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

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
276

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.
277

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

THE CONFLAGRATION
in a narrower sense, a restoration to him of his ancient
throne, still in a wider and truer sense, it was no restora-
tion at all. For, the Mogul dynasty of old was not chosen
by the people of the land. It was thrust upon India by
sheer force, dignified by the name of conquest, and upheld
by a powerful pack of alien adventurers and native self-
seekers. It was not this throne that was restored to
Bahadur Shah today. No, that would have been impossi-
ble ; for, such thrones are conquered and not received.
That would have been suicidal ; for, then, it would have
been in vain that the blood of hundreds of Hindu martyrs
had been shed in the three or four centuries preceding.
Ever since the rising power of Islam left its native wilds
of Arabisthan and went conquering East and West, ir-
resistible and unchallenged, country after country and
people after people had been made to prostrate in sub-
mission to Islam. But the unopposed wave was opposed,
for the first time in the land of Bharat, with such strenu-
ous, uncompromising, and undaunted tenacity as could be
found only very rarely in other histories. For more than
five centuries the struggle continued ; for more than five
centuries the Hindu civilisation had been fighting a
defensive war against the foreign encroachment on its
birth-rights. From the death of Prithvi Raj right up to
the death of Aurangzeb, the war was without a truce.
And in the midst of this gory struggle of countless years,
a Hindu power arose in the western mountains of Bharat
Varsha which was destined to fulfil the mission of the
innumerable dead, who fell fighting in protecting the
honour of the race. From out of Poona, a Hindu prince
Bhausahib—advanced with a mighty host, captured the
throne of Delhi, and vindicated the honour of the Hindu
civilisation : the conqueror was conquered and India was
again free, the blot of slavery and defeat being wiped off.
Hindus again were masters of the land of the Hindus.
So, in the truer sense, we said that the raising of Bahadur
Shah to the throne of India was no restoration at all. But
284

THE FIGHT IN DELHI
rather it was the declaration that the longstanding war
between the Hindu and the Mahomedan had ended, that
tyranny had ceased, and that the people of the soil were
once more free to choose their own monarch. For, Baha-
dur Shah was raised by the free voice of the people, both
Hindus and Mahomedans, civil and military, to be their
Emperor and the head of the War of Independence.
Therefore, on the 11th of May, this old venerable Bahadur
Shah was not the old Mogul succeeding to the throne of
Akbar or Aurangzeb—for that throne had already been
smashed to pieces by the hammer of the Mahrattas—but
he was freely chosen monarch of a people battling for
freedom against a foreign intruder. Let, then, Hindus
and Mahomedans send forth their hearty, conscientious,
and most loyal homage to this elected or freely accepted
Emperor of their native soil on the 11th of May, 1857 !
And from far and near, the loyal homage did come to the
Delhi monarch, from many Rajas, many regiments, and
many of the chief cities of Hindusthan. The different
regiments that had risen at different places in the Panjab,
Ayodhya, Neemuch, Rohilkhand, and many other places,
marched on to Delhi with their flags and banners, and
tendered their services to the venerable Bahadur Shah
as the accepted head of the Revolution. Many regiments
again brought whatever treasuries they had looted from
the possession of the English Government on their way
to Delhi and faithfully handed them over to the treasury
of the Emperor. A proclamation was at once issued, ad-
dressed to the whole of Hindusthan, declaring that the
foreign domination and the rule of the Feringhis had come
to an end and that the whole nation was free and liberated.
It exhorted the people to rise to a man to complete this
Revolution so promising in its beginning, and warned them
that the sole motive that should dominate them in this
fight should be a self-denying, spiritual fervour and a cons-
ciousness of a divine duty. “Let it be known that the
only inducement we can hold forth is that of Dharma
285

THE CONFLAGRATION
alone. Let all those to whom God has granted determina-
tion and will, renounce the hope of property and of life
and join us in this cause of our ancient faith. If the
people sacrifice their private interest for the public good,
the Englishmen will be exterminated from our land. It
should be known that no one dies before his time and, when
his time comes, nothing can save him. Thousands of men
are carried off by cholera and other diseases ; while, to be
killed in a war of Dharma is martyrdom. And it is the
duty of every man and woman to kill or expel every
Feringhi from the land of Hindusthan. Let zeal for reli-
gious duty alone be the motive of those who join me, and
not any worldly aspiration, though they who rise for the
faith get happiness in this world too ! ”
These extracts are from the different, and sometimes simi-
lar, Proclamations published in Oudh and Delhi. Another
Proclamation was issued from the throne itself and was
most widely published all over India. Even in the farthest
south were found copies passing from hand to hand, in
the bazaars and in the army. It insisted : “ To all Hindus
and Mahomedans ! We, solely on account of religious
duty, have joined with the people. Whoever shall, in these
times, exhibit cowardice or credulously believe the pro-
mises of the English impostors, will be very shortly put
to shame and receive the reward for their fidelity to Eng-
land which the rulers of Lucknow got. It is further neces-
sary that all, Hindus and Mahomedans, unite in this
struggle and, following the instructions of some respectable
leaders, conduct themselves in such a way that good order
may be maintained, the poorer classes kept contented, and
they themselves be exalted to rank and dignity. Let all,
as far as it is possible, copy this Proclamation and fix it
in some prominent place, escaping detection if prudence
requires it, and strike a blow with the sword before giving
circulation to it ! ”
Soon after the general declaration of war against the
286

