Turrebaz Khan Freedom Fighter

Turrebaz Khan Freedom Fighter 

When Afzal-ud-dowlah became the fifth Nizam on 18th May, 1857 he did not know 
about the outbreak of the rebellion amongst the Indian soldiers against the British in 
the North a week earlier. While the ‘Mutiny’ as it was called was wide-spread and was 
strongly backed by the Marathas, it did not acquire adequate support in Hyderabad. 
Part of the reason for that was the traditional animosity between the Nizam and the 
Marathas since the days of the first Nizam who had advised his successor in his will 
not to trust the Marathas. By June, 1857 the anti-British sentiment penetrated 
Hyderabad and inflammatory placards appeared all over the city exhorting people, 
specially Muslims , to rise in the name of God and his Prophet. 

 They ridiculed Nizam for not coming forward and warned him and his Dewan, Salar 
Jung I that if they did not join the movement, they would be over thrown. 

They asked moulvis to issue fatwas in favour of their ‘jehad’, threatening them with a 
curse on their progeny if they did not do so. The Nizam was urged to march to Delhi 
after doing away with Christians in Hyderabad. 

The Resident, Col. Davidson was advised by his friends and well-wishers to either 
leave Hyderabad or take refuge in the cantonment at Bolarum. He brushed these 
suggestions aside and said that he would stick to his job. He also warned that the 
British government would hold the Nizam responsible if any harm came to him. 
However, he took precautions to strengthen the defenses of the Residency. 

Reports about the disaffection spreading amongst the Indian soldiers of the Hyderabad 
Contingent stationed at Secunderabad were also received by him. A moulvi was 
caught preaching the doctrine of ‘jehad’ amongst the Indian troops. 

There was an uprising amongst the Indian troops of Hyderabad Contingent on their 
way to Aurangabad. The troops refused to go further fearing that they would be asked 
to the North to fight against their fellow Indian soldiers. This uprising was overcome 
tactfully and a number of soldiers were arrested, put on court-martial, and given 
deterrent punishments including execution and transportation. 

In July, 1857 when the Imam rose to deliver his Friday khutba in the Mecca Masjid, he 
was heckled by some members of the congregation. The crowd was about to break 
into a riot but the kotwal managed to arrest the ring leaders and also make good his 
own escape. Salar Jung sent a message to the Resident that the trouble had been 
nipped in the bud. 

Later in the afternoon, an urgent message came from Salar Jung warning the Resident 
that some 500 Rohillas had broken loose from the walled city. They were lead by 
Moulvi Alauddin and Turrebaz Khan and were followed by a large mob. They were 
headed for the Residency. The Resident had already taken precautions to defend it. 
The rebels occupied two buildings near the Residency belonging to two merchants, Jai 


Gopal Das and Akbar Saheb. When the insurgents attacked the Residency, they were 
met with a volley of canon fire which continued till dawn. Unable to face this 
onslaught the Rohillas withdrew under the cover of darkness leaving behind four 
bodies of their comrades. The uprising thus came to an end. 

The leaders of the rebellion, Turrebaz Khan and Moulvi Alauddin were declared 
offenders. A prize of 5,000 rupees each was announced for their capture. Both of 
them were captured. Turrebaz Khan was sentenced to life. Trying to escape while 
under arrest, he was shot dead by English soldiers. His body was brought to the city 
and hung by chains in a public place to serve as a deterrent to the people at large. 
Moulvi Alauddin was captured in Bangalore and transported for life to Andaman 
Islands where he died in 1884. 

It is said that it was Hyderabad which saved the British from extinction India. A 
nervous telegram of the Governor of Bombay to the Resident said that “if Hyderabad 
goes, everything goes”. The rebellion fizzled out because it was not properly 
organized or led. It proved to be a flash in the Pan. 

