Residency Kothi (Indore)

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Mhow-based writer and history lover Dev Kumar Vasudevan is a member of the team that wrote the book 'The Residency, Indore', which recounts the events of the day in the book. "On the morning of July 1, 1857 as Colonel Durand (the AGG officiating on behalf of Sir Robert Hamilton) was writing a telegram for Lord Elphinstone, the Residency Kothi in Indore was attacked by artillery guns provided by Holkar Maharaja for protection of the Residency itself. These guns had originally been placed at the entrance to the city bazaar and had been shifted at night and were now pointing at the Residency," states the book. A prominent figure which comes to mind when one thinks of the uprising in Indore is Saadat Khan. According to the book, "First shot at the residency was fired by Holkar armyman Saadat Khan, nephew of Hafizbhai, the former Bakshi or Commandant of the Risala Cavalry, using a cannon named Fatah Mansoor, which can be seen in Indore Museum today. He had come galloping into the Residency Area with eight companions exhorting Holkar soldiers on duty at the Residency to kill Sahibs claiming this to be the order of the Maharaja".About 27 Britishers managed to escape from the Residency on the same day. The very same day, Mhow became hotspot of the rebellion, where siege continued for about a month. The British finally entered Indore, which was in a sense left abandoned on the day of the rebellion, on December 15, 1857. Next day Durand handed over the charge of the Central India Agency to Sir Robert Hamilton and the uprising in Indore state was over. A total of 24 soldiers were martyred during the uprising in Indore, with five of them were sentenced to death. Saadat Khan, who could not be apprehended even after the suppression, was finally captured by the British 17 years later in 1874. He was brought to Indore, where he was tried and executed by hanging to death. The Banyan tree from which he was hanged still stands in the compound of the Residency and a small memorial has been built at that spot.