The rebellion never really gained momentum in Punjab. Similarly, native regiments all across the province were disarmed.

Haroon Khalid

Early on the morning of May 13, 1857, the native regiment army in Lahore was summoned to the parade ground. They were positioned in a way that the European horse-artillery troop was behind them. The regiment was asked to step forward and ordered to submit their arms, which they did so in confused fashion.

A couple of days earlier, Indian sepoys at the Meerut cantonment had rebelled against the British officers, starting a year long struggle for freedom. On May 11, 1857, the rebel soldiers reached Delhi, where they urged Bahadur Shah Zafar, the puppet Mughal king, to become their leader.

It’s hard to say if the soldiers in Lahore and Punjab had heard about the rebellion. The telegraph had been installed in Punjab and was being used by the colonial officers to convey the news. Chief Commissioner of Punjab John Lawrence, the most important colonial officer of the province, was in Rawalpindi on his way to the hill station Murree with his family, something that he did every summer to escape the heat of Punjab. Hearing about the mutiny in Meerut, he sent his family to Murree and stayed in Rawalpindi to monitor the progress.

With the telegraph line between Lahore and Rawalpindi down on May 12, the colonial officers in Lahore were on their own.

Threat to the Empire

Caught unawares, the British were particular concerned about Punjab, a state that they had acquired less than a decade ago after two bitter wars with the Sikhs. Punjabi nobility had lost their status with the arrival of the British, and hence were bitter towards them. After taking over Punjab in 1849, the British had disarmed the Punjabi soldiers and sent them back to agriculture. However, they were aware of the martial capabilities of Punjabis, and knew that if the fire of rebellion that was spreading throughout northern India spread to the Punjab, then it would be hard to quell.

Just as Delhi in North India was a symbolic city where rebels converged, it was Lahore in Punjab which was the symbol of a lost empire and lost status for aristocrat Punjabis. The colonial officers in Lahore understood the importance of maintaining their position in Lahore under all conditions. They also realized that with a strong presence in Punjab, the British could push back the rebels from Delhi and North India, which is exactly what happened.

“If Lahore is saved, the Empire is saved,” said Robert Montgomery, the Judicial Commissioner of Punjab, while presiding over an emergency meeting attended by senior civil and military officers in the new Mian Mir Cantonment. Robert Montgomery had been informed by the Lahore station master, who had heard from a Sikh non-commissioned officer in the police corps that the entire native regiment was planning to rebel against the British officers and take over Lahore Fort.

Huddled together on May 12, the British officers could not decide if there was any truth behind this news. It was suggested that there was no such mutiny planned in Lahore and disarming the regiment would unnecessarily alert them. However, Robert Montgomery did not want to take any chances. Hence, on the morning of May 13, the entire native regiment in Lahore was disarmed.

This was a stroke of genius that saved the Empire. The rebellion never really gained momentum in Punjab. Similarly, native regiments all across the province were disarmed.

Rebellion crushed

John Lawrence assigned the famous John Nicholson to sweep through Punjab with force and quell all rebellion in its infancy. Nicholson, who at that time was serving as the Deputy Commissioner of Bannu, had earned quite a reputation for himself. During his tenure as the Deputy Commissioner, he had brutally dealt with the hill tribes and cast fear among the locals. As he combed through Punjab, the legend of his martial prowess grew immensely.

In the meantime, John Lawrence raised a Punjabi regiment that comprised Sikhs, Muslims and Dogras to send to Delhi to capture the city back from the rebels. The Viceroy of India, Charles Canning, was holed up in Calcutta at this time and was cut off from the action. The telegram lines between North India and Calcutta were regularly cut off, making it difficult for the Europeans in the heart of the rebel territory to communicate with their viceroy.

Under these circumstances, John Lawrence took it upon himself to preserve the British Empire. He was the de-facto Commander-in-Chief in the eyes of most Britons in the north and west of India. Previously, he had also served as a Magistrate in Delhi and was therefore aware of the layout of the city, which would be crucial information in wresting back the city.

