Delhi And Awadh During 1857 Studies, Images And Documents

Book Code: 1111012715161

Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri

ABOUT THE BOOK

The volume undertakes to analyze major themes and issues in the study of the revolt of 1857, the largest anti-imperialist uprising throughout the annals of 19th century. Though unsuccessful, yet it shook the foundations of British imperialism in such a way that saved many Asian countries 'falling prey to the clutches' of the colonial rule. The chapters are based extensively on the 'printed word' from the 'world of the rebels', official mutiny papers and memoirs written soon after the event. A peep into the 'vision of the vanquished' from their narratives, and not just from 'victors recollections' is perhaps the theme highlighted throughout the book.

Seminal studies from the leading historians of South Asia and young scholars engaged in an in depth study of the subject are included, not only to fill the numerous gaps to the existing works, but to provide a perspective for understanding this momentous event which undoubtedly shook the basis of the 'Indo-Islamic past' of the millennium, especially at the Mughal capital of Delhi and of the Nawabi regime at Lucknow. Chapters on Dehli Urdu Akhbar, Tilism e Lucknow and the memories, compiled at the penal colony of Andaman, full with bitterness and frustration, offer fresh data for a better understanding. The process/es of 'marginalization of the erstwhile elite' through the resumption of land rights, the destruction of the libraries, books and centers of learning, the aggressive phase/es of proselytization by the missionaries are important themes taken up.

The images and documents are included to highlight the 'quasi-modern' nature of the rebel mobilization; the use of printing medium, the drafting of a remarkably ahead of its time dastur-ul amal for the governance by the rebels; the memory of the event after the rebellion was suppressed are here to highlight the important, yet neglected aspects of the subject.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, Professor, Department of History, University of Delhi, is known for his researches on numerous aspects of pre colonial Awadh and Upper gangetic Valley, has published books and papers on agrarian and social history of the region, based on family records, archival data and other literature. His present research interest engages around documenting the histories of Sufi institutions, the Great Uprising of 1857, transmission of knowledge and colonial impact on the Indo-Muslim institutions of learning and waqf.

CONTENTS

Preface .................................................................................................... . 11

Previous Publication Details .................................................................. 21

Contributors ............................................................................................ 25

PERSPECTIVES: UPRISING OF 1857

1. Remembering 1857 ...................................................................... 29
Prof. Irfan Habib

2. The Sepoys and Middle Class Citizenry into the Making of Rebellion ................................................................................. 47
Prof. Irfan Habib

THE INDIGENOUS VOICES FROM REBELS’ WORLD

3. Rebel Journalism: Dehli Urdu Akhbar, May-September 1857 ..... 59
Prof. Shireen Moosvi

4. Lucknow between the Annexation and the Mutiny ....................... 67
Prof. Iqbal Husain

5. ‘Voices’ of the ‘Vanquished’: The ‘Indigenous Discourse’ in the Rebels’ World of 1857 ........................................................ 81
Prof. S. Zaheer Husain Jafri

6. The Rebel Administration of Delhi, 1857 ................................. 101
Prof. Iqbal Husain

THE MAKING OF 1857

7. Religious Debates and the Making of 1857 in Northern India .... 119
Dr. Farha Khan

8. ‘Royals’, Property and Prize Agents: Fate of the Mughal Capital in the aftermath of 1857 ................................................. 137
Dr. Nida Arshi

9. The Battle for Delhi, Meos and the Great Uprising: A Study of Anti-British Resistance during 1857 ...................................... 157
Dr. Zakir Husain

10. Communitarian Relations, Colonial Remodeling, and the British in Pre-Mutiny Awadh ..................................................... 177
Dr. Heena Ansari

IDEOLOGUES AND COMMANDERS

11. Fazl-e Haq Khairabadi : A Scholarly Rebel of 1857 ................... 207
Prof. Iqbal Husain

12. Bakht Khan: A Leading Sepoy General of 1857 ........................ 221
Prof. Iqbal Husain

13. Maulavi Liyaqat Ali ................................................................... 235
Prof. Iqbal Husain

14. Indigenous Discourse and Modern Historiography of 1857: The Case Study of Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah ........................... 249
Prof. S.Zaheer Husain Jafri

SUPPRESSION AND REIGN OF TERROR

15. William Hodson and the Abduction of Bahadur Shah Zafar ...... 273
Prof. Amar Farooqui

16. The Battle for Delhi: Myths and the Construction of the Raj ..... 281
Dr. Madhu Prasad

17. The Concept of Booty, Revolt of 1857 and Delhi as a ‘Prize’ ... 297
Dr. Shaheen Islamuddin

18. Masjid-e Jahan Numa at Shahjahanabad during and after the Uprising of 1857 .................................................................. 319
Ms. Sadia Aziz

19. Fishing in the Troubled Waters: The Revolt of 1857 and Jung Bahadur Rana, the Prime Minister of Nepal ...................... 341
Prof. S. Najmul Raza Rizvi

THE MEMORY

Khwaja Hasan Nizami of the Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, and his Reminiscences of 1857

20. Literature, History and Memory: A study of the Selected Writings of Khwaja Hasan Nizami on 1857 ............................... 361
Prof. S. Zaheer Husain Jafri

(a) Dehli ki Jankani .................................................................. 369
Dr. Shaheen Islamuddin

(b) Some Stories from Begamat ke Aansoo .............................. 376
Ms. Rana Safvi

REVIEW ARTICLE

The Biography of Bahadur Shah Zafar: An Evaluation of the English Translation of Prof. Aslam Parvez’s Life and
Poetry of Bahadur Shah Zafar by Dr Ather Farooqui ............... 385
Dr. Sana Aziz

The Images with a prefatory note by Mr. Mohd. Wasim .................. 393

The Documents with a prefatory note by Ms. Yusra Farooqui ......... 413

1. Constitution of the Mutineers in Delhi, 1857 ............................. 415

2. Azamgarh Proclamation by Prince Firoz Shah ........................... 425

3. A Popular Perception of Colonial Tribute: Editorial in a Urdu Newspaper, Delhi, June 1857 ..................................................... 433

4. On Maulavi Syed Sarfaraz Ali, the Ameer-ul Mujahideen ........ 435

5. The Revolt in India, Karl Marx, New York Daily Tribune, 4 th August, 1857 ......................................................................... 437

6. Fredrick Angles on the fall of Lucknow and Oudh Campaign, April, 1858 ................................................................................. 441

7. Queen Victoria’s Proclamation of November 1858 and its point by point rebuttal by Begum Hazrat Mahal of Awadh ........ 445

8. The Martyrs of 1857: A Contemporary Elegy on the destruction of Delhi and its citizenry by Bahadur Shah Zafar .... 453

9. Political Agent of Bhopal to Governor General informing him that the minsterals reciting the above verses of the elegy by
the Ex-King in principal town of Central India, Aug, 1862 ........ 457

10. Some Anti-British Verses of Bahadur Shah Zafar ...................... 459

11. The Devastation of Delhi: A Lament by Khwaja Altaf Husain Hali (d.1914) ............................................ 467

12. Zaheer Dehlavi’s Account of the treatment of him and other royal fugitives in a Jat Village near Aonla, Rohilkhand .............. 471

13. Facsimile of the printed appeal-Urdu ......................................... 473

14. Appeals made by the Indian devotees of Bahadur Shah Zafar and other notables of Rangoon in 1903 to make a Magnificent
Mausoleum for the Emperor ...................................................... 475

Index .......................................................................................... 479