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

THE ERUPTION
English, purposely fired into the arsenal, when the
English crowded round the captured guns. There was a
tremendous explosion and Captain Andrews and his fol-
lowers were burnt down, and several Englishmen were
injured. After placing so many heads of the enemy
before his Motherland, he then placed before her his own
martyr’s head ! Just as the English historians are always
singing the praises of Captain Willoughby who blew up
the arsenal at Delhi, we shall also sing the praises of this
brave Sepoy, this martyr for the cause of his Motherland.
But, alas, even his name is not known to history ! About
this hero, Kaye says : “ It taught us that, among the
mutineers, there were brave and desperate men who were
ready to court instant death for the sake of the
national cause ! ⁴
As the English were, thus, completely successful in
this first battle, they expected Delhi to fall in a day or
two, and used to enquire every time, by post, for news
of the fall ! But how different were matters in reality !
Though, when this unprecedented and sudden revolution
first burst out into flames, Delhi had not yet the tact and
boldness to lead and guide it, yet every heart in Delhi
was full with the intense desire not to rest until the
mother-country was free, so long as God gave them life.
So, the Sepoys, despised by the populace all night on the
30th on account of the defeat they had sustained, came
out to fight again on the 31st. When the guns of the
Revolutionaries started their havoc, the English also
replied with their artillery. Since the guns of the Revo-
lutionaries were directed on this day with good aim and
the Sepoys fought with stubborn courage, the loss of life
on the English side was considerable. The hot sun of
May, also, became unbearable to the English. The Eng-
lish tried the tactics of the previous day, but that would
not succeed. The English prepared for a general assault
4. Kaye’s History of the Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 138.
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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
towards the evening. But the Revolutionaries rained a
perfect shower of cannon balls on the advancing English
and, before the broken ranks of the English could reform
to advance, they retired from the field in good order.
Never mind, Sepoys, in one day you have shown great
improvement. Even if you are so defeated again to-
morrow, even then, the English are done for. For now
they have not enough strength left even for petty skir-
mishes. On the first day of June, an army was seen
marching towards the rear of the already straitened Eng-
lish camp. The English were utterly confounded when
they found this army to be composed of brown soldiers !
They were preparing, with despair in their hearts, to
defend themselves, when they soon discovered that this
army was not the army of the Revolutionaries, but only
the Gurkhas under Major Reid coming to help them. The
English army from Umballa was helped by the Sikhs, the
army from Meerut was helped by the Gurkhas ! Under
these circumstances, what were the poor Revolutionaries
of Delhi to do ? The two English armies, effected a junc-
tion on the 7th of June. At the same time, the siege-
train prepared with the help of the Raja of Nabha also
arrived safely. The Sepoys of the 5th regiment were en-
treating the Gurkhas to revolt and capture the siege-train
as soon as it arrived at Umballa. But the Gurkhas flatly
refused to serve their country and their religion, and the
siege-train arrived at Delhi. And the united army of the
English arrived scatheless right up to Alipur, near Delhi.
Hearing that the English army had arrived at Alipur,
the Revolutionaries again came out of Delhi and met
the English army near Bundel-ki-Sarai. At this moment,
the English army was in a most efficient condition, with
all the necessary complement of artillery and other engines
of war, good commanders, fresh and numerous soldiers,
and an advantageous position. The Revolutionaries had
nothing but the goodness of their cause to support them.
Their leader was a prince who had never seen a battle-
137

THE ERUPTION
field in his life. Their number was swelled by more camp
followers than regular soldiers. And besides, they had be-
come disheartened at seeing their countrymen, the Sikhs
and the Gurkhas, helping the enemy. The English on the
other hand assured themselves that the battle would only
be a great Tamasha (a show). But the glorious ideal of
Swaraj had filled the hearts of the Sepoys with a new
inspiration and a new courage which discounted all odds.
Such was the valour they showed that the English were
soon convinced that it was not a Tamasha, but a real,
grim, life-and-death struggle. The Delhi artillery was so
powerful that the English artillery could do nothing
against it. While the artillerymen and officers of the
English were falling, the Delhi artillery became more and
more fierce. At this, the English ordered their infantry
to rush the artillery of the Revolutionaries. The English
soldiers came right up to the artillery and the field-arsenal,
and still the Revolutionaries would not budge an inch !
