AFTER thus stemming the fierce tide of Tatia’s progress at Cawnpore, Sir Colin started reconquering the other portions of the country that had risen. Seaton had been marching slowly, ‘paficying’ provionces on the way, and had now come down to Aligarh. So now Walpole was sent by Kalpi road to accomplish the same task for all the territory from Aligarh to Cawnpore. Walpole was to march upwards from Cawnpore and Seaton was to go downwards from Aligarh; they were to meet at Minpuri; and, thus, all the tract of the Doab along the Jumna was to be reconquered. While this was being done, Sir Colin was to march towards Fatehgarh from Cawnpore. Such was the plan of operations. It was thought that the Doab Revolutionaries would be pressed back by the English army and would eventually enter Fatehgrah. And hence it was decided that the closing finale of the operations should be conducted and a great battle should be fought near Fatehgarh, where the three armies of Walpole, Seaton, and Campbell were to meet after the close of their individual operations.
According to this plan, on the 18th of December, Walpole, with all his guns and his army, began his upward march from Cawnpore on the Kalpi road. After fighting one or two skirmishes with scattered Revolutionary bands all along the way, wreaking cruel vengeance - the well- known and customary Feringhi vengeance - on all persons indiscriminately, innocent people as well as those who actually fought against England, and on the villages which had sheltered the Pandays; and, by such means, trying to bring back the territory under British allegiance, this Walpole came as far as Itawa and, of course, he would have gone further. But, though the
Revolutionaries in Itawa had all left, he had still to stop, with all his army, in that city. What could be the reason of this extraordinary necessity? What could stop this march of the English army? Was it that Revolutionary troops, in large numbers, had attacked him? Or could it be infantry or the cavalry? Or was it by any chance the artillery with the fierce fire playing all round?
No, none of these things were happening in Itawa. Neither the infantry nor the cavalry, nor the fire of the artillery was stopping the English at Itawa. Only twenty or twenty-five Indian heroes are making a stand from youder building. That building has a roof and its walls have holes made in them for fixing the muskets. It is these twenty-five men, standing with a musket in their hand and a burning fire in their heart, that have made the fully-equipped English stop at the door of Itawa. Itawa blocked the passage of the English army notwithstanding the guns and cannon that it carried, because Itawa had not yet received its usual toll due to it as of right. That toll was that everyone who dared enter the threshold of Itawa against its wishes should fight first. The challenge was “Fight first!” These twenty-five men had determined to sell their lives dear, though escape was easy. What battle could be given to these handful of people in this building? If probably they waited for a few minutes, these mad people would come to their senses and make their escape, which was yet open to them - so thought the English. But though they waited long, there seemed no possible chance of the “mutineers” coming to their senses. So, an engagement was at last decided upon. The mere show of the artillery would, it was thought, be sufficient to make them fly. The English, therefore, exhibited their artillery and tried to frighten the Revolutionaries.
But, fear could exist only in the hearts of ordinary mortals. Those who, charmed by the ideal of independence, welcomed death as the only means of achieving the ideal - who could succeed in frightening these? Who fights for victory fears; who bittles for glory, even, may fear; but who could frighten him who fights for death alone? The utmost one can be afraid
of is death! But he who has overstepped those limits and who smiles on death, what could frighten him? What could come in the way of such a man? Not all the thunders and all the lightnings of dread heaven could stop his progress; for his progress is towards death and those elements are only rendering his task easier. He who hopes for death alone has no room for despair. These national heroes of Itawa who courted death in battle with the ardour of a lover for his love, what could frighten them, then?
And so they willingly relinquished all the ways and means of escape they had. They had not the slightest hope of victory and yet they defied the English army and loudly called on them to join battle. That army of the English which did not stop for the ramparts of Delhi nor for the walls of Cawnpore nor for the siege of Lucknow, now had to stop before this insignificant-looking building!
Malleson says: “Few in number, armed only with muskets, they were animated by a spirit fiercer even than the spirit of despair - by a determination to die martyrs to their cause. Walpole reconnoitred the place. It was, for a place to stop an army, insignificant. It would easily be stormed. Yet to storm it in the face of its occupants would cost valuable life and it seemed that easier and less costly means were available. These easy means were at first tried. Hand-grenades were thrown in; an attempt was made to smoke out the occupants with burning straw. But all in vain. Through their loop-holes, the rebels poured in a constant and effective fire on the assailants and, for three hours, kept them at bay. At last, it was resolved to blow up that place. For this purpose, Bourchier, aided by Scatchley of the Engineers, made a mine with a number of his gun cartridges. The explosion of this conferred upon the defenders the martyr’s honours they coveted. It buried them in the ruins.”
The dynamite exploded the building. The highly coveted honour of martyrdom was, thus, gained by these heroes who longed fot it. They died on the spot and were buried in the ruins. And this sacred mausoleum of
Itawa, since that day, has been preaching a silent and terrible sermon, by day and by night, on How to die in defence of a Noble cause!!
