The 205th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon Bhima was celebrated at the Jaystambh in Pune’s Perne village amidst heavy police deployment.
Background –
A small village in Pune district of Maharashtra, Bhima-Koregaon is associated with an important phase of Maratha history.
The people of Dalit communities gather in Bhima Koregaon on 1 January every year to pay tribute to the Dalit heroes who died in the war between the British and the Peshwas on 1 January 1818.
The Peshwas were defeated in this battle of Bhima Koregaon.
Battle of 1818 –
The battle of Bhima Koregaon was fought on January 1, 1818, between Peshwa Bajirao II and British army commanded by Captain F F Staunton of the East India Company. The battle was a part of the Third Anglo-Maratha War.
The British army was largely dominated by Mahars – the most populous of the Dalit sub-castes in Maharashtra.
The Dalit-dominated British Army had defeated a Peshwa army.
It resulted in losses to the Maratha empire, then under Peshwa rule, and control over most of western, central and southern India by the British East India Company.
Koregaon Pillar (Jaystambh) –
In the memory of Battle, the British built squared-pillar to pay homage to the martyr soldiers, which is popularly known as ‘Koregaon Pillar’.
The pillar symbolises the courage of Mahar Regiment.
The names of the martyred soldiers were engraved on the pillars and soldiers were honoured with a medal by the British in 1851.
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