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

SECRET ORGANISATION
To obtain all information about this secret society,
either now or in the immediate future, is as difficult as it
is to obtain the information about any other secret society.
But upon the facts that occasionally come to light, one
cannot but admire the skill of the organisers.⁴
A little before 1856, Nana began to send missionaries
all over India to initiate people into this political ideal.
In addition to sending missionaries to awaken the people,
Nana also sent tried and able men to the different princes
from Delhi to Mysore, to fill their minds with the glorious
ideal of the United States of India and to induce them to
join in the Revolution. These letters, which were sent
into every Durbar secretly, clearly pointed out how the
English were playing the game of reducing India to in-
significance by annexing Swadeshi kingdoms under the
pretext of “ no heir,” how those states which were spared
yet would soon be reduced to the same fate as the others
and how, under the yoke of slavery, country and religion
were both being trampled under foot ; and they concluded
by exhorting the princes to work for the Revolution which
was to make them free. Direct evidence is available that
messengers and letters from Nana were sent to the states
of Kolhapur and Patwardhan, to the Kings in Oudh, the
princes in Bundelkhand, and others. The English arrested
one of such messengers at the Durbar of Mysore. The
evidence given by this man is so important that we give
it word for word below :—“ Two or three months before
Oudh was annexed, Shrimant Nana Sahib had begun send-
ing letters. First, no one would reply, for no one hoped for
any success. After Oudh was annexed, however, Nana
began a regular battery of letters and, then, the opinions
of Nana began to appeal to the Sirkars of Lucknow. Raja
4. Trevelyan says in reference to this : “ No society of rich and
civilised Christians who ever undertook to preach the gospel of peace
and goodwill can have employed a more perfect system of orga-
nisation than was adopted by these rascals whose mission it was
to preach the gospel of sedition and slaughter.”—Cawnpore, p. 39.
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Man Singh, the leader of the Purbhayas, was also won
over. Then the Sepoys began to organise amongst them-
selves and the Sirkars of Lucknow began to help them.
No replies to letters were received till Oudh was annexed ;
but as soon as that was accomplished, hundreds of people
came forward boldly and replied confidentially to Nana.
Next came the affair of the cartridges and, then, the dis-
affection was so great that letters were simply showered
on Nana".⁵ This very agent has given a long list of the
letters sent by Nana to the various Durbars.
While agents of Nana were moving from one Durbar
to another from Delhi to Mysore in order to draw them
into the War of Independence, it was in the Déwan-i-Khas
of Delhi, more than in any other Durbar, the seeds of
Revolution began to take root. The English had not
stopped at merely taking away the Padshahi of the
Padshah of Delhi, but had recently decided even to take
away the title of Padshah from the descendants of Babar.
The Emperor, though reduced to such an extremity, and
Zinat Mahal, the beloved, clever, and determined Begum
of the Emperor, had already decided that this last oppor-
tunity of regaining the lost glory should not be allowed
to go by, and, if dying was the only resource, then, they
should die the death which would only befit an Emperor
and an Empress. At this juncture, the English were
engaged in a war with Persia. Seeing that a simultaneous
5. "For months, for years indeed, they had been spreading
their network of intrigues all over the country. From one native
court to another, from one extremity to another of the great conti-
nent of India, the agents of the Nana Sahib had passed with over-
tures and invitations discreetly, perhaps mysteriously, worded to
princes and chiefs of different races and religions, but most hopefully
of all to the Mahrattas . . . . There is nothing in my mind more
substantiated than the complicity of Nana Sahib in widespread intri-
gues before the outbreak of the Mutiny. The concurrent testimony
of witnesses examined in parts of the country widely distinct from
each other takes this story altogether out of the regions of the
conjectural." Kaye's Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, pp. 24-25.
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rising in India would be a help, the Shah of Persia began
to open diplomatic correspondence with the Emperor of
Delhi. In the Declaration of the Emperor of Delhi, it had
been made quite clear that a confidential agent had been
sent to Persia from the Delhi Durbar. While this intrigue
was going on at the Durbar of the Shah, right in the city
of Delhi agitation was started to stir the public feeling
to its very depths. For this work, even public Proclama-
tions were sometimes posted up on the walls of the town.
