Mutiny – Rana Safvi

Memories of the Mutiny of 1857

ranasafvi — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 19:08:10 +0000

Fri, May 05 2017 in Live Minthttps://www.livemint.com/Leisure/IVyBJW1WKw67cbdeBwuNRP/Memories-of-the-Mutiny-of-1857.htmlArmed with an eyewitness account from her forthcoming translation of ‘Dastan-e-Ghadar’, historian Rana Safvi takes a walk around Delhi’s Kashmere Gate on the 160th anniversary of the 1857 uprisingAn 1860s photograph of the damaged Gate. Photo: Samuel BourneMost Delhiites know Kashmere Gate for its traffic snarls, the result of it being located close to the inter-state bus terminus (ISBT) and a busy Metro station. People finish whatever chores they have, get away quickly and heave a sigh of relief. Few know the importance of Kashmere Gate in our nation’s history.Close to it, on Lothian Road, is the General Post Office and an overgrown patch of land full of litter. A 20ft-high grey granite obelisk stands there, its fading engraving honouring two men who played a significant role in India’s history. The inscription includes the words of Robert Montgomery, the lieutenant governor of Punjab: “The electric telegraph has saved India.” Alas, they’re barely decipherable.This is the Telegraph Memorial, built on 19 April 1902 in front of the new British telegraph office by a grateful British empire “to commemorate the loyal and devoted services of Delhi telegraph office staff on the eventful 11th May 1857”. That was the day the uprising of 1857 began. Messrs J.W. Pilkington and William Brendish, two young British assistant telegraph officers, sat in their wooden cabins near Flagstaff Tower, a signal tower on the Ridge nearby, watching the uprising unfold around them. They managed to send messages about the “revolt” to British military authorities in Ambala, signing off at 3pm with the words, “We’re off.” This message was sent on to General George Anson in Shimla, and a force was sent from Punjab to fight the “rebels” in Delhi.Just a few steps away from this memorial are the remnants of the British Magazine, a gunpowder storehouse, which was blown up on 11 May.Scoundrels of SatanThe incident has been described by Zahir Dehlvi, an accomplished poet and official in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar, in his book Dastan-e-Ghadar: The Tale Of The Mutiny (Penguin Random House) which I have translated from Urdu to English. An excerpt given below:It was 5 pm., and even though the sun was setting, the day of reckoning was still under way.The heat of the riot was on the rise, and for the citizens of Shahjahanabad it was every man for himself. The waves of trouble and turmoil were causing the ground to swell up. While the river of blood and carnage was boiling, loot and plunder raged. Fearless and pitiless tyrants had created pandemonium in the city, and no one knew what was happening to anyone else. Everyone was concerned with saving themselves.Messengers were sorting out the mail, and news of complaints and petitions for mercy were pouring in from every direction. The scoundrels of Satan were inflicting violence all around.The royal employees were sitting with Hakim Ahsanullah Khan in the khan-samaani hall, reciting Ya badee ul ajaib bilkhairi (Oh unique originator of goodness) on the rosary. A prayer for peace was on everyone’s lips when suddenly there was a tremendous noise. Even if 1,000 cannons had been fired, their noise would not have been so loud.The khan-samaani building is from Shah Jahan’s period and its walls are 4ft wide. It is made of lime and mortar. The ceiling of the hall is very solidly constructed of red sandstone and salmon-coloured stone. After this noise, dirt and mud started falling from the walls and everyone was covered in dust. The earth shook as if there had been an earthquake.It was almost as though the building were going to fall down on us. Everyone rushed out into the courtyard in panic. It seemed as if the Quranic verse, ‘When the earth is shaken with its (final) earthquake’ (Quran: Surah Az-Zalzalah: 1), was coming true.When we turned our eyes to the west, we saw a column of smoke rising from the ground to the sky and corpses of men flying around in the air like crows and kites. Three minutes later, it seemed as though pieces of the mountains were raining on earth.And the mountains will be like wool, fluffed up (Quran: Surah Al-Qari’ah: 5).We ran back to the hall, shocked by what was happening. A pair of messengers came running and told us that the magazine and arsenal had been blown up.George Willoughby and nine other officers of the British Ordinance Corps defended the magazine until the afternoon. They had been warned by Simon Fraser, the commissioner of Delhi, and the joint magistrate, Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, to do all they could to prevent it from falling into rebel hands. The moment they realized that rebel sepoys had stormed the city, two British officers with lit matches in their hands were put in charge of two six-pounder guns loaded with grapeshot. Their orders were to blow up the magazine should anyone try to force open the gates to it.The gates were locked but the sepoys brought ladders to scale the walls. At 3.30pm, when Willoughby realized that the magazine was in danger of falling into the hands of Indian soldiers, with no possibility of immediate help from Meerut, he gave the pre-decided signal to blow it up.The explosion killed many of the sepoys, as well as women and children from nearby homes who had taken shelter there. Six British officers managed to escape. One was killed on his way to Meerut. The survivors were awarded the Victoria Cross.A single gate of the magazine is all that has survived. The