Brave Itawa! Glorious for ever! What better, what holier inspiration could one find in the pass of Thermopylae, the ramparts of Breccia, or the stand of De Reuter in the Netherlands! All glory to Itawa! Itawa for ever! When Walpole reached Itawa, Seaton too had passed Aligarh, Kashgunj, and Minpuri, and was engaging in small skirmishes the Revolutionary bands. The two armies met at Minpuri on the 8th of January, 1858. In accordance with their previous plans, the banks of the Jumna, near the Doab, had been reconquered by the British army from Delhi and Meerut as far as Allahabad. Meanwhile, Sir Colin had been marching along the Ganges. He had crushed the Nawab of Fatehgarh and had thus destroyed the last resort of the Doab Revolutionaries, and he was now going towards Fatehgarh from Cawnpore, bent on clearing the territory of the Doab, as far as the Ganges and the Jumna on either side, of the enemy altogether. The Nawab of Farrukabad, as has been already told, had declared his independence at Fatehgarh. The Doab Revolutionaries had flocked into Fatehgarh from all the adjoining parts. Sir Colin had many small engagements with these. As these Revolutionary troops were mostly composed of undisciplined people who had been defeated at Delhi and Cawnpore and had run away from the battle-field in those placed, they used to fly before the English, before the engagements had even begun, just to save their lives. But did they succeed in saving their lives by these dastardly means? Not at all. The English pursued them hard and, at times, would kill 600 or 700, sometimes even a thousand of the fleeing enemy. What a world of difference between the dying of those Itawa heroes and these! And the Nawab of Farukabad had soon to suffer the consequences of this dastardly conduct of these bands. His capital, his forts, and his military supplies fell into the hands of British and all the Revolutionaries were driven across the Ganges and into Rohilkhand. With the military supplies that were captured,
Nadir Khan, the avowed enemy of the British, also fell into their hands. This Nadir Khan had fought the English on several occasions with credit under the flag of Nana Sahib at Cawnpore. As soon as such a formidable opponent fell into their hands, they hanged him. This Nadir Khan, at the point of death, swore a terrible oath “calling upon the people of India to draw their swords and assert their independence by the extermination of the English.“26 This was the burning message delivered with his last dying breath by this glorious patriot, Nadir Khan.
On the 4th of January 1858, at the time when Sir Colin entered Fatehgarh in triumpt, all the Doab and all the country from Benares upwards as far as Meerut had been reconquered by the British. So, now, the question was what was to be the future plan of operations of the British army? The hope of the British, that, when the flames of rebellion had been extinguished in the Doab, the insurrections in other parts would quietly settle down, now proved absolutely futile. Experts in political astrology had prophesied that, within eight days of the fall of Delhi, the “mutiny” would be no more. As a matter of fact, the Revolution did not perish by the fall of Delhi, and all these prophecies had proved false. For the huge mass of the Revolutionary army, so far confined to Delhi, spread tumultuously all over the country like a river overflowing its banks. The troops of Rohilkhand under Bakht Khan, of Neemuch under Veer Singh, and other armies under their various Subahdars, instead of surrendering to the English, continued the war from other parts of the country. Once, right in Delhi itself, there seemed signs of another insurrection of the populace. For, a rumour had spread all over the city that Nana, after his victory at Cawnpore, had marched on to effect the release of the Emperor whom the English had imprisoned. Secret orders were immediately given to the military authorities that, should Nana really come to Delhi, the guards should rush in and shoot down the old Emperor like a rabbit!27 Since the fall of Delhi, the Revolutionaries had become even
26 Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 232. 27 Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 184.
fiercer than before. They did not mind defeat now. The first ebullitions due to their victory had settled down by this time. A stoical calmness had now come over their hearts. Their one thought was that whatever happened they were to go on fighting. Either the Feringhis or they must be exterminated. They had determined, once for all, that, so long as neither of these was accomplished, they would continue the war to the end. They were quarrelling amongst themselves; some, for personal gain, were getting lawless; but to one was willing to give up the fight against the English. And, if ever this determination – never to keep down the sword until either the Feringhi or themselves had become extinct – appeared clearer than ever on the firmly set jaws, the contracted eyebrows, or the stern eye of the Revolutionaries, it was after the defeat in the Doab. Before the Sepoys who were captured in battle were hanged, they were usually questioned by the English why they joined in the war, and the Revolutionaries would answere clearly and sternly, “It is the command of religion that Feringhis should be killed!” And the end? The extermination of the English and of the Sepoys! And then? What God wills, will be done!28
Thus, after the fall of Delhi, the desire of liberty, instead of dying out, took only more fire. And to avenge Delhi, they continued the fight in Lucknow and Bareilley. For when the Doab had fallen to the English, the territories of Ayodhya and Rohilkhand were under the complete control of the Revolutionaries. Therefore,. Sir Colin’s idea was to conquer Rohilkhand first and then to proceed to Lucknow. Lord Canning urged that, once the focus of the operations of the Mutineers, namely Lucknow, was destroyed, the smaller places would surrender easily. In deference, therefore, to the orders of Lord Canning, Sir Colin determined first to attend to Lucknow. As previously agreed, Seaton, Walpole, and the commander-in-
28 “The slaughter of the English is required by our religion. The end will be the destruction of all the Ebglish and all the Sepoys, - and then, God knows!” – Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 242. chief had brought together at Fatehgarh about ten or eleven thousand troops. In all the strategic positions of the Doab, small garrisons were stationed for keeping the province in hand. The army was reinforced by afresh batch of troops sent from Agra. With their larger reinforcements, Sir Colin started from Fatehgarh. English historians thus describe the magnitude of the English Forces at this time: " Onao and Bunni deserts had probably never witnessed such big armies, engineers, artillery, horses, infantry, carriages full of supplies, camp-followers , tents big and small; all arrangements were complete in every particular. Seventeen battalions of infantry (of which fifteen were English), twenty-eight squadrons of cavalry (which included four European regiments), fifty-four light guns, and eighty big guns were included!” Thus, on the 23rd of February 1858, Sir Colin Campbell left Cawnpore, and crossed the Ganges again with such a splendidly equipped and large army in order to punish Lucknow.
