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

TEMPORARY PACIFICATION
mixed up with it, to put in Taylor’s own words, “ He
drew himself very proudly and replied haughtily—‘ No,
Appa, I will never tell that ! You ask me to go to see
the Resident but I won’t do that either. Perhaps he
hopes that I will beg him for my life, but, Appa, I do
not wish to live, like a coward, on charity, nor will I ever
disclose the names of my countrymen ! ’ ” Meadows
Taylor went up to him once again and, showing him
hopes of a pardon, suggested that he should disclose the
story of the plot. Again, the Raja replied, “ I shall tell
everything else about my proceedings in this affair. But
if they ask me the names of those who incited me to rise,
I will not tell that. What ? Should I, now ready to
enter the jaws of death, should I betray the names of my
own countrymen ? No, no ! Cannon, gallows, the region
beyond the black waters—none of them is as terrible as
treachery ! ” Meadows Taylor then informed him that
death awaited him with certainty. The Raja replied,
“ But, I have one request, Appa ; do not hang me, for
I am not a thief. Blow me from a cannon. Just see
how calmly I can stand before its mouth ! ”
However, through the intervention of Meadows Taylor,
the sentence of this patriotic young Raja was reduced
from death to some years’ transportation. A short time
afterwards, when about to leave for the Andamans, the
Raja took a pistol belonging to one of his English warders
and, at a moment when no one was near, shot himself
dead. He had previously said, “ I prefer death to trans-
portation ! Prison and transportation? The meanest
mountaineer of my subjects will not remain in gaol—
what then of me, their king ? ” ⁴
One of the men who had intimate and constant connec-
tion with the Raja of Zorapur was Bhaskar Rao Baba
Sahib, the chief of Nargund. But, when Zorapur rose,
4. Meadows Taylor’s Story of my Life.
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