British put up a plaque on it that reads: “This tablet marking the former entrance gate to the magazine is placed here by the government of India.” It lists the names of the British officers who died at the hands of the “mutineers”.After Independence, the Indian government put up a second plaque: “The persons described as rebels and mutineers in the above inscription were Indian members of the army in the service of East India Company trying to overthrow the foreign government.”From the magazine, it is a 5- to 10-minute walk to Kashmere Gate, which was the entry into the walled city from Civil Lines, where the British families lived. Originally a single-arched door, so named because it stood on the road to Kashmir, it was enlarged and rebuilt in 1835 by British military engineer Robert Smith.This area saw fierce fighting both when the sepoys captured it and later when the British retook it. On 14 September 1857, it was the scene of the final assault on Shahjahanabad led by Brigadier General John Nicholson. A plaque installed at Kashmere Gate by General Lord Robert Napier in 1876 commemorates the sacrifices of the British officers who retook the city. The gate itself has been cordoned off with an iron railing.Courting couplesAnother short 5- to 7-minute walk takes me to the Qudsia Bagh on Shamnath Road, adjacent to the ISBT. It was built by Qudsia Begum, the wife of Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah Rangila and mother of emperor Ahmed Shah. Today, it’s an ordinary public park. But if you look at an old painting of it made by a Company School artist, you can see the grandeur of the buildings overhanging the Yamuna river. Today, the garden has a small and not-so-clean naala (drain). Gone are the lofty red sandstone mansions and the beautiful baradaris (12-arched pavilion). Instead, one sees people exercising, walking, doing yoga and dreaming of shedding extra calories. Manicured lawns lined with flower beds have replaced the beautiful gardens with flowering trees and bushes that were once the envy of the city. One thing remains: It is still a meeting place for courting couples.The garden was described by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in Asar us Sanadeed: “The breeze, which blows here and touches the body, feels as if it is a breeze from heaven. The beauty of the violets in this garden embarrasses the lovely maidens who want to hide their faces as a result.”Unfortunately, its location was its undoing as the British found it a convenient spot to set up a siege battery. A ruined mosque stands testimony to the rounds fired by defenders from the walled city as well as the British forces outside. It is still a functioning mosque under the Delhi Waqf Board and an imam is posted there to lead prayers five times daily. He lives with his family in a house next to it. It seems eerily romantic to live amidst the ruins of so much history.From Qudsia Bagh, I retraced my steps towards the Metro station. Opposite it is the Nicholson Cemetery, with its beautiful wooden gate. Though Nicholson successfully retook the city, he died of his wounds on 23 September, and is buried here. A veteran of many battles, including the Anglo-Afghan wars, he was the “Hero of Delhi” for the Victorians. After independence, a statue of him that had been erected in Delhi was taken down and sent to his native Ireland.Scars of actionOne of my last stops is the edge of the Ridge where the British forces camped. There is a memorial here—an octagonal, four-storeyed tower built by the British in 1860. Marble plaques list the names of the officers and soldiers who died during the siege. Nicholson features prominently.One plaque reads: “On 21st September the city was evacuated of the enemy.” Here too, the Indian government has put up a board clarifying that the above-mentioned “enemy” were “those who rose against colonial rule and fought bravely for national liberation in 1857”. It was unveiled on 25 August 1972. The mutiny memorial is now called Ajitgarh.This area of the Ridge was in the thick of the action during the siege of Delhi. Maratha nobleman Hindu Rao’s house, which stood here, was used by the British as their headquarters and has been completely rebuilt as Bara Hindu Rao Hospital, so one can’t see the scars of action that once marked it.A 5-minute walk from here takes me to Pir Ghaib, Firoz Shah Tughlaq’s hunting lodge, which the British called the observatory. Behind this charming building ran the nearest road to the camp. Its vulnerability to firing from the sepoys gave it the name of Valley of Death.A longish 15- to 20-minute walk from here, past Chauburji mosque, takes me to Flagstaff Tower. It was here that European women and children of the British cantonment sought shelter on the afternoon of 11 May 1857, while waiting for help from Meerut. When no help came, the women tried to make their way to the British camp in Karnal. Some died on the way.Today this site is within the Delhi University campus and has become a popular spot with students. When I see the round tower and the cramped space inside it, I wonder if others too can imagine the screams of the women and children trapped in the sweltering May heat’Dastan-e-Ghadar: The Tale of the Mutinyhttps://www.amazon.in/dp/0670088919/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2eprBbPDT946R

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

ranasafvi — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 17:03:15 +0000

They battled as a united force against the might of the British Raj.
— Read on www.dailyo.in/lite/variety/hindus-british-raj-mughal-empire-bahadur-shah-zafar/story/1/24599.html

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.