Oh Ganga, witness these strong English troops coming to destroy Ayodhya! And, O proud Ayodhya, are you at least now going to humble yourself to the dust frightened by these odds?
Ayodhya must have felt that the crossing of the Ganges by the English was to destroy her. She must have felt for the reduction to dust of her villages and for the destruction of her temples and images by dynamite;29 but not so much for all these things as for the fact that the Nepalese troops of Jung Bahadur were advancing on her. It was this that brought tears to the melancholy eyes of Ayodhya; it was advancing of this army that cast a shadow upon her face. Ayodhya was not a coward to fear the advance of the English army; for, if she had been, she would not have attempted to cast off the hated yoke of England. The very day that Ayodhya drove away from her domain the English authority by force, that very day, she was aware that an English army would soon advance on her; and aware of this, this brave Ayodhya had already stepped forth to the battle, with her 29 Russel’s Diary, page 218. thousand arms. But Ayodhya was not aware that on her would advance the Nepalese army of Jung Bahadur also. That the enemy would try to massacre her, she knew; but she did not know that her friends, her brothers, too, would raise the axe of destruction against her. She was ready to wrestle with the English, but she was ignorant of the shameful fact that she would have to wage war with a portion of Hindusthan herself, for the liberty of Hindusthan. And, thus, when, as if to mock at poor Ayodhya, Jung Bahadur started with the Nepalese troops to advance on her, Ayodhya looked in the direction of those troops only and began to shed tears of grief. For, atr the very time when the huge British army was crossing the Ganges with Sir Colin at the head, Jung Bahadur too with the Nepalese was advancing on Lucknow to help his friends, the English! The English were his friends and the Hindusthanees were his enemies! Those who greased the cartridges with the fact of the cow were his confederates, and those who refused to bite them were his enemies! This Jung Bahadur, this blot on Indian history, brought eternal disgrace on himself and his family by joining the English as soon as he heard that the fight for Swaraj had begun. A little before 1857 he had visited England, and English historians assert that it was because he had seen with his own eyes the might and the glory of the English that he did not dare to fight against them! Was the glory and might of England indeed so awe-inspiring? If Jung Bahadur had been to England, Azimullah, the minister of Nana, too had been there; and so, also, Rango Bapuji; and history clearly records how this might have affected them, and how for every indication of that power, they only formed a fresh resolve to shatter it to pieces. The might of England alone would not explain the conduct of Jung Bahadur. The English glory only gave an additional stimulus to the patriotic hearts of Azimullah and Rango to make their Mother-Country a crowned queen with the tilaka of Independence adorning her brow. On the other hand, the sight of English power whispered to snake- like Treachery that, if it helped to keep the Mother a slave of this might, perhaps two more crumbs would fall to its lot. And this Jung Bahadur, ready to sell his Mother for a mess of potage, sent his Nepalese to the English. First, three thousand Gurkhas from Khatmandu, in the beginning of August 1857, descended on Azimgarh and Jawanpur to the east of Ayodhya. Mahomed Hussein, the leader of the Gorakhpur Revolutionaries, was ready to meet them on the field. When the English were fighting in the Doab, Veni Madhav, Mahomed Hussein, and Raja Nadir Khan had, with credit to themselves, reconquered completely the parts round Benares and to the east by Ayodhya. Even before the English troops had time to look to Oudh, the Nepalese had pressed back the Revolutionaries towards Outh. Within a few more days, Jung Bahadur and the British came to a definite agreement and three armies were ready to advance on this province. On the 23rd of December 1857, Jung Bahadur and Rowcroft started each with a large division of the British army. And, crushing the Revolutionary armies on the way, on the north of Benares and to the east of Oudh, these three armies began to enter Oudh. About the 25th of February, 1858, the Nepalese and the English crossed the Ghogra and marched toward Ambarpur. On the way, there was a strong fort in a very thick jungle, possessing great strategic advantages. It would not have been safe for the English Army to proceed onwards without taking this fort. Hence the Nepalese were directed to attack this fort. The fort engaged in fight and continued it very vigorously in the face of this well- equipped enemy. The reader may inquire the strength of the army inside the fort which dared to stop this huge army on its way. It was an army composed of thirty-four persons only! But the minds of all of them were filled with the inspiring ideal of independence and it is this which gave them the strength to fight the enemies of the country in spite of such odds The Nepalese fought with determination. Their opponents fought with still greater vigour. Patgriotisn maintained its fight with Treachery. Everyone kept and maintained his place fighting, struggling hard. The name Ambarpur (Heavenly City) was eminently fitting to this fort; Ambarpur fought so well that it killed seven of the enemy and wounded forty-three. It fought so well that thirty-three out of the thirty-four who defended it, were killed without moving from their posts, and still the thirty-fourth did not cease from the fight! And it was only when the thirty-fourth was killed, after maintaining the fight to the very end, that the enemy could enter the fort. The fort of Ambarpur fought as Delhi could not fight, as Lucknow could not fight!30 After Ambarpur had been taken, the united forces of the Gurkhas and the English marched on reducing the country all the way. After them was also coming General Franks who, after engaging with Nazim Mahomed Hussain Franks who, after engaging with Nazim Mahomed Hussein and Commander Banda Hussein at Sultanpur, Budayan, and other places, was advancing upwards Oudh. In order to repair the loss of prestige caused by the recent defeats and to regain the authority till refently maintained