१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

THE VOLCANO
a greater danger was in store for their religion under the
British Raj. The English missionaries tried to allay the
terrible unrest by an attempt to christianise the sepoys,
the chief strength of the people of India, believing that
the disaffection of the ordinary people would be no danger
to them at all. That the low cunning of this trick was
plainly understood by the people will be seen unmistak-
ably from the proclamations of the "Mutineers". That
the complaints and grievances mentioned in these procla-
mations are literally true can be collected even from the
reluctant confessions of the English historians themselves.
Except in the time of actual warfare, all days were days
of leisure to the Sepoys. How were these days of leisure
utilised by colonels and captains and other officers in the
English army ? Why, in constantly poisoning the ears of
the Sepoys with talks on Christianity ! Do you think
even this preaching was conducted in simple and decorous
language ? Not at all. Abuse, unrestrained filthy abuse,
was heaped on the name of Rama Chandra, the sacred
name, the mere mention of which makes the heart of
every Hindu fill with love and with devotion, and on the
name of Mahomed, the very mention of whose name fills
all Moslems with reverence and awe. The Koran and
the Vedas were openly defiled and images were desecrat-
ed ! If any Sepoy retaliated on these fiendish Feringhis
and returned abuse for abuse, the poor Sepoy's roti and
ghee would be taken away by the authority of the mis-
sionary colonels. Why, very soon things came to such a
pass that living in the English barracks meant the sacri-
fice of one's religion. For, if any Sepoy accepted the
Christian religion, he was praised loudly and treated
honourably ; and this Sepoy was promoted in the ranks
and his salary increased, in the face of the superior
merits of the other Sepoys ! A soldier renegade giving up
his religion became a Hawaldar and a Hawaldar, untrue
to his religion, was promoted to be a Subahdar Major ! ²
2. Causes of the Mutiny by a Bengali Hindu.
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