The disaffection against the English manifested itself in other places too. There is the 
tragic story of the rebellion of Raja Venkatappa Naik of Shorapur in which the 
astrological prediction about the death of the Raja made to Col. Meadows Taylor 
confidentially 20 years before the event found its fulfillment. When Taylor was the 
regent at Shorapur, a pundit had shown him the horoscope of the infant prince and 
gave his prediction that he would die in his 24th year and his estate would be 
forfeited. At that time Taylor simply laughed it off and in course of time even forgot 
about it. The young boy had been brought up by Taylor and had shown promise of 
becoming a good ruler of his estate, and loyal to the British. But he was abetted by 
his tribe of Beydurs, who attacked a small force of the English sent to reinforce 
Captain Campbell's garrison. This attack was repulsed and thereupon the Raja fled to 
Hyderabad. For his part in the rebellion, the Raja was sentenced to death. 

On Taylor's appeal, the Resident, in the maximum exercise of his authority, 
commuted it to transportation for life. On further consideration the Governor-General 
reduced it to confinement for four years. The Raja's wives celebrated this show of 
mercy by the English, and, since he was permitted to keep them with him, they made 
ready to join him. However, the Raja after only one day's journey towards his 
destination, shot himself dead. 

The gloomy predictions of the astrologer of Shorepur was thus fulfilled. 


Raja Venkatappa Nayaka
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Surapur (or Shorapur) in the present Gulbarga district was ruled by Beda Nayakas who had given tough resistance to Aurangzeb. The British appointed Philip Meadows Taylor(famous writer) as its Resident and Regent when the ruler there died, leaving a young prince Venkatappa. Venkatappa Nayaka was educated in English and Taylor had endeared himself to the prince, who addressed Taylor as “appa”.

When the prince started his personal rule, being well educated, he felt the British overlordship very irritating. He was in his early 20s and had sent an agent to Peshwa Nanasaheb in December 1857. The British had reports that Venkatappa Nayak was planning to revolt on August 8, 1858, and was trying to encourage the British Regiments at Kolhapur (27th), Dharwad (28th) and Belgaum (29th) to revolt. Two agents trying to sow seeds of dissension in Belgaum army had been identified on February 2, 1858, and they were dispatched by Venkatappa Nayaka and the Jamkhandi Raja, it was reported. Venkatappa had recruited large number of Arabs and Rohillas. Capt. Malcolm posted a contingent at a village near Surapur and another battalion was posted at Sindhanur.

Campbell was sent to Surapur by Malcolm to advise young Venkatappa, who was only evasive in his replies. On February 7, British army near Surapur was attacked and many soldiers were killed by Venkatappa’s men. The next day, the British attacked Surapur fort, and the army from Madras led by Col. Hues was also summoned. Venkatappa’s men attacked the Surapur fort killing many British soldiers.

But Surapur did not have much force to face the huge British army. One Vagangeri Bhimrao from Surapur, a secret agent of the British, advised Venkatappa to go to Hyderabad and seek help from Salar Jung. Venkatappa escaped from the fort and made his way to Hyderabad. Next day, Bhimrao opened the fort door, and Surapur was occupied without much resistance.

Venkatappa was apprehended at Hyderabad. He was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. When Meadows Taylor met him, Venkatappa said he did not wish to live and if he was to be sentenced to death, he must not be hanged like a criminal, but killed at the mouth of a cannon. “I was not a coward,” Venkatappa told Taylor. Taylor, who had great affection for Venkatappa, had his life term reduced to four years internment by prevailing upon the Governor General, and he was to be reinstated after this four-year term. He was to be taken to Kurnool fort, and was to be interned there together with his two queens. While he was being taken to Kurnool, on an early morning when his armed guard had gone out for ablution, Venkatappa took the revolver his guard had left behind and shot himself dead.











