Large sections of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence, which began on May 10, 1857, a Sunday. On May 11, revolutionaries declared India free of the British East India Company’s rule and proclaimed Bahadur Shah Zafar as the Mughal Emperor. This extraordinary unity unnerved the British, who realized that their continued rule in India depended on dividing Hindus and Muslims, the two largest religious communities. Urgent steps were taken to foster enmity between them. After crushing the rebellion militarily, Lord Charles Wood, the then Secretary of State for India, confessed in London:
"We have maintained our power in India by playing off one part against the other, and we must continue to do so. Do all we can, therefore, to prevent all having a common feeling."
To implement this strategy, the British, in collusion with their Indian allies, promoted the two-nation theory, asserting that Hindus and Muslims belonged to separate nations. This theory was no accident; it was deliberately crafted to create a communal divide and fragment Indian society along religious lines, as Hindu-Muslim unity threatened British rule.
A fundamental truth of the 1857 War is that it was jointly led by leaders like Nana Sahib, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Maulvi Ahmad Shah, Tantia Tope, Khan Bahadur Khan, Rani Lakshmibai, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Azimullah Khan, and Feroz Shah, a diverse group of revolutionaries from different religions. This liberation struggle saw maulvis, pandits, granthis, zamindars, peasants, traders, lawyers, servants, women, students, and people from various castes, creeds, and regions rise against the dehumanizing rule of the East India Company, sacrificing their lives for the cause.
On the 168th anniversary of the War of Independence, we must remind the proponents of Hindu-Muslim communal politics that the revolutionary army, which declared Bahadur Shah Zafar, a Muslim, as India’s independent ruler on May 11, 1857, comprised over 70% Hindu soldiers, all armed. Leaders like Nana Sahib, Tantia Tope, and Rani Lakshmibai, all Hindus, played pivotal roles in reinstating Zafar as emperor. Contemporary documents, still accessible today, are replete with instances across India where Hindus and Muslims made supreme sacrifices together. The War of Independence demonstrated that Hindu-Muslim separatism or hatred was not an issue.
AYODHYA
After independence, Ayodhya became a flashpoint for Hindu-Muslim tensions due to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute, which fostered violence and mistrust between the two communities. Yet, in 1857, Ayodhya was a symbol of unity, where maulvis, mahants, and ordinary Hindus and Muslims stood together against British rule, many embracing martyrdom. Maulana Ameer Ali, a prominent maulvi, joined Baba Ramcharan Das, the priest of Ayodhya’s Hanuman Garhi temple, in organizing armed resistance. Captured in a battle against the British and their allies, both were hanged together on a tamarind tree at Kuber Tila (now in Faizabad Jail) in Ayodhya.
This region also produced two great friends from different religions: Achhan Khan and Shambhu Prasad Shukla, who jointly led the army of Raja Devi Baksh Singh in Faizabad district. They defeated British forces in several battles but were betrayed and captured. To deter such Hindu-Muslim alliances, they were subjected to prolonged torture, and their heads were brutally severed.
It is evident why Ayodhya, where Hindus and Muslims shed blood together for liberation in 1857, later became a source of communal friction. The British and their collaborators systematically erased this shared heritage to ensure the survival of their rule, a tactic echoed by contemporary communal forces.
RAJASTHAN
In Kota state (now in Rajasthan), ruled by a Maharao loyal to the British, the leading courtier Lala Jaidayal Bhatnagar, a noted literary figure, rebelled when he discovered the Maharao’s collaboration. Joining forces with the army chief, Mehrab Khan, he established a rebel government. When Kota was recaptured by British forces with the help of neighboring princely states, Jaidayal and Mehrab continued guerrilla warfare until 1859. Betrayed by an informer, both were hanged in Kota on September 17, 1860.
HARYANA
Hansi town (now in Haryana) exemplifies Hindu-Muslim-Jain unity. Two close friends, Hukumchand Jain and Muneer Beg, renowned for their literary and mathematical prowess, were appointed commanders by Bahadur Shah Zafar’s government to lead campaigns west of Delhi. They won several battles but were defeated due to the treachery of native rulers like those of Patiala, Nabha, Kapurthala, Kashmir, and Pataudi. Captured, they were executed in a gruesome manner on January 19, 1858. To mock their unity, Hukumchand was buried, and Muneer was cremated, against their respective religious customs. When Hukumchand’s 13-year-old nephew, Faqir Chand, protested, he too was hanged without a formal sentence.
CENTRAL INDIA
JHANSI: Rani Lakshmibai’s heroic resistance is well-known, but her success owed much to her Muslim commanders: Ghulam Ghaus Khan (artillery chief) and Khuda Bakhsh (infantry chief), both martyred defending Jhansi Fort on June 4, 1858. Her personal bodyguard, Munzar, a young Muslim woman, died alongside her at the Battle of Kotah-ki-Sarai in Gwalior on June 18, 1858.
MALWA: In the Malwa region (now Madhya Pradesh), a joint command of Tantia Tope, Rao Saheb, Rani Lakshmibai, Feroz Shah, and Maulvi Fazl-ul-Haq mobilized a rebel army of 70,000–80,000 fighters. They won numerous battles, but in a critical engagement at Ranod, betrayed by allied princes, the revolutionary army was encircled. Maulvi Fazl-ul-Haq and his 480 companions sacrificed their lives on December 17, 1858, enabling Tantia Tope, Rao Saheb, and Feroz Shah to escape and continue the fight until early 1859.