In the beginning of 1857, a Proclamation couched in the
following terms appeared boldly : “ The army of Persia
is going to free India from the hands of the Feringhis. So,
young and old, big and small, literate and illiterate, civil
and military, all Hindusthanee brothers should leap forth
into the field to free themselves from the Kaffirs.” ⁶
Though these Proclamations were ever and anon posted
in public places, still the English could hardly trace the
persons who posted these Proclamations ; and Indian
newspapers used to publish these Proclamations and to
criticise them in mysterious language. The various
Shahzadas and their retainers in the palaces of Delhi open-
ly and secretly spread disaffection, and were engaged in
weaving a net-work of conspiracies. In the grounds of
Prince Nawab Bakht, for six years, Sergeant Fleming’s
son had been practising riding. But when, in the begin-
ning of April 1857, this English youth went to the resi-
dence of Vizier Mahbub Ali, the prince, excited beyond
measure, said, “ Away, get away from here. I boil with
rage when I see the face of any Feringhi!” So saying, the
Prince spat on him ! ⁷ Other people were working more
secretly and quite differently from the manner of this
abusive prince. Mrs. Aldwell says in her evidence, that
she had personally heard Mahomedan mothers asking
6. Kaye’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, p. 30.
7. Military Narrative (p. 374): “ Jawan Bakht commenced
abusing, declaring that the sight of the Kaffir Feringhi disturbed his
serenity, spat in his face, and desired him to leave.”
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their children to pray that the English should be destroyed
root and branch.⁸ Mukund Lal, Private Secretary of
the Emperor of Delhi, says :—"Sitting at the doors of
the royal palace, Moguls and others within the palace used
to discuss the Revolution openly. The Sepoys would rebel
soon ; the army of Delhi would rise against the English ;
and then, all people, along with the army, would throw
off the Feringhi yoke and enjoy Swaraj—such definite
opinions were current. All people were inspired with the
hope that, when once the Raj was won, all power and all
authority would remain in their own hands." Thus, in
every cellar, in every house in Delhi, the disaffection only
awaited for a spark which should explode everything up.
Like the capital cities of Delhi and Brahmavarta,
Lucknow also, the capital of Oudh, the last victim that
had fallen a prey to the greed of Dalhousie, began to catch
fire from the flames of the War of the Revolution. The
Nabob of Lucknow and his Vizier were now residing
near Calcutta. To all appearances, the Vizier of Lucknow
looked as if he was wasting his time in luxury ; as a
matter of fact, however, Vizier Ali Nakkhi Khan was as
much absorbed in his dangerous conspiracy near Calcutta
as Nana Sahib himself was. One cannot help feeling
wonderstruck at the schemes—secret, extensive, and daring
—which Ali Nakkhi Khan was weaving to seduce the
Sepoys in Bengal and to prepare them to join him at the
right moment already fixed upon. Confidential agents
were sent by him, in the garb of Fakirs or Sanyasis, to
preach 'sedition' to the Sepoys. He opened correspon-
dence with the Indian officers in the army to make them
understand fully what immense advantages Swaraj could
confer as compared with the service of the Company.
How the English had committed an unpardonable crime
in annexing Oudh, how the royal family of the Nabob
had been treated with insult, and how the very Queen and
Begums were expelled with violence from the palace—
8. Trial of the King of Delhi.
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SECRET ORGANISATION
pictures of such heart-rending tyranny were drawn with
such pathos that the brave Sepoys began to weep pro-
fusely. And, then and there, the Sepoys would take the
water of the Ganges in their hands, or would swear by the
Koran, that they would live only to achieve the destruc-
tion of the English rule. When Subahdar Majors, Subah-
dars, and Jamadars and the bigger officers were all sworn
in, the whole regiment was naturally bound over. The
Vizier of Oudh, by the use of such tactics, won over the
whole army in Bengal.⁹ In Fort William itself, in Cal-
cutta, the Revolutionary agents of Ali Nakkhi Khan
moved silently.
After sending letters to the various Durbars from
Brahmavarta, Nana exerted himself thoroughly to awaken
all the latent power of the people. When Brahmavarta,
Delhi, Lucknow, Satara, and such other big and promi-
nent princes figured conspicuously in the Revolutionary
Organisation, how could this organisation suffer for want
of money? To preach to all those who were a power
among the people, thousands of Fakirs, Pundits, and
Sanyasis were sent out in an incredibly short time. It is
not true to say that all these Fakirs were true Fakirs ;
for, some of the Fakirs and Sadhus lived with the gran-
deur of Amirs. Elephants were given them for travelling.
