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

SWADHARMA & SWARAJ
would have cropped up in some other form and produced
a Revolution just the same. Even if Oudh had not been
annexed, the principle of annexation would have mani-
fested itself in the destruction of some other kingdom.
The real causes of the French Revolution were not simply
the high prices of grain, the Bastille, the King's leaving
Paris, or the feasts. These might explain some incidents
of the Revolution but not the Revolution as a whole. The
kidnapping of Sita was only the incidental cause of the
fight between Rama and Ravana. The real causes were
deeper and more inward.
What, then, were the real causes and motives of this
Revolution? What were they that they could make
thousands of heroes unsheath their swords and flash them
on the battlefield? What were they that they had the
power to brighten up pale and rusty crowns and raise
from the dust abased flags? What were they that for
them men by the thousand willingly poured their blood
year after year? What were they that Moulvies preached
them, learned Brahmins blessed them, that for their success
prayers went up to Heaven from the mosques of Delhi
and the temples of Benares?
These great principles were Swadharma and Swaraj.
In the thundering roar of ‘Din, Din,’ which rose to
protect religion, when there were evident signs of a cun-
ning, dangerous, and destructive attack on religion dearer
than life, and in the terrific blows dealt at the chain of
slavery with the holy desire of acquiring Swaraj, when it
was evident that chains of political slavery had been put
round them and their God-given liberty wrested away by
subtle tricks—in these two, lies the root-principle of the
Revolutionary War. In what other history is the
principle of love of one's religion and love of one's country
manifested more nobly than in ours? However much
foreign and partial historians might have tried to paint
7

THE VOLCANO
our glorious land in dark colours, so long as the name of
Chitore has not been erased from the pages of our history,
so long as the names of Pratâpâditya and Guru Govind
Singh are there, so long the principles of Swadharma and
Swaraj will be embedded in the bone and marrow of all
the sons of Hindusthan ! They might be darkened for a
time by the mist of slavery—even the sun has its clouds
—but very soon the strong light of these self-same
principles pierces through the mist and chases it away.
Never before were there such a number of causes for the
universal spreading of these traditional and noble princi-
ples as there were in 1857. These particular reasons
revived most wonderfully the slightly unconscious feelings
of Hindusthan, and the people began to prepare for the
fight for Swadharma and Swaraj. In his Proclamation of
the establishment of Swaraj, the Emperor of Delhi says,
‘ Oh, you sons of Hindusthan, if we make up our mind we
can destroy the enemy in no time ! We will destroy the
enemy and will release from dread our religion and our
country, dearer to us than life itself ’ ² What is holier in
in this world than such a Revolutionary War, a war for
the noble principles propounded in this sentence, ‘ release
from dead our religion and our country, dearer to us than
life itself ’ ? The seed of the Revolution of 1857 is in this
holy and inspiring idea, clear and explicit, propounded
from the throne of Delhi, THE PROTECTION OF RELIGION
AND COUNTRY. In the Proclamation issued at Bareilly, he
says “ Hindus and Mahomedans of India ! Arise ! Breth-
ren, arise ! Of all the gifts of God, the most gracious is
that of Swaraj. Will the oppressive Demon who has
robbed us of it by deceit be able to keep it away from us
for ever ? Can such an act against the will of God stand
for ever ? No, no. The English have committed so many
atrocities that the cup of their sins is already full. To add
to it, they have got now the wicked desire to destroy our
holy religion ! Are you going to remain idle even now ?
2. Leckey’s Fictions Exposed and Urdu works.
8