in that part of eastern Oudh, the Lucknow Durbar sent Gafoor Beg, who was chief of the artillery under Wajid Ali Shah, to drive back Franks. But in the important battle of Sultanpur which took place on the 3rd of February he was defeated and, at the end of that month, there was no enemy left for the army of General Franks to encounter with in those parts. All these armies were approaching Lucknow to joinSir Colin. General Franks turned towards Daurara with the intention of taking the fort there; but, as the defenders of the fort maintained the fight in spite of the loss of their guns, General Franks had to acknowledge his defeat and retire. As a matter of fact, Franks had engaged in many a battle and been successful in most; nor could any harm have come through this small and unexpected defeat. But discipline and responsibility were maintained so well and vigorously in the English army at that time that, in spite of the innumerable victories of Franks, Sir Colin struck his name out from the list 30 “It was defended with so much vigour and resolution that the assailants lost seven men killed and forty-three wounded before they gained possession of it. The defendants died all at their posts.” - Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. IV, page 227. of the officers who were to command the English divisions in the important battle that was soon to take place. Now, the several portions of the British army advancing on Lucknow began to approach nearer and nearer to one another. While Sir Colin’s huge army starting from Cawnpore was approaching from the west, the armies of Franks and Jung Bahadur were advancing from the east. Before the 11th of March, these two armies met together and their swords were out to massacre the “sinful” city. Sinful? Not sinful but only unfortunate! While the swords of fellow-countrymen and foreigners were smiting hard, was Lucknow doing anything to meet them? Since the time - in November of the previous year - when Sir Colin hurried towards Cawnpore to watch Tatia’s movements, till March, every patriot who was in Lucknow was trying his best, each in his own way, to protect Lucknow, and destroy the enemy. In honour of the flag of Swaraj which was floating high in Lucknow, everyone, from the Rajas to the poverty-stricken peasants, took his life in his hands and began the fight. Some of these Rajas and Zemindars had personally and individually lost nothing by the advent of English rule; nay, some of them had actually been benefited by it. But the noble principle that what cannot benefit the country cannot in the end benefit individuals, the noble determination not to give up duty at any time through love of personal gain, the Rajpur feeling that death is preferable to loss of honour, and the realisation of the truth that there can be no self-respect, no manhood, without liberty - all these noble ideas filled and pervaded the aristocracy of Lucknow. The Zemindars of Lucknow did not rise merely because they had suffered through the revenue assessment of the English but because they hated foreign rule! This is not merely our opinion but the deliberate opinion of the then Governor-General, as will be seen from the following extracts : “You seem to think that the Rajas and Zemindars of Oudh have risen because they have personally suffered by our land-revenue assessment. But, in the opinion of the Governor- General, this requires some more thought. More thorough-going hatred could hardly have been shown by any feudatories than was shown by the Rajas of Chanda, Bhinja, and Gonda. Not a single village of the first of these had been taken by us. Not only that but even his tribute had been reduced. The second one also was treated as generously. Of the four hundred villages of the third, only three had been taken and, in exchange for that, his tribute had been reduced by ten thousand Rupees. “By the change of rulers, no one had gained more than the youthful Raja of Nowpara. As soon as the English government came in, we gave him one thousand villages and, setting asided all other claimants, we appointed his mother as his guardian. But from the first, her army has been fighting us at Lucknow. The Raja of Dhura, too, gained enormously by the changes. But his own men attacked Captain Hursey, captured his wife, and sent her to prison in Lucknow. “Ashraf Baksh Khan, the Talukdar persecuted by his late master, was made at once sole owner of all his property. But from the beginning, his hatred of us has been most keen. These and other similar examples go to show very clearly that not mere personal loss, due to our rule, has been responsible for the rising of the Zemindars and Rajas against us.“31 And so the English historian, Holmes, frankly admits that several of the Rajas and Zemindars who had begun and maintained the War of Independence were inspired by a nobler idea than mere personal gain. “There were numerous Rajas and petty chiefs who, without any substantial grievance to brood over, were always fretting against the restraints of the Government, the very existence of which was always reminding them of the fact that they belonged to a conquered nation Among all these millions, there was no real loyalty towards the alien government which had been forced to impose itself upon them. In trying to estimate the conduct of the 31 Lord Canning’s Reply to the letter of Sir James Outram. (Re-translated from the Marathi translation in the original). people of India during the mutiny, it is important to bear in mind that it would have been unnatural for them to feel towards an alien government like ours, the loyalty that can only co-exist with patriotism. Those of them who regarded our rule beneficial helped us or, at least, left us free to help ourselves. But there was not one of them who would not have turned against us, if he had once come to believe that we would be overthrown!