02-18-2004, 08:18 AM
THEY DIED FOR HINDUSTAN
(From "Unsung Martyrs of 1857" by A .K Biswas, Frontier, Calcutta, 27 Feb.- 4
Mar. 2000. Abridged by Prof. I.K. Shukla)
[The sacrifices of a dedicated band of patriots led by Peer Ali Khan of Patna and of the lowly Rajwar community of Rajgir during the Revolt of Hindustan in 1857-58 remain neglected in the historiography of our First War of Independence against the Brits. This homage sets the record straight about our real martyrs and heroes.]
Posted on March 20, 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I have ordered his house to be razed to the ground and a post placed on the spot with a notice, stating that he and thirteen of his accomplices have been hanged...if such a combination and conspiracy is again discovered, I will make all the ward responsible." The person referred to here was Peer Ali Khan, and the house demolished was his.
Rebellion in Patna
This sadistic savagery and brutal illegality (of destruction of property) distinguished William Tayler, the Commissioner of Patna division comprising Patna, Gaya, Shahabad, Champaran, Saran, and Tirhut, bifurcated by river Ganga from west to east. Peer Ali Khan was a bookseller of Patna. But that won't describe him fairly. Though it suggests that Patna was then a center of the intelligentsia. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of Brahmo monotheism and a social reformer, had studied Persian in Patna. Calcutta hadn't grown yet to be the big market for books. The University there was established in January 1857. Serampore, in district Hooghly, was the hub of the publishing industry.
But Peer Ali and his friends had risen against the Brits in Patna much before the revolt broke out in Shahabad, Gaya, or Danapur cantonment. This cost them dear. He, however, must be the first and the only bookseller under the sun to have been sent to the gallows for espousing patriotism. Destiny ordained that Peer Ali set a very high moral tone and stiff standards for martyrs in modern India. After his execution, Taylor recorded rather faithfully the last words of this dauntless son of Patna. In his letter of July 8, 1857 to James Frederick Halliday, the Lt. Governor of Bengal, Taylor quoted Peer Ali as saying: "There are some occasions on which it is good to give up life and that if I sacrificed thousands every day others would fill their place."
Khudiram Bose, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdeo, and Udham Singh - one and all- during India's freedom struggle courted death with exactly the words Peer Ali had uttered in1857. Here is Udham Singh, hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, July 31, 1940, for killing the former Punjab Governor Michael O'Dwyer for his crimes in Jalianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919: "I don'tcare about the sentence of death. It means nothing at all. I am dying for a purpose. We are suffering from the British empire...I am proud to die to free my native land, and hope that when I am gone, in my place will come thousands of my countrymen to drive you dirty dogs out...You will be cleansed out of India.." The originator of these sentiments was Patna's Peer Ali Khan.
Let us hear the testimony of Taylor on the demeanor of Peer Ali at his hanging: "He was cool and defiant to the last; though manacled and wounded, and with the sentence over him, he showed neither fear, nervousness, nor shame.. In character, appearance, and manners, he was the perfect ideal of a brutal and brave fanatic." The Patna Commissioner and the District Magistrate, comprising a special commission, had condemned Peer Ali to death. Along with him, 16 more were hanged ; 17 were imprisoned with hard labor; and two transported to penal settlements.
Why capital punishment for Ali? On 3 July 1857 near the Roman Catholic Chapel, Patna, one Dr Lyell was killed. He was the Deputy Opium Agent, Patna. Ali was charged with his murder. Also with waging war against the Crown. The correspondence of the Commissioner, Patna Division, and the Government of Bengal reveal that about 100 to 200 men "had assembled at the house of one Peer Ali, a book-seller in the town, and proceeded at once to the Roman Catholic House with the intention of murdering the priest" The Commissioner ordered the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Patna to "proceed to the spot at once with 100 Sikhs." Major-General G. W. A. Lloyd, officer commanding, Danapur Cantonment, urged "to send down 50 Europeans", rushed 60. Quoting a confidential source, Tayler writes that according to the evidence Dr Lyell was shot by Peer Ali Khan. Incidentally, Ali's house was close to the Chapel.
