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

RANEE LAKSHMI BAI
done such seemingly impossible deeds inspired them both.
They realised that the flag of the Mahratta empire waved
as far as Attock because men like the Scindia and the
Holkar, the Gaekwar and Bundela and Patwardhan were
ready to give up their lives for Swaraj. And for that
very flag, for that very Swaraj for which their fathers
and grandfathers had bled, they resolved to continue un-
interrupted, to the very last breath of their lives, the war
already begun against those who attempted to enslave
their motherland.
So, they resolved to carry on the war as vigorously as ever.
And again did Lakshmi Bai and the brave Tatia Topé
begin to make preparations for the coming deadly fight.
While these arrangements are going on there, we shall
take a rapid glance at the activities of Brigadier Whit-
lock whom we had left sometime back. To reconquer the
tract between the Narbada and the Ganges and the Jum-
na, two armies had started and, of these, the one under
Sir Hugh Rose, as we had already seen, had taken Jhansi.
When Jhansi was taken, the British indulged in a whole-
sale looting such as Nadir Shah alone had accomplished
before, defiling of temples and polluting of images, and
massacring terribly all alike. That finished, the army
continued the campaign. The last part of the campaign
had been appointed for Brigadier Whitlock to accomplish.
Accordingly, Brigadier Whitlock started on the 17th of
February from Jubbulpore, with all his army—European
regiments, Indian regiments from Madras, “ black ” and
white cavalry, and splendid artillery. He entered Sagar
in triumph, where the loyal Raja of Oorcha joined him.
Then, the English army began to advance on the Nabob
of Banda, the chief leader of the Revolutionaries in that
province. In the beginning of the Revolution at Jhansi,
Sagar, and other places, cruel massacres had taken place
and the Europeans from those places ran wherever they
could to save their lives. The Nabob had brought them
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