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

THE ERUPTION
who uttered a word of English was mercilessly thrashed !
The rags of the English flag were being trodden down
upon the streets ; and the flag of Swaraj, from which
the strains of slavery had been washed away by hot blood,
was flying at the head of the Revolution ! The wave
of liberty rose so strong that in five days there was not
even one traitor in the whole of Delhi. Men and women,
rich and poor, young and old, Sepoys and citizens, Moul-
vies and Pandits, Hindus and Mahomedans—all attacked
the foreign slavery with their swords drawn under the
banner of their country. It was on account of this extra-
ordinary patriotism and love of freedom, and a confirmed
hatred of the English, that the words of the women of
Meerut could raise the throne at Delhi once more from
the dust !
These five days will be ever memorable in the history
of Hindusthan for yet another reason. Because these five
days proclaimed by beat of drum the end for the time
being at any rate of the continuous fight between the
Hindus and Mahomedans, dating from the invasion of
Mahmud of Ghazni. It was proclaimed first that the
Hindus and the Mahomedans are not rivals, not con-
querors and the conquered, but brethren ! Bharatamata
(Mother Ind) who was, in times past, freed from Maho-
medan yoke by Shivaji, Pratap Singh, Chattrasal, Pra-
tapaditya, Guru Govind Singh, and Mahadaji Scindia—
that Bharatamata gave the sacred mandate that day,
‘ Henceforward you are equal and brothers ; I am equal-
ly the mother of you both ! ” The five days during which
Hindus and Mahomedans proclaimed that India was
their country and that they were all brethren, the days
when Hindus and Mahomedans unanimously raised the
flag of national freedom at Delhi. Be those grand days
ever memorable in the history of Hindusthan !
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