Preparing a Punjabi regiment, John Lawrence assigned John Nicholson to march to Delhi and fight the rebels. Nicholson was already a legend by the time he reached Delhi. On September 14, he led one of the columns into Delhi. The city was eventually taken back and the rebellion was crushed, but John Nicholson died during the battle.

Honoring their heroes

Without the help of the Punjab regiment, the British would have never been able to crush the rebellion. The war of 1857 made legends out of several British officials, three of which were Robert Montgomery, John Lawrence and John Nicholson. Nearly 160 years since the 1857 revolt, Punjab and Lahore honor neither the rebels nor the freedom fighters, but rather these three British heroes who were pivotal in curbing the rebellion.

Everybody in Punjab today knows about Montgomery, Nicholson and Lawrence, but not many have heard of Ahmad Shah Kharal, who laid a popular revolt against the British in 1857, inspired by the events in Meerut. He was killed on September 21, in a region that was later to be called Montgomery District.

At a little distance from the walled city of Lahore, whose walls were razed by the British after the Revolt of 1857, is a road named Montgomery Road, named in the honor of Robert Montgomery, the Punjabi hero of the Revolt, who also served as the Lt.-Governor of Punjab between 1859 and 1865. A congested road, it is now the hub of auto spare parts in the province. The road then merges into a road called Nicholson Road, named after the legendary John Nicholson. The Nicholson road converges into McLeod Road, named after another British official from the same period, who was the Revenue Commissioner for Punjab. The McLeod touches the Mall Road, perhaps the most famous road constructed by the British in Lahore. On Mall Road is Bagh-e-Jinnah, once known as Lawrence Park, named after John Lawrence, the savior of 1857 and the Viceroy of India between 1863 and 1869. Lawrence Park, however, remains the popular name.

Next to the Park is the Quaid-i-Azam Library, one of the largest public libraries in the country. Situated in a white colonnade colonial style building, the library was originally Lawrence Hall, built in 1866 to honor John Lawrence. It was used to hold important British functions and also served as a gymkhana. After the creation of Pakistan, both Lawrence Park and Lawrence Hall were renamed after the founder of the country. In pre-Partition Lahore, there used to be a statue of John Lawrence on Mall Road, with a pen in one hand and a sword on the other, with the following lines inscribed beneath it: “By which will ye be governed, by pen or by sword?” Deemed offensive to nationalist sensibilities, the statue was removed in the 1920s after much protest.

Colonial legacy

The Pakistani state has a strange relationship with its colonial legacy. Because of its emphasis on the two-nation theory and its obsession with defining itself in opposition to the Hindus, the official narrative, as is found in school textbooks, is often lacking in providing a context to students about our colonial past.

Pre-Partition history is only presented in the context of Hindu-Muslim relations. It is therefore no surprise that the vast majority of students in the country believe that Pakistan achieved its freedom from the Hindus in 1947, and not the British. In the popular imagination, the colonial era is remembered fondly for the peace and economic stability that it brought to Punjab. The British succeeded the Sikh Empire, which is portrayed as a tyrannical rule for the Muslims.

To better understand the State’s relationship with its colonial predecessor, consider the example of General Raheel Sharif – one of Pakistan’s most popular army chiefs – commemorating 100 years of the Infantry division of Lahore, which was raised during the First World War, in March last year.

Recently, I was talking to a German friend living in Delhi, who said that he has come across many young Indians and Pakistanis who take a lot of pride in the fact that their ancestors took part in the Second World War. In contrast, my German friend admitted that he was embarrassed about his grandfather’s role in the German army during the same war.

Identity crisis

Pakistani society suffers a major identity crisis today. It used to see itself as a bastion of Islam in the Indian peninsula. However, that image suffered a major setback after the creation of Bangladesh.

