User:Dalfem/uda devi

Uda Devi (Hindi: ऊदा देवी) was a warrior in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, who fought against the British East India Company. Uda Devi was from the Dalit Pasi community and is said to have been born in the village of Ujriaon in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

She was also known as Jagrani and was married to Makka Pasi. She became an associate of Begum Hazrat Mahal, wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and worked as commander in the women’s army. Her husband became a martyr in the battle at Chinhat. Uda decided to take revenge. When the British attacked Sikandar Bagh in Lucknow under Colin Campbell, he was faced with an army of dalit women:

(Some called them black African women, some untouchable. Some called them weak, others strong.)

Battle of Sikandar Bagh
Uda Devi took part in the Battle in Sikandar Bagh in November 1857. William Forbes-Mitchell, in Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny, writes of Uda Devi: "She was armed with a pair of heavy old-pattern cavalry pistols, one of which was in her belt still loaded, and her pouch was still about half full of ammunition, while from her perch in the tree, which had been carefully prepared before the attack, she had killed more than half-a-dozen men."

W. Gordon-Alexander’s account of the storming of Sikandar Bagh by British troops states:

Uda Devi herself is said to have climbed a pipal tree where she shot dead 32 or 36 British soldiers, based on varying accounts. One soldier spotted someone in the tree and shot the person dead, and only then it was discovered that she was a woman. It is said that even British officers like Campbell bowed their heads over her dead body in respect in recognition of her brave feat.

The Pasis of Pilibhit come together on November 16 every year to commemorate the anniversary of Uda Devi's martyrdom.