Ali's "crime" was compounded by the fact that he had hit at the imperial trade of opium by eliminating an important minion. The fertile Gangetic belt produced opium enough to satisfy five times the legitimate requirements of the world in the 19th century. The Bihar opium by itself could meet the global demand three times. It was immensely profitable to the Empire. Gulzarbagh, Patna, was not only the HQ of the Opium Agent in Bihar, but virtually the opium capital of the world. Job-wise, it was a coveted Agency.
Thus the rebels had struck a raw nerve. Opium was the economic strength of the Brits. Hence the alarm in the small community of the Europeans. The brave men with Peer Ali were Syed Lootf Ali Khan, the richest banker of Patna city, and Moulvi Ali Kareem, an astute organizer.
Lucknow Plot?
While his companions were hanged within three hours of the trial, Peer Ali wasn't. The Commissioner delayed his execution to ferret out from him some information about the conspiracy code-named Lucknow Conspiracy. In vain. Waris Ali, a jamadar of Tirhoot district, was arrested as a prominent conspirator and kingpin in the plot. Says Taylor: "Waris Ali is said to be related to the Royal family at Delhi and the Magistrate of Tirhoot considers that he has been for some time employed as a spy." Several letters of Ali Kareem were recovered from him. Kareem's field of operations included Saran, Champaran, Tirhoot, Patna, and Gaya districts where "seditious meetings' were held and addressed by him. A man of influence and able leadership, he had nearly 100 armed men at his command and could raise another 100 at a minute's notice.
Prior to the outbreak of revolt in Patna on 3 July 1857, the Commissioner had deputed the DM, J.M.Lowis, and the SP, Captain Rattray from Patna, accompanied by Dewan Moula Buksh to arrest Ali Kareem from his house at Dumri, near Motihari, in Champaran. They took 50 Sikhs for their mission. On arrival, they discovered that the kingpin of the plot had escaped on an elephant with several attendants. Tayler ordered his property attached and a bounty "of Rs. 2000 for his apprehension." Waris Ali was soon arrested, tried for treason, and hanged. In this context it should be remembered that the zamindar of Jagdishpur, Baboo Kunwar Singh, had a reward of Rs. 5000 on his head.
Syed Lootf Ali Khan, however, proved a hard nut to crack. Tayler sought obsessively to prosecute this famous banker so as to have him hanged, but the Sessions Judge, Patna, R. N. Farquharson, frustrated the wily Commissioner. J.M. Lowis, in his letter of 11 July 1857 wrote to the govt. "..at the request of the Commissioner Mr Tayler, I arrested (him) on the night of 5th instant. I was accompanied by Lt. Campbell with guards of Sikhs who surrounded the house; but the precaution was needless, as there was no show of resistance or attempt at escape. He at once came out to meet me, and when informed that he had been summoned by the Commissioner, he ordered his carriage, and as the coachman was not forthcoming, got himself on the box, and drove us to Mr Tayler's house. The Commissioner there informed him that he was a prisoner, and ordered me to take him at once to the Civil Jail, but as no preparations had been made for his reception, as it was past 10o' clock, I obtained permission from the Commissioner to take him to my own house where I gave him a room, and the next morning he was lodged in the Meethapur Jail." In fact, there were no grounds for his detention.
Tayler made several attempts to influence the Sessions Judge to bend the judicial process and hang Lootf Ali. But the Judge didn't succumb. The uprightness of the Sessions Judge is a tale by itself. Tayler's animus against Farquharson made him complain against the latter. Authorities turned a deaf ear to his gripes. Contrarily, Tayler was sacked from his job, his loyalty to and exertions on behalf of the Crown notwithstanding.
The charges against Lootf Ali: harboring a mutineer of the army which entailed death penalty. A leading rebel, Guseeta, in the employ of Lootf Ali, was "actively concerned not only in carrying out but in exciting the outbreak" of the revolt on the night of 3 July when Dr Lyell was murdered.
Another "hardened rebel", also named Guseeta, and his mother were too the employees of Lootf Ali. Guseeta's mother was the ayah of Lootf's mother. Besides, Mohabbat Ali Khan, or Mohib Ali, a rebel sepoy, who took part in the revolt of the 37th Regiment N I at Benares on or about 4 June1857 took shelter at Lootf's house. He was tried and hanged.