Even so, Muslim identity continues to play a major role. Today, this identity is once again under threat with the rise of Islamic extremism, which too constructs an Islamic identity. The religious minorities in the country have suffered deeply owing to the close links between religion and national identity. So have the smaller provinces such as Sindh and Baluchistan (small in terms of its numbers) that, parallel to a Pakistani/Muslim identity, also adhere to their regional identity. It is only Punjab that has completely adapted this Pakistani identity by shedding away its regional identity, which is seen diluted because of its association with the non-Muslim past.

It is because of our obsession with defining our history in terms of Muslim-Hindu relations that we have not been able to understand the ramifications of colonialism and how it affects our daily lives. It is for this reason that British officials such as Montgomery and Lawrence, who undoubtedly played a pivotal role in the modernization of Punjab, are still idolized, while our folk heroes who challenged this hegemony are unacknowledged. Everybody in Punjab today knows about Montgomery, Nicholson and Lawrence, but not many have heard of Ahmad Shah Kharal, who laid a popular revolt against the British in 1857, inspired by the events in Meerut. He was killed on September 21, in a region that was later to be called Montgomery District.

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Haroon Khalid is the author of the books In Search of Shiva: A study of folk religious practices in Pakistan and A White Trail: A journey into the heart of Pakistan’s religious minorities.

Courtesy: Scroll

The post Colonial officers thought ‘If Lahore is saved, the Empire is saved’ first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Tim Willasey-Wilsey

The year 1857 is not widely recognized in Pakistan as an important year. Even its centenary was not celebrated. This is hardly surprising. The fact is that most landowners in what is now Pakistan supported the British and were well recompensed for their loyalty. Lands and titles were granted; a classic example being Mohammed Hyat Khan of Wah rewarded for carrying the body of the fatally wounded John Nicholson out of Delhi city to safety. He was made a Nawab; his son Sikandar was knighted and became premier of Punjab; and his grandson Shaukat a cabinet minister. Furthermore regiments of Punjabi and Pashtun Muslims from areas now in Pakistan played a significant role on the British side in retaking Delhi from the mutineers and thus saving the Raj for another 90 years.

All the famous episodes of the Rebellion took place in what is now India; the outbreak at Meerut on 10th May 1857 when the sepoys rose and killed several British officers and their families, followed by the seizure of Delhi and the siege of Lucknow, the massacres at Jhansi and Cawnpore and the eventual recovery of Delhi by the British. However some important events took place in what is now Pakistan. Uprisings in Peshawar, Lahore, Mardan and Nowshera were quickly suppressed by the Governor of the Punjab, Sir John Lawrence and the young Brigadier Nicholson. A ‘Moveable Column’ was formed under Nicholson to help retake Delhi, but this meant removing most of the British regiments from this area. In the circumstances it is hardly surprising that the sepoys in Jhelum and Sialkot seized their chance.

The Jhelum Mutiny is well told in a fascinating book of letters home by a young officer’s wife, Minnie Wood. The book, entitled From Minnie with Love is edited by Jane Vansittart. Poor Minnie Blane is swept off her feet in 1856 by a dashing Captain Archie Wood during his leave from India. Soon she is married and having to endure the four-month sea voyage to India with a husband she is quickly beginning to see through. Not only is Archie Wood heavily in debt but he is a weak, lazy man prone to self-pity and displays of violent anger. As if this were not enough Minnie, now with a baby, finds that Jhelum, their first posting, has nothing to recommend it, dusty, small and insufferably hot. She feels desperately cut-off from home, letters taking two months via Suez, Bombay, Karachi and Multan. Then the Mutiny breaks out. It is difficult to imagine the terror of being in Jhelum with perhaps a dozen other British families as news of the atrocities in Cawnpore and elsewhere spreads, often in lurid and exaggerated detail. There seemed to be no way out in any direction. The Grand Trunk Road (GTR) to Calcutta was blocked by the mutineers in Delhi. The route by river from Multan to Karachi and Bombay was possible if risky but Archie did not have the money for the fare.

