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Toon talk

IMAGE MANAGEMENT One of the displayed cartoons

An original letter written by Rani Laxmi Bai to a king, Raja Jardan Singh in the beginning of 1857 proves that she didn't fight for only Jhansi, as the belief goes, but for the whole country. Lord Byron in his poem penned in 1811, "Curse of Minerva" had warned about the "1857 Mutiny". Copies of the first national song titled "Payam-e-Azadi" written in 1857, was being confiscated by the British. Now the only remaining copy of the song can be found in the British Museum. All these and other valuable relics of history were reproduced in an exhibition at the India Habitat Centre's Visual Art Gallery this week. The exhibition, consisting of cartoons made in some 22 nations in 1857, lithographs, maps, paintings, folklore and lot more, was curated by Professor Pramila Sharma, a historian and a writer. This effort of more than 12 years was the first ever exhibition in Delhi to mark the beginning of the 150th year of the First War of Independence.

Eye-opener

An eye-opener in many ways, the exhibition was a heart-rending account of the racist attitudes of the British rulers and how difficult it was for them to handle Indians when they came here. The cartoons, procured by the Professor from the original British sources, showed that the British connotation of themselves was as a lion and the Indians as a tiger, as the lion is more powerful. Many cartoons showed them as lions adoring the throne with great pride. One cartoon depicted the story of Elgin, who looted a marble temple in Athens in 1860 and sold it to the British Museum, hence became infamous among cartoonists as Elgin Marbles. Another cartoon showed Bahadur Shah Zafar being collected in a garbage van and disposed of in Burma by a British official. Another famous cartoon by Daniel showed that since Indians misbehaved with white women, they attacked Indians and not because they wanted to rule India. This cartoon turned the entire British community hostile towards Indians, even those who otherwise sympathised with them. This cartoon worked so well in favour of the British Raj that Queen Victoria knighted Daniel.

The exhibition also contained folklore from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Awadh, Punjab and Haryana, etc. which in touching accounts, relate the sacrifices of the womenfolk of India who fought against the British even when their men folk were killed. "These women never found mention in the history books but got their due place in these folk accounts," said the professor as she, with eyes brimming, told the meaning of each of the folklore on display.

It also contained original paintings of Rani Laxmi Bai, Tantya Tope, Nana Saheb and a number of other freedom fighters.

Two years ago the professor held the first cartoon exhibition depicting India from 1877 to 1947. She also curated one on the Role of Allahabad in the Freedom Movement in 2002. She is currently working on a book on women journalists in the British Raj.

RANA SIDDIQUI

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