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

THE ERUPTION
Adjutants, quarter-masters, commissaries, medical
chiefs—none could get his department ready and every
one was in a fix. What a shadowy thing is English power
in India, without the help of the Indians themselves !
When once the Indians were roused, the English found it
extremely difficult even to march from Umballa to Delhi,
because " natives of all classes held aloof, waiting and
watching the issue of events. From the capitalists to the
coolies, all shrank alike from rendering assistance to those
whose power might be swept away in a day."¹ If the
Indians had always kept aloof like this, then, indeed, as
the above writer says, English power might have been
swept away in a day. But such a brilliant day had not
yet arisen in 1857 ! The year, 1857, was the dawn after
a long night's sleep. Those who saw the vision of the
brilliant day to come woke up and left their beds, but
others, who thought it was still night, clung to their covers
of slavery and went again to sleep. Amongst these
sleepy heads, the honour of Rip Van Winkle was very
keenly contested between the states of Patiala, Nabha,
and Jhind. These states had it in their hand either to
establish the Revolution firmly or kill it. These states
lay between Umballa and Delhi and without their sup-
port the English rear was quite defenceless. Even if these
states had remained passive like the others, the Revolu-
tion had a great chance of success. But when Patiala,
Nabha, and Jhind began to deal blows at the Revolution
even more cruel than those of the English, the chain bet-
ween Delhi and the Punjab was suddenly snapped. These
states despised the invitation sent to them by the Em-
peror of Delhi, killed the Sowars that brought the message,
showered money on the English from their own treasuries,
mustered their armies, and protected the regions through
which the English armies were to pass, and attacked Delhi
along with the English ; and when the Punjab Revolu-
tionaries left their hearths and homes to defend the

1. Kaye's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II.
   132