In the fight for Swadharma and Swaraj, these Sepoys
behaved like true heroes and did not leave their
posts till English bayonets pierced them through !
But these brave heroes had not, at that time, a
proper leader, or one who would, at least stand by
them to the end, if not lead and encourage them.
For, while they were dying for their country and
religion, pierced by English bayonets but still stick-
ing to their posts, their Commander-in-Chief had run
away towards Delhi at the first roar of cannon ! Just
then, the English cavalry charged the left, and Hope
Grant with his horse artillery charged the rear of this un-
fortunate army. The field was lost and this army, haras-
sed by compatriots and foreigners alike, after fighting all
day, was routed, and retreated to Delhi. General Barnard
in order to follow up the victory ordered the English army
to push forward, and it arrived at the walls of Delhi to-
wards evening. The result of this day's fight was that the
Revolutionaries lost the control of the territory surround-
ing Delhi, and the English got an advantageous position
138

THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
to attack the fort itself. It is necessary to record here that
English historians applaud the Gurkha regiment under
Seymour for conspicuous bravery in this battle. In
English eyes, the names of these Gurkhas have become
favoured and honoured, for this extraordinary eagerness
and unparalleled bravery in cutting the throats of their
mother's sons !
The English won the battle of Bundel-ki-Sarai with
the help of the Gurkhas, but the battle destroyed all the
fancies of their imagination ; for, it killed the vain hope
of the English soldiers that they would spend the night
in Delhi and spill the arch-enemy's blood. The unplea-
sant truth, that there were not only disorderly camp
followers in the Revolutionary army, but that here, on the
walls of Delhi, swords flashing with the fire of righteous-
ness were now unsheathed for the protection of Swa-
dharma and Swaraj, was forced upon the notice of
the English by this stubborn battle ! In this battle, the
English lost four officers and forty-seven men, besides one
hundred and thirty wounded. But the thing which spread
more sorrow and despair in the English army than all
these losses, was the death, in the thick of the battle, of
Adjutant-General Colonel Chester. It will be seen, later
on, how English historians surpass English novelists when
they give the losses of the Revolutionaries. But even in
this din of the first battle, it is necessary to say that, as
regards the number of cannon which the English captured
on that day, one gives thirteen, and the other says they
were exactly twenty-six ! We should also note that both
these were military officers present in the fight !
In this manner, on the evening of the 8th June, the
English army encamped outside the walls of Delhi. The
work of bringing the armies from Umballa and Meerut
safely to Delhi depended solely on the movements in the
Punjab. It is, therefore, here necessary to see what were
the effects of the Meerut rising in this important province,
139

THE ERUPTION
what the Swadeshi men did there, and how far the plots
of the English against them were successful. When the
Sikh Empire was broken, and the Punjab fell, finally, into
the hands of the English, Lord Dalhousie pursued an ad-
ministrative policy in that province which was calculated
to destroy the two virtues of love of freedom and martial
spirit among the Sikhs. When the administration of this
newly-acquired province came into the hands of the two
officers Sir Henry Lawrence and Sir John Lawrence, they
completely disarmed the people, enlisted most of the Sikh
Sepoys in the English army, brought the larger portion
of the European army in Northern India into the Punjab,
and directed everything in such a manner that the mass
of the people should attend only to agriculture as the
chief means of their subsistence and do nothing else.
When people become mere peasants, they lose their mar-
tial qualities ; they become hungry for “peace” and do
not easily give their consent to revolutionary projects
which might interfere with their agriculture. This deep
and profound statesmanship of the English proved success-
ful in the Punjab and, within ten years of the destruction
of the Sikh Empire in the Punjab, the majority of the
Sikhs began to take to the plough and left their swords
altogether, and those that still retained the sword put it
into the hands of the English in order to put down their
own countrymen ! In these circumstances, the chief
officer in the Punjab, Sir Jonn Lawrence, was sure that
there would be no trouble there. Like other English
officers he had no adequate idea about the impending
danger till the beginning of May, and he too had intended
to leave Lahore for summer and go to the cool air of the
Murree Hills. Just then, the news of Meerut and Delhi
electrified the Punjab. The clever Chief Commissioner
grasped the grave import of the news and stayed
where he was, in order to fight those who were preparing
to overthrow the English empire.
