File:Shahid Vir Narayan Singh Memorial, Sonakhan.jpg

English: Shahid Vir Narayan Singh memorial was made after the freedom fighter Vir Narayan Singh. He is also known and considered as "The 1st Chhattisgarhi freedom fighter". His ancestor were from Gond tribal group and were residing in Sarangarh. Later on, they changed their affiliation from Gond tribe and moved to Sonakhan in Raipur district. His great grandfather was Deewan of Sonakhan and at the age of thirty five he took over the landlordship rights from his father Ram Rai. He was thirty-five years old when he became the landlord of Sonakhan, Youngest landlord in the region. The British arrested him in 1856 for looting a trader's grain stocks and distributing it amongst the poor in a severe famine year. In 1857 with the help of the soldiers of the British Army at Raipur, Veer Narayan Singh escaped from prison. He reached Sonakhan and formed an army of 500 men. Under the leadership of Smith, a powerful British army was dispatched to crush the Sonakhan army. Veer Narayan Singh's martyrdom has been resurrected in the 1980s and he has become a potent symbol of Chhattisgarhi pride.[3] He was executed on 10 December 1857 at Jaistambh Chowk of Raipur.[4] He became the first martyr from Chhattisgarh in the War of Independence. Government of Chhattisgarh named a cricket stadium Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium after him.