Indian First War of Independence 1857: Hindu-Muslim-Sikh Unity, Mass & Women Participation.
HINDU-MUSLIMS UNITY, PARTICIPATION OF COMMON PEOPLE AND WOMEN IN INDIA’S FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE - Shamsul Islam
Hindu- Muslim Unity in India’s First War of Independence
The people of India, especially Hindus and Muslims together, challenged the might of world’s greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which started in May 1857. This unprecedented unity,naturally, unnerved the British rulers or Firangees and made them conscious of the fact that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims were divided on communal lines and urgent steps were taken to create enmity between these two largest religious communities of India. This was the reason, that immediately after crushing militarily, thisFirst War of Independence with the help of spies and stooges, the then minister of Indian Affairs Lord Wood, sitting in London, in a letter to the chief of British rule in India, Lord Elgin, admitted, ‘we have maintained our power in India by playing off one part against the other and we mustcontinue to do so. Do all we can, therefore, to prevent all having a common feeling.’
In order to put this strategy effectively in operation, the White rulers andtheir Indian stooges came out with two-nation theory implying that Hindus and Muslims belonged to two separate nations as they belonged to different religions. The birth of two-nations theory was no accident, in fact, it was specifically designed and created to help the British rulers in creating communal divide and fragmentize the Indian society on the basis of religions as a united India could prove to be the death knell of their rule here.
The memories of the First War of Independence, which the British rulers called ‘Mutiny’, in which Hindus and Muslims fought tooth and nail with great heroism against the rule of East India Company, was too fresh in the memories of the White rulers who saw their unjust rule almost on the brink of collapse. They could succeed only with the use of treachery and deceit,hallmarks of the British imperialism world-over.
One truth, never to be missed, about this Struggle is that it was jointly led by leaders like Nana Sahib, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Maulvi Ahmed Shah,Tantya Tope, Khan Bahadur Khan, Rani Laxmibai, Hazrat Mahal, Azimullah Khan and Ferozshah, a galaxy of revolutionaries who belonged to different religions. It was a liberation struggle in which Maulvis, Pandits, zamindars, peasants, traders, lawyers, servants, women, students and people from different castes, creeds and regions rose in revolt against the dehumanized rule of the East India Company and laid their lives.Today on the eve of 150th anniversary of First War of Independence we needto tell the present flag bearers of Hindu-Muslim brands of communal politicsthat the revolutionary army which declared the Mughal King Bahadur ShahZafar, a Muslim, India’s Independent ruler on 11th May 1857 comprised of more than seventy percent Hindu soldiers. These were Nana Sahib, TantyaTope and Laxmibai, all Hindus, played vital role in making Zafar, Badshah;the King.The contemporary documents of the period which are available even todayare replete with instances, not confined to one particular area, in whichHindus and Muslims could be seen making supreme sacrifices together, least bothered about who was in the lead and who would bear what cost for opposing the British rule. The happenings and facts of the duration of thisFirst War of Independence categorically present one fundamental truth thatHindu-Muslim separatism or hatred between these two communities was notat all a problem to be worried about.We present in the following some of the instances of how Hindus-Muslimsrose in revolt together, making joint sacrifices for a common causeunderlying the fact that this united effort could bring the foreign rule to itsdoom. These are but few of the examples from thousands of happeningswhich remain unsung even today.After independence, the town of Ayodhya has emerged as a place whichcaused the growth of immense hatred between sections of Hindus andMuslims. Babri Masjid-Ram Janmbhoomi dispute at Ayodhya has playedsignificant role in creating an environment of violence and mistrust betweenthe two largest religious communities of India. But in 1857, it was the sameAyodhya where Maulvis and Mahants and common Hindu-Muslims stoodunited in rebelling against the British rule and kissed the hang man’s noosetogether. Maulana Ameer Ali was a famous Maulvi of Ayodhya and when Ayodhya’s well-known Hanuman Garhi’s (Hanuman Temple) priest BabaRamcharan Das took lead in organizing the armed resistance to the Britishrule, Maulana also joined the revolutionary army. In one battle with theBritish and their stooges, both of them were captured and hanged together ona tamarind tree at the Kuber Teela in Ayodhya.