At this time, the greater part of the Punjab army
140

THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
was at Mian Mir. As the camp of Mian Mir was very
near Lahore, the Lahore fort was allowed to be garrisoned
purely by Sepoys. In the camp at Mian Mir, though the
Sepoys outnumbered the English soldiers by four to one,
the English officers had no suspicion about them until
the news from Meerut arrived, and when the news did
arrive they found it difficult to ascertain whether they were
or were not secretly in communication with the Meerut
Sepoys. At this time, the chief officer of the army of
Lahore was one Robert Montgomery. This Robert Mont-
gomery and Sir John Lawrence were both trained in the
school of Dalhousie. They were gifted with rare coolness
and courage and could preserve their presence of mind in
the midst of the most unexpected difficulties. It was
necessary to find out how far the spirit of national free-
dom had awakened among the Punjab Sepoys. A Brah-
min detective was employed to ascertain the state of mind
of the Sepoys. This Brahmin did the work of treachery
exceedingly well and reported to Montgomery, “ Sahib,
they are steeped in revolt—they are so far steeped in re-
volt”—and so saying he put his hand to his neck. This
account of the Brahmin removed the veil from the eyes of
Lawrence and Montgomery. They saw clearly that the
Revolution was well organised not only in northern India,
but that the fire was smouldering also in the Punjab, only
waiting for the right moment to burst into flames.
Thanking the premature rising at Meerut for having
enabled him to discover this terrible secret, Montgomery
immediately ordered the Sepoys to be disarmed. On the
13th of May, in the morning, a general parade was called
out at Mian Mir. To keep the Sepoys confident in their
sense of security, a grand ball was given to the English
residents. Before the Revolutionaries guessed the secret of
this apparent hunting after pleasure, in these conditions,
they were suddenly surrounded by English cavalry and
artillery. It was impossible for the Sepoys to see through
this deceit and, when the usual parade movements were
going on, the artillery were ordered to be in readiness to
141

THE ERUPTION
fire, and the confused Indian regiments were peremptorily
ordered to give up their arms ! The thousand Sepoys,
indignant with rage but overawed by the strong force of
artillery, threw down their arms and, without a word,
walked away to their lines.
While this ceremony of disarming the soldiers, who,
by their valour, had saved the lives of Englishmen in
Afghanistan, was going on, a battalion of the English
force was sent to the fort of Lahore. This battalion, with
the help of the English artillery in the fort, disarmed the
Sepoys there and turned them out of the fort and occupi-
ed it. If there had been the slightest delay or slackness
in this manœuvre, within a fortnight, the whole of the
Punjab would have been burning with Revolution ; for,
the different regiments of Peshawar, Amritsar, Pilhur, and
Jullunder were anxiously waiting for the moment when
the Sepoys of Mian Mir would attack the Lahore fort.
When the news spread that the English had disarmed the
Mian Mir Sepoys and taken the Lahore fort, English
prestige gained a great deal of ground in the Panjab.⁵
But a position of even greater importance than the
Lahore fort was the Govindgurh of Amritsar. This latter,
being a holy place of Sikhs and there being a probability
of the Sikhs being aroused if anything happened there,
the Sepoys had their eye on it. The rumour arose that
the Sepoys, disarmed at Mian Mir, were going towards
Amritsar to take Govindgurh. The English perceived the
danger and requested the Jat and Sikh peasants to protect
Amritsar ! This request was acceded to by these loyal
traitors, and the fort of Amritsar, like that of Lahore, fell
into English hands. Before the 15th of May, the two
5. "Had the Punjab gone, we must have been ruined. Long
before reinforcements could have reached the upper provinces, the
bones of all Englishmen would have been bleaching in the sun.
England could never have recovered the calamity and retrieved her
power in the East."—Life of Lord Lawrence. Vol. II, page 335.
