If it is true that the question whether India, bounded by the Himalayas on the north and the Ocean on tne 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 of 1857 also would not have taken place. Though a century 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 Punjab up to Calcutta, wherever there was an open field, thousands of Revolutionaries 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, anxious to hasten the day of its fulfilment as much as possible. 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 ordinary 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 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 discontent 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 performance, 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 rehearsals 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, and 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 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 discontent had gone deep, very dedep, 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 administering 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 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- confident, his flesh and blood permitted by the glory and pride of an unjust Empire, this bold, if not clever, man landed on the shores of out land saying openly, “I will level the land of Hindusthan."+++(5)+++
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 Chillianwalla, 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, dies 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 western 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 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 five sacred rivers of the Vedas, on the banks of which the Rishis in ancient times had recited 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 overthrowing the British Government, was dethroned, and in his place Chhatrapati Appa Sahib was appointed by the English Sirkar to succeed him 6. 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 discreditable dethronement, the English established on the Gadi of Satara the brother, on account of the failure of legitimate sons. By this, the English practically acknowledged 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
6 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.”
treachery of his nation, overrode this open acknowledgement knowingly and deliberately, 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.”
Again, in 1837, when the Raja of Oorcha adopted a successor, the English acknowledged him and promised :-
“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.“7 (7 Parliamentary Papers, 15th February, 1850, page 141 ) 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 Sarata 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 pretext of failure to 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 ad 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 England might be more than men. None in Maharashtra has 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 Engliosh 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 Englishman’s jahgir, nor was it a feudatory state dependent for its existence on his sweet will and pleasure. It was an independent 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 Raj, merely because the king died childless. Obviously it was a game of 4. The treaty of 1826
beging as follows :- Treaty of perpetual friendship between the Honourable East India Company and His Highness of Maharaja Raghoji Bhonsle, his heirs and successors.
legerdemain or sleight-of-hand; one removes and the other, his accomplice, conceals it quietly ! While the opne 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 b 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 adopted 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 of 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 these 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 Government, and everything was determined on that issue. While the Raj of Nagpur was annexed because no adoption took place, the Satara kingsom faced a similar fate because the adopted heir should have a right to succeed 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 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 lean 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 place ! And, Heavens, in the very bedroom of the Ranees the Feringhi pickaxe began its desecrating work ! Reader, start not yet, not 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 neighbouring room, in that bed of the Queen, the Feringhi’s pickaxe was doing its work ! What a terrible accompaniment to the groans in the next room ! And why all this ? Because Raghoji died before adopting a successor!8
Ranee Anna Poorna Bai died, groaning for the insufferable insults flung at her ancient dynasty. But the hope of Ranee Banka to get justice from England was not 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. Ands 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 of 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 !9
8 Dalhousie’s Administration, pp. 165-168. 9 Banka, thy name shall go down to History as Banka the treacherous.