THE INDIAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1857 VEER SAVARKAR The Original Publisher’s Preface T his book on the history of 1857 was originally written in an Indian vernacular. But owing to the unique nature of the book, which, for the first time ever since the great War was fought, proves from the English writers themselves that the rising of the Indian people in 1857 was in no way an insignificant chapter in, or a tale unworthy of a great people’s history, pressing requests were made from many quarters to translate the work into the English language, so that by translations into the other vernaculars, the whole of the Indian nation might be enabled to read the history of the ever memorable War of 1857. Realising the reason and importance of these requests and with the kind permission of the author, the publishers undertook the translation of the original into the English language. With the patriotic cooperation of many of their countrymen, they are able today to place this work in the hands of Indian readers. The work of translating an Oriental work into a Western tongue has ever been a task of immense difficulty, even when the translator has all the facilities, which leisure and training could afford. But when the translation had to be done by divose hands and within a very short time, it was clearly foreseen by the publishers that the translation would not be defective and unidiomatic. But the main point before the publishers was not to teach the Indian people how to make an elegant translation nor to show them how to write correct English—points to which they were supremely indifferent— but to let them know how their nation fought for its Independence and how their ancestors died ‘for the ashes of their fathers and the temples of their Gods’. So, the publishers decided to run the risk of publishing the book as soon as it could explain the facts it had to tell, though none could be more conscious of the faults of the language than they themselves. Fifty years have passed and yet those who died for the honour of their soil and race are looked upon as madmen and villains by the world abroad; while their own kith and kin for whom they shed their blood, are ashamed even to own them! To allow this state of public opinion, born of stupid ignorance, and purposely and systematically kept up by a band of interested hirelings to continue any longer, would have been a national sin. So, the publishers have not waited till the language of this translation could be rendered elegant, which would be more shameful—to let hideous calumny hover over and smother down the spirit of martyrdom, or to let some mistake creep into a book admittedly translated into a foreign tongue! The first, at the best, was a crime, and the second at the worst, a venial literary offence. Therefore, the publishers owe no apology to, nor would one be asked for, by the Indian readers for whose special benefit the work is published. But, to those sympathetic foreign readers, who might be inclined to read this book, we owe an apology for the faults of the language and crave their indulgence for the same. London May 10, 1909 The Publishers The Story of this History “An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.” —Shakespeare A part from the splendid merits of the subject matter dealt with in the warlit pages of this history of The Indian War of Independence of 1857, the story of the thrilling vicissitudes, through which this book had to pass, does by itself entitle it to be placed on the classical shelf in any world library. The Object and the Name of the Book Veer Savarkarji, the famous author of this book, did himself explain in an article in the ‘Talwar’, an organ of the Abhi Nava Bharat Revolutionary Society, which was started by him and published in Paris that his object in writing this history was, subject to historical accuracy, to inspire his people with a burning desire to rise again and wage a second and a successful war to liberate their motherland. He also expected that the history should serve to place before the revolutionists an outline of a programme of organisation and action to enable them to prepare the nation for a future war of liberation. It would never have been possible to preach such a revolutionary gospel publicly throughout India or carry conviction so effectively as an illuminating illustration of what had actually happened in the nearest past would do. So, he invoked the warriors of 1857 to deliver his message through their own mighty words and mightier deeds. The ideal of absolute political Independence, and the conviction that the ultimate and inevitable means to realise that ideal could be no other than an armed national revolt against the foreign domination were concepts— which in those days—lay even beyond the horizon of the then political thought and action in India. The very mention of them was brushed aside as chimerical by the then extremists, was denounced as criminal by the loyal moderates and was even anathematised as immoral by the half-witted moralists! But these self-same concepts formed the two fundamental tenets of the A.N.B. (Abhi Nava Bharat) Revolutionary organisation. ‘Reforms and a peaceful solution’ formed the alpha and omega of the ambition of the then Indian National Congress itself. Independence, Revolution—let alone a War for Independence—were as a rule words almost unknown, unheard and inconceivably incomprehensible even to the highly patriotic Indian world. It was to familiarise this Indian patriotic world with at least these words in daily thought, and by their constant repetition, like that of a Mantram to hypnotise the youthful political mind into a subconscious attraction for the noble concepts, which the words connoted that Savarkar, who as a historian, would have called this book a history of the ‘National Rising’ or of the Revolutionary War of 