Despite Tayler's persistence the Judge acquitted Lootf and ordered him released. "This incarceration and commitment I consider improper and unjustifiable on the charge and evidences produced." A unique case of a fair trial that climaxed in the dismissal of the Commissioner, William Tayler. Bickerings between the civil and judicial authorities at Patna generated immense heat at the time, helping once in a blue moon justice prevail over highhandedness and arbitrariness.
Rajwar Villages Burnt in Anti-Revolt Reprisal
T.J.Worsely, Deputy Magistrate, Nawadah, wrote on 29 July 1858 to the DM, Gaya, suggesting savage measures against the Rajwar villages, viz., Sukerpore, Barhat and Govindpore around Rajgir in the district of Behar.
Rajwars had raised the banner of revolt against the British empire under the spirited leadership of Jawahir Rajwar, Etwa Rajwar, etc. The Brits were baffled by the guerilla tactics of the Rajwars against which their army felt ineffectual and helpless. The Dy M informed the DM Alonzo Money that "the band of men under Jawahir Rajwar near Manjhi Nadeergunj have all left and fled into the Rajgir jungle. Another leader Etwa Rajwar had also fled into the hill near Govindpore." In Sep. 1857 Worsely disclosed that Etwa had two bands - Murrraee and Kurumpore - who were moving armed. The force under Etwa comprised "50 matchlock men and some of the discharged sepoys...I have also heard that the zamindars of Mauza Sautaur have aided the rebels Jawahir Rajwar of Mauza Hureepore by furnishing them both with money and supplies and I have heard the badmashes did not plunder their villages."
Rendered desperate by their failure in nabbing the rebellious Rajwars, the Brits resorted to the most dastardly act, open only to cowards and violating norms of civilized behavior and legality. Worsely visited the villages and wrote to the DM on 22 July 1858: "as none but severe measures will keep the Rajwars in check, and hunting them down in the hills and jungles which they invariably take to would be next to impossible, I suggest that the whole Rajwars in the three above mentioned villages be razed to the ground and their property (if there be any) confiscated to the Government. Such an example may frighten other villages." The imperial terrorism did not spare even women, children, old, and infirm. This was the policy laid down by Tayler nearly a year ago.
By 31 July 1857 Shahabad district was roiling.. The Commissioner declared: "matters have now arrived at a crisis at which..all considerations yield to the one great object, viz., the prompt re-occupation of Shahabad, the arrest and execution of Kooer (Kunwar) Singh, and the infliction of terrible vengeance on the rebellious villagers of that district who have joined in the revolt." The Commissioner was informed in advance by Maj.-Genl. G.W.A. Lloyd from the Danapur Cant. that "Kooer Singh of Jagdishpur is coming to attack with mutineers from here, and from 10,000 to 20,000 Bhojpurias. Once friendly to the Commissioner, Kooer Singh,the rebel, had to be crushed.
Rajwars Stigmatized
The brutal reprisals suffered by the patriotic Rajwars of Sukerpur, Barhat and Govindpur in common with Peer Ali and his cohorts, are glowing examples of heroic men who withstood the fury of the Empire in our First War of Independence. Now forgotten, they have become faceless, nameless. Their sacrifices form a memorable chapter of the freedom struggle in Bihar in the 19th century. Their brilliant contribution to our pride as a nation remains eclipsed in the archives. Rajwars in Bihar today are treated contemptuously.
The first systematic census of 1871 called them semi-Hinduised aboriginal numbering 53,000, who swelled to 132,000 in 1911, and 237,370 in 1981. Their anti-imperialist struggles during the Revolt of Hindustan did not make them socially respectable, nor was it at all deemed worthy of record or notice in history. Socially ostracized , they were for ever dogged by degradation and destitution. No good Brahman ever served them as family priest. The ten-fold indicators of social status or stigma for a Hindu were enunciated by the Census Commissioner E .A. Gait, ICS, in 1911. One was the Brahmanical yardstick - whether a person is served by a good Brahmin as a family priest. It was regarded an indicator of social dignity. Otherwise, one would be held in low esteem. In post-colonial India Rajwar is a Scheduled Caste in Bihar. They never received the benefit of education in the 50 years of "freedom". They are as ignored and exploited now as in Brit India.