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Build memorial for Turrebaz Khan, Moulvi Allaud: BJP
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Hyderabad, July 12 (UNI) BJP Andhra Pradesh President Bandaru Dattatreya today urged Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to build a memorial for Turrebaz Khan and Moulvi Allauddin, who had laid down their lives during the first war of Independence in 1857, to commemorate 150 years of first freedom struggle.

In a letter to Dr Reddy, a copy of which released to the press here, Mr Dattatreya said, ''A pylon should be erected as a fitting memorial for both the martyrs near the entry gate of Osmania Medical college, where a rampart stood till recently as a vestige of post-mutiny fortification of the British residency.'' He said some land owners near the college had even offered a part of their land for erecting the pylon.

He appealed to the Chief Minister to consider the proposal.

''I would like to appeal you to consider the offer for erecting a pylon near the college and a foundation stone be laid for it on July 17, 2007, the day both the martyrs were killed by the combined forces of the Nizam and the British government,'' he added.

MARTYRS' BANE The prison inside the Residency building

Have you heard of Turrebaz Khan Road? Perhaps you haven't. It is that stretch of road near Women's College, Koti where pedestrians have to fight for space with the footpath vendors between the bus stand and Jambagh Road. Now the identity of the road is either the Kamat Hotel, or the Congress Bhavan or the Osmania Medical College. It wasn't always so.

"There was a time when we used to see the road sign Turrebaz Khan Road near the Koti end. Now I don't think it can be found," says Dr. G. Anjaiah, who teaches history at the Women's College. The watchman at the western gate of the Residency building complex too doesn't know where is Turrebaz Khan road though if he just turns his head he can see the pylon near the bus stand to mark the revolt of 1857. It reads: `Memorial to the martyrs of July 17, 1857'.

Today, as commuters mill round the bus stop, it is difficult to imagine that on July 17, 1857 at about 5.45 p.m. about 500 Rohillas marched to the British Resident Col Cuthbert Davidson's koti and took up positions in two houses belonging to moneylenders Abban Saheb and Jaigopal Das and opened fire at the Residency. Then the brought down the walls Azim Ali Khan's house and tore off the hinges of the entrance near Putli Bowli as their comrades gave covering fire from the two double-storied houses.

Housed inside the prison in the Residency was another of their comrades Jamedar Cheeda Khan. Led by a fiery Moulvi Allaudin (who preached revolt in his Friday sermon) and Turrebaz Khan, the mob wanted to free Jamedar Cheeda Khan who had revolted against the British when Hyderabad Contingent's 3rd Cavalry was asked to march to Delhi at Buldhana and fled with 15 others to Hyderabad to bring the fire of mutiny to the Nizam's turf.

No sooner than Cheeda Khan reached Hyderabad he was arrested byNizam's minister Salar Jung who handed him over to the Resident as he was a British soldier. He was jailed as well as tried inside the Residency building.

Walking diagonally behind the Palladian columns of the Residency building which almost looks like the basement entrance, Anjaiah stops and says: "It was perhaps here that Cheeda Khan might have been imprisoned." He flicks on a switch to light up rows of prison bars and a locking mechanism which is complex but doesn't reveal any conventional lock (the alumnus of the college would recognise GF1 and GF2 classrooms that flank the entrance). The prison is not a single room, but is a honeycombed structure arranged in a semi-circular fashion under the Darbar Hall.

Of course the Rohillas failed to free Cheeda Khan. The British troops who were led by Major S. C. Briggs opened up their artillery, kept ready by the Resident, who was alerted by Salar Jung. The lightly armed men led by Turrebaz Khan were no match for the trained soldiers of Madras Horse Artillery who fired from stationary positions. The firing went all night long and by morning, there were a few bodies and pockmarked buildings and scared residents of Putli Bowli and Sultan Baazar.

Turrebaz Khan who escaped was discovered and shot dead near Toopran, his body was dragged back and hanged near the Residency building. Moulvi Allaudin was caught near Mangalampally and was sentenced to Kala Pani where he died in 1884. The houses of Abban Saheb and Jaigopal Das were blown away after the mutiny. Oh! Salar Jung? He became the hero of the revolt for the British. "The British government will not forget that it has owed to his highness the Nizam and his most able minister," wrote Col Davidson.

