Nana Saheb II | |
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14th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire (pretender) | |
In office 1 February 1851 – 30 June 1857 (unrecognized) | |
Preceded by | Baji Rao II |
Peshwa from Kanpur | |
In office 1 July – 16 July 1857 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Dhondu Pant 19 May 1824 Bithur, Cawnpore, Ceded Provinces, British India (present-day Bithoor, Kanpur Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India) |
Died | Kathmandu, Nepal | 24 September 1859 (aged 35) (disputed)
Parent(s) | Narayan Bhat (father) Ganga Bai (mother) |
Relatives | Baji Rao II (adoptive father & uncle) |
Nana Saheb Peshwa II (19 May 1824 – after 1857), born Dhondu Pant, was an Indian aristocrat and fighter who led the Siege of Cawnpore (Kanpur) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the East India Company. As the adopted son of the exiled Maratha Peshwa, Baji Rao II, Nana Saheb believed he was entitled to a pension from the Company. However, after being denied recognition under Lord Dalhousie's doctrine of lapse, he initiated a rebellion. He forced the British garrison in Kanpur to surrender and subsequently ordered the killing of the survivors, briefly gaining control of the city. After the British recaptured Kanpur, Nana Saheb disappeared, and conflicting accounts surround his later life and death.