Nana Sahib

Nana Sahib (nä`nä sä`hĭb), b. c.1821, leader in the Indian Mutiny, his real name was Dhundu Pant. The adopted son of the last peshwa (hereditary prime minister) of the Marathas, his request (1853) to the British to grant him the peshwa's title and pension was refused. In the outbreak (June, 1857) of the mutiny at Cawnpore (Kanpur) his men massacred the British garrison and colony. After suppression of the rebellion, he escaped to Nepal, where he probably died.

Bibliography

See P. C. Gupta, Nana Sahib and the Rising at Cawnpore (1963).

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Nana Sahib 

Born about 1824; year of death unknown. One of the leaders of the Indian Popular Uprising of 1857–59 (Sepoy Mutiny).

Nana Sahib was the foster son of a Maratha peshwa (chief minister), who was the recipient of a pension from the English East India Company. After the death of the peshwa in 1851, the company refused to continue payments to Nana Sahib. Having joined the insurgents, Nana Sahib proclaimed himself peshwa in June 1857, establishing his power in the city of Kanpur and the surrounding district. He fought the colonialists in a number of major battles. In mid-July 1857 he suffered defeat at Kanpur and retreated to Oudh. After the major centers of the uprising were suppressed, Nana Sahib hid in the jungles of northern India. His subsequent fate is unknown.