THE FIGHT IN DELHI
English power, the Revolutionaries at Delhi began to
manufacture the arms and ammunition necessary for its
continuation. A big factory of cannon, guns, and small
arms was started, and some Frenchmen were employed to
supervise the manufacture. Two or three big ammunition
depôts were also opened and many maunds of gun-powder
began to be prepared by people working day and night.
A general order was issued prohibiting the slaughter of
kine throughout the country and, when once some fanatic
Mahomedans wanted to insult the Hindus by declaring
Jehad against them, the old Emperor, seated on an ele-
phant and with all his Imperial officers, went in a proces-
sion through all the city declaring that the Jehad was
against the Feringhis alone ! Anyone found killing a cow
was to be blown up or his hand cut off. Different regi-
ments were named after the different princes of the palace.
Some Europeans, too, were to be seen fighting on the side
of the Revolutionaries against the English power.
The position which the English had occupied after the
battle of Bundel-ki-Serai was very nicely suited to their
military operations. The long range of hills, styled by
the English as the Ridge, which almost touched the forti-
fications of Delhi at one of its extremities and extended
to the river Jumna four miles ahead, had, owing to its
height, a special advantage from the military point of
view. For the Ridge, being higher than the surrounding
level by fifty or sixty feet, offered a fine position for the
guns so as to keep up a continuous and effective can-
nonade. Again, this Ridge had at its back the wide canal
of the Jumna which, owing to the heavy rains of the year,
was copiously supplied with water even in this month of
June. Being at their back, this canal was free from at-
tacks of the enemies of the English power, and now
especially so ; for, the Panjab, which would have been the
greatest terror to the English had it attacked them from
their rear as Delhi had been doing from their front, had
now declared in favour of the British. The Rajas of
287

THE CONFLAGRATION
Nabha, Jhind, and Patiala rendered an immense service
to the English people by guarding all the highways to the
Panjab and, thus, facilitating the transport of corn, men,
and ammunition from the Panjab into the English camp.
This combination of circumstances, unfortunate for India,
rendered the situation extremely favourable to the English.
High and lowering hills, behind them a plain for the whole
army to encamp beyond the range of the enemy's fire and,
at the same time, escape the detection of the enemy's
scouts, water living and inexhaustible so closely running,
the great highways to the Panjab all open, at hand, and
protected, and the back guarded by the constant watch of
the loyal Panjab states at their own cost—all these cir-
cumstances heightened the confidence of the British com-
mander, Barnard, who along with his officers was of the
opinion "Now, to take Delhi is not the work of even
a day!"
And if it is not even one day's work to take Delhi,
then, why spend two for it? Why should we not reduce
this sinful, treason-loving city to dust by ordering these
English soldiers to pounce upon it just this very minute?
The Panjab is the backbone of our army and when that
is so strong in loyalty, why should we try to take Delhi
by these weak tactics of prolonged siege? Would it not
be better and nobler to rush straightway against that
wretched city and crush it at the very first onslaught?
Let our army be divided; let one of these divisions blow
up this Lahore gate, let another pull down that Kabul
gate, let many others rush simultaneously into the streets
of the city with a torrent-like rush and, taking post by
post, let us all march on straight against the palace with-
out the loss of a moment! Wilberforce Greathed and
Hodson—warriors like these are longing for this bold and
straight onrush, and have taken upon themselves even the
entire responsibility of carrying it out to a successful ter-
mination. Then, there need be no hesitation at all. So,
on the 12th of June, General Barnard issued secret orders
288

THE READING OF EMPEROR BAHADUR SHAH'S PROCLAMATION
OF 1857, AT HIS DARBAR IN THE DIWAN-I-AAM, DELHI
As soon as Bahadur Shah II was proclaimed the sovereign of India
he held a Darbar at Delhi and issued a proclamation calling upon
all, high and low, Hindus and Muslims, to gather together under
the flag of Revolution. Says the Proclamation—
“To all Hindus
and Mahomedans! We, solely on account of religious duty, have
joined with the people. Whoever shall, in these times, exhibit
cowardice or credulously believe the promises of the English impos-
tors, will be very shortly put in shame and receive the reward
for their fidelity to England which the rulers of Lucknow got.
It is further necessary that all, Hindus and Mahomedans, unite in
this struggle and following the instructions of some respectable
leaders, conduct themselves in such a way that good rule may be
maintained, the poorer classes kept contented, and they themselves
be exalted to rank and dignity. Let all, as far as it is possible,
copy this proclamation and fix it in some prominent place escaping
detection if prudence requires it, and strike a blow with the sword
before giving circulation to it!”