Baba Ramcharan Das and Maulana Ameer Ali were no exception inAyodhya. This region also produced two more great friends, belonging todifferent religions who made life hell for the British sponsored armies.Acchhan Khan and Shambhu Prasad Shukla were two such friends who leadthe army of Raja Devibaksh Singh in the district of Faizabad. Both of themwere able to defeat the Firangee army in many battles, inflicting heavy losses on them. It was due to the treachery again that they were captured. Inorder to desist anyone from such companionships between Hindus andMuslims both these friends were publicly inflicted prolonged torture andtheir heads were cruelly filed off.It is not difficult to understand that why the same Ayodhya where blood of both Hindus and Muslims flowed for liberating the motherland in 1857 later became a permanent source of friction between the two communities. The joint heritage of Ayodhya needed to be erased and only then the BritishIndian Empire could survive. It was meticulously done by the British rulersand the heritage of communal unity at Ayodhya was turned upside down.Kota state (now in Rajasthan) was ruled by a Maharao subservient to theBritish. The leading courtier of this state was, Lala Jaidayal Bhatnagar, agreat literary figure who was equally conversant with Persian, Urdu andEnglish. When it was found that Maharao was collaborating with the Britishhe joined hands with the army chief, Mehrab Khan and established arevolutionary government in the state. When Kota was captured by theBritish forces with the help of stooge neighbouring princes, they together continued fighting in the region till 1859. Betrayed by an informer both werehanged at Kota on September 17, 1860.Hansi town (now in Haryana) presents another heart-warming example of how Muslims and Jains fearlessly challenged the foreign rule and did nothesitate in sacrificing their lives together. In this town lived two closefriends, Hukumchand Jain and Muneer Beg. They were known for literaryworks and love for mathematics and joined the revolt in the earlier phaseitself. The revolutionary government of Bahadurshah Zafar chose them asadvisors and appointed them as commanders in the region of west of Delhiwhich is known as Haryana today. They led many successful militarycampaigns in the area but due to the treachery of rulers of Patiala, Nabha,Kapurthala, Kashmir and Pataudi were defeated in a crucial battle andcaptured. The British were extremely worried and horrified with this kind of unity of the people of two religions that they decided to kill them in a most horrendous and sickening manner. After hanging them on the same tree inHansi on January 19, 1858, Hukumchand Jain was buried and Muneer Begwas cremated against the custom of their respective religions. It was done with the obvious purpose of making fun of the unity of these two revolutionaries belonging to different religions and show hatred towards their comradeship.
Another unspeakable crime committed by the Britishwas that when 13 year old nephew of Hukamchand Jain protested to this treatment he too was hanged, although there was no sentence passed against him. Malwa region in the then Central Province (now Madhya Pradesh) was another war theatre where big and crucial battles were fought against the British hegemony. It was the joint command of Tatia Tope, Rao Saheb,Laxmi Bai, Ferozshah and Moulvi Fazal Haq, a renowned scholar, which was able to mobilize a huge revolutionary army numbering around 70-80thousand fighters. This Indian army led by them won innumerable battles against the British and their henchmen. However, in a crucial battle at Ranodon December 17, 1858, when due to the treachery of stooge princes the revolutionary army led by Tatia Tope, Ferozeshah and himself was encircled Moulvi Fazal Haq stood as a rock in the way of advancing British troops. He and his 480 companions laid down their lives but were able to save the main force which included Tatia Tope, Rao Saheb and Ferozshah. Thus saved by the supreme sacrifice by Moulvi Fazl Haq and his comrades, Tatia Tope continued to wage war till the beginning of 1859 and it was due to the treachery of Man Singh, ruler of Narwar, that the British were able to capture him and subsequently hang him on April 18, 1859. Rao Saheb(Pandurang Sadashiv, nephew of Nana Saheb) too continued to wage the struggle and could be captured only in 1862 betrayed by a Maratha chief in Jammu region. He was later hanged in Kanpur.
