Read the passage and answer the questions:
1857: Shah Mal
Shah Mal lived in a large village in Uttar Pradesh. He belonged to a clan of Jat cultivators whose kinship ties extended over chaurasee des. The lands in the region were irrigated and fertile, with rich dark loam soil. Many of the villagers were prosperous and saw the British land revenue system as oppressive: the revenue demand was high and its collection inflexible. Consequently cultivators were losing land to outsiders, to traders and moneylenders who were coming into the area. Shah Mal mobilised the headmen and cultivators of chaurasee des, moving at night from village to village, urging people to rebel against the British. As in many other places, the revolt against the British turned into a general rebellion against all signs of oppression and injustice. Cultivators left their fields and plundered the houses of moneylenders and traders. Displaced proprietors took possession of the lands they had lost. Shah Mal’s men attacked government buildings, destroyed the bridge over the river, and dug up metalled roads – partly to prevent government forces from coming into the area, and partly because bridges and roads were seen as symbols of British rule. They sent supplies to the sepoys who had mutinied in Delhi and stopped all official communication between British headquarters and Meerut. Locally acknowledged as the Raja, Shah Mal took over the bungalow of an English officer, turned it into a “hall of justice”, settling disputes and dispensing judgments. He also set up an amazingly effective network of intelligence. For a period the people of the area felt that firangi raj was over, and their raj had come. Shah Mal was killed in battle in July 1857.
Match the LIST-I with LIST-II:
| LIST-I Leaders | LIST-II Associations | ||
| A. | Danka Shah | I. | Successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II |
| B. | Nana Sahib | II. | Local zamindar in Arrah |
| C. | Kunwar Singh | III. | Battle of Chinhat |
| D. | Rani Lakshmi Bai | IV. | Killed in the battle in June 1858 |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → A - III, B - I, C - II, D - IV
(A) Danka Shah — this matches (III) Battle of Chinhat. Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah moved through the villages in a palanquin with drumbeaters in front, so people called him Danka Shah, “the maulvi with the drum”. In 1857 the mutinous 22nd Native Infantry chose him as their leader, and he fought in the famous Battle of Chinhat, where the British under Henry Lawrence were defeated.
(B) Nana Sahib — this matches (I) Successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II. In Kanpur the sepoys and the people of the town gave Nana Sahib, the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice but to lead the revolt.
(C) Kunwar Singh — this matches (II) Local zamindar in Arrah. Like the rani of Jhansi, Kunwar Singh, a local zamindar in Arrah in Bihar, was pushed by popular pressure into leading the uprising.
(D) Rani Lakshmi Bai — this matches (IV) Killed in the battle in June 1858. The Rani of Jhansi was killed in battle in June 1858.
NCERT (2025-26): “1.3 Leaders and followers … In Kanpur, the sepoys and the people of the town gave Nana Sahib, the successor to Peshwa Baji Rao II, no choice save to join the revolt as their leader. In Jhansi, the rani was forced by the popular pressure around her to assume the leadership of the uprising. So was Kunwar Singh, a local zamindar in Arrah in Bihar.…”
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