An in-depth study of the great rebellion of 1857 will
reveal that its known heroes are too well known, its unknown heroes are not
known at all while its lesser known heroes are only vaguely remembered as
foot-notes of the text-books of history. Now when the nation is celebrating
the 150th year of its First War of Independence it is time to
remember the un-remembered and pay our homage to all those soldiers, peasants,
artisans, landlords and scholars who made a common cause with the rulers and
the chiefs to overthrow the foreign rule from the Indian soil. It is the participation
of the common man which gives this great upheaval a popular, a patriotic character
making it a national upheaval, unique in the annals of world history. More
than a lakh of soldiers fell in the
various battles and became martyrs. The number of civilians who laid down
their lives to free their motherland from the British barbarism is not exactly
known. Although the rebellion was widespread in regions such as Delhi, Avadh,
Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, areas around Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and the whole
of western Bihar, it is estimated that in Avadh alone 150,000 people were
killed, making it a glorious chapter in the history of Indian people. The
revolt produced many legendry heroes such as Mangal Pandey, Rani of Jhansi,
Tantia Tope, Nana Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal of Lucknow and Kunwar Singh of Jagdishpur who have been
a source of inspiration to the succeeding
generations in their struggle for Independence. At the same time the upheaval
produced men and women of rare valour who are not so well known such as Bakht
Khan, the Commander-in-chief of rebel armies, Rao Tula Ram of Rewari, Raja
of Ballabhgarh, Nawab of Jhajjar, Shazada Firuz Shah, Abdul Samad of Badli,
Saadat Khan of Indore, Virangani Jhalkari of Women’s Regiment of Jhansi, Amar
Singh of Jagdishpur, Pir Ali of Patna, Udmi Ram of Libaspur (Delhi) and thousands
of Gujjars and Jats and Rangars and Meos of Rohtak, Hissar, Gurgaon and Karnal
who joined the rebels of their free will to see their country free from the
most inhuman rule of the world history.
Delhi &
Its Adjoining Regions
Innumerable legends and patriotic
songs have grown around these heroes. Countless people sing these songs doing
their daily chores and at special functions such as festivals and marriages.
Delhi region was the foremost in shaking off the foreign yoke. The fall of Delhi
to the Meerut rebels on 11th May, 1857 was followed by the immediate collapse of
Company’s administration in Delhi’s countryside populated mostly by Gujjars and
Rangars and Jats and other pastoral tribes. In Rohtak, Hissar, Sirsa,
Ballabhgarh, Jhajjar and in Delhi villages such as Kishengarh, Masoodpur and
Mahipalpur. Panchayats were set up for
administration and collection of revenue. Rao Tula Ram, the Ahir Chief was a terror to the Britishers. He set up an
independent government at Rewari and collected revenue in the name of the
Mughal Emperor. The new government machinery was based on the age-old village
republics of which Delhi region was its home. Writing on these village republics, C.T. Metcalfe
observed:
‘The village communities are little
Republics, having nearly everything they want within themselves, and almost
independent of any foreign relations. They seem to last where nothing else
lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles down, revolution succeeds to revolution;
Hindu, Pathan, Mughal, Maratha, Sikh, English are masters in turn, but village
communities remain the same’. Although in peace they had lots of differences
the communities stood in one line against the British. Old feuds were forgotten
and new ‘bhaichara’ (brotherhood) relationships were invoked. At Sirsa the Bhatti Nawab of Rania declared war
against the British and local leader
Mohammad Azim assumed the leadership of the rebellion. The Meos of Mewat in
Gurgoan district asserted independence and gave a tough time to the British.
But the main problem was that the rebels failed to establish a liberated area.
Rao Tula Ram escaped to Kabul where he died after some time. Raja of
Ballabhgarh was hanged. The Nawab of Jhajjar was hanged in front of the Red
Fort with the beat of a drum on 23rd December 1857 to create terror in the mind of the
civilian population. The whole of Delhi became a graveyard. There was none left
even to bury the dead.
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib, the
famous Urdu poet who is an eye-witness to the rebellion in Delhi and the
massacre of Delhi citizenry thereafter writes in diary called ‘Dastabu’:
‘The lapse of time from 11th May to
14th September is actually four months and four days.
However since the town fell on Monday and was recaptured on Monday, it is as if
the city was lost and re-captured on the same day. The victors killed all whom they found on the streets. The noble
men, in order to protect their honour, which was all that remained of them,
stayed inside locked houses without food, without lamp, without light, without
hope’.
In ‘Dastan-e-Ghadar’ (Story of the
Rebellion), Zahir Dehlvi wrote : “The English soldiers began to shoot
whomsoever they met on the way. Among the men of letters who remained in the
city, there were some whose equal has never been born nor shall be born. Mian
Muhammad Amin Punjakush, an excellent writer, Moulvi Imam Baksh Sabai and the
1400 persons of Kucha Chhelan were taken to Raj Ghat Gate, shot dead and their
bodies thrown into the Jamuna. As for women they came out of their houses and
killed themselves with their children by jumping into the wells. All the wells
of Kucha Chhelan are filled with dead bodies. My pen dare not write more’. The
citizens of the walled city continue to believe they – the dead of Kuchha
Chellan were the real heroes who faced death without fear and voluntarily than
prostrate before an unscrupulous victor. Death makes no conquest of them for
now they live in the memory of their people. Even Prof. Ramchandra, God-fearing
Christian and Pandit Kedar Nath, a God-fearing Hindu known for his charitable
activities were not spared.
In the words of Maulana Azad “the most important fact
which attracts attention is that India faced the trial of 1857 as a united
community. The struggle of 1857 took a national and a racial but never a communal
turn. In the fight for freedom Hindus and Muslims stood shoulder to shoulder.
Their common effort, as a result of common life of centuries, was to liberate
themselves from the foreign yoke”. And that is the message of martyrs of First
War of Independence 1857. To
be continued.
*Freelance Writer
Disclaimer:
The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and not
necessarily reflect the views of PIB.
(Release ID :27562)