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

THE ERUPTION
in India can be found, in Revolutionary times, this gallan-
try and this nobility of heart, even when it enraged
the masses ?
Raja Hanamant Singh was the chief of Kala and, though
not behind anybody in his anxiety to fight in the cause
of his nation, his nobility forced even his enemies to speak
of him in the following terms : “ This noble Rajput had
been dispossessed, by the action of the revenue system
introduced by the British, of the greater part of his pro-
perty. Keenly as he felt the tyranny and the disgrace,
his noble nature yet declined to regard the fugitive chiefs
of the nation which had nearly ruined him in any other
light than as people in distress. He helped them in that
distress ; he saw them in safety to their own fortress. But
when, on bidding him farewell, Captain Barrow expressed
a hope that he would aid in suppressing the revolt, he
stood erect, as he replied, ‘ Sahib, your countrymen came
into our country and drove out our king. You sent your
officers round the districts to examine the titles of the
estates. At one blow, you took from me lands which,
from time immemorial, had been in my family. I sub-
mitted. Suddenly misfortune fell upon you. You came
to me whom you had despoiled. I have saved you. But
now,—now I march at the head of my retainers to Luck-
now to try and drive you from the country .’”⁴
This generosity on the part of the people of Oudh was not
a sign of weakness. Between the 31st of May and the end
of the first week of June, the whole province rose in Revo-
lution like a big machine suddenly setting to work ! In
the whole province, the Zemindars, Jagirdars, and Rajas ;
the thousands of Sepoys under the British—infantry,
cavalry, and artillery ; all the servants of the civil depart-
ments ; peasants, merchants, and students ; in short, all,
whether Hindu or Mahomedan, rose like one man for
4. Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, page 273 (foot-note).
256

OUDH
freeing their country. Private enmity, differences of
religion and caste and rank were all forgotten.
Every one felt in his heart that he was jumping
into the battlefield for a war of justice. It was
the masses who re-established Wajid Ali Shah on the
throne of Oudh in ten days. What a statesmanlike answer
this to Dalhousie's contention that he deposed Wajid Ali
Shah for the good of the people ! At the end of the first
week of June, there was scarcely a village in the whole
Oudh province that had not given such a statesmanlike
reply to Dalhousie, by tearing to pieces the English flag !
After giving a true picture of this state of things, the
famous historical researcher, Forrest, says in his preface,
"Thus in the course of ten days, the English administra-
tion in Oudh vanished like a dream and left not a wreck
behind. The troops mutinied, the people threw off their
allegiance. But there was no revenge, no cruelty. The
brave and turbulent population, with a few exceptions,
treated the fugitives of the ruling race with marked kind-
ness, and the high courtesy and chivalry of the people of
Oudh was conspicuous in their dealings with their fallen
masters who, in the days of their power, had, from the
best (?) of motives, inflicted on many of them a grave
wrong."⁵ If the experienced and able English officers had
not been thus spared by the heroic nobility of the people
of Oudh, Oudh could not have been reconquered merely
by the English novices ! For, as we shall see later on these
were English officers and were returned with the new
forces sent by the English and wreaked terrible vengeance
on the Revolutionary leaders and followers who had,
through misplaced generosity saved their lives as
shown above !
About the 10th of June, the whole province of Oudh be-
came independent and all the Sepoys and volunteers
5. Forrest's State Papers, Vol. II, page 37.
257
17

THE ERUPTION
marched towards Lucknow. In that city, the great Eng-
lish leader, Henry Lawrence, was moving heaven and
earth to inspire life into the dying English power. Though
he had lost the whole province, he had still kept his hold
on the capital. He had smelt the Revolution from afar
and had fortified the two places, Machi Bhawan and the
Residency, as has been already mentioned. When the
Sepoys revolted on the 31st of May and went away,
Lawrence formed a splendid regiment of Sikhs and an-
other of the “ most loyal ” Hindusthanees. The remain-
ing division of the old Sepoy army had rebelled before the
12th of June. This revolt pleased Sir Henry in a way,
for now he had with him a select and faithful army
consisting of the English regiment and artillery and the
two regiments of Sikhs and Hindusthanees, whose loyalty
to the English had been proved by severe tests. Sir
Henry was now waiting, ready to give battle.
The Sepoys and young fighting men of the province of
Oudh were collecting together around the city of Luck-
now. Both sides, before commencing the fight, were
awaiting the issue of another struggle. The siege of
Cawnpore was at its height, and neither the English nor
the Revolutionaries started the battle until the final news
from Cawnpore came. Each party based its hopes on the
result of Cawnpore. Sir Henry wrote hopefully to Lord
Canning, on the 23rd of June, “If Cawnpore stands, it
is doubtful whether Lucknow will be besieged at all.” On
the 28th, the news came to Lucknow that not a single
Englishman was left alive at Cawnpore! The Revolu-
tionaries were flushed with the victory and marched up
to Chinhut to attack the English.
The terrible defeat of the English at Cawnpore shook the
basis of English prestige everywhere. Sir Henry Lawrence
thought that, unless this defeat were counteracted, not
only the Residency at Lucknow but even Fort William
of Calcutta would not be safe, and resolved to wash away
258

