Dhanteras is celebrated to pay obeisance to Goddess Lakshmi. But Kota, now known for its coaching institutes, experienced a different Dhanteras in 1857.
Those were the days of India’s First War of Independence. The British East India Company had its military cantonments at Naseerabad, Deoli, Kota, Neemuch (now in Madhya Pradesh), Beawar, Erinoura and Kherwada in Rajasthan.
The revolt started in Naseerabad on May 28, 1857. Kota was calm at that time. Hence, the British authorities decided to send some troops from there to Neemuch in June 1857. Major Burton, the political agent of the Governor General at Kota, went with the contingent.
After accomplishing the mission, Burton returned to Kota on October 12, 1857. But the British officers sensed something undesirable in the air. The next day, he visited the palace and suggested that the king remove some officers from service as their loyalty was suspect. It fuelled the fire burning in the hearts of soldiers. October 15, 1857 was the auspicious day of Dhanteras. The information that the political agent has instructed the ruler to remove some Indian officers triggered the fire and the soldiers revolted under the leadership of Lala Jaydayal and Mehrab Khan.
Revolutionaries surrounded the official residence of the political agent, the Residency Bungalow. Civilians also joined them. Guards of the bungalow could not establish control over the crowd which rushed upstairs with sword in hands.
The angry soldiers killed Major Burton and mangled his two sons. When the revolutionaries came to know that the king was trying to get help from the British, they kept the ruler in house arrest. The city was taken over by the revolutionaries and Lala Jaidayal was made in charge of the administration. Thus, the goddess of freedom was worshipped in Kota, instead of the goddess of wealth, on Dhanteras in 1857.
Rest is history. The city remained under the control of revolutionaries for six months. The British troops dislodged them on March 30, 1858.
Lala Jaidayal and Mehrab Khan escaped. But the greed of a man named Laliya led to the arrest of Lala Jaidayal. He was given the death penalty on September 17, 1860 and was hanged on the same premises where Major Burton was killed. Mehrab Khan also met with the same fate.
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