142

THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
towns of Lahore and Amritsar were kept, at least for the
time being, from joining the Revolution.
After completing all these measures for the security
of the Panjab, Sir. J. Lawrence began to extend his
labours to places outside his own province. When the
news from Delhi reached him, he said it was not a rebel-
lion but a national revolution. Still he nursed the fond
hope that if Delhi could be taken within a short time
there would be no rising anywhere else. With this idea,
he sent letter after letter to General Anson to take Delhi
before June. Not only this, but he began to send con-
tingents from the Punjab to make up the complement of
the army of Ambala, while taking upon himself the res-
ponsibility of keeping the Punjab at peace. The first
instalment of this assistance was the Guide Corps Regi-
ment under Daly. John Lawrence had great confidence
in Daly's bravery, and therefore selected him to lead the
Guide Corps and march towards Delhi. Daly marched
towards Delhi by forced marches and joined the English
army at Bundel-ki-Sarai the day after the battle. In the
siege of Delhi were now two traitor regiments— the
Gurkhas under Bead and the Punjabees under Daly. The
English were exceedingly fond of these two regiments.
And who can say that this love was undeserved ? The
regiments deserved it fully, considering the measure of
their treachery !
While Daly's regiment was marching towards Delhi,
John Lawrence took a minute survey of the political situa-
tion of the Punjab. In that territory, Hindus, Mahome-
dans, and Sikhs were often at daggers drawn. The
Punjabees had not yet felt the common national awaken-
ing of the Hindus and Mahomedans as the people of
Northern India had. As a matter of fact, it was hardly
ten years since they had lost their freedom. But the very
Sikhs, who in 1849 fought furiously with the English,
were now in 1857, embracing them. The key to this
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THE ERUPTION
extraordinary historical mystery is to be found in the fact
that the Revolution of 1857 came so soon after the loss
of their independence. Those brave, illustrious, spirited
followers of the Khalsa, who so hated Mahomedan slavery
that they fought continuously for one hundred years and
made the Punjab free, would certainly not have tolerated
the slavery under the English if they had realised the
nature of English rule. But before the ignorant Sepoys
realised the fact that English rule was nothing short
of slavery, before they had time enough to under-
stand it fully, the Revolution of 1857 broke out. The
English domination came into India at a time when a
revolution was taking place in Indian politics. Various
small groups of accumulated waters, divided for centuries,
were trying to break the dams that separated each from
the rest and unite into a vast river. The vast river is the
United Nationality of India. The great united and com-
pact nations of the world of to-day passed before their
unity, or even for the sake of their unity, through an
intermediate stage of disorganisation, internal strife, and
disorder. If we look at the strife in Italy, in Germany,
or even in England under the Romans and the Saxons
and the Normans, if we see the mortal enmity between
different races, provinces, and religions, and the inhuman
persecutions in the course of mutual vengeance, we shall
realise that the strife in India was a very small matter.
But who can deny that the above countries have now
united their several peoples into strong and powerful
nations to-day, because they had been melted in the fur-
nace of internal strife and the fire of foreign despotism ?
By a similar process of historical evolution, Bharata-
bhumi was in the course of creating a great nation out of
the heterogeneous elements that inhabited it. The steam-
roller of English slavery was strong enough to crush out
all the differences among the peoples of Northern India
and make them unite together to throw it off; but in the
Panjab, ten years were not enough to make them realise
144

RANI LAKSHMI BAI CHARGING A BRITISH BATTERY
She rode her horse, lifted her sword, and charged the enemy with
her army. An English writer says—"immediately the beautiful
Ranee went over the field and made a firm stand against the array
of Sir Hugh Rose. She led her troops to repeated and fierce attacks
and though her ranks were pierced through and were gradually be-
coming thinner and thinner, the Ranee was seen in the foremost
rank, rallying her shattered troops and performing prodigies of
valour, The dauntless and heroic Ranee held her own."