Ferozeshah, fought thelongest, was never captured and travelled to west Asia in search of help from Muslim rulers for India’s freedom. Disheartened by their apathy went to Mecca where he died in 1887.Rohilkhand (present day Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Badaun etc) was the areawhich was a strong hold of revolutionaries from the very beginning.Immediately after the announcement of an independent Indian government at Delhi on May 11, 1857, Khan Bahadur Khan was appointed as the viceroyof Mughal emperor there. Khan soon after assuming charge appointed acommittee of eight members consisting both Hindus and Muslims to conductthe affairs of the state. His deputy was Khushi Ram. This government forbade cow-killing in deference to the sentiments of local Hindus as was done in Delhi by the orders of General Bakht, chief commander of the revolutionary army. Khan and Khushi Ram led troops defeated the British and their stooges in many battles but were defeated in a crucial battle at Bareilly after remaining in office for almost a year. They continued with the struggle and withdrew towards Nepal but were captured. Both of them were brought to Bareilly and hanged with hundreds of their followers outside old Kotwali on March 20, 1860.Hindu-Muslim unity during the First Indian War of Independence was not confined to one area or one section of the population. This unity pervaded the whole country at all stratum. It was a ground reality and fact of life with which, naturally, women also did not remain untouched. In a small town,Thana Bhawan, situated in Muzaffar Nagar district (now in western Uttar Pradesh) 11 brave women belonging to different religions and castes were hanged together or burnt alive for taking up arms against the repressiveBritish rule. The names and heroic deeds of some of them are as follows.
Asghari Begum, 45 years old, belonged to a well-to-do family and was burntalive for organizing rebellion in the area. Another revolutionary woman was,28 years old, Asha Devi, who belonged to a Hindu Gujar family and washanged. Another martyred woman was young Bhagwati Devi, born into aTyagi family of farmers who fought in many battles against the Firangee rule. 24 year old, Habeeba, belonging to a Muslim Gujar family, fearlesslyfought in many battles to liberate neighbouring areas from the Britishtyranny. She was captured while resisting a British attack and was executedon gallows in 1857. Another brave woman from this area was named MamKaur who belonged to a family of shepherdess and was hanged at the youngage of 25 years. 26 years old, Umda was another gallant woman from thisarea, born into a Jat Muslim family who sacrificed her life resisting theBritish invasion. Raj Kaur born in 1833, hailed from a Sikh family and madethe supreme sacrifice fighting against the British in Thana Bhawan areaonly.British made it a prestige issue to recapture Delhi (which the revolutionariesgot liberated from the British rule in May 1857 and declared it to be theCapital of an Independent India). They rightly thought that if once they wereable to re-capture Delhi, the centre of anti-British activities, then it wouldnot be difficult to suppress the rising tide of rebellions in other parts of thecountry. During June-September 1857, the British army encircled Delhi withall their might but could not break into Delhi which was valiantly being defended by the revolutionary army, which was mocked by the British as poorabia sena (army of people from eastern India). The majority of thisrevolutionary army consisted of Hindus and was jointly led by MohammedBakht Khan, Singhari Lal, Ghaus Mohammad and Hira Singh, Khan beingthe Commander-in-Chief. The contemporary British documents show thatdespite all their attempts to create communal divide through spies in the cityamong the ranks of revolutionary army and residents of Delhi, the Indians stood as one in defence of their Independent India’s capital.
In order to maintain communal peace and not let the British spies succeed in creatingcommunal conflict amongst Delhites, General Bakht Khan, C-in-C of the revolutionary army issued a proclamation prohibited cow slaughtering in Delhi.What kind of communal amity existed in Delhi under siege and how Hindus-Muslims co-existed with each other in these times of grave crisis would be further known by the following example. In order to enhance the capacity to attack the British positions outside the city walls, a huge canon of Shahjahan’s times which was lying unused was taken out, repaired and madeuseable. It was mounted on the Faseel or boundary wall of Shajahanabad but before firing the first canon, in the presence of Bahadur Shah Zafar andother army officials, Hindu priests performed Aarti, garlanded it and blessedit with Vedic hymns.
William Russell, a well-known war correspondent was sent by The Times, aleading British newspaper published from London to cover the ‘Mutiny.’ In one of his reports dated, March 2, 1858, while describing the strength of therevolutionary army he wrote: ‘There are, it is said, at least 60,000 regulars of all sorts, and about 70,000 nujeebs [irregulars], militia, and matchlockmen.All the great chiefs of Oudh, Mussalman and Hindu, are there, and havesworn to fight for their young king, Birjeis Kuddr [sic], to the last. Their cavalry is numerous, the city is filled with people, the works are continuallystrengthened. All Oudh is in the hands of the enemy, and we only hold the ground we cover with our bayonets.’
