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─────THE─────
INDIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
1857

VINAYAK DAMODAR "SWATANTRYVEER" SAVARKAR
(1883- 1966)

THE
INDIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
1857
VINAYAK DAMODAR SAVARKAR
ASIAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
NEW DELHI ◆ CHENNAI ◆ 2014

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VINAYAK DAMODAR SAVARKAR

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THE
INDIAN WAR OF
INDEPENDENCE
1857
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
PHOENIX
PUBLICATIONS

This page appears to be blank (a flyleaf or blank verso page) with no legible text present.

CONTENTS
PAGE
PUBLISHER'S NOTE – – – – – – – – vii
THE STORY OF THIS HISTORY, G. M. Joshi – – ix
THE ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S PREFACE – – – xxi
AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTION – – – – – – xxiii
LIST OF IMPORTANT BOOKS CONSULTED – – xxv
PART I—THE VOLCANO
CHAP. PAGE

1. SWADHARMA AND SWARAJ – – – – – 1
2. THE CHAIN OF CAUSES – – – – – – 13
3. NANA SAHIB AND LAKSHMI BAI – – – – 25
4. AYÔDHYA – – – – – – – – 41
5. ADDING FUEL TO FIRE – – – – – – 53
6. LIT UP THE SACRIFICIAL FIRE – – – – 67
7. SECRET ORGANISATION – – – – – – 71
   PART II—THE ERUPTION
8. SHAHID MANGAL PANDAY – – – – – 101
9. MEERUT – – – – – – – – 107
10. DELHI – – – – – – – – 116
11. THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB – – 127
12. ALIGARH AND NASIRABAD – – – – – 160
13. ROHILKHAND – – – – – – – 167
14. BENARES AND ALLAHABAD – – – – 179
15. CAWNPORE AND JHANSI – – – – 208
16. OUDH – – – – – – – – 242
17. THE SUMMING UP – – – – – – 261
    iii
    A

CONTENTS
PART III—THE CONFLAGRATION
CHAP. PAGE

1. THE FIGHT IN DELHI - - - - - - 283
2. HAVELOCK - - - - - - - - 303
3. BEHAR - - - - - - - - - 314
4. DELHI FALLS - - - - - - - 330
5. LUCKNOW - - - - - - - - 346
6. TATIA TOPÉ - - - - - - - 376
7. THE FALL OF LUCKNOW - - - - - 389
8. KUMAR SINGH AND AMAR SINGH - - - 417
9. MOULVIE AHMAD SHAH - - - - - 443
10. RANEE LAKSHMI BAI - - - - - - 457
    PART IV—TEMPORARY PACIFICATION
11. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW - - - - - - - 495
12. THE CULMINATING OFFERING IN THE
    SACRIFICIAL FIRE - - - - - - 522
13. CONCLUSION - - - - - - - - 541
    GLOSSARY - - - - - - - - 547
    iv

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
(† mark indicates full colour plates)
V. D. SAVARKAR (Author) . . . . . . FRONTISPIECE
BETWEEN PAGES
THE WARRIOR RANI LAKSHMI BAI OF JHANSI† . . 32—33
A Rare Picture of Rani Lakshmi Bai by a Court
Artist at Jhansi.
NANA SAHEB PESHWA OF BITHOOR† . . . . 72—73
Ruins of the Residence of Nana Saheb at Bithoor.
NANA SAHEB LEAVING LUCKNOW WITH HIS ESCORT† 96—97
RANI LAKSHMI BAI CHARGING A BRITISH BATTERY† 144—145
EMPEROR BAHADUR SHAH II OF DELHI† . . . 200—201
Bahadur Shah in his last Days.
TO FACE PAGE
THE BATTLE-SCARRED KASHMIR GATE AT DELHI . 248
KAISER BAGH PALACE, LUCKNOW . . . . . 248
BETWEEN PAGES
THE READING OF EMPEROR BAHADUR SHAH'S PRO-
CLAMATION OF 1857 AT HIS DARBAR IN THE
DIWAN-I-AAM, DELHI† . . . . . . 288—289
BEGUM ZINAT MAHAL† . . . . . . 336—337
Begum Zinat Mahal in her old age.
TATIA TOPÉ IN THE BATTLE AT KALPI† . . . 378—379
KUMAR SINGH OF JAGADISHPUR . . . . . 424—425
Sir Henry Lawrence.
Sir Hope Grant.
Sir John Lawrence.
Sir James Outram.
Sir Henry Barnard.
v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BETWEEN PAGES
GANGADHAR RAO ALIAS BABA SAHEB NEWALKAR OF
JHANSI. . . . . . . . . . . 460—461
Bhandeer Gate at Jhansi.
The Dagger of the Rani.
The Seal of the Rani.
Shatru Samhar and Naldar, two of the cannons
of Rani Lakshmi Bai.
The Rani Mahal, Jhansi.
MAHARAJA JAYAJI RAO SCINDIA . . . . . . 488—489
The Fort, Gwalior.
Diwan Dinkar Rao Rajwade.
GENERAL TATIA TOPÉ . . . . . . . . 512—513
A Battle Scene.
Sir Henry Havelock.
Sir Colin Campbell.
Lord Canning.
SALAR JUNG, DIWAN OF HYDERABAD . . . . . 528—529
The Residency, Hyderabad.
The spot at Sureban where Mr. Manson was
killed.
Venkateshwar Temple at Nargund.
The City Gate, Nargund.
The Fort, Nargund.
vi

PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Most historians, British as well as Indian, have
described and dismissed the rising of 1857 as a 'Sepoy
Mutiny' or at best 'The Indian Mutiny'. Indian revolu-
tionaries on the other hand, and national minded leaders
and thinkers have regarded it as a planned and organised
political and military rising aimed at destroying the British
power in India.
Mr. Savarkar's is an attempt to look at the incidents of
1857 from the Indian point of view. A leading revolutionary
himself, he was attracted and inspired by the burning zeal,
the heroism, bravery, suffering and tragic fate of the leaders
of 1857, and he decided to re-interpret the story and to relate
it in full with the help of all the material available to him
at the time. He spent days and months at the India Office
Library studying the period. Finally, his work was published
in 1909, under the title "The Indian War of Independence
—1857". The full story of its publication and eventual fate
is related, at length, elsewhere in this volume. We shall only
mention here that its entry into India was banned by the
Government even before it was published. This ban was
finally lifted by the Congress Government of Bombay in May
1946, and this is the first authorised edition of the book to be
published in India.
As the publishers of this edition we take here the oppor-
tunity of recording our sense of gratitude to Mr. G. M. Joshi,
editor of the Marathi weekly journal Agrani, for making this
work available to us, and for his continued interest in it while
vii

PUBLISHER'S NOTE
it was going through the press. But first of all, we are indebted
to Mr. Savarkar himself for letting us publish this book.
For, ever since the ban on it was lifted the public has been
eagerly waiting for it to reappear. We consider it a matter
of pride that we should be permitted to present it to the public.
The publication of this edition in the present form would
hardly have been possible but for the hearty co-operation of
many of our friends. First among these is our artist friend
Mr. D. G. Godse, who not only planned and supervised the
entire lay-out and get-up of the book, but took more than mere
professional interest in the whole work.
The value of this edition is further enhanced by the many
rare photographs and pictures kindly lent by Mr. R. M.
Athawale from his special "Sattavani Collection" which is
intended for his forthcoming work, in Marathi, on 1857. He
has spent years in studying the subject, and has taken a good
deal of trouble to collect the material for his work. It is be-
cause his high respect for Mr. Savarkar and his special regard
for Mr. Savarkar's history of 1857 that he has lent this
material to us. Among the pictures lent by him, the one of
Maharaja Jayaji Rao Scindia of Gwalior, and those of two of
Rani of Jhansi's cannons were given him by the Archæological
Department of Gwalior State for suitable use. We are thank-
ful to Mr. Athawale for allowing us the use of these also.
We are also thankful to Mr. Purav, photographer; Mr.
H. S. Dhargalkar, of India Block Co.; Mr. D. D. Neroy,
Block-maker; Mr. M. V. Kamat, of Bombay Process Studio;
and to the Industrial Art Studio, Bombay. They all went out
of their way to execute our work at the shortest notice and
without the least hesitation. Last of all, we must thank the
printers and other workers of the Karnatak Printing Press
for the care and despatch with which they handled the work.
viii

THE STORY OF THIS HISTORY
“An honest tale speeds best
By being plainly told.”
—Shakespeare
Apart from the splendid merits of the subject matter
dealt with in the warlit pages of this history of “The Indian
War of Independence of 1857,” the story of the thrilling vicis-
situdes through which this book had to pass does by itself
entitle it to be placed on the classical shelf in any world
library.
The Object and the Name of the Book
Veer Savarkarji, the famous author of this book, did
himself explain in an article in the “Talwar,” an organ of
the Abhi Nava Bharat Revolutionary Society, which was started
by him and published in Paris, that his object in writing this
history was, subject to historical accuracy, to inspire his peo-
ple with a burning desire to rise again and wage a second and
a successful war to liberate their motherland. He also ex-
pected that the history should serve to place before the revo-
lutionists an outline of a programme of organisation and
action to enable them to prepare the nation for a future war
of liberation. It would never have been possible to preach
such a revolutionary gospel publicly throughout India or carry
conviction so effectively as an illuminating illustration of
what had actually happened in the nearest past would do.
So he invoked the warriors of 1857 to deliver his message
through their own mighty words and mightier deeds.
ix

