Betul and the Uprising of 1857-58

The uprising of 1857 and the role of district of Betul in erstwhile Central Provinces have a unique connection to the famous commander of the same, Tantya Tope. Betul district was largely a tribal region inhabited by the Gonds. During the uprising of 1857, the Central Provinces saw a storm of agitation in various regions. But during all these events Betul was in general unperturbed. In the later part of 1857, requests from the British army were made for a Gond Battalion of 500 men to curb the uprising. In mid-1858, Tantya Tope suffered defeats from the British at Bundelkhand, Kalpi and then Gwalior. As he suffered defeats, he planned to move to the south of the river Narmada. The district of Betul in his design served as the point of a threshold for furthering the agitation from where he planned to raise the Gonds against the British. There were talks among British officers about the circulation of an Ochre flag which symbolized the Peshwa’s flag and was seen as a possible call for an uprising. Murmurs about the agitations among the tribals of Betul made the British fear a Gond uprising. The events at Betul thus, state the contribution of tribes in the Uprising of 1857 with tribal community forming a strong hand for the agitating Indian commanders.