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

THE VOLCANO
managed Kingdom of Oudh.
Though the ruling prince of Oudh was a Mahomedan,
most of the big land-owners under him were Hindus.
Jahgirs and Talukdari rights had continued from father
to son in the families of these Zemindars for generations.
Hundreds of villages were administered under the single
authority of each of these proprietors. They possessed
forts and had small armies under them to protect these
Jahgirs. No wonder, then, that these Zemindars very soon
incurred the displeasure of the Company. With a view
to reduce all to the same level of poverty, the sordid roller
of the Company’s land revenue administration began to
devastate the land. The Talukdars were deprived of their
numerous villages wholesale, their lands were confiscated,
their forts were demolished, and all over the land of Ayo-
dhya one long wail of suffering rent the air ! The Amir
of yesterday became a Fakir to-day. The descendants of
ancient and noble families were driven from village to
village at the behest of a raw white youth of yesterday ;
insults were everywhere given ; whole families were reduc-
ed to dust.⁴
The English claimed that they were doing these things
for the poor agriculturists and villagers. Tyrannous
land-owners oppressed the Ryot ; hence, these pro-
tectors of the Ryot were introducing new methods to
deliver the Ryot from the cruel grip of the landowner.
How many Ryots and how many villages were deceived
by these false pretensions will soon be witnessed on the
4. Kaye says with reference to the Zemindar :—The chances
against him were many and great, for he had divers ordeals to pass
through and he seldom survived them all. When the claims of a
great Talukdar could not be altogether ignored, it was declared that
he was a rogue or a fool .... They gave him a bad name and they
straightway went to ruin him .... It was at once a cruel wrong
and a grave error to sweep it away as though it were an encum-
brance and an usurpation.
50