Another senior British officer, Thomas Lowe who participated in major British Army's campaigns in the Central India, despite all his hatred for therevolutionaries, had to
admit the fact that ‘the infanticide Rajput, the bigoted Brahmin, the fanatic Mussalman, and the luxury loving, fat-paunchedambitious Maharattah [sic], they all joined together in the cause; the cow-killer and the cow-worshipper, the pig-hater and the pig-eater, the crier of Allah is God and Mohommed [sic] his prophet and the mumbler of themysteries of Brahma.’
Fred Roberts was one of the leading British military commanders who ledthe British army to recapture Lucknow. He later on became the Commander-in-Chief of the British armed forces in India. In one of his letters, from theLucknow front dated Nov 25, 1857, while rejoicing victory on that day atSikander Bagh, Lucknow could not miss out the fact that even in the face of death the rebel army consisting of both Hindus and Muslims did not loseheart and stayed glued to each other. When Fred entered the Sikander Baghhe found nearly 2000 rebels on the ground dead or dying.
I never saw such a sight. They were literally in heaps, and when I went in were a heavingmass, some dead, but most wounded and unable to get up from the crush. How so many got crowded together I can’t understand. You had to walk over them to cross the court. They showed their hatred even while dying,cursed us and said: if we could only stand, we would kill you.
Through out the First War of Independence i.e. 1857-59 every hook and corner of the country is replete with such instances of fearless fighters,supreme sacrifices and strong bond of unity amongst people belonging to different religions. Such glorious instances of unbreakable Hindu-Muslim unity did really happen 150 years back. It can be verified even today by asimple perusal of the contemporary British archives, personal collections,diaries and narrations. Given these realities of history, it is not difficult to understand why a divide between Hindus and Muslims was necessitated,who were instrumental in accomplishing it and who benefited out of this divide. This natural unity between the followers of two largest religions in1857 had greatly alarmed and perturbed the British rulers and they could foresee the end of their imperialist project in India. This danger could only be averted if Hindus and Muslims were made to separate and led to follow opposite directions. The survival of the British Empire in India depended on the successful execution of this strategy. The flag-bearers of the politics of two-nations in the past and communal politics today are the ones who helped the British to execute this evil design. We should never ignore the fact that communalism was a ploy of the British who feared the end of their Empire in India if Hindus and Muslims continually stood united. On the eve of 150th anniversary of the great rebellion, we must rise to take pledge of never betraying the shared heritage and shared martyrdoms of the First Indian War of Independence.
Participation of common people in India's first Independence-struggle
There is no denying the fact that India's First War of Independence actually began on 15th February 1857, when the soldiers of the 19th Native Regiment of East India Company rose in revolt at the Berhampur cantonment in Bengal. The immediate reason for this revolt was the use of cartridges which the soldiers had to bite before using. These were very smooth and the soldiers were confident that this was due to the use of the fat of cows and pigs. British rulers too never gave any explanation regarding that. The religious feelings of Hindu and Muslim soldiers was equally hurt by these cartridges and they collectively initiated a rebellion. To suppress this revolt the British rulers held Mangal Pandey responsible for this and presented him in front of a military court which finally ended in his being hanged to death on 8th April 1857. Mangal Pandey's execution helped spreading the revolt in major parts of the country and most of the cantonments of the company army started protesting. Parallel to this were various kings and Nawabs who announced their independence in various parts of the country. This collective revolt came to a critical point when on10th May 1857, Indian soldiers of Bri8tish Army in Meerut devastated the biggest cantonment of North India and proceeded to Delhi for the establishment of an Independent govt. and were joined by thousands of people on the way. Similar to this, revolutionary soldiers from the NorthIndia's various cantonments and the masses continued marching towards Delhi.Under the leadership of Bahadurshah Zafar, an independent govt. was formed in Delhi, which issued an announcement in the name of country men and called upon for eradication of British rule and put all the energy in this holy work because " if the British continue ruling India, they will leave no one alive". One myth which is being spread about this revolt is that this was a mutiny which occurred due to indiscipline and was short lived due to the support of suppressive and corrupt feudal elements like kings and nawabs who backed indisciplined soldiers. The historians who think on this line believe that this struggle did not enjoy the support of the country's masses.
