THE seed of rvolutionary martyrdom soaked in the blood of Mangal Panday was not long in taking root. The Subahdar of the 34th regiment was charged with holding secret revolutionary meetings at night and beheaded. And when documents were found proving that the 19th and 34th regiments had secretly planned to raise a revolution, they were both disarmed and disbanded. This was a “punishment” in the eyes of the Government, but the Sepoys of these regiments looked upon it at as great honour. The European regiments were kept ready on that day, and the English officers were confident that the Sepoys would repent of their disobedience after being disbanded. But thousands of Sepoys willingly laid down their arms like some unholy object, and broke with pleasure the chains of slavery. They tore away their boots and uniforms and proceeded to take a bath in the neighbouring river, as if to wash away the sins of slavery. It was the custom for the Sepoys to buy military caps out of their own money, so the Company allowed them to take them back as their private property. But were they going to done the emblem of slavery again after the purificatory bath in the river? No, no. No one would commit such an impiety! The days are gone when India would don other people’s caps! Throw away these slavish caps! Thousands of caps began to fly in the air! But through the obstinacy of the force of gravitation, they fell again on India’s soil! The Goddess has been polluted again! Run, Sepoys, run even before the English officers tear those other badges of slavery, and trample these into dust! Thousands of Sepoys began to trample upon the polluted caps; and, seeing the Sepoys dance upon the caps, which was an insult to their authority, the English officers were petrified with astonishment and rage.3
Mangal Panday’s blood not only sowed the seeds of freedom in the regiments stationed in Bengal, but electrified also Umballa on the other side of
3 Red Pamphlet, part I, page 34.
India. Umballa was the chief headquarters of the English army, and the English Commander-in-Chief Anson stayed there. The Sepoys at Umballa struck upon a new plan, that of burning of house of every officer that went against them! Every night the houses of tyrants and traitors used to receive the unwelcome visit of fire. The work was done so swiftly and secretly that it seemed as if the God of Fire
Himself had become a member of the Secret Society. There were so many fires and thousands of Rupees were offered to discover the culprit, but no revolutionary played the part of a traitor! At last, the Commander-in-Chief Anson wrote to the Governor-General in despair, “It is really strange that the incendiaries should never be detected. Every one is on the alert here, but still there is no clue to trace the offencers.” Towards the end of April, he writes further : “We have not been able to detect any of the incendiaries at Umballa. This appears to me extraordinary; but it shows how close are the combinations among the miscreants who have recourse to this mode of revenging what they conceive to be their wrongs, and how great is the dread of retaliation to any one who would dare to become an informer!” The English Empire is based on Indian treachery! So, in Umballa, when not a single man turned traitor, the Commander-in-Chief of the English became helpless and began to thirst secretly for revenge, at the same time wondering at the secret conspiracy of the Sepoys!
These fires had now begun in various places in Hindusthan. It is but natural that there should be sparks blown up here and there before the vast final conflagration broke out. Since the visit of Nana Sahib, Lucknow was in commotion. There also the houses of foreigners and traitors began to take fire! The plan fixded upon was that on the 31st of May the whole of Hindusthan should burst out in a universal conflagration, so that the English should have no room to escape and thus die in the country they wanted to keep enslaved ! Though the Lucknow branch of the Secret Society had consented to this plan, the valiant Sepoys could not restrain themselves. Besides, the exciting speeches every night in the meetings of the Society and the sight of burning houses inflamed them still more. On the 3rd of May, four such uncontrollable Sepoys rushed into the tent of Lieutenant
Mecham, and said, “Personally, we have no quarrel with you, but you are a Feringhi and must die!”4. The lieutenant,
frightened out of his wits at the sight of the fierce-looking Sepoys, implored them for mercy and said, “If you like you can kill me in a second. But what will you get by killing a poor individual like me? Some other man will come and take my place. The fault is not mine but of the system of Government. Then why don’t you spare my life?” At these words, the Sepoys cooled down and remembered that their real aim was to annihilate the whole system at once, and returned. But this news reached the officers, and Sir Henry Lawrence disarmed the regiment by means of a trick.
But at Meerut, things were taking a more lively turn. Some Englishmen formed the novel idea of testing if the Sepoys really objected to the cartridges. And they decided to force them on a company of cavalry on the 6th of May. It seems only five of the ninety Sepoys there touched the cartridges! Once more the same cartridges were given them to be used. Again they all refused to touch them, and went away to their camps. When this news reached the General, he tried them before a court-martial and sentenced all the eighty-five Sepoys to rigorous imprisonment ranging from eight to ten years!
