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

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW
English naturally thought that the people of Oudh would
soon calm down. And to add to the misfortunes of Oudh,
on the 5th of June, 1858, the news came that the villain,
Powen, had assassinated the venerable Moulvie of Fyza-
bad. But instead of indulging in vain lamentations for
the death of this sacred Moulvie, exhausted as she was
by almost superhuman efforts, dispirited by defeat, and
with surrender tempting her with the hope of pardon,
Oudh rose suddenly at his death-spell like one possessed,
and jumped up in blood, with shouts of “ Revenge ! ”
The base enemy hanged the Moulvie’s body in the
Chowdi—but his spirit, his ghost, began to fight with the
English on the field ! His ghost, in order to satisfy its
unquenched thirst, jumped at the neck of the English
power, in its terrible unhuman form. Instead of being
cowed down by his death, the whole of Oudh, the living
ghost, ran up to the battle-field again with fresh vigour
brushing aside all thoughts of strength and weakness,
success and defeat, hope and despair, life and death ! To
take revenge for the hanging of the Moulvie, Nizam Ali
Khan marched up to Pilibht ; Khan Bahadur Khan with
four thousand men ran to the field of action ; the
Farrukabad men rose taking five thousand followers ;
Vilayat Shah took three thousand men to the field and,
with five thousand men, Nana Sahib, Bala Sahib, Ali
Khan Mewati, and other leaders started a tremendous
campaign in Rohilkhand and Oudh. Seeing these great
masses of troops marching in haste, and thirsting for
his blood, the cowardly traitor of Powen began to shud-
der with terror. The English immediately despatched
troops for his protection. Around that part, the Revolu-
tionaries were engaging in frequent and desperate en-
counters with the enemy. On the other side, at Chowk
Ghat, on the banks of the Ghogra, the Begum and Sirdar
Mamu Khan had established the headquarters of their
army. Besides these, Raja Ram Baksh, Bahunath Singh,
Canda Singh, Gulab Singh, Bhopal Singh, Hanumant
Singh, and other prominent and valiant Zemindars, with
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