The Rebellion of 1857

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The present work purports to sketch in outline an account of the war of independence of the year 1857. It was in 1857 that the Indians had combined for the first time to destroy the bases of the British rule. The English chroniclers have described or, at least, they are prone to describe this first upsurge of the nation against them as the "Sepoy Mutiny". By whatever name you call it, "Sepoy Mutiny" or the "War of Independence", the fact remains that in 1857 the drums and timbrels resounded with the brawling chant of independence, and for the matter of that, the year 1857 had come to be chiselled for all immortality in the annals of our country.

It was Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who was the first to establish the conclusion that what the British historians had deigned to call the "Sepoy Mutiny" was, in reality, the first war of independence to be waged against the British. From the land of the Five Rivers in the west to Kundilnagar in the east, from the Himalayas to the Vindhya range of mountains, all Indians forged in 1857 one united front against the British so' that the country could be made free. It was, of course, not the first attempt to win independence. There had been similar uprisings even before; but those were in sudden juts and gushes, sporadic and scrappy, and the British authorities felt little upset by them. That of 1857, however, strained their nerves to the utmost. This demonstrated for the first time that in a united India, if Indians stood united, even an invincible power like the British could be made to beat a retreat. True the struggle of 1857 did not end in a victory for the Indians; but the events of 1857 left their trail of consequences-a nation- wide resurgence and re-kindling of the flame of liberty in everyone's heart, and withal, a promising beginning for the future.

**Contents and Sample Pages**