A banker by profession, Salim Ansar has a passion for history and historic books. His personal library already boasts a treasure trove of over 7,000 rare and unique books.
Every week, we shall take a leaf from one such book and treat you to a little taste of history.
BOOK NAME: Religion and Ideology of the Rebels of 1857
AUTHOR: Iqbal Hussain
PUBLISHER: Primus Books
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2013
The following excerpt has been taken from Pages: 24 — 26
“The revolt of 1857 was the first and the largest anti-colonial movement to have occurred in South Asia during the nineteenth century. However, the precise nature of that movement is still keenly debated by historians, statesmen and politicians. Sir John Kaye and G. B. Malleson regarded it as a mutiny, which some Indian historians called it the first war of independence. R. C. Majumdar asserted that it was neither a war of independence nor national in character. Most of these studies, however, rely almost exclusively on official sources that present the imperial point of view. The ingenious perspective, in particular the voice of the rebels, has been ignored in these studies.
“Departing from the dominant historiographical position, Religion and Ideology of the Rebels of 1857 seeks to understand the ideological elements which formed the background to the rebellion and in doing so brings to light largely unexplored sources such as the proclamations of the rebels and their sympathizers and the correspondence they carried out amongst themselves. Written in Urdu and Persian, these sources have generally escaped the attention of historians. Reinterpreting the revolt by concentrating on Delhi, Ruhelkhand and Awadh, the centers of encounters with the English, this volume asserts that 1857 was not a mutiny but involved the masses, making it a national war against an alien ruler. It also suggests that the rebels' stress on the unity between the Hindus and Muslims and their joint fight against an alien ruler, paved the way for the emergence of the national struggle for freedom and of a secular India after independence.
LUCKNOW BETWEEN THE ANNEXATION AND THE MUTINY
“This essay aims at introducing Tilism, a less widely known Urdu weekly newspaper edited and published by Muhammad Yaqub from Firangi Mahal, Lucknow during the short period elapsing between the annexation of Awadh and the Mutiny. The annexation was proclaimed on 11 February 1856, whereas the first issue came out on 25 July 1856. Only one copy of Tilism is available in the National Archives of India, New Delhi. A few copies are reportedly preserved in the libraries of Osmania University, Hyderabad and the Urdu Research Institute of the Anjuman-i-Islam, Bombay. The Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University has acquired 41 issues of Tilism beginning from number 1, dated 25 July 1856 till number 42, dated 8 May 1857 (number 37 is missing) through the courtesy of Mufti Muhammad Raza Ansari Sahib of Firangi Mahal. It seems that with the outbreak of the Mutiny in May 1856, the Tilism had to cease its publication, though the editor survived the Mutiny to issue yet another journal.
“The Tilism covered news of varied nature, such as local events, cases of theft, dacoity and murder. It also published government notices and news of appointments, transfers and removal of the Company's officials. There also appear prescriptions or advice of varied kinds to deal with particular maladies or epidemics, such as cholera. Finally, the paper gave considerable space to news from other parts of the country and foreign countries. Since the telegraph was then costly and the mails slow, the English and the Urdu newspapers depended largely on news borrowed from newspapers at other centers or on private correspondence. The Tilism similarly gathered news from the Urdu Persian and English newspapers. An interesting aspect of the news coverage by Tilism is that it gave prominence to the information relating to the deposed king of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah and members of his family. The Tilism also published government notices which throw light on the effects of the annexation on the people, the status of zamindars and taluqdars, the role of the mustajirs (revenue-farmers), the civil and military organizations, etc. It also refers to the growing discontent caused by unemployment, and it records and increase in thefts, robberies and murders in Lucknow. From the pages of the Tilism, one learns that the Company authorities conducted a ward-wise census of houses with complete information of caste, religion and economic condition of the dwellers of each house. This information is given in six issues of Tilism, covering 272 mohallas (wards) out of an estimated total of 800 mohallas. The census indicates how the mohallas were divided on the basis of caste, class and occupation.
“The Tilism is written throughout in versified Urdu, a style popularized and developed by Rajab Ali Saroor who enjoyed considerable influence at that time. Though, Tilism was published during a period of political uncertainty, the editor is quite fearless and candid. He praised the Company officers for their suppression of disorder and crime, but he also criticized them for their unfair treatment meted out to their new subjects.
“It seems that the Tilism became one of the popular news weeklies in north and central India. Its subscribers were found in Delhi, Lahore and Benares, Alwar and Gwalior among other places, as appears from the names of subscribers it printed in each issue. Apart from the common people, the subscribers belonged to aristocratic families of the Nawabs of Awadh like the sons of Muhammad Ali Shah, the Maharajas of Banares and Alwar, and the Nawab of Rampur. A number of British officers including Sir John Lawrence, the agent and Chief Commissioner of Punjab, was also one of the subscribers.
“The Tilism appears so far, to have escaped the notice of the scholars working on the Awadh history. Since it contains much valuable information of the period, it is only possible here to select some reports published in it, which shed light on the situation at Lucknow in the fateful year preceding the Mutiny.
“After the annexation of Awadh, the immediate task before the East India Company was to disarm the retainers of the 'Nawabs', or family members of the deposed King. The Chief Commissioner of Lucknow, issued an order No. 374, dated 10 June 1856 allowing only eleven prominent members of the family of Wajid Ali Shah including the Wazir Ali Naqi Khan to keep arms. Still the disarmament was not complete as a large quantity if arms were stored in various palaces. On orders from the Chief Commissioner, Carnegi made a futile bid to secure information from Sahib-I Ali, Mirza Ali, Mirza Khush Bakht. Having failed in persuading the prince to disclose the arms stored there, Carnegi restored to coercive methods and compelled the darogha of the palace to declare the arms. The authorities also made a determined bid to occupy the royal palaces. They refused to accept any excuse put forward by the palace servants and forced a hurried vacation by the Harem of the deposed king overnight. The ladies thus ejected took shelter in different mohallas where Wajod Ali Shah and his predecessors had built houses. Having obtained control over the palaces, the Company's officers recovered the arms and transferred them to safe places. A large quantity of conventional arms such as daggers, swords, spears including some of historical value as well as obsolete firearms were auctioned in public causing great resentment among the public. Despite the recovery of arms from several palaces the Chief Commissioner suspected the existence of secret arm dumps. When every attempt proved ineffective in getting clues from high ranking Awadh servants like Miftah-ud Daulah, Iqbal-ud Daula and Sihat-ud Daulah their freedom of movement was restricted and they forced to produce cash security of Rs10,000. With the seizure of arms, the Company 'officers also carried on a systematic plunder of the royal palaces and removed all the valuables they could lay their hands on.'
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