SWADHARMA & SWARAJ
God does not wish that you should remain so ; for he has
inspired in the hearts of Hindus and Mahomedans the
desire to turn the English out of our country. And by the
grace of God, and your valour, they will soon be so com-
pletely defeated that in this our Hindusthan there will not
remain even the least trace of them ! In this our army,
the differences of small and great shall be forgotten, and
equality shall be the rule ; for, all who draw the sword in
this holy war for the defence of religion are equally glori-
ous. They are brethren, there is no rank among them.
Therefore, I again say to all my Hindi brethren, ' Arise
and jump into the battlefield for this divinely ordained
and supreme duty ! ' " The man who, after seeing such
magnificent utterances by the Revolutionary leaders, does
not understand its principles is, as we said, either a fool
or a knave. What stronger evidence is needed to prove
that Indian warriors drew their swords at the time for
Swadharma and Swaraj, feeling it the duty of every man
to fight for the rights given to man by God ? These Pro-
clamations issued at different times and places dur-
ing the war make it unnecessary to dilate more
on its principles. These Proclamations were not issued
by nonentities ; but they were orders issued from
adorable and powerful thrones. They were burning
expressions of the agitated feelings of the time. In
these the real heart of the Nation had spoken out,
when at the time of war, there was no occasion to conceal
real sentiments through pressure or fear. This tremendous,
heroic shout, ' Swadharma and Swaraj,' proclaims to the
world the character of the Revolution in which 'all who
draw the sword are equally glorious.'
But were these two principles understood as different
and exclusive of each other ? At least, orientals have
never had the idea that Swadharma and Swaraj have no
connection with each other. The Eastern mind has main-
tained a full and traditional belief, as is also said by
Mazzini, that there is no vast barrier between Heaven
9

THE VOLCANO
and earth but that the two are ends of one and the same
thing. Our idea of Swadharma, too, is not contradictory
to that of Swaraj. The two are connected as means and
end. Swaraj without Swadharma is despicable and Swa-
dharma without Swaraj is powerless. The sword of
material power, Swaraj, should always be ready drawn
for our object, our safety is the other world, Swadharma.
This trend of the Eastern mind will be often found in its
history. The reason why, in the East, all revolutions take
a religious form, nay more, the reason why Eastern history
knows of no revolutions unconnected with religion, lies in
the all-embracing meaning that the word ‘Dharma’ has.
That this dual principle of Swadharma and Swaraj, always
seen in the history of India, appeared also in the Revo-
lution of 1857, should be a matter of no surprise. We
have already referred to the first Proclamation of the
Emperor of Delhi. Afterwards when Delhi was besieged
by the English and the war was at its height, the Emperor
issued another Proclamation addressing all Indians thus :
‘ Why has God given us wealth, land, power ? They are
not for individual pleasure, but they are given for the
holy object of defence of our religion ’. But where are now
the means to attain this holy end ? As said in the Pro-
clamation given above, where is the gift of Swaraj, the
greatest of all the gifts of God ?
Where is wealth ? Where is land ? Where is power ?
In the plague of slavery, all this divine independence is
all but dead. In the above Proclamation, in order to show
how the plague of slavery was destroying India, full des-
criptions are given as to how the Kingdoms of Nagpur,
Ayodhya, and Jhansi were trampled down into dust. And
it awakens the people to the fact that they are guilty of
the sin of destroying religion in the house of God, having
lost these means of defending religion. The command of
God is, Obtain Swaraj, for that is the chief key to the pro-
tection of Dharma. He who does not attempt to acquire
Swaraj, he who sits silent in slavery, he is an atheist and
10

SWADHARMA & SWARAJ
hater of Religion. Therefore, rise for Swadharma and
acquire Swaraj !
" Rise for Swadharma and acquire Swaraj ! " What
divine events in the history of India are due to the reali-
sation of this principle ! The poet-saint Ramdas gave the
same dictum to the Mahrattas 250 years ago. " Die for
your Dharma, kill the enemies of your Dharma while you
are dying ; in this way fight and kill, and take back
your kingdom ! " ³
This alone is the principle in the Revolutionary War
of 1857. This is its mental science. The true and only
telescope which will show it in its true and clear form, is
the above verse of Ramdas.
Seeing at it through this telescope, what a spectacle
comes into view ! The war fought for Swadharma and
Swaraj does not lose its lustre by defeat. The splendour
of Guru Govind Singh's life is none the less, because his
efforts did not immediately succeed at the time. Nor do
we think the less of the rising of 1848 in Italy, because
the Revolution failed completely at that time.
Justin McCarthy says : " The fact was that through-
out the greater part of the northern and north-western
provinces of the Indian peninsula, there was a rebellion
of the native races against the English power. It was
not alone the Sepoy who rose in revolt—it was not by any
means a merely military mutiny. It was a combination of
military grievance, national hatred, and religious fanatic-
ism against the English occupation of India. The native
princes and the native soldiers were in it. The Maho-
medan and the Hindu forgot their old religious anti-
pathies to join against the Christian. Hatred and panic
3. धर्मासाठीं मरावें । मरोनि अवघ्यांस मारावें ।
मारितां मारितां घ्यावें । राज्य आपुलें
11

