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

DELHI
raged.⁵ The fact is proved by the enquiries of the English
themselves and is universally admitted by the English
historians. And still what lies were not circulated in
England by the English missionaries at that time ? We
have no hesitation in saying that nobody has ever dared
to make false statements more mean, despicable, or wick-
ed, than the false descriptions given, at the time, by
English missionaries “ from personal experience,” about
the events at the time of the massacre ! What can one
think of the love of truth of a nation which allows its
citizens to say falsely that English women were made to
walk about naked in the streets of Delhi, that they were
outraged openly, that their breasts were cut, the small
girls were outraged, and so on ? And these were priests,
too ! The Revolution of 1857 did not take place because
the Indians wanted white women ! It was brought about,
rather, to remove all traces of white women from India !
In this manner, the storm raised by the violent rav-
ings of the women of the Meerut bazaars, dug up, by the
roots, in one stroke, the poisonous tree of slavery which
had been standing in the country for a hundred years !
The chief cause for this extraordinary success of the Revo-
lutionaries in five days was the ardent desire among all
classes of the people to get rid of English slavery. From
the women of Meerut to the Emperor of Delhi, there was
a strong desire in every heart to achieve Swaraj and
protect religion. This desire had already been put into
shape by the secret societies. Therefore was it that in five
days the banner of Swaraj could be won on the historic
capital of Hindusthan, Delhi. On the 16th of May, there
was not even a trace left, in Delhi, of English domination.
Such was the hatred against things English that anyone
5. “However much of cruelty and bloodshed there was, the
tales which gained currency of dishonour to ladies were, so far as
my observation and enquiries went, devoid of any satisfactory proof.”
—Hon. Sir Wm. Muir, K.C.S.I., Head of the Intelligence Dept.
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