In fact the reasons for the loyalty of most in what is now Pakistan is quite simple. The lands which now comprise Pakistan had been dominated by the Sikhs until the 1840s. To the suppressed Punjabi and Pashtun Muslims of the area the British were seen, for a time, as liberators.

Archie was convinced of the loyalty of his regiment but he was wrong. On 7th July it mutinied just before a detachment of the 24th Foot (an all-British regiment) came to disarm it. Wood just got his wife and baby to safety in time, but there was a whole day’s fighting in which the British troops came off second best as they tried to dislodge the mutineers from a fortified building in the town. Many of the 24th were drunk but fortunately for them the mutineers eventually fled in the night. Archie’s letters to his mother-in-law are an excellent and thrilling read, marred only by a somewhat panicky tone and his usual fixation with money.

Two days later the regiments in Sialkot mutinied. This time there was no 24th Foot to come to the rescue, and the British residents had a terrifying dash of some two miles to the old Sikh fort on the hill, their prearranged safe-haven. On the way several were hacked down by the soldiers including the Brigadier and Major William Bishop. Two medics, both called Graham, were killed in front of their families, and there are numerous other stories of tragedy and some of miraculous escapes. After a harrowing night in the fort the survivors learned that the mutineers had set off for Delhi. On 12th July the latter were intercepted by Nicholson and over the next few days annihilated. Savagery was not only practiced by the sepoys in 1857. Captured sepoys were blown from artillery guns!

The two outbreaks can be retraced quite effectively today. In Sialkot the remains of the fort are still there and you can drive the exact route from the cantonment which those few families took that morning. Their graves are still at the foot of the fort mound and the two churches, Holy Trinity and the Catholic St James still contain memorial plaques. We learn, for example, that Bishop’s widow had also lost her infant son earlier in the year. Jhelum is even better for reconstructing the events of 7th July 1857. The rough sketches by Archie Wood can be matched with the town today. The church, St John’s, consecrated in February 1857, gives us another marker. The modern bridge was then a ‘bridge of boats’ in the same position and the cantonment ‘Centre road’ is still there. In fact the present sleepy cantonment, although much bigger, still retains some houses from the Mutiny era. So you can easily imagine the Woods’ hell-for-leather flight through a hail of bullets to the relative safety of Major Brown’s house. And after much searching I found the fortified building used by the mutineers, just to the north of the railway station. As in Sialkot the cemeteries have been vandalized but I located the grave of poor Captain Francis Spring, killed as he tried to urge on his drunken lads that scorching afternoon. A plaque to him and thirty-four other members of the 24th can be seen inside the church.

The historiography of 1857 is difficult for Pakistan. At various times since Partition historians have tried to interpret 1857 through the lens of 1947. One or other side has claimed to be the more “martial” or due more credit for the Subcontinent’s liberation struggle. In fact the reasons for the loyalty of most in what is now Pakistan is quite simple. The lands which now comprise Pakistan had been dominated by the Sikhs until the 1840s. To the suppressed Punjabi and Pashtun Muslims of the area the British were seen, for a time, as liberators. Furthermore the very best British administrators had been sent to the newly conquered territory. Known as “Henry Lawrence’s young men” they included John Nicholson, Harry Lumsden, Herbert Edwardes and James Abbott whose town in the Hazara area became briefly famous in 2011 for very different reasons; Abbottabad.

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The author is Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College, London

Courtesy: The Victorian Web (Article was published in 2014)

The post The 1857 Rebellion and the Pakistan first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Nupur Preeti Alok

Jhalkari Bai was a legendary Dalit woman warrior who played a crucial role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 during the battle of Jhansi in the women’s army of Queen Laxmibai of Jhansi. She was born in a Dalit family and grew up to become a soldier, eventually becoming Laxmibai’s trusted advisor. While she is remembered for her courage and sacrifice, what is significantly reminisced about her is that she disguised herself as the queen and fought to let the queen escape safely out of the fort.

