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

OFFERING IN THE SACRIFICIAL FIRE
and asked him to collect evidence for his defence, Tatia
replied to the officer, “I know full well that, having
fought against the British as I have done, I shall have
to prepare myself for death. I do not want any court
nor do I wish to take any part in the trial;” and raising
up his hands loaded with shackles, he continued, “the
only hope that I have is to get myself released from these
chains either from the mouth of the cannon or from the
loop of the gallows! Only one thing I have to ask, and
that is, that, my family at Gwalior having had no con-
nection with my actions, you should not take my old
father to any task for my deeds.
On the 18th of April, the farce, called his trial, ended.
Tatia was sentenced to death and taken to the gallows
at about four o'clock in the afternoon. He was taken
out of his tent under the guard of the 3rd Bengal Euro-
peans. When Tatia approached the place where the
gallows stood, the troops formed an extended square
round it. There was a great crowd of Indian infantry,
European cavalry, and the spectators. In the country
surrounding, Indian villagers were standing up on emin-
ences here and there. Tatia once again made a request
that his father should not be persecuted. The charge
and the sentence were read, and the Mistri broke the
chains round Tatia’s feet. Tatia walked boldly and with
a firm step to the gallows and coolly ascended up the
ladder. When, as is the custom, the executioners came
up to bind Tatia’s hands and feet on the platform, Tatia
smiled pleasantly, and said, “These formalities are not
necessary.” With these words he himself put forth his
head in the noose. The noose tightened, the block rose,
and with a jerk....
Tatia Topé, the loyal servant of the Peshwas, the hero
of 1857, the country’s martyr, the defender of religion,
the proud, the loving, the generous Tatia Topé, was
hanging lifeless on the gallows of the English! The
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