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

BEHAR
similar invitation to Shivaji ! The astute Rajput at once
understood that the loving invitation of the commissioner
meant only the quiet opening of the prison door ! There-
fore, he wrote back : “ Thanks awfully ! It is true, as
you say, that my health is very bad ; and, therefore it is
that I cannot come to Patna just now. As soon as I
feel better, I will start immediately.” O Kumar Singh !
You are, indeed, uneasy in mind and body! And it is also
true that, when you feel better after shedding Feringhi
blood, you are going to Patna ! But, for what ? That is
a different question.
Just then came the revolted Danapur Sepoys with the
medicine to cure Kumar Singh. “ Why do you wait now,
oh Kumar Singh ! We bind you by the oath of the
Motherland, by the oath of our religion, of your honour !
Throw away the sheath and draw your sword for Swaraj!
You are our king, our leader, our general ! You are an
ornament to the Rajput race ; you ought, at once, to jump
into the battlefield !” Thus cried the Swaraj-loving
Sepoys ; thus advised the holy Brahmin priests ; thus,
also, whispered to him his sword, anxious to smite the
enemy ! ³ Then, the hero of eighty, who was too weak
to go on an elephant to Patna, was suddenly inspired and,
from his sickly bed, he jumped right into the battlefield !
The Sepoys next hurried from Jagadishpur to Arrah, the
chief town of the Shahabad district, looted the treasury,
and destroyed the English prisons, offices, and flags. At
last, they turned to a small fortress. The clever English-
men of the place had stored in that fort arms, ammuni-
tion, and stores of provision in order to defend themselves
in case of a rising. Besides, a detachment of fifty Sikhs
had been sent from Patna to help the handful of English-
men. While these men, about seventy-five in all, lay
3. “The Brahmins have incited him to mutiny and rebellion!”
—Major Eyre’s Official Despatch.
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