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

TEMPORARY PACIFICATION
massacre them at Lucknow ! Nay, he did not stop merely
with sending this mean and cruel reply. He gave full
permission to the English to enter Nepal and hunt the
Revolutionaries within his territories !
Then the Revolutionaries lost all hope, hid their arms,
and quietly began to walk away to their homes. To
encourage them in doing so, the English did not give
them the slightest trouble for their past hostile attitude.
Still, some grand-souled heroes, unable to bear the sight
of the Britisher again treading the sacred soil of India,
instead of returning to their homes, escaped to the jungles,
knowing that it meant nothing short of dying by starva-
tion ! About that time, Nana Sahib wrote a letter to the
British commander, Hope Grant. What does he say in
that letter—any talk of surrender ? Oh, no ! After
condemning at great length the unjust rule of the British
in India, Nana asks : “ What right have you to occupy
India and declare me an outlaw ? Who gave you the
right to rule over India ? What ! You, Feringhis, are
the kings, and we, thieves, in this our own country ? ”
These are the last recorded words of Nana Sahib. No !
This is the last challenge of the Peshwa throne of Balaji
Viswanath ! It is strong, proud, just, and self-respecting,
worthy of the last descendant of Shivaji’s Peshwas. The
stain of effeminacy of the second Baji Rao was washed
away in streams of the blood of the foreign foe, and the
Gadi of the Peshwas passes away from the scene, like the
Chitore Rajputanees of old, struggling, fighting, and
burning amidst the leaping flames of the fire of sacrifice.
This was her last shriek—“ In India, foreigners are kings
and the sons of Hindusthan thieves ! ”
History does not know for certain what happened to Nana
Sahib after the episode of this letter. Bala Sahib died
in the forest in circumstances of self-imposed misery.
The Begum and her young son were, later on, given
shelter by Jung Bahadur. The great martyr Gujaran
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
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