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

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.
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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,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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-
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THE ERUPTION
ards won back their independence from the Moors, to
what state did they reduce them? The Spanish are nei-
ther Indians nor Asiatics. Then, why did they fall on the
Moors who had stayed in Spain for nearly five centuries,
and why did they massacre indiscriminately whole help-
less families—men, women, and children—simply for the
fault of belonging to another race? Why did Greece, in
1821, massacre twenty-one thousand Turkish peasants—
men, women, and children? The secret society, Hetairia,
which is looked upon as patriotic and heroic in Europe—
what explanation does it give of the massacre? It is only
this, that the Turkish population in Greece was too small
to be kept in the country and too big to be removed out-
side and that, therefore, to kill them all was "a necessary
measure of wise policy." Was this not their answer?
The idea that no one kills a snake and leaves his offspring
alive, also, came into the minds of the Greeks and burnt
away the natural feelings of mercy in their heart! And
the whole of the responsibility rests on the black poison
of the snake.
Indeed, if there was no propensity in human nature to-
wards a terrible revenge for an horrible injustice suffered,
the brute in man would have been still the dominating
factor in human dealings. Is not one of the most import-
ant functions of law—the punishment of crime ? ⁸
8. Sir W. Russell, the famous correspondent of the London
Times, remarks : "We who suffered from it think that there never
was such wickedness in the world; and the incessant efforts of a
gang of forgers and utterly base scoundrels have surrounded it with
horrors that have been vainly invented in the hope of adding to the
indignation and burning desire for vengeance which hatred failed
to arouse. Helpless garrisons surrendering without condition have
been massacred ere now. Risings, such as that of Pontus under
Mithridates, of the Irish Roman Catholics under Protestant settlers
in 1641, of the actors in the Sicilian Vespers, of the assassins who
smote and spared none on the eve of St. Bartholomew, have been
over and over again attended by inhuman cruelties, violations, and
tortures. The history of Mediæval Europe affords many instances
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THE SUMMING UP
History bears testimony to the fact that whenever, in the
human mind, the passion of vengeance—as a consequence
of injustice carried to a climax—rages with uncontrollable
strength, wholesale massacres and other inhuman atrocities
take place in the life-evolution of every nation. Instead,
therefore, of being surprised at the cruelties and massacres
in four or five places during the Indian Revolution, our
wonder should be that such cruel massacres took place on
such a modest scale and that this terrible vengeance did
not run riot more extensively and in all places. All
Hindusthan had been scorched to the bone by the terrible
oppression of the English, and a most grim reprisal did
Indian humanity take when the oppression became un-
bearable—so unbearable that the massacres became not
more but rather much less than the necessities of national
punishment would have required in any other country.
But, Hindusthan did not, in 1857,—for the just removal
of its wrongs—give that punishment, take that vengeance,
cause that bloodshed of which the English nation, led by
Cromwell, was guilty in the massacres in Ireland. Does
not history record how he was very much enraged at the
sturdy patriotism of the Irish, how his sword cut to pieces
not only those who fought but also the helpless, impo-
verished masses, how rivers of blood flowed in that un-
fortunate country, how helpless women were butchered
along with the infants in their arms and were weltering
in pools of blood, and how, in this manner, Cromwell, for
the guilty object of conquering and subduing Ireland,

