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:: ENTERTAINMENT & REVIEWS :: The Last Mughals William Dalrymple Hindu Voice UK, May - June 2007
Obviously obsessed by the Mughals he presents the events of 1857 from the perspective of the aged and infirm emperor, Bahadur Shah clinging onto the once famed throne of his ancestors in Delhi. He talks with nostalgia about the erstwhile grandeur of the last of the Mughals and their slow but steady downfall which was finally sealed after the end of the great revolt of 1857. A far cry from the hordes of Timur and Aurangzeb spreading terror and bloodshed through the Indian-subcontinent, by 1857 the Mughals had been brought to their knees by the rising tide of Hindu resurgence, culminating in the surge of Maratha power and the power-centre had veered from Delhi, the traditional centres of Islamic power to Pune as warriors like Baji Rao and later Mahadji Sindhia dictated terms to the Mughal emperors. By the end of the eighteenth century Shah Alam was a pensioner of the Maratha Empire until the nationwide clashes between the English and Marathas from 1803 – 1820 led to the balance of power shifting and the emperor falling under English dominion. Darmyple relates how the English maintained the Mughals as the titular sovereigns of India thus relating a fiction of ruling through the authority of the erstwhile kings. One by one the remaining Indian kings fell under the spell of the rising British Empire and those who did not collaborate were eliminated. The rise of the British and their unbridled power was reflected in their increasing distance with the Indians and the once equal partnership was increasingly defined by racism and prejudice with only a few ‘chosen’ races permitted to be close to the ruling class. The backbone of the British Indian army over a hundred years had been native recruits from India, which had enabled the British to wrest control from the Marathas and Gurkhas, amongst others. However the increasingly racist attitudes of the British towards Indians combined with the attacks on their cultural and religious norms through evangelism and proselytising was creating a surging nascent feeling of unity and patriotism amongst them. These feelings combined with an increasing contempt for perceived British weaknesses and excesses filled the ‘sepoys’ with a rage that was dangerously close to explode. The tale of Darmyple rolls onwards to the spring of 1857 amidst a tale of rising disaffection amongst the Indian soldiers, racial intolerance of the British, impoverished farmers and peasants and landlords reaching a bursting point with the spark provided by the much celebrated Mangal Pandey. From Barackpore to Meerut an outburst of fury erupted as nearly 120000 sepoys rose against the British high command. Darmyple has unearthed numerous documents and letters providing a valuable insight into the mindset of the rebels. Bypassing the standard British accounts which seem to relate exclusively to the military aspects of the rebellion or the Marxist oriented Indian accounts which focus on the economic and localised nature of the war, he present the religious nature of the rebellion. Letter after letter refers to the desperate fight for ‘Dharma and Din’ reflecting both the Hindu and Muslim concepts of a religious uprising. The predominantly Hindu sepoys crowded to the centres of traditional centres of power to channel their energies into what transpired to be the largest armed anti-colonial uprising in the history of mankind. Thus we see them marching to Kanpur, the residence of the son of the last Maratha Peshwa, Nana Saheb. Others gathered around the much revered Rani of Jhansi and some to that infatigable warrior from Bihar, Kunwar Singh. Yet more marched to Delhi and thrust the mantle of war upon the unwilling emperor as a tumultuous crowd of 70000 assembled before the palace yelling to the Emperor to join them in a victorious charge against the invaders. Bahadur Shah recognised the religious elements of the sepoys and in an almost unique moment in Indian history enjoined the Muslims to live and fight as brothers with the Hindus. The introduction of Hindu imagery and concepts to the Mughal court harkened back to the noon of the Maratha Empire of India which ruled as lords and masters of the Mughal capital. Perhaps for the first time in their troubled litany of Hindu Muslim encounters, there appeared as if a unity of purpose and belief had been reached, a point well noted by the British. We are told the stories of suicidal bravery from the sepoys joined by both noble and common man in an attempt to overthrow the ruthless oppressors. The uncoordinated attacks by the sepoys and the local soldiers were deflected by the British war machinery and their Indian lackeys amidst a tide of reckless bravery and courage.The story winds to further desperation as the British slaughtered and murdered without regard to age or sex. Bloodcurdling tales of thousands of innocents murdered in the most cruel and bestial manner that beggared description. Children as young as eight being burnt alive in a war which ignited the latent race hate of the imperialists to an unprecedented degree. Nearly a million dead bodies were left llittered across the landscape of north India by sadistic British killers. Nevertheless a legacy of honour and bravery remained that is remembered in India till today. The British Empire was shaken to its very foundations by the tidal wave of reckless rebellion in India, unmatched by any other colonised nation in the planet. The names of Mangal Pandey, Jhasni ki Rani, Peshwa Nana Saheb, Tantia Tope, Kunwar Singh, Man Singh, Beni Madho, Bakhst Khan and Ahmad Khan and others are all engraved in the name of freedom Though
one would think it possible from his previous attempts at writing
on India, in the end Darmyple makes a decent effort at presenting
a new angle to one of the most contentious events in history, both
British and Indian. |
The
latest book from the Mughal-centric writer William Dalrymyple, is
The Last Mughals. In his latest book Dalrymple attempts to rewrite
the great rising of 1857 from an Indian perspective, albeit written
by an Englishman.