On the 150thanniversary of this struggle, it is imperative to let the countrymen aware of the facts and evade the myths about it.Firstly, it is imperative to know about the India's first independence struggle(Karl Marx used this terminology first regarding the incidents of 1857) that however this is being termed as the struggle of 1857, it continued for two long years. This was not a sepoy mutiny which erupted at a point and was suppressed in weeks or a few months. Contemporary official documents(specially contemporary government gazetteer) reveal that from Jammu in the North to Hyderabad in the South and from West in Afghanistan to East in Tripura, everywhere the British rule was opposed and protested. The spark which aroused in Meerut and Berhampur spread in the whole country like fire. The last battle in this struggle was fought on 21st Jan 1859 near Sikar in Rajasthan. In this battle, due to some of the treacherous leaders of Rajasthan, Tantya Tope, Rao Sahib and Shahzada Ferozshah's army had to face the defeat although even after this for approximately a year, more battles had been drawn.In this struggle, army men, Zamindars, Rajas, Nawabs, peasants and people from every walk of life, females, intellectuals and laureates fought together.This truth has been written on every page of contemporary documents and memoirs.
John William Kay who was a witness of the incidents occurred between 1857 and 1859 and who had been authorised by the British Government for writing the 'history of mutiny' underlined the most prominent reality that during Revolt "all the blacks were united and agitated against all the whites". In 1857's revolt which was repressed rigorously in which a senior army official Hudson had sent a letter to his officer on 26thJuly 1857 and he gave him the information that British army is facing a situation in which "not only the army of a country but the whole nation was up to the revolution." One more witness of this revolt was William Russell who was a correspondent of the British newspaper The Times, He wrote in one of his coverage for his daily that "here not only our peasants and laborers and slaves have become united but even the Indian j\kings are with them for toping down the British government. This battle has been transformed into a religious, ethnic and national pride issue." One more contemporary British historian Charles Bail has written that 1857 revolution was a "national revolution". Thomas Lowe has also participated in British Army's campaign in Central India. In that area, he describes the position of 'revolutionaries' in his memoirs that "in this battle, Rajput, Brahmans, Muslims and Maratha, those who remembered Khuda and Mohammed and those who worshipped Brahma were all against us". He was the British officer who took part in the most long running campaign against revolutionaries. In his memoirs which published in 1860 from London in the form of a book, has had written that the whole country was agitated and up to the revolution because everywhere there was destruction, demolition and poverty as if the earth was paralyzed and it was running through the doom's day. Whoever had the eyes and ears,rather vision he could not suspect even for a second that we had totally ignored the means of production of this strong country and we had just dumped the worst products of our country in every corner of India. It seems as if we (the British) had just done one thing to destroy the indigenous resources by dumping the Indian market by the British products.
That was the only reason that the whole nation was ready to fight against the foreign rule.Whatever facts and documents are remaining about this great independence struggle in the light of those, it is very hard to neglect this truth that whether the initiators of this revolution were army personnel but it didn't took long to become this a national independence struggle. The most important reason of this was that all the revolutionary soldiers used to come from peasant families and the plight of farmers had naturally affected their thoughts and work. The common people who were trapped in misery, they all became the part and parcel of this revolution and fought to throw the British rule lock,stock and barrel.Even after beginning of the independence struggle, the British found that their Indian bonded labors had suddenly disappeared. Hudson had \written in a letter sent to his wife on 5th June 1857 that "I have repeatedly tried to find a servant but no native wants to work for us. Even as I promised double salary, nobody is ready for being my servant". British historian William Kayhas repeatedly written this truth in his memoirs that "before the revolution started, all the home servants of British had fled away and on many places before their disappearance, they had destroyed the weapons of their British masters." Kay writes about the mutiny of Sialkot (now in Pakistan) that the servants of the British brigadier have acc0ompanied the revolutionaries just a night before the revolution. "They have broken down the