Man Singh (dacoit)

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Man Singh (known as "Dau Maan Singh", meaning Uncle Maan Singh) (died 1955) was a notorious dacoit, or bandit, born in Agra, India, in the late 19th century. Daku Man Singh lived in the village of Khera Rathore in the Chambal region of India, where a maze of deep ravines and scrub forests has hidden generations of outlaws since the 13th century[1]. Between 1939 and 1955 Man Singh is credited with 1,112 dacoities 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 100 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].

Dr S.N. Subba Rao heard the dreaded Man 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 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 Man Singh has a temple in his honor in Khera Rathore. "They were men who fought for the family honour. They are bagis [or rebels]. There is no difference between a bagi and a sadhu", says Dipankar, a Chambal resident who says he regularly comes to worship at the Man Singh temple[5].

[edit] The movie

Daku Man Singh is the title of a 1971 genre movie, directed by Babubhai Mistry. The cast included Dara Singh, Nishi, Shaikh Mukhtar, Jeevan, Shyam Kumar, and Maruti; the music was by Sardul Kwatra. It was produced by Time Life Films.[6] Of course, such contemporary stories, which show the rural dacoit, or bandit defying established power and serving the poor, are not strictly factual.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Associated Press, "As modern world closes in, India's fabled bandits are disappearing", International Herald Tribune (November 4, 2006)
  2. ^ "Dead Man", Time, (September 5, 1955)
  3. ^ Sanjay Austa, "Daku Raja becomes devta", The Tribune (August 24, 2003).
  4. ^ Chitleen K. Sethi, "The man who transformed Dacoits", Chandigarh Tribune Online (Nov. 10, 2004).
  5. ^ Sanjay Austa, "Daku Raja becomes devta", The Tribune (August 24, 2003).
  6. ^ "Hindi Movie: Daku Man Singh"
  7. ^ "Dacoit Heroes: Serving the Poor", from Kathryn Hansen, Grounds for Play: The Nautanki Theatre of North India, Berkeley, University of California Press (c1992)
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