MPPSC 2023 Prelims Paper-I · Question 91 of 100

Correct — B, Barwani. Bhima Nayak was a Bhil tribal leader of the Barwani region (Western Nimar) who took up arms against British rule around the time of the 1857 revolt. He and his followers raided colonial treasuries and disrupted British supply lines between Barwani and Khandesh, earning him the popular title 'Robin Hood of Nimar' for redistributing looted wealth among the poor. He was eventually captured and hanged at the Port Blair penal settlement (Andaman Islands) on 29 December 1876.

• (a)Mandla — Mandla was the seat of a different set of MP freedom fighters — the Gond ruler Raja Shankar Shah and his son Kunwar Raghunath Shah, executed by the British in 1858 for conspiring against colonial rule. It was not Bhima Nayak's base.
• (c)Kishangarh — Kishangarh was a Rajasthan princely state near Ajmer, known for its distinctive miniature-painting school — it has no historical connection to Bhima Nayak or the Bhil resistance of the Nimar region.
• (d)Mudiyado — No established historical record ties Bhima Nayak's uprising to a place called Mudiyado; his documented base of activity was Barwani in the Nimar tract.

Bhima Nayak's story belongs to the wider pattern of tribal (Bhil, Gond, Korku) resistance to British rule in the forested Nimar–Satpura belt of present-day Madhya Pradesh — distinct from, but contemporaneous with, the sepoy-led revolt of 1857. These tribal leaders fought using guerrilla tactics from forest bases rather than pitched battles, and several, including Bhima Nayak, were eventually hunted down and executed or transported by the British.

MPPSC repeatedly pairs a named tribal or regional leader with 'his' princely state or district — the safest strategy is to lock the person to the specific place (Bhima Nayak ↔ Barwani/Nimar) rather than the general theme (tribal resistance), since the wrong options are usually other real MP places tied to different leaders.

• Bhima Nayak — Bhil leader of Barwani (Western Nimar)
• Raided British treasuries and supply lines between Barwani and Khandesh
• Known as the 'Robin Hood of Nimar' for redistributing looted wealth
• Captured and hanged at the Port Blair penal settlement on 29 December 1876

• Confusing Bhima Nayak with the later Bhil rebel Tantya Bhil (Tantya Mama), active in the same Nimar–Khandesh belt decades afterward
• Assuming every MP tribal leader fought exactly in 1857 — several, like Bhima Nayak, were active into the 1860s–70s

MPPSC typically names a lesser-known MP tribal or regional leader and asks for the district/princely state — expect Bhima Nayak, Tantya Bhil, Shankar Shah, and similar names to recur.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Bhil tribal leader of the Barwani (Nimar) region, popularly called the 'Robin Hood of Nimar', was hanged at the Port Blair penal settlement in 1876?

  • (a)Bhima Nayak
  • (b)Tantya Bhil
  • (c)Kunwar Singh
  • (d)Nana Saheb

  Answer(a) Bhima Nayak — the Bhil leader of Barwani who raided British treasuries and was eventually captured and hanged at Port Blair.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Raja Shankar Shah and his son Kunwar Raghunath Shah, executed by the British in 1858 for conspiring against colonial rule, belonged to which region of Madhya Pradesh?

  • (a)Mandla
  • (b)Barwani
  • (c)Sagar
  • (d)Chitrakoot

  Answer(a) Mandla — the Gond royal family of Mandla was executed for plotting an uprising during 1857-58.