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

THE CONFLAGRATION
ordinary man were so superb that whole regiments of
rude Sepoys would be ready to rise in his favour with one
mind in the course of a single day. When the necessity
for reinforcements arose, Tatia had gone straight to Sheo-
rajpur and enlisted the 42nd regiment—lately risen—for
the new cause. Meanwhile, Havelock had been preparing
to cross the Ganges and advance on Lucknow ; so, Tatia
decided to harass his rear. How the English commander
was, thus, dragged back to Cawnpore, how on his return
he saw, to his surprise, the extraordinary Mahratta ruling
in his palace at Brahmavarta, how the English army was
forced to give battle at this place, and how, in the en-
counter, the army of the Revolutionaries was defeated on
the 16th of August—all this has been described in a pre-
vious chapter. After the defeat, Tatia swam the Ganges
with his whole army and joined Nana at Fatehpur. Re-
inforcements were again necessary. The same problem
rose again. But why need Nana worry about reinforce-
ments so long as Tatia Topé was there? The army in
the cantonments of Gwalior—anxious to meet the Feringhi
in battle—had so far been obliged to keep quiet, because
of the ‘loyalty’ of the Scindia. To Gwalior, then, some-
one must be sent—and who fitter than the wily Mahratta
who, like the magician who weaves a spell round his au-
dience, had seduced and kept within the hollow of his
hand whole regiments of Sepoys? Tatia, then, went to
Gwalior incognito. And shortly after, he had seduced the
whole army—infantry, cavalry, artillery and all—at
Morar, and had even brought them as far as Kalpi. From
a military point of view, Kalpi would have been of great
help to the Revolutionaries. As the river Jumna flowed
between Kalpi and Cawnpore, it could serve as a cover
against the English army. Tatia realised, then, that after
Cawnpore no better base could be secured than the fort
of Kalpi and so he took the fort. When Nana heard that
he had got a good army and the fort of Kalpi, he consent-
ed to make Kalpi his base and sent Shrimant Bala Sahib,
as his representative, to occupy the fort and look after it.
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