# Kesari Singh Barhath
**Kesari Singh Barhath** (केसरी सिंह बारहठ; 21 November 1872 – 14 August 1941) was a Rajasthani revolutionary, poet, and educator of the Charan community, known in [Rajasthan](https://www.edgepedia.org/rajasthan) as Rajasthan Kesari.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) A Thakur holding a jagir (hereditary land grant held in exchange for service) near the former Shahpura State in the Mewar region, he is best known for the Dingal poem [Chetavani](https://www.edgepedia.org/chetavani) ra Chungatya, through which he dissuaded Maharana Fateh Singh of Mewar from taking part in the 1903 [Delhi Durbar](https://www.edgepedia.org/delhi-durbar), and for founding the revolutionary organization Veer Bharat Sabha in 1910.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 21 November 1872, Devpura village, near Shahpura (Bhilwara), then in the Mewar region[3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) |
| Died | 14 August 1941[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) |
| Parents | Thakur Krishna Singh Barhath and Bakhtawar Bai[4](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf) • [1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) |
| Offices | Courtier in Kota state from 1900 (60 rupees monthly); Superintendent of Ethnography, 1902 to 1907[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [5](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011737.html) • [3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) |
| Principal work | Chetavani ra Chungatya, 13 Dingal couplets addressed to Maharana Fateh Singh before the 1903 Delhi Durbar[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) |
| Organizations | Founded Veer Bharat Sabha (1910)[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) |
| Imprisonment | Arrested in March 1914 in the Delhi-Lahore conspiracy case; about five years in prison, much of it on hunger strike[2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) • [6](https://www.ultranewstv.com/hi/personality/thakur-kesari-singh-barhath) |
| Honorific | Rajasthan Kesari[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [6](https://www.ultranewstv.com/hi/personality/thakur-kesari-singh-barhath) |
## Origins and family
Kesari Singh was born on 21 November 1872 in Devpura village, on his paternal jagir near Shahpura (Bhilwara) in the then Mewar region.[3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) His father was Thakur Krishna Singh Barhath and his mother Bakhtawar Bai.[4](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf) • [3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) At the age of eight he was enrolled in the Charan Pathsala in Udaipur under Gopinath Ji Shashtri, a distinguished Sanskrit scholar from Banaras, studying under his father's guidance.[4](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf) • [3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) He was heavily influenced from childhood by Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati.[4](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf)
In 1891 he married Manik Kunwar, sister of Kaviraja Devidan of the Kotdi estate of Kota state; their son Pratap Singh Barhath, later a leading revolutionary himself, was born on 25 May 1893.[3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) • [5](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011737.html) The Barhath family became a revolutionary household: his son Kunwar Pratap Singh and his brother Thakur Zorawar Singh both took part in anti-British activities.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/)
## Career
In 1900 the Kota ruler Maharao Ummed Singh called him to the Kota court, appointing him a respected courtier with a monthly salary of 60 rupees.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [5](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011737.html) In 1902 he was appointed Superintendent of Ethnography, a post he held until 1907.[3](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/) • [5](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011737.html)
Chetavani ra Chungatya. Before the Delhi Durbar of 1903, convened by Viceroy Lord Curzon to commemorate the coronation of [Edward VII](https://www.edgepedia.org/edward-vii), Kesari Singh composed thirteen couplets in Dingal (Old Western Rajasthani) urging Maharana Fateh Singh not to attend.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [4](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf) The Maharana did not take part in the Durbar, an outcome that carried symbolic weight for the British government.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [7](https://www.patrika.com/patrikaplus/kesari-singh-barhath-chetavani-ra-chungatya-maharana-fateh-singh-delhi-durbar-20820213) Accounts differ on the details: one holds that the Maharana, deeply impressed by the verses, turned back from Delhi without attending,[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) while a later examination of the record concludes that he did reach Delhi but abstained from the Durbar itself, and that the poem alone did not cancel the journey.[7](https://www.patrika.com/patrikaplus/kesari-singh-barhath-chetavani-ra-chungatya-maharana-fateh-singh-delhi-durbar-20820213)
In 1910 he founded Veer Bharat Sabha, a revolutionary organization based in Rajasthan.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) • [10](https://rajras.in/ras/mains/paper-1/rajasthan-history/the-origin-of-rajputs/) In 1912 his name stood at the top of the National Archives list of persons to be kept under watch by the British CID in [Rajputana](https://www.edgepedia.org/rajputana).[2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) According to *The Better India*, at the start of the First World War in 1914 he sent a parcel of cartridges to revolutionaries in Banaras and made contact with soldiers of both princely and British Indian armies.[2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/)
## Political influence
Kesari Singh's influence worked through the princely courts and the jagirdars of Rajputana rather than through mass politics.
