Sarguzashte inquilab 1857 compiled by Kashmiri Lal Zakir and Prof. Sadiq
Mayyar Publications, Delhi. Pages: 176. Price: Rs. 150/-
Call it Sepoy Mutiny, India’s First War of Independence or the last hurrah/gasp of India’s effete princely states, there is little doubt that it was a cataclysmic event that firmly established the British as the subcontinent’s undisputed masters. The revolt lasted nearly two years. After the British annexed the kingdom of Oudh in 1856, many sepoys of the Bengal Army – who actually hailed from the areas comprising UP and MP – felt that their traditions were being trampled upon. When the East India Company issued new rifles along with cartridges greased with the fat of cows and pigs both Hindus and Muslims were outraged. On May 10, 1857, at Meerut, 85 soldiers, who had been chained for refusing to use the cartridges, were freed by their comrades. After killing many officers, the mutineers set out for Delhi, which they captured. Violence, anarchy and bloodshed touched the zenith reminding one of a couplet: har ek dasht-e-kaza mein kashaan kashaan pahuncha/jahan ki khaak thi jis jis ki woh wahaan pahuncha (Every one sooner or later reached the desert of death; arriving at the place to which his dust (body) belonged).
Contrary to the popular perception, in these hitherto ignored accounts, the rebels do not emerge as idealistic, gallant freedom fighters although the likes of Karl Marx had descried the rebellion as a befitting response to the treachery and venery of the British. This anthology comprises writings by those who were alive in those days and had been victims of or witnesses to all-round savagery, and the notorious disunity among Indians. There was no dearth of quislings, collaborators and tergiversators in the subcontinent that put paid to the aspirations of genuine seekers of liberty.
Ghalib describes the events in Delhi that took place between 11 May and 31 July 1857. The rebels, who had come from outside, were helped by the Indian soldiers in the Delhi garrison. Communication, mail and transport were disrupted and the “Quiladar Sahib” and “Agent Bahadur” were murdered. He calls the rebel soldiers namak haraam. He considers the rise of the British inevitable, and rationalizes that the destruction of one entity becomes the basis for the rise of another.
Fazal Khairabadi was a vocal critic of the British who had issued fatwa declaring jehad against them. He was arrested and exiled to the Andamans, where he died in 1861. Giving graphic details of various conflicts he mentions how, when the desperate British asked “western Hindus” for help, Maharaja Narinder Singh of Patiala and ‘dishonest Muslims’ helped them. He also alludes to Bahadur Shah’s escape to Humayun’s mausoleum where he was subsequently captured.
Another eyewitness, Abdul Latif, used to publish a Persian language paper. Although he had chronologically recorded the events from 11 May to 4 September reports only up to 11 June are available. Perhaps those accounts pertained to atrocities by the British and were deleted. He narrates how the embers of mutiny lit up in Meerut reached Delhi as inferno. He too terms the rebels namak haram and ehsaan faramosh. They killed the officers, looted and burnt their homes, broke open the jails and freed the criminal inmates who joined the mutineers in murder and pillage. Those dressed in western clothes were killed indiscriminately. Capt Douglas, who looked after the Red Fort’s security and Simon, the Resident, requested the Mughal King to issue a ‘hokum’ to put down the revolt. Latif further writes, ‘Those who tried to maintain the law and order were mercilessly put to sword. In brief, this namak haram and bad-anjam lashkar’s atrocities put even Changez Khan’s massacre to shade.’ On 16 May Bahadur Shah ordered Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan to put down the rebels with heavy hand. On 26 May, Kanwarjit Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala’s representative, came with supplies in support of the British.
Moinuddin Hassan Khan, who was kotwal of Paharganj, had saved Metcalf’s life from the rebels. Metcalf got his eyewitness account Khadang-e-gadar translated and published in English in 1898. The original manuscript remained unpublished till 1972 when Khwaja Ahmed Farrukhi published it as Aag-o-khoon ja-ba-ja. He repeats the gory story, but recounts some tragic-comic episodes too. For example a rumour in Hissar of a fight between the rebels and British forces on Id-ul-fitr (25 May) turned out to be a scrap between the local Dogar and Mali communities. At Allahabad, one Maulvi Liaquat Ali declared himself as Imam and began instigating people against the British. Freebooters and riff raff became his followers. Encouraged, he declared himself a Khalifa and started holding court. But when the British forces came looking for him he found himself abandoned by his followers, and fled. Later he was arrested in Bombay and sentenced to death. At Danapur rebels tried to smoke out besieged British soldiers by burning sackfuls of red chilies. Unfortunately the wind changed direction and the acrid smoke made them run helter-skelter.
Sayyed Zaheer-ud-din Zaheer Dehlvi says in Yam-e-gadar mein dekhi-suni that realizing their wakening position the rebels requested Bahadur Shah to flee with them but he declined. Later, one Sanders escorted the king to Delhi. At the Delhi Darwaza Sanders made him witness the massacre of civilians by the British forces. Thereafter the king was taken to his abode. Next day Bahadur Shah’s sons, daughters, grandchildren etc, numbering about 30, were rounded up and beheaded and their heads presented to him.
Pt. Kanhaiyya Lal’s inquilab-e-1857 gives details of the battles in the territory comprising modern Haryana. There is also a mention of Hindu traders pleading with the British officials to save them from Muslim looters.
Mrs. Hortistit’s memoirs were translated into Urdu by Zafar Taban as Gadar Kay Manazir. She was a French woman married to an Englishman. She too affirms that Indians – like Maharaja of Patiala and other rulers in Punjab, Rajasthan and elsewhere helped the British re-establish and perpetuate their rule.
The events of 1857 certainly coalesced feudal interests with the rising popular resentment against the firangi. This eventually metamorphosed into a powerful and focused nationwide movement that gave birth to a united Republic of India in 1947.
This volume is a welcome addition to the saga of India’s freedom struggle.
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