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

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that emblazoned the star of future hope and encouraged
all, was heard, in the land. Prophecies are the leaps of the
mind into the future. As soon as the heart of India began
to long for Swaraj, the prophecies too began to point to
Swaraj. From the northern snows to the extreme south,
young and old circulated the prophecy that, thousands of
years ago, a holy, ancient sage had foretold that the
Feringhi Raj would end exactly a hundred years from the
date of its creation ! Indian newspapers gave wide publi-
city to this prophecy and interpreted it to mean that the
Company's Raj would fall to pieces on the 23rd of June,
1857. This one prophecy led to the performance of such
wonders in Hindusthan that it may safely be asserted that,
but for this prophecy, several portions of this history
would have to be written in a different way altogether.
The year 1857 was the centenary of the Battle of Plassey
and the Company's rule would end in that year—this idea
created a strange hope and an extraordinary inspiration
which moved every part of Hindusthan since the begin-
ning of 1857. After a considerable heated discussion
between various English historians as to who foretold this,
it has at last been decided beyond doubt that it was the
stratagem of the Hindus, since it was according to their
almanacs that the 100th year of Plassey fell in the year
1857. By this national prophecy, the impression of which
is indelibly indited on some of the most important pages
of this history, an extraordinary wave of agitation came
over the hearts of the young and old, and every one began
to be ready to turn the prophecy into an actual fact.
The secret organisation of the Revolution, which was
first started in Brahmavarta, was now growing at a tre-
mendous rate.^{15} By this time, nuclei had been established
15. Malleson says at the end of his voluminous history : “ Of
this conspiracy, the Moulvi was undoubtedly a leader. It had its
ramifications all over India—certainly at Agra where the Moulvie
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