Jhalkari Bai was the only daughter of a Sadoba Singh, and Jamuna Devi. She was born on November 22, 1830 in Bhojla village near Jhansi. Her family belonged to the Kori caste. After her mother’s death, her father raised her. At a very young age, she was trained to use weapons, ride a horse, and fight like a warrior. She also killed a wild leopard in the forest with a stick that she used to herd the cattle when young. Her stories of courage and bravery since childhood were heard by Pooran of Namapur Jhansi, himself from Kori caste. Pooram was a courageous and famous wrestler, experienced in archery and expert in horse riding, fire arms, and sword yielding. He told his mother that he wanted to marry Jhalkari. Jhalkari Bai’s father agreed to it, and their marriage was solemnized in 1843.

The legend of Jhalkari Bai remains fundamental in the popular memory of Bundelkhand over many decades. Her life as a warrior continues to be sung in various Bundeli folklores even today. Her bravery along with her identity as a Dalit has helped to create a sense of pride and cultural unity in Dalits across North India.

Life, Story, and Struggle

The revolt of 1857 figures in a major way in the narratives of popular dalit histories and the life of Jhalkari Bai as well. It is in this context that an alternative account of the revolt emerges, distorting the mainstream upper caste narrative of Indian history. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 has been in many ways held as the first challenging revolt against the British Rule in India. Reinventing 1857 from a Dalit perspective is hailed as imperative. This is why Jhalkari Bai’s story is a momentous part of Dalit reality. Her story questions the blurred presentations and partial/prejudiced histories of social historians in the country.

The story of Jhalkari Bai as a Dalit Virangana tells us why looking at the representations of Dalit women in the history of 1857 is crucial. Her story defines political and social positioning of Dalits in India. The Dalit female icons engaged in radical armed struggles far outnumber Dalit men in 1857. The political and public memories invoked by her story have become the symbol of bravery of the Dalit community.

Various authors have written stories and poems on Jhalkari Bai. The kind of cultural invocations include comics, poems, plays, novels, biographies, nautankis, and even magazines and organizations in her name. To name just a few, there is the comic Jhalkari Bai; poems variously titled Virangana Jhalkari Bai Kavya, Jhansi ki Sherni: Virangana Jhalkari Bai ka Jeevan Charitra and Virangana Jhalkari Bai Mahakavya; plays and nautankis called Virangana Jhalkari Bai and Achhut Virangana Nautanki; novels and biographies like Virangana Jhalkari Bai and Achhut Virangana; and a magazine called Jhalkari Sandesh. Various Dalit magazines have published articles on her.

Jhalkari Bai, in the various narratives, is depicted as an immortal martyr of 1857, belonging to the Kori caste. In many of the narratives, she is depicted as an ideal woman who helps her husband in his traditional occupation of cloth weaving, and also sometimes accompanies him to the royal palace. She is stated to be brave since her childhood and further trained in archery, wrestling, horse-riding and shooting, after learning it from her husband. Jhalkari Bai’s body and face resembled to that of Lakshmibai. She became friends with Laxmibai and was entrusted with the charge of leading the women’s wing of the army, known as the Durga Dal. When the 1857 revolt started, the rulers were mostly interested in just saving their thrones and it was not a freedom struggle for them. It was Dalits who made it a freedom struggle. When the British surrounded the fort of Jhansi, Jhalkari Bai fought fiercely. It is because of her that Rani Lakshmibai escaped from the palace alive. Jhalkari Bai took on the guise of the Rani and fought the battle from Dantiya gate and Bhandari gate to Unnao gate.

Her husband died while fighting the British and when Jhalkari Bai heard this, the narratives say that she became a ‘wounded tigress’, killing many British men. She managed to con them for a long time, before her true identity was discovered. According to some versions, suddenly many bullets hit her, and she died. Some state that she was set free, lived till 1890 and became a legend of her time. 5th April 1857 is said to be the day when Jhalkari Bai, disguised as Rani, fought the British and was martyred.