1857, did, of a set design, name it the history of ‘The Indian War of Independence of 1857’. Veer Savarkar always emphasised the necessity in the Indian condition of carrying politics and patriotism to the camp, to the military forces in India, for rendering any armed revolt practical. The history of the Revolutionary War of 1857 proved beyond cavil or criticism that only some fifty years previously our ancestors had aimed to achieve absolute political independence, could bring about the active and armed participation in the national struggle of the military forces and could wage an inexorable war for the liberation of our motherland. He consequently felt that this history, if told, viewing it through such a revolutionary perspective, was most likely to animate the rising generation of India with the faith that there was no reason why it should not be practicable and even more faithful to try again as, at any rate, there was no other way to salvation. How far this expectation of the author was realised will be seen as this story proceeds. Originally written in Marathi This book was originally written in Marathi, in 1908, when Veer Savarkar was about twenty-four years of age. Some select chapters used to be reproduced in English, in speeches, which Veer Savarkarji used to deliver at the open weekly meetings of the Free India Society in London. Perhaps, through this channel or otherwise, the detectives got some scent of the subject-matter of this book, which their reports dubbed revolutionary, explosive and highly treasonous. Soon a chapter or two of the Marathi manuscript were found missing, which, it was disclosed later on, were stolen by the detective agents, and found their way to the Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the British Intelligence Department in London. Nevertheless, the Marathi manuscript was sent to India by the revolutionists so secretly and cleverly that, foiling the strict vigilance of the customs authorities of the Indian ports, it reached safely its destination. But the leading press-concerns in Maharashtra dared not run the risk of printing the volume. At last, the owner of a printing firm, who was himself a member of the Abhi Nava Bharat Secret Society, undertook to publish it. In the meanwhile, the Indian police too got some vague information that the volume was being published in Marathi. They, thereupon, carried a number of simultaneous surprise raids on some prominent printing houses in Maharashtra. But, fortunately, the owner of the Press, where the book was being actually printed, got a hint through a sympathetic police officer and succeeded in smuggling out the Marathi manuscript to a safer place just before the search party arrived. The manuscript was later on sent back to Paris instead of to London, and fell into the hands of its author. Finding thus that it was impossible to get it printed in India, it was decided to get the Marathi book printed in Germany where some Sanskrit literature used to be published in the Nagari script. But after a lot of waste of money and time, the scheme had to be given up as hopeless, owing to the uncouth and ugly Nagari-type cast in Germany, and to the fact that the German compositors were absolutely ignorant of the Marathi language. The History translated into English The A.N.B. Revolutionary Party resolved, thereupon, to publish, at least, the English translation of this History of the Indian War of Independence of 1857 with a view to enabling the English-speaking public, both in India and outside, to know its contents. A few highly intellectual Maratha youths in London, members of the A.N.B., distinguished graduates of Indian Universities studying Law, and candidates for the I.C.S. Examination volunteered to translate the voluminous work into English. After the translation was complete under the supervision of Sriyut V.V.S. Aiyer, efforts were made to get it printed in England. But the British detectives, too, were not idle, and made it impossible for any British printer to undertake the publication of it for the fear of being prosecuted forthwith. The English manuscript was then sent to Paris, but the French Government at that time was so thoroughly under the thumb of England, with whom France had to ally herself in order to face combinedly the impending danger of a German invasion that the French detectives were working hand in hand with the British police to suppress the A.N.B. revolutionary activities in France, and under their threat, even a French printer could not be found ready to run the risk of printing this history. At last, by a successful ruse, the revolutionists persuaded a printing firm in Holland to print the book. The British Intelligence Department continued to grope in the dark as the revolutionists publicly gave it out that the English translation was being printed in France. Before the British detectives could get any inkling, the volume was printed in Holland and the whole edition of the English translation was smuggled into France and kept secretly ready for the distribution. In the meanwhile, before the book was sent to Holland, for getting it printed, the British and the Indian Governments got so nervous and dreaded so much the effects of Savarkar’s writings, that they proscribed the book, which they admitted, was not yet printed! This was so high-handed a step on their part that the English papers themselves resented this action of proscribing a book before its publication—a case almost unprecedented in a land, which boasted of its freedom of the press. Veer Savarkar also did not spare the Governments and poured vials of ridicule on the proscribing order in a spirited letter he wrote to ‘The London Times’. He challenged in it, ‘It is admitted by the authorities that they were not sure whether the manuscript had gone to print. If that is so, how does the Government know that the book is going to be