Mysuru/Mysore: ‘Koregaon Belaku’ (The light of Koregaon), a five-hour play on the ‘Battle of Koregaon,’ will be staged by Charvaka troupe, in association with Kannada and Culture Department-Bengaluru at Kalamandira in city at 5 pm this evening. The play is scripted and directed by Girish Machalli.

Chamarajanagar MP V. Sreenivasa Prasad will inaugurate the play in the gracious presence of Urilingi Peddimutt seer Jnanaprakash Swamiji.Kollegal MLA and former Minister N. Mahesh will preside.

Former MLC G. Madhusudhan, Kannada and Culture Department-Bengaluru Joint Director Ashok Chalavadi, BSP State President M. Krishnamurthy, former Mayor Purushotham, retd. Chief Engineer Ramachandra, Rangayana Director Addanda C. Cariappa and Rangayana Joint Director V.N. Mallikarjunaswamy will be the chief guests.

The Battle of Koregaon (also called the Battle of Koregaon Bhima, after the river Bhima that flows close to it) was fought on 1st January, 1818 between the British East India Company and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy, at Koregaon Bhima.

A 28,000-strong force led by Peshwa Baji Rao II whilst on their way to attack the company-held Pune, were unexpectedly met by an 800-strong Company force that was on its way to reinforce the British troops in Pune. The Peshwa dispatched around 2,000 soldiers to attack the force which sought entrenchment in Koregaon. Led by Captain Francis Staunton, the Company troops defended their position for nearly 12 hours, before the Peshwa’s troops ultimately withdrew, fearing the imminent arrival of a larger British force.

The battle was part of the Third Anglo Maratha war, a series of battles that culminated in the defeat of the Maratha empire and subsequent rule of the British East India Company in nearly all of Western, Central and Southern India. There is a “victory pillar” (obelisk) in Koregaon commemorating the battle.