And, those loyal to the Crown were sumptuously rewarded. Who were they? Upper caste, upper class predators and parasites. The DM, Gaya, received a delegation on 1 August 1857 of Gayawal Brahmins who offered to supply, in concert with the zamindars, 3000-4000 men to fight against the freedom fighters. This development was avidly reported the same day by DM Alonzo Money to A.R.Young, Secy. To Government in Calcutta. The feudal lords - zamindars, talookdars, thikadars, and even the intelligentsia, with no shame or embarrassment, flaunted their loyalty to the beastly British aliens. Arrayed against their country and fellow nationals.
The Gayawals were the custodians of Gaya shrines, a centre of pilgrimage for the Hindus offering pind dan to their dead ancestors. Gaya was close to Rajgir where Rajwars had risen in revolt. The Brits could not conceal their glee. This was the elitist treason that has marked the upper classes and upper castes ever since. In post-colonial India the British rule is identified with subjugation of Indian aspiration, exploitation, and tyranny. But the Gayawals had no compunction in siding with the enemy. Those holy men of Gaya redefined the meaning of treason (and thought it patriotism to sell the nation to foreigners, just like today).
To cite another example, Raghunandan Singh, the Maharaja of Darbhanga, offered rewards of Rs 30 to anyone capturing an army deserter or a mutinous sepoy! His gesture was loudly cheered by the beleaguered Brits and duly reciprocated with conspicuous marks of imperial favour. But these were not solitary or stray instances. There were many others - influential, powerful, and reputed - in various walks of life, who financially and materially supported the British - the foreign invaders. They haven't suffered any stigma in public or official dispensation. Many hogged encomiums and limelight for their "unique contributions and sacrifices to the cause of national freedom" when India celebrated her 50th anniversary of Independence!
The nation that substitutes its patriots with traitors, that denigrates its heroes, and anoints slave-owners, remains enslaved.
(From "Unsung Martyrs of 1857" by A .K Biswas, Frontier, Calcutta, 27 Feb.- 4
Mar. 2000. Abridged by Prof. I.K. Shukla)
[The sacrifices of a dedicated band of patriots led by Peer Ali Khan of Patna and of the lowly Rajwar community of Rajgir during the Revolt of Hindustan in 1857-58 remain neglected in the historiography of our First War of Independence against the Brits. This homage sets the record straight about our real martyrs and heroes.]
Posted on March 20, 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I have ordered his house to be razed to the ground and a post placed on the spot with a notice, stating that he and thirteen of his accomplices have been hanged...if such a combination and conspiracy is again discovered, I will make all the ward responsible." The person referred to here was Peer Ali Khan, and the house demolished was his.
Rebellion in Patna
This sadistic savagery and brutal illegality (of destruction of property) distinguished William Tayler, the Commissioner of Patna division comprising Patna, Gaya, Shahabad, Champaran, Saran, and Tirhut, bifurcated by river Ganga from west to east. Peer Ali Khan was a bookseller of Patna. But that won't describe him fairly. Though it suggests that Patna was then a center of the intelligentsia. Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of Brahmo monotheism and a social reformer, had studied Persian in Patna. Calcutta hadn't grown yet to be the big market for books. The University there was established in January 1857. Serampore, in district Hooghly, was the hub of the publishing industry.
But Peer Ali and his friends had risen against the Brits in Patna much before the revolt broke out in Shahabad, Gaya, or Danapur cantonment. This cost them dear. He, however, must be the first and the only bookseller under the sun to have been sent to the gallows for espousing patriotism. Destiny ordained that Peer Ali set a very high moral tone and stiff standards for martyrs in modern India. After his execution, Taylor recorded rather faithfully the last words of this dauntless son of Patna. In his letter of July 8, 1857 to James Frederick Halliday, the Lt. Governor of Bengal, Taylor quoted Peer Ali as saying: "There are some occasions on which it is good to give up life and that if I sacrificed thousands every day others would fill their place."