THE STORY OF THIS HISTORY
The ideal of absolute political Independence, and the
conviction that the ultimate and inevitable means to realize
that ideal could be no other than an armed national revolt
against the foreign domination,—were concepts which in
those days—lay even beyond the horizon of the then political
thought and action in India. The very mention of them was
brushed aside as chimerical by the then extremists, was
denounced as criminal by the loyal moderates and was even
anathematised as immoral by the half-witted moralists!
But these self-same concepts formed the two fundamental
tenets of the A. N. B (Abhi Nava Bharat) Revolutionary
organisation. "Reforms and a peaceful solution" formed the
alpha and omega of the ambition of the then Indian National
Congress itself. Independence, Revolution—let alone a War
for Independence—were as a rule words almost unknown, un-
heard and inconceivably incomprehensible even to the highly
patriotic Indian world. It was to familiarize this Indian
patriotic world with at least these words in daily thought, and
by their constant repetition, like that of a 'Mantram', to
hypnotize the youthful political mind into a sub-conscious at-
traction for the noble concepts, which the words connoted—
that Savarkar, who as a Historian would have called
this book a history of the 'National Rising' or of the
'Revolutionary War of 1857', did, of a set design, name
it the history of "The Indian War of Independence of 1857."
Veer Savarkar always emphasized the necessity in the
Indian condition of carrying politics and patriotism to the
camp, to the military forces in India, for rendering any arm-
ed revolt practical. The history of the Revolutionary War of
1857 proved beyond cavil or criticism that only some fifty
years previously our ancestors had aimed to achieve absolute
political independence, could bring about the active and armed
participation in the National struggle of the military forces and
could wage an inexorable war for the liberation of our
motherland. He consequently felt that this history if told
viewing it through such a revolutionary perspective was most
x

THE STORY OF THIS HISTORY
likely to animate the rising generation of India with the faith
that there was no reason why it should not be practicable and
even more faithful to try again as, at any rate, there
was no other way to salvation. How far this expectation
of the author was realized will be seen as this story proceeds.
Originally written in Marathi
This book was written originally in Marathi, in 1908,
when Veer Savarkar was about twenty-four years of age. Some
select chapters used to be reproduced in English, in speeches
which Veer Savarkarji used to deliver at the open weekly
meetings of the Free India Society in London. Perhaps
through this channel or otherwise the detectives got some scent
of the subject-matter of this book which their reports dubbed
as revolutionary, explosive and highly treasonous. Soon a
chapter or two of the Marathi manuscript were found missing,
which, it was disclosed later on, were stolen by the detective
agents, and found their way to the Scotland Yard, the head-
quarters of the British Intelligence Department in London.
Nevertheless, the Marathi manuscript was sent to India by the
revolutionists so secretly and cleverly that, foiling the strict vigi-
lance of the customs authorities of the Indian Ports, it reached
safely its destination. But the leading press-concerns in Maha-
rashtra dared not run the risk of printing the volume. At last,
the owner of a printing firm who was himself a member of the
Abhi Nava Bharat Secret Society undertook to publish it. In
the meanwhile, the Indian police too got some vague informa-
tion that the volume was being published in Marathi. They,
thereupon, carried a number of simultaneous surprise raids
on some prominent printing houses in Maharashtra. But fortu-
nately, the owner of the Press, where the book was being
actually printed got a hint through a sympathetic Police Officer
and succeeded in smuggling out the Marathi manuscript to a
safer place just before the search party arrived. The manus-
cript was later on sent back to Paris, instead of to London,
and fell into the hands of its author.
xi

THE STORY OF THIS HISTORY
Finding thus that it was impossible to get it printed in
India, it was decided to get the Marathi book printed in Ger-
many, where some Sanskrit literature used to be published in
the Nagari script. But after a lot of waste of money and time,
the scheme had to be given up as hopeless, owing to the un-
couth and ugly Nagari type cast in Germany, and to the fact
that the German compositors were absolutely ignorant of the
Marathi language.
The History translated into English
The A. N. B. Revolutionary Party resolved thereupon
to publish, at least, the English translation of this History of
the Indian War of Independence of 1857 with a view to
enabling the English speaking public, both in India and outside,
to know its contents. A few highly intellectual Maratha
youths in London, members of the A. N. B., distinguished
graduates of Indian Universities studying Law, and candidates
for the I.C.S. Examination, volunteered to translate the volu-
minous work into English. After the translation was complete
under the supervision of Sriyut V. V. S. Aiyer, efforts were
made to get it printed in England. But the British detectives,
too, were not idle, and made it impossible for any British
printer to undertake the publication of it for fear of being
prosecuted forthwith. The English manuscript was then sent
to Paris; but the French Government at that time was so
thoroughly under the thumb of England, with whom France
had to ally herself in order to face combinedly the impending
danger of a German invasion that the French detectives were
working hand in hand with the British police to suppress the
A. N. B. revolutionary activities in France; and under their
threat, even a French printer could not be found ready to run
the risk of printing this history. At last by a successful ruse,
the revolutionists persuaded a printing firm in Holland to print
the book. The British Intelligence Department continued to
grope in the dark, as the revolutionists publicly gave it out that
the English translation was being printed in France. Before
xii