12-25-2006, 05:16 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Rare documents on display </b>
By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, Dec 24: 'Mangal mangal mangal mangal mangal mangal ho...'
The song from the the film 'The Rising' seems to play in a viewer's mind as his gaze falls on a sketch of Sepoy Mangal Pandey at an exhibition of archival and other material relating to the Revolt of 1857, otherwise termed as India's First War of Independence. The nine-day event, marking the 150th anniversary of the epic struggle, is underway at the State Museum on the picturesque Shyamla Hills in this City of Lakes and is a joint venture of the Uttar Pradesh State Archives and the Directorate of Archaeology, Archives and Museums, Bhopal.
Just below the immortal soldier's sketch is a news item published in 'Gwalior Akhbar'. Under the headline 'News from Sialkot' information has been given about a paper -- found by the riflemen --which instructed the sepoys not to use new cartridges because they were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. It was certainly bad news for Indian soldiers using the Pattern 1853 Enfield Musket, as one animal was holy to the Hindus and the other was abhorrent to the Muslims. To load his weapon, the sepoy had to first bite off the rear of the cartridge, which became one of the historical factors that triggered the Mutiny.
''Though differences of opinion exist, the Revolt's planning and spread made it the First War of Independence and not merely a Sepoy Mutiny. We have exhibited archives in English, Hindi, Urdu and the Modi script, which was used by Maratha princely states,'' Madhya Pradesh government Archivist S Naimuddin said. He points at an enlarged photograph of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar's surrender -- the aged and feeble monarch is looking at a haughty uniformed British officer who glares back.
In the summer of 1857, the Commissioner, Meerut Division, sent a detailed dispatch regarding the outbreak to the Secretary, North-Western Provinces. He wrote that since April 1857, rumours were current in Meerut that the cartridges about to be issued to the troops were objectionably greased. On April 24, 1857, 85 'sowars' of the 3rd Cavalry refused to obey the command to use the cartridges. They were court-martialled, imprisoned, fettered and humiliated in the presence of the entire brigade on May 9. The following day the mutiny broke out and part of the Indian infantry of Meerut marched to Delhi. The several military engagements that followed have bloodied the pages of History. Lieutenant Cubitt, an officer of the 5th Fusiliers, was horrified by one such carnage.
''Before long the ground was covered with the dead and writhing bodies of sepoys. The piles, five feet high in places, were so densely entangled that the wounded could not extricate themselves from the squirming mass...''
A Home Department notification dated August 19, 1857 and issued from Fort William, Calcutta (now Kolkata) says,<b> ''It is hereby notified that the Governor General of India in Council will pay the sum of fifty thousand rupees (50,000 Rs) to any person or persons who may apprehend Sreemunt Dhoondoo Punt Nana Sahib of Bithour in the district of Cawnpore, commonly called the Nana Sahib, and deliver him into the secure custody of any British civil or military officer, or who may give such information and aid as will lead to his apprehension.</b>
Such person or persons will also receive a free pardon for any offences committed against the state; provided that he or they shall not have taken part in the murder of British subjects. By order of the Right Hon'ble the Governor General of India in Council,...'' The document bears the signature of the Secretary to the Government of India. Pictures of the Revolt's personalities Hazrat Mahal and Birjis Qadar of Lucknow, Nana Sahib, Tatya Tope, Babu Kunwar Singh, sepoys at rifle practice, artillery in action and disarming of sepoys at Barrackpore are also on display besides folk songs of the struggle.
<b>The one entitled 'Meerut' reveals the plight of a 'firangi' (European) in a market. 'His gun is snatched His horse lies dead His revolver is battered...' An eye-catching pencil sketch of Tatya Tope was drawn just before his execution at Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri on April 18, 1859. </b>
<b>The documents include one relating to the martyrdom of women in Sikander Bagh (1858), Rani Laxmibai's letter to Rani Larai Dulaiya (1857), telegram regarding the arrest of Tatya Tope (April 1859), British control over Delhi and the arrest of the Emperor (January 25, 1858).</b>
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20061225/2512022.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, Dec 24: 'Mangal mangal mangal mangal mangal mangal ho...'