Khudiram Bose, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdeo, and Udham Singh - one and all- during India's freedom struggle courted death with exactly the words Peer Ali had uttered in1857. Here is Udham Singh, hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, July 31, 1940, for killing the former Punjab Governor Michael O'Dwyer for his crimes in Jalianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919: "I don'tcare about the sentence of death. It means nothing at all. I am dying for a purpose. We are suffering from the British empire...I am proud to die to free my native land, and hope that when I am gone, in my place will come thousands of my countrymen to drive you dirty dogs out...You will be cleansed out of India.." The originator of these sentiments was Patna's Peer Ali Khan.
Let us hear the testimony of Taylor on the demeanor of Peer Ali at his hanging: "He was cool and defiant to the last; though manacled and wounded, and with the sentence over him, he showed neither fear, nervousness, nor shame.. In character, appearance, and manners, he was the perfect ideal of a brutal and brave fanatic." The Patna Commissioner and the District Magistrate, comprising a special commission, had condemned Peer Ali to death. Along with him, 16 more were hanged ; 17 were imprisoned with hard labor; and two transported to penal settlements.
Why capital punishment for Ali? On 3 July 1857 near the Roman Catholic Chapel, Patna, one Dr Lyell was killed. He was the Deputy Opium Agent, Patna. Ali was charged with his murder. Also with waging war against the Crown. The correspondence of the Commissioner, Patna Division, and the Government of Bengal reveal that about 100 to 200 men "had assembled at the house of one Peer Ali, a book-seller in the town, and proceeded at once to the Roman Catholic House with the intention of murdering the priest" The Commissioner ordered the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Patna to "proceed to the spot at once with 100 Sikhs." Major-General G. W. A. Lloyd, officer commanding, Danapur Cantonment, urged "to send down 50 Europeans", rushed 60. Quoting a confidential source, Tayler writes that according to the evidence Dr Lyell was shot by Peer Ali Khan. Incidentally, Ali's house was close to the Chapel.
Ali's "crime" was compounded by the fact that he had hit at the imperial trade of opium by eliminating an important minion. The fertile Gangetic belt produced opium enough to satisfy five times the legitimate requirements of the world in the 19th century. The Bihar opium by itself could meet the global demand three times. It was immensely profitable to the Empire. Gulzarbagh, Patna, was not only the HQ of the Opium Agent in Bihar, but virtually the opium capital of the world. Job-wise, it was a coveted Agency.
Thus the rebels had struck a raw nerve. Opium was the economic strength of the Brits. Hence the alarm in the small community of the Europeans. The brave men with Peer Ali were Syed Lootf Ali Khan, the richest banker of Patna city, and Moulvi Ali Kareem, an astute organizer.
Lucknow Plot?
While his companions were hanged within three hours of the trial, Peer Ali wasn't. The Commissioner delayed his execution to ferret out from him some information about the conspiracy code-named Lucknow Conspiracy. In vain. Waris Ali, a jamadar of Tirhoot district, was arrested as a prominent conspirator and kingpin in the plot. Says Taylor: "Waris Ali is said to be related to the Royal family at Delhi and the Magistrate of Tirhoot considers that he has been for some time employed as a spy." Several letters of Ali Kareem were recovered from him. Kareem's field of operations included Saran, Champaran, Tirhoot, Patna, and Gaya districts where "seditious meetings' were held and addressed by him. A man of influence and able leadership, he had nearly 100 armed men at his command and could raise another 100 at a minute's notice.
Prior to the outbreak of revolt in Patna on 3 July 1857, the Commissioner had deputed the DM, J.M.Lowis, and the SP, Captain Rattray from Patna, accompanied by Dewan Moula Buksh to arrest Ali Kareem from his house at Dumri, near Motihari, in Champaran. They took 50 Sikhs for their mission. On arrival, they discovered that the kingpin of the plot had escaped on an elephant with several attendants. Tayler ordered his property attached and a bounty "of Rs. 2000 for his apprehension." Waris Ali was soon arrested, tried for treason, and hanged. In this context it should be remembered that the zamindar of Jagdishpur, Baboo Kunwar Singh, had a reward of Rs. 5000 on his head.