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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
the nature and effect of that slavery, in those days. And,
therefore, the Sikhs and the Jats could not conceive the idea
and help in the realisation of a United Indian Nation.⁶
The men who represented the English Government in
the Punjab understood this weak link in the chain of the
Revolution and turned it to their advantage. They began
the policy of increasing the hatred of the Sikhs and the
Jats for the Mahomedans. They were reminded of an
ancient prophecy which was current among the Sikhs, that
the Khalsa would one day march on Delhi—the spot
where the Mogul Emperor formerly killed their Guru—and
raze it to the ground. Now the time had come for the
prophecy to be fulfilled! But if, according to this pro-
phecy, only the Khalsa Sahib were to march on Delhi and
conquer, what would be the gain to the English? Instead
of Bahadur Shah, a Ranjit Singh might rule at Delhi. It
is natural that those whose interests lay in ousting both
Bahadur and Ranjit from the throne of India should
think it advisable to change this one-sided prophecy a
little! In this revised and enlarged edition of the prophecy
it was so written that Delhi would be razed only when
the Khalsa and the Company would join hands! What a
prophecy! But the pity is that it turned out true! The
English took every unscrupulous advantage of the situa-
tion. To fan still further the hatred of the Sikhs for Delhi,
a false proclamation was posted that the first order of the
Emperor was to massacre all the Sikhs! Poor old Em-
peror! What an irony! At that very moment, he was
everyday going about the streets of Delhi and saying that
this war was only against the Feringhi and no damage
should evermore be done even to the hair of any Indian.⁷
6. Sir John Lawrence in a letter wrote:—"Had the Sikhs
joined against us, nothing, humanly speaking, could have saved us.
No man could have hoped, much less foreseen, that these people
would have withstood the temptation to avenge their loss of national
independence."—October 21st, 1857.
7. Metcalfe.
145
10

THE ERUPTION
Though the Revolutionary party tried their utmost, the
Sikhs turned to the side of the English. But in the
Punjab, many regiments were composed of the non-Pun-
jabee Hindusthanee people and all of them had prepared
their minds to fight against the English, and were waiting
for the appointed signal. It was not only Sepoys that
vowed for freedom, but some patriotic sections of people
outside the camp also were sowing the seeds of revolution
everywhere. The English soon discovered that even after
the disarming of the Mian Mir Sepoys the solid ground
on which they were so confidently relying was being
undermined. Though the forts of Lahore and Amritsar
were secure, the arsenal at Ferozepore was undefended.
On the 13th of May, a parade was ordered to ascertain
if the Sepoys there showed any signs of mutinying by en-
deavouring to take the undefended arsenal. But the
Sepoys behaved so coolly at parade as not to give the
slightest room for suspicion of the passions that were
tearing their hearts. Therefore, their disarming was not
thought of ; but only the two regiments were stationed
apart from each other. One of the regiments was made
to march through bazaar in the town. How little the
English knew what was being exchanged at that bazaar !
The spirit of independence was strengthened among the
Sepoys there, if that were possible, by the pleadings of
the shopkeepers and the customers and, before the regi-
ment came out of the bazaar, they laid aside their doubts
and hesitations and made a firm resolve. In the moment,
there was raised a war-cry and the English could only blow
up the arsenal as they thought it was difficult to save it.
The Sepoys then, hurried towards the walls of Delhi, from
where the National Flag was calling out to all Indians
to rally round it ! At the same moment, the town of
Ferozepore also rose and burnt to the ground the bunga-
lows, tents, hotels, and churches of the English. And
the people began to roam about hunting for Englishmen.
But the latter had been warned by telegrams from Meerut
and were, already, hiding in the barracks. The English
146

THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
army which came to pursue the Sepoys, killed everyone
they came across, and, after following them for some
distance, returned, boasting of their indiscriminate massa-
cres and inhuman cruelties.
The English were as much afraid of the Afghan tribes
beyond the border as of the armies of the Indian Revolu-
tionary party. When the secret propagation of the Revo-
lution of 1857 was still in progress, the Secret Society of
Lucknow had asked the help of the Amir of Kabul. From
a letter which fell into the hands of Mr. Forsyth in
August 1855, it is abundantly clear that Mussulmans of
Lucknow were intriguing with Amir Dost Mahomed. It
said, “ Ayodhya is now annexed, and when Hyderabad is
also swallowed up, even the name of Mahomedan rule
will not be heard of ! Some remedy must be found to
prevent this in time. If the people of Lucknow rise for
the sake of Swaraj, Sire, to what extent can we rely upon
your help ? ” To this question of Lucknow, the diplo-
matic Amir replied enigmatically, “ We will see to it.”