ROHILKHAND
In present-day Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, and Bijnor, Khan Bahadur Khan was appointed viceroy by Bahadur Shah Zafar’s government. He formed an eight-member committee of Hindus and Muslims, with Khushi Ram as his deputy, to govern the region. The administration banned cow slaughter to respect local Hindu sentiments. Khan and Khushi Ram led victories against British forces but were defeated in a decisive battle at Bareilly. Both were hanged, along with hundreds of followers, outside the old Kotwali on March 20, 1860.
DELHI
The revolutionary army in Delhi, led by a joint command including Mohammed Bakht Khan, Azimullah Khan, Sham Singh Dooga, Sirdhara Singh, Ghaus Mohammad, Hira Singh, and a Doabi Brahmin, remained united despite British attempts to sow communal discord. General Bakht Khan, the commander-in-chief, banned cow slaughter to maintain harmony. When a massive cannon from Shah Jahan’s era was repaired for use, Hindu priests performed aarti, garlanded it, and blessed it with Vedic hymns in the presence of Bahadur Shah Zafar, symbolizing communal amity. In Thana Bhawan (Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh), 11 women from different religions and castes were hanged or burnt alive for resisting British rule. Notable among them were Asghari Begum, Asha Devi, Bhagwati Devi, Habeeba, Mam Kaur, Bhaktawari, Umda, and Raj Kaur, whose heroic deeds remain unforgettable.
The Rebel Anthem of 1857
The unity of the rebels is encapsulated in the Rebel Anthem penned by Azimullah Khan in Urdu:
Hum hain is ke malik, Hindustan hamara / Paak watan hai qaum ka, jannat se bhi pyara.
[We are its owners, Hindustan is ours. Our holy land, lovelier than paradise.]
Yeh hamari milkiaat, Hindustan hamara / Is ki roohaniyat se roshan hai jug sara.
[It is our Hindustan, our own. Its spirituality illuminates the world.]
Kitna qadeem, kitna nayem, sab duniya se nyara / Karti hai zarkhez jise Gang-o-Jamna ki dhara.
[Ancient yet new, unique in the world. The Ganga and Yamuna make its lands fertile.]
Upar barfeela parvat pehredaar hamara / Neeche sahil par bajta sagar ka naqqara.
[Snow-clad mountains guard us above. The sea roars at our shores below.]
Is ki khanen ugal rahi sona, heera, paara / Is ki shaan shaukat ka duniya mein jaikara.
[Its mines yield gold, diamonds, and mercury. Its grandeur is renowned worldwide.]
Aaya Firangi door se, aisa mantar mara / Loota dono hathon se pyara watan hamara.
[The British came from afar, cast a spell. They looted our dear land with both hands.]
Aaj shaheedon ne tumko, ahl-e-watan lalkara / Todo ghulami ki zanjeeren, barsao angaara.
[Martyrs call you, countrymen. Break the chains of slavery, rain fire.]
Hindu-Musalman-Sikh hamara bhai pyara-pyara / Yeh hai azadi ka jhanda, isse salaam hamara.
[Hindu, Muslim, Sikh—our beloved brothers. This is the flag of freedom, we salute it.]
Contemporary British Narratives
William Russell, a war correspondent for The Times, London, reported on March 2, 1858:
"All the great chiefs of Oudh, Mussalman and Hindu, are there, and have sworn to fight for their young king, Birjis Qadr, to the last. Their cavalry is numerous, the city is filled with people, the works are continually strengthened. All Oudh is in the hands of the enemy, and we only hold the ground we cover with our bayonets."
Thomas Lowe, a British officer who led attacks on Jhansi, Kalpi, and Kanpur, admitted:
"The infanticide Rajput, the bigoted Brahmin, the fanatic Mussalman, and the luxury-loving, ambitious Maratha, they all joined together in the cause; the cow-killer and the cow-worshipper, the pig-hater and the pig-eater, the crier of Allah is God and Mohammed his prophet and the mumbler of the mysteries of Brahma."
Fred Roberts, a British commander who later became Commander-in-Chief in India, wrote from Lucknow on November 25, 1857, about the battle at Sikander Bagh:
"I never saw such a sight. They were literally in heaps, and when I went in were a heaving mass, some dead, but most wounded and unable to get up from the crush. They showed their hatred even while dying, cursed us and said: ‘If we could only stand, we would kill you.’"
Throughout the War of Independence, every corner of India witnessed fearless fighters, supreme sacrifices, and unbreakable Hindu-Muslim unity. These glorious instances, verifiable through contemporary British archives, diaries, and narratives, underscore the reality of communal harmony 168 years ago. The British Empire’s survival depended on dividing Hindus and Muslims, a strategy executed with the help of their Indian collaborators. The proponents of the two-nation theory and communal politics today continue this divisive legacy.
On the 168th anniversary of the Great Rebellion, we must pledge to uphold the shared heritage and martyrdoms of the First Indian War of Independence and resist efforts by communal forces to undo this legacy.
[All references and quotes in this article are based on contemporary documents.]
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