According to stories narrated in Uttar Pradesh, when the British came to raid on Jhansi, Jhalkari Bai was a soldier in the women’s army of Queen Laxmibai and used to make decisions on behalf of the queen. She went out as a cover for Laxmibai, even confronted the enemies and saved Laxmibai’s life from the British soldiers.

The people of Bundelkhand fondly remember her through poems like:

Macha Jhansi mein ghamasan, chahun aur machee kilkari thee,

Angrezon se loha lenein, ran mein kudee Jhalkari thee

(Translation: Amidst the sound and fury of the battle at Jhansi, Jhalkari plunged herself into the battlefield to confront the British.)

Jhalkari Bai’s role as an Indian warrior in the Rebellion of 1857 during the battle of Jhansi is significant at many levels. Her story is not only a stern critique of the hegemonic knowledge production of Indian history, but also telling of the innumerable erased Dalit figures in the nation’s history.

The literature surrounding Jhalkari Bai reveals a world that challenges textual, academic and historical narratives of 1857. It further shows how resistance to dominant discourses about Dalit women is an integral part of the lives of various Dalit women and Dalit communities.

Poems and songs as narrated here occupy a central place in these narratives.

khub lari jhalkari tu tau, teri ek jawani thi.

dur firangi ko karne mein, veeron mein mardani thi.

har bolon ke much se sun hum teri yeh kahani thi.

rani ki tu saathin banker, jhansi fatah karani thi….

datiya fatak raund firangi, agge barh jhalkari thi.

kali roop bhayankar garjan, mano karak damini thi.

kou firangi aankh uthain, dhar se shish uteri thi.

har bolon ke much se sun ham, roop chandika pani thi.

(Jhalkari you really fought, your youthfulness was unique.

You were a man among the brave in ousting the British.

We heard your story from the mouth of warriors.

You pledged for Jhansi to be victorious by being a friend of the queen.

Jhalkari, you rode from the Datiya gate, trampling the British.

You were like the Kali, and your strike was like lightning.

As soon as a British raised his head, you struck immediately.

We heard your deeds from the warriors, reciting tales of your bravery.)

The various poems and songs are a prominent part of the Dalit melas and rallies. Dance and plays too are enacted around them. The main narrative plots have become more elaborate with the passage of time, while many stories have been added too. Over all, it is associated with the larger purpose of reclaiming Dalit identity and dignity for the Dalits.

An episode repeatedly narrated is that of Jhalkari being blamed for killing a cow, which had actually been hidden by a Brahmin, but the truth gets revealed. This story needs to be linked to challenging dominant colonial and Hindu narratives which have regarded Dalits, along with Muslims, as killers of the “holy” cow.

Jhalkari Bai’s stories challenge the authoritative history of Rani Lakshmibai. It is argued that Lakshmibai not only managed to escape to the forests of Nepal with the help of the ruler of Pratapgarh, she died only in 1915 at the age of 80. It is actually Jhalkari Bai who is the real martyr and virangana. It is her name that should be held in highest regards and carved in gold in the pages of our history. A dalit woman with no kingdom or palace, with no expensive jewelry or shiny clothes, a woman neither a queen nor a daughter of any feudal lord, also not the wife of any jagirdar, is the one who fought selflessly and fearlessly. Her sacrifice far surpasses anyone else’s.

While upper caste histories highlight the resistance contributions of upper caste heroines like Jhansi Rani, the challenges posed to mainstream history tells us that the war for independence was won by Dalit and Bahujan resistance fighters like Jhalkari Bai and Uda Devi.

The General of the British Forces on meeting her had said, “If even one per cent of Indian women were like Jhalkari; the British would soon have to leave India.”

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Courtesy: Feminism India

The post Jhalkari Bai: A Warrior of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 first appeared on Sindh Courier.