Guards armed to the teeth travelled with them, and every
stage on their way was a regular camp. Provided with
9. Some of the letters of the Sepoys of Barrackpore fell into
the hands of the English. Kaye adduces the following letters as
evidence for the above. "The second grenadier said that the whole
regiment is ready to join the Nabob of Oudh." "Subahdars said
that they would join the Nabob of Oudh." Subahdar Madarkhan,
Sirdar Khan, and Ram Shahi Lal said, "that in treachery no one
could come up to the level of the "Beti-choot" Feringhis. Though
the Nabob of Oudh gave up his kingdom, he could not even get a
pension". Many other letters, like this, the English came across
afterwards.—Kaye's Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, p. 429. (These regi-
ments consisted of the sepoys from Oudh, Agra, and were only sta-
tioned in Bengal.—Author's note).
81
6

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such paraphernalia, they could influence and impress the
people better, and the Sirkar also had fewer reasons to
suspect them. Influential and noble Moulvies were
appointed to preach the political Jehad, and they were
rewarded with thousands of Rupees. Through towns and
villages, these Moulvies and Pundits, these Fakirs and
these Sanyasis began to travel, from one end of the
country to the other, preaching secretly the war for
political independence. Just this start was wanted, for
this same trick was begun independently by other groups
of the Revolutionary Organisation. After these paid
missionaries came volunteers. Begging from door to door,
they began to sow, in all directions, the principles of in-
dependence, patriotism, and love of Dharma—for the
awakening of strength among the people. This work of
preparing for revolutionary rising was done so cautious-
ly and secretly that not much inkling of what was going
on could reach even such cunning people as the English,
until the explosion actually took place. When such a
Fakir or a Sanyasi went to a village, a strange agitation
and an unrest began in that village, and of this the English
were sometimes cognisant. Whisperings went on in
bazaars ; ' sahibs ' were refused water by the Bhishtis,
Ayahs left English homes without permission ; Baberchis
purposely stood before the Mem-Sahibs half-dressed ; and
Indian messenger boys walked insolently and slovenly
before their " masters ", when sent out.¹⁰ These Fakirs
and Pundits used to walk round and about the military
cantonments more particularly. From Barrackpore to
Meerut, Umballa and Peshawar, they started secret
societies and, more than that, practically surrounded every
military cantonment. The Hindu and Moslem Sepoys in
the army being very devoted to their religious teachers,
the Sirkar, though they might suspect them, could hardly
proceed against them. For, they feared that the Sepoys
would find in it another grievance against the Govern-
10. Trevelyan's Cawnpore.
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SECRET ORGANISATION
ment. And, if the Sirkar did, by any chance, suspect
them, these political Sanyasis sowed the seeds of the
Revolutionary War in the very houses of the Sepoys in
the neighbouring village. The authorities at Meerut were
at last compelled to ask a Fakir, who was lodging near the
Meerut military cantonment, to move away. As soon as
this order came, like a simple, innocent man, this grand
person left the camp on his elephant, only to go to a
neighbouring village and establish himself securely in the
houses of the Sepoys! ¹¹ That patriot Moulvie Ahmad
Shah, whose sacred name has cast a halo round Hindus-
than, whose glorious achievements we shall have to des-
cribe very soon, began similarly to tour through the
country preaching the Revolutionary War. At last, when
he began to preach in Lucknow itself, to thousands and
tens of thousands in open meetings, that there was no
other way of saving the country and the religion than by
killing the English, he was arrested for sedition and sen-
tenced to be hanged !
It was the custom to have a Mullah and a Pundit in
every regiment for religious purposes. Taking advantage
of this, the Revolutionaries entered the service as regi-
mental Mullas and Pundits at the falling of the night, used
to preach Revolution to the Sepoys secretly. Thus, these
political Sanyasis toured from village to village for two
years preaching Revolution, and at last succeeded in sow-
ing the seeds of the terrible war to come.
