Write in detail about the revolt of Umaji Naik.

Answer:

• Umaji Naik (1791–1832) was born in a Ramoshi family at Bhivadi near Jejuri (Purandar, Pune district). The Ramoshis had worked as guards of forts under the Peshwas and lost their rights after the British took over in 1818.
• Umaji organised the Ramoshis and others, and from about 1826 began an armed struggle against the British in the hills around Pune, Satara and Bhor, attacking British treasuries and supporters of the British.
• In 1831 he issued a proclamation calling on people not to obey the British, not to pay taxes to them and to rise against them; he promised rewards to those who helped. This was one of the earliest calls for freedom in Maharashtra.
• The British declared a large reward for his capture. He was betrayed by some of his own associates, arrested in December 1831, tried and hanged in Pune on 3 February 1832.
• His struggle shows that resistance to British rule began long before 1857; he is remembered as ‘Adya Krantiveer’ (the first revolutionary) of Maharashtra.