• Home
  • Contact Me
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Rana Safvi
  • Home
  • About
  • Book & Publication
  • Culture & Heritage
    • Our Cultural Heritage
    • Sufi saints
  • Food
  • Hazrat-E-Dilli
  • Rana’s Space
    • Walks & Talks
    • Rana’s Space
    • Sher o Sukhan
  • Travel
    Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

    Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

    Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

    Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

    Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

    Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

    Abu Serga Church, Cairo

    Abu Serga Church, Cairo

    The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

    The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

    Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

    Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

    Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

    Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

    Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

    Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

    Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

    Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

    Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

    Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

    Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

    Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

    A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

    A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

    Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

    Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

    Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

    Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

    The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

    The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

    Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

    Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

    Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

    Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

    Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

    Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

    Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

    Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

    Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

    Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

    Trending Tags

    • Contact Me
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • About
    • Book & Publication
    • Culture & Heritage
      • Our Cultural Heritage
      • Sufi saints
    • Food
    • Hazrat-E-Dilli
    • Rana’s Space
      • Walks & Talks
      • Rana’s Space
      • Sher o Sukhan
    • Travel
      Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

      Aligarh’s Jama Masjid

      Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

      Darbar of Guru Ram Rai in Dehradun

      Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

      Lord Buddha’s sermon in Kausambi, Allahabad and the Fortress

      Abu Serga Church, Cairo

      Abu Serga Church, Cairo

      The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

      The Exquisite Badal Mahal in Bundi Part 1

      Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

      Jhanjhiri Mosque in Jaunpur

      Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

      Gurudwara Lekhensar Sahib‬ in Talwandi Sabo

      Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

      Ulugh Beg’s Observatory in Samarqand, Uzbekistan

      Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

      Rani Ki Baori, Bundi, Rajasthan

      Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

      Bundi Fort, Rajasthan

      Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

      Rock Paintings in Bundi, Rajasthan

      A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

      A Classical Nayika in Indian Paintings

      Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

      Jhat pat Bibi ki kahani

      Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

      Jahangir ‘s Jade Cup

      The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

      The Jama Masjid in Bodh Gaya

      Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

      Buddha statues in Guimet Museum, Paris

      Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

      Museum of Scholars, Khiva , Uzbekistan

      Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

      Malika e Kishwar’s grave in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

      Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

      Samanid Mausoleum in Bukhara

      Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

      Gur e Amir, mausoleum of Amir Timur in Samarqand,Uzbekistan

      Trending Tags

      • Contact Me
      No Result
      View All Result
      Rana Safvi
      No Result
      View All Result

      How, led by Mughals, Hindus and Muslims together fought the war of 1857

      They battled as a united force against the might of the British Raj.

      inBook and Publication
      0

      On May 11, 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar, the nominal emperor of Hindustan, was approached by the Indian sepoys of the Bengal army who came to see him from Meerut after rebelling against the British dictat that required them to use Enfield rifles whose cartridges were greased with the fat of pig and cow.

      They appealed to him saying that every proclamation that they had heard so far was in his name: “Khilqat Khuda ki, Mulk Badshah ka, Hukm Company ka(The Lord’s creation, the emperor’s country, the company’s command).”

      “But now, the British have been empowered to rule us on your orders. So we have come to you as petitioners, hopeful of justice.” (Dastan e Ghadarby Zahir Dehlvi, translated by Rana Safvi).

      kunwar-sing_060118085808.jpg

      kb_060118085452.jpgLiaquat Ali was holding the fort in Khusrau Bagh, Allahabad, while 80-year-old Kanwar Singh (above) raised the banner of revolt in Bihar. Photo: Screengrab

      The emperor, though initially reluctant, agreed to lead them in their war against the foreign rulers and on May 12, 1857, he was crowned the Emperor of Hindustan. On May 18, 1857, Munshi Jeevan Lal, a spy of the British, wrote that the Rani of Ujjain, Laxmibai, had asked for permission to come to court; she was told that it was entirely upto to her and not required.

      Implicit in this report is her support for the Indian sepoys fighting under the Mughal emperor.

      He was indeed accepted by all as the emperor of Hindustan and when the uprising spread, even Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and Nana Saheb “sought legtimacy from the Mughal sovereign Bahadur Shah II rather than appealing to the notion of Hindu Padpadshahi or seeking legtimacy from the Maratha chiefs of Satara or Peshwa,” writes Prof SZH Jafri, in a special volume on Delhi in 1857.