While itinerant Sanyasis and itinerant preachers preached
in the villages and the country, local preachers were
being sent to the bigger towns. In all the important
places of pilgrimage where thousands of people congre-
gated, the ever-existing dumb dislike of the usurping
Feringhi rule was intensified into active hatred by the
Revolutionary preachers. The stir that was created at all
11. The Meerut Narrative.
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the holy places on the banks of the Ganges, how the
Sankalpa (resolution) of Revolutionary War was made
along with the usual Sankalpa for the bath—these and
other facts will soon be narrated in the history of the
rising of those places. The hatred of the Feringhis in
those Kshetras (holy places) was so strong, that open
prayers were started by the priests in the temples of
Benares, on behalf of their own rulers belonging to their
own religion.$^{12}$
In order to make clear to the common people, in simple
and clear language, how Swadharma and Swatantrya
—Religion and Independence—were being insulted, the
all-comprehensive programme of the Revolutionary party
had not left out of their consideration any of the festivals
or the Tamâshâs in which people took interest and con-
gregated in large numbers. The dolls in the doll-theatres
began now to speak a strange language and to dance a
dangerous dance; at police stations, under the shades of
trees in Dharmasalas, and at public squares, Powadas
and Lawanis (ballads and epic lays) were sung with the
gusto of a new mysterious interpretation. The fame goes
and there is a strong conviction everywhere that the song
of Allah-Udal, one of the most popular songs in Northern
India, does at once rouse in the hearers the martial craving
for war. This heroic martial song, sung with spirit by
minstrels, would cause the arms of the hearers tingle and
itch for battle, and their blood would begin to boil on list-
ening to the exploits of their ancestors ; then, the subject
would suddenly be changed and before their eyes would
be forced the image of their present helplessness. And
the hearers would be roused to rise against the Feringhi
and act in the present the heroism they admired in the
past. Itinerant groups of Tamashgars, so innocent in
themselves that the Government was not even cognisant
of their existence, were used for the preaching of the Revo-
12. Red Pamphlet.
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SECRET ORGANISATION
lutionary War by these consummate Revolutionists.
Starting from Calcutta, they went on to the Panjab and,
in the nights, exhibited their peculiarly dangerous Tamâshâ
to their fellow countrymen.$^{13}$
These Tamashgars could not preach Revolution to
the women, and so it would appear that the leaders of the
Revolution sent out quack doctors and their wives—
female gipsies—amongst the people, to move them with
a new life and revolutionary discontent. The trick of
using gipsies for this purpose was excellent. These gyp-
sies used to foretell the destruction of English, depict the
evil machinations of the alien rule and prescribe revolu-
tion as the only remedy and spell that could and would
get rid of this evil which had possessed their Motherland !
The coming narrative will show what a terrible hatred of
the English had grown amongst the women and how
anxious they were to destroy this rule. Thus, the war was
preached in temples and Tirthas, in Kshetras, Jatras, and
in festivals, on the road and in the house, amongst the
Sepoys and the citizens, in Natakas and in Tamashas, to
men as well as to women.
Everywhere was this hatred of slavery and the desire
for Swaraj manifested. "My religion is dying, my
country is dying : my people have been reduced to a
condition worse than that of dogs !"—such were the
fears that moved every heart ; and an unconquerable
desire arose in every heart, from prince to pauper, to make
that country live and that people rise to the height of men.
And the passionate conviction went forth that streams of
blood were but a small price to achieve that independence ;
and that, therefore, "Din! Din!" and "Har! Har! Maha-
dev!"—the war cries of the Indians—must rend the air.
To instil into every heart the one great desire for
13. Trevelyan's Cawnpore, Short Narratives.
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independence, and rouse it to action, there could be no
more effective weapon than poetry. When the mass of the
people are possessed by an idea which struggles for ade-
quate expression, the poet, who realises the idea more
intensely than the rest, gives it a beautiful expression,
which at once touches their hearts and makes them love
the idea still more. Hence the great part that national
songs play in all revolutions. The national songs are an
expression of the national soul under the sway of a strong
ideal. They unite the hearts of the people with ease.
When the soul of the land of Bharata was swayed by an
intense passion for liberty, for the protection of Swa-
dharma and the attainment of Swarajya, strange indeed
would it have been if the heart of the nation did not burst
into song. The principal court bard of the Emperor of
Delhi had himself composed a national song which was to
be sung by every throat in Hindusthan, and the Emperor
of Delhi, in person, had ordered that this should be sung
on all occasions of public ceremony. It described the
heroic deeds of the past and painted a pathetic picture of
the present fallen state. In that national song was echoed
the cry of the nation that those persons, whose heads had
been crowned but yesterday with imperially aggressive
independence, should be reduced to the condition of slaves
to-day, that their religion which yesterday was the state
religion should to-day be unprotected, and that heads
crowned recently with glory should, alas, be trampled
to-day under the foot of the foreigner.¹⁴
While the national song was educating the people
about their past glory and their present fall, a prophecy,
14. A mandate had, of late, gone forth from the palace of
Delhi enjoining the Mahomedans, at all their solemn gatherings, to
recite a song of lamentation indited by the regal musician himself
which described in touching strains the humiliation of their race and
the degradation of their ancient faith, once triumphant from the
northern snows to the southern straits but now trodden under the
foot of the infidel and the alien.—Trevelyan's Cawnpore.
