Indian War of Independence

As children we have often came across the topic of the 'First War of Independence' or the 'Sepoy's Mutiny' or 'The Indian war of 1857, in our social studies textbooks. I have often wondered, if the 'First World War' was known as the 'Great World War' or simply 'The Great War', before the second world war broke out, like a sequel, when was the second war of independence fought, to call it the first as it was the only war fought by a confederation of a few small Indian kingdoms, against the East India Company(EIC) and their allies. Do you realize that it was the last ground war ever fought in the heart of mainland India, involving some of our major cities of that era. After the war was over, the British promptly described it as the Sepoy's Mutiny to avoid any kind of publicity or hype to the entire episode, with attention to the Indian public.
 
This war was NOT fought for the unification of India as projected in media and movies, but a war fought by rulers of small kingdoms, who rebelled against the imposition of the Doctrine of Lapse by the then Governor General Lord Dalhousie of the  East India Company, which stated in one of its clauses that, if the ruler was incompetent or died without an heir of the same blood line, the kingdom will be annexed to the company. When the first sparks were lit by Mangal Pandey at Barrackpore which raged after he was hung, there were many rulers who did not support or stand for the cause and instead joined hands with the EIC, some of them thinking that the return of the Mughals with Bahadur Shah Zafar as the emperor, as the foremost power of India, in a situation if EIC loses the war, the smaller kingdoms will be subject to a status established prior to 1700 AD.


 Did you know that 22 Indian states of that time, formed a coalition with the EIC against only 7 Indian kingdoms who came together under the Mughal emperor and had leaders like Peshwa NanaSaheb II, his general Tatya Tope(who was one of the greatest Generals of India) and Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi. I again wondered what name I could give this war, where in a majority of the Indian states joined hands with the British, against other Indian states. On a light note, I could be sure that the rebelling states would have lost heavily, even if there was a free and fair democratic elections held at that time. And yet, we call it our First War of Independence. It sounds more like the need of Independence by India, from India.

The war had a great effect on the psyche of the people of India. The result of the war was a complete annihilation of the rebel forces, permanent destruction of the Mughal power in India, along with the Mughal Royal family. Every male member of the family was beheaded and the emperor exiled to Rangoon to avoid any further communications with the rebels, Nanasaheb disappeared and was nowhere to be heard of, just rumors prevailed about what may have happened to him, Tatya Tope and many heroes like him were executed. It was widely believed that he was blown away tied to a cannon in contrary to the claim made that he was hung. Delhi was purged, its citizens were ruthlessly massacred by the British forces just for spite, something that went unnoticed in our popular version of written history. What happened to the British was, that the EIC was destroyed forever, never to live again. Instead the Crown took over the country directly under it. The idea of India was being born in the minds of the people, which gave rise to the later part of the struggle for freedom, of our beloved country The British realized that the only way to avoid such conflicts in the future, was to form military regiments based on castes and regions, which is followed till this day.(Wonder why we have the Jat Regiment, the Sikh Light Infantry, The Gurkha Regiment, the Punjab Reg., The Rajputana Rifles, etc.)

Sometimes, I still wonder, what if all the states of India had come together for this one cause, what kind of history would I have read at school and what kind of India would I have been living in today. It's unimaginable.
Coming back to the present, its sad to see that our successive governments, our people don't take lessons from the past and first think about our country, rather keep thinking about their own selfish gains, which benefit them only in the short run, but which always has disastrous consequences in the long run. This attitude of ours, had already made us subject to a foreign ruler many times in the past. Its time for at least once, to think about our country.

Its always when we secure our country, that we have a future, in return makes us secure and gives us a future, in turn making our children secure and providing them with a better future, later making them the future of this country,making it secure.

Pictures: Starting from Top to bottom: (Mangal Pandey, the Jhansi fort at the time of Rani Lakshmibai's rule, Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar on his death bed(only photograph ever taken of a Mughal emperor), The Red Fort in 1857, another picture of a gate at the Red Fort, Tatya Tope handcuffed, war heroes being hung and blown away by cannon.)

The throne of Tipu Sultan

In Indian history, the throne had a special place in minds of the rulers, the people and the empire. Three such thrones had become popular and were known to the common man. 


The first was the legendary throne of Emperor Vikramaditya of Ujjain. Legends, stories were passed on by way of books and word of mouth. In modern times, a television serials  was telecasted popularly know as 'Vikram Betal', And 'Raja Bhoj'. Amar Chitra Katha issued the comic book 'Vikramaditya's throne' for the children, which we grew up reading.
However, evidences and details about the throne became history, history became legend and legend, myth. 


