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

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
work of the Secret Society. Even on the day before the
rising, the English had not any adequate inkling about
the plans of Emperor Bahadur Shah, Nana Sahib, or the
Queen of Jhansi ! And, amongst all these, the palace of
Brahmavarta kept the closest and strictest secrecy. The
historian Kaye says : "Nana had not studied in vain
the history of Shivaji, the founder of the Mahratta
Kingdom ! ”
The chief rendezvous of the secret societies of Cawnpore
was the house of Subahdar Tikka Singh. Another place
of meeting for the secret societies was the house of the
Sepoy leader Shams-ud-din Khan. At these secret meet-
ings, two faithful servants of the Brahmavarta palace
household, Jwala Prasad and Mahomed Ali, used to at-
tend on behalf of Nana Sahib. Subahdar Tikka Singh
and Jwala Prasad—both bold, freedom-loving, and pas-
sionately sincere patriots—soon got a hold on the assembly
and the whole army had unanimously sworn to obey
their orders. So, the voice of Subahdar Tikka Singh was
the voice of the whole army. It was extremely necessary
that such a leader and Nana Sahib should personally meet
and settle important points. Besides, the settled pro-
gramme had become useless on account of the Meerut
rising and the consequent confusion. It was therefore
necessary to alter that programme to suit the changed
circumstances, and for this it was decided that Tikka
Singh and Nana should meet.³ In their first meeting, a
long discussion took place. The Subahdar gave assurances
that both Hindus and Mahomedans were ready to rise
unanimously for Swadharma and Swaraj and were wait-
ing only for Nana's orders. After this, it was settled
that another meeting, more secret and of longer duration,
should be arranged to settle the minor details, and the
Subahdar returned. On the evening of the 1st of June,
Nana Sahib, accompanied by his brother Bala Sahib and
3. Forrest's State Papers and Trevelyan's Cawnpore.
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