A watershed in the freedom struggle
RAMAN MAHADEVAN
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Nuanced and textured interpretations of one of the most contentious themes in modern Indian history
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MUTINY MEMOIRS: — Being Personal Reminiscences of the Great Sepoy Revolt of 1857 Colonel. A.R.D. Mackenzie C.B. Honorary A.D.C. to the Viceroy: Edited by Mushirul Hasan; Niyogi Books, D-78, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi-110020. Rs. 395.
1857 — Essays from Economic and Political Weekly: Orient Longman, in association with Sameeksha Trust, 3-6-752, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad-500029. Rs. 295.
DATELINE 1857 — Revolt against the Raj: Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Pramod Kapoor; Roli Books, M-75, Greater Kailash II Market, New Delhi-110048. Rs. 795.
Variously described as the “Sepoy Mutiny”, a “Popular uprising”, the “First War of Indian Independence”, and more recently, as “People’s War”, the Revolt of 1857 has been one of the most contentious themes in modern Indian history. Perceived as the first serious challenge to British supremacy in India, it continues to evoke scholarly and popular interest. A study in 1998 found as many as 1172 books and 369 articles in j
ournals and periodicals on this theme in the European languages. Together with the publications since 1998 and in the regional languages, the total output is almost staggering. The three books being reviewed are part of the surge of new writings coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the event.
Though distinct in style and content, each of these works represents a serious effort to provide a detached, nuanced and textured interpretation to what was clearly a very complex anti-systemic movement. In attempting to breach disciplinary boundaries and self-limiting interpretative frameworks and to explore new terrains, these incisive and extremely readable accounts affirm the coming of age of modern Indian historiography.
New approach
Mushirul Hasan, the renowned historian, deserves fulsome credit for unearthing from the recesses of the rich library in Jamia Millia Islamia , a rare printed copy of the Mutiny Memoirs by Col. A.R.D. Mackenzie, who belonged to one of regiments of British Indian Army that mutinied in 1857. Inaccessible to most historians until now, this part-eyewitness account, despite its understandably Eurocentric bias, provides a gripping narrative of the day-to-day encounters between the rebellious soldiers and the British constabulary. Mackenzie had the reputation of being “a man of integrity and liberal views” and one who is said to have “deplored the severity of reprisals against the rebels.” His portrayal of raw violence that accompanied the bitter struggle for power on both sides leaves one rudely shaken and disturbed even today.
The inclusion of biographical notes, comments on certain events, and exquisite illustrations add enormous value and lustre to this reprint edition, but it is the thought-provoking and illuminating and substantial introduction of 70 pages by Hasan that provides, as it were, the icing on the cake. Overcoming the rigid divide between the factual and the imaginary, he imperceptibly breaks new ground, initiating what one hopes will become a new trend in history writing in India. This is best seen in the first section of the introduction, which provides a cameo account of the turn of events in Delhi and how it was perceived by the contemporary intellectuals. In situating the rebellion within a wider interpretative framework, he deftly draws upon the insightful analysis of the uprising by Jawaharlal Nehru and the contemporary Indian intellectuals — all of which points towards a very complex and differentiated response from the Muslims to the civil strife. Distancing himself from the straight-jacketed text-bookish argument, that 1857 hardened “Muslim resentment”, he shows how the post-1857 developments, on the contrary, witnessed a resurgence of a more outward-looking, adaptive “Muslim mind”.
Anthology
The book 1857: Essays from Economic and Political Weekly consists of articles specially commissioned by the Economic and Political Weekly for their special issue on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the rebellion. This issue, subsequently published, is indeed a treasure trove of scholarship, providing a feel of the new voices in Indian historiography. Exceptionally, it has three introductory overviews by Sekhar Bandopadhyaya, Biswamoy Pati and Dipesh Chakrabarty, reflecting their respective and varying takes on the theme. The remaining 15 essays in this volume deal critically not merely with the debate on the nature of the uprising but cast interesting light on how the events around it have been “reinvented”, “appropriated”, or as Dipesh Chakrabarty puts it, “memorialised” over time and across the social spectrum, to the point where in some cases it is put to effective “presentist” use.
The essays by Badri Narayan (Dalits and Memories of 1857), Charu Gupta ( Dalit Virannganas and reinvention of 1857) Shasank Sinha (Adivasis and the Uprising in Chotanagpur) and Lata Singh (Courtesans of U.P. and the Revolt) are good examples that not only seek to represent the voices of the marginalised and the hitherto unrepresented, but point to possibilities of new methodologies for historical enquiry. Likewise through their critical re-reading/reviewing of colonial, vernacular literature and contemporary films, Aishwaraya Lakshmi, Indrani Sen, Swarupa Gupta, Rochana Majumdar and Dipesh Chakrabarty underline the importance of the ideational and cultural site for a nuanced understanding of the many histories of 1857.
Margins
Falling in the category of the “margins” are the fascinating contributions by Anu Kumar, Jon Barlow and Lakshmi Subramaniam. Anu Kumar clearly brings out the marked shift in colonial educational policy between the pre-and post-1857 period, resulting in a pronounced Anglicisation of education. Similarly, Barlow and Subramaniam show how the decline of the Mughal patronage affected the fortunes of classical Hindustani music. Its revival had to wait until patronage was extended by the new plutocracy.
Peter Robb, Michael Fisher and Jyotirmaya Sharma greatly contribute to furthering our understanding of issues relating to the varied perceptions and characterisations of the uprising, its impact on British society with respect to changing attitudes towards Indians, and the appropriation of the history of 1857 by early Hindu nationalists best epitomised by Savarkar describing it as the War of Indian Independence.
Lastly, Kaushik Roy and Sabyasachi Dasgupta take on earlier stated positions on the characterisation of 1857. While Roy seeks to situate the uprising within the wider global context of changing forms of warfare, from that of limited warfare to “People’s war”, Dasgupta is inclined to view the sepoys as an emerging elite with a distinct identity who aspired to carve out an autonomous sphere within the existing power structure. All in all a delightful cerebral experience.
Visual treat
The luscious, coffee-table book on 1857, Dateline 1857, put together with care by the historian-journalist Rudrangshu Mukherjee and publisher-photophile, Pramod Kapoor, is a fine example of the emerging genre of popular Indian history, and should go down as a collector’s item. Rudrangshu’s impeccable credentials as a prolific and long-time researcher on 1857 lend considerable weight to this delightfully readable and visually captivating book. His long introduction succinctly lays bare the preconditions in large parts of northern India that accentuated the mistrust and fears of the subalterns and sections of the elite, resulting eventually in hardening the divide. The book brings alive the then social world of the sepoy-peasant and the violence that accompanied the outbreak of the rebellion.
The contemporary portraits, photographs by the acclaimed Beato, and other artists’ renditions of events surrounding the rebellion are an absolute visual treat and bring out most evocatively the churning which followed the outbreak. All the three books are must-reads not merely for those with an interest in modern social history but for all other readers who wish to get a flavour of the state of the historian’s craft in India today.
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