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

THE ERUPTION
in India can be found, in Revolutionary times, this gallan-
try and this nobility of heart, even when it enraged
the masses ?
Raja Hanamant Singh was the chief of Kala and, though
not behind anybody in his anxiety to fight in the cause
of his nation, his nobility forced even his enemies to speak
of him in the following terms : “ This noble Rajput had
been dispossessed, by the action of the revenue system
introduced by the British, of the greater part of his pro-
perty. Keenly as he felt the tyranny and the disgrace,
his noble nature yet declined to regard the fugitive chiefs
of the nation which had nearly ruined him in any other
light than as people in distress. He helped them in that
distress ; he saw them in safety to their own fortress. But
when, on bidding him farewell, Captain Barrow expressed
a hope that he would aid in suppressing the revolt, he
stood erect, as he replied, ‘ Sahib, your countrymen came
into our country and drove out our king. You sent your
officers round the districts to examine the titles of the
estates. At one blow, you took from me lands which,
from time immemorial, had been in my family. I sub-
mitted. Suddenly misfortune fell upon you. You came
to me whom you had despoiled. I have saved you. But
now,—now I march at the head of my retainers to Luck-
now to try and drive you from the country .’”⁴
This generosity on the part of the people of Oudh was not
a sign of weakness. Between the 31st of May and the end
of the first week of June, the whole province rose in Revo-
lution like a big machine suddenly setting to work ! In
the whole province, the Zemindars, Jagirdars, and Rajas ;
the thousands of Sepoys under the British—infantry,
cavalry, and artillery ; all the servants of the civil depart-
ments ; peasants, merchants, and students ; in short, all,
whether Hindu or Mahomedan, rose like one man for
4. Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, page 273 (foot-note).
256