## Imprisonment, release and later life
In March 1914 Kesari Singh was arrested in the Delhi-Lahore conspiracy case. Sources give the arrest date as 21 March 1914, at Shahpura,[2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) or 2 March 1914, effected with the help of Shahpura's Raja Nahar Singh.[6](https://www.ultranewstv.com/hi/personality/thakur-kesari-singh-barhath) During his roughly five years in prison he observed hunger strikes for much of that time.[2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/) In 1920 he went to Wardha at his companions' urging but soon became disillusioned and returned to Kota, where he spent the rest of his life.[8](https://rajasthanhistory.com/personality-and-evaluation/) • [9](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011723.html) Left alone by his wife's death in 1927, he devoted himself to literary work until his death on 14 August 1941.[9](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011723.html) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/)
## Historians' assessment
On the Durbar episode, serious accounts disagree over whether Maharana Fateh Singh canceled the journey outright or traveled to Delhi but abstained from the ceremony; the historical details do not fully support the popular claim that the poem alone stopped the trip.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [7](https://www.patrika.com/patrikaplus/kesari-singh-barhath-chetavani-ra-chungatya-maharana-fateh-singh-delhi-durbar-20820213) Several other accounts place the dissuasion at the Delhi court in 1903.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [4](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf)
## Legacy
Kesari Singh is remembered in Rajasthan under the title Rajasthan Kesari.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [6](https://www.ultranewstv.com/hi/personality/thakur-kesari-singh-barhath) Chetavani ra Chungatya remains his best-known work, and the family's contribution, including his son Pratap Singh and brother [Zorawar Singh](https://www.edgepedia.org/zorawar-singh), is commemorated in accounts of Rajasthan's role in the freedom struggle.[1](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf) • [2](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/)
## References
1. [Walter Krit Rajputana Hitkarini Sabha (IJARETS)](https://ijarety.in/admin/img/16_Walter.pdf)
2. [कवि केसरी सिंह बारहठ ने रोका था मेवाड़-राजा को अंग्रेजों के दिल्ली दरबार में जाने से! (The Better India)](https://hindi.thebetterindia.com/independence/kesari-singh-barahath-revolutionary-poet/)
3. [केसरीसिंह बारहठ: Early Life (Rajasthan History)](https://rajasthanhistory.com/early-life-of-kesarisingh-barath/)
4. [Historical study of contribution of Barhath family in the struggle for Indian independence (International Journal of Social Science Research)](https://www.socialsciencejournal.in/assets/archives/2024/vol10issue5/10088.pdf)
5. [Early Life of Kesari Singh Barahath (Historyback)](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011737.html)
6. [ठाकुर केसरी सिंह बारहठ (Ultra News TV)](https://www.ultranewstv.com/hi/personality/thakur-kesari-singh-barhath)
7. [ज़रा याद करो कुर्बानी: केसरी सिंह बारहठ की कहानी (Patrika)](https://www.patrika.com/patrikaplus/kesari-singh-barhath-chetavani-ra-chungatya-maharana-fateh-singh-delhi-durbar-20820213)
8. [केसरीसिंह बारहठ का व्यक्तित्व एवं मूल्यांकन (Rajasthan History)](https://rajasthanhistory.com/personality-and-evaluation/)
9. [Personality & Assessment: Kesari Singh Barahath (Historyback)](https://www.historyback.com/en/figure/1001011723.html)
10. [The Origin of Rajputs - Connect Civils](https://rajras.in/ras/mains/paper-1/rajasthan-history/the-origin-of-rajputs/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › India and South Asia › British Raj (1858 to 1947) › Independence movement*
*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026 · Last review: Sep 30, 2026*
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