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

THE VOLCANO
and earth but that the two are ends of one and the same
thing. Our idea of Swadharma, too, is not contradictory
to that of Swaraj. The two are connected as means and
end. Swaraj without Swadharma is despicable and Swa-
dharma without Swaraj is powerless. The sword of
material power, Swaraj, should always be ready drawn
for our object, our safety is the other world, Swadharma.
This trend of the Eastern mind will be often found in its
history. The reason why, in the East, all revolutions take
a religious form, nay more, the reason why Eastern history
knows of no revolutions unconnected with religion, lies in
the all-embracing meaning that the word ‘Dharma’ has.
That this dual principle of Swadharma and Swaraj, always
seen in the history of India, appeared also in the Revo-
lution of 1857, should be a matter of no surprise. We
have already referred to the first Proclamation of the
Emperor of Delhi. Afterwards when Delhi was besieged
by the English and the war was at its height, the Emperor
issued another Proclamation addressing all Indians thus :
‘ Why has God given us wealth, land, power ? They are
not for individual pleasure, but they are given for the
holy object of defence of our religion ’. But where are now
the means to attain this holy end ? As said in the Pro-
clamation given above, where is the gift of Swaraj, the
greatest of all the gifts of God ?
Where is wealth ? Where is land ? Where is power ?
In the plague of slavery, all this divine independence is
all but dead. In the above Proclamation, in order to show
how the plague of slavery was destroying India, full des-
criptions are given as to how the Kingdoms of Nagpur,
Ayodhya, and Jhansi were trampled down into dust. And
it awakens the people to the fact that they are guilty of
the sin of destroying religion in the house of God, having
lost these means of defending religion. The command of
God is, Obtain Swaraj, for that is the chief key to the pro-
tection of Dharma. He who does not attempt to acquire
Swaraj, he who sits silent in slavery, he is an atheist and
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