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DOWN MEMORY LANE

Yesterday, Delhi recollected the momentous events of 1857 when, on May 11, the troops who had rebelled at Meerut the previous day crossed the Yamuna and sought admission in the Red Fort. Finding the Calcutta Gate (later demolished to make room for The Railway) closed, they marched southwards and entered Daryaganj through the Raj Ghat Gate (also no more). Having entered the Walled City, the freedom fighters took possession of the fort. They then fanned out into the lanes and by-lanes of the city and, joined by the infantry from Meerut, were virtual masters of the city by 8 p.m. Only within the Kashmere Gate, where the Magazine was situated, did the British still hold out. But by the next afternoon Delhi was free of the Company sarkar.

However, except for traces of the cannonading of the walls of the Kashmere Gate by the British, little remains to remind Delhiwallah of the “uprising”. But outside the GPO, two small buildings, with mounted cannon-heads, proclaim the site of the Magazine. There is a marble tablet atop one of them which commemorates the deed of “nine brave Englishmen” who under the command of Lieutenant Willoughby, blew up the Magazine to prevent it from falling into the hands of the rebels. Five of the defenders perished in the attempt. Another tablet below clarifies that those described as “Mutineers” were members of the freedom force fighting to throw off the yoke of a foreign government.

One wonders if a better memorial to these gallant troopers of Bahadur Shah Zafar could be built, converting the two buildings into a museum which could house the weapons of 1857 preserved in the Red Fort. This memorial could then become the focus of the annual celebrations of the Great Sepoy Uprising.

The story of the Magazine is a well known one. The men led by Lieutenant Willoughby panicked when they saw the rebels from Meerut entering Delhi. They thought that the rebels would capture the Magazine which was in fact a big ammunition dump. Had those British soldiers known that most of the Capital had already been taken over by the mobs which had risen in support of the Meerut sepoys, they would have probably not acted as they did. But that is hindsight.

Willoughby believed that he was helping the British cause by preventing the rebels from capturing the Magazine. Since it was not possible for such a small group to defend it against overwhelming odds, the young lieutenant decided to blow up the Magazine. In this he was helped by a civilian clerk named Scully. Soon after Scully lighted the fuse, the Magazine blew up, killing him and at least four others. The sound of the explosion was such as had perhaps never before been heard in Delhi and its surrounding areas. As a matter of fact, it was heard as far as Meerut.

It was then widely believed that the time had come for the British to leave India. In keeping with this belief, chapattis and lotus flowers were distributed.

The chapattis travelled 120 miles a night (the distance between Delhi and Agra). Four chapattis had to be made and left at a selected place from where four identical chapattis were sent out in relay. Runners raced in the night on this errand which covered almost all of North and parts of Eastern and Central India. Boatmen waited on river banks to ferry the chapattis, while domestic servants, mess orderlies, sepoys, noblemen, shopkeepers and hawkers, sadhus and fakirs were all in the know. They later distributed amulets too for the safety of those who espoused the cause. The Night Runners of Bengal by John Masters gives a vivid account of this grand relay.

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