THE VOLCANO
were the stimulants of that great rebellious movement.
The quarrel about the greased cartridges was but the
chance spark flung in among all the combustible material.
If that spark had not lighted it, some other would have
done the work .... The Meerut Sepoys found, in a
moment, a leader, a flag, and a cause, and the mutiny was
transformed into a revolutionary war. When they reached
the Jumna, glittering in the morning light, they had all
unconsciously seized one of the great critical moments of
history and converted a military mutiny into a national
and religious war!" ⁴
Charles Ball writes: "At length, the torrent overflowed
the banks, and saturated the moral soil of India.
It was then expected that those waves would overwhelm
and destroy the entire European element and that, when
the torrent of rebellion should again confine itself within
bounds, patriotic India, freed from its alien rulers, would
bow only to the independent sceptre of a native prince.
The movement, now, assumed a more important aspect.
It became the rebellion of a whole people incited to out-
rage by resentment for imaginary wrongs and sustained
in their delusions by hatred and fanaticism." ⁵
White writes in his Complete History of the Great
Sepoy War :—" I should be wanting in faithfulness as an
historian if I failed to record with admiration the courage
displayed by the Oudhians. The great fault of the Oudh
Talukdars from a moral point of view was their having
made a common cause with the murderous mutineers.
But for this, they might have been regarded as noble
patriots, fighting in a good cause, pro rege et pro patria,
for the King and the Motherland"—for Swaraj
and Swadesh!
4. History of Our Own Times, Vol. III.
5. Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, page 644.
12

CHAPTER II
THE CHAIN OF CAUSES
IF it is true that the question whether India,
bounded by the Himalayas on the north and
the Ocean on the south, should be completely
independent or not, was being solved on the
battlefields of the war of 1857, then the chain
of causes begins from that day in 1757 when the
question was first raised. On the 23rd of June in 1757,
the question whether India should belong to the Indians
or to the English was openly discussed, for the first time,
on the field of Plassey. On that very day and on that very
field, where it was first discussed, were sown the seeds of
the Revolution. If Plassey had not been there, the War
13

THE VOLCANO
of 1857 also would not have taken place. Though a cen-
tury had rolled by, the memory of that day was fresh in
the heart of Hindusthan. In proof of this, witness the
terrible scene on the 23rd day of June 1857, in Northern
India. In the vast country from the Panjab up to Calcutta,
wherever there was an open field, thousands of Revolu-
tionaries were fighting the English simultaneously in
different places, from morning till evening, after openly
challenging them saying : "To-day we are going to
avenge Plassey!"
When, on the battlefield of Plassey, India had sworn
to fight a war of freedom, England was, as it were, anxi-
ous to hasten the day of its fulfilment as much as pos-
sible. For, Englishmen did not rest with sowing the seeds
of the Revolutionary War at Plassey, but they made
enormous efforts to encourage the growth of the plant
all over India. Warren Hastings tended the plant in
Benares, Rohilkhand, and Bengal. Wellesley did the
same in the fertile fields of Mysore, Assai, Poona, Satara,
and Northern India. This was not done without strong
efforts, for the ground had to be ploughed not with ordi-
nary ploughs but with swords and guns! What would
ordinary ploughs avail against Shanwar Palace, the
heights of Sahyadri, the forts of Agra, and the throne of
Delhi? When these rocky portions had been broken and
crushed, the smaller pieces left out by mistake were also
next broken. The smaller princes fell under the strokes
of English perfidy, oppression, and tyranny.
The English did not even feed well or pat on the back
the brutes by whose strength they effected all these
conquests. For a hundred years, they had been oppressing
and maltreating the sepoys in their army. When the
soldiers of the Mahrattas or the Nizam won important
victories, they used to get Jahgirs and rewards. But the
Company gave nothing but 'sweet words' of praise. The
sepoys, whose swords won India for the English, were so
14