OUDH
the insult of Cawnpore with the blood of the Revolutiona-
ries. The English army assembled near the iron bridge,
on the 29th of June. Sir Henry left Lucknow with four
hundred English soldiers, four hundred traitor Sepoys
and ten guns. He marched a long distance without seeing
any sign of the enemy. At last, he came across the front
ranks of the Revolutionaries. Sir Henry, then, ordered
his sepoys to take a very important village on his right.
The sepoys attacked that village and it fell into the hands
of the English. The English soldiers, also, took the village
of Ismailganj on the left. The Indian and English officers
of the guns rained such a fire against the guns of the
Revolutionaries that the latter was silenced. The English
almost won the day at Chinhut. But, suddenly the cry
arose that the Revolutionaries had entered unobserved the
village on the left ; the English soldiers were suddenly
attacked and driven out, and the village was captured by
the Revolutionaries, who now attacked the English centre
and rear. As the English soldiers retired, the Revolu-
tionaries rushed on. There was confusion in the English
ranks and Sir Henry, seeing that a further stand would
result in the ruin of the whole army, sounded a retreat !
During the retreat the English suffered excessive hard-
ships ; for, the Revolutionaries did not stop with the
victory of Chinhut but started a hot pursuit. The Sepoys
manning the English artillery now began to slack. But
the rest of the Indian cavalry and artillery showed even
greater bravery than the English soldiers and ably covered
the retreat. But, in a short time, the retreat ended in a
rout ! The despairing English army began to run towards
Lucknow. Out of the four hundred English soldiers,
nearly one hundred and fifty died that day. We need not
count the Indian loyalists ! The English left on the field
two guns and a big howitzer. They had also to leave
there the revenge of Cawnpore. Beaten in this manner,
Sir Henry re-entered the Residency at Lucknow. Still,
the Revolutionaries were following him. When the English
and the Sikhs and other loyalists came within the shelter
259

THE ERUPTION
of the guns at the Residency, the battle of Chinhut came
to an end. But, its results still remained. The Revolu-
tionaries now surrounded both Machi Bhawan and the
Residency. Sir Henry, therefore, decided to vacate Machi
Bhavan in order to render his defence more effective. The
arsenal there, containing a large quantity of ammunition,
was blown up, and all the Englishmen now came into the
Residency. This Residency had enough stores of provi-
sions, arms, and ammunition to stand a siege. There were
now, in the Residency, about a thousand Englishmen and
eight hundred Indian sepoys. They prepared to defend
themselves against the vast number of Revolutionaries
collecting outside. Seeing the preparations of the
English general to defend the Residency after the
battle of Chinhut, the Revolutionaries commenced a
regular siege. Thousands of the Revolutionaries were
mustering strong and chafing to put an end to the
slavery and foreign domination.
In this manner, the enraged Ayodhya beat and pursued
and imprisoned the English Power in this little Residency
of Lucknow.⁶
6. The well-known writer of the Red Pamphlet says :—" All
Oudh has been in arms against us. Not only the regular troops
but sixty thousand men of the army of the ex-king, the Zemindars,
and their retainers, the two hundred and fifty forts—most of them
heavily armed with guns—have been working against us. They have
balanced the rule of the Company with the sovereignty of their own
kings and have pronounced, almost unanimously, in favour of the
latter. The very pensioners who have served in the army have
declared against us and to a man joined in the insurrection."
260

