02-12-2007, 11:39 AM
from Deccan Chronicle, 11 Feb. 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Execution of Mangal Pandey
By Akhilesh Mithal
The trial and execution of the dying Mangal and the disbanding of his regiment failed to terrorise the sepoys into abject submission and May 1857 saw Meerut protest the bullet of abomination. The offenders were humiliated by having handcuffs and fetters welded on their limbs in the presence of colleagues and jailed with common criminals. This sparked a mass revolt.
Sepoys killed British officers, released their comrades and stormed into the capital Shahjahanabad Dillee to proclaim the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, a surprised, 82-year-old man (even his father had never seen battle) as leader. Dillee withstood siege for four months. Leaderless sepoys repeatedly sallied forth bravely to attack and be repulsed from entrenched British positions. British agents infiltrated the emperorâs council of war. The information smuggled out and caused the city to be penetrated and lost in September.
The emperor retreated to Humayunâs Tomb where he had the option of going East to join forces with Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh with the troops that had survived. Beguiled by the offer of peace and honour, the tired and bewildered old man surrendered in good faith. As two sons and a grandson were nearing the city as prisoners, without warning ,were shot dead in full public view.
"Haye! Dughaa" (Alas! We are betrayed!) is all they could cry out before dying. Brutal vengeance was wreaked on the fallen city. Men were dragged out of their houses to be cut down by sword, shot or hanged. Women flung themselves into wells to avoid dishonour.
Boatloads of loot arrived in London and mule and donkey loads of gold and silver in the Punjab. The battle scene moved to Lucknow, Jhansi and Arrah and the Delhi pattern of atrocity, loot, arson, massacre was repeated. The emperor was tried for treason, found guilty and exiled by a trading company operating under a license granted by his ancestor.
The last flicker of the lamp of Indiaâs freedom went out.<b> Delhi lost its central status. London became the capital. The major and abiding loss was of the long tradition of rich diversity, of learning from all sources. In the 19th century, new knowledge such as European sciences had started getting absorbed to add on to the traditional learning such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Arabic, Persian and Turki. This rich and open tradition suffered sudden, brutal fracture.
Art, architecture, painting, calligraphy, book binding, jewellery; weaving and dyeing textiles of cotton silk, wool, gold and silver thread; music and dance; Islamic, Vedanta and Sufi studies â all these aspects of life and culture which had taken millennia to come of age and mature, suffered sudden loss of patronage and a slow death.</b>
<b>Transfer of wealth was institutionalised and made permanent by raising land revenue to unprecedented levels. With no surplus left to the peasant even a single yearâs failure of rain spelt famine. Famine, an infrequent and localised occurrence in the pre-British period became endemic covering larger and larger areas. Millions died of hunger â many times that number, especially children malnourished in the growth stage, helped Indians became an almost subhuman species.</b>
The officers, all British, were paid inordinately high salaries, high enough to form a massive drain of Indiaâs resources. <b>The Industrial Revolution started to take shape after the wealth of Bengal went to Britain in 1757 to provide the capital input. After 1857, there was no accountability or check on the drain of resources.</b>
Slavery abolition in Britain was made possible by the plentiful supply of bonded Indian labour under the title "indentured". <b>With Indian troops to win territory and Indian wage slaves to develop the new area, the British had the world at their feet. Playing God was natural and the alien rulers assumed the mai-baapâs (mother and father) and Indians forced to believe that whatever was done by the British was a favour. Any doubt or disagreement was tantamount to treachery.</b>
The British magistrate trying Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak ruled that "lack of affection" was disaffection or sedition and as such culpable enough to sentence Tilak to exile for eight years. Whenever Indians showed the temerity to disagree, question or complain, the British felt justified in accusing them of ingratitude and to exact submission at the point of gun, mouth of cannon, machine-gunning and even bombing from the air.
<b>Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi frequently suffered brutal physical violence and long periods of imprisonment. The 200 years of slavery has not been made up by 60 years of freedom. A deep-seated inferiority complex manifests itself in accepting British and Americans "expertise" on any and all aspects of Indian life including heritage and culture.</b>
India studies became unfashionable after 1857 and English-educated Indians rarely have access to the riches of their own tradition as they lack the language skills needed. They can perhaps be called <b>"toilet paper trained India illiterate" Indians.</b> We need many Mangal Pandyes to do away with this slothful hangover of British Rule in India.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
New definition for DIE!