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SECRET ORGANISATION
that emblazoned the star of future hope and encouraged
all, was heard, in the land. Prophecies are the leaps of the
mind into the future. As soon as the heart of India began
to long for Swaraj, the prophecies too began to point to
Swaraj. From the northern snows to the extreme south,
young and old circulated the prophecy that, thousands of
years ago, a holy, ancient sage had foretold that the
Feringhi Raj would end exactly a hundred years from the
date of its creation ! Indian newspapers gave wide publi-
city to this prophecy and interpreted it to mean that the
Company's Raj would fall to pieces on the 23rd of June,
1857. This one prophecy led to the performance of such
wonders in Hindusthan that it may safely be asserted that,
but for this prophecy, several portions of this history
would have to be written in a different way altogether.
The year 1857 was the centenary of the Battle of Plassey
and the Company's rule would end in that year—this idea
created a strange hope and an extraordinary inspiration
which moved every part of Hindusthan since the begin-
ning of 1857. After a considerable heated discussion
between various English historians as to who foretold this,
it has at last been decided beyond doubt that it was the
stratagem of the Hindus, since it was according to their
almanacs that the 100th year of Plassey fell in the year
1857. By this national prophecy, the impression of which
is indelibly indited on some of the most important pages
of this history, an extraordinary wave of agitation came
over the hearts of the young and old, and every one began
to be ready to turn the prophecy into an actual fact.
The secret organisation of the Revolution, which was
first started in Brahmavarta, was now growing at a tre-
mendous rate.^{15} By this time, nuclei had been established
15. Malleson says at the end of his voluminous history : “ Of
this conspiracy, the Moulvi was undoubtedly a leader. It had its
ramifications all over India—certainly at Agra where the Moulvie
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in various places in Northern India and regular com-
munication had been established between them. Rango
Bapuji was trying hard to create nuclei of this organisa-
tion in the Deccan. The palace at Brahmavarta was the
focus of the activities at Cawnpore ; the same function
was performed for Delhi by the Dewan-i-Khas of that
premier city. The great and saintly Ahmad Shah had
woven fine and cleverly the webs of Jehâd—the War of
Independence—through every corner of Lucknow and
Agra. Kumar Singh, the hero of Jagadishpur, had taken
the leadership of his province and, in consultation with
Nana, had been busy gathering materials for war. The
seeds of the Jehâd had taken such root in Patna that the
whole city was a regular haunt of the Revolutionary party.
Moulvies, Pundits, Zemindars, farmers, merchants, vakils,
students, of all castes and creeds, were ready to give up
their lives for the sake of Swadesh and Swadharma. A
very prominent leader of this secret organisation was a
book-seller ! Near Calcutta, the Nabob of Oudh and his
Vizier, Ali Nakkhi Khan, had seduced all the Sepoys and
were ready for the occasion. The Mahomedan population
of Hyderabad began to call secret meetings. The coils of
the Revolution began to wind themselves round the Dur-
bar of Kolhapur. The states of Patwardhan, and the
father-in-law of Nana, at Sangli, were ready to fight—
with their followers—under the banner of the united
nation, in the coming war. Why, right in Madras, in the
beginning of the year 1857, the following Proclamation
began to appear from the walls of the city : “ Country-
men and faithful adherents of your religion, rise, rise ye,
one and all, to drive out the Feringhi Kaffirs ! They have
trampled under foot the very elements of justice, they have
robbed us of Swaraj ; determined are they to reduce to
dust our country. There is only one remedy, now, to free
stayed sometime—and almost certainly at Delhi, at Meerut, at
Patna, and at Calcutta where the ex-King of Oudh and a large
following were residing.”—Vol. V, p. 292.
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SECRET ORGANISATION
India from the insufferable tyranny of the Kaffir Feringhis,
and that remedy is to wage a bloody war. This is a Jehâd
for Independence ! This is a religious war for justice !
Those who fall in such battles will be their country's
shahids. Opened wide are the doors of Heaven for the
shahids. But Hell is burning fierce to engulf those
wretches, those cowardly traitors, who turn away from
this national duty ! Countrymen, of these, which would
ye have ? Choose now, even now ! "
To link together the innumerable group of the various
provinces which were working separately, men were
employed to travel about secretly and letters were rarely
used. If letters were used at all, they were written in a
mysterious language, any mention of names being avoid-
ed. But when, after some time, the English persisted in
opening any and every letter that appeared suspicious to
them, the leaders, in order that their schemes should not
come out and not even a trace should be known to others,
began to carry on their correspondence in a kind of cipher ;
a sort of code was formed composed of dots and numbers,
and this was used by them on all occasions ! ¹⁶
While everywhere activity of this kind was going on,
the blunder as to the cartridges, born of the criminal desire
to spite the religious feelings of the Sepoys, was commit-
ted by the English. This filled the cup of their iniquity!
