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

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.
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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
143

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."

This page is completely blank and contains no text to transcribe.

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
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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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THE ERUPTION
Sepoys of Pilhur marched in a body to receive them. The
comrades heartily embraced each other, and the vast army
under the leadership of Swadeshi Jamadars and Subahdars
marched towards Delhi. On the way was a river and
beyond the river was the city of Ludhiana awaiting to kiss
the dust of these heroes' feet. The very morning, the
English officers of Ludhiana had received a telegram an-
nouncing the rising at Jullunder. But it was too late.
The officers had no hope of keeping the Sepoys there
under control. For, before the Government telegram
arrived, the Sepoys had got the information that their
comrades had already left Jullunder ! The English officers
at Ludhiana resolved to bar the way of the army coming
from Pilhur on the river Sutlij which flows between the
two towns. The bridge of boats on the river was des-
troyed and the English, the Sikhs, and the auxiliary troops
of the Raja of Nabha were protecting the bank of the
river. When the Revolutionaries got this information they
began to cross the river at night, four miles up the river.
Some of their number had just crossed the river in boats,
some were still crossing, while some were yet on the other
bank. In this state, the English and the Sikhs began
their artillery-fire on them. It was about ten at night and
the Revolutionaries could not find the whereabouts of the
English army. Besides, their guns had not yet crossed the
river. In this difficult situation, the English and the Sikhs,
with their artillery, fell upon them. But, when the shock
of the first attack was passed, the Sepoys, without moving
an inch, kept up a steady fire on the enemy. The ranks
of the Sepoys, though disordered for a moment on account
of the sudden attack of the enemy defended their position
for about two hours. Just then, a Sepoy's bullet went
right into the chest of the English commander, Williams,
and he fell dead on the field. Now, the moon had arisen
to dispel the midnight darkness and to throw her cool
rays on the heads of the devotees of freedom. In this
moonlight, the Revolutionaries saw the whole strategy of
the English, and they left their position and attacked the
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
154

THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
English boldly. Not being able to hold out before this
attack, the English army as well as the loyal Sikhs took
to their heels !
Proud of victory that they had just won against the
combined forces of the English and the Sikhs, the Sepoys
entered the town of Ludhiana about midday. In the city,
there was a certain Moulvie who always used to preach
to the people to break away from English slavery and
establish Swaraj. On account of the Moulvie’s lectures,
this town had become a powerful centre of the Revolu-
tionary party in the Panjab. When the sign came that
the time had come to deal the last blows at the chains
of slavery, the whole town rose. The Government stores
were looted and burnt. Churches, the houses of English-
men, the presses of English newspapers, all were burnt.
There was rivalry among the citizens to accompany the
Sepoys and show them the stations of Englishmen and
especially the houses of “ native dogs ” who used to wag
their tails under the protection of the Englishmen ! Pri-
sons were broken. Whatever belonged to the Government
and whatever was English was burnt down. That which
could not be burnt down was razed to the ground. In
this manner, Ludhiana also began to glow with the Revo-
lutionary fire.
But it was desirable for the Revolutionaries to go to
Delhi. It would have been a great strategic and moral
advantage if the Sepoys could have held Ludhiana fort,
as it was the key to the Panjab ; and if Ludhiana had
also been a centre of the Revolution, like Delhi, it would
have been a terrible shock to the English power. This
was, no doubt, known to the Sepoys. But it was im-
possible for them to remain in Ludhiana under the cir-
cumstances. They were all mere Sepoys, without a leader.
They had no ammunition. If, at such a juncture, there
had been at Ludhiana a Nana Sahib, or a Khan Bahadur
Khan, or a Moulvie Ahmad Shah, they would never have
155

