddha (The Enlightened one). But to most of the readers of this article it will come as an agreeable discovery to learn that a republic existed in India till less than 150 years ago. This, however, has really been the case. It was the republic of Lakhnesar and was founded in the thirteenth century of the Christian era by a heroic little band of Sengar Rajputs who had fled from the irresitable onslaught of the Mohamedans. It lasted for about 500 years. This land now forms the pargana of the Ballia district of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, but the bulk of it- 83 per cent, according to the 1907 Gazetter of the district- is still owned and held by the Sengars in the bhaiyachara (literally brotherhood) form of tenure. Let us here reproduce a few lines from the “Gazetter” of the district. ………..”Among the earliest Rajput immigrants were the Sengars.” (Page 140) “Their history is remarkable, for at all times they were renowned for their strength and courage, but on no occasion do they seem to have had a common Raja, the republican nature of their institutions being illustrated by the fact that the 537 mahals into which the pargana (Lakhnesar) is now divided are all held in bhaiyachara tenure. Nevertheless their union was so complete that the Sengars were the only clan who preserved their property rights intact.” (Page 228) “The democratic sprit was not so strong in the case of the clans in other parganas.” (Page 87……………………….
At any rate Lakhnesar was not the first republic of the Sengars, who now represent the ‘Singhoe’ mentioned by the Greek author and ambassador Megasthenes as being one of the people “which are free, have no Kingh and occupy mountain heights where they have built many cities.” These ‘Singhoe’ cannot but have been the Sengars of Bandhu (Rewah) and Kalinjar, which, according to the traditions of the clan, were among its strongholds in the remote past.
Sengar’s code of government was very simple. They taxed the agricultural and the mercantile communities for the use of their land. Priest, village workmen and menials rendered services in lieu of lands held by them. The Sengars in return took upon themselves all responsibility for the government and defence of the country. Justice was cheap, instantaneous and easy to obtain and was in most cases administered by village or caste panchayats, the Sengar elders only interfering in big or complicated cases.
Ordinarily all the routine work of government was attended to by elderly Sengars but in time of war each and every male member of the brotherhood capable of bearing arms deemed it his duty to render military service in the defence of the country. There was no age limit. None but Sengars were liable to a call to arms. They always kept themselves militarily prepared and every third year in the month of Baisakh (Vaisakha) all able-bodied Sengars, duly armed and accounted, met in thousands for a general inspection by the elders of the clan of the combined armed strength of the brotherhood The meeting place was generally the town of Rasar, to which they had removed the capital,and which has ever since been the ‘headquarters’ of the clan in this part of the country. (Vide Imperial Gazetter) While there, they indulged in diverse sorts of many sports and soldierly performances. Spectators from the neighbouring tribal area also flocked to Rasra in large numbers to witness this triennial military Vrihat-Sammelana of the Sengars and returned to their homes vividly impressed with the unity and strength of the clan.
When they went to Rasra for the Sammelana they had not to report themselves at the door of any particular person there, because they were all brothers and therefore all equal, but encamped themselves round the shrine of Shri Nath Ji, a deified hero of the Sengar clan, whose original name was Amar Singh and who is still worshipped by the Sengars of Lakhnesar……………
In Akbar’s time Lakhnesar paid a light annual tribute of about Rs 3165, but unlike other tribal area of the country, furnished no military contingent; – vide Ain-i-Akbari. “The administrative arrangement of Akbar’s time appear to have remained unchanged till 1722, and for the intervening period the history of the district is a complete blank………..As in former times the Rajputs of this district appear to have been left to themselves.” (Gazetteer of Ballia District, 1907)
In 1722 Saadat Ali Khan became the Governor of Oudh. He was the first Nawab Vazir of Oudh. He and his successors did much to destroy the power of the Rajputs of this part of the country, but with varying success. The later were never completely subjugated and Muhammad Ali Khan, the last representative but one of the Oudh Government, about 1754, had to be recalled because of his "inability to deal with the Rajput population.”
From 1761 to 1781 Raja Balwant Singh of Benares held this part of the country as a feudatory, first of Oudh and then of the East India Company. He also adopted the policy of destroyong the power of the Rajputs. On several occasions they offered resistance to Balwant Singh, but in only one case were their efforts successful. This exception to the general rule was provided by the Sengar republicans of Lakhnesar, who not only treated his demands with contempt but adopted an attitude of open hostility and attacked and pillaged his treasuries.
“The Raja, incensed at the sprit they displayed, conducted a large force into the heart of their fastness,” and attacked their capital, Rasra. In vain did they ask him to reconsider his decision and save them the great sin of staining their hands with Brahman blood. He was determined and ordered attack after attack."
In spite of the inequality of the fight, the Sengars fought like lions and smashed all the attacks. They knew that their very existance as free men was at stake and were therefore very desperate. Their ladies also stood heroically by them and many of them burnt themselves alive with their fallen husbands. Hundreds of sati monuments sacred to the memory of the heroines surround the large tank near the shrine of Shri Amar Nathji at Rasra down to the present day……………..