THE CHAIN OF CAUSES
barbarously treated that General Arthur Wellesley would
drive the wounded sepoys to the mouth of guns instead of
sending them to the hospital !
While the English had thus been sowing the seeds of dis-
content and hatred in almost all parts of Hindusthan,
the time soon came when it appeared that their efforts
would soon be crowned with success. The danger to the
independence of India was first perceived by Nana
Farnavis of Poona and Hyder Sahib of Mysore. From
that day onwards the presence of this danger began to be
seen, faintly at least, by the princes of India ; and its
effect was markedly seen in the “mutiny” at Vellore.
This rising at Vellore was a rehearsal of the great rising
of 1857. Just as in a theatre, before the actual perform-
ance, several rehearsals have to be gone through, so in
history, before the actual and final attainment of freedom,
in order to harmonise the whole performance, several
rehearsals in the shape of risings are necessary. In Italy,
the rehearsals started as early as 1821, and only in 1861
was the play successful. The Rising at Vellore in 1806
was such a rehearsal on a small scale. In this rising, the
sepoys had been won over by the princes and people. At
markets, preachers disguised as Fakirs were preaching.
To indicate the time of rising, chapatees even had been
distributed. Hindus and Mahomedans together had risen
in the name of religion and liberty. But this being the
first rehearsal, they fell even as they were rising. Never
mind ! Before the final performance, how many rehear-
sals have to be gone through ! Only the actors should
boldly stick to their tasks and never cease their rehearsals.
And for producing this drama, both England and India
were working day and night without rest. And those that
were making ready to take part in the play were not
common, poor, or ignorant folk. The Gadi of Tanjore,
the Masnad of Mysore, the Raigarh of Sahyadri, the
Dewan-i-Khas of Delhi were among the select actors. And
to crown all, Lord Dalhousie landed on the shores of
15

THE VOLCANO
Hindusthan in 1846. There is not now much time left
for commencing the task which was sworn to on the
battlefield of Plassey.
From the above chain of causes, it will be clearly seen
that, before Dalhousie landed in India, the seeds of dis-
content had gone deep, very deep, all over Hindusthan.
Rajas and Maharajas, deprived of their kingdoms by the
English, were burning in their hearts. The fact that the
centenary of Plassey was approaching inspired a strange
feeling of hope among the people ; and in the very armies
of the English, the sepoys were secretly chafing with rage
and hatred. Even if India had had at this time a Viceroy
who would strive to allay this secret discontent, it is very
doubtful how far his efforts would have been successful.
The question now was not whether the Company's rule
should be good or bad ; but the only question that used to
be asked all over the country was whether the rule should
exist at all. The one other force that was necessary for
making an attempt to solve definitely this question was
supplied when Dalhousie became viceroy ; for he gave up
the policy of coating poison pills with sugar before ad-
ministering them to the victim, and began a system of
open and direct oppression which did not fail to burn its
way into the hearts of the masses.
Lord Dalhousie is described, by English historians, as
one of the founders of the English Empire. This fact
alone is sufficient to form an estimate of his capacity and
character. In a country where unjust wars of conquest
and oppression of foreign nationalities and races are
universally popular, it is no wonder that those who have
committed the greatest injustice and oppression are the
most honoured. Thus, he who is most unjust is deemed
the most capable, and one has no better way of proving
himself a great man in such a country than by committing
a climax of injustice. In such an Empire, where there is
such an emulation of injustice and oppression, Lord
16

