Sengar

The Sengar's origins are as disputed as those of other Rajput clans. Some scholars consider them to be foreigners and some as descendants of Indian tribes. Sengar Rajputs are mentioned in the Chattis kul (36 clans). They originated around Sagar and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, and are currently found in Bareh (Etawah), Jalaun, Lakhnesar, Ruru or Rudu (Uttar Pradesh) and Datia (M.P.). The Raja Saheb of Jagmanpur is the hereditary head of Sengar Rajputs.

The central Indian state Madhya Pradesh was the location of battles and lesser-known rule of the Sengar Rajputs. In the eleventh century CE, they migrated from Jalaun to the fertile area of Rewa district known as Mauganj. They constructed garhis (forts) in Mauganj, Nai Garhi, Mangawan, and Bichhrata that was historically known as 'Mau Raj'. This kingdom battled and survived the invasion of the Kalachuris until the Baghelas arrived in the region in the fourteenth century and defeated the Sengars. They destroyed the fort in Mau and forced them to disperse. The region was named Baghelkhand and Rewa became the capital of Baghelas.[2]

The Fort of Nai Garhi constructed by the Sengar clan

The disgruntled Sengars migrated to Naigarhi and constructed a fort that was more robust than their fort in Mau. The rising influence of Baghelas due to their amity with the Mughals made them a strong opponent. The Sengars of Naigarhi took control of 107 villages and 36 thakurs of this clan were appointed in the villages Gangeo, Pahari, and Jodhpur.[3] In 1882, the British forced the Thakur of Naigarhi to attend Dussehera ceremonies in Rewa and once he paid his dues he was granted back his estate.[4]

The area of Lateri in present-day Madhya Pradesh was once ruled by the Sengars, whose livelihood was derived primarily from looting and plundering, and was reflected in the name of their capital, Looteri.[5] In what is now Uttar Pradesh, the principal town of the Lakhnesar Pargana during the mediaeval period was Rasra.[6] When the Sengars opposed British activities in 1812, Colonel Martindell came with a troop of sepoys to quell them. The Sengars attacked the marching sepoys on Great Deccan Road and several were killed. The Sengars then plundered the area. Siddiqui considers this act of attacking British forces to be a part of the movement for the independence of India.[7]

The Sengars' reputation as warriors originated in the Lodi era, when they safeguarded their territories against the Delhi Sultanate and fought Babur. They remained an important population segment when land reforms were carried out by Akbar in the Indo-Gangetic Plain of northern India.[8] They fought the British while maintaining their land rights and territorial regime in areas of Lakhnesar and Baliya in the nineteenth century.[9]

In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the Sengars were among the communities that practised female infanticide, in Bundelkhand, an area that is now split between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.[10]

• Major Deeip Sengar, PM Business Strategy & Programs Microsoft, Retired Special Forces Officer Indian Army.
• Shailendra Singh Sengar, Cricketer Uttar Pradesh State Team.
• Kuldeep Singh Sengar, former Member of the legislative assembly from Uttar Pradesh, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the Unnao rape case.[11]
• Kratika Sengar, television actress[12] from Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh.[13]

• Kumar, Dharma; Desai, Meghnad, eds. (1989) [1983]. The Cambridge Economic History of India. Vol. 2, C.1751–C.1970 (Reprinted ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 36–40, 56. ISBN 9780521228022.
• Stokes, Eric (1975). "Agrarian Society and the Pax Britannica in Northern India in the Early Nineteenth Century". Modern Asian Studies. Cambridge University Press. 9 (4): 505–528. doi:10.1017/s0026749x00012877. JSTOR 312079. (subscription required)
• Baker, David E.U., ed. (2007) [2007]. Baghelkhand, Or, the Tigers' Lair: Region and Nation in Indian History. Vol. 1 (Reprinted ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 68, 88, 195. ISBN 9780195683219.