The song from the the film 'The Rising' seems to play in a viewer's mind as his gaze falls on a sketch of Sepoy Mangal Pandey at an exhibition of archival and other material relating to the Revolt of 1857, otherwise termed as India's First War of Independence. The nine-day event, marking the 150th anniversary of the epic struggle, is underway at the State Museum on the picturesque Shyamla Hills in this City of Lakes and is a joint venture of the Uttar Pradesh State Archives and the Directorate of Archaeology, Archives and Museums, Bhopal.
Just below the immortal soldier's sketch is a news item published in 'Gwalior Akhbar'. Under the headline 'News from Sialkot' information has been given about a paper -- found by the riflemen --which instructed the sepoys not to use new cartridges because they were greased with the fat of cows and pigs. It was certainly bad news for Indian soldiers using the Pattern 1853 Enfield Musket, as one animal was holy to the Hindus and the other was abhorrent to the Muslims. To load his weapon, the sepoy had to first bite off the rear of the cartridge, which became one of the historical factors that triggered the Mutiny.
''Though differences of opinion exist, the Revolt's planning and spread made it the First War of Independence and not merely a Sepoy Mutiny. We have exhibited archives in English, Hindi, Urdu and the Modi script, which was used by Maratha princely states,'' Madhya Pradesh government Archivist S Naimuddin said. He points at an enlarged photograph of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar's surrender -- the aged and feeble monarch is looking at a haughty uniformed British officer who glares back.
In the summer of 1857, the Commissioner, Meerut Division, sent a detailed dispatch regarding the outbreak to the Secretary, North-Western Provinces. He wrote that since April 1857, rumours were current in Meerut that the cartridges about to be issued to the troops were objectionably greased. On April 24, 1857, 85 'sowars' of the 3rd Cavalry refused to obey the command to use the cartridges. They were court-martialled, imprisoned, fettered and humiliated in the presence of the entire brigade on May 9. The following day the mutiny broke out and part of the Indian infantry of Meerut marched to Delhi. The several military engagements that followed have bloodied the pages of History. Lieutenant Cubitt, an officer of the 5th Fusiliers, was horrified by one such carnage.
''Before long the ground was covered with the dead and writhing bodies of sepoys. The piles, five feet high in places, were so densely entangled that the wounded could not extricate themselves from the squirming mass...''
A Home Department notification dated August 19, 1857 and issued from Fort William, Calcutta (now Kolkata) says,<b> ''It is hereby notified that the Governor General of India in Council will pay the sum of fifty thousand rupees (50,000 Rs) to any person or persons who may apprehend Sreemunt Dhoondoo Punt Nana Sahib of Bithour in the district of Cawnpore, commonly called the Nana Sahib, and deliver him into the secure custody of any British civil or military officer, or who may give such information and aid as will lead to his apprehension.</b>
Such person or persons will also receive a free pardon for any offences committed against the state; provided that he or they shall not have taken part in the murder of British subjects. By order of the Right Hon'ble the Governor General of India in Council,...'' The document bears the signature of the Secretary to the Government of India. Pictures of the Revolt's personalities Hazrat Mahal and Birjis Qadar of Lucknow, Nana Sahib, Tatya Tope, Babu Kunwar Singh, sepoys at rifle practice, artillery in action and disarming of sepoys at Barrackpore are also on display besides folk songs of the struggle.
<b>The one entitled 'Meerut' reveals the plight of a 'firangi' (European) in a market. 'His gun is snatched His horse lies dead His revolver is battered...' An eye-catching pencil sketch of Tatya Tope was drawn just before his execution at Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri on April 18, 1859. </b>
<b>The documents include one relating to the martyrdom of women in Sikander Bagh (1858), Rani Laxmibai's letter to Rani Larai Dulaiya (1857), telegram regarding the arrest of Tatya Tope (April 1859), British control over Delhi and the arrest of the Emperor (January 25, 1858).</b>
http://www.centralchronicle.com/20061225/2512022.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->