Skeletons In The Cupboard: Cawnpur Well Massacre Case - Three: Tatya Tope

Born as Ramachandra Pandurang Tope (also called Tantia Tope) around 1814, he was a member of Deshastha Brahmin community who had access to the ruling elite of Marathas including Peshwa (Chief Minister) of Maratha confederacy based at Poona. His father Pandurang Rao Tope was a court official in the service of Peshwa, Baji Rao II, of Maratha confederacy.

After the Peshwa was defeated by East India Company he was forced to move to Bithoor, and Tope family moved along with him. This gave Tatya an opportunity to get familiar with Nana Saheb and other Maratha nobles.  He was not a mercenary outsider, but an insider of Maratha royal and witnessed the decay of it. 
Even though he was not a member of the royal class he was attached to administrative and military class. They enjoyed status, education and proximity to power. He took pride in the glory of the Maratha Empire and grieved over loss of its political presence. He was committed to restore the lost glory of Marathas.

East India Company respected his agile movements and guerilla warfare. Like Nana Saheb he was fighting to retrieve the lost glory of the Maratha Empire. 

The extent and reach of Tatya Tope's operations were extraordinary --- wider and more sustained than almost any other leader in the mutiny. 

In spite of these the mutiny failed because there was not a national identity. Even the concept of nation was distant. Identities were limited by the institution of caste and ethnicity. 

The East India Company was more inclusive, more sophisticated and had broad Outlook.

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