“32 Those who blood boiled at the very name of foreign domination, those who had stepped forth into the battle field leaving their all to unfurl the honoured flag of Swaraj, Rajas, Maharahas, Zemindars, and Talukdars had, be it remembered, one amongst them, at this time, who was the first in the field to protect the revered throne of Lucknow and who was, at the same time, the ablest in the council. This extraordinary man had been for four months moving here and there with lightning-like activity, inspiring by his presence both the battle-field and the council-hall. Readers, this hero is none other than the Patriot of Fyzabad, Ahmad Shah Moulvie! With the burning torch of the Revolutionary War in his hand, he had been setting the whole country aflame, when the English authorities at Lucknow captured him and ordered him to be hanged. But, before being executed, he was taken to the prison at Fyzabad and there the storm of 1857 raised him from his cell in the alien’s prison to the leadership of the Revolution. This national hero, Ahmad Shah Moulvie, was on the battlefield for the freedom of his country and the protection of his Dharma. He inspired by his tongue thousands of his countrymen on the platform and, on the field of battle, by his valour he earned the admiration of friends as well as foes. When Sir Colin went to fight with Tatia, he had left Outram, in Alam Bagh with four thousand troops. Since that day, the Moulvie was working day and night to take advantage of this weakening of the enemy’s 32 Sepoy War by Holmes. (Re-translated from the Marathi Translation in the original). forces. Many a time, ere this, had Lucknow been protected by the diplomacy and diversions created by Nana near Cawnpore. The isolated army at Lucknow had been brought under the complete control of the Pandays. When the British army crossed the Ganges to capture Lucknow, Nana had pressed on Cawnpore and dragged the forces of the enemy back into Doab. But Lucknow had not taken full and determined advantage of this diversion. The Moulvie tried his best not to let go the other chance which had fallen in his way through the ability of Tatia. Though the Begum of Oudh was the chief authority in the place, it seemed that her efforts could not succeed in uniting and concentrating the Revolutionaries, Rajas, and Maharajas; internal disorganisation and carelessness had rendered useless many fine opportunities of destroying the handful of the British army by a good determined charge. Delhi had fallen; Cawnpore, also, had fallen; Fatehgarh had shared the same fat; and thousands of defeated Revolutionaries from the neighbouring parts had come to Lucknow. But, instead of helping Oudh, they became a source of mischief by disobedience to authority. It appeared certain that this last attack of the British who were flushed with their victories and well reinforced by numberless new troops would carry everything before them. But the Moulvie turned darkness into light. This patriotic Moulvie inspired with high patriotism many an Indian heart by his eloquence and the force of his personality. He showed that it was possible still to beat the English, if attempts were made to act with one mind and make concentrated charges against them. He inspired the Durbar with the confidence that he possessed and evoked some order out of the chaos in the army. He had great difficulties to cope with. Some incapables grew jealous of his growing influence in the Durbar and so brought about his arrest and imprisonment. But as the Moulvie had more influence over the Sepoys than the Begum herself, and as, further, the troops from Delhi trusted and obeyed him implicitly, pressure was brought to bear upon the Begum by these people and the Moulvie was released and his influence restored. After he was released, he was asked his opinion about the military situation. He replied, “The auspicious moment has passed. Things are out of joint. Now, we should fight only because it is our duty.” His influence over the populace of Lucknow was as great as ever. And he ended the petty quarrels amongst the troops and created in their minds a fresh inspiration and enthusiasm and desire to take up their swords for the destruction of the enemy knocking at their gates. But he did not stop with this activity alone. Very often he himself would personally lead them to the battles. Whenever Hindusthanees attacked Alam Bagh, the Moulvie was always to be seen in the very forefront of battle. On the 22nd of December, he had made a clever plan of deceiving the English army at Alam Bagh and hemming them in. He gave the slip to the English and marches on the road to Cawnpore with his troops. He had given orders that, as soon as he was behind the English army, a charge was to be made against the front of the English army by the division of the Revolutionaries that was at Alam Bagh. The plan was admirable and bound to have succeeded but for the other division. The leader of the other division could not maintain discipline among his followers. Everyone wanted to go by his own counsel, conscious of his own wisdom and, before the first charge had even commenced, they turned their back on the enemy instead of meeting the charge. On account of such cowardice and want of discipline, the Revolutionaries were defeated even though the Moulvie had carried out his part of the scheme most admirably. But the Moulview did not cease in his attempts to destroy the English army. On the 15th of January, the Revolutionaries received news that the English army was advancing from Cawnpore, carrying provisions and help to the British troops at Alam Bagh. They began to discuss the best means of stopping those supplies. But only discussions went on. No scheme was decided on, no arrangement adopted. Disgusted at the cowardice of the rest, the noble Moulvie swore before all that he would enter Lucknow right through the British army after having captured the convoy of the enemy. With this resolve, keeping his movements as far as possible concealed from the enemy, the Moulvie marched with his men on to the road towards Cawnpore. But through Indian spies, Outram was already informed of this and he had already sent a party to attack the Moulvie’s men. The battle began. The Moulvie, in order to encourage his men to do their utmost, himself fought in the front and did his very best. In the course of the engagement he was shot in the hand and fell down. The English had been most anxious for a long time to capture him. But the Revolutionaries skilfully placed him in a doli and brought him to Lucknow in great haste. When it was known that the Moulvie had been wounded, everybody was anxious about his condition. But they felt that the best way of showing their regard and respect for him was to complete the work that he had begun; and, therefore, without a moment’s rest, Videhi Hanuman - a brave Brahmin - started on the 17th of January and