Uda Devi

Uda Devi Pasi was an Indian woman freedom fighter who participated in the war on behalf of Indian soldiers against the British East India Company, during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. She was a member of the women's squad of Wajid Ali Shah, the sixth Nawab of Awadh.

Quotes

• William Forbes-Mitchell, a Sergeant with the Ninety-Third Sutherland Highlanders in British India, wrote about Uda Devi in his book Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny , which was first published in 1893: “In the centre of the inner court of the Secundrabâgh there was a large peepul tree with a very bushy top, round the foot of which were set a number of jars full of cool water. When the slaughter was almost over, many of our men went under the tree for the sake of its shade, and to quench their burning thirst with a draught of the cool water from the jars. A number however lay dead under this tree, both of the Fifty-Third and Ninety-Third, and the many bodies lying in that particular spot attracted the notice of Captain Dawson. After having carefully examined the wounds, he noticed that in every case the men had evidently been shot from above. He thereupon stepped out from beneath the tree, and called to Quaker Wallace to look up if he could see any one in the top of the tree, because all the dead under it had apparently been shot from above. Wallace had his rifle loaded, and stepping back he carefully scanned the top of the tree. He almost immediately called out, ‘I see him, sir!’ and cocking his rifle he … fired, and down fell a body dressed in a tight-fitting red jacket and tight-fitting rose-coloured silk trousers; and the breast of the jacket bursting open with the fall, showed that the wearer was a woman, She was armed with a pair of heavy old-pattern cavalry pistols, one of which was in her belt still loaded, and her pouch was still about half full of ammunition, while from her perch in the tree, which had been carefully prepared before the attack….”
  • William Forbes-Mitchell, in Rawal M. S. & Rawal Y. S. (2019). Saffron swords. Garuda Prakashan.