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Execution of Mangal Pandey
By Akhilesh Mithal
The trial and execution of the dying Mangal and the disbanding of his regiment failed to terrorise the sepoys into abject submission and May 1857 saw Meerut protest the bullet of abomination. The offenders were humiliated by having handcuffs and fetters welded on their limbs in the presence of colleagues and jailed with common criminals. This sparked a mass revolt.
Sepoys killed British officers, released their comrades and stormed into the capital Shahjahanabad Dillee to proclaim the emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, a surprised, 82-year-old man (even his father had never seen battle) as leader. Dillee withstood siege for four months. Leaderless sepoys repeatedly sallied forth bravely to attack and be repulsed from entrenched British positions. British agents infiltrated the emperorâs council of war. The information smuggled out and caused the city to be penetrated and lost in September.
The emperor retreated to Humayunâs Tomb where he had the option of going East to join forces with Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh with the troops that had survived. Beguiled by the offer of peace and honour, the tired and bewildered old man surrendered in good faith. As two sons and a grandson were nearing the city as prisoners, without warning ,were shot dead in full public view.
"Haye! Dughaa" (Alas! We are betrayed!) is all they could cry out before dying. Brutal vengeance was wreaked on the fallen city. Men were dragged out of their houses to be cut down by sword, shot or hanged. Women flung themselves into wells to avoid dishonour.
Boatloads of loot arrived in London and mule and donkey loads of gold and silver in the Punjab. The battle scene moved to Lucknow, Jhansi and Arrah and the Delhi pattern of atrocity, loot, arson, massacre was repeated. The emperor was tried for treason, found guilty and exiled by a trading company operating under a license granted by his ancestor.
The last flicker of the lamp of Indiaâs freedom went out.<b> Delhi lost its central status. London became the capital. The major and abiding loss was of the long tradition of rich diversity, of learning from all sources. In the 19th century, new knowledge such as European sciences had started getting absorbed to add on to the traditional learning such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Arabic, Persian and Turki. This rich and open tradition suffered sudden, brutal fracture.
Art, architecture, painting, calligraphy, book binding, jewellery; weaving and dyeing textiles of cotton silk, wool, gold and silver thread; music and dance; Islamic, Vedanta and Sufi studies â all these aspects of life and culture which had taken millennia to come of age and mature, suffered sudden loss of patronage and a slow death.</b>
<b>Transfer of wealth was institutionalised and made permanent by raising land revenue to unprecedented levels. With no surplus left to the peasant even a single yearâs failure of rain spelt famine. Famine, an infrequent and localised occurrence in the pre-British period became endemic covering larger and larger areas. Millions died of hunger â many times that number, especially children malnourished in the growth stage, helped Indians became an almost subhuman species.</b>
The officers, all British, were paid inordinately high salaries, high enough to form a massive drain of Indiaâs resources. <b>The Industrial Revolution started to take shape after the wealth of Bengal went to Britain in 1757 to provide the capital input. After 1857, there was no accountability or check on the drain of resources.</b>
Slavery abolition in Britain was made possible by the plentiful supply of bonded Indian labour under the title "indentured". <b>With Indian troops to win territory and Indian wage slaves to develop the new area, the British had the world at their feet. Playing God was natural and the alien rulers assumed the mai-baapâs (mother and father) and Indians forced to believe that whatever was done by the British was a favour. Any doubt or disagreement was tantamount to treachery.</b>
The British magistrate trying Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak ruled that "lack of affection" was disaffection or sedition and as such culpable enough to sentence Tilak to exile for eight years. Whenever Indians showed the temerity to disagree, question or complain, the British felt justified in accusing them of ingratitude and to exact submission at the point of gun, mouth of cannon, machine-gunning and even bombing from the air.
<b>Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi frequently suffered brutal physical violence and long periods of imprisonment. The 200 years of slavery has not been made up by 60 years of freedom. A deep-seated inferiority complex manifests itself in accepting British and Americans "expertise" on any and all aspects of Indian life including heritage and culture.</b>
India studies became unfashionable after 1857 and English-educated Indians rarely have access to the riches of their own tradition as they lack the language skills needed. They can perhaps be called <b>"toilet paper trained India illiterate" Indians.</b> We need many Mangal Pandyes to do away with this slothful hangover of British Rule in India.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
New definition for DIE!