CHAPTER X
THE SUMMING UP
WHAT effect had this spirit of freedom which
inspired life in the dead or dying thrones of
Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow, and Bareilly on the
other states which were still, more or less, living?
The mass of the people, in 1857, had thoroughly
understood that, so long as foreign domination over
Hindusthan remained, the living states were as useless
as the dead ones were lifeless. The Revolution in 1857,
inspired by the holiest and the highest ideal of freedom,
was not fighting furiously for the sake of this king or that
heir. Individuals—peasants or kings—may live or die,
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THE ERUPTION
but the nation should not die, must not die. The ideal
was the establishment of the country's freedom by break-
ing the dreadful chains of slavery, and the universal war
was sounded for the attainment of this noble end, even
though the way to it was over the ashes of cottages and
of thrones. He is a king who would free his country. The
other kings were as well dead as alive.
The people in the states like Gwalior, Indore, Rajpootana,
and Bharatpur were, also, full of the spirit of the Revo-
tionary War, as much as those in territories which had
completely lost their independence. None of them enter-
tained the sordid idea of keeping away from risk and
danger, because his own native state was safe; nor looked
upon his own tiny state as the whole nation, and upon the
annexed provinces as people having exclusive interests
and belonging to a foreign system. Foreigner! One son
of the Mother, a foreigner to another! No; 1857 has come
and all India is one; one in life; one in destiny!
Now, then, you Scindia of Gwalior! Give us the order to
fight against the English. Give us not only the order but
come and be our leader; Raise the holy cry of "Swadesh"
and "Swadharma" on the battlefield and march on with
the army to complete the half-done work of Mahadaji.
The whole country is hanging on the one word of Jayaji
Scindia! Say "War!", and Agra falls, Delhi is liberated,
the Dekhan rises amidst thunder, the foreigner is expelled
from the country, the land is free, and you are the man
who shall give it the gift of freedom! The lives of two
hundred millions of men depended on the tongue of one
man. Such an occasion is verily Historical!
But, the one tongue of the Scindia first would not move
at all and, when it did move, it said "Friendship!" in-
stead of "War!" The Scindia resolved to preserve his
friendship—not with the country but with the English!
At this, the people rose in a fury. If the Scindia does not
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THE SUMMING UP
wish to fight, we shall fight ! If you do not run to save
the Motherland, we will run to liberate her without you,
and, if it comes to that, in spite of you. To-day is Sunday,
the 14th of June. We have waited for the Scindia till
to-day. We will only wait for the sun to set to-day; when
the sun sets—Har ! Har, Mahadev ! Who is there driving
in that carriage ? Mr. and Mrs. Coopland. How dare
anyone salaam to them ? Salaam a Feringhi after the
14th of June ? Not only this Feringhi but, see there,
the brigadier is coming, and no one raises his hand or
moves his head to salute him ! Brigadier, indeed ! But
who made him brigadier ? Is it not the Feringhis ? A
crow, though standing at the top of a palace, does not
become an eagle. So, march on right in the face of the
brigadier and pay no attention to him. And so, the Sepoys
of the Gwalior contingent passed the brigadier without
saluting him.¹ Still there was no disturbance till the even-
ing. In the evening, one bungalow took fire. Yes ; now
comes the time of rising. Artillery ! rise in revolt ! In-
fantry ! take burning torches in one hand and shining
swords in the other and dance about in all directions,
roaring like lions. See the colour of every man you meet
in the street ; if he is dark, embrace him ; if white, kill him.
Marô Feringhiko ! You are hiding in the house ; all right,
we will set fire to it ! Who is this running out of the
bungalow to save himself from the fire ? Is he a white
man ? Cut his head off ! Who is this again ? A white
woman. “ Mat Marô ! Mat Marô !” (Don't kill!) “ We
do not want to kill women !”² The whole night, the
ghostly dance is going on. There must be no Englishman
in Gwalior, not even in the Scindia’s palace. The white
men were driven out of the Scindia’s dominions—right up
to Agra. The white women were collected together and
put in prison. But, it is improper not to speak to them.