Syed Lootf Ali Khan, however, proved a hard nut to crack. Tayler sought obsessively to prosecute this famous banker so as to have him hanged, but the Sessions Judge, Patna, R. N. Farquharson, frustrated the wily Commissioner. J.M. Lowis, in his letter of 11 July 1857 wrote to the govt. "..at the request of the Commissioner Mr Tayler, I arrested (him) on the night of 5th instant. I was accompanied by Lt. Campbell with guards of Sikhs who surrounded the house; but the precaution was needless, as there was no show of resistance or attempt at escape. He at once came out to meet me, and when informed that he had been summoned by the Commissioner, he ordered his carriage, and as the coachman was not forthcoming, got himself on the box, and drove us to Mr Tayler's house. The Commissioner there informed him that he was a prisoner, and ordered me to take him at once to the Civil Jail, but as no preparations had been made for his reception, as it was past 10o' clock, I obtained permission from the Commissioner to take him to my own house where I gave him a room, and the next morning he was lodged in the Meethapur Jail." In fact, there were no grounds for his detention.
Tayler made several attempts to influence the Sessions Judge to bend the judicial process and hang Lootf Ali. But the Judge didn't succumb. The uprightness of the Sessions Judge is a tale by itself. Tayler's animus against Farquharson made him complain against the latter. Authorities turned a deaf ear to his gripes. Contrarily, Tayler was sacked from his job, his loyalty to and exertions on behalf of the Crown notwithstanding.
The charges against Lootf Ali: harboring a mutineer of the army which entailed death penalty. A leading rebel, Guseeta, in the employ of Lootf Ali, was "actively concerned not only in carrying out but in exciting the outbreak" of the revolt on the night of 3 July when Dr Lyell was murdered.
Another "hardened rebel", also named Guseeta, and his mother were too the employees of Lootf Ali. Guseeta's mother was the ayah of Lootf's mother. Besides, Mohabbat Ali Khan, or Mohib Ali, a rebel sepoy, who took part in the revolt of the 37th Regiment N I at Benares on or about 4 June1857 took shelter at Lootf's house. He was tried and hanged.
Despite Tayler's persistence the Judge acquitted Lootf and ordered him released. "This incarceration and commitment I consider improper and unjustifiable on the charge and evidences produced." A unique case of a fair trial that climaxed in the dismissal of the Commissioner, William Tayler. Bickerings between the civil and judicial authorities at Patna generated immense heat at the time, helping once in a blue moon justice prevail over highhandedness and arbitrariness.
Rajwar Villages Burnt in Anti-Revolt Reprisal
T.J.Worsely, Deputy Magistrate, Nawadah, wrote on 29 July 1858 to the DM, Gaya, suggesting savage measures against the Rajwar villages, viz., Sukerpore, Barhat and Govindpore around Rajgir in the district of Behar.
Rajwars had raised the banner of revolt against the British empire under the spirited leadership of Jawahir Rajwar, Etwa Rajwar, etc. The Brits were baffled by the guerilla tactics of the Rajwars against which their army felt ineffectual and helpless. The Dy M informed the DM Alonzo Money that "the band of men under Jawahir Rajwar near Manjhi Nadeergunj have all left and fled into the Rajgir jungle. Another leader Etwa Rajwar had also fled into the hill near Govindpore." In Sep. 1857 Worsely disclosed that Etwa had two bands - Murrraee and Kurumpore - who were moving armed. The force under Etwa comprised "50 matchlock men and some of the discharged sepoys...I have also heard that the zamindars of Mauza Sautaur have aided the rebels Jawahir Rajwar of Mauza Hureepore by furnishing them both with money and supplies and I have heard the badmashes did not plunder their villages."
Rendered desperate by their failure in nabbing the rebellious Rajwars, the Brits resorted to the most dastardly act, open only to cowards and violating norms of civilized behavior and legality. Worsely visited the villages and wrote to the DM on 22 July 1858: "as none but severe measures will keep the Rajwars in check, and hunting them down in the hills and jungles which they invariably take to would be next to impossible, I suggest that the whole Rajwars in the three above mentioned villages be razed to the ground and their property (if there be any) confiscated to the Government. Such an example may frighten other villages." The imperial terrorism did not spare even women, children, old, and infirm. This was the policy laid down by Tayler nearly a year ago.