so dangerously seditious as to get it proscribed before its publication, or even before it was printed? The Government either possess a copy of the manuscript or do not. If they have a copy then why did they not prosecute me for sedition as that would have been the only course legitimately left to them? On the contrary, if they have no copy of the manuscript how could they be so cocksure of the seditious nature of a book of which they do not know anything beyond some vague, partial and unauthenticated reports? The ‘London Times’, not only published the letter, but added a note of its own that the very fact that the Government should have felt it necessary to have recourse to such presumably, high-handed and extraordinary executive steps proved that there must be ‘Something very rotten in the State of Denmark’. After getting the English translation printed in Holland the revolutionists smuggled into India hundreds of its copies by ingenious devices. Many of them were wrapped in artistic covers specially printed with such innocuous and bogus names as Tick-wick Papers,’ ‘Scot’s Works,’, ‘Don Quixote’ etc. Several copies got smuggled in boxes with false bottoms. It will be interesting to note that one such box, containing a number of copies under a false bottom, was taken into India by a youthful member of the Abhi Nava Bharat named Shikandar Hayat Khan, who later on was known to fame Sir Shikandar Hayat Khan, the chief minister of Punjab. Even the vigilance of the Argus-eyed monster of the Bombay Customs House failed to spot these devices and thousands of copies did thus reach their destinations in India, addressed to many prominent leaders, members of Abhi Nava Bharat, leading libraries, colleges and especially to secret sympathisers, who had access to several military camps throughout India. All these copies of this first edition of this history were sent free, even the postal charges being defrayed by the A.N.B. Revolutionary Society. It was then openly published in France, and was freely circulated and widely read by leading English historians, politicians and revolutionary circles, especially in Ireland, France, Russia, America, Egypt and Germany. The ‘Gadar’ in America and the Second English Edition In the year 1910, the British and the Indian Governments launched a violent campaign of persecutions and prosecutions with a view to crushing the Abhi Nava Bharat Revolutionary Society. Several Indian revolutionaries were hanged; several transported for life; hundreds sentenced to terms extending from ten to fourteen years of rigorous imprisonment. The heroic story of Veer Savarkar’s arrest, escape, re-arrest, persecutions, prosecutions and consequent transportation to the Andamans for two life sentences amounting to at least fifty years’ imprisonment are well known to be recited here. No sooner did the Abhi Nava Bharat organisation recover from this stunning blow that Madame Cama, the well-known brave Parsi lady, Lala Hardayal, L. Virendranath Chattopadhyaya and other leaders of the A.N.B. Revolutionary Party, decided to bring out the second English edition of this book. Lala Hardayalji organised the American branch of the A.N.B. and 1 started his well-known newspaper ‘The Gadar —(Rebellion) in America. Not only was the second English edition of this ‘Indian War of Independence of 1857’ published this time for regular sale to replenish the party funds, but translations of this History were published regularly in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi languages secretly through the ‘Gadar’. It aroused the Sepoys in the Army, as the ‘Gadar’ reached several camps in India and especially the large number of the Sikh agriculturists settled in America. Soon after that, the First World War broke out. How the Indian revolutionists in India and out-side joined hands with the Germans against England, how large amounts of arms and ammunition were smuggled into India, how the Komagatamaru succeeded in landing revolutionary forces in India, how the Emden bombarded Indian ports, how mutinies broke out in Indian regiments stationed at Hong Kong, Singapore and Burma under the leadership of Gadar Party and how this attempt by the Indian revolutionaries to invade India to liberate her was at last frustrated owing to the defeat of the Germans, is now a matter of history. Nevertheless, this revolutionary campaign proved to be a veritable rehearsal of the recent military invasion attempted on a mightier scale by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose with the I.N.A. Throughout this later revolutionary movement, it became evident from the trials of hundreds of leaders and followers that this history of the first Indian War of Independence of 1857 proved to be a perennial source of inspiration, and even provided a detailed sketch of the programme of action. The demand for its copies was so great that they used to be sold and resold, in cases, for such fabulous prices as 300 rupees each. Thousands of the arrested revolutionaries were found in possession of them, and possession of a copy of this book was taken to be a proof by itself of the complicity of the possessor in the revolutionory activities. The Original Marathi Book is Dead!—Long live the Book!’ After the arrest of Veer Savarkar, the manuscript of the original Marathi book was handed over to Madame Cama in Paris. She kept it in her safe in the Bank of France with a view to placing it beyond the reach of the Agents of the British Intelligence Department. But the invasion of France by the Germans threw the Government of France itself into a hopeless disorder. Madame Cama too passed away. Consequently, when a searching enquiry was made regarding the whereabouts of the book, no trace of the manuscript could be found. The great Marathi tome was lost—no hope of its recovery was left. Marathi literature had thus suffered an irreparable 2 loss.