made a desperate charge on the English troops. From ten in the morning to six in the evening, this brave man was fighting in the front ranks. In the evening, however, he was dangerously wounded and captured. The Revolutionaries were disorganised and ran away completely routed. These defeats increased the disorganisation in the Revolutionary camp. Charaterless Sepoys demanded pay before fighting. Though their pay had been given them in advance, they demanded more before they would consent to take the field. That the resolute, daring, and capable Begum still maintained, in spite of all these disorders, the whole administration intact is a sure indication of her grit.33 While these defeats 33 Sir W.Russell says about this Begum : “The great bulk of the Sepoy army is supposed to be inside Lucknow, but they will not fight as well as the match-lock-men of Oudh who have followed their chiefs to maintain the cause of their young king, Birjis Kadir, and who may be fairly regarded as engaged in a patriotic war for their country and their sovereign. The Sepoys during the siege of the Residency never came on as boldly as the Zemindari levies and Nujeibs. The Begum exhibits great energy and ability. She has excited all Oudh to take up the interests of her son and the chiefs have sworn to be faithful to him. We effect to disbelieve his legitimacy but the Zemindars who ought to be better judges of the fact accept Birjis Kadir without hesitation. Will Government treat these men as rebels or as honourable enemies? The Begum declares undying war against us. It appears from the energetic characters of these Ranees and were following one upon another, the chief minister of revenue of the Begum, Raja Balkrishna Singh, died. Hardly was his would healed when the Moulvie again rushed into the field – on the 15th of February. He was anxious to finish Outram before Sir Colin was able to return from Cawnpore. But, day by day, the cowardice of the Sepoys was increasing beyond measure. All the Moulvie’s efforts were thus baffled and, on that day too, the Revolutionaries were defeated. But he went on fighting still. Amazed at the bravery of this man, the historian Holmes records in his book; “If however, the mass of the rebels were cowards, their leader was a man fitted both by his spirit and his capacity to support a great cause and to command a great army. This was Ammadullah – the Moulvie of Fyzabad.”9 All those who were fighting with the incomporable strength of calm philosophy fought bravely. The brave Subahdar of the 60th regiment swore to drive away the English from Alam Bagh in eight days and worked hard in the field to effecthis purpose. One day, the Begum herself came on the field with all the army. But the unfortunate Lucknow could not get any victory. At last, Sir Colin joined the English troops before Alam Bagh. The English were straining every nerve to take Lucknow. But despite their innumerable attacks, that town had proudly stood so far under the flag of Swaraj. But now the English had determined not to move without taking it. As the English had concentrated all their forces at this place, so the Revolutionaries, too, were straining every nerve to give a good fight. All the fighting force of Oudh was there. From every village and every field came the patriotic rural population, with determination to drive away the Feringhis or die in the attempt. Charles Ball writes, “The whole country was swarming with armed vagabonds hastening to Lucknow to meet their Begums that they acquire in their Zenanas and harems a considerable amount of actual mental power and, at all events, become able intrigantes. Their contests for the ascendency over the minds of men give vigour and acuteness to their intellect.” - Russell’s Diary, page 275. common doom and die in the last grant struggle with the Feringhis.“34 There were thirty thousand Sepoys and fifty thousand volunteers gathered together in that city. All those who had taken the oath before the Revolutionary war, all those who had eaten the chapatee, all those who had smelt the red lotus flower, all those to whom had come the sacred messenger of the Revolution, all these patriots swarmed into Lucknow armed to the teeth with the object of fighting for their country and for their king. At least eighty thousand men were armed in that city.35 In street and lane, barricades and entrenchments were erected; houses had ramparts made and holes bored in the walls for muskets or guns to be mounted; heroic spirits were posted on very wall; to the east, large canals were dug from the Gautami river and guns were stationed to command them; huge ramparts, three in one row, were erected right from Dilkhwush Bagh to Kaisar Bagh; the palace itself was reinforced with armed Sepoys and mounted with guns. In short, all parts except the northern portion of the city were fortified admirably by the Revolutionaries. Sir Colin recognised the weakness of the northern side and, from this very side, he began the attack. Before this, neither Havelock, nor Outram, nor Colin himself had attacked Lucknow from that side and, as the Gautami was on that side, the Revolutionaries naturally thought that the north needed no protection. But Outram took full advantage of this weak link to the chain of their defences and, as this point gave way under the charge of Outram, the other defences were rendered useless. On the 6th of March, the British began their operations on the north of Lucknow. Soon after, the troops under Sir Colin had increased to nearly thirty thousand, and 34 Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, p. 241. 