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A Tale of Two Revolts: India 1857 and the American Civil War FROM the oeuvre of Rajmohan Gandhi, this book tells the tale of two events of perennial interest in history. Both were mired in blood and gore, and were contemporaneous separated only by a few years. The written word is the source material. Letters, poems, diaries, and newspaper reports by the British and Americans have been used to authenticate the events.
The Indian story is anchored with the life stories of five outstanding individuals of that era. Each of these personalities belonged to a different part of the country and each had their own ideology and belief. Sayyid Ahmed Khan, the founder of Aligarh Muslim University, looked at events of the period from their impact on the relationship of the Muslims in India with the British rulers. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, hailing from Bengal, looked at the relationships of the Bhadralok and the Hindus with the British. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was interested in social reforms; he doggedly fought for widow remarriage and succeeded in getting the law on widow remarriages passed but did not comment on the American Civil War. Allan Octavian Hume played a significant role in founding the Indian National Congress, which was supposed to act as a buffer between the government and the Indians. Jotiba Phule became the voice of the downtrodden and was the only one who wrote against slavery and showed keen interest in the American Civil War. The book also weaves in the story of three towering figures of world history—Karl Marx, Leo Tolstoy and Abraham Lincoln. The latter is given pride of place because of the grit and determination shown by him in his fight against slavery in the American Civil War. His famous speech at Gettysburg is given ad verbatim. The events are seen from the perspective of William Harvard Russell, a dynamic war correspondent with the London Times. He saw India in mourning, lighted up by a blood-red conflagration. He also reported on racial arrogance of the British by stating the "arrogance of the most offensive aristocracy—that of complexion" Russell, through his dispatches, slowly changed the perception of Indian war abroad. Russell stands out as man of strong views, ready to express them. He came back to India in 1875-76 with Prince Albert and still felt that the attitude of the British had not changed towards the Indians since his last visit in 1857. In 1879, he wrote a scathing criticism of what he called British "empiring" (colonialism), "Queen Victoria’s reign has been an incessant record of bloodshed". Another of his observations was that Indian women were stronger than men. His reporting of the American Civil War did not always find favour with the Americans, though this did not deter him from writing what he felt. Gandhi, a student of history, clearly debunks the thesis that any one cause leads to major historical events. It was not cartridges alone that lead to the 1857 War or one simple event which lead to the American Civil War either. The causes of historical events are never simple. In a sense, therefore, the book is not just about the actual genesis and outcome of the two revolts, but about grasping the wider picture. The wars were about ideas—the moral logic that drove them was freedom from foreign oppression, freeing of human beings from bondage in America. It brings out the power of ideas that can change the course of history. The tale reaches across the abyss of the darkness and helps redeem humanity. Gandhi uses two broad parameters—connecting India then with America of the time and connecting India of 1857 with the Indian contemporary history. He uses recent research to disclose that Indians began entering America as early as 1624. Europeans brought them as indentured workers or slaves from ports in Bengal, Madras, Pondicherry, Malabar, Bombay and Goa. From India, they took indigo, hides, linseed and jute. Trade with India amounted to 5 per cent of American trade at that time. He brings out the responses of the war dispatches in both the countries to each other’s plight. It is interesting to note that when it came to the events of 1857, the New York Herald wrote, "We saw with Saxon pride that England still was true to Saxon pluck, our hearts were with her." The New York Times wrote no less than 40 editorials in favour of the British during the 1857 War. Rajmohan Gandhi’s book
is scholarly but the narrative has been juxtaposed with anecdotes,
architectural descriptions, personal details of people, and cuisines
of the region. There are layers and nuances of the tale that make the
past seem within touching distance. The book is insightful—a good
read.
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His
narrative covers many personalities, events and happenings; every page
has a story to tell. In spite of so much material to handle, Gandhi
keeps the flow easy, language simple, and never deviates from the
zeitgeist. Small anecdotes dot the book.