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

AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION
Fifty years having passed by, the circumstances having
changed, and the prominent actors on both sides being no more,
the account of the War of 1857 has crossed the limits of
current politics and can be relegated to the realms of history.
When, therefore, taking the searching attitude of an his-
torian, I began to scan that instructive and magnificent spec-
tacle, I found to my great surprise the brilliance of a War of
Independence shining in “the mutiny of 1857.” The spirits
of the dead seemed hallowed by martyrdom, and out of the
heap of ashes appeared forth sparks of a fiery inspiration. I
thought that my countrymen will be most agreeably disap-
pointed, even as I was, at this deep-buried spectacle in one of
the most neglected corners of our history, if I could but show
this to them by the light of research. So, I tried to do the
same and am able to-day to present to my Indian readers
this startling but faithful picture of the great events of 1857.
The nation that has no consciousness of its past has no
future. Equally true it is that a nation must develop its
capacity not only of claiming a past but also of knowing how
to use it for the furtherance of its future. The nation ought
to be the master and not the slave of its own history. For,
it is absolutely unwise to try to do certain things now irres-
pective of special considerations, simply because they had been
once acted in the past. The feeling of hatred against the
Mahomedans was just and necessary in the times of Shivaji
—but, such a feeling would be unjust and foolish if nursed
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