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

ALIGARH AND NASIRABAD
information that a certain Rajé Nath Singh, who had
fought against the English at Meerut, had gone to a place
called Jivanti. They, therefore, sent some Sepoys to arrest
him. But these Sepoys of the 9th regiment, instead of ar-
resting him, took him safely out of Jivanti and reported to
the officers that no one of that name stayed there. A Sepoy
called Ram Din Singh was sent by the officers under
guard to Aligarh, for disobedience. When he was half-
way, the Sepoys on guard released him, broke his chains
and quietly returned to Minpur! This regiment, fired
with patriotism, was only waiting for the signal to rise.
But in order that the enemy might not cripple them before
the simultaneous rising, they apparently kept such good
behaviour that the 9th regiment was regarded as the
"most loyal" regiment in the whole of India! But since
the above-mentioned tour of the Brahmin, not only the
Sepoys, but the whole mass of the people of the Aligarh
district also, were in a rage. The Minpur detachment of
the 9th regiment had been sent to the Aligarh district to
quell the growing discontent, and, when it returned to
Aligarh, the butchers, and even loafers in the bazaars, ask-
ed them questions like, "When are you going to kill the
Feringhis?", "When are you going to rise for freedom?",
How would Sepoys have liked to postpone a work for
which even butchers and loafers were impatient? Just
then came the news of Aligarh. Seeing that their com-
rades had risen, they thought it disgraceful to wait any
longer, and so they rose that same day. They, also, spared
the life of all Englishmen who fell into their hands, took
plenty of arms and ammunition from the arsenal, loaded
it on camels, and started on the 23rd to Delhi.
At the same time, a similar movement was going on
amongst the garrison of Itawa. The chief magistrate and
collector at Itawa, Allen O. Hume, as soon as he heard
the news from Meerut, formed a select corps to guard the
roads round about Itawa, with the help of the assistant
magistrate Daniell. On the 19th this corps met a handful
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