of crimes as great as those of Cawnpore. The history of more
civilised periods could afford some parallel to them in more modern
times and amidst most civilised nations. In fact, the peculiar aggra-
vation of the Cawnpore massacres was this—that the deed was done
by a subject race, by black men who dared to shed the blood of their
masters and that of poor helpless ladies and children. Here we
had not only a Servile War and a sort of Jacquerie combined, but
we had a war of religion, a war of race, and a war of revenge, of
hope, of national determination to shake off the yoke of a stranger
and to re-establish the full power of native chiefs and the full sway
of native religions.”—Russell’s Diary, page 164.
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THE ERUPTION
committed cruel oppression, took more cruel vengeance,
and, cruellest of all, caused terrible bloodshed ? But, in
1857, in Hindusthan, Nana Sahib and the Begum of Oudh,
Bahadur Shah and Lakshmi Bai, tried to the last to save
women and children, though the fierce Sepoys were wild
with fury. But how did the English women reward Nana
for saving their lives at Cawnpore ? Why—-by playing
the spy on him ! And-—how did the European officers
return the kindness of the Indians who spared their lives ?
History has to record with shame that they returned it
by poisoning the minds of the ignorant English soldiery
with lying stories of vengeance, by marching at their head
against the Revolutionaries, by betraying the strategic
weakness of the Revolutionaries, and by butchering those
very Sepoys and villagers who spared their lives. Strange
indeed—immensely strange it is—that the Hindu people
allowed not their constitutional magnanimity to be disturb-
ed even by such gross ingratitude ! What a number of
roofs of the poor agriculturists have been instrumental in
saving the lives of the hunted English ! Many and many
a woman and child amongst the English fugitives has been
tenderly protected by village women, painting them black
with their own hands and giving them Indian clothes.
Raw English officers—insignificant English youths—have
again and again been brought back to life by Brahmins
giving them a sip of milk in time, while they lay by the
roadside exhausted by running day and night ! Read
Forrest, and he acknowledges that Oudh—Oudh into
whose body the knife of oppression had been driven most
ruthlessly—treated with incomparable generosity the
English while they were flying everywhere unprotected.
Did not the leaders of the Revolution warn their followers
bent on vengeance, again and again, by issuing procla-
mations in various places that their sacred cause would
become unsuccessful through child-murder and woman-
murder ? The “ mutineers ” of Neemuch and Nasirabad
spared the lives of the whites. While some white people
were running for very life everywhere, even the villagers
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
278

THE SUMMING UP
on the way shouted, "Feringhis, Feringhis, kill the
Feringhis!" Then, one family came forward and said
that they had just dined with Rajputs, and to kill them,
therefore,—heartless enemies though they were—was out
of the question.⁹ If the Hindusthanee who is by nature
kind and magnanimous, whose villages, up to this very
day, are full of humanity, respect, and regard for life—
human and animal, sanctioned and took part in the massa-
cres of 1857, then the cruelty of these massacres, instead
of reflecting discredit on the morals of the nation, proves
only the immense hideousness of the Alien oppression to
which it was now intended to put an end. The famous
truth enunciated by Macaulay is here well exemplified:
"The more violent the outrage, the more assured we feel
that a Revolution is necessary."
And who have the right of sitting in judgment on the peo-
ple of Hindusthan for the offences they are alleged to
have committed? The English? If there is anyone in
this wide world who have the least right to condemn the
conduct of the Revolutionaries, it is these English! Is it
England that is to declare to the world that Hindusthan
was guilty of one or two massacres?—the England which
produced Neill? Or the England which devastated by the
sword and destroyed by fire villages after villages with
the women and children in them? Or the England which
bound to the stakes and burnt, actually burnt, those brave
fellows with the spirit of Panday in them, fighting for
their country—deeming hanging not a sufficient punish-
ment? Or the England which seized the innocent Hindu
villagers, sentenced them to be hanged, and then pierced
them with bayonets, and then, Heavens! thrust beef dripp-
ing with blood—the blood of the cow—down their throats,
at the point of the bayonet—a desecration to which they
would have preferred being hanged and, even, being burnt
alive? Or the England which ordered, under the very
9. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. I.
279

THE ERUPTION
nose of the commander-in-chief, that the body of the
Nabob of Farrukabad should be smeared all over with the
fat of the pig, before he was hanged ?¹⁰ Or that England
which sewed the follower of Islam in the skin
of a pig before killing him ?¹¹ Or the England
which advocated these and hundreds of other similar
crimes as justifiable revenge on the “mutineers” ? Justi-
fiable vengeance ! Whose was the justifiable vengeance
—that of the Panday party enraged and vowing venge-
ance because their mother—the Country—was being
ground down under oppression for a hundred years, or
that of the Feringhi party which was guilty of that Na-
tional oppression ?
Not one individual, not one class, alone had been moved
deeply by seeing the sufferings of their country. Hindu
and Mahomedan, Brahmin and Sudra, Kshatriya and
Vaisya, prince and pauper, men and women, Pundits and
Moulvies, Sepoys and the police, townsmen and villagers,
merchants and farmers—men of different religions, men of
different castes, people following widely different profes-
sions—not able any longer to bear the sight of the perse-
cution of the Mother, brought about the avenging Revolu-
tion in an incredibly short time. So universal was the
agitation ! This fact alone shows that, at this time, the
utmost had been done as far as oppression went. Not
even the class of Government officers—the class that were
individually benefited by the foreign domination—were
on the side of the Government. An English writer says
that to give the list of Government officers who were
seduced would mean the drawing up a list of all the Go-
vernment officers in the disaffected provinces. Exceptions
were rare. He gives the following names as instances:—
Kazi Abul Fazul, Chief Judge of the N. W. P., the
Principal Sudder Amin of Agra, the Munsiff of Agra, the
10. Forbes-Mitchell’s Reminiscences.
11. Russell’s Diary.
280