THE CHAIN OF CAUSES
Dalhousie was given the significant title of a 'founder';
it is impossible to find a more suitable word to describe
his character. With the result of a hundred years of
wicked English policy behind him, obstinate by nature,
possessed of boundless self-confidence, his flesh and blood
permeated by the glory and pride of an unjust Empire,
this bold, if not clever, man landed on the shores of our
land saying openly, "I will level the land of Hindusthan."
As soon as Dalhousie landed, he saw at once that so long
as Ranjit Singh's lions lived in the Panjab, it was
impossible to achieve the object dear to his heart of
levelling Hindusthan. He, therefore, determined to throw
somehow or other the lion of the Panjab in the cage of
Slavery. But the Panjab lion had no ordinary claws.
Seeing his cave threatened, he rushed out of the lair at
Chillianwalla and, with a terrible stroke of his paw,
mauled the enemy and made him bleed. But, alas ! While
the lion was standing at the mouth of the cave at Chillian-
walla, a traitor broke open the back-wall at Guzerat and
the lion was surprised and captured. Soon the cave of
the lion became his cage ! Ranjit's Queen, Chand Kuvar,
died rotting in London ! And the lion's cub, Dhulip
Singh, ate the beggar's bread at the hands of the
Feringhi enemy !
After the annexation of the Panjab, Lord Dalhousie
wrote in his despatch, the proud sentence that the extent
of the British Empire was now continuous from the
Himalayas to Cape Comorin. But now that the British
frontiers had been pushed to the Himalayas on the north
and to the seas on the south, it was inevitable that he
should have an ambition to create an eastern and a west-
ern frontier suitable to these northern and southern ones.
Then why delay ? Send a 'peace' mission to Burma
and the work is done. This peace mission so tightly
embraced the peace of Burma that its ribs were broken
and it expired ! This very loving task was soon over and
17
2

THE VOLCANO
Burma was also annexed. Now, at last, the whole of
Hindusthan—from the Himalayas to Rameshwar and
from the Sindhu to the Iravady became red—but, oh !
Dalhousie, do you not fear that it will soon be redder still ?
Do we realise what is meant by the annexation of the
Panjab and Burma ? We cannot form an idea of it
from mere names. The Panjab alone is a territory of
50,000 sq. miles and a population of four millions ! It is
the land watered by the five sacred rivers of the Vedas, on
the banks of which the Rishis in ancient times had recit-
ed sacred mantras ! To conquer such a region Alexander
came from Greece, to defend such a region King Porus
fought. After taking such a country, the ambition even
of Ravana would have been satisfied ; but the land-hunger
of Dalhousie was not satisfied even after swallowing not
only the Panjab but also the extensive dominion
of Burma. Though the frontiers of India were extended,
there still remained the graves of ancient kingdoms within.
Dalhousie therefore began to root these out and level
everything. Not only did they occupy too much valuable
space, but there was the fear that from these graves might
one day rise the future avengers of India's wrongs.
In the grave at Satara was buried a magnificent Hindu
Empire. And it is no wonder that Dalhousie, who
was a believer in the Resurrection of Jesus was afraid
that out of Satara might rise a future Hindu Emperor who
would confound the foreigner and establish Swaraj. In
April 1848, Appa Sahib, the Maharaja of Satara, died.
At this news, Dalhousie decided to annex that State. And
what was the reason ? The King had no direct heirs !
Even the cottage of the village labourer who has no direct
heir is not confiscated but is given to his adopted son or
to his near relatives. And Satara was not a peasant’s
cottage but an ‘ally’ of the English Government. In the
year 1839, Pratap Singh Chhatrapati had been charged
with having engaged in a conspiracy with the object of
18