By 31 July 1857 Shahabad district was roiling.. The Commissioner declared: "matters have now arrived at a crisis at which..all considerations yield to the one great object, viz., the prompt re-occupation of Shahabad, the arrest and execution of Kooer (Kunwar) Singh, and the infliction of terrible vengeance on the rebellious villagers of that district who have joined in the revolt." The Commissioner was informed in advance by Maj.-Genl. G.W.A. Lloyd from the Danapur Cant. that "Kooer Singh of Jagdishpur is coming to attack with mutineers from here, and from 10,000 to 20,000 Bhojpurias. Once friendly to the Commissioner, Kooer Singh,the rebel, had to be crushed.
Rajwars Stigmatized
The brutal reprisals suffered by the patriotic Rajwars of Sukerpur, Barhat and Govindpur in common with Peer Ali and his cohorts, are glowing examples of heroic men who withstood the fury of the Empire in our First War of Independence. Now forgotten, they have become faceless, nameless. Their sacrifices form a memorable chapter of the freedom struggle in Bihar in the 19th century. Their brilliant contribution to our pride as a nation remains eclipsed in the archives. Rajwars in Bihar today are treated contemptuously.
The first systematic census of 1871 called them semi-Hinduised aboriginal numbering 53,000, who swelled to 132,000 in 1911, and 237,370 in 1981. Their anti-imperialist struggles during the Revolt of Hindustan did not make them socially respectable, nor was it at all deemed worthy of record or notice in history. Socially ostracized , they were for ever dogged by degradation and destitution. No good Brahman ever served them as family priest. The ten-fold indicators of social status or stigma for a Hindu were enunciated by the Census Commissioner E .A. Gait, ICS, in 1911. One was the Brahmanical yardstick - whether a person is served by a good Brahmin as a family priest. It was regarded an indicator of social dignity. Otherwise, one would be held in low esteem. In post-colonial India Rajwar is a Scheduled Caste in Bihar. They never received the benefit of education in the 50 years of "freedom". They are as ignored and exploited now as in Brit India.
And, those loyal to the Crown were sumptuously rewarded. Who were they? Upper caste, upper class predators and parasites. The DM, Gaya, received a delegation on 1 August 1857 of Gayawal Brahmins who offered to supply, in concert with the zamindars, 3000-4000 men to fight against the freedom fighters. This development was avidly reported the same day by DM Alonzo Money to A.R.Young, Secy. To Government in Calcutta. The feudal lords - zamindars, talookdars, thikadars, and even the intelligentsia, with no shame or embarrassment, flaunted their loyalty to the beastly British aliens. Arrayed against their country and fellow nationals.
The Gayawals were the custodians of Gaya shrines, a centre of pilgrimage for the Hindus offering pind dan to their dead ancestors. Gaya was close to Rajgir where Rajwars had risen in revolt. The Brits could not conceal their glee. This was the elitist treason that has marked the upper classes and upper castes ever since. In post-colonial India the British rule is identified with subjugation of Indian aspiration, exploitation, and tyranny. But the Gayawals had no compunction in siding with the enemy. Those holy men of Gaya redefined the meaning of treason (and thought it patriotism to sell the nation to foreigners, just like today).
To cite another example, Raghunandan Singh, the Maharaja of Darbhanga, offered rewards of Rs 30 to anyone capturing an army deserter or a mutinous sepoy! His gesture was loudly cheered by the beleaguered Brits and duly reciprocated with conspicuous marks of imperial favour. But these were not solitary or stray instances. There were many others - influential, powerful, and reputed - in various walks of life, who financially and materially supported the British - the foreign invaders. They haven't suffered any stigma in public or official dispensation. Many hogged encomiums and limelight for their "unique contributions and sacrifices to the cause of national freedom" when India celebrated her 50th anniversary of Independence!
The nation that substitutes its patriots with traitors, that denigrates its heroes, and anoints slave-owners, remains enslaved.