But the Amir of Kabul having recently concluded a treaty
with England, the English were afraid of the Maho-
medan tribes on the frontier near Peshawar rather than
of the Amir himself. Some Mullahs were sent to preach
among these tribes and exhort them not to rise against
the English. The English officers at that time near Pesha-
war were all bold, diplomatic, and clever in war. The
danger on the side of Peshawar was avoided, though with
very great difficulty, by the promptness of men like
Nicholson, Edwardes and Chamberlain who were heartily
supported by such an able officer as John Lawrence. They
found out at the very first stroke how to enlist these
Mahomedan tribes on their own side. Their greed for
money was exploited and they were bribed to enlist in the
English army. After buying these mountaineers with
money, Sir John formed a moving army to put down the
unrest smouldering everywhere in the Punjab. In this
army were English soldiers and experienced and tested
147

THE ERUPTION
Sepoys in whose disloyalty to the country the English
could put implicit faith. Hardly was this corps formed
when it found important work to do ; for, the news of
the disarming at Mian Mir had created a tremendous agi-
tation in the Indian Sepoys stationed at Peshawar.
The bold English officers at Peshawar decided to
strike the first blow and they prepared to disarm the
Sepoys. But the English commander and other officers
felt very much grieved at the impending insult to the
Sepoys of their regiments. These English officers, on
account of the marvellous secrecy of 1857, would not be-
lieve that their Sepoys had secretly joined the Revolution.
However, Cotton and Nicholson surrounded them with
European troops on the 21st of May and gave the order
to disarm. Seeing that it was impossible to escape from
this sudden situation, all the Sepoys laid down their arms.
And their officers also, unable to look on calmly at that
insult, threw down their arms and decorations and joined
the Sepoys in hurling curses on the Company !
When the troops at Peshawar were disarmed, the English
found an opportunity to turn their attention to
the 55th regiment stationed at Hotimardan. The Govern-
ment of Panjab was perfectly certain that this regiment
was also revolutionary ; but the chief officer of the Sepoys
there, Colonel Spottiswoode, did not share the Govern-
ment's suspicions. He was continually insisting that his
Sepoys would never rise against the English ; still the
Government persisted in its order to disarm them. Colo-
nel Spottiswoode felt very much chagrined ; and when,
on the 24th of May, the Sepoy leaders came to
him and asked him if the rumour that the Eng-
lish army was marching against them from Pesha-
war was true, he gave an evasive reply and the
Sepoys went back dissatisfied. The English were
really marching from Peshawar to destroy this regiment,
as they did at Peshawar. Rather than see the wicked
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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
and disgusting affair, Colonel Spottiswoode retired to his
room and committed suicide! At this news, the 55th
regiment attacked the treasury, took up their arms and
flags, looted the treasure, broke the chains of the slavery
to the foreigners, and marched on towards Delhi! But
Delhi was not near. The whole of the Panjab, full of
English soldiers, had to be crossed and, besides, an Eng-
lish army was pursuing them. Under these circumstances,
success was so difficult that they questioned within them-
selves as to whether it would not be wiser for them to
lay down their arms like their comrades at Peshawar and
surrender to the English. But the heroes decided that it
was better to have the noose of death round their necks
than the chains of slavery round their feet, and they made
it known by shouts to the English army following them,
“We will die fighting!” And, in truth, did the heroes
of this 55th regiment lay down their lives on the battle-
field fighting for the freedom of their country! The
story of this 55th regiment is simply heart-rending. The
pursuit had been so hot that Nicholson was often on horse
