the ghess estate comprises roughly 25 villages under the inherited authority of madho singh’s family collectively known as khalsa. people from multiple local tribal and other communities like those that kondh, binjhal, gond, chauhan, etc. were recruited to participate in training for warfare and for which the expenses were provided by madho singh. the training sessions were confined between the full moon days of the month of pousa until the last tuesday of chaitra. the ghess estate turned into a highly charged up center of nationalism and anti-british activities with strong sense of unity within the rebels. this revolutionary spirit spread to adjoining areas of rajbodasambar, kesaepali, patkulunda,bheden, padampur and sonakhan who also rose up after surendra sai called for revolt. madho singh and his four sons took charge of the singora pass. the lakhanpur estate zamindar balabhadra singh dao's son kamal singh dao along with his brothers khageswar singh and neelambar singh took charge of defending debrigarh in the barapahar range.