As India celebrates 150th anniversary of First War of Independence, the place where the key revolutionary was imprisoned remains out of memory's pale.


HYDERABD IN 1857

Dr K Prabhakar Rao

The First War of Independence in 1857 or the Sepoy Mutiny as the British preferred to describe it, was mostly confined to Meerut, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Barrackpore, Gwalior , Jhansi, Arrah and few more other areas. However some isolated incidents took place at other areas too in the country. These were quickly suppressed. Hyderabad too was witness to one of its own. We cannot forget the role of Turrebaz Khan, who attacked the castle of the British Residentt in Hyderabad. This magnifiecient building of Residency also called Kothi is now converted as Womens college under Osmania University. Although much portion of the fort walls have disappeared the imposing bastions in good condition built out of chiseled granite stones are sill there with their firing ports along with inner steel sliding gates. They are at Putli Bowli areas ( Southern walls) and Eastern side walls of the fort.
After the Nizam signed the Treaty of Subsidiary Alliance with the East India Company in 1800, there were bouts of anti-British rebellions till 1857 led notably by Raja Mahipat Ram, Mubarez-ud- Dowlah, Moulvi Allauddin, and Turre Baz Khan. Among the noteworthy places of such uprising were Aurangabad, Udgir, Nizamabad, Raichur and Karimnagar. Within the Nizam's army and the Subsidiary Troops of East India Company, men revolted against the European officers. Behind some of these rebellions were communities such as Bhils, Hutkers and Marathas. Afzal –ud-daula the fifth Nizam belonging to Afafjah dynasty ascended the throne of Hyderabad after the death of his father just before the mutiny started.Certain amount of trouble was expected in the Hyderabad province too although no major unrest was foreseen. Name of Turrebaz Khan shines gloriously in the history of Hyderabad who raised the banner of Revolt in Hyderabad in 1857.
After a meeting at Mecca Masjid, Turrebaz Khan led a band of soldiers, Rohillas of Afghan descent and Arab rebels and mounted an armed attack on the Residency on July 17, 1857 at 5.45 p.m. about 500 Rohillas marched to the British Resident Col Cuthbert Davidson's koti and took up positions in two houses belonging to money lenders Abban Saheb and Jaigopal Das and opened fire at the Residency. Then the brought down the walls Azim Ali Khan's house and tore off the hinges of the entrance near Putli Bowli as their comrades gave covering fire from the two double-storied houses.
Housed inside the prison in the Residency was another of their comrades Jamedar Cheeda Khan. Led by a fiery Moulvi Allaudin (who preached revolt in his Friday sermon) and Turrebaz Khan, the mob wanted to free Jamedar Cheeda Khan who had revolted against the British when Hyderabad Contingent's 3rd Cavalry was asked to march to Delhi at Buldhana and fled with 15 others to Hyderabad to bring the fire of mutiny to the Nizam's turf. The moment Cheeda Khan reached Hyderabad, he was arrested by Nizam's minister Salar Jung I who handed him over to the Resident as he was a British soldier. He was jailed as well as tried inside the Residency building.
Of course the Rohillas failed to free Cheeda Khan. The British troops who were led by Major S. C. Briggs opened up their artillery, kept ready by the Resident, who was alerted by Salar Jung. The lightly armed men led by Turrebaz Khan were no match for the trained soldiers of Madras Horse Artillery who fired from stationary positions from the fort. The firing went all night long and by morning, there were a few bodies and pockmarked buildings and scared residents of Putli Bowli and Sultan Baazar. Turrebaz Khan who escaped was discovered and shot dead near Toopran, his body was dragged back and hanged near the Residency building. Moulvi Allaudin was caught near Mangalampally and was sentenced to deportation where he died in 1884. The houses of Abban Saheb and Jaigopal Das were blown away after the mutiny . The Nizam Afzaluddaula and his minister Salar Jung received laurels from East India Company for their unflinched support during the troubled times and for letting down the rebels. . The British government will not forget that it has owed to his highness the Nizam and his most able minister," wrote Col Davidson.
The road infront of the Residency was named after Turrebaz Khan and a plaque was also displayed for long. The outer walls of Residency have lost all its history and now looks pale and drab devoid of any past glory. The city builders who were clueless of past history and the need to preserve have done immense damage to past heritage by demolishing ancient structures and heritage buildings. Today memory of Turrebaz Khan has been lost in the midst of milling traffic, thousands of autos, squatting buffaloes and cows, roadside Romeos, girl watchers, shady characters, two wheelers. hawkers, bus stops, waiting people spitting pan on roads, filth and garbage thrown around everywhere. There is a stone memorial also with elephant heads at the site for the heroes of 1857 rebellion and no one knows what it is and why it is there. Once in a while, some leader ( apology for it) arrives to garland it on some occasion and is happy when he is photographed. Turrebaz khans soul of course must be wondering at the ways of people. 