1. Mrs. Coopland's Narrative.
2. Mrs. Coopland's Narrative.
   263

THE ERUPTION
See there an English woman suffering in the sun. Let us
speak to her. So, one man asks her, “ Well, madam, how
do you like the sun of this place ? Is it not too hot ? You
are feeling it very much just now—are you ? If you had
remained in your own cold country, there would have
been no such difficulty for you ! ” After listening to this
“ devilish ” bit of advice given to this woman, listen to
what another of them says : “ What, you want to be sent
to Agra ? Ha, ha ! Your people have been killed long
ago and Agra now belongs to the Revolutionaries. Do
you still wish to go there ? ” And so arose a wave of
mirthful laughter. The Scindia was made lifeless like a
dummy ; the Gwalior contingent forces revolted, split the
blood of their officers, drove out English women, the Eng-
lish flag, and English power out of the limits of Gwalior
state and made Gwalior perfectly independent. They next
began to order the Scindia : “ Come and be our leader ;
come out with the whole army towards Agra, Cawnpore,
and Delhi to liberate Hindusthan ! ” Scindia kept them
quiet for many days by constant promises. Until Tatia
Topé comes secretly to Gwalior and leads them, the troops
are to remain thus inactive.³
And, therefore it is that the English at Agra have still
some hope. For the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-
3. “ It was a most favourable moment for recovering his lost
authority. It was merely necessary to accede to the proposal of
the mutinous contingents and to revenge himself on the British.
Had he so acceded, had he put himself at their head and, accom-
panied likewise by his trusty Mahrattas, proceeded to the scene
of action, the consequences would have been most disastrous to our-
selves. He would have brought at least twenty thousand troops,
one half of them drilled and disciplined by European officers, on
our weak points. Agra and Lucknow would have at once fallen.
Havelock would have been shut up in Allahabad ; and either that
fortress would have been besieged or the rebels, giving it a wide
berth, would have marched through Benares on to Calcutta. There
were no troops, no fortification to stop them.”—Red Pamphlet,
page 194.
264

THE SUMMING UP
Western Province, Mr. Colvin, is at Agra, standing in
terror of death every minute. He had previously deliver-
ed a lecture on “ loyalty ” to Sepoys, agitated by the Mee-
rut news. He had issued a proclamation of pardon ! But
there was not even a single Sepoy weak-minded enough to
come to beg his pardon ; nay, more, as a reply to the pro-
clamation of pardon, they attacked Agra on the 5th of
July. The revolted regiments of Nasirabad and Neemuch
marched on Agra ; so, the “ loyal ” troops of the rulers
of Bitaoli and Bharatpur were sent against them ! The
troops sent by these states declared that though they
would refrain from rising against the English, for such
were the orders of their rulers, they would not lift their
swords against their own countrymen!” The English were
thus deceived and disappointed. The native states were
“ loyal ” ; but their people and armies “ would not lift
their swords against their countrymen ! ” So taking with
him the English troops alone, Brigadier Polwhele marched
upon the Revolutionaries coming to attack Agra. Both
armies met near Sassiah and the battle lasted the whole
day ; at last, the English force found it impossible to
stand the attack of the Revolutionaries, and retired. The
Revolutionaries, flushed with victory, pursued them hotly.
When the army entered Agra, the Revolutionaries were at
their heels with shouts of victory. Agra got the opportu-
nity it wanted. It was the 6th of July. The town of
Agra rose in revolt, headed by the police ! The police
officers were all in concert with the Revolutionary society.
The religious leaders of both Hindus and Mahomedans
organised a great procession. The Kotwal and other
police officers walked in the front line. They raised shouts
of victory for Swadharma and Swaraj and proclaimed
that the English rule was at an end and that the authority
had been transferred to the Emperor of Delhi !
When Agra thus became free, Mr. Colvin, together with
all the English there—ashamed of the defeat and anxious
for the future—retired into the fort. He had now one
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THE ERUPTION
great fear, and that was about the side that the Scindia
would take. The mere news that the Scindia had joined
the Revolutionaries would have made Mr. Colvin surrender
that impregnable fort! But as it was clear that the
Scindia was not against him, as was proved by his "loyal"
letters and help, the English flag at Agra seemed to revive.
But the weight of supporting it was too much and Mr.
Colvin died on the 9th of September, 1857, to the deepest
sorrow of the English government in India.
The Revolutionary spirit that exhibited itself among the
masses and the Sepoys at Gwalior had also burst forth in
a terrible manner at Indore. Secret communication was
established between all the troops in the English camp at
Mhow and the troops of Holkar, and a rebellion was
decided upon. On the 1st of July, Saadat Khan, a Maho-
medan nobleman at the Indore court, ordered the army
to fall upon the English at the Residency. He declared
that the Maharaja Holkar had given him the order. But
the Indian troops did not need any such declaration, even.
They raised the flag of freedom and, at once, marched
with their guns on the Residency. The Indian troops at
the Residency refused to fire on their countrymen on
behalf of the English. The English lost all hope ; they
quietly packed their bag and baggage and fled from
Indore. The Indian troops at the Residency had guaran-
teed them their lives and protected them till the end.
English authors always try hard to find out exactly whe-
ther the Maharaja Holkar sympathised with the English or
with the Revolutionaries. But one who minutely studies
the history and the conditions of 1857 would see at once
that during the Revolution, most of the states had purpose-
ly observed a dubious attitude. The desire of freedom
is innate in man. Most of the states intended to raise the
flag of freedom as soon as there was reasonable prospect
of the success of the Revolution. They did not join the
English, because they did not want to aid in the failure
of the Revolution. On the other hand, they did not want,
266