Every soldier vied with every other to fire the first shot,
at the proper time, in the war to be waged for the object
that was foremost in the minds of all their fellow-country-
men. We have already described how Nana and Ali
Nakkhi Khan had acquired perfect control over the Sepoys
of every regiment, and how thousands of Fakirs were sent
into the regiments to seduce the Sepoys to patriotism.
But after the mean and cunning trick was played by the
English in respect of the cartridges, every Sepoy began,
16. Inne’s Sepoy Revolt, p. 55.
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on his own account, to urge every other Sepoy to take the
oath of fighting for their common country. In these two
months, thousands of letters were sent from Barrackpore,
in the name of the Nabob of Oudh, to the regiments
stationed in the Panjab, in Maharashtra, and at Meerut,
Umballa and other places. When immense bags full of
letters were carried in the post, the English had their
suspicions roused, and they—especially Sir John Lawrence
—began to open these letters. All this time an extraordi-
nary self-confidence had been created in the Sepoys. The
Englishmen asked the Sepoys wounded in the battle of
Kali Nadi and ordered to be blown from cannon mouths
how they dared to rise against them ; and the Sepoys
replied, “ If Sepoys are united, the whites would be like
a drop in the ocean.” A letter of one of these opened by
the English says, “ Brothers, we ourselves are thrusting
the foreigners’ sword into our body. If we rise, success is
assured. From Calcutta to Peshawar, there will be an
uncontested maidan.” The Sepoys used to call together
meetings secretly in the night. All resolutions were passed
in the general meetings, and all decisions passed in the
inner circles were obeyed strictly and by all. When they
used to come to the secret societies, they used to conceal
their identity by covering their faces completely, leaving
only their eyes uncovered, and then speak about the
thousand and one oppressions committed in the country
by the English.¹⁷ If any one of the members was suspected
of telling the name of the conspirators to the enemy, he
was immediately put to death. In order that common
deliberation should take place between the various regi-
17. “ These incendiary fires were soon followed by nocturnal
meetings. Men met each other with muffled faces and discussed in
excited language the intolerable outrages the British Government had
committed upon them.” Kaye’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, p. 365. “ On
the parade ground, about 1300 men were assembled. They had their
heads covered so that only a small part of the face was exposed.
They said they were determined to die for their religion.”—Narrative
of the Indian Mutiny, p. 5.
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SECRET ORGANISATION
ments, it was arranged that on festive occasions one regi-
ment should invite another to a feast and, on this pretext,
united gatherings were carried on successfully. Meetings
of select Sepoys were held in the houses of the Subahdars.
Though all political and religious wrongs were explained
and commented on to the lowest Sepoy in the army,
though every Sepoy knew about, and was anxious for, a
fight with the English, still the knowledge of how to rise,
when to rise, and who were the leaders of the various
groups was not imparted to all. The work of deciding
all these things was left to the officers, and every one was
made to swear either by the water of the Ganges, or by
the leaf of Tulsi, or by the Koran, that each one would
do what the regiment should undertake to do. When one
regiment was thus bound together, the chief committee
of that regiment began negotiations with the chief com-
mittee of another regiment ; each swore faithfulness to
the other and they worked together. The mutual oath of
the regiments, like the mutual oaths of the Sepoys were
determined and decisive. Every regiment was a unit in
the higher organisation. The English afterwards gathered
a good deal of material to determine what this organisa-
tion was, and Mr. Wilson gives the following information
about the society, in the Government report : " From the
available evidence I am quite convinced that the 31st of
May, 1857, had been decided on as the date for simul-
taneous rising. Every regiment had a committee of three
members ; and this committee used to do everything con-
nected with the Mutiny. The Sepoys had no idea what
decisions were arrived at. The mutual agreements bet-
ween the various regiments simply amounted to agreeing
to do what the other regiments would do. The committee
had to decide on all important schemes, to do all the
correspondence, and several other things. All came to the
one important decision that the Sepoys should rise on the
31st. As it was a Sunday, they would be able to find a
large number of European officers in church. All Euro-
pean officers, along with these, were to be murdered. Then
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
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THE VOLCANO
all the treasuries, that would be full with the proceeds of
the Rabbi crops, were to be looted. Jails were to be
broken open and prisoners released. For in the North-
Western provinces, from the prisoners alone an army of
nearly 25,000 people could be formed." As soon as the
rising took place, the powder-magazines and armouries
were to be taken possession of. All forts and strategic
positions were to be taken, wherever possible. Such was
the secret structure of the Revolutionary Organisation,
and it had bound together the whole army.