back for 24 hours without dismounting. Hundreds of
them died in the fight and others escaped beyond the
frontier, fighting as they went. But who would give
shelter to the Hindus there? The Mussulman hordes be-
gan to receive them in a terrible manner. Isolated Sepoys
were forced to become Mahomedans there. Thus these
unfortunate Sepoys fighting in defence of their religion
turned towards Kashmir for shelter, thinking that Gulab
Singh, the Maharaja of Kashmir, would be able to pro-
tect them. When hundreds of these Hindu Sepoys were
walking through the stony regions, without food, without
clothes, without a fire to warm them, towards Kashmir,
weeping that there should be no one on earth who would
protect their sacred religion, the English organised massa-
cres of these Sepoys at various places, and they were killed
like wild beasts! But, still, some of the Sepoys escaped
towards Kashmir, in the fond hope of finding a protector
of Hinduism. Protector of Hindus! Alas! Sepoys, you
149

THE ERUPTION
will soon be undeceived. When the Rajput-born Gulab
Singh of Kashmir heard that these helpless Sepoys who
were ready to jump into the jaws of Death to save the
honour of their Hindu religion were coming towards him,
he prohibited them from entering his country! Nay
more, after giving orders that any of these Hindus found
in his territory should be instantly killed, he very proudly
let the English Durbar know of his valiant deeds! Now,
Sepoys, either you change your religion and surrender
to slavery or embrace death! Of these, Martyrs, you
have done well in choosing death! The English were so
cruelly slaughtering them wherever they found them that
the permanent scaffolds on the maidans began to rot by
the flow of constant streams of Hindu blood! Still the
English were not satisfied. Scaffolds—permanent scaffolds
—were tired of performing executions, and, then, the
mouths of guns were opened. And of the 55th regiment
which had not spilt a single drop of English blood, every
one of the men who had not been hanged was blown from
the mouth of the gun! A thousand Hindus were, thus,
slaughtered in no time. But, even at this last moment,
(says Kaye a little ashamed at this terrible bloodshed),
“Brave and sullen they went to their doom, asking only
to die like soldiers at the cannon’s mouth, not as dogs
in the noose of the gibbet.”
As regards the massacre of these brave people, in a manner
which would bring shame upon even savages, English
historians generally say that, though this was undoubtedly
cruel, “the severity of the hour would be the humanity of
all time!” The cruelty was desired in the interests of
humanity! English historians, remember this your own
sentence, “The severity of the hour would be the humani-
ty of all time!” As you now know the meaning of this
sentence, you will also remember it exactly on a future
occasion. It is well that you perpetrate this cruelty for
the sake of humanity, but do not forget that the Hindu
Nana is there at Cawnpore!
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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
One more thing must be told here. Those English
historians who vie with each other in dramatic descrip-
tions of the massacres committed by the Revolutionaries,
attempt at the same time to suppress purposely and cons-
ciously the inexcusable, unprecedented, and inhuman atro-
cities committed by their own countrymen. Before the
massacre of this unfortunate but patriotic regiment,
Heaven alone knows what brutal tortures they were sub-
jected to by the demoniacal English! For English
historians have clean wiped off from history this incident
and left no trace of it at all. Kaye himself says, "Though
I have plenty of letters with me describing the terrible
and cruel tortures committed by our officers, I do not
write a word about it, so that this subject should be no
longer before the world!" Here is a historian, indeed!
What proof have we that the ruffians, who stuffed cow's
flesh in the mouths of harmless inoffensive peasants on the
road to Delhi, did not also cram the throats of these brave
Hindu Sepoys of the 55th regiment in the same manner
before blowing them from guns!