weapons, brigadiers, cook and butler participated openly in the armed action of revolutionaries. It seemed as if all the classes of our enemies be it rebellions,Gujjars, nearby peasants and all the servants working in the houses and bungalows of British, they all were having a grand friendship". Fred Robert who played a vital role in suppressing the mutiny of 1857 andlater became the chief of the British army in India, wrote a letter to his mother on 7th September 1857 which was as follows-" all the servants who were in the service of the officers have gone missing. All the indigenous people are same for us. You believe me that people in Punjab hate us equallyas in the other parts of the country." In a letter written from Bulandshahar district on 30th September 1857, Robert stated that the peasants had createdsuch an anarchy in the villages that the British rule has no signs left.One more witness of this struggle Trivilion has written in his memoirs thatthe folk artist like the singers of Alha-Udal and the performers of Lavani andTamasha had played a great role in spreading the rebellion. The puppetryartist also played a vital role in this. This British tourist has also stated thatthe Bhishtis (water-carriers) had rejected providing waters to the Whites andthe maid servants including sanitary workers left work in Britishhouseholds.The British historian William Kay has categorically highlighted the causesof the mutiny and held the puppetry artist also responsible for that. Theseartists made a mockery of the company government in their productions andchose a narrative which was primarily based in sowing the seeds of hatredagainst the British rule. This makes it abundantly clear that the masses of our country were involved in wholeheartedly in the revolution.In June 1857 the British had completely fortified Delhi claiming that theywill turn the city into a wreckage. Their spies and compradors werecontinuously present in the city involved in the destructive activities tofacilitate the British to enter Delhi but the British could enter Delhi inSeptember end and that too after a series of conspiracies. The common people of Delhi united against the British attack about which Hudson had awritten to a senior officer in a letter, " people are holding meetings invarious markets and along the roads and they are mobilizing more people."We can no more about the sacrifices of the people of Delhi against theBritish fortification if we read the names of those who laid their lives and this has been documented officially which is a proof of the marginalized sections’ participation in the revolt.
The available list includes martyrs likeAbdul (rubber stamp maker), Choza Bhishti (water-carrier), Iman Kahar (palki lifter), Gannu ( halwai), Heera ( dome ), Lalu ( teli ) etc. And this could be seen throughout the country.The participation of common people could be understood through this onlythat in Gurgaon, Delhi, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Bulandshahar districts,200 villages were burnt to ashes because everyone from these villages had participated in the revolt. How come the females of western UP were dedicated to this struggle could be easily felt through this folklore only which was sung after the victory of revolutionaries in Meerut-
Wow! Come and see/In the lanes of Meerut/A British has been beaten/Awhite has been cornered beaten/In the open market of Meerut/See Wowsee!(Translated from the regional dialect)
These were the common people who gave the British army invading Delhi a run for their money. Hudson, who was leading the British army in Delhi wrote in his diary on 17th September 1857, "All the four walls of the city have been really fortified. We faced extreme pretest and then when we entered into the city, the resistance and bravery, the army, armed people andthe common man had shown. It was really out of our minds."Thousands of people who were martyred in Delhi in them more than 250 people were famous poets, intellectuals and teachers. This fact can be retrieved today only from the official documents.Wherever the revolutionaries established the independent government in lieu of the British government, they were very much concerned about the fact that the tortures which during the British regime common people had faced that could be compensated. In Oudh, British had taken away the ancestral business of gate keeping (chowkidaari) from the Pasis. Begum Hazrat Mahal and Birjis Mahal who were the leaders of Oudh's governments announced in a public meeting that "Pasis should know that to gate keep every city is their ancestral duty but the British appoint Berkandaaz in place of them and so they were deprived of their livelihood. It will not be repeated.”
It is very imperative on the eve of 150th anniversary of India's first independence struggle that we know the truths of this great movement which are till date kept closed in the almirah of archives. Facing these truths will not only help us in assessing this struggle but it will also help us in integrating the great heritage of this struggle.