1857 Mutiny: How a massacre by rebel sepoys at the Red Fort felled Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar

ranasafvi — Wed, 16 May 2018 03:59:05 +0000

The Mughal king was tried and convicted for the murder of 56 Europeans taken prisoner by the soldiers.
— Read on amp.scroll.in/article/835316/may-16-1857-how-a-massacre-by-rebel-sepoys-at-the-red-fort-felled-bahadur-shah-zafar

Cemetery in Dargah Sheikh Baqi Billah

ranasafvi — Fri, 11 May 2018 18:55:23 +0000

The Dargah of Sheikh Baqi Billah also houses a lovely cemetery. Very well cared for and peaceful.

Today I read that the Mughal princes shot on 22nd September 1857 by Major Hodson are also buried here

Mirza Zuheer ood deen, alias Mirza Mooghul Bahadur, 2nd Son.

Signed by Ghulam ‘Ali Khan.( first portrait) buried here

Aka #MirzaMughal eldest surviving son of Bahadur Shah Zafar

Who took over as commander of rebel forces on 12th May 1857

And was shot in coldblood by Major Hodson on 22Sept 1857 after failure of uprising

1857 Mutiny: How a massacre by rebel sepoys at the Red Fort felled Mughal king Bahadur Shah Zafar

ranasafvi — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 17:13:12 +0000

The Mughal king was tried and convicted for the murder of 56 Europeans taken prisoner by the soldiers.

scroll.in/article/835316/may-16-1857-how-a-massacre-by-rebel-sepoys-at-the-red-fort-felled-bahadur-shah-zafar

May 16, 1857: How a massacre by rebel sepoys at the Red Fort felled Bahadur Shah Zafar

The Mughal king was tried and convicted for the murder of 56 Europeans taken prisoner by the soldiers.

by Rana Safvi

Published May 16, 2017 · 06:30 am

British Library / Robert Tytler and Charles Shepard / WikimediaCommons

On May 11, 1857, as Indian sepoys who had revolted against the British in Meerut over the use of cartridges allegedly greased with pig and cow fat entered Delhi and tried to take control of the city, there was murder and mayhem in the initial hours. Many thugs and thieves whom they had released from British jails had joined them and were encouraging them to loot and kill.

The European families who lived in the Kashmiri Darwaza area took shelter wherever they could, some in the magazine as it was close to their homes.

The sepoys attacked the British magazine to capture the arsenal stocked there. The British officers defended it and the soldiers present there, but when they realised they were fighting a losing battle and that the sepoys were scaling the walls, Lieutenant GD Willoughby blew up the arsenal to prevent it from falling into rebel hands.

Though Willoughby and some of his companions managed to escape, around 56 European women and children and a few men were captured by the sepoys and taken to the Red Fort. The 82-year-old Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, sent orders that the sepoys be calmed down and the prisoners taken into his safe custody and arrangements be made to keep them and treat the injured.

The sepoys attacked the British magazine on May 11, 1857, forcing the British officers to blow up the ammunition stock to prevent it from falling into their hands. Credit: Swapna Dash Acharya/via Facebook.com

In his memoirs Dastan-e-Ghadar, Tale of the Mutiny, Zahir Dehlvi, who was an official in Bahadur Shah Zafar’s court and a poet, describes the events that unfolded on May 16 that year:

One early morning, I left my house for the Qila, and entering through the naqqarkhana reached the Diwan-e-Aam. From there I decided to go to the khan-samaani and meet Hakim Ahsanullah Khan [the prime minister] to find out if Huzoor had given any orders. With this in mind, I avoided the lattice door and entered the khan-samaani door. When I had walked a little beyond the Mehtab Darwaza, I saw the purbias bringing the prisoners out of the Bagh.

“Where are you taking them?” I asked.

“We will take them out of the Qila and keep them elsewhere,” one of them said.

“This is part of our agreement,” I protested. “Please don’t take them away.”

But they refused to listen to me. I was worried that they might play foul and so rushed to Ahsanullah Khan sahib, who was lying in the upper storey of the khan-samaani. I told him, “Khan Sahib, are you aware of what is happening?”

“What?” he asked.

“Those ruffians are taking the prisoners away. I am afraid that they will murder them. Please make arrangements for their safety.”

Ahsanullah Khan retorted, “What can I do?”