To supply the sinews of war to the secret organisa-
tion, the Sahukars of Lucknow, the palaces of Nana and
Vizier Ali Nakkhi Khan, the Mahal of Delhi, and other
heads of the Revolutionary party were sufficient. While
the Sepoys were concerting their secret schemes, some
secrets, now by a trifling mistake, now through a traitor,
leaked out. Then, the English Government issued orders
that the whole regiment about which the suspicion of
disaffection arose should be at once dismissed. That was
most excellent. Why ? The Government thus actually
gave to the country so many volunteer Sanyasis to spread
the fire of Revolution all round. The various Durbars of
Hindusthan, the ordinary people, and the military—these
three divisions of the people were linked together by the
indefatigable efforts of the able Revolutionary leaders.
There still remains the class of civil officers. An outline
of the particular part which this class played in the struc-
ture of the Revolution must be given. The coming pages
will clearly show that most of the more prominent Indian
civilians in Northern India had taken a leading part in
the " mutiny ". From the Patel and Kulkarni of the
village to the native judge of the high court, Hindu
and Mussalman officers of all ranks, pleaders and
clerks, had joined the Revolutionary Organisation
secretly. The fact that the Government had not the least
idea of the extensive organisation is easily explained ; for
these native officers alone are the eyes with which the
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SECRET ORGANISATION
Government was to see anything. But, on the other hand,
it had been decided that, until the critical moment, these
Government officers should not show even the least oppo-
sition to the Sirkar. Not only that, but very often it
happened that, when it was necessary to arrest a Revo-
lutionary leader, these Indian officers, who were the
accomplices of this man, used to treat him as cruelly as an
English officer would do, and used to sentence him to
heavy punishment. When the Meerut Sepoys were tried,
it was the native judges that passed heavy sentences on
them ; but it came to light that these very judges were
scheming for a Revolution. Anonymous proclamations
were posted at every square of the city of Lucknow,
written in very strong language, to agitate the masses.
These proclamations were couched in fiery and violent
language. We give the following as a specimen. “ Hindus
and Mahomedans, rise unitedly and decide, once for all,
the fate of the country ; for, if this opportunity is allowed
to slip by, not a single way will be left open to the people
even to preserve their lives. This is the last chance. Now
or never ! ” Though the English authorities knew well
that proclamations were issued every day, they could do
no more than tear them off ; and still, every time they
were destroyed, new ones were put up. The police used to
declare that it was impossible for them to find out as to
who put up these posters and when they were put up.
The English came to know the reason soon after. The
police themselves were the prominent members of the
Revolutionary party.18
Not alone in the revolutions of Russia, but in the
Revolution in India, too, the police were found to be in
sympathy with the people. The programme, then, of the
civil officers was to join secretly in the Revolutionary
organisation of their countrymen without giving up gov-
ernment service and, when the right time came, to work
18. Red Pamphlet : Part II.
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THE VOLCANO
on under Swarajya, performing those very functions which
they were all doing under the English government.
Now that the wheels of the secret machinery of the
Revolution were set in motion, it was necessary to arrange
that all the various motions should be synchronised. With
this purpose, in Bengal, a messenger of the Revolutiona-
ries went to the cantonments, taking a red lotus in his
hand. He would give the red lotus into the hands of the
chief Indian officer in the first regiment. The chief would
pass it on to the nearest Sepoy. The Sepoy would pass it
to the one next to him, and so the red lotus would
pass from Sepoy to Sepoy through the hands of all the
thousand Sepoys, and then the last Sepoy would return
it back to the Revolutionary messenger. That was enough !
Without a whisper or a word, the messenger would pass
on like an arrow and, as soon as the next regiment was in
sight, he would give the red lotus in the hands of its chief
officer. In this way, the organisation, so full of poetry,
became impressed with one opinion, with revolution, with
blood. The red lotus was the final seal of the organisation.