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THE FIGHT IN DELHI
for the assault. It was all settled who should gather,
where the gathering should take place, and when and how
the different divisions should start under the cover of night,
who should command the right and who the left. All
these and many other details of the attack were settled
and fixed and, now at two o'clock in the morning, the
English army began to debouch itself on the parade
ground which was fixed as the secret rendezvous. When
it is certain that to-morrow's night will give us the chance
of sleeping in the royal palace itself, who is so foolish
as to grudge, to-night, a few hours' loss of sleep? Un-
likely, indeed, but unfortunately true ! For it happened
that, at the proper hour, some parts of the army were
found missing. Brigadier Graves thinks it rashness to
begin the assault on Delhi in this fashion and it is even
suggested by many others that such a scheme would be
fatal to the British power itself all over India. Therefore,
the dreams of the quick success and straight attacks,
indulged in by the British army, had to be realised that
night not in the palace of Delhi but on the camp-
beds alone.
The next morning, Wilberforce Greathead again drew up
a scheme for the future attack and sent it to the com-
mander, Barnard, for reconsideration of the same. Gene-
ral Barnard, though a famous warrior known much in the
Crimean campaigns, yet had been suspected of a very
halting and hesitating mind. He called a council of war,
on the 14th of June, to consult his chief officers on the
subject of the assault. Even after the bold and eloquent
advocacy by Greathead of a straight assault, the other
officers could not feel confident of its success, and they
urged further that even assuming that the assault would
result in success, still, it would be as much waste of energy
and prestige as an actual defeat. The straight assault
might carry Delhi—yet, how to hold it? How many
English soldiers were likely to survive the constant can-
nonade of the Revolutionaries from street to street and
289
19

THE CONFLAGRATION
from house to house? Barnard himself was most diffi-
dent of the issues. After all this discussion, the war
council agreed—simply to disagree ! And thus, even like
the night-dream of the 12th of June, passed away this
day-dream of the 15th of June, leaving “the straight
assault” and “the bold rush” still in their theoretical
existence and excellence. This council of war again sat,
on the 16th of June ; but that ended in a worse division of
opinion and diffidence of mind. For, as the English com-
mander was planning the bold and straight assault on the
city of Delhi, there, on the other side, into the city of Delhi
were pouring fast new hearts, new treasuries, and new
energy. And the Revolutionaries, leaving the defensive
policy which they had up to this time observed, began to
assume the offensive as well, made frequent sorties, and
attacked the British army from different sides and with
varying success.
The regiments that had risen all over India had been, all
the while, pouring into Delhi with their treasuries, arms,
and ammunition and left no anxiety in the Revolutionary
camp as to the provisions of war or to the number of
Sepoys. And so, it was quite natural that the Revolution-
ary army should assume the aggressive and pin the Eng-
lish army to its place by not allowing it to move onwards
even by a single step. After making a bold attack, after a
slight or even a bloody skirmish or encounter, without them-
selves suffering any heavy losses, the Indian army would
retire into the city. By this harassing policy, the Revolu-
tionary army kept the English in constant check and pre-
vented them from assuming the offensive. On the 12th
of June, they issued out of the city and, concealing them-
selves in trees and low grounds, advanced as far as within
fifty yards of the English front and attacked them before
they were aware of their presence. The English lost many
artillerymen and Knox himself was killed by a Sepoy who
deliberately aimed at and shot him. Simultaneously with
this, another division of the Sepoys attacked the English
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THE FIGHT IN DELHI
rear, and there a hot encounter took place. Even on the
right of the English army, the post called " Hindu Rao’s
house " was most vigorously attacked by the Sepoys. " A
detachment of native irregular cavalry, on whose loyalty
the English had relied, went over to the enemy. And so
sudden was the retrograde movement that the greater
number of them escaped from the fire of our guns which
were turned upon them as soon as their treachery was
disclosed."¹ Major Reid who was in charge of this place
says : " They went to the front just as if they were going
to charge ; but no sooner had they closed than, to my
horror, I saw them mix up with the enemy and walk off
with them. Immediately I saw this, I ordered the guns
to open upon them but the wretches were too far off and I
don’t think that more than half-a-dozen were killed."
After this assault, every day saw the Revolutionaries
issuing from out the city and every evening saw them
retiring back into the city. Any regiment that newly came
into the city had to go out and attack the enemy the very
next day. On the 13th of June, Hindu Rao’s house was
again attacked ; the 60th regiment (the same that joined
the Revolutionaries on the 12th) was conspicuous in the
day’s action. Major Reid writes that they " marched up
the Grand Trunk Road in columns of sections right in
front and led the attack headed by the Sirdar Bahadur of
the regiment, who made himself very conspicuous, calling
out to the men to keep their distance as he intended to
wheel to his left. They fought most desperately. The
Sirdar Bahadur was killed by his orderly, Lall Singh. I
took the riband of India from his breast and sent it to
my wife." On the 17th of June, the Indian army tried to
erect a battery on the Idga building, which would have
completely enfiladed the Ridge. Seeing this, Major Reid
and Henry Tombs attacked the Revolutionaries from both
sides and pressed upon them with irresistible force. But