35 How the imagination is relied upon in giving the exaggerated numbers of the Revolutionaries will be best seen from the following example. Sir Hope Grant says that there were “thirty thousand Sepoys and fifty thousand volunteers” at Lucknow. Colonel Maleson records : “The total army of the mutineers was one hundred and twenty-one thousand;” and the civil commissioner who accompanied Sir Colin says : “Their army was exactly two lakhs.” Poor Holmes is simply bewildered at these amazing contradictions. so the English attacked simultaneously from the north and the east. Sir Colin had so divided his army that not a single Revolutionary should escape alive from Lucknow. Though all the plans of the Pandays had been upset on account of the attack on the quarter least expected, namely, the northern side, they carried on their struggle, day and night frim the 6th to the 15th of March. For the third time in a single year, blood flowed freely in this unfortunate city. The British troops stormed one fort after another - Dilkhwush Bagh, Kadam Rasool, Shah Najeef, Begum Kothi, and others - and continued their advance. On the 10th, Hodson was killed by the Revolutionaries. It was this man that had shot down in cold blood the surrendered, innocent, unarmed Mughal princes of Delhi. Lucknow then avenged Delhi by killing this wicked criminal. On the 14th the British army entered right into the Palace. Giving a description of this triumph, Malleson writes : “Its greatness and magnificence were due mainly to the Sikhs and the 10th foot!” But, while Sir Colin was overjoyed at this unique triumph in Kaisar Bagh, the news from Outram’s side disconcerted him not a little. For, though Lucknow had fallen, its thousands of Revolutionaries did not surrender or give up the fight; but, with their King and with the resourceful Begum, they had broken through the troops which tried to hem them in. And while, in Lucknow, streams of blood are flowing profusely on every side, while the triumphant British army is looting the palace, secure from danger, and while the Queen-mother and the King have left Lucknow, where, the reader asks, is Ahmad Shah? Let everyone bow down his head to do honour to this hero of heroes! The proud Moulvie is making his entrance again into the city, with his handful of followers. His proud heart hates like poison the idea that Lucknow should fall, and that right in Lucknow English bayonets should cause bloodshed; he wants that, though Lucknow should fall, its name should not lie low; and so he leaves his post outside the city - and, while the Feringhis are laughing and joking and talking in the streets of Lucknow, attempts an entry into Lucknow! Annoyed by insults offered to his king, careless of his life, mad with devotion to his country, this Ahmad Shah Moulvie, only in order that history should record that Lucknow did not fall without a glorious fighting, entered a small part of the town, known as Shahdat Ganj, and there began to fight the enemy with his handful of followers. As Mazzini had clung to Rome, all alone, though the enemy had entered it and taken complete possession of it, so this Moulvie too, when all the other Revolutionaries had left Lucknow, when thousands of British troops were in it, continued the fight with the strength that despair gives! He thrust his hand right into the jaws of this Feringhi serpent, for it had swallowed Lucknow, and he wanted to snatch it back! Malleson writes : “Something remained to be effected even in the city itself. The Moulvie, the most obstinate of the rebel leaders, had returned to Lucknow; he was still there, at Shahdat Ganj, in its very heart, occupying, with two guns, a strongly fortified building whence he bade defiance to the British. To dislodge him, Lugard was detached, on the 21st , with a portion of the division which had conquered the Begum Kothi, the first day of the attack. The troops employed were the 93rd Highlanders and the 4th Panjab Rifles. Seldom did the rebels display so much pertinacity and resolution as on this occasion. They defended themselves most bravely and were not driven out until they had killed several men and severely wounded many others on our side.“36 When the heroic impulse of this struggle and those who carried it on had calmed down, they left that the flag of Swaraj for which they were fighting, was no more at Lucknow but that it was awaiting their uplifted swords in the wilds of Hindusthan. So, they moved away from the building. The enemy pursued them for six miles. But the Moulview again effected his escape. 36 Kaye and Malleson, Vol. IV, page 286 That was the last fight of Lucknow! Now, Lucknow had completely fallen into the hands of the English. One must really dip one’s pen in blood to write the history of the vengeance that they wreaked on Lucknow! How the palace and the city were looted, how the citizens were massacred wholesale, how even dead bodies were insulted is a sad, sad story to tell. If, while reading the description of the atrocities given by men like Russell, we bear in mind that this description is given by Englishmen, we would be able to have some faint notion of the terrible vengeance that was taken by the English. How different was the conduct of the Revolutionaries! We give below two extracts, both from English writers, so that the reader might judge for himself the difference between Indian and English vengeance. In the prisons at Lucknow, there were several English women and officers. For six months, their lives were spared. But when the English army entered the city at the first onslaught of Sir Colin, massacring all - innocent and guilty alike, the angered Revolutionaries went to the palace and wanted to take vengeance on some of the English prisoners. Accordingly, Lieutenant Orr, Sir Mount Stuart, and five or six other Englishmen were given over and they were immeidately shot down. But when they insisted that the English women-prisoners also should be killed, “to the honour of womanhood, the demand was imperatively refused by the Begum so far as the females were concerned, and they were immediately taken under her care in the Zenana of the palace.“37 We give below, for comparison and contrast, one or two examples of the vengeance of the English. These have been given by Russell himself, the famous correspodent of the London Times. “While the massacre was going on in the palace, a frightened child was leading an old man. The old man came before the English authorities and, prostrating himself before them, asked that their lives should be spared. As if in answer to this wailing 37 Charles Ball’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 94. request the English officer took out his pistol and shot him on the temple! Again, he pressed the trigger but the shot missed. He pressed again but the shot again refused to kill the innocent boy. The fourth time – thrice he had time to repent – the gallant officer succeeded and the boy’s life-blood flowed at his feet!”38 This incident has came out, because there was someone who would write about it. Many an other incident has not come to light, because there was no pen to record these. These atrocities were going on to such