      In another article, ”The issue of religion in 1857: Three documents”, Prof Jafri writes:

      “One comes across numerous printed proclamations, appeals and pamphlets issued by the rebel leaders in the various centres of the Uprising, always making a plea for a united struggle to expel the foreign rulers from the Indian subcontinent. Apart from making a very strong case for Hindu-Muslim unity they often also sought to revive the notion of Mughal sovereignty and invoked the concept of ‘People (khalq) of God, country (mulk) of king (that is, the Mughal emperor), authority (hukm) of the local leaders or chiefs’ to imply loyalty to a common cause.”

      1857_060118085849.jpgA fierce battle against the Empire. Photo: Screengrab

      On August 25, 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar issued a proclamation. S Mahdi Hasan, in his seminal bookBahadur Shah Zafar and the War of 1857 in Delhi, writes that the original proclamation was lost, but in 1858, after Zafar’s sentence but before he was actually sent to Rangoon, Burma, his descendant Prince Firoz Shah, who was still at war with the British, issued its replica and thus it became famous as theAzamgarh Proclamation.

      It was translated by JD Forsythe, the secretary to the chief commissioner of Oude as the “Proclamation issued by the Rebels”. It declares that “as both Hindoos and Mohammadens have been ruined by the oppression of the infidel and treacherous English, therefore it is the bounden duty of all the wealthy people of India to stake their lives for the well-being of the people of India”.

      It talks of Muslims rallying under the flag of Muhammad and the Hindus under the flag of Mahavira (used for Hanuman).

      It goes on to say that the sacred books of Hindus and Muslims have prophesied the end of British rule after this year (1857) and thus, people should remove fear of its continuance from their minds and join in “our cause”.

      (There was a prophesy that 100 years after the Battle of Plassey (1757), the British rule would come to an end.)

      The proclamation addresses zamindars, merchants, men of service, artisans and scholars of both creeds, “Hindoos and Musalmans (Maulvis and Pandits)”. This last part is very interesting as it says: “You are aware that the British are opposedto your religion and as the present is a religious war you should join s and gain the good will of the creator, otherwise you will be considered sinners. If you will join us you will receive mafees and land from the emperor.” (FromBahadur Shah Zafar and the War of 1857 in Delhi).

      So, this was a religious war where Hindus and Muslims, of “high” and “low” castes, all fought against the foreign power of the British East India company, under the banner of the Emperor of Hindustan, Bahadur Shah II (more popularly known as Bahadur Shah Zafar), and fought a common enemy: the firangi or foreigner.

      However, it is important to note that Bahadur Shah Zafar was not fighting Christians or Englishmen but the British East India company. “He (Zafar) opposed the company’s paramountcy and the Englishmen as a class enjoying the highest and most lucrative offices in the state,” writes S Mahdi Hasan.

      In fact, the European Francis Godlieu Quins, who wrote Urdu-Persian poetry under the penname Frasoo, chronicles that “Zafar called all the three classes of poeople (Musalman, Hindus and Mujahideen) to a personal interview, and having taken an oath explained his object. He asked that the Hindus should swear by Ram and the Ganges and that the musalman should swear, each placing a copy of the Quran on his head.” (Bahadur Shah Zafar and the War of 1857 in Delhi.)

      ahd_060118085613.jpg

      ra_060118085542.jpg

      rao-t_060118085527.jpgA war that Faizabad’s Ahamadullah Shah, Jhansi’s Rani Laxmibai and Haryana’s Rao Tula Ram fought together.

      While Ghulam Ghaus manned the cannons in the Fort of Jhansi under Rani Laxmibai, Raja Jai Singh of Azamgarh fought under the banner of Begum Hazrat Mahal (he was a key member of her military counsel and also the main spokesperson for the troops in their dealings with the court of the young Birjis Qadr, after the regent declared him the Nawab in 1857). Jai Singh, too, was martyred in the cause of Independence.

      Ghaus, the gunner, died defending Jhansi; Rani Laxmibai had famously declared, “Main apni Jhansi nahin dungi (I will never give up my Jhansi)” to the British.

      Azizan Bai, the famous courtesan of Kanpur, joined the battle against the British in 1857, under the banner of Nana Saheb.