THE SUMMING UP
by actively helping the Revolutionaries, to give a handle
to the English, if they should be able to overpower the
Revolutionaries, to confiscate their estates. Thus, they
provided for the other alternative of the Company coming
out victorious. Fools that they were, not to be able to
see that, if they joined the Revolutionaries, there was
absolutely no chance for the English to succeed ; while,
if they remained neutral, the chances of the success of the
Revolution were greatly lessened ! This is the real expla-
nation of the conduct of most of the states in this critical
period. If the people and the troops drove out the English
from the Residencies, they were permitted to do so ; be-
cause, it meant the freedom of the states. Notwithstand-
ing this, the rulers would continue to declare their friend-
ship for the English, so that, in case of English success,
they should not lose what they had. It would seem that
Cutch, Gwalior, Indore, Bundela, Rajputana, and other
states—all behaved in this manner.
And it was this selfish conduct on the part of the princes
which, in the end, strangled the Revolution. If they had
boldly come forward, crying “ Freedom—or Death ! ”, they
would certainly have obtained freedom. But they played
a double-game—the result of mean selfishness. Their
good intentions, being weak, achieved nothing and their
baseness was conspicuous ! They were not open and bare-
faced traitors to the country like Patiala and others ; but
they played, indirectly, the part of traitors : they let base
selfishness take possession of their souls, even while hoping
for the noble goal of freedom and, hence, they are cursed
for their sin. When will they wash it away ?
But these selfish motives which mastered the minds of the
princes did not enter for a single moment the hearts of
the people. And it was by their glorious onslaughts
from Peshawar up to Calcutta that the fire broke forth
and blood began to flow, in order to reduce to ashes and
wash away the terrible curse of slavery which had smitten
267