“The issue of this famous fight was gratifying to the brave clan, and has been subject of exultation among their descendants down to the present time. The Raja was obliged to agree to a compromise and permitted the Sengars to retain their estates on the payment of a small revenue.The fruit of their bravery in conspicuously seen now that the country is under the British, for the amount of land revenue annually paid by the Sengars, settled in accordance with the original agreement made with Raja Balwant Singh, now only nine annas or thirteen pence half penny per acre, the lowest sum paid in the whole of Benares province excepting the hill people in the Mirzapore district.” (Sherring’s “Hindu Caste and Tribes.” 1872 Edn.)
The annual payment fixed was Rs 20,501, and the Sengars were guarantees the right “to manage it in their own fashion. They had their own revenue collector, and the distribution of the demand was effected by themselves without any interference on the part of the Government.” (Gazetteer of Ballia District, 1907)
The amount then fixed has remained unchanged unto this day and works out to “a rate which does not now exceed eight annas per bigha of cultivation.” (Ibid)
The Sengars maintained the internal independence of Lakhnesar almost unimpaired down to the early years of British rule which began in 1781 and “When Me Duncan (appointed Resident in 1787) assumed control of Benares, the Sengars were considered the most independent and troublesome of all the subjects of the Company.” (Ibid) Dr. Wilton Oldham in his ‘Statistical Memoirs of the Gazipur District’ put it thus: ”Before the establishment of the British authority the Sengars of Lakhnesar had managed to establish for themselves an unrivalled reputation for their courage, independence and insubordination. This reputation they preserved unimpaired during the first year of our administration.”
In 1788 the British Government abolished certain market and other dues which the Sengars used to realize in their chief town Rasra and they were prepared, “to resist the order by force till a compromise was suggested by the merchants **** whereby the ground rents (which had not been interfered with by Government and are still realized) were raised by one-half.” (Gazetteer of Ballia District, 1907.) That the merchants came to their rescue at such a critical juncture proves beyond doubt that the rule of the Sengars had been popular and that the inhabitants in general were, on the whole, sympathetic with and well inclined to the brave clan under whose protection they had for centuries lived in peace and plenty and had known practically no outside interference with their internal affairs.
In 1793 Me Ducan made a tour of Lakhnesar. The Sengars were not much used to such tours and saw in it the thin end of the wedge. They, therefore, attacked his body-guards. He was, however, a master breaker of men to harness and knew how to deal with them. The offence was condoned and the fiscal arrangement entered into with Balwant Singh was permitted to continue, the entire pargana being settled with their Chaudhris or headmen “as the undivided estate of the whole clan.” And undivided it had always been in spite of the governing clan numbering thousands, because it was founded as a State and not as an Estate.
Somehow or other, in 1796, Lakhnesar fell into arrears, and in 1798 the Collector of Benares had to proceed against the Sengars with a military force. In 1801 the first detailed settlement of Lakhnesar was made at Rs. 40,738. The enhanced revenue was, however never paid, with the result that the pargana was sold to the Raja of Benares. He made several attempts to gain possession by means of “a semi-military force” and to accomplish what his famous grandsire had failed in, but with no better results. In 1802 the sale had to be cancelled and old Lakhnesar was once more restored to the Sengars. A settlement was carried out again and the original demand of Rs 20,501 was maintained with the deduction of Rs 1,653 on account of nankar and the salary of a separate revenue establishment.
In 1841 Lakhnesar’s privilege of maintaining its own Tahsildar and Sarish-tadar as distinct from the Government revenue establishment of the district was withdrawn, the duties being performed by the Government Tahsildar and Qanungo of Rasra. In this way the Sengar Rajputs, who had founded the little republic of Lakhnesar and administered and protected it for centuries, became ordinary Zamindars. They still hold about 83 per cent of the pargana of Lakhnesar.
Lakhnesar’s struggle for existence was tragic and protracted, but the Sengars of Lakhnesar have nothing to be ashamed of in the way in which their brave ancestors acquitted themselves. They acted their part well, and as poet Alexander has said.”Honour and shame from no condition rise; Act well your part, there all the honour lies.” So all honour to those really great souls.
Nath Baba
Popularly known as Nath Baba. “He is represented as a guardian deity, interfering in various ways, and with constant success, on behalf of his votaries. Their successful resistance to the Rajas of Benares, and the restoration of the pargana to them by the English Government, are regarded as instances of the power and influence of Nath Baba. ****** His shrine is supported, among other offerings, by the voluntary contribution of one pie in the rupee on the Government revenue of pargana Lakhnesar. The Zamindars, indeed, were willing to have this recorded and made a legal claim upon them, but the Government declined to have anything to do with its collection or legal recognition, and it continues to be a voluntary offering.” (N.W.P. & Oudh Census Report, 1891, Part I, page 240)
There is a group of 84 villages are called Chaurasi in which all the villages have Sengar thakurs in majority. It is in District Aligarh and Hathras (Uttar Pradesh).
Some of the Sengar rajputs are also in Haswa in Fatehpur district(78 KM from Kanpur).
Status of Sengar ruling families in the year 1921
Category:Rajput clans Category:Social groups of Uttar Pradesh Category:Rajput clans of Uttar Pradesh Category:Khatri clans
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