“Khan Sahib,” I said, “this is a test of our loyalty. If you want to save the emperor, please reason with the rebels and save the prisoners. Or remember that the British will raze Dilli to the ground.”

Ahsanullah Khan replied, “Miyan, you are very young. How would you know that man does not listen to reason when caught up in circumstances such as these? He does not think of the result of his actions. If we remonstrate with them now, they will kill us first, and then murder the prisoners.”

“It is better that a few of us are killed,” I said. “At least the Badshah’s empire will be saved.” Saying this, I left from there and came back to the deorhi.

I sent a message to the emperor through the khwaja-sara stating that the purbias had taken the prisoners whom Huzoor had kept in his special protection. The emperor gave immediate orders to call Hakim Ahsanullah Khan so that he could make arrangements to save the prisoners.

The khwaja-sara came outside the palace and sent a messenger to get Hakim Ahsanullah Khan post-haste. Two more messengers were sent one after the other, but though time was passing, Hakim ji did not move from his place. After some time, Hakim Ahsanullah Khan came to the tasbihkhana and entered the presence of Huzoor.

The emperor gave orders: “Call the officers and reason with them and save the prisoners.”

Hakim Ahsanullah Khan said, “All right. As you wish.” He came out to the Diwan-e-Khaas and sat down against the arch in the middle enclosure. Perhaps he sent a few people to call the rebel officers.

Suddenly we saw that two companies of purbias, bearing loaded guns on their shoulders, were coming from the door of the Lal Purdah. As soon as they came into the Diwan-e-Khaas, they surrounded us and stood in front of us with guns pointed at us. All of us were praying to God and reciting the kalima. There were ten or twelve of us and we thought that they would blow us up at any moment. For a few moments, they kept standing there like that. After that, two sawars lofted a red flag outside the Lal Purdah, which was an indication to the other sawars to put their guns back on their shoulders and leave.

A messenger came after a few minutes and gave us the news: “The prisoners have been murdered.”

— Excerpt from Dastan-e-Ghadar, Tale of the Mutiny, by Zahir Dehlvi, translated by Rana Safvi, Penguin Random House

The British levelled the hauz (water tank) in front of the naqqarkhana, where this tragedy took place, once they gained control of the Qila (Red Fort).

Trial of an emperor

This horrific incident was one of the biggest charges against Abu Zafar Sirajuddin Mohammed Bahadur Shah during his trial for rebellion, treason and murder. The trial started on January 27, 1858 and ended on March 9, 1858 with the verdict that the former king of Delhi had been found guilty of every charge against him.

Every witness was questioned about the incident and the king’s involvement in it. Jath Mall, a British scribe in the Red Fort and their spy, was asked: “In your opinion, could the King, had he been anxious to do so, have saved the Europeans, specially the women and children?”

Jath Mall replied, “I heard in the city that the King did wish to save the Europeans, particularly the women and children, but he was overruled by the violence of the soldiery, and had not the firmness to oppose them.”

(From The Trial of Bahadur Shah Zafar, edited by Pramod K Nayar)

The emperor refuted these charges at the trial, saying he did all he could to prevent the slaughter of the innocents but the soldiery did not heed him, an account supported by Zahir Dehlvi.

Bahadur Shah Zafar faced trial for treason and other charges, was found guilty and exiled to Burma. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The witnesses were all anti-Bahadur Shah Zafar and the records available were only those of British spies who had been sending written reports to their masters from inside the Qila, informing them of the rebel activity.

Hakim Ahsanullah Khan, who was the emperor’s acting prime minister during the four months of the siege of Delhi, was one of the most important witnesses for the British. He was shown a leaf from a court diary for May 16, 1857 that indicted the emperor. It read, “The King told his court in the hall of Special Audience. 49 English were prisoners, and the army demanded they that they should be given over to them for slaughter. The King delivered them up, saying ‘The army may do as they please’, and the prisoners were subsequently put to the sword.”

Hakim Ahsanullah Khan did not contradict the entry, limiting himself to verifying that “yes, it is in the handwriting of the man who kept the Court diary and this leaf is a portion of it”, thereby giving it a tacit stamp of endorsement in direct contrast to the events described by Zahir Dehlvi.

As such, Zahir Dehlvi’s account, which was written when he was nearing death and published around 1914, is extremely important. Even though he was pro-British, he gives an exciting account of the events that unfolded during the First War of Indian Independence in Delhi and the trials and tribulations that beset its people, as they were forced to flee to save their lives and piece together their lives from scratch.

It is also a moving testimony to the wonderful character of the ageing Mughal emperor.

(Rana Safvi is a historian, author and blogger and has, most recently, translated Zahir Dehlvi’s Dastan-e-Ghadar, which comprises an important eyewitness account of the 1857 Revolt)

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