      There are innumerable examples of Hindu-Muslim unity and, in fact, that was seen as one of the main reasons for the “revolt” by the British.

      If there was Ahmadullah Shah, the Maulvi of Faizabad, fighting the British in Awadh, there was also Rao Tula Ram of Haryana, who was helping Bahadur Shah Zafar.

      bsz_110617034733.jpgBahadur Shah Zafar: Poet extraordinaire, exiled emperor. Photo: IP-Black/Indiapicture

      Liaquat Ali was holding the fort in Allahabad’s Khusrau Bagh, while 80-year-old Kanwar Singh raised the banner of revolt in Bihar. A forgotten aspect of the 1857 uprising is the role of the tribals who had also participated. A popular Bhojpuri song from 1857 goes thus:

      Ab chod re firangiyal hamar deswa

      Lutpat kaile tuhun majwa udaile

      Kailas des par julum Jor.

      Sahar gaon luuti, phunki dihiat firangiya

      Suni Suni kunwar ke hridaya mein lagal aagiya

      Ab chod re firangiyal Hamar deswa

      (Oh British, leave our country, for you loot us,

      you enjoy the luxury of our country,

      and, in return, you loot and burn our hamlets, cities and villages,

      Kunwar’s heart burns to know this,

      Oh British, leave our country…)

      (Translated by Badri Narayan inFacets of the Great Revolt, edited by Shireen Moosvi).

      “Among the many lessons the Indian mutiny conveys to the historian, none is of greater importance than the warning that it is possible to have a Revolution in which Brahmins and Sudras, Hindus and Mahomedans, could be united against us…,” British historian George William Forrest mentioned in the introduction of theState Paperssoon after the end of the First War of Independence.

      According to historian Irfan Habib, it was the largest anticolonial uprising anywhere in the world. Out of 1,35,000 Bengal army native soldiers, only 7,000 remained loyal to their British masters.

      It was the sheer scale that rattled the might of the British Empire and they struck back with unparalleled cruelty — killing, executing and looting all those whom the slightest shred of evidence linked to the revolt. The brunt was borne by Muslims as they shared the faith of the man declared as Emperor of Hindustan. It was seen as a “Mohammedan conspiracy making capital out of Hindu grievances”.

      Most of the princes and princesses were either killed or died trying to escape, or spent their lives in ignominy and poverty. Many innocents from every site associated with the centres of the uprising were killed, and Hindustan, as we knew it till 1857, changed forever.

      The emperor was tried for sedition (against his own empire!) and exiled to Rangoon in 1858; he died there, away from his homeland, in 1864.

      Thus, the Mughal empire was replaced by the British Empire under Empress Victoria.

      Published on DailyO.in

      Share this:

      • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
      • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

      Related Posts

      Nasheman -e Zil-e Ilahi and the Orpheus panel:
      Hazrat-E-Dilli

      Nasheman -e Zil-e Ilahi and the Orpheus panel:

      by Rana Safvi
      May 6, 2025
      Jinn / Djinn saints and Dargahs
      sufi saints

      Jinn / Djinn saints and Dargahs

      by Rana Safvi
      September 24, 2023
      Book Review, Scroll: In Search of The Divine
      Book and Publication

      Book REVIEW In Search of the Divine in Borderless Journal

      by Rana Safvi
      August 30, 2023
      Leave Comment
      Twitter Facebook Instagram Youtube
      Rana Safvi

      Come, explore and fall in love the Beauties of Delhi (Dilli ki Ranaiya’n) and the World with me, Rana Safvi

      I have a masters in medieval history from the prestigious Centre for Advanced Studies, Dept. of History, AMU. A firm believer in our Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb, I am passionate about gaining and sharing knowledge and these days I am doing it via the social media platform.

      Browse by Category

      Select Category
        Currently Playing

        © 2023 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.

        No Result
        View All Result
        • Home
        • About
        • Book & Publication
        • Culture & Heritage
          • Our Cultural Heritage
          • Sufi saints
        • Food
        • Hazrat-E-Dilli
        • Rana’s Space
          • Walks & Talks
          • Rana’s Space
          • Sher o Sukhan
        • Travel
        • Contact Me

        © 2023 Rana Safvi - A blog Exploring Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb of India, website handcrafted by Abu Sufiyan.