THE CHAIN OF CAUSES
overthrowing the British Government, was dethroned, and
in his place Chhatrapati Appa Sahib was appointed by
the English Sirkar to succeed him.¹ Mr. Arnold, in his
book Dalhousie’s Administration, says “ It is not pleasant
to dwell, on the circumstances of the dethronement—so
discreditable they were.” After such shamelessly discre-
ditable dethronement, the English established on the Gadi
of Satara the brother, on account of the failure of legiti-
mate sons. By this, the English practically acknowledg-
ed the right of other relations—as is the invariable law
laid down by the Hindu Shastras—to succeed to the
throne. The only truth about this whole affair is that
Dalhousie, with the habitual treachery of his nation,
overrode this open acknowledgment knowingly and deli-
berately, because it was profitable to do so.
No one could under any pretext say that the English,
in any of the various treaties concluded with the various
Rajas, had refused to acknowledge the right of adopted
children to succeed to their adoptive parents’ thrones. In
1825, the Company, while acknowledging the right of the
adopted child of the Raja of Kota to succeed, openly
declared :—“ The Prince of Kota must be considered to
possess the right, in common with all other Hindus, of
adopting a son and successor in conformity with the rules
of the Shastras.” ²
Again, in 1837, when the Raja of Oorcha adopted a
successor, the English acknowledged him and promised :—

1. The first article in the treaty entered into by the Sirkar
   with the Chhatrapati, when he was placed on the throne of Satara,
   runs as follows :—“ The valiant English Government on its part
   agrees to give the country or territory specified, to the Government
   or State of His Highness the Maharaja Chhatrapati (the Raja of
   Satara); His Highness the Maharaja Chhatrapati and His Highness’s
   sons and heirs and successors are perpetually, that is from generation
   to generation, to reign in sovereignty over the said territory.”
2. Parliamentary Papers, 15th February, 1850, page 153.
   19

THE VOLCANO
“ Hindu sovereigns have a right to adopt, to the exclusion
of collateral heirs, and the British Government is bound
to acknowledge the adoption, provided it is regular
and not in violation of the Hindu law.” ³ It may
be safely asserted that nowhere else but in English politics
could be found the audacity of denying the very existence
of those promises which were given most definitely and
which are contained in their own documents. Not only
by these declarations but on innumerable other occasions,
the English have acknowledged the right of the native
princes to adopt in accordance with the Hindu Shastras.
Suffice it to say that, within the short period of two years
(1846-47), the English Government had consented to the
succession to the Gadi of innumerable adopted sons, and
acknowledged their rights.
Indeed, to try to seek, in the language of promises and
treaties, the root cause of annexing these states, is to
work in a wrong direction altogether. The real truth of
the matter is that Dalhousie had come to reduce all India
to a dead level and the grave of the Hindu Empire at
Satara was trying to raise its head. Obviously, therefore,
though Pratap Singh and Appa Sahib had both adopted
in accordance with the Hindu Shastras, the English
annexed the Raj under the pretex of failure of legitimate
heirs. The Gadi of Satara ! The same Gadi on which
Shivaji was crowned by the hand of Gaga Bhatt ! The
same Gadi to which Baji Rao I. dedicated all his triumph,
before which he bowed low ! O Maharashtra ! behold that
same Gadi, on which Shivaji sat, and to which homage
was paid by Santaji, Dhanaji, Niraji, and Baji, has been
broken to pieces by Dalhousie ! Go on, if you will, with
your petitions and deputations. What if Dalhousie does
not listen to these ? In England at least, you think, the
Directors will listen to you ? Dalhousie is apparently a
mere man ; but, who knows, perhaps the Directors in
3. Parliamentary Papers, 15th February, 1850, page 141.
20