THE ERUPTION
the land. And it was by their united strength and unsel-
fish fight that English power collapsed and was grounded
into dust, for some time at least.⁴
How little Calcutta and England understood the nature of
this terrible earthquake! In the opinion of the Govern-
ment, there was perfect peace before the Meerut rising.
Even when Meerut rose and the Proclamation of freedom
was issued from Delhi, Calcutta could not understand the
real meaning of the eruption. Seeing that no wave of
the rising appeared between the 10th and 31st of May,
Calcutta was confirmed in its idea that there was no serious
trouble in Hindusthan. On the 25th of May, the Home
Secretary proclaimed openly: "There is perfect peace with-
in a radius of six hundred miles from Calcutta. The mo-
mentary and isolated danger is passed. And it is strongly
hoped that, in a few days, perfect peace and safety
will reign."
The "few days" passed; the 31st of May dawned. "Peace
and safety" reigned everywhere! Around the Lucknow
Residency, in the Cawnpore Maidan, in the Jogan
Bagh at Jhansi, in the bazaars of Allahabad, on the Ghats
of Benares, everywhere "peace and safety" reigned!
Telegraph wires cut to pieces, railways and iron bridges
smashed and mixed into dust, English corpses floating in
4. Wherever the chiefs of the native states hesitated to join
the revolution, the people of the states became uncontrollable and
tried to throw off the yoke even of their own chief, if he would not
join the nation’s war. Seeing this extraordinary upheaval of the
populace, Malleson says: "Here, too, as at Gwalior, as at Indore,
it was plainly shown that, when the fanaticism of the oriental peo-
ple is thoroughly roused, not even their king, their Raja—their
father, as all consider him, their God, as some delight to style him
—not even their Raja can bend them against their convictions."
The Sepoys of the Rajas of Jaipur and Jodhpur refused point blank
to raise their hands against their countrymen who were fighting
for the nation, even when asked by their Raja to do so. Malleson's
Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, p. 172
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THE SUMMING UP
the rivers, pools of blood in the streets—everywhere
“ peace and safety ! ”
It was then, that the fog at Calcutta cleared. On the 12th
of June, all the English residents began to organize a
corps of volunteers. English shopkeepers, clerks, writers,
civil officers,—in short, all Englishmen were hastily en-
rolled in the military list ; they were taught drill and rifle
practice. The work was done so quickly and energetically
that, in three weeks, a whole brigade of the newly-drilled
volunteer recruits was formed. The brigade consisted of
cavalry, infantry, and artillery ; since they were thought
capable of protecting Calcutta, that work was given to
them ; and the Government got the opportunity of sending
the professional English soldiers to parts where the Revo-
lution was in full swing.
On the 13th of June, Lord Canning called a meeting of
the legislative council and got a law passed against news-
papers. For, as soon as the Revolution began, the Indian
newspapers of Bengal had begun to write articles openly
sympathising with and encouraging the Revolution.
On Sunday, the 14th of June, a carnival of “ peace and
safety ” was celebrated at Calcutta, also. We shall des-
cribe that day’s scenes best through an English pen. “All
was panic, disorder, and dismay. The wildest reports
were in circulation. It was all but universally credited
that the Barrackpore brigade was in full march on Calcutta,
that the people in the Suburbs had already risen, that the
king of Oudh with his followers was plundering Garden
Reach. Those highest in office were the first to give the
alarm. There were secretaries to Government, running
over to Members of Council, loading their pistols, barricad-
ing the doors, sleeping on sofas ; Members of Council
abandoning their houses with their families, and taking
refuge on board the ship ; crowds of lesser celebrities im-
pelled by these examples having hastily collected their
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THE ERUPTION
valuables, were rushing to the fort, only too happy to be
permitted to sleep under the fort guns. Horses, carriages,
palanquins, vehicles of every sort and kind were put into
requisition to convey panic-stricken fugitives out of the
reach of imaginary cut-throats. In the suburbs, almost
every house belonging to the Christian population was
abandoned. Half-a-dozen determined fanatics could have
burned down three parts of the town...."⁵
In the very capital of the English, merely at a bazaar
rumour, so much " peace and safety " began to reign.
Therefore, the Government prepared to destroy the
Barrackpore Sepoys and the Nabob of Oudh, who were
the cause of so much " peace and safety." They got, from
one amongst the Sepoys, the information that the Barrack-
pore Sepoys would rise on the night of the 14th. So, before
they could rise, they were brought before the English
artillery and disarmed. And, on the 15th of June, the
Nabob of Oudh and his minister were arrested for the
" safety of the realm," and their houses, including the
Zenana, were thoroughly searched. And, though nothing
of an incriminating nature was found, the Nabob and his
Vizier were incarcerated in the Calcutta fort. Thus, the
gradually accumulating powder-magazine of the city of
Calcutta itself was emptied, only just before the spark
fell on it.
The Vizier Ali Nakkhi Khan was the man who, residing
in a harmless garden-house at Calcutta, had set on foot
the Revolutionary secret organisation among the Sepoys
all over Bengal and had woven the terrible net in order
to re-establish his master on the throne of Oudh. When
he was imprisoned in the Calcutta fort, the Revolution
lost, as it were, its head. While in the fort, he once spoke
plainly to the English who were cursing the Revolutionar-
ies : " The terrible Revolution created in India is in my
5. Red Pamphlet, page 105.
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THE SUMMING UP
opinion just. It is a proper revenge for the annexation of
Oudh. You have consciously left the royal road of justice
and have entered the thorny path of deceit and selfishness.
What wonder, then, that your feet are bleeding by the
self-same thorns? You were laughing when you sowed
the seeds of revenge ; why do you, then, blame the
people when the self-same seeds have borne fruit in
due course ? " ⁶
When Calcutta itself had such a hazy and misty idea
of the extent of the Revolutionary movement, we can
easily understand how England, which depended for its
information solely on the mail news from India, at first
slept the sleep of ignorance, and then, when suddenly
awakened, became possessed by terror and behaved like
a madman. When the news of Barrackpore, Berhampore,
Dum-Dum, and other places reached England, all eyes
were turned towards India. But soon, everything became
quiet and all began to feel safe again. On the 11th of
June, the President of the Board of Trade said, in reply
to a question in the House of Commons, " There is now
no reason for anxiety as regards the late unrest in Bengal.
For, by the dexterity, firmness, and quickness of my
honourable and noble friend, Lord Canning, the seeds of
unrest sown in the army have been completely rooted out."
These are the sentences which the Parliament heard on the
11th of June. On that date in India, eleven cavalry regi-
ments, five field-batteries of artillery, at least fifty regi-
ments of infantry, and nearly all the sappers and miners
had risen in open revolt ! The whole of Oudh was in
the hands of the Revolutionaries ! Cawnpore and Luck-
now were besieged ! The Revolutionaries had taken more
than ten millions of Rupees from Government treasuries ;
and all this, at the moment when, owing to the dexterity,
firmness, and quickness of Lord Canning, " the seeds of
unrest had been completely rooted out."
6. Red Pamphlet.
271

