In the last five years, we have carried several articles and interviews on various aspects of 1857, with Shivanand Kanavi, Mahmood Farooqui, Amaresh Misra etc. Ghadar of 1857 was the largest national uprising anywhere in the world in the 19th century and covered hundreds of millions of people and shook the British Empire to the roots, however the history of Ghadar was suppressed. Even 50 years later the British government did everything possible to suppress “unpalatable” accounts of it. When V D Savarkar wrote a book in London on the subject, in 1907, the British government banned it even before it was published. It is painfully surprising however that 1857 in particular and anti-colonial uprisings in India in general have not been adequately researched and popularised through text books and popular books.
In the last five years, we have carried several articles and interviews on various aspects of 1857, with Shivanand Kanavi, Mahmood Farooqui, Amaresh Misra etc. Ghadar of 1857 was the largest national uprising anywhere in the world in the 19th century and covered hundreds of millions of people and shook the British Empire to the roots, however the history of Ghadar was suppressed. Even 50 years later the British government did everything possible to suppress “unpalatable” accounts of it. When V D Savarkar wrote a book in London on the subject, in 1907, the British government banned it even before it was published. It is painfully surprising however that 1857 in particular and anti-colonial uprisings in India in general have not been adequately researched and popularised through text books and popular books.
The 150th anniversary of 1857 however did trigger some state governments and historians to tell the stories from different regions and even put up some monuments and commemorate the local heroes. However a lot more research, study and popularisation of our anti-colonial and pre-colonial history are necessary. For those who believe that pan-India national consciousness came with European liberalism or that democratic and republican thought also came from European liberalism, such a study would be an eye opener.
In 1779 itself Hyder and Tipu had tried to put together a confederacy and worked out an agreement with Nana Fadanvis, Janoji Bhosle, Mahadji Scindhia and Nizam according to which Hyder was supposed to attack the Arcot area and Madras, Janoji Bhosle on Bengal, Nana Fadanvis and Mahadji Scindhia on Bombay and the Nizam on Circar districts. While Hyder and Tipu went ahead with the plan the others did not. If this grand plan had succeeded then perhaps India would have been rid of British colonial rule 80 years before 1857. However the narrow concerns of some rulers enabled the East India Company to meticulously play on petty selfishness and rule a continental sized diverse country like India for almost two hundred years.
We at Ghadar Jari Hai, have believed that we should not fall for the all too common temptation of quick theorisation and sweeping generalisations without sufficient data. Hence, along with analytical articles and grand narratives surveying a diverse, vast and complex country like India, we need a lot of micro stories and empirical studies. In this issue the cover story is about anti-colonial uprisings in Karnataka between 1800 and 1860. The great struggle between Hyder Ali-Tipu Sultan and the British was already over by 1799 with Tipu’s death in the 4th Anglo-Mysore war. The micro-stories from different parts of Karnataka in those six decades tell us how wide- spread the anti-colonial struggles were in different parts of India and how they had spread among commoners and gentry and how deep the consciousness had seeped down to the remotest village.
We also have a story on the Vellore uprising (1806) where the soldiers of the Madras Army mutinied against their British masters and rallied around Tipu’s incarcerated sons in Vellore prison. They were fore runners of the Meerut mutineers of May 10, 1857 fame.
We have reproduced an article on the results of a new study from US which provides evidence that climate change was a key ingredient in the collapse of the great Indus or Harappan Civilization almost 4000 years ago. The study also contributes to a long-standing debate over the source and fate of the Sarasvati described in Vedic literature.
A short story by Surkhraj Kaur and review by Charu Sudan Kasturi of a celebrated book on the history of East India Company by Nick Robbins constitute the back of the book. The back page carries a poem by the blind saint of 15th century’s brajbhoomi—Surdas.
We apologise for the inordinate delay in the production of this issue which is being brought out as Vol 6, Issue 2-3. We promise to bring you the next issue very soon, which celebrates the centenary of a great patriotic movement among global Indians.