Participation of women in India's first independence struggle
Followers of British empire, laureates and historians have claimed that the incidents of 1857 is not more than sepoy mutiny. According to them, in May1857 in which mutiny was inflamed behind that were just some anarchist soldiers and due to their disobedience the country faced violence and destruction. But if we consider the facts, then we can just say this kind of theory as a white lie only. The truth is that the great independence struggle started in 1857 will be always known for that in this not only a particular group, caste, religion or region has participated in it but the whole country and the people of this country participated in it without any kind of discrimination and laid their lives. From 1857 to 1859, this struggle continued and one of the major and unique factor of this battle was that women not only participated in this with males but they provided leadershipat many places also.Generally speaking, we suppose women as without strength. We believe thatshe is weaker and unintelligent than the males. In fact the truth is thatregarding women this kind of thinking is omnipresent but the first strugglefor independence of India had not only proved this kid of thoughts wrong but also preserved so many stories of women's bravery and courage that wecan only be proud of.The first independence struggle of India has so many instances of bravewomen's revolt, sacrifice and laying their lives. This battle has proved thisthing umpteen times that women are not backward even in the battle field just given the chance. In this struggle, not only the males were the heroes butso many women also lead the way.Born in 1835 in Kashi, the queen of Jhansi Laxmibai's (real nameManikarnika) was the first who challenged the authoritarian regime of EastIndia Company. She dreamt of freeing the whole country from British alongwith Jhansi and fought for that. Laxmibai was not fighting for governing astate but she wanted the independence of whole country. We come to knowabout this fact from the letter which she wrote to her supporter King MardanSingh. She wrote, "After discussing this topic with so many companions andTantya Tope, we have come to this conclusion that we must have our owngovernance. This is our own country." Laxmibai used to lead the path in battle front after wearing male clothes. She was a very clever army leader and even the male heroes of 1857 revolution were used to follow her instructions. This can be seen by an another letter written to her by KingMardan Singh only, "You please hurry up to reach Sagar Nagar. In the waytwo platoons of British army are taking position. After defeating them youlead with the king of Shahgarh. Tantya Tope, Nana Sahib and I are involvedin very necessary arrangements. After making Hurose (lieutenant of Britisharmy) flee away, we will move on to Kalpi. We all will meet there andunited attack the British in Gwalior. Don't delay in this work now."Under the leadership of Laxmibai, the rebellion army made British fromJhansi till the end of 1857. After that, on the fronts of Mauranipur andBarwa Sagar, British were devastated. One battle from the British continuedtill 15 days. She had understood this fact very well that till the compradorsof British are not destroyed, it is really very difficult to defeat them. Fightingfor getting this target only, she was wounded seriously on the front of KotaKi Sarai on June 18, 1858 and she laid her life there only. Even the Britishused to praise her bravery. The chief commander of the British Army hadwritten in a letter about Rani, " although she was a woman but she had no comparison regards bravery and she was the best leader of the rebels. She was a man amongst the rebels". In this battle Laxmibai was not only a single women who sacrificed her life fighting against the British, there was a canon-operator Motibai in her army, who gave her life while protecting Rani's life on 4th June 1858. Less people are aware of the fact that there was a women named Mundar who was Rani's security in charge. She had shown her courage in the battles of Jhansi, Koonch, Kalpi and Gwalior with Rani and sacrificed her life in Kot ki Sarai.
In the battle of 1857, there was one more woman warrior Rani Avantibai Lodhi who is less known. She was the ruler of Raigarh in Madhya Pradeshand fought against the British in 1857.There are very less instances of this great woman warrior defeating British in many battles. In July 1857Avantibai led her on horse's back and captured Suhagpur. The next battle was near Shahpura where the British faced the shameful defeat. It is said that thousands of British soldiers were killed in this. The British commander captain Washington had to flee away from the front as he could not carry his small child with him too. Avantibai sent this child to the father very safely.When the British failed in defeating in this queen, they conspired against her. In April 1858 when the queen with her army was fighting against the British in the hilly region of Devhargarh, a neighbor king helped British to attack her from the back instead of accepting defeat or surrendering, the queen took her life by her sword only and thus had recorded her own great sacrifice in the county's independence.
