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

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
troops of Jung Bahadur were advancing on her. It
was this that brought tears to the melancholy eyes of
Ayodhya ; it was the advancing of this army that cast
a shadow upon her face. Ayodhya was not a coward to
fear the advance of the English army ; for, if she had
been, she would not have attempted to cast off the hated
yoke of England. The very day that Ayodhya drove away
from her domain the English authority by force, that very
day, she was aware that an English army would soon
advance on her ; and aware of this, this brave Ayodhya
had already stepped forth to the battle, with her thousand
arms. But Ayodhya was not aware that on her would
advance the Nepalese army of Jung Bahadur also. That
the enemy would try to massacre her, she knew ; but she
did not know that her friends, her brothers, too, would
raise the axe of destruction against her. She was ready
to wrestle with the English, but she was ignorant of the
shameful fact that she would have to wage war with a
portion of Hindusthan herself, for the liberty of
Hindusthan. And thus, when, as if to mock at
poor Ayodhya, Jung Bahadur started with the Nepa-
lese troops to advance on her, Ayodhya looked in
the direction of those troops only and began to
shed tears of grief.
For, at the very time when the huge British army was
crossing the Ganges with Sir Colin at the head, Jung
Bahadur too with the Nepalese was advancing on Luck-
now to help his friends, the English ! The English were
his friends and the Hindusthanees were his enemies !
Those who greased the cartridges with the fat of the cow
were his confederates, and those who refused to bite them
were his enemies ! This Jung Bahadur, this blot on Indian
history, brought eternal disgrace on himself and his family
by joining the English as soon as he heard that the fight
for Swaraj had begun. A little before 1857 he had visited
England, and English historians assert that it was because
he had seen with his own eyes the might and the glory
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