Man Singh (dacoit)

Man Singh, (died 1955) known as "Daku Man Singh", meaning Dacoit Maan Singh, was a notorious dacoit, or bandit, born in Agra to a Rajput Family.

Biography

Singh took to crime due to poverty and discrimination. Popularly known as "Thakur Man Singh", his ancestors were famous Rajput kings of the late 19th century. Singh lived in the village of Khera Rathore in the Chambal region of India, where a maze of deep ravines and scrub forests had hidden generations of outlaws since the 13th century ^[1].

Between 1939 and 1955, Singh is credited with 1,112 robberies and 185 murders, including the killing of 32 police officers. Man Singh headed a gang of 17, most of them his brothers and nephews, who were unchallenged in the Chambal Valley. The police registered over a hundred cases against him, ranging from kidnapping to murder, until he and his son, Subedar Singh, were shot dead by Gurkha troops in 1955 while sitting under a banyan tree in Kakekapura ^[2] or Bhind, Madhya Pradesh^[3].

S.N. Subba Rao heard Singh speak on stage in 1953 at a public function in Chambal: “I was surprised to hear him speak. He was totally unlike what I had read about him in the papers. Though on the peak of his popularity or notoriety, he was respectful and humble. I was impressed with the contradiction he presented. The government wanted him dead with a big inam (reward) on his head and here he was, standing before the adoring public."^[4] A Robin Hood figure who once performed essential social services in hard times and adjudicated local issues, today Singh has a temple in his honor in Khera Rathore. According to Dipankar, a Chambal resident who said that he regularly came to worship at the Man Singh temple, "they were men who fought for the family honour. They are bagis [or rebels]. There is no difference between a bagi and a sadhu"^[3].

Successors

Successors of Singh are presently^[when?] living at Khera Rathore near the river Chambal. His grandson Tehsildar Singh, who was formerly also a famous dacoit of Chambal along with contemporaries such as Daku Madho Singh, Mohar Singh, Chhidda Makhan, is presently living with his family at Sheopur, near the Morena Commissionary.

Lion of the Chambal

Local inhabitants of Chambal, especially the Rajput Community of Chambal Vally, referred to Singh as "Chambal Ka Sher" (Lion of The Chambal). There are many folk songs and Noutanki plays based on the stories of his life. Songs about Singh include "Rasta Chalta Koi Nahin Loota, Na Bahino Se Chheene Haar" "Jo Bhi Mila So Baant Diya, Bahino Ko Pahinaye Bhaat".

The movie

Daku Man Singh is the title of a 1971 movie, directed by Babubhai Mistry. The cast included Dara Singh, Nishi, Shaikh Mukhtar, Jeevan, Shyam Kumar, and Guddi Maruti; the music was by Sardul Kwatra. It was produced by Time Life Films.^[5] However, the film, which showed the rural dacoits defying established power and serving the poor, was not strictly factual.^[6]

References

1. ^ Associated Press (November 4, 2006). "As modern world closes in, India's fabled bandits are disappearing". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/05/asia/AS_FEA_GEN_Indias_Bandit_Country.php. 
2. ^ "Dead Man". Time. September 5, 1955. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893055,00.html. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Sanjay Austa (August 24, 2003). "Daku Raja becomes devta". The Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030824/spectrum/main3.htm. 
4. ^ Chitleen K. Sethi (Nov. 10, 2004). "The man who transformed Dacoits". Chandigarh Tribune Online. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031110/cth1.htm#3. 
5. ^ "Hindi Movie: Daku Man Singh"
6. ^ "Dacoit Heroes: Serving the Poor", from Kathryn Hansen, Grounds for Play: The Nautanki Theatre of North India, Berkeley, University of California Press (c1992)

External links

• Daku Man Singh at the Internet Movie Database

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Name	Singh, Man
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Date of death	1955
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