THE CHAIN OF CAUSES
England might be more than men. None in Maharashtra
had seen these same Gods. It was, therefore, thought
proper that Rango Bapuji, an excellent and loyal man,
should go to England to lay the grievances of Satara before
the 'Home' authorities. Success or no success, the game
was at least, they thought, worth trying. But how long
would they wait, hoping against hope, for the success of
their mission? For how long would Rango Bapuji go on
wearing away the very pavement of Leadenhall Street?
Yes, Rango Bapuji will go on clinging to his impossible
hope till he is mocked at and insulted, till every penny
is spent in feeing English barristers with crores of Rupees
so that he has not money left even for his passage, and
until he receives the insolent reply that they refuse to
give back Satara!
While Rango Bapuji was busy packing for London,
Dalhousie's attention was being absorbed by a new affair;
for, an occasion had risen by which he could weed out the
miserable shrunken shrub of the Raj of Nagpur. Raghoji
Bhonsle, the rightful owner of the Nagpur Gadi, died
suddenly at the age of 47. The Raja of Berar was an ally
of the English Government,⁴ and this very friendship of
the English was the cause of his destruction! Those who
knew that the English hated them were spared but all
those who foolishly believed that the English were their
friends were mercilessly and treacherously involved in
ruin. The kingdom of the Berars was not the English-
man's jahgir, nor was it a feudatory state dependent for its
existence on his sweet will and pleasure. It was an inde-
pendent state on an equality with the Feringhi Sirkar. J.
Sylvian has defied the British Government to show on
what grounds and by what show of justice, either eastern
or western, they could have the right of annexing such a
4 The treaty of 1826 begins as follows :—Treaty of perpetual
friendship between the Honourable East India Company and His
Highness the Maharaja Raghoji Bhonsle, his heirs and successors.
21

THE VOLCANO
Raj, merely because the king died childless. Obviously it
was a game of legerdemain or sleight-of-hand ; one
removes and the other, his accomplice, conceals it quietly !
While the one cuts off the head, the other, his accomplice,
goes on asking loudly by what law he dared commit the
deed—as if murderers and highway robbers need the law
to back them up. In 1853, then Dalhousie at last laid his
murderous knife at the throat of ‘his friend’, showing as
a reason that the Raja had not adopted a successor. Raja
Raghoji had every hope of a child but died suddenly.
Even if he died without a child, the right of adopting
passed at his death to his legal wife. If the English had
not acknowledged at any time previously the heirs adopt-
ed by the queens of deceased Rajas, we should have had
nothing to say. But it remains a fact that the English
had acknowledged the adoption by Daulatrao Scindia's
widow in 1826, the adoption by Junkoji Scindia's widow
in 1836, the adoption by the widow of the Raja of Dhar
in 1834, and the adoption by the queen of Kishengarh in
1841. Not one, not two, but many such adoptions have
the English acknowledged. But we should not forget the
fact that, on those occasions, it was to their advantage
to acknowledge these heirs. In this case, on the other
hand, it was not to their advantage to acknowledge the
adoption by the widow of Raghoji. The real point at
issue, then was one of advantage to the English Govern-
ment, and everything was determined on that issue.
While the Raj of Nagpur was annexed because no adop-
tion took place, the Satara kingdom faced a similar fate
because the adopted heir should not have a right to suc-
ceed to the throne ! Impossible for logic to step in here.
By annexing Nagpur, Dalhousie robbed an extensive
tract of 76,832 sq. miles, with a population of 4,650,000
people and an enormous annual income. While the poor
Ranees were weeping themselves hoarse, a loud knock
came on the palace gate. The door was opened and in
rushed the English troops. Horses were let loose from the
22