What a tumult of thoughts must be raging in the mind of
every Sepoy when he touched the red flower ! That
courage which it would have been impossible for the
eloquence of orators to inspire was imparted in those
warlike fellows by the dumb lotus flower and by the mute
eloquence of its red, red colour.¹⁹
A lotus flower ! The symbol, the poet-appointed symbol,
of purity, victory, light ! And its colour red, vivid
19. " A man appeared with a lotus flower and handed it to the
chief of the regiment. He handed it on to another—every man took
it and passed it on and, when it came to the last, he suddenly
disappeared to the next station. There was not, it appears, a detach-
ment, not a station in Bengal, through which the lotus flower was
not circulated. The circulation of this simple symbol of conspiracy
was just after the annexation of Oudh."—Narrative of the Mutiny :
p. 4. (The book also gives the picture of the flower).
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SECRET ORGANISATION
red ! The very touch of the lotus flower makes every
heart bloom. When the Sepoys, hundreds upon hundreds,
were passing on rapidly from hand to hand this lotus
flower, the eloquence of it must have been full of wild
suggestions and wilder aspirations. “ The red lotus really
made all the people one ; for, in Bengal, both the Sepoys
and agriculturists were found giving expression to this one
sentiment, ‘ All is going to be red ! ’, with a movement of
the eyes which betrayed an extraordinary, mysterious
pregnancy of meaning ”.²⁰ ‘ All will be red ’—with what ?
This red lotus and this suggestive sentiment had made
all “ one-voiced ” as far as individuals were con-
cerned. But, it was also necessary to make all the prin-
cipal nuclei one-voiced through mutual visits. So Nana
came out from the palace of Brahmavarta to link together
into one chain the various links—the nuclei of the orga-
nisation. With him started his brother, Bala Sahib, and
his amiable and witty councillor, Azimullah. And why
did they start ? “ For a pilgrimage ! ” Indeed ! A Brah-
min and a Moslem are starting together, arm in arm, to
visit the holy, religious places,—an event without a
precedent !
This was in the March of 1857. Most essential was
it now, indeed, to visit at least once the places of pilgrim-
age—and the first that they visited was Delhi. Only the
Dewan-i-Khas or, perhaps, the atmosphere of Delhi could
speak about the accents with which the consultations were
carried on ! At this very time, a judge of Agra, one
Mr. Morel, came to see Nana. The latter gave him such
a hearty welcome that he did not have the least suspicion
about the different kind of welcome which Nana was busy
preparing for the English and which he was going to offer
within a month or two. After supervising all arrangements
at Delhi, Nana went to Umballa. On the 18th of April,
20. Trevelyan’s Cawnpore.
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THE VOLCANO
he reached Lucknow, the important centre among the
various nuclei. On that very day the people of Lucknow
had followed the buggy of Sir Henry Lawrence, Chief
Commissioner Sahib, and pelted him with a shower of mud
and stones. And now Shrimant Nana had come there!
This infused the whole city of Lucknow with an almost
uncontrollable joy and excitement. Nana started in a
huge procession through the chief streets of Lucknow, and
a strong confidence was instilled in the Revolutionary
party on seeing their would-be commander. Nana volun-
tarily went to Sir Henry Lawrence and told him that he
had come to see Lucknow out of simple curiosity. Sir
Henry issued orders to all the officers to show due respect
to Nana. Poor Sir Lawrence! He did not know what this
simple curiosity meant. After visiting Lucknow, Nana
went to Kalpi. The diplomacy of Nana was actively going
on, this time with Kumar Singh of Jagadishpur who was
in intimate correspondence with him about this time.²¹
Thus, after personally visiting the leaders of the princi-
pal nuclei at Delhi, Umballa, Lucknow, Kalpi, etc.,
and drawing up a clear programme and a definitely
outlined map of the future campaign, Nana returned to
Brahmavarta about the end of April.²²
While, by visiting the principal leaders, Shrimant
21. Red Pamphlet.
22. Nana must have gone during this tour to many other
cities, but, as English historians have not expressly mentioned them,
they cannot be given. The following quotation is rather important :
"Afterwards, the worthy couple (Nana and Azim), on the pretence
of a pilgrimage to the hills, visited the military stations all along
the main trunk road and went so far as Umballa. It has been
suggested that their object in going to Simla was to tamper with
the Gurkha regiments stationed on the hills. But finding, on their
arrival at Umballa, a portion of the regiment were in cantonments,
they were unable to effect their purpose with these men and desist-
ed from their proposed journey, on the plea of the cold weather."—
Russell's Diary.
96