THE ERUPTION
But soon, the news of the extraordinary and sudden growth
of these seeds of Revolution again disturbed England's
sleep. The news about the Cawnpore massacres somehow
reached the people and on the 14th of August, 1857, the un-
happy, terror-stricken, and agitated masses caused a ques-
tion to be put in the Parliament, in the House of Lords,
“ Is the rumour about Cawnpore true ? ” Earl Gran-
vile replied : “ I have received a personal letter from
General Sir Patrick Grant that the rumour about the mas-
sacres at Cawnpore is altogether untrue and is a vile fabri-
cation. A Sepoy first set up the rumour. Not only is his
baseness discovered but he has been hanged for spreading
the false rumour.” ⁷ While the rumour about Cawn-
pore was being discussed in the House of Lords, a month
had already passed since the “ truth ” had been written
in grim letters of red blood ! While English politicians
were resting a little in safety, after hanging the Sepoy
who started the rumour, the truth came in person to the
shores of England. And the whole of England became
mad and hysterical with anger, fury, wounded pride, and
this malicious fury continues up to this day. And Eng-
land is shouting, even to-day, in every line of her own
histories, that the massacres committed by the Revolu-
tionaries are demoniacal in their cruelty and are a blot on
the fair name of Humanity !
And this loud shouting by the English at the top of their
voice has made the whole world deaf ! The very name
of 1857 brings a shiver and horripilation and shame to
everybody ! The very mention of the name of the Revo-
lutionaries of 1857 creates disgust and loathing in the
minds not only of their enemies, not only of innocent
and indifferent third parties, but even of those for
whose sake the Martyrs shed their blood ! Their enemies
give them choice epithets like ‘ demons ’, ‘ goblins ’,
‘ blood-thirsty and hellish vermin.’ The strangers call
7. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny.
272

THE SUMMING UP
them savage, inhuman, cruel, and barbarous. Their own
countrymen are ashamed even to own them. Such is the
cry everywhere even today. And this incessant cry has
deafened the ears of the whole world so that they should
not any more listen to the voice of truth ! The Revolu-
tionaries are demons, goblins, murderers of women and
children, blood-thirsty vermin of hell, inhuman. Oh
World ! When will you forget this and understand
the truth ?
And why all this ? Why ? Because, the Revolutionaries
rose against the English, rose for their country and reli-
gion, and, with shouts of “ Revenge ! ”, massacred some
of them. Indiscriminate massacre is a heinous sin. When
Humanity will reach the goal of universal justice, of
ultimate beatitude, when the millennium preached by the
incarnations, by the Messiahs, and by religious preachers
will be an accomplished fact on earth, when the resignation
taught by Christ in the glorious words—“ Whosoever shall
smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other, also ”
will be impracticable, because, there will be no one to hit
on the right cheek, in such a divine age if anyone revolts,
if anyone sheds a drop of blood, if anyone even whispers
the word “ Revenge ! ”, then, at once, the sinner, by this
act, by his very utterance, would be eternally damned.
For, when Truth reigns in every heart, revolt must be a
heinous sin. When everyone abhors killing, to shed a
drop of blood must be a sin. In a time of such unchal-
lenged justice, to punish a man even for uttering a sinful
word would be altogether blameless.
But so long as that divine age has not arrived, so long as
the highly auspicious end remains only in the lines of
saintly poets and in the prophecies of the divinely inspired,
and so long as, even to make that state of universal justice
possible, the human mind has to be busy eradicating sinful
and aggressive tendencies, so long, rebellion, bloodshed,
and revenge cannot be purely sinful. As long as the word
18 273

