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

By Rana Safvi   @iamrana |

2018-06-01 21:07:29

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

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 Ghadar by Zahir Dehlvi, translated by Rana Safvi).

Liaquat 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.”

A fierce battle against the Empire. Photo: Screengrab

On August 25, 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar issued a proclamation. S Mahdi Hasan, in his seminal book Bahadur 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 the Azamgarh 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.” (From Bahadur 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.)

A 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.

Bahadur 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 in Facets 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 the State Papers soon 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.

Delhi Urdu Akhbar did not carry Maulvi Muhammad Baqir’s byline but researchers are of the opinion that most of the writings came from his forceful pen. At times Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad also gave a helping hand to his father. The issue of 24 May 1857 includes his poem Tareekh-e-Inqalab Ibrat Afza [History of change is a lesson] that enthused in masses a new spirit and zeal. Some of the verses are:

Hai kal ka abhi zikr keh jo qaume nasara thi

Saheb-e-Iqbal o jahan bakhsh jahandar,

Allah hi Allah hai jis waqat keh nikle

Aafaq men taigh-e-ghazab Hazrat Qahar,

Sab jaohare aqal unke rahe sab taq pe rakhkhe

Sab nakhun tadbeer-o-khirad ho gai bekar

Kaam aaee na ilm-o-hunar hikmat-o-fitrat

Poorab ke tilangoN ne liya sab ko yahan maar.

That evening in Meerut a chain of events, which were to have disastrous and far-reaching results for India, had started. It was set in motion in the evening of 10^th May, in the parade ground in Meerut when a a group of Indian sepoys (soldiers) had rebelled against the authority of the East India Company and had decided to march to Delhi to fight for their freedom against colonial rule. There were various reasons for this revolt and are taught in all schools in India.

On the morning of 11^th May, 1857 the 30- 40 sepoys from Meerut, who had had been involved in the rebellion and killing of the European officers, crossed the Jamuna on the Bridge of Boats and tried to enter the Red Fort through the Calcutta Gate. As this was closed they eventually entered through the Rajghat Gate, and after setting the tollhouse on fire and marched towards the Red Fort.

(Bahadur Shah with his sons. To the right is Mirza Mughal who late became commander of the rebels for a while)

Bahadur Shah II, the Moghul Emperor was by now a pensioner of the British East India Company, and was Emperor only in name. He was most reluctant to join the rebels, as he was unsure of both his role as well as that of the rebels. He was ultimately persuaded or coerced into lending the legitimacy of his name to the rebels and was proclaimed the Shahenshah-e-Hindustan. The sepoys fought under his banner.

The British were caught unprepared and there were no units of the British or “European” units of the East India Company forces at Delhi. Colonel Ripley the Commanding Officer of 54 Native Infantry was the first to march towards the Kashmir Gate. But here the rebels were already ensconced and they fired and killed the leading four British officers. When the remaining British officers ordered the Indian troops to open fire at the rebels they refused, fired in the air and joined the Meerut sepoys. Many Indian soldiers had joined them and a massacre of British officers followed. Delhi had fallen by the afternoon and it was no longer in British control.

The sepoys first took hold of the city (Shahjahanabad) and then the Ridge. Civilians, aristocracy and Indian rulers joined them. It was no longer a simple mutiny or revolt but the First War of Indian Independence.

Kashmiri Gate or Cashmere Gate had been built by a British military Engineer, Robert Smith in 1835 and saw fierce fighting first when the sepoys captured it and later when the British re took it. The Gate is next to the ISBT and adjoins the Kashmiri Gate metro station was so named because it used to be the start of a road, which led to Kashmir. Many British officers lived in this area with their families. It is here that the final act of 1857 was played out on 14th September when Nicholson led the counter charge against the Indian soldiers. The gate still bears the scars of the cannonballs and fire. There is a stone tablet, which records the names of the British officers who took part in this inside this gate.

The gate itself is double doored and is surrounded by a thick wall with ramparts on which one can climb and a few rooms where the arsenal was stored.

Next to it is the St. James’s Church built by Colonel James Skinner of Skinners Horse in 1836. It is one of Delhi’s oldest churches. The church has many tombs and plaques commemorating the British killed in the revolt. The church saw some action during 1857 as the British soldiers took refuge here to recoup and the rebels shot at the cross and ball which adorned the top. It used to be kept in the churchyard but sometime during the 20^th century it disappeared. The residence of the British Commissioner, William Fraser was a little way behind it. It is now the office of the Chief Engineer of the Northern railways. Fraser is buried in this church.

The Magazine or Arsenal, opposite the GPO is in the middle of the road. There is a granite obelisk, erected outside it, which, records the courage of two young signallers, who sent messages, which warned the British in Punjab about the uprising in Delhi. The main gateway is nearly all that remains of it. There is a tablet over the gateway, which names the nine British men who defended the magazine, eventually blowing up part of it in the face of the rebels. The British recaptured it on 16^th September.

Brigadier General John Nicholson led the charge against the rebels on 14^th September 1857 and died from the wounds received. He is buried in a serene cemetery lies a little way of Kashmiri Gate to the west of ISBT bus station and can be reached by foot. It is called Nicholson’s Cemetery after him and is owned by the St James Church and is still in use today. Nicholson’s grave is near the entrance.

On 20^th September Bahadur Shah was captured from Humayun’s tomb and that led to the official end of the Mughal Empire and the start of the British Empire in India.

In honor of the British dead , the Mutiny Memorial was built on the Ridge and commemorates their efforts. There is one plaque, which describes the siege of Delhi, ending with the words

“ On 21^st September the city was evacuated of the enemy.” There is a plaque there placed underneath it by the Indian govt. clarifying that the above mentioned ‘enemy’ were ‘those who rose against the colonial rule and fought bravely for liberation in 1857.” This plaque is dedicated to the memory of the heroism of is placed in memory of these patriotic Indians on 25^th August 1972. The memorial is now called Ajitgarh.

This article appeared in Hindustan Times in 2012 

 paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/iphone/…