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

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
About the 25th of February, 1858, the Nepalese and the
English crossed the Ghogra and marched toward Ambar-
pur. On the way, there was a strong fort in a very thick
jungle, possessing great strategic advantages. It would
not have been safe for the English army to proceed on-
wards without taking this fort. Hence the Nepalese were
directed to attack this fort. The fort engaged in fight and
continued it very vigorously in the face of this well-equip-
ped enemy. The reader may inquire the strength of the
army inside the fort which dared to stop this huge army
on its way. It was an army composed of thirty-four per-
sons only ! But the minds of all of them were filled with
the inspiring ideal of independence and it is this which
gave them the strength to fight the enemies of the country
in spite of such odds. The Nepalese fought with deter-
mination. Their opponents fought with still greater
vigour. Patriotism maintained its fight with Treachery.
Everyone kept and maintained his place fighting, struggl-
ing hard. The name Ambarpur (Heavenly City) was
eminently fitting to this fort ; Ambarpur fought so well
that it killed seven of the enemy and wounded forty-three.
It fought so well that thirty-three, out of the thirty-four
who defended it, were killed without moving from their
posts, and still the thirty-fourth did not cease from the
fight ! And it was only when the thirty-fourth was killed,
after maintaining the fight to the very end, that the enemy
could enter the fort. The fort of Ambarpur fought as
Delhi could not fight, as Lucknow could not fight !⁵
After Ambarpur had been taken, the united forces of the
Gurkhas and the English marched on reducing the coun-
try all the way. After them was also coming General
Franks who, after engaging with Nazim Mahomed Hussein
and Commander Banda Hussein at Sultanpur, Budayan,
5. “It was defended with so much vigour and resolution that
the assailants lost seven men killed and forty-three wounded before
they gained possession of it. The defenders died all at their posts.”
—Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. IV, page 227.
399