Merch
News
Panchangam
Apps
Downloads
For Teachers
Resources
About
PEOPLE
IDEAS
PLACES
CULTURE
CREATE
STORIES
GAMES
Kunwar Singh
कुंवर सिंह
The eighty-year-old lion of Bihar who rose in the 1857 war
Years
1777 – 1858
Known as
Kunwar Singh — the Raja of Jagdishpur
Birthplace
Jagdishpur, Bihar
Field
Freedom Fighters
“I am eighty years old, and my country calls me to war — can I refuse?”
— Kunwar Singh, taking up arms in 1857
The Story
Born in 1777 to the ruling family of Jagdishpur, Kunwar Singh lived through the slow swallowing of Bhārat by the British East India Company. A cultivated man who knew several languages, he had long opposed the company's revenue policies — and when the 1857 uprising broke out, the eighty-year-old Raja answered the call of the nation.
He raised the flag of revolt in Arrah and, with a small force of his men, held the town against a British column that had come to crush him. In the fight at Arrah his left arm was shattered by a bullet — and in a famous act of iron will, he cut off the arm with his own sword so that he could continue the fight.
After his victory, Kunwar Singh crossed into central India, joining the wider revolt before returning to Jagdishpur, where he defeated the British once more. Worn out by his wounds and his year of war, he died in April 1858 — but his last battle, won with a wounded body and a broken arm, made him the eternal symbol of the age's defiance.
Core Ideas
The Octogenarian Rebel
He rose against the British at the age of eighty.
The Battle of Arrah
His men held the town against a British column.
The Severed Arm
He cut off his own wounded arm to keep fighting.
The Final Victory
He defeated the British at Jagdishpur days before his death.
The First War of Independence
A chief of the great 1857 uprising.
Why it matters today
Kunwar Singh is honoured across Bihar as the lion of 1857 — the octogenarian who proved that the love of freedom knows no age. His statue stands at Jagdishpur, his name is given to roads and honours across the state, and his story remains one of the most stirring tales of the first war of independence.