This heard-rending scene occurred on the 9th of May. These eighty- five Sepoys were made to stand under the guard of European infantry and artillery. All the Indian Sepoys were also ordered to stand by two witnesses the scene. Then the eighty-five patriots were ordered to take off their uniforms were torn away, their arms were snatched off, and all the eighty-five were handcuffed. Those hands which so long held only swords to pierce into the hearts of the enemy, such martial hands were now loaded with handcuffs! This sight inflamed the hearts of all the Sepoys present; but, seeing the artillery on the other side, they did not draw their swords then and there. Then the eighty-five Sepoys were told that they were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for ten years, and these religious martyrs were
4 Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, page 52.
hurried away to their prisons, bending under the heavy prisoners’ chains! What sign their compatriots made to these religious martyrs at the time, the future will soon unfold. This sign must have encouraged them! We will destroy the foreign slavery, under which to refuse cartridges mixed with the blood of cows and pigs is an offence punishable with ten years’ hard labour! We will soon break not only the chains tightening round your legs but also the chains of slavery riveted for one hundred years round the feet of our dear Motherland! This must have been the meaning of the sign that they made.
This was in the morning. The Sepoys could not possibly control themselves any longer. They returned to their barracks, smarting inwardly under the insult and shame of seeing their brethren being imprisoned by foreigners for what was nothing more than an act of self- respect in defence of their religion. When they strolled out in the bazaars, the womenfold of the town said to them scornfully, “Your brothers are in prison, and you are lounging about here filling flies! Fie upon your life!“5 How could they, already chafing under injury, hear women taunting them so in the open street, and still remain doing nothing? All over the lines that night there was a number of secret meetings of the Sepoys. Were they to wait now till the 31st of May ? Were they to sit like dummies, while their compatriots were rotting in prisons? Were they going to wait till others rose, when even the women and children of the town were calling them traitors in the streets? The 31st was yet very far off, and were they to remain till then under the banner of the Feringhis? No, no. To-morrow is Sunday, and before the run of to-morrow sets, the chains of these patriots must be smashed, the chains of the Motherland must be smashed, and the banner of Independence must wave forth! Immediately messengers were sent to Delhi, “We will be there on the 11th or the 12th, keep everything ready.”6
5 J.C.Wilson.
6 Red Pamphlet. Sunday dawned on the 10th of May. The English has so little information about the secret preparations of 1857, that they had no idea about the meetings of the Sepoys at Meerut, much less of their communications with other Sepoys. They began their day with the usual peaceful pursuits. Horse-carriages, cold appliances, fragrant flowers, airing, music and singing, all was going on in full swing. The servants in a few Englishmen’s houses suddenly left their services, but this did not cause more than a moment’s surprise. But here in the Sepoy’s camp the point was being debated, whether there should be a general massacre or not. The 20th regiment said that, when the English were in church, they should rise with the shout of “Har, Har, Mahadev!” and massacre all the English, civil and military, men and women, on the way to Delhi. This plan was agreed upon at last. At that time, the church bells began to toll in the air. The Englishmen with their wives were strolling towards the church. Meanwhile in the town of Meerut, thousands of people even from the villages, were gathering together with old and broken weapons! The citizens of Meerut also prepared themselves for the country’s cause. Still the English had not any serious information about this! At five o’clock, the bells were tolling for prayer – only it was the last prayer of the Englishmen before they were despatched to give an account of their sins! There, in the Sepoy lines, however, the air resounded to the fierce shout “Maro Feringhiko!” - “Kill the foreigner!”