an extent that distinctions were actually drawn up between a merciful death and a cruel death! A murder, such as the one above, was a merciful death. The cruel death which rendered even cold-blooded murder merciful meant something like the following : “Some of the Sepoys were still alive and they were mercifully killed; but one of their number was dragged out to the sandy plain outside the house; he was pulled by his legs to a convenient place, where he was held down, pricked in the face and body by the bayonets of some of the soldiery, while others collected fuel for a small pyre; and when everything was ready - the man was roasted alive! These were Englishmen, and more than one officer saw it; no one offered to interfere! The horrors of this infernal cruelty were aggravated by the attempt of the miserable wretch to escape when half-burned to death. By a sudden effort he leaped away and, with the flesh of his body handing from his bones, ran for a few yards ere he was caught, brought back, put on the fire again, and held there by bayonets, till his remains were consumed!“39
Delhi has fallen. Lucknow, too, has fallen. But the War of Independence did not flag. Seeing this unexpected result, the English were 38 Russell’s Diary, page 384. 39 Russell’s Diary, page 302. convinced fully that they had made a mistake in imagining that this Revolution was caused by the Sepoys and only for one or two grievances. This was no mutiny, it was a War of Independence! One or two grievances are not responsible for this rising, but political slavery, the source of all the innumerable grievances suffered - that along was the cause. The selfishness of personal gain lay not at its root, but the sacred flame of liberty, the glorious ideal of Swaraj and Swadharma, it is these that were burning there. Not only had the Sepoy risen to give his life’s blood with almost selfish eagerness to this sacred principles of Liberty, but the whole civil population all over the country, from villages as much as from towns, had also risen. Without that, this strength, this resolution, this selfishness, this grit would not have been displayed. For, Lord Canning had now issued a proclamation that those who would join the Revolution thereafter would see their lands and estates.confiscated, while those who surrendered at once would be forgiven. Yet the Revolutionary would not lay down his sword. Still Oudh persisted in her fight. Lucknow had fallen. But, Sepoy and shopkeeper, Brahmin and Moulvie, Rajas, Zemindars, and Talukdars, villagers and agriculturists – all Oudh was still making a rush forward! Dr.Duff writes about this terrible popular rising: “Why, if it had been a merely military mutiny, in the midst of an unsympathetic, unaiding population, a few decisive victories, such as we have already had, might quash it or, as the phrase goes, stamp it out. But so far frombeing quashed or stamped out, it seems still as rampant and in some respects, more wide-spread and formidable than ever. And, it is a fact that it is not a mere military revolt, but a rebellion - a revolution, which alone can account for the little progress hitherto made in extinguishing it and, at the same time, precludes any reasonable hope of its early suppression. That it is a rebellion, and a rebellion, too, of no recent or mushroom growth, every fresh revelation tends more and more to confirm. And a rebellion, long and deliberately concocted, a rebellion which had been able to carry the Hindu and Mahomedan in an unnatural confederacy, a rebellion which is now manifestly nurtured and sustained by the whole population of Oudh and, directly or indirectly, sympathised with and assisted by well-nigh half of the neighbouring provinces - is not to be put down by a few victories over mutinous Sepoys, however decisive and brilliant. “From the very outset, it has been gradually assuming more and more the character of a rebellion - a rebellion on the part of vast multitudes beyond the Sepoy army, against British supremacy and sovereignty. Out real mutinous Sepoys. Had we only Sepoys for our foes, the country might soon have been pacified. “Never has the enemy been met without being routed, scattered, and his guns taken. But, though constantly beaten, he evermore rallies and appears again, ready for a fresh encounter. No sooner is one city taken or relieved than some other one is threatened. No sooner is one district pronounced safe through the influx of British troops than another is disturbed and convulsed. No sooner is a highway reopened between places of importance than it is again closed and all communication is for a season cut off. No sooner are the mutineers scored out of one locality than they reappear with double or treble force in another locality. No sooner does a moveable column force its way through hostile ranks than these reoccupy the territory behind it. All gaps in the number of the foe seem to be instantaneously filled up and no permanent clearance or impression seems to be made anywhere. The passage of our brave little armies through these swarming myriads, instead of leaving the deep traces of a mighty ploughshare through a roughened field, seems more to resemble that of the eagle through the elastic air or a stately vessel through the unfurrowed ocean!“40 The truth described so picturesquely by Duff was realised by the English only at the end; but every individual of the Panday party had 40 Dr.Duff’s Indian Rebellion, pages 241-243. thoroughly realised it long, long before. Those who died on the field for their country and their king were, of course, giving expression to such thoughts; but, even their women showed an equal determination. When the “brave” English attacked the Zenana of Lucknow, some Zenana ladies fell into their hands. Feringhi soldiers opened fire as soon as the door was forced and some of these ladies were killed! Those who survived were put in prison. Lucknow city was soon razed to the ground. The English were overjoyed at the prospect, as they thought, of the early surrender of the Revolutionaries. The jailors of these Ranees, sharing to the full the general feeling of joy of their compatriots, asked them mockingly, “Do not you think that the struggle has come to an end?” “On the contrary”, replied the Ranees, “we are sure that in the long run you will be beaten.“41 41 Narrative of the Indian Mutiny, page 338. Russell’s Diary, page 400.