1. Kaye’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 411.
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THE CONFLAGRATION
the handful of brave Revolutionaries who had been en-
trapped in this building did not surrender at all. When
they could no longer discharge volleys of shots, they threw
away their guns, drew out their swords, and fell fiercely
on the British foe. They did not allow the enemy to
occupy the Idga building, until every one of them was
killed and fell fighting at his post !
On the 18th of June, the Sepoys who had rebelled at
Nasirabad came to Delhi, and delivered over the treasure
that they had brought with them to the royal authorities ;
and their representatives were received by the Emperor
himself in the palace; and they were treated with due ho-
nour and respect. At the Durbar, the representatives of the
Sepoys of this regiment took oath to attack the English
army on the 20th of June. Accordingly, the morning of the
20th of June saw the hosts of Revolutionaries leaving the
gates of the city and marching towards the foreign foe.
In order to attack the English forces on their rear, the
Sepoys stole forth through Sabzi Mundi and, taking the
English by surprise, they opened fire with terrible effect
and advanced against the English. Scott, Money, Tombs,
and other English officers tried their utmost by heavy
cannonading to stop the onslaught, but the tenacity with
which the Indian army pushed on was irresistible. The
brigade from Nasirabad pushed on with such destructive
force that the brave Tombs cried out, through supreme
despondency, “ Run on, Daly, run on ! or my cannon are
lost to the enemies ! ” Daly did come on with the Indians
of the Panjab but, in a short time, was sent back by the
Revolutionaries with a bullet lodged in his shoulder. As
the evening approached, the Revolutionaries decidedly got
the upper hand. Again, they pressed on, nay, almost
captured the British guns. The 9th lancers and the loyal
Panjabees, though they more than once came rushing
against them, had to retire precipitately. The night set
in, but the field was still hotly contested. The English
did their best but could do nothing further than to save
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THE FIGHT IN DELHI
their cannon. Lord Roberts writes : “ The mutineers
routed us.” Hope Grant had a horse killed under him,
himself was terribly wounded, and, but for the loyalty
of a Mahomedan horseman standing near by, would have
been killed in a minute. Such fighting continued till the
middle of the night, but still the advance of the Sepoys
could not be checked, and so, at last, the English retired
from the battlefield and left the Revolutionaries in com-
plete and victorious possession of an important position
at the rear of the British camp !
That night the British commander could not sleep for
anxiety. For, had the Revolutionaries retained the posses-
sion they had so bravely won, they would have completely
cut off the British communications with the Panjab. To
avoid this evil, the British, early in the morning, were
preparing to offer a further resistance to the victorious
Swadeshi army. But owing to the want of ammunition
and further additions to their numbers, the Sepoys retired
into the city, leaving the English to take possession of the
ground they had vacated. The news of this battle and
the dogged march of the Sepoys had encouraged the Delhi
people and, the cannon on the wall being of long range,
they kept up a constant and unceasing fire on the British
army. These onslaughts of the Delhi army effectively
prevented the British army from assuming the offensive,
by constantly compelling them to be themselves on the
defensive. And the difficulty which the English found
even in maintaining the ground they had occupied made
it impossible for them to advance even a step further
without receiving new succour from the Panjab. And,
to add to all these difficulties rose to-day—the 23rd of
June, 1857 !
This 23rd of June of 1857 is the centenary of the battle
of Plassey ! It was on this day that, a hundred years
ago, in the gamble for empires, the Indian dice proved
unlucky on the battlefield of Plassey. One hundred years
293