Sheikh Bhikhari Ansari (1819-1858) was born on 2 Oct 1819 in a weaver Ansari family at Lotwa-Khudia Village located in the city of Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. He fought in the Revolt of 1857 against the British rule in India. Sheikh Bhikhari Ansari was a craftsman who prepared coarse clothes and earned his livelihood by selling them in the local Haat market since childhood.
A Dewan and general of
Tikait Umrao Singh he was a combatant in the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
.
He prevented
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
forces from occupying
Ranchi
Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...
by cutting down Chutupalu Ghati trees in order to obstruct their advance prior to engaging Company forces. The British hanged him alongside Tikait Umrao Singh in a banyan tree of
Chutupalu Ghati in Ramgarh in January 8 1858.
General Mc Doland said at that time “Among the rebels, Bhikhari is the most dangerous and notorious mutineer.”
Sheikh Bhikhari Ansari, who endured many barbaric tortures of the British for the independence of the country and kissed the noose of death smilingly.
Early life
Sheikh Bikhari Ansari was born to Sheikh Buland Ansari on October 2, 1819 at the Lotwa-Khudia in Chotanagpur (now in
Ranchi district
Ranchi district is the most populous district of Jharkhand state in eastern India. Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, is the district headquarters.
History
Iron slag, potsherds and iron tools have been found in the Chota Nagpur plateau dated to ...
,
Jharkhand
Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...
) in a
weaver Ansari family. He spent his life in Khudia-Lotwa in
Ormanjhi
Ormanjhi is a village in the Ormanjhi CD block in the Ranchi Sadar subdivision of Ranchi district, Jharkhand, India.
Geography
Location
Ormanjhi is located at at an elevation of from mean sea level
A mean is a quantity representing th ...
current day Ranchi city.
References
{{Authority control
1819 births
1858 deaths
Revolutionaries of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
4. https://www.siasat.com/sheikh-bhikhari-indian-freedom-fighter-who-raged-against-doctrine-of-lapse-2422790/
5. https://radianceweekly.net/sheikh-bhikhari-a-great-martyr-2-october-1811-6-january-1858/
6. http://www.njssamiti.com/janpratinidhi-suchi-detail.php?uid=11&id=64
7. https://wahwahyar.com/diwas/shahid-sheikh-bhikhari-shahadat-diwas/
8. https://muslimmirror.com/eng/shaikh-bhikari-gate-at-ormanjhi-chowk/