New Vision

The recent debate around 1857 have invoked heated debates regarding the position and participation of Dalits in the revolt. There are two main lines of argument. On the one hand, there is deep condemnation of 1857 from a Dalit perspective, and on the other, there is an assertion and commemoration of the Dalit contribution, particularly that of Dalit viranganas, to the revolt. Both these viewpoints, however, need to be placed in a larger context. Various scholars have effectively argued that subaltern political actions and consciousness revealed a great degree of autonomy from mainstream nationalism. Scholars working on Dalits in colonial India particularly state that Dalits have had an ambivalent relationship with both Indian nationalism and colonialism, often contradictory with the views of dominant Hindu communities. A Dalit intellectual argues that the British liberated the Dalit masses from the oppress- ions of Hindu society by abolishing the laws of Manu and by providing Dalits wi

 Why is it important for the Dalits to link themselves with the 1857 war of independence and why are the icons related with this incident more important than those of other incidents? Why is 1857 so important for them? The reason may be that the events around this period are not well documented, so the Dalits find plenty of space to invent their history and posit their leaders in them. To the common people especially the Dalits, the 1857 Revolt is highly romantic with a number of local heroic characters who fought valiantly against the British using indigenous weapons. This notion provides the opportunity to create heroes belonging to their community with whom they can identify. The authenticity of these heroes is debatable but they have the power to stir the imagination of people. The events that took place in the twentieth century on the other hand are very well documented since the leaders of that period tried to build up a unified homogeneous story of India’s independence. This gav

  We now enter upon the consideration of the second great period in the life of Woman. The maiden becomes a Wife. She is born into a new world. She assumes new relationships,—the sweetest, and, at the same time, the most natural of which she is capable. The great object of the conjugal union is the transmission of life,—a duty necessary in order to repair the constant ravages of death, and thus perpetuate the race. In the fulfillment of this sublime obligation, woman plays the more prominent part, as she is the source and depositary of the future being. It is of moment, therefore, that she should not be altogether ignorant of the nature and responsibilities of her position. Ignorance here means suffering, disease, and sometimes death. Let us then interrogate science in regard to these matters, among the most interesting of all human concerns. The initiation into marriage, like its full fruition, maternity, is attended with more or less suffering. Much, however, may be done to

    This old Oriental legend is so exquisitely charming, so superior to the Biblical narrative of the creation of woman, that it deserves to be reproduced here which appeared in the first issue of  The Critic and Guide , January, 1903. At the beginning of time, Twashtri—the Vulcan of Hindu mythology—created the world. But when he wished to create a woman, he found that he had employed all his materials in the creation of man. There did not remain one solid element. Then Twashtri, perplexed, fell into a profound meditation from which he aroused himself and proceeded as follows: He took the roundness of the moon, the undulations of the serpent, the entwinement of clinging plants, the trembling of the grass, the slenderness of the rose-vine and the velvet of the flower, the lightness of the leaf and the glance of the fawn, the gaiety of the sun's rays and tears of the mist, the inconstancy of the wind and the timidity of the hare, the vanity of the peacock and the softness

Banke Chamar was a freedom fighter who died for his actions in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He lived in the villege of Kaurpur in Machhli Shahar in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. When the revolution failed, the British Government declared that Banke Chamar and his 18 associates were revolutionaries and he was hanged after arrest.   The bravery of martyr Banke Chamar is also described. He lived in village Kuarpur, Macchli Shahar, Janpad Jaunpur. When the revolution failed, the British declared Banke Chamar and 18 of his associates as baghi (revolutionaries). Banke Chamar was ordered to be hung after being arrested. Thus this brave revolutionary laid down his life for the country.

Raghu Chamar was born in the village Janaidih in Bihar which was an important center of the 1857 revolt. He was a soldier in Kunwar Singh’s army and fought against the British in the 1857 revolt, in which he lost his life. The day he died, the seeds of a guler tree, which is still there in the village, sprouted, but although the tree grew into a thick, tall one, no Guler flowers have ever been seen on it. However, the villagers believed that exactly at the stroke of midnight on full moon nights, one single flower is seen blooming on the tree. Many people claim to have seen it over the years, which has helped to establish the authenticity of this story  (This information is based on the oral interview from Deomun, age 25yrs Sipahi, Age 60 yrs of Janidih Village, Bhojpur, Bihar, North India, May 5, 2004).

  Makka Pasi, husband of Uda Devi, was a soldier in the army of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. After the Nawab died, his first wife Begum Hazrat Mahal led a rebellion against the British in 1857. Makka Pasi was one of the martyrs in Battle of Sikandar Bagh. The story that is narrated in glowing terms is about the Makka Pasi who, like his wife, laid down his life for the sake of the country.  The incident took place on 10 June 1857, when a small battalion of British soldiers under the leadership of Henry Lawrence was passing through Barabanki on their way to Chinhat from Avadh. At village Chinhat, Makka Pasi gathered an army of 200 Pasis and killed many British soldiers. Seeing a danger in him, Captain Lawrence shot Makka Pasi to stop him from killing more soldiers.  The Pasis claim that Udadevi and Makka Pasi are the only couple in complete world history where both the partners have become martyrs. This couple has elevated the glory of not just the Pasi community but the entire country. Each In

Chetram Jatav was a freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He joined the mutiny on 26 May 1857 in the Soro region of Eta district, North-Western Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). He was tied to a tree and shot. According to legends, Maharaja Patiala saw a man who was carrying a lion on his back. On being asked, it was found that the man had killed the lion without a weapon. The king asked him to join his army. At the instance of the king, he joined the army. The person's name was Cheta Ram Jatav. Cheta Ram fought the British. Seeing the British harassing the people, he fought them, after which the British arrested him and tied him with a tree. The circumstances of Jatav's death have been highlighted by Badri Narayan Tiwari, a Subaltern historian from the G.B. Pant Institute of Social Sciences in Allahabad, but his life appears to be lost to history. Other sources have repeated Tiwari's research which was taken from Swatantrata Sangram Mein Achhuton