THE SUMMING UP
Principal Sudder Amin of Delhi, the ten Government
Pleaders in the Sudder Dewani, the Chief Kotwal of Agra,
two of the Munsiffs of Delhi, the Principal Sudder Amin
of Calcutta, the Deputy Collector of Cawnpore, the Deputy
Collector of Fatehpur—the man who killed Robert Tucker
—the rest of the native officers of Fatehpur, the Munsiff
of Allahabad, another Munsiff of the same province, the
Principal Sudder Amin of Bareilly, the Deputy Collector
of Azimgarh, the Principal Sudder Amin of J—, the Prin-
cipal Sudder Amin of G—. This is only a select list !¹²
So all-embracing was the Revolutionary fire. The worst
abuse that one could use towards another, in those days,
was to call him " loyal " ! Anyone who showed such
" loyalty " and any who obtained service under Govern-
ment were classed as traitors to their country and their
religion ! Those who persisted in Government service
were excommunicated by their castes ; no one would eat
with them ; no one would marry among them ; the Brah-
min refused to do Puja for him; none would set fire to his
funeral pyre. The service of the foreigner, of the
Feringhi, was considered as sinful as matricide ! Are
not these indications that the climax of oppression
had been reached ? ¹³
And hence this volcano—supremely quiet externally—was
boiling inside and had reached the bursting point. On
the back of this volcano, Oppression was stalking about
reckless and without fear. But as soon as the psychologi-
12. Rev. Kennedy, M.A., page 43.
13. " Revolt had, in consequence, swept before it, in many
cases, all regard to personal interest and all attachment to the former
master. The imputations of remaining faithful to the Government,
in such circumstances has been intolerable. It is well known that
the few Sepoys who have remained in our services are deemed
outcastes, not only by their comrades but their caste people in
general. These even say they cannot venture to go to their homes ;
for, not only would they be reproached and denied brotherly offices,
but their very lives would be in danger."—Rev. Kennedy.
281

THE ERUPTION
cal moment came and Tyranny stamped on the green sur-
face with all the more reckless vehemence the Volcano
burst ! Behold, the Revolution in Eruption ! Fountains
of fire are surging up—blood is raining upon her— pierc-
ing shrieks are mingled with the clashing of swords—ghosts
are dancing—heroes are shouting! The cool green tract of
the volcano has split in twain—now it bursts into a hun-
dred parts—aye, it has burst in a thousand places—it has
deluged the earth with fire and sword !
In Kathiawar, there is a curious kind of stream, known as
the Vitharoo, in some places. The surface of the stream
has the appearance of hard ground. Strangers, ignorant
of this, step on to it confidently. When the hard layer
moves a little, they try to steady themselves by firmly
pressing on the surface. No sooner is this done than the
surface yields and the poor wayfarer is drowned in the
deep waters. The Revolutionary stream had spread over
India like the Vitharoo. Oppression believed, deceived by
the dark colour on the face, that it was only earth that
suffers without complaint every wrong (as the Sanskrit
name सर्व सहा for it signifies). Oppression stepped on
it. The black surface showed agitation. Then Oppression,
in the pride of its power, pressed harder on this decep-
tive earth. But, behold ! the ground has yielded and up
surges the bottomless pit of blood, foaming and raging,
waves on waves ! Doomed Oppression ! step where you
will, no solid ground meets your feet ! Know, now at
least, and know well that below the dark face flow streams
of blood, red blood. And hear, even yet, the deafening
roar of the Volcano's Eruption !
THE END OF THE SECOND PART
282

PART III
THE
CONFLAGRATION
CHAPTER I
THE FIGHT IN DELHI
AFTER declaring her Independence on the 11th
of May, the city of Delhi had been busy in orga-
nising the wild storm that such a bold step had
raised into a systematised revolution. By re-
storing the Emperor of Delhi to the ancient
throne of the Moguls, the citizens of Delhi had
already created a nucleus mighty enough, by the very
prestige of its name, to sustain the struggle of a people’s
liberation. But this restoration of the old Mogul was a
restoration, neither to the old power nor to the old prestige,
nor to the old traditions. Though the raising of the old
Bahadur Shah to the Emperorship of Hindusthan was,
283