THE ERUPTION
“ rule ” is used for “ authority ” both just and unjust, so
long its antonym “ rebellion ” can, also, be just as well as
unjust. And till then, before passing judgment on the
history and the authors of any revolt, bloodshed, and
revenge, there must be a full and minute inquiry of the
circumstances under which they took place. Revolt,
bloodshed and revenge have often been instruments
created by nature to root out injustice and introduce an
era of justice. And when Justice uses these terrible means
for her salvation, the blame of it does not lie on Justice
but on the preceding cruel Injustice, the power and
insolence of which called forth the means. We do not
hold the justice which gives the death sentence responsible
for bloodshed but rather the injustice which is taken to
the gallows. Therefore, the sword of Brutus is holy.
Therefore, the waghnakh of Shivaji is sacred. Therefore,
the bloodshed in the Revolutions in Italy is of fair fame.
Therefore, the beheading of Charles I is a just deed.
Therefore, the arrow of William Tell is divine. And the
sin of brutality falls heavily on the heads of those who
committed the provoking injustice.
Moreover, had the world no fear of revolt, bloodshed, and
revenge, the earth would have bent under the devil-dance
of unchecked robbery and oppression ! If Oppression
were to be secure from the fear that Nature would, sooner
or later, create the Avenger of Temporary Injustice, the
whole world would have swarmed to-day with Tsars and
robbers ! But because every Hiranya-Kashipu has his
Narasimha ; because every Dushshasana has his Bheema ;
because every evil-doer has his avenger, there is still some
hope in the heart of the world that Injustice cannot last.
Such a revenge, therefore, is nature’s own reaction against
Injustice. And, therefore, the sin of the cruelty of that
revenge rebounds on the original evil-doers.
And it was the fire of such a divine vengeance that was
burning in the heart of the sons of Hindusthan in 1857.
274

THE SUMMING UP
Their thrones were broken, their crowns smashed, their
country taken away, their religions trodden under foot,
their lands confiscated, their properties robbed, and laws
despised ; they had been cheated with promises made only
to be broken ; insults and outrages had reached a climax.
Life itself had lost all its charms for them on account of
the dire dishonour in which they had sunk. Requests
were in vain ; so, also, were petitions, complaints, wailings,
and cries ; all in vain. Then the natural reaction began
and everywhere could be heard the whispers of "Revenge!"
India had been subjected to innumerable, cruel oppressions
each of which, individually, would have justified the
revenge. If there had been no revolution even after all
this, we would have had to say "India is dead!" That
revenge, therefore, was only the inevitable reaction against
the English injustice and oppression. And when once the
whole nation rose up in a rage, we should wonder not that
there were indiscriminate massacres in one or two places,
but that there were not such massacres in every
place! For, the excited logic of those who committed
the massacres naturally began to say, "Oppose illegal
force by righteous force!" Before the Sepoys who were
caught in the battle of the river Kali were mounted on
the scaffold, the English asked them why they had massa-
cred their women and children. They at once retorted,
"Sahib, does anyone kill a snake and let its offspring
alone?" The Sepoys at Cawnpore used to say : "To
extinguish the fire and leave the spark, to kill a snake and
preserve its young is not the wisdom of the wise."
"Sahib, does anyone kill a snake and leave its offspring
alive?" How are the Sahibs going to answer this blunt
question asked by the Sepoys at Kali-nadi? And this
blunt question has not been asked by the excited masses
of India alone, or the masses of Asia alone, as some
English writers have been charitable enough to suggest.
Wherever national wars are proclaimed, national wrongs
are avenged by national killing alone. When the Spani-
275