The second throne was the Peacock throne which belonged to Emperor Shahjahan of the Mughal Empire. This throne was one of the most treasured mughal artifacts and the pride of the empire. Nadir Shah plundered the red fort in 1738 and took away this throne and other mughal treasures with him to Persia. The French jeweller Tavernier, who saw Delhi in 1665, described the throne as of the shape of a bed (a "takhteh" or platform), 6 ft. by 4 ft., supported by four golden feet, 20 to 25 in. high, from the bars above which rose twelve columns to support the canopy; the bars were decorated with crosses of rubies and emeralds, and also with diamonds and pearls. In all there were 108 large rubies on the throne, and 116 emeralds, but many of the latter had flaws. The twelve columns supporting the canopy were decorated with rows of splendid pearls, and Tavernier considered these to be the most valuable part of the throne. Estimates of its value varied between Rs. 40 million (Bernier) and Rs. 100 million (Tavernier).The original peacock throne is now lost in the sands of time and a replica was made in its place. There were rumours that the throne was broken down during the various revolutions that took place in Persia after Nader Shah's death and was broken down by miscreants. Thus resulting in the loss of one of India's biggest treasured artifact.


However, what many Indians did not know and which was never taught in schools, was that there was a third throne known in the erstwhile state of Mysore, and that, was the throne of Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of Mysore or Sultanate -e-Khudadad. Most of us got to know him through our text books in schools and through the famous television serial 'The Sword of Tipu Sultan' telecasted in the late 80s and early 90s.  He was also given credit for being the inventor of rockets for military applications and recently came into media limelight when Mr.Vijay Mallya brought one of his swords back to India. 

The original throne was octogonal in shape and had 8 tiger head finials at each bend and had a tiger head in the centre. It had an umbrella with a 'Huma' bird mounted on top of it. 
After Tipu was defeated in 1799, the invading forces of the East India Company and Hyderabad ransacked the palace and pillaged the city of Srirangapatnam. Even before the Duke of       Wellington, Lord Wellesley was informed      about the throne, it was broken down by the soldiers as spoils of war. The Lord intended to present it to the King George III as a gift and mark of victory. The east India Company estimated the price of the throne to be worth 30,000 Star Pagodas, a form of standard currency issued by the Madras Presidency and was in circulation in Southern India at that time. This coin was made of gold and weighs 3.4g. 
After it was taken to England , the remains of the throne was stored in various castles of England and then came into limelight after Sotheby's auctioned one of the finials for 389,600 pounds. Presently, there are only three gem crested finials left in the world today from a total of eight pieces, the rest being lost or destroyed. The central tiger head and the huma bird still lie in England awaiting its final fate. I sincerely hope an Indian gets it back to where it should rightfully belong, India.

The glorious city of Vijayanagar

Has anyone ever visited Hampi? Well, I am not taking you through a guided tour of the place, as this has been written over and over again by many writers and publishers. The easiest way is to access Wikipedia and you may get all answers you need to know whats where in the ruins of this erstwhile capital of the Vijayanagar empire.
What I will be sharing with you is the feeling I felt of being there and the imagination of myself travelling back in time during the rule of Aliya Rama Raya, the de facto ruler of the empire. He was the son in law (Hence the name Aliya in Kannada for Son in law) of one of the greatest emperors of Vijayanagar and one of the greatest kings from India,  Emperor Sri Krishnadevaraya. As children we remembered Sri Krishnadevaraya easily because of his court poet Tenali Rama, who was as brilliant as Birbal in Akbar's court.
Hampi was supposed to have been underground for over 4 centuries. When I last visited Hampi with my cousin, it took me two and half days to cover the sites that were popular, with good road connectivity and which existed on every tourist map there was. I realised the best parts of the city still lie unexplored and had to be explored on foot. Trust me, three days was just not enough, I wish I stayed over for at least a week, to really get and see what I was looking for. We came across areas where work on stones, boulders, rocks and temples were unfinished or incomplete in many parts which ran along the river. I gazed upon one such boulder of rock and wondered why was the work on it incomplete. At this point my mind took me in imagination,back in time when the Ramaraya left the city with his troops to take on the united sultanates of deccan. The 500,000 citizens of the city who woke up as usual on the morning of the battle and resumed their day to day profession, never realised that the confident army(which was much bigger than the combined strength of the sultanates) that left the city in the morning would never ever return. What came after they left, was a wave of murderers, looters and savages, that plundered the defenseless city and turned it to its present state. The sculptor who probably thought he would convert that huge piece of rock into a beautiful sculpture, would never realize his dream. That rock must have seen blood of the very man working on it. No man must have ever worked on that rock again and that's when I came back to the present and I said to myself, Holy Shit!

This place is still the best bet for any Indiana Jones wannabes. Treasures are still found to this very day in forms of gold coins and precious stones, however, there has been a very strict vigilance imposed after gold prospectors and treasure seekers tried vandalizing the monuments in search of gold. Most of the areas which were residential or commercial have all been turned to banana and coconut plantations by the government. This has completely put a halt on any unauthorized excavations.

This is one place I must visit again soon.