At first hundreds of horsemen galloped towards the prisons to free their compatriots. The jailors, also, being members of the revolutionary party, left the prison and joined their brethren, when they heard the cry, “Maro Feringhiko!” In a moment, the walls of the prisons were razed to the ground! A patriotic blacksmith came forth and smashed the chains of all the prisoners. What a wonderful sight when the liberated prisoners embraced heartily their brethren; their deliverers!Q With a lour war-cry, the heroes roded their horses and marches towards the church along with their brethren, leaving the hated prison behind. In the meantime a company of infantry already started the Revolution. Colonel Finnis of the 11th regiment had approached towards them on horseback and begun to threaten them haughtily in the usual manner. But the Sepoys rushed at him like death. A Sepoy of the 20th regiment emptied his pistol at him, and both the horse and the rider fell dead on the ground. Infantry and artillery, Hindu and Muslim, were thirsting for the blood of the Englishmen! This news spread to the bazaars of Meerut and Meerut was ablaze; and everywhere the Englishman was killed, wherever he was found. The people of the bazaars took swords, lances, sticks, knives, anything in fact that came to hand and were running about in the lanes. All the buildings that were in any way connected with English domination – bungalows, offices, public buildings, hotels – all were burning in a blaze. The very sky of Meerut wore a threatening aspect; there rose clouds of smoke, terrible flames of fire, and confused shouts from the thousand throats; and, above all of them could be heard the terrible cry, “Maro Feringhiko!” As soon as the Revolution began, according to the plan previously agreed upon, the telegraph wires to Delhi were cut and the railway line was strictly guarded. The night being dark, the English who survived were utterly confused. Some hid themselves in stables, some passed the night under trees; some on the third floor of their houses; some in a ditch; some disguised themselves as peasants, while others fell at the feet of their butlers. When darkness was falling, the Sepoys were already marching to Delhi, and it was the townsmen of Meerut that were accompnishing the work of revenge for the wrongs and oppressions of a century. The hatred towards the English was to violent that stone houses where they resided, which could not be burnt, were pounded down! The bungalow of Commissioner Greathed was set fire to. He was still hiding inside. The rumour went about that the people of Meerut had risen in arms and surroundedd his bungalow. Then the Commissioner fell at the feet of his butler and implored hi form his and his family’s life. The butler gave the mob a ruse and led them away, and the Commissioner fled away from the crumbling bungalow. The mob dragged Mrs. Chambers out of her bungalow and killed her with knives. Captain Craigie clothed his wife and children in horse clothes to disguise their colour, and hid them all night in an old demolished temple. Dr.Christie and Veterinary surgeon Phillips were battered to death. Captain Taylor, Captain MacDonald, and Lieutenant Henderson were hotly pursued and killed.
Many women and children died in the burning houses. As more and more English blood was spilled, the terrible cry of the Revolutionaries and their spirit became more and more violent. Passersby began to kick about English corpses! If in the middle somebody showed pity in striking down the English, thousands of men used to run there crying, “Maro Feringhiko!” They would point to the mark of the handcuffs round the wrist of any lately manacled Sepoy present in the company and would shout, “We must revenge this!” Then swords flashed out without any thought of mercy.
Meerut was about the last place where the Revolution should have started in the natural course of events. There were only two Sepoy regiments of infantry and one of cavalry, while there was a complete riflemen battalion and a regiment of dragoons of Europeans there. Besides, the whole of the artillery was in the hands of the Europeans. Under these circumstances, the Sepoys had no chance of success. Therefore was it that, immediately after the rising , the Sepoys went away towards Delhi, leaving the work of revenge to the townsmen of Meerut. It was very easy to have stopped the Sepoys on the way and to have crushed them. But even English historians are ashamed of the cowardice, mismanagement, and want of foresight among the civil and military officers there. Colonel Smyth of the Indian cavalry ran away to save his life when he heard that his regiment had risen against the English. When the chief officer of the artillery was getting his guns ready and parading them, the Sepoys were already on the way to Delhi. Even then, the English army, instead of following them, remained inactive all right, as if cowed down. To tell the truth, when Meerut rose, the English were absolutely dumbfounded. They could not form any idea of this unprecedented and sudden rising till the next day! On the other hand, the Sepoys had a clear programme before them. It was this : to rise immediately, to release the prisoners, and massacre the English. Either the English were frightened at the sudden rising or the citizens of Meerut, plundering and burning on all sides, made it impossible for the English to seed where the real rising was. When they would be busy taking their bearings, the Sepoys were to have marched towards Delhi. This march towards Delhi was a very cleverly organised plan.
There is not the least doubt that the leaders of the Secret Society showed unexampled skill in taking hold of Delhi at the first heat, thus making the Rising only national in a moment, and destroying the prestige of the English. And the plan was as quickly executed as it was cleverly arranged. Before the English got news of the rising, the telegraph wires between Meerut and Delhi were cut, the road was guarded, the patriotic heroes were liberated from prison, the blood of English despots was flowing on the ground, and two thousand Sepoys, with their drawn swords wet with English blood, raised the significant cry of, “To Delhi, to Delhi!”