THE CHAIN OF CAUSES
stables, elephants—after forcibly pulling down the Ranees
riding on them—were taken to the bazaars for sale, and
silver and gold ornaments were removed from the palace
and were sold by public auction in every street. The
necklace that adorned a queen was lying in the dust of
the bazaars. Elephants were sold for 100 Rupees ! After
this you will hardly be surprised to learn that horses, fed
on richer food than Dalhousie had for his own dinners,
were sold for 20 Rupees and that a pair of horses, on
which the Raja himself used to ride, was sold for 5
Rupees ! Elephants with the howdas on them and horses
with caparisons were sold, but the Ranees still remained
with their jewels. Why not sell the jewels ? So, the
jewels also went the way of other things, and no Ranee
had a single jewel left on her person. But even here the
“friendship” of the English could not stop. So, they
began to dig the floor of the palace ! And, Heavens, in
the very bedroom of the Ranees the Feringhi pickaxe
began its desecrating work ! Reader, start not yet, nor
tremble, for the pickaxe has only started the work, and
will do further deeds, nay, is doing it. For, see you not
it has broken the bedstead of the Queen, and is digging
the very flooring underneath the bed ? And shall we say
it ? All the while the Maharanee Anna Poorna Bai was
on her death-bed, and was even then dying ! While the
Dowager Queen of the great family of the Bhonsles of
Nagpur was on her deathbed, groaning with agony and
for the insult to the throne and the family, in the neigh-
bouring room, in that bed of the Queen, the Feringhi’s
pickaxe was doing its work ! What a terrible accompani-
ment to the groans in the next room ! And why all this ?
Because Raghoji died before adopting a successor ! ⁵
Ranee Anna Poorna Bai died, groaning for the insuffer-
able insults flung at her ancient dynasty. But the hope
of Ranee Banka to get justice from England was not
5. Dalhousie’s Administration, pp. 165-168.
23

THE VOLCANO
yet dead ! This vain hope was at last destroyed, but not
until she had tried the immensely expensive remedy of
feeing English barristers with lakhs of Rupees. And what
did Ranee Banka do then ? She spent the rest of her life
in "loyalty" to the Feringhi ! While the Lightning was
working destruction at Jhansi, Banka, seeing that her
sons were ready to unsheath their swords for Swaraj,
threatened them that, if they did unsheath their swords,
she would herself inform the Feringhis of their designs
and advise the Feringhis to behead them ! ⁶
6. Banka, thy name shall go down to History as Banka the
treacherous.
24

CHAPTER III
NANA SAHIB &
LAKSHMI BAI
BLOW your trumpets loudly now, O Heralds of
History, for soon there are to arrive on the scene
two great heroes ! These are two bright pearls
in the necklace of Mother India. Now, when
dark night has overspread the horizon of the
whole country, these two alone are shining as
luminous stars. They are fiery Akalîs ready to avenge
their country’s unjust wrongs with the last drop of their
blood. They are two martyrs sacrificing their lives for
Country, Religion, and Freedom. They are two witness-
es, sword in hand, to prove that the blood of Hindusthan
that gave birth to Shivaji is not yet dead. They are two
25

THE VOLCANO
noble souls that could entertain in their hearts the grand
and holy ambition of Swaraj. They are two crusaders in
the Holy War, glorious even in their defeat. Therefore,
O readers, stand up in all awe and reverence, for the noble
figures of Nana Sahib Peshwa and the Queen of Jhansi
are coming on the stage of History !
We do not know which to describe more—the splendour
of the mountain tops of Matheran in the holy Maha-
rashtra, or the green, velvet-soft, grassy meadows adorning
the feet of those hills. In the lap of the graceful plateau
below, almost overhung by the sky-reaching peaks of the
Matheran, there nestled a tiny little village called Venu,
heightening the beauty of the already beautiful region.
Among the old and respectable families of Venu, the
family of Madhavrao Narayan Bhatt was the most promi-
nent. Madhavrao and his noble wife Gangabai, though
living in circumstances of domestic poverty, were happy
in the enjoyment of mutual love. In the small house of
this good family, all faces beamed with joy and happi-
ness in 1824, for the good Gangabai had given birth to a
son. That son of Madhavrao and Gangabai was no other
than the Peshwa Nana Sahib, at the very sound of whose
name the Feringhi shudders with fear,—that same Nana
who has made his name immortal in history as a hero
who fought for liberty and for his country.
About the same time, the last Bajirao had abdicated
his throne and was leading a life of retirement on the
banks of Ganges. Many Maratha families had followed
him and, hearing that Bajirao was generous enough to
support them in good state on his pension, many new
families also emigrated thither. Among the latter was
the family of Madhavrao, who went to Brahmavarta in
1827 to seek the generosity of Bajirao. There, the little
son of Madhavrao captivated the heart of Bajirao, and
little Nana Sahib became a great favourite of the whole
Durbar. His spirit even in childhood, his serious mien,
26