One more queen who never surrendered weapons in front of British Supremacy and lead the Independence struggle with Tantya Tope, Nana Sahib and Azimullah Khan was Begum Hazrat Mahal of Lucknow. Although Company had deprived them of their rule, but these formed a United Front against the British and challenged them vigorously in the Oudh region. They had brought out a manifesto of India’s Independence in 1858. When the British Army attacked Lucknow, she fought bravely with her associates. The bravery shown byrevolutionaries on this front are now the part of folk stories and folklore. Itwas a mishap only that she was defeated on the Lucknow front becauseGorkhas and some other Kings who supported the British rule help Britishwith their huge army. She left Lucknow and lead in the Shahjahanpur battle but there also she could not succeed due to the treachery King of Pawai. This brave queen instead of throwing away weapons jointly with Nana Sahibcontinued fighting in the Tarai areas of Nepal. It is believed that she diedthere only. Contemporary British journalist Russell wrote in her appraisal that ‘Begum was a great worshipper of God and she had great efficiency too.In spite of being a woman she was very intelligent and intellectual and she had a complete capacity to lead the males.’
Our country is unaware of the sacrifice of queen of Tulsipur. The queen of Tulsipur, located in the Tarai between India and Nepal, not only raised arms against the repression and treachery of British but also formed a joint armed front with Nana Sahib, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Raja Devibaksh Singh of Gonda. She neither surrendered nor she could be caught by them.
In the India’s first independence struggle, not only queens but a large number of women coming from common families also participated. Official documents related to the revolt of 1857 secured in the archives speak of hundreds of revolutionary females who raised arms against the British andlaid their lives. In the western district of Uttar Pradesh Muzaffarnagar itself,more than 50 women embraced the death. Some of the heroines and their brave stories are as follows. Asghari Begum was born in 1811 and played aleading role in the anti-British activities in Western Uttar Pradesh. Britishcaptured her in a battle in 1858 and burnt her alive. Another revolutionaryfemale from this area was Asha Devi who was born in a Gujjar family whokept on fighting with the British forces and finally was captured in 1857 andhanged. Bakhtawari, born in 1811 in the Bakhra village of Muzaffarnagar had also met the same fate.Another revolutionary women was Bhagwati Devi from this region born in aTyagi family. She was also hanged for raising arms against the British rulein 1857. Another women was Habiba hailing from this region only born in1833 coming from a Muslim Gujjar family. She also took part in various battles near Muzaffarnagar against British and was hanged with other 11rebel females. Same was the story of Indra Kaur and Jamila, a women fromPathan family who laid their lives for the country.There is a very long series of sacrifices done by women. Another rebelwomen was Mankaur born in a Charwaha (shepherd) family who washanged to death in the initial stage of the struggle in 1857. Some othersinclude Rahimi born in 1829, Raj Kaur born in 1833, Shobha Devi born in1832 and Umda born in 1831. A brave women Mainawati was from Bithoor in Kanpur. She was a part of the army of Nana Sahib and had made Britishrun for the money. At the end of 1857, British captured her and burnt her alive.The saga of rebel women laying lives in the 1857 struggle is present in everynuke and corner of the country, although a good bunch of information isavailable about them specially in western Uttar Pradesh just because theBritish records and the official contemporary documents are secure till date.In other parts of the country, these documents were either destroyed or lost in the flow of time. There are uncountable names whose sacrifices could not be forgotten. Sursi, a women from the tribal (Bheel) family of Madhya Pradesh wa sunique in inspiring her son Bheem Nayak to raise arms against British rule.She with the help of her son constituted a joint front of Bheels, Bhilal,Mandlois and Nayaks to challenge the British. She was captivated in Salodaon 8thFebruary 1849 and jailed in a fort of Mandleshwar where she died on 28th February 1859. Delhi, where an independent government was announced under theleadership of Bahadurshah Zafar on 10th May 1857 witnessed many brave women which could be found out from a letter written by the English military official Hudson to a senior officer. Hudson wrote, “One incident created panic in our camp was the arrest of a rebel women under the leadership of whom revolutionary forces attacked from outside in Delhi. Mr. Great Head has compared her to the Joan Of Arch. She came on the horse’s back and fought like a devil. She was heavy on our five soldiers.” But this letter does not give us information about her name. Perhaps he was not aware of her name. Hudson wrote another letter which informed that later she was captured, sent to Ambala and hanged to death. His letter disclosed of one more brave woman Bijabai who was leading the battle near Agra.Under her leadership, revolutionary forces attacked the Agra jail and helped release of all the jailed rebels and ambushed the British forces present there.The participation and sacrifices of hundreds of women in the 1857 revolution again proves that this was not a mutiny rather a nation wide liberation struggle.
