A peep into history

Ordinary people who bear the brunt of colonial conquests and wars rarely figure in history books. When Delhi was under siege in the summer of 1857 following the uprising the residents passed through hell. As the resources were stretched to the limit with the influx of 1000s of armed soldiers and volunteers life in the city became a daily challenge.  Focusing solely on victory and defeat, historiography of the rebellion has ignored the daily sacrifices of ordinary, anonymous men and women in fighting the British.

Through Besieged, Mahmood Farooqui departs from the conventional accounts of the uprising by giving a ring-side view of the daily life in embattled Delhi and debunks some of the popular myths associated with the upheaval. A Rhodes scholar, theatre activist and film-maker, Farooqui has exploited the wealth of untapped material on the mutiny lying in the National Archives. The result of years of painstaking research involving extensive translation of Mutiny Papers in Shikastah Urdu and Persian, the volume brings alive the voices from an ancient city in turmoil. Collected by colonial rulers primarily as evidence to be used against Bahadur Shah Zafar during his trial, the papers do not give a blow-by-blow account of the rebellion as such. There is also no record of the savagery of punishments inflicted on innocent Indians by the victorious British army. It is a fascinating account, a microscopic vision of the upheaval mirroring an era of immense chaos and turmoil. British historians tend to focus on anarchy, shortage and dissension in Delhi following the arrival of rebel soldiers ignoring the efforts of the government in imposing order and discipline. The documents give a vivid account of the Bahadur Shah government’s bid to restore order in the city following the large scale mayhem caused by soldiers. Though there had been a groundswell of popular resentment against the British, the excesses committed by rogue soldiers alienated Delhiites. The elite, bankers, traders and even the royalty suffered at the hands of the motley crowd. One document reveals how an exasperated Bahadur Shah threatened to abdicate if the soldiers didn’t behave.

The rebels who landed in Delhi fired by the desire to throw out the British soon found themselves fighting a voluntary war sans resources. Against all odds the rebel government managed to raise resources by raising loans from bankers and the elite while intensifying revenue collection. Many documents list soldiers’ grievances on non-payment of salary and pathetic living conditions. Mostly hailing from the lower strata of society, soldiers were at odds with Delhi’s feudal nobility. Officers promoted themselves and tried to emulate the nobility. The papers reveal the rigidity of caste system too.

The papers reveal the existence of multiple centres of power often working at cross-purposes. There was a Court of Mutineers, the Commander-in-Chief and the royal court. The bulwark of the administration was an effective police force. In addition to normal policing they had to perform myriad other tasks. These included procuring tonnes of supplies and labour for war efforts, summoning bankers to raise money for the war and conducting searches. Complaints of police high-handedness and corruption were not uncommon. For procuring the supply of labour they often resorted to coercion. Through checks and balances the administration ensured compliance from the police.

Police records make interesting reading. Many are complaints about unruly soldiers harassing traders by refusing to pay for the purchases. Soldiers often came in the way of police in discharging duties. Several complaints pertain to cases of elopements involving soldiers. All police stations had cases of missing women. The overstretched police force had to investigate the cases and report to the higher-ups. Women of easy virtue had a field day. Courtesans using soldiers to settle old scores and creating law-and-order problems were common. Vaziran, a prostitute, was charged with “disturbing the discipline of the police and the army”. A raid on her home revealed “among other things one rifle, a bundle of cartridges, a magazine, four crackers and four lead bullets”. She was forcibly taken away from police custody by four soldiers.

An important voice of Delhi during the tumult was an intrepid journalist Maulvi Baqar whose Delhi Urdu Akhbar exhorted all citizens to rise against the British. He reported extensively on the city and berated officials for neglecting civic amenities. Passionately committed to the rebel cause, Baqar appealed to the religious sentiments of soldiers to keep their morale high. Baqar was among the first to be hanged by the British after Delhi’s fall.

Why did such a violent rebellion take place? Why did it fizzle out so quickly? The book doesn’t give any answer. These are fragments of history with many loose ends. Bahadur Shah’s defence at his trial that he was powerless in acting against the army is at variance with reality.

This record of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times is unique as such records are not available for any other period of Indian history. The illuminating intro before every section is quite handy for the general reader.

BesiegeD: Voices from Delhi
1857
Mahmood
Farooqui
Penguin, 2010,
pp 458, 699