Book on Turrebaz Khan released
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The memorial at Kothi in Hyderabad built in memory of valiant freedom fighter Turrebaz Khan and others 

who attacked Residency on July 17, 1857 during First War of Indian Independence. 
The Hindu Photo Library The memorial at Kothi in Hyderabad built in memory of valiant freedom fighter 

Turrebaz Khan and others who attacked Residency on July 17, 1857 during First War of Indian 

Independence.
TOPICS
Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad

Unsung ‘Hero of Hyderabad’ remembered for his role in the First War of Independence in 1857

Exactly on this day, 155 years ago, an ordinary man from Begum Bazar in the city mobilized 6,000 people 

to attack the British Residency. He revolted at a time when even the Nizam was a mere prop of the British. 

A highly traversed road in the city is named after him. Yet, few speak of him or know about his historic 

exploits.

Narrating the tale of the unsung ‘Hero of Hyderabad’ – Turrebaz Khan – and every minute detail of the First 

War of Independence from the neglected, but crucial, Southern Indian perspective, Dr.Devireddy 

Subramanyam Reddy, Prof. and Head of Department (Retd.) at S.V University in Tirupati, has authored the 

‘Uprising of 1857: A movement that defined India of August 15, 1947’.

IMPORTANT DAY

“Today is a very important day in the State’s history as, on July 17, 1857, Turrebaz Khan led a huge army 

of discontented masses in ‘British Andhra’ and ‘Nizam Andhra’ against colonialism,” said Dr. Reddy. 

While throwing light on the socio-political conditions during that period and oppressive policies of the 

British, the book secures Turrebaz Khan his rightful place in the nation’s history.

“The revolt of 1857 belonged not just to Lucknow, Delhi, Allahabad, Kanpur and other parts of Central 

India. The Southern regions too rose up in arms against the exploitative colonial rule, and few know of it,” 

said Chennuru Anjaneya Reddy, former Director General of Police, releasing the book here on Tuesday.

“Contributing to the ignored regional history of Andhra Pradesh, the book reveals how Telangana, 

Rayalseema and Coastal Andhra revolted against the British Raj,” he added.

KEY LINK

When the Nizam was in huge debts and was steadily losing all his power to the British, Turrebaz Khan 

along with ordinary Muslims in the city attacked the British and they were brutally killed in their attempt, 

explained Prof K.S.S Seshan, retired HoD of history, University of Hyderabad.

“Tracing the revolt as one by the common man – not by the nobility or the Nizam – the book is vital 

because our freedom will hold no meaning if posterity has no access to such regional histories,” he said.


Keywords: Turrebaz Khan, Indian Independence, Hero of Hyderabad, 1857 revolt