Exhibition of rare documents on ‘1857 in Madhya Pradesh’

By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net

Bhopal : The Bharatiya Janata Party ruled Government of Madhya Pradesh in collaboration with the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi has organised an Exhibition of Rare Documents on '1857 in Madhya Pradesh', on the occasion of the 150th Anniversary of the First War of Independence.
    
According to an official Press release the exhibition was inaugurated by Prof. S.S. Bhattacharya, Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research at IIC Annexe Art Gallery in New Delhi. On the occasion, the book titled 'Relics of 1857-Madhya Pradesh was also released by Prof. Bhattacharya. The author of the book is Pankaj Rag, Commissioner Archaeology Govt. of Madhya Pradesh.
    
The Exhibition will remain open between 11.00 am and 7.00 pm daily till 31st July 2007 at Art Gallery, IIC Annexe here.
    
Despite being centres of widespread uprising and warfare, the areas of Madhya Pradesh have received relatively little attention in the historiography of 1857. The exhibition is an attempt to bring to light the whole arena of visions of participants and issues within the cultural and political ethos of the time and the varieties of actions by different groups during 1857 in Madhya Pradesh. Despite the rulers being loyalists in many places, there were significant uprisings by smaller chieftains as well as by the common masses.
    
Along with the well known names like Rani Laxmi Bai and Tatya Tope, we must also remember men like Sadat Khan and Bhagirath Silawat of Indore, Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah of Jabalpur, Avanti Bai of Ramgarh, Bakht Bali of Shahgarh, Mardan Singh of Banpur, Bakhtawar Singh of Amjhera, Farzand Ali of Ajaigarh, Ranmat Singh of Mankahri, Deshpat Bundela of Chhatarpur, Kishore Singh of Hindoria, Adil Mohammad and Fazil Mohammad of Ambapani, Daulat Singh Kachhwaha of Damoh, Bodhan Dana of Shahgarh and the valuable contribution of tribals like Khazya Nayak and Bhima Nayak to name just a few.
    
Rare documents related to 1857 available in the Archives of the Directorate of Archaeology, Archives and Museums have been displayed, which were selected from the records of Central Provinces and Berar, Princely States of Gwalior, Indore and Bhopal kept in the State Archives Bhopal. They are in English, Bundeli, Marathi, Urdu and Persian languages and some are in Modi script, Photographs of important personalities and those which portray various events related to the Uprising have also been exhibited, the release said.
    
Folk songs are important alternative sources that reveal various facets of popular mentality during 1857. Some of them have  been put up in this exhibition, the release added. ([email protected])