While these inhuman atrocities were going on in the
direction of Peshawar, here, in Jullunder, the smouldering
fire of the Revolution was bursting into flame. John
Lawrence had started the policy of disarming Sepoys
wholesale, in the Panjab ; and Jullunder and Pilhur would
have been so treated long ago but for the admirable self-
restraint and organising power of the Pilhur Sepoys. The
Sepoys in the Jullunder Doab, like their comrades all over
the Punjab, had made preparations for a rising. It was
clearly given out by a patriotic Hawaldar, taken prisoner
in the assault on Delhi, and the Government reports have
recorded the same, that, all over the Jullunder Doab, it
had been decided to rise simultaneously. The plan was
that when the Jullunder army should send a corps to
Hoshiarpur, the 31st infantry should rise and march to
Pilhur ; on their arrival, the 3rd regiment at Pilhur was
to rise and all together were to march to Delhi. Similar
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THE ERUPTION
plans had also been made in other places ; but, before the
time of putting them into execution, the secret leaked out
and the English were forewarned. The Pilhur regiment,
however, observed great secrecy till the last moment. When
the siege-train was being taken to Delhi, they could easily
have broken it up, but not to spoil the general plan, this
regiment kept outward peace till the right moment. At
last, on the 9th of June, the signal agreed upon was made
at Jullunder—the bungalow of the colonel of the Queen’s
Regiment was set on fire. At this signal, the Jullunder
Sepoys rose in revolt at midnight. As a matter of fact,
the English had European soldiers and artillery there, but
the rising of the Sepoys was so unanimous and sudden
that, at their terrible war-cries, the English lost their nerve.
English men, women, and children began to run away
to places of safety. But the Jullunder Sepoys had no time
to waste in massacres. Since the English guns were aim-
ed at the flag of freedom in Delhi, every heart was drawn
towards that place. When Adjutant Bagshawe began to
interfere unnecessarily, one horseman galloped towards
him and shot him dead. The English military officers of
the place had, to the end, confidence in the Sepoys and
informed the higher authorities that they need not be
disarmed ; and they really did trust the Sepoys. For this,
the Sepoys not only refrained from massacring them
wholesale but spared the life of those also that had not
yet left the place. Thus, the Jullunder army kept its plan
well and the officers who trusted them were spared their
life. In this, the Sepoys showed great magnanimity.⁸ And
8. The English have circulated a myth and have called it the
Black Hole of Calcutta and the whole world is execrating the memory
of Siraj-ud-daulah for this wild invention of an English forger’s
brain. Here is a blood-curdling story of a real black hole which
the perpetrator himself has confessed to. “ In the Panjab, near
Ajnala, in a small island, many a Sepoy who had simply fled away
from a regiment, which was working under the reasonable fear of
being disarmed and shot by the Government for suspicion, was hiding
himself. Cooper with a loyal body of troops took them prisoner.
‘ The entire number, amounting to two hundred and eighty-two,
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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
yet, although the Government and their officers had treated
them kindly and they were thankful to them for their
trust, they did not allow these private relations to come
in the way of the national cause, and they gave up their
body and soul to the cause, when the war-bugle for coun-
try and freedom sounded.
Before beginning the revolt at midnight, they had
despatched a horseman to inform their Pilhur comrades.
As soon as this messenger of freedom from Jullunder
arrived, the Pilhur regiment also rose. Now it only re-
mained for the Jullunder men to march to Pilhur! It
was not an easy task, for it was necessary to avoid the
English artillery and cavalry; but such was the tumult
and confusion among the English and so clear was the
map drawn by the Revolutionaries that, at last, all the
Jullunder Sepoys arrived at Pilhur in perfect order. See-
ing thousands of their comrades coming to meet them, the
were then conveyed by Cooper to Ajnala. Then came the question
what was to be done with them! There was no means of trans-
porting them to a place where they could be tried formally. On
the other hand, if they were summarily executed, other regiments
and intending rebels might take warning by their fate, and thus,
further bloodshed might be prevented. For these reasons, Cooper,
fully conscious as he was of the enormous responsibility which he
was undertaking, resolved to put them all to death. Next morn-
ing, accordingly, he brought them out in tens and made some Sikhs
shoot them. In this way, two hundred and sixteen perished. But,
there still remained sixty-six others who had been confined in one
of the bastions of the Tahsil. Expecting resistance, Cooper ordered
the door to be opened. But not a sound issued from the room;
forty-five of them were dead bodies lying on the floor. For, un-
known to Cooper, the windows had been closely shut and the wretch-
ed prisoners had found in the bastion a second Black-Hole. The
remaining twenty-one were shot, like their comrades. 1—8—’57.
For this splendid assumption of responsibility, Cooper was assailed
by the hysterical cries of ignorant humanitarians. But Robert
Montgomery unanswerably vindicated his character by proving that
he had saved the Lahore division.”—Holmes’s History of the Indian
Mutiny, page 363.
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