THE ERUPTION
left Ludhiana. Now, they could do nothing but march
towards Delhi. And so they proceeded towards Delhi,
crying that they would now decide, at the walls of Delhi
itself, the question of slavery or Swaraj. The English
were so much demoralised then that, though the Sepoys
used to march in procession by day, yet no one dared to
suggest pursuit !
But the enforced idleness of the Revolutionary party
at other places for three weeks after the Meerut rising,
was completely taken advantage of by the English in the
Panjab. Because there were large forces of European
troops in the Panjab, it became easy either to disarm
the Sepoys, or compel them to revolt under odds of time
and place, and then destroy them. Seeing that the Sikh
princes and people were joining them instead of the Re-
volutionaries, the English expelled all the Hindusthanees
in the Panjab from the frontier up to the Sutlij and crush-
ed the seeds of the Revolution in that part of the country.
At this time, not only the Sepoys, but thousands of peace-
ful and well-to-do non-Punjabee Hindusthanees in towns
and villages, were deported at the mere will of the autho-
rities. And when the Punjab was, thus, completely in
hand, the movement of European troops towards Delhi
began on a large scale. There were two chief reasons why
the Panjab remained in English hands. One was that the
Sikhs sided with the English. If they had even been
indifferent, the English could not have retained the Panjab
for a single day. The Revolutionaries, naturally, spared
no pains to bring over the Sikhs to their side. As soon
as Delhi was free, a devoted servant of the Emperor sent
him a long, detailed, and very interesting account of the
state of feeling in the Panjab. In it, the faithful
servant Taju Din says, "The Sikh Sirdars in the Panjab
are all idle and cowardly, and unlikely to join the Revo-
lutionaries. They have become the playthings of the
Feringhis. I saw them personally in private, had conver-
sations with them, and spoke to them most earnestly. I
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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
asked them, ‘Why do you join the Feringhis and become
traitors to Swaraj? Won’t you be better off under
Swaraj? Therefore, at least for your own gain, you
ought to join the Emperor of Delhi!’ To this they re-
plied, ‘See, we are all waiting for the opportunity. As
soon as we get the order of the Emperor, we will kill
these Kaffirs in a day.’....But I believe they are
thoroughly untrustworthy.” So when horsemen came,
with the order from the Emperor to the Sikh kings, they
were assassinated! This was the first and most important
reason why the English found it so easy to keep their hold
on the Panjab; yet we cannot say that it was impossible
to drive the English away from the Punjab, in spite of the
opposition of the Sikhs. If advantage had been taken of
the laxity of the English till the month of May, and if
there had been a simultaneous rising according to the
original plan, then, the Sikhs too would have been terroris-
ed to join the Revolutionaries, or, at least, there would
have been a division among them; and, whatever else
might have happened, the English could not possibly have
taken hold of thousands of Sepoys separately and put
them down. It cannot be maintained that in the Punjab
there was no desire for Swaraj. The Brahmins of Thanes-
war and the Moulvies of Ludhiana, the shop-keepers of
Ferozepore and the Mussalmans of Peshawar, were
wandering about, preaching everywhere a holy war for
the sake of Swadharma and Swaraj. The writer of the
above-mentioned letter says, “If a Sirdar from the Em-
peror together with an army can be sent thither, the
Panjab will be free in a moment. The Sepoys at different
places will rise and rally round your banner. The English
will have to leave in haste. And I am certain that all
Hindus and Mahomedans will bow to your glorious
throne. Besides, it is desirable that the rising should be
made in this month of June, for English soldiers find it
hard to fight in the sun. They die quickly even before
fighting begins. As soon as you see this letter, you should
send a Sirdar with an army into the Panjab,” etc, etc.
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THE ERUPTION
Though popular sympathy in the Panjab was with Delhi,
the Revolutionaries could not take advantage of it. The
reason is that the wave of Revolution was inevitably
checked for three weeks after the freedom of Delhi. If,
according to the pre-arranged plan, there had been uni-
versal and simultaneous risings, the English could not
have moved anywhere ; solitary and helpless regiments
could not have been disarmed in the Panjab ; the wave
of Revolution would have daily gained in volume, and
undecided and hesitating people like the Sikhs would
have been carried away with it ; and, seeing a glorious
and successful beginning, those who sympathised but
dared not throw in their lot with the Revolution would
have become emboldened and,—India would have
been free.
In short, on account of the treachery of the Sikhs and
the premature rising at Meerut, the roots of the Revolu-
tion in the Panjab were all weeded out. And the Panjab
being the backbone of Delhi, the news was very discourag-
ing to the Delhi patriots.
We have given, above, the movements of the Revolu-
tionaries and of the English in Delhi and the Panjab
during the three weeks. The English had been making
all possible preparations during these three weeks, and
large contingents of European troops were constantly be-
ing sent from Calcutta to Allahabad. In Bombay and
Madras, in Rajputana and Sind, a minute inquiry was
made as to the sympathisers of the Revolutionary move-
ment, and great efforts were being made to crush it in
time, as was done in the Panjab. And, thanking God
for this previous warning of the Revolution, they began
to be confident that they had extinguished the flames in
various places. While these preparations were going on
during these weeks on the side of the English, on the side
of the Revolutionaries all possible outward quiet was
maintained in general, except for some small risings that
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THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
took place here and there. This was the state of affairs,
on both sides, on the 30th of May. We must now turn
to the succeeding events—how this was immediately
altered, how the growing confidence of the English was
dashed to the ground, how the flames of the Revolution
burst again with redoubled vigour in spite of the great
losses it had sustained during these three weeks. Revolu-
tions are not regulated by fixed laws. They are not
accurately working machines like clocks or watches. They
have their own way of marching. They can only be
regulated by a general principle ; but they brush away
minor rules by their very shock. Revolution has only
one watchword—" Dash on ! " All sorts of new and
unthought of circumstances might arise during its progress,
but one must stop ; one must overcome them and
press forward.
Tell us now, O Muse of History, how Nana Sahib,
the Moulvie of Lucknow, the Ranee of Jhansi, and other
grand heroes clung to this principle with such extraordi-
nary persistence ! And fail not to tell, also, O History,
how all Indians could not cling to it as